The Screaming Stone: The Otherworld Series Book 2 (17 page)

“Duncan you are far away,” Finn chastised him with a quick if not slightly pained smile.

“Sorry,” he replied with a genuine smile.  “Are ye mending well?”

Finn looked over his shoulder in Annie’s direction.  “Women frequently capture our attention an’ have the ability ta distract us.”

“I am more focused now than ever I was in the past,” he informed his foster father trying hard to keep any anger from his words.

Finn allowed the topic to pass choosing instead to move on to Duncan’s other question.  “The Nightflyers have a nasty bite but I am healin’ better than I could have hoped.  Robert is a natural healer, not unlike his ancestor Sam,” he said as a wistful look crossed his face. 

“How did you escape?”

“It was dark, and the Nightflyers descended from the clouds with no warning.  Robert is faster than he looks.  He reminds me of someone else I know,” he added with an uncharacteristic wink.

Duncan nodded absently as he remembered the young, unskilled Robert quickly defending a blow he had instinctually tried to deliver the day Robert had visited him in his rooms back in Salem.  That swing would have split a seasoned warrior down the middle if they did not have the speed and reflexes to defend against it.  “I’ve seen his speed,” Duncan agreed.

“He came ta my aide with a spell he has no memory of casting.  A light emanated from his hand and momentarily blinded the beast giving us enough time ta gain cover.  We saw the church an’ hid here, until yer Knocker found us that is,” Finn finished pointing a shaking hand in Autie’s direction.

Duncan noticed the slight tremor in Finn’s sword hand and knew they would have to make do without Finn by their side tonight.  Nightflyers were vicious beings that were nearly impossible to survive for more than one reason.  Finn needed Sidhe magick to heal the poison that was raging through his blood stream.  A weaker creature, a non-Fae creature like Robert, or worse Annie would have died almost instantly from such a bite.  The thought sent cold fear rushing through his veins.

“You need ta go, now while the sun still lights at least part of the sky,” Finn stated as he rested a trembling hand upon Duncan’s shoulder.

Duncan nodded his head in agreement.  “We ran into an old friend of mine in the churchyard.  He told us we were walking into a trap.”

“What old friend?” Finn asked warily.

“Saint Patrick,” Kat said loudly interrupting the two men.  She was not the only being in the room whose eyes were now focused on their conversation.  Several sets of eyes and ears were now listening.

“Wait, like ‘the’ Patrick?” Robert asked looking around the room for clarification.

Finn remained quiet as understanding shown in his sickly eyes.  “Aye,” Duncan informed Robert.  “That Patrick said that there was another way out of this basement.  A secret one, maybe it is magick,” he said as he quickly scanned the small space for anything that looked out of place.  There was only one thing he did not see; Annie.  “Where’s Annie?” he asked the room.

No one spoke.  Every eye began scanning the room looking for the one member who was not allowed to disappear; and who was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Sixteen

Just Like in the Movies

“Calm down Duncan, the room is not that big she probably just went around the corner,” Robert quickly explained.  “There’s another small room there,” he said pointing behind him.  “But the stairs are the only way out.”

Duncan pushed by Robert and the rest of the group.  She had not gone up the stairs as his back still guarded what was, according to Robert, the only entrance and exit in the basement.  “Griffin, I want a head count I want to make sure everyone is here.  I haven’t seen Rian either.  Let’s make sure everyone who is supposed to be here is.”

Griffin nodded in agreement and began taking a roll call.   Duncan, followed closely by a weak and hobbling Finn, went to search the other adjacent room.  “Robert’s right there is only one way in and out,” Finn said quietly as he tried to calm Duncan’s panicked essence.

“I have no doubt where the loyalties o’ everyone in that room lie.  It is no’ them that worry me; it is those outside these walls that concern me,” he replied as he quickly extracted Answerer from its secret hiding spot. 

He heard Finn’s quick and sharp gasp of shock and spun, fearing that they were being attacked from the rear.  His eyes locked onto Finn’s stunned expression, and realizing that it was still just the two of them lowered his sword.  He frowned down in concerned at Finn.  His eyes scanned his slightly bent form and although he could see no new injury he knew his old friend and mentor was pushing himself too hard too fast.  He needed to be resting not guarding his back.

“What?  Is it yer healin’ wound that troubles ye?”

Finn shook his head and pointed at the Answerer.  “Where did that come from?”

Duncan squinted at Finn as he was beginning to worry that the poison from the Nightflyers’ bite was spreading and eating away his memories.  “Tis Answerer, ye’ve seen the sword before now.”

