by Dianna Love
The bookish woman had remained calm, but she had a wily look about her.
He tried again to calm Brynhild. “I need ta find out if the person whose power I felt is that Luigsech woman. The best way to meet her in person would be by me takin’ her text that is impossible to translate.”
“Where will you find such a book?”
“I have many, but they are in TÅμr Medb. I will go choose one and drop it off at the archival research centre, which will give me a valid reason to visit again.” That wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but it might mollify Brynhild.
“I will go with you.”
Here came her mule-headed attitude again.
“Not if ya wish ta live. Queen Maeve is not so easily fooled as human women.” He could only imagine putting Maeve and Brynhild in the same space.
Cocking her chin as if she loaded a weapon, Brynhild said, “Queen Maeve is no threat to me.” The quiet ice mobile that had been floating around them began to turn faster.
Cathbad rubbed his head. “This is why I must go alone. Ya have no sense of the danger ya cause with your arrogant attitude. That’s why I have brought the books and magazines for ya ta study.” He pointed at an open spot and a comfortable recliner appeared first then a tall bookcase filled with reading material on every shelf. “Half of that material is in Latin, as I mentioned, which makes English easy to learn so—”
Brynhild’s face boiled red. She screamed like a harpy. The floating ice shot around them in a circle, moving as fast as a buzz saw then shattered all at once.
Cathbad covered his ears and shouted, “I hate yar voice.”
“I hate you! I am not a child to sit and read all day!”
Standing still, Cathbad spun up his power, preparing to deal with her.
She shifted into her dragon.
Oh, no. He would not tolerate that. “Shift back now.”
The dragon blew out a blast of sleet, flicking it across him. As she flapped around in a circle, her dragon spoke. “I grow stronger. You will not shove me back in that water again.”
Cathbad’s muscles bulged from fury. “I hadn’t intended to, Brynhild, but an ice bath might take the starch out of yar attitude.”
Brynhild’s dragon landed, giving Cathbad a moment of relief to not have to battle her again.
But her dragon roared and blasted him with ice from ten feet away, turning his body into a frozen block. He couldn’t move his fingers. His head was stuck in one position.
The dragon walked around with humor in her glowing blue eyes. Her voice rolled with power. “You will not treat me as a child or a pet again. I have killed men for less.”
In a flush of power, she shifted back to her human form, once again dressed for battle and continued lecturing him. “Now that you know I am not weak we can work as true partners. You will listen to my ideas, too. I may allow you to ... chill out, as you say, in that block of ice for a day, or maybe two, until you come to your senses. Is that not what you toss at me all the time? I tire of your ordering me to do this and that, then you criticize me for not thinking like you. I am not you. I. Am. ME.” She lowered her voice to one of warning. “I am an ice dragon.”
A frown marred her smooth forehead as she paused to observe him in the frigid blob. She stared and moved closer, murmuring, “Did you blink?”
The ice exploded out in all directions.
She went flying backward and landed hard, skidding across the cave floor.
Her face suffered cuts and bruises. She could heal them if she wished, but he would not help. She yelled, “You stupid druid. How dare you hurt me?”
“Stand up, Brynhild.”
She had a look that said she considered refusing him, but that dragon shifter would never allow anyone to stand above her. She stood and rubbed her arms where ice had slashed her perfect skin.
“How many times do I have ta teach ya that crossin’ me is dangerous?” he whispered with cold anger.
She glanced up fast. “If you retaliate, then I will, too. This will go on and on.”
Cathbad pointed at the pool of water, which began swirling into a whirlpool with huge ice boulders banging the edge.
She healed her cuts and crossed her arms. “If you put me back in there, you will regret it.”
Cathbad bellowed an order in Gaelic.
She screamed as her body shot up in the air and dove headfirst into the pool.
He strode to the edge.
He waved his hands over the top and the surface iced over solid enough to be skated on. Her furious face appeared out of the darkness. She slapped the ice from below, pounding it over and over, eyes sizzling with hatred.
Then she stopped all motion and stared at him as if he was a dead druid walking. Then she sank deep into the black void.
