Gideon's Spear (14 page)

“‘Tis a pleasure to see ye again, Savannah Steel.” Mac Roth extended a hand to her when she joined them. Her hand disappeared into his massive paw. “I just met yer lovely mother. Ah, ye take after her, missy.”

“Hi, Mr. Mac Roth.”

“Why, call me Mac Roth.
Mister
does not fit in me ear. And this is Lochlan O'Neill, me apprentice.” He nodded at them. “I'll let ye three get acquainted whilst I go speak with Lir.” The giant headed toward the house.

Lochlan and Savannah stared at each other. “I've heard about you,” they both said at the same time.

“And what did Finn tell you?” Lochlan stuck out his chest. “Probably talked about my awesome skill in battle, right?”

“He said you threw up on your first hunt.”

Finn hooted while Lochlan turned a bright red. Still laughing, he turned as Rafe jogged over, spear also held close to his body. His amusement faded when the boy slowed, then stopped a few feet away, his face wary. Finn stepped over.

“What's the matter, Rafe?”

“Is that him? Mac Roth's new apprentice?”

“Yeah, but he's nothing like Asher. Well, except for having a big mouth.”

“I heard that, MacCullen,” Lochlan called past Savannah's shoulder. He nodded once in greeting to Rafe, then gestured toward the assegai. “Finn mentioned you had a spear,” he said, his voice filled with admiration. “I've always wanted to try one.”

Rafe hesitated, then handed it over.

Lochlan examined its bronze spearhead, then stabbed the air a few times before Finn glanced around the neighborhood and motioned for him to lower it. “Sorry.” He handed the weapon back to Rafe. “Finn said you were pretty good with it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Rafe shot Finn a look of gratitude.

The front screen creaked open. Gideon stuck his head out. “Come along, you four. We've a change of plans this morning.”

Stepping back, Lochlan allowed Savannah to go ahead of him. She smiled her thanks and walked around the wall to the gate with the apprentice at her side. He was already talking a mile a minute. Rafe followed them. Finn stood frozen in the driveway for a moment. Something coiled around in his chest at the sight of Savannah and Lochlan, then stilled.

“Hey. Are you coming or what?” Rafe paused on the porch, waiting for him.

Giving himself a shake, Finn hurried along. “What's the change of plans?” he asked his master when he joined the others grouped in the living room.

“Mac Roth has heard a rumor there might be a new pack of Amandán further back in the foothills.”

“You mean, by the den we were just at a few days ago?” Finn asked.

“No, the other abandoned gold mine we hiked to several weeks ago. The one further south.” Gideon tucked a knife into his belt sheath and pulled a second weapon from the rack over the fireplace.

“These beasties may be trying to re-open that tunnel,” Mac Roth explained, speaking over the
sweesh-sweesh
of an oiled whetstone while he sharpened the edge of his hatchet. “They like to den up in old mines. Saves them the trouble and labor of digging.” Finishing up, he placed the stone on Gideon's desk.

“Yes!” Lochlan pumped a fist into the air. “Maybe I'll earn my torc today.”

“No, boyo, not this day. Ye'll stay here and practice with Finn and the others.”

“What?” Both apprentices shouted at the same time.

“But that's not fair, Gideon.” Finn stabbed a finger at his torc. “I've earned the right to hunt with you.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew what was coming next. His heart sank.

Gideon raised an eyebrow. “Rights? Now, what did I tell you before about your
rights
?”

“That I don't have any,” Finn mumbled. “‘I am a lowly apprentice whose sole purpose in life is to serve and obey his master in order to stay alive,'” he quoted in a monotone.

“I could not have said it better myself.”

“That's because you already did,” Finn muttered under his breath.

Gideon ignored the comment. “Now, while we're gone, you four are to practice with the dummy. Finn, you'll be in charge of the drill. Fifteen minutes each. If you need more bags, you know where they are. And no leaving the house or yard. For
any
reason.” After giving them a meaningful look, he headed toward the kitchen.

Finn stared at his retreating back. Then, cursing his master silently, he turned at Lochlan's pleading voice.

“Ah, come on, Mac Roth. My dad is driving me crazy to earn my torc before the end of summer. Let me at least try, so he'll stop bugging me?”