“Nay, no’ the sword; I’m old yes but no’ daft.  You just produced that sword from nowhere.  I thought ye had left it somewhere.  Honestly tis why I followed ye.”

Duncan looked down at the sword in his hand and then back to Finn.  He had never questioned the sword before.  Whenever he needed it the sword appeared in his hand.  It was something that had begun to happen in Salem.  The rules on carrying a sword in modern times, were well, you just couldn’t do it.  Rules were something neither he nor Answerer had wanted to worry about.  Answerer had solved the problem; it had created a way to be carried without being noticed.  Now whenever Duncan had need of it he would either reach out his hand or grab it off of his back.  Answerer was always ready and waiting.

“The sword is made from magick.  I do not question it, but rather accept it.”  He studied Finn carefully.  His normally darker complexion was pale and his eyes were rimmed with dark circles that gave his face a hollow appearance.  He did not look well enough to be standing let alone attempting to watch his back.  “I’m fine.  Why do ye no’ go with the others and rest.”

Finn shook his head again still dumfounded by what he had just witnessed.  “I think I’ll stay with ye an’ see what other magick ye an’ yer magickal sword have mastered.”

Duncan frowned as he had never concerned himself with the workings of magick.  It was complex and his mind worked better with action and instant results.  If he swung his sword and hit his target he weakened his opponent.  If he ran he reached his destination faster.  The physical world was much easier to understand and navigate.  Answerer seemed to understand his needs and simply appeared when needed.  It was simple and direct unlike the tangled strings of magick which, at times, did not always work the way you had intended.  The tangible world just made more sense.

The sound of someone whimpering softly drew his attention away from his internal thoughts on the complexity of magick.  He cocked his head to the side and tried to pinpoint the sound.  Finn too had heard the new noise and also began using his ears to track it.  Silently they communicated with each other as they quickly determined that the quiet sobbing sound was coming from the far corner of the darkened room.  The noise was vaguely familiar to Duncan but the memory was cloudy at best.  Duncan glanced once more at Finn who was swaying slightly as he weakly clutched his battle stained sword.  The memory that had insisted on being recalled bloomed into focus as the sight of an injured Finn coupled with the sobbing sound forced his disconnected memory to make the connection.  It had been Rian who had been sobbing in the room the night he had violently awoken from his drug induced sleep, and it was Rian who was sobbing now in the corner.

Ice flooded his body as he became frozen in place.  His eyes made assumptions and his heart began to fracture as he realized his worst nightmares had come true.  Rian was in the corner crying over Annie.  The brave Brownie had been incapable of protecting her against whatever had chosen to sink its blade deep into her chest.  His imagination ran wild.

  Then he saw her.

  She lay broken and lifeless staring sightlessly at the cob web infested ceiling as her soul, her spirit and her life drifted away from her.  There were no words, no thought and no sound in this world or the Otherworld that could mimic the sound his heart and soul made when it shattered.

She was gone, taken from him while he had been only feet away, unable to help her and unable to save her.  He had failed.  He had failed the Battle Queen. He had failed to return the only chance the Seelie court had at repairing the veil.   But more importantly he had failed Annie.  He could hear her friends, new and old chatting in the other room, unaware of her death.  Yet he stood still, unable to move as the weight of his failure crushed what was left of his broken heart.

He felt Finn brush past him.  He heard Finn speaking in hushed tones to Rian.  He smelled Rian’s fear as he sobbingly replied to Finn’s questions.  Duncan’s diaphragm began to spasm as his body worked against itself; his lungs crying for air as his body rejected the need.  She was gone.  Both mortal and immortal had been erased, and he was left with a pain that knew no expression.

He heard the rest of the group shuffle into the room as they argued quietly amongst themselves.  They were all completely unaware of what was happening, of what had happened.  He did not possess the strength for words and his body deflated as he crumpled towards the dirt floor beneath him. 

Griffin reacted first as he reached out and stopped Duncan from falling.  He felt the man’s large hands squeeze his shoulders.  He felt the quick invasion into his mind that alerted him that someone was reading his thoughts.  He was incapable of defending his mind and allowed Griffin full access, if only to share the pain he was unable to describe and to inform the others of what had happened without having to say the words out loud.

“Duncan open your eyes and look,” Griffin instructed softly.

Duncan squeezed his eyes tighter closing off the vision of Annie’s body lying on the floor beyond the help or magick of anyone in the room.

“Duncan, open your damn eyes it’s not what you think!” Robert demanded.  When he refused Robert changed tactics.  “Rian get over here and tell him what happened.”