She would survive. He’d kept her down there in stasis after pulling her out of King Eógan’s castle during the Dragani War.
She hated Daegan for refusing to accept the marriage agreement proposed by her king.
Cathbad had thought keeping her alive and giving her a chance to exact revenge on Daegan would make her a worthy partner. A better choice than Queen Maeve, who danced closer to insanity every day.
How had he managed to team up with the two craziest supernatural females of all time?
Brynhild could be managed. She may not like being treated as a child, but eventually she’d fall into line. While she had a chance to cool herself off, he’d retrieve a book from TÅμr Medb for the Luigsech woman to translate.
He hadn’t been back to that realm for ... too long.
There was no guessing at his reception.
Chapter 13
Herrick watched through his dragon’s eyes as they neared Tegernsee, Germany, a town southeast of Munich. Casidhe had always been a good traveler, rarely needing to stop while they flew. Her gloved hands clutched dragon’s scales at his shoulders where she rode on his back.
Daylight crept up from the edges of the eastern horizon. He’d taken a convoluted route to avoid being seen by aircraft at night. The eleven-hour trip one way had cost him close to eighteen hours, but his dragon would fly a different path home. Even if he had to wait in a hidden area for night to resume, he would return home in plenty of time.
He could never be gone more than two days.
Landing gently, his dragon dropped a wing to the ground, allowing Casidhe to dismount.
Thank you, Nuall, Herrick silently told his dragon. I am sorry to push you so hard.
I am strong when we fly. See more land.
Guilt punched him at how limited their life in the air had been for so long.
Herrick managed for his dragon to fly at least once a week, but the same route over and over became boring. His dragon had clearly enjoyed this flight.
With Casidhe walking around yawning and stretching, Herrick shifted to his human form, glad for the pleasant weather. He clothed himself in a dark-blue Henley top and jeans over his boots. One of his squires had introduced him to contemporary clothing. He found he enjoyed the easy attire some days more than his furs and leather.
“Casidhe,” he called quietly to her, though he’d seen no sign of life on this ridge as Nuall had approached.
She turned with a bright smile in place and wild strands of dark reddish-gold hair flying all around. Her silver-blue eyes sparkled. A blush rose in her cheeks.
His gut clenched at the path he had put her on, but every squire had taken chances from one generation to the next. Those had all been human, lacking her gifts. When he found Skarde and brought him to the castle, Casidhe and Fenella could choose how to spend the rest of their days.
He could not find Skarde without Casidhe’s help and her gifts.
She walked back to him. “I loved that ride. I love your dragon, but you know that.”
“Ya tell me every time ya see me.”
“Which isn’t often enough,” she grumbled, then heaved a deep sigh. “We all have duties. I will find the information you need. Then we can fi
nally be together as a family. I can tell how excited you are about the seer having a vision of Skarde and it energizes me to get busy. To be honest, I’d begun to question if we’d find Skarde after all the years you’ve waited while I’ve hunted for him, but you have always believed he lived.”
“I had nothing else to do but keep the faith,” he joked. He would not tell her how difficult it was to face another day alive as those he cared for around him aged and passed on. More than once, he’d envied them, but in his heart he knew Skarde had not died.
There’d been no confirmation of his death in all these years, only that he’d disappeared from King Gruffyn’s castle.
Someone powerful had taken him.
That person would pay with his, or her, life.
When Herrick learned Queen Maeve had captured the red dragon, he’d roared with laughter. That dragon had insulted his sister and thought to steal all they had. As time went on, Herrick lost his joy of Daegan suffering in TÅμr Medb.
For just one day, Herrick wished to have his hands on that bloody dragon to gain answers on Skarde.
He’d given Casidhe his sister’s sword because only one thing would bring Shannon’s beloved blade to life—to protect Shannon or Skarde, her twin brother. And it had to be in Casidhe’s possession for that to happen. Another bout of guilt hit him over what he kept from Casidhe, but she had all the information she needed for now to do her duty.
Herrick had seen Shannon’s headless body with his own eyes. She and Skarde had both been powerful dragon shifