Dragon's Moon (40 page)

Eirik had to hope that the ancient cave held fewer dangers for her than what could well lay behind. Besides, the stubborn and impetuous woman had given him no choice. She had rushed into the cave ahead of him and there was no room in the narrow passage for him to change their positions.

“Do not rush,” he cautioned her.

“The
kelle
said nothing about traps in the caves.”

“Which means exactly nothing.”

“It was the place of healing for the Faol, why would it be trapped?” she asked.

“Why hide the entrance?”

“I do not know. Perhaps it was also considered a refuge. Our ancestors lived very differently than we do.”

He had to agree with that. He had no idea how that hidden door could have been managed by cave dwellers when none would know how to create it today.

The passageway began to widen until Eirik could move in front of Ciara.

“What are you doing?”

“Leading the way, as is my responsibility.”

She grumbled something that sounded very much like, “Arrogant dragon.”

He smiled. Life with her would never be predictable. He was accustomed to those who knew of his status as prince being impressed by it and even more respect garnered by his dragon.

Ciara treated him like…well, like her mate. And he found he enjoyed the novelty of her lack of awe.

He had not liked the sadness that had overcome her when they first arrived back on the mainland and he still did not know what caused it. Perhaps she continued to be bothered by the fact her father and mother had been unable to attend their wedding.

Eirik would make sure that all who were important to either of them were in attendance at their Chrechte mating ceremony with Anya-Gra.

His torch flickered and he knew they were near a significant change in the cave; the still air would not have caused the flame to dance otherwise. A few feet later, the passage opened into a huge cavern, bigger than anything he had ever seen underground. Large enough for an entire clan to gather, much less a single pack of the Faol.

This was a meeting place from the days when the Chrechte were as united as any nomadic people who traveled in small family groupings could be.

“The walls do not glow,” Ciara said with concern. “And it is too big.”

“Your
kelle
said she took the stone to a hidden cavern far beneath the earth. This one is in the hillside.”

Ciara nodded, looking around and no doubt seeing what he did. The space was huge, but not altogether empty.

There was a dais in the center with standing torches at its four corners. It was covered in a hide tanned and bleached to near white, the center decorated with a pattern that matched the healing symbol they had found outside.
There were stone benches around the cavern, some grouped together, others alone and even a few tables that held pots and jars similar to the ones he had seen in Lais's room.

“This is where they performed their healing,” Eirik said with conviction.

“I think you are right, but it was also a place of meeting, I think.”

The idea the cave had been a refuge for the Chrechte seemed more likely now. “It is likely you are right.”

“I want to look at everything, but there is no time.”

“There isn't. Our enemies could discover our presence at any moment.” But he regretted not being able to allow Lais to come inside and examine things.

Then he reconsidered. If Eirik and Ciara were going to go farther into the earth, it would be a good idea to have a guard in the cavern.

He recalled Vegar from his post in the sky to flying closer to the cave entrance so he could help if MacLeod Chrechte showed up. And then, Eirik instructed Lais to come inside to the healing cavern.

The passage is long and narrow,
he told his friend in Lais's mind.

I do not like small spaces.

You and half the Éan, but the cavern is huge and you will find it very interesting. Just do not get so interested you forget to pay attention for encroaching soldiers.

Lais agreed and Eirik made his way to the dais in the center of the room. The cavern was too vast for them to see the difference between another passage opening and shadow with the light of only one torch.

The standing torches lit, drawing on some kind of oil…he had heard of the Roman's having lamps like this, but the Chrechte's cave-dwelling ancestors? 'Twas amazing.

Ciara was walking along the walls, clearly looking for another opening out of the cavern. They found three.

The first led to a smaller chamber that had obviously been used to store food and other supplies. The second opening led to a series of smaller caves, some of which ended in additional caverns no bigger than most bedchambers that may
well have been used by the
kelle
for sleeping and privacy. Other passages simply ended and the lack of any carving on the walls of these led Eirik to believe they were used rarely if ever by the ancient
kelle
.

The third passage was more of the same and by the time they'd finished exploring it, Vegar informed Eirik that dusk had arrived. Ciara and Eirik returned to the cavern and shared roasted meat with Lais for latemeal.

“There must be another passage off of this cavern,” Ciara said, her voice strained with fatigue and disappointment.

Eirik tugged her around until she leaned against him. “We will find the
Faolchú Chridhe
,
faolán
. You must trust in yourself and your connection to the stone.”

“I can feel it, beneath us here, but I've no idea how to reach it,” she said dispiritedly. “I'm tired and I feel this itch between my shoulder blades telling me that MacLeod's soldiers are near.”

“I'm feeling the same itch,” he admitted.

Lais ate intermittently between examining jars from one of the tables. “More like you are sending your sense of impending trouble to Ciara through your mating bond.”

“If that's the case, you can keep your worries to yourself. I've enough of my own,” his sweet little mate said rather sourly.

He smiled at her bad temper and reminded her, “Being a mate means sharing your burdens.”

“I do not want the burden of dragon senses,” she huffed and then sighed, looking lost. “I am sorry. I didn't mean that.”

He started rubbing her shoulders and neck, kneading the tension from her. “It will be well,
mo gra
.”

