Shadow Magic (23 page)

Was this then the path that Fiallan had spoke of, the walk of greatness that Egann might take, were he so inclined?

              Humbled, yet thankful that she might live to see this with her own eyes, Deirdre muttered a quick prayer to the Goddess.  The rocking of Weylyn's gait seemed soothing now, and she drifted into a light sleep, her head pillowed on Egann's broad chest.

"We near a village," Egann's voice rumbled.  As he spoke, he slowed Weylyn to a brisk walk.  "And, though the moon remains high, I must soon find a place where you both can hide."

Beside them, Ula pointed ahead.  "There is an abandoned barn in the southern fields outside the village." 

             
Sleepily, Deirdre peered at the older woman.  "How do you come by this knowledge?"

             
"`Tis where the Maccus kept me, while they searched for you."

             
"Is it dark enough to provide shelter?"

             
"Yes."

             
Surprised, Deirdre tilted her head.  "They found you a safe place, even though they meant to kill you?"

             
Ula's smoky chuckle was interrupted by coughing.  When she spoke again, she sounded weak.  "I was but bait, a lure put out by the Maccus to trap you and your man.  That their plan failed I can only marvel."

             
Egann laughed.  "I do not think they know the true extent of my power, though they had to know that I am Fae."

             
Perhaps,
Deirdre added silently,
they did not realize that you are the rightful King of Rune
.

             
"This I do not doubt," Ula agreed.  "Though I truly believe they want above all to know the secret of this amulet they have found.  They sense its magic and this frustrates them, because they don't know how to use it.  Mayhap they think you can teach them its secrets."

             
Deirdre's suspicions grew.  "How came you with such intimate knowledge, Ula?  Did you see the one who has the talisman?"

             
"Nay, though the Maccus that I traveled with could talk of nothing else.  I listened well, and merely relay to you what I heard them say."

             
The older woman's voice contained a hint of resentment.  That, and an awful, aching weariness that Deirdre sensed as sharply as if it were her own.  She knew this feeling, knew it well.  It was the prelude to the utter exhaustion which always claimed her as she reached the end of her dance.

             
"I have lived many years, child," Ula spoke softly, so that Deirdre had to strain to hear her.  "I am old and tired."  Her words once again made Deirdre wonder how Ula seemed able to read her thoughts. 

             
"And I have seen numerous deeds, both good and evil," the older dancer continued.  "Long have the Maccus hunted us, though never as successfully as they do now, with the aid of this magical amulet."

             
"Another reason we must track them with all haste."  Egann sounded grim, and Deirdre knew he believed his loss of the amulet was yet another great failure on his part, a failure like that had caused his brother's end, though this failure could result in the loss of more than one life. 

             
Before she thought better of it, Deirdre turned her head and rubbed her face against his broad chest.  She listened to the steady thump of his heart, finding the sound comforting.  "We will find it," she said.  "Do not doubt that."

             
He did not answer, staring down at her upturned face with a predatory look, reminding her again of a fierce falcon hunting.  What fools these Maccus were, she thought with a shiver, to think that they could best someone as formidable as Egann.

             
"That dim shape across the field," Ula said, interrupting Deirdre's wandering thoughts.  "That is the farmhouse I spoke of."

             
Though the sky remained dark, Deirdre did not doubt that soon it would lighten and show the tell-tale streaks of color that presaged the fiery rise of the sun.  How many times had she watched in secret with an aching heart, waiting until the last possible moment to take necessary shelter in the cool darkness?  She had prayed for sleep to come quickly to her then, for only in slumber could she submerge her fierce longing to feel the warm kiss of the sun on her pale skin.

             
Yet she had dreamed of such a day.  She wondered if one as ancient as Ula had ever shared such a dream, had ever longed to walk in the day.

             
At Egann's command, Weylyn left the rutted road, traveling swiftly over the grass covered field.  The scent was different here, of grass and grain and dark, rich earth, making her think of the fragrant orchard where she and Egann had made love.

             
That, Deirdre thought with amusement, would not happen again soon.  Not with Ula to act as chaperone.  She supposed she should feel gratitude, to be protected from her own wanton desires.

             
Wanton.  Her – Deirdre The Untouchable.  So had the men of the cliffs named her, when she'd rebuffed all of their advances. 

             
As they drew nearer the shape of the farmhouse became better defined.  Deirdre could see that, although the building appeared sound and whole, none lived within the stone walls.

             
"Where did the people go?"  Egann mused out loud, echoing Deirdre's unspoken question. 

             
"This place has not been empty that long."  Ula told him.  "Perhaps the people ran off with the coming of the Maccus."

             
"Or were murdered by them."  His tone was dark.  "I sense death here, in this abandoned place."

             
"More blood on their hands."  Staring hard at him, Ula inclined her head.  "There is also magic here, though I know not enough about it to tell you why."

With a swift motion, Egann dismounted, then reached up and lifted Deirdre down as well.  His hands were warm where they touched her waist, and `twas with only the greatest of efforts that she kept herself from pressing into him.     

              Swallowing, she concentrated instead on the older woman's words.  "Was magic used for evil here?" 

 
              `Twas Egann who answered, his voice hard.  "Using magic to kill is forbidden.  If the Maccus did so, then by their own hands they are thrice damned."

             
If she did not look away from him, she would drown in the smoldering heat of his eyes.  Turning, she pretended to study the abandoned cottage.