Duncan heard the scuffling of boots in the dirt.  He heard a tiny voice clear its throat.  He heard the sniffle of tears long since dried before he heard Rian finally speak.  “Annie found a passage,” he said meekly. 

“Why are ye cryin’ then Rian?” Fiona’s motherly voice asked the frightened Brownie.

“Cause I was too scared ta follow her an’ I knew Duncan would be mad,” Rian admitted with a deep sniffle.

“How long since she entered the passageway Rian?” Finn asked.

“No’ a moment afore ye entered the room,” the Brownie quickly answered.

Duncan’s eyes flew open as Griffin quickly exhaled a breath meant to calm the unsteady emotions in the room.  Duncan’s eyes hurriedly scanned the room taking in instantly the scene before him.  A large hole opened up exposing a passage on the far end of the room.  To the right of the passage was a large sack, which in the poorly illuminated room Duncan had mistaken for Annie.  Finn rested a comforting hand on a now visibly cowering Rian who stood in front of him cringing as he prepared himself to take the brunt of Duncan’s anger.  Griffin and Robert flanked him on either side holding him upright.  Autie was cautiously kicking the leaking sack trying to determine what it actually contained.  Kat and Fiona stood behind him just out of sight, while Failinis whined and nudged at Duncan’s legs checking on his new master.

Duncan stood up straight forcing his legs to reclaim his weight.  Griffin and Robert released their grip on him and took two quick steps away from him as he slammed shut the entrance to his inner thoughts.  No one needed to see or feel what was beginning to build inside of him.

No one spoke as he strode to the entrance of the passage.  He spared a word for no one.  What was about to happen would take place between him and the stubborn woman who was destined to be the death of him.  Even Griffin’s parting breathy attempt to calm him could not penetrate the fire that was pure fury in his blood.

What had she been thinking?
  She asked herself for at least the third time in the short space of a minute.

  As soon as she had entered the secret passageway a sense of eerie gloom had descended upon her.  She had only taken a few cautious steps inside, after convincing Rian that she would be okay, and she had been plunged into a choking blackness.  She was surrounded by dirt and dust that had remained quarantined off from the light of day and the lungs of man for at least a couple centuries.  The damp, dank feel of the basement was multiplied in the passage as even the walls were cool and almost wet to the touch.

When she had found the word Dillan inscribed on a loose fitting stone she had convinced herself she was in the very adventure movies that only moments before had her shaking in fear.  She began bravely fiddling with every stone that surrounded it in an attempt to uncover the secret escape route she was convinced really did exist.  Rian, who had quietly followed her, startled her.  Spooked she had backed into an old wooden shelf knocking an oozing sack onto the floor.  She shot Rian an angry look, if only to cover the scare he had given her.  As she carefully stepped over the bleeding sack her foot stepped on something and she heard a loud click followed by the unmistakable sound of ancient hinges in desperate need of oiling. 

“Just like in the movies,” she whispered in awe.  As the dark passageway, unused for ages, revealed itself to her,

Cautiously she peered into the dark entryway.  Remembering she still had her phone in her back pocket she reached around for it.  She fiddled with the screen for a few moments until she found the flashlight app she had installed just before leaving Salem.  Since no one went anywhere anymore without their phone buying a flashlight seemed like an unneeded expense.  Her four human, and hence phone possessing friends, had scoured the app stores for any gadget and widget they might need to survive the wilds of Ireland.  They had all downloaded not only the flashlight app, but a knot tying app, a compass, a ghost detector and a book on the myths and legends of Ireland as well as a first aid app.  Until recently only the first aid app had come in handy.  Now she had a chance to use her phone as a flashlight.

“Annie we should wait for the others,” Rian had warned her.  She should have listened.  The slow descent into the basement had been joyous compared to what she was feeling now. 

Since when was she so brave?

“Since you convinced yourself you were watching a movie,” she muttered to herself.  At least she hoped she was by herself.  “Well it’s just a dark hallway.”  She continued talking to herself liking the idea of at least hearing something even if it was her own voice. 

The moment she had stepped into the dark space it seemed to not only swallow light but sound as well.  After a few steps she hadn’t even been able to hear Rian quietly crying.  At first she had felt guilty about abandoning him, but honestly she did not intend to go far.  She had promised herself that she would only take fifteen steps down the seemingly unending passage.  So far she had taken twelve, albeit twelve very large steps.

“Okay,” she said exhaling loudly.  “I’ll take one more step, then turn around and head back.”