“What did you just call me?” she asked in a soft voice, laced with an emotion he wasn't sure of.

It almost sounded like hope, but what had she to hope for? She was his. He was hers. Their mating had been blessed by God himself.

Rather than discuss things that had been set in stone since the moment he caught her in the air after her fall from the tower roof, he mused, “We may have missed something in one of the other passages.”

“No.” She rubbed her head against his chest. “We were very careful in our search.”

“We were just as careful searching out openings in the walls.”

Lais said, “Perhaps the way to the hidden cavern is down, not out.”

“Of course it is down, I told you I could feel the sacred stone under us…” Ciara's voice trailed off. “Oh, I take your meaning, Lais. You think there actually is some kind of opening in the floor.”

“The floor of this cavern is smoother than slate prepared by a mason,” Eirik observed.

Ciara asked, “But how is that possible?”

Lais shrugged. “I know not, but if our ancestors could fashion an entrance like the one to these caves, and floors so clearly made by man, though seeming of solid stone, they could make a hidden doorway in the floor. I say we move the covering on the dais.”

“It's so old…it will disintegrate in our hands.” Ciara's tone made it clear the idea bothered her.

Lais frowned apologetically. “I've searched the rest of the floor and cannot see any place that could open like the entrance to the cave outside.”

Eirik was not surprised the eagle had spent his time searching for the secret passageway, despite his great interest in the cavern itself. The eagle was an honorable Chrechte that knew how to put the good of the many above his own interests and desires.

'Twas one of the reasons Eirik considered him brother more than friend.

Ciara sighed. “I suppose there's no hope for it, but we will be careful. This is a sacred place.”

“We will treat the cavern and everything in it with the respect it deserves.” Eirik hugged her close, trying to impart his sincerity and matching concern through his touch.

“Thank you.”

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

—L
AO-TZU

H
er hands trembling, Ciara reached out to touch the leather covering on the dais. It had been made by warrior priestesses who had served their people with love and loyalty unto death centuries past.

She tugged experimentally at the corner and found it surprisingly soft and supple under her fingers. “Let us each take a side and slide it off onto the floor.”

Eirik and Lais followed her direction without comment and the cover was removed without incident.

A reverent curse slipped from Lais's mouth as both Ciara and Eirik stood in shocked silence at what had been revealed.

The dais top was not the gray slab she expected, but a green stone marbled with amber lines unlike anything she had ever seen before. It had been polished to such a sheen, the fire from the torches was reflected on its surface.

The waist-high pedestal it sat on was almost as large as the dais top. At least six feet long and three feet wide, it did
not look like it was going anywhere to reveal a secret passage.

“The carvings on the pedestal are similar to the ones we found on the hillside,” Eirik said thoughtfully.

They were, though the symbols were all connected by knot work similar to the marks worn on the biceps of the Chrechte who led their brethren.

As one, the three dropped to their knees to begin examining the dais for the symbol of healing. Ciara found it in the center of the long side facing north. “I've found it, but there's no indentation like on the larger one outside.”

“There is a mark for healing on this side, too,” Eirik announced a second later.

Lais said the same as Ciara was already scooting around to the side they had not checked yet. This one did not have the healing symbol on it; instead there was a carving that matched the one on the handle of her brother's sword. Only in this carving, the
conriocht
's stone was missing, though the dragon and griffin's gems were set in place.

Ciara pressed her emerald to the spot and nearly fell backward as the floor beneath her feet began to move. Eirik was there in a second, his arm protectively around her, his grip on her tight, the message crystal clear. She was going nowhere without him.

The floor stopped moving and Lais swore with great reverence. “Well, will you look at that?”

The floor had opened up to reveal a set of steps in that strange green marbled stone leading below.

“The
kelle
said the
Faolchú Chridhe
was deep in the earth.”

“That is deep enough,” Eirik said.

Indeed it was. They could not see the bottom of the steps.

“I will guard the entrance,” Lais said.

Eirik nodded and turned his attention on her, his focus stern. “I will take the lead.”

“The stone is calling to me.”

“But your safety is my responsibility.”

“It won't do the Chrechte any good if we don't get the sacred stone.”

“Make no mistake, our people may need the stone, but your safety is of every use
to me
whether or not we retrieve the
Faolchú Chridhe
.”

First he'd called her his love and now this. Had she been wrong? Did her stubborn dragon mate care about her as something more than a means to an end for their people?

“I will follow you.”

“You will.” He turned and descended the stairs.

Arrogant, wonderful dragon.

The steps ended, but the passageway continued downward until it opened into a cavern that glowed with the strange green light of her dreams. The smell of water warned her before the torch Eirik carried revealed a small stream they would have to cross. The smell of minerals and steam rising from the stream indicated it was fed by the same type of underground spring as the other sacred Chrechte caves.

Without warning, Eirik swung her up with one arm so she dangled above the floor.

She cried out. “What are you doing?”

“Carrying you across. The water may well be too hot to touch.”

He was right, but she hadn't even considered it. Concentrating on what her wolf senses were telling her, she realized the water was indeed very hot and could well have burned her badly if she'd tried to walk across the shallow stream.