             
It occurred to Deirdre that she could see much better now; the weathered stone of the farmhouse was cracked in places.  A quick glance at the sky confirmed her fear, it
had
begun to lighten, though she could not see the faint glow of the sun on the horizon as of yet.  Still, dawn would not be far behind.

             
"It is time we take shelter," Ula said.  "I find even a hint of sunrise painful, and wish to rest without soreness."

             
Deirdre hurried over and took Ula's arm.  She glanced back at Egann, noting his fierce scowl.  It struck her then, that perhaps he did not want her to go.  How she longed to go to him, to smooth the lines from his face, to kiss into softness the rigid set of his mouth. 

             
Instead, she looked away, commanding her foolish heart to stop pounding.  "Cinnie will be fine," she said, pretending to study the small horse with interest. 

"Aye," Egann answered, his voice sounding flat.  "Weylyn will watch over her."

Avoiding his intent gaze, Deirdre nodded.  "Come Ula, let us go inside.  You can show me the best place for us to sleep." 

But before she left, Deirdre could not help but chance another quick look at him.  Still he stood, legs planted apart in the rich earth, a fierce warrior outlined by the lightening sky.  It was right that they leave him now, allowing him time to pierce together his thoughts, to formulate a plan. 

              Ula went with Deirdre without protest.  Once inside the dark confines of the abandoned farmhouse, they switched places, Deirdre following where the silver-haired one led.  The air inside carried a damp chill, and the faded, elusive scents of those who had stayed here before.

             
Unerringly, Ula guided her down a short hallway, to a room that had appeared to have been built into the back of the small house.  Down three wooden steps, it appeared this room was part cellar, used for storing vegetables and meats. Though windowless, Deirdre could see enough in the stale air to tell that the bed Ula showed her was made of straw, covered with an old, musty blanket. 

             
Holding the older woman's arm, Deirdre helped her settle  comfortably.  Then, missing Egann with a terrible ache, she climbed down to lay beside the old one.  The straw scratched and the blanket stank of unwashed flesh.  Despite that, she felt herself drifting off to sleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

* * *

              Egann liked this not.  Pacing outside in the gathering dawn, he eyed the rustic farmhouse with unease.  The place carried echoes of dark deeds, both past and present, and lives violently lost.  With a quiet oath, he reached down and scooped up a handful of damp earth, sifting its fertile darkness between his fingers as he let it fall to the ground. 

             
Humans had fought for this land, died for this land.  Now the place was empty and he found the abandonment too convenient.  Yet who would set a trap in a place where the occupant could see for miles in every direction?  Approach by stealth would not be possible, and the Maccus did not need to entrap their enemies if magic were to be used.

             
It could not be a trap.  Still he could not rid himself of the niggling sense of unease that prickled the back of his neck. 

             
Nay, he did not truly believe that Ula would knowingly endanger them.  She and Deirdre were kindred spirits, and from the wary curiosity he had seen in her vibrant violet gaze, the younger Shadow Dancer could learn from the elder.

How could he begrudge her that?

              Yet he could not help but miss the way Deirdre had, before the arrival of Ula, freely touched him with unabashed pleasure.  He longed again for the simple honesty of her kiss, for the lush sensuality of her body as it welcomed his. 

             
By the Goddess, could he not even think of Deirdre without growing aroused?  It appeared not, for again he was hard and heavy, as though her soft tongue had stroked him to life.

             
If Deirdre slept alone inside the cottage, he knew he would go to her now, and bury his swollen staff deep inside her. 

             
He muttered a curse.  His involvement with the lovely Shadow Dancer had become more than mere lust, more than a simple diversion.  He could not allow himself – by thought or by body – to become so completely consumed by a mortal woman.  Bad enough that he had given his oath to protect her, and to try and lift her curse. 

             
He must find the amulet and be done with it.

             
Turning, he forced himself to concentrate on the rapid lightening of the sky.  As he waited for the sun to make her daily appearance on the horizon, he found himself wondering what it would be like, never to have greeted the arrival of day.  Around him in the squat, leafy trees, birds began to sing, welcoming the morning.  The night insects, unwilling to be stilled just yet, continued their songs as well, blending into a cacophonic chorus.  Streaks of rose and orange colored the sky, and the air grew still, expectant. 

As the bright orange disc rose in the East, Egann lifted his face, feeling the lightening of spirit that the arrival of day always brought.  

              How he wished Deirdre could stand at his side, her hand tucked firmly in his, and greet the sunrise with him.

             
Thinking this, he remembered his oath, and his debt.    Once he found the amulet, his task would not be done.  He could not simply retrieve the powerful talisman and return it to Fiallan's waiting hands.  Nay, for if there were a way to use it to remove the curse that Deirdre and her kind carried, he must find that as well.

             
Only when Deirdre was truly free could Egann seek his own freedom.
              This revelation worried him.  He did not like to tie his own destiny so closely with another's.  Therein waited nothing but grief and sorrow.

             
Weylyn nickered, echoed by Cinnie, reminding him that the valiant beasts were surrounded by fertile fields yet still wore bridles.  Removed, the horse would be free to graze. 

             
Once he had released the horses to graze, Egann lowered himself to a grassy area in the front of the cottage.  Though he would have liked to search the nearest village for clues to the whereabouts of the Maccus, he could not leave Deirdre and Ula unprotected.  Careful to keep the stone wall at his back, he would simply wait in the sunlight, and keep watch.