“No. This pack is unknown to us. But I'll make a promise—if they turn out to be easy pickings, I'll leave a few just for ye, me lad.” Much to Lochlan's embarrassment, Mac Roth patted his head. “Now, play nice. We'll be back in a few hours.” He turned and followed the other Knight. A few moments later, the back door slapped closed.

“I don't believe it—a chance to score, and Mac Roth makes me sit this one out.” Lochlan thumped a fist against his leg. “I'll
never
get my dad off my back at this rate.”

Finn flopped down on the sofa. “At least you're not stuck babysitting everybody like I am.” The words spilled from his mouth before he could stop them. He winced and looked up. “Uh…no offense, right?” There was a long silence. “Right, guys?”

“Nope, I'm totally offended.” Rafe crossed his arms over his chest and exchanged glances with Savannah and Lochlan. “How ‘bout you?”

“Yup.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

The three laughed when Finn's cheeks reddened to the same shade as his hair.

Nineteen

“W
e might as well make the best use of our time,” Savannah said after a long minute. “Since this'll be the last day we can come over and practice.” She started for the kitchen.

“What do you mean?” Finn followed her, stepping in front of Lochlan and cutting him off. Totally unintentionally.

“This is our dad's last day teaching that seminar, remember? He'll be home all the time after this until school starts in late August.” She flipped her knife into the air and caught it neatly by the handle. “But hey! Guess who's coming next week?” Before he could ask, she continued. “Our grandfather. It's kind of a last-minute thing.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? He wants to talk to Mom and Dad about what's going on. Plus, he wants to meet Mr. Lir and you.”

They walked outside to the dummy hanging between the poles and gathered around it. Rafe batted the sack with the butt of his assegai to start it swinging, then leaned against one of the support poles and sighed.

“Man, I wouldn't mind trying my spear on an Amandán. Grandfather said they used to kill lions with an assegai,” Rafe said. “I bet one of those goblins would be about the same.” He pushed off the post and sauntered over to the back wall. To Finn's surprise, Lochlan joined Rafe. They stood staring at the distant foothills.

Savannah touched his arm. “Hey. Do you want to go first?” she asked, nodding toward the dummy.

“Yeah. Sure.” He kept one eye on the boys speaking in low voices while he bent over and pulled his knife out from the ankle sheath.
I bet I know what they're talking about
, he thought.

“Hey, Finn?” Lochlan called. “Do you remember how to get to that mine? The one Knight Lir was talking about?”

“Why?” Suspicion colored Savannah's voice.

“Because they're planning on going after some Amandán,” Finn said before the other apprentice could answer. He raised his voice. “That's why you want to know, isn't it?” he asked his friends.

“Don't you think that's incredibly dangerous and stupid?” Savannah walked over to the boys, Finn on her heels.

Lochlan snorted. “We're guys. And we're thirteen. We're
supposed
to do incredibly dangerous and stupid things. It's kind of a rule.”

“And anyway, Finn'll be with us.” Rafe gestured toward his friend. “He knows all about hunting them. With him leading us, I can try out my spear and Lochlan can get his torc.”

Finn tried to tamp down the pride swelling his heart at Rafe's words. “I'm not
that
good. And anyway, our masters would kill us,
or worse
, if we took off.”

“Wuss.” Lochlan flipped his knife into the air and caught it behind him. “When did you become such a goody-goody?”

Savannh looked the apprentice up and down. “Jealous?”

Lochlan snorted. “Hardly. I just think this would be a good chance to practice some tracking and all that.” He shot Finn a silent challenge, then added. “And, besides, there's three of us. We'll watch each other's back.”

Feeling Rafe's and Savannah's gazes on him, Finn raised his chin. He closed his ears to the tiny voice in his head pointing out that Gideon would not only throw him in the river for disobeying, but would hold him under the water. Probably for a week.

“Right, then.” Finn slid his knife back into the ankle sheath. He tried to ignore the thrill of conceit that zinged through him when he noticed the others waiting for his instructions.
This must be what it feels like to be a Knight
. “Savannah, you can wait here or at your house. Guys, we better weapon up. I think two blades apiece should be—ow!” He stumbled back a step when Savannah whirled around and poked him in the chest. Hard. With her poky fingernail.

“I'm coming, too, Finnegan MacCullen. And shut up,” she said when he began to protest. “I'm just as good as Rafe, if not better, so get over your old-fashioned male attitude and get
me
another knife while you're at it.”

* * *

“Hey, Finn? How much further?” Savannah asked as they walked single-file along the trail snaking through the woods.

“Just up ahead. Maybe another ten minutes,” he replied over his shoulder. Directly behind her, Rafe swung his spear from side to side, whacking the bushes and pine boughs that crowded the little-used path. Each
thwack-snap
of Rafe's weapon on the vegetation made Finn jump.

“Dude, knock it off.” At the tail end of the line, Lochlan gave Rafe a light punch. “Amandán are stupid, not deaf,” Lochlan said.

Stepping out of the woods into a meadow, they paused and looked around. Finn's eyes swept the area. He studied the shadows under the pines encircling the open space and made sure he checked the trees immediately to his left and right.
The beasties like to attack from the back and sides
, said Gideon's voice in his head,
so best keep your skull on a swivel
.

“Is this it?” Rafe took a step forward. “I don't see anything that looks like a mine.”

Finn shook his head. “No, we're not there yet. See?” He pointed across the clearing with his knife. “The path continues on the other side. After that, we'll hike uphill alongside a stream for about a hundred yards. And the mine's entrance is blocked off so you can't go in. Not really much to see.”

“Bummer. I would've liked to explore it.” Rafe looked around, then down at his feet. “Hey! Iron pyrite.” He bent over and picked up a rock about the size of a golf ball. At Finn's blank expression, he held it up between his thumb and finger. “
Iron pyrite
. Also known as fool's gold. It looks like gold, but it isn't. Not worth anything, but this is a good example.”

“Sure looks like gold to me.” Finn peered at the rock.

“Here—you can keep it. I've got too many rock samples as it is.” He handed it to him. “So have you also hunted here before?”

“Nah.” Finn slipped the rock into his jeans pocket. “Gideon and I hiked up here a couple of times as a training exercise.”
Well, Gideon hiked
, he thought.
I ran to keep up. Not that I'm going to tell them that
.

Savannah wiped her forehead. “I'll be glad to get to that stream. I'm dying of thirst.”

“You can't drink the water. It'll give you giardiasis, remember?” Rafe said absently as he continued to glance around for more rock samples.

“
Gee-ah
what?” Finn asked.

“Giardiasis. It's an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism called
giardia lamblia
.”

“Science geek,” Lochlan coughed into his fist.

“True that.” Rafe grinned, completely unruffled by the other's boy comment. “Deal with it.”

“Come on.” Finn headed across the meadow. The others straggled behind, Rafe and Lochlan exchanging good-natured insults. Behind them, Savannah slowed to re-tie her hair band. The summer sun, free from the shadow of the trees, beat down on them.

On the far side of the open space, a figure stepped out of the trees and onto the path.

Iona. She walked slowly, bouncing a rock in one hand, not noticing the four friends. Her eyes were fixed on the ground, scanning back and forth as if looking for something.

Finn's heart leaped into his throat. He slammed to a halt, then staggered a step when Rafe and Lochlan collided into him. Further back, Savannah let out a squeak.

Iona looked up at the sound, surprised. Then a look of delight spread across her face. “Well, well, if it isn't my lucky day.” She sauntered closer. Her brown eyes flitted once over the spear in Rafe's hand before settling on Finn. “Look what we have here. The Spear and a spare.”

An invisible fist socked Finn in the stomach. Next to him, Lochlan stiffened at the mention of the Spear.
She knows. Son of a goat—she knows
. “What do you mean?” He hoped his voice didn't sound as shaky as he felt.

“Don't act stupid.” Iona dropped the rock. She clapped her hands free of dust, then wiped them on her jeans. “I've known who and what you are for several days now. You can't go around killing Amandán with a touch of your blood without word getting out.” Her smile widened. “Running into you like this is going to save me a great deal of difficulty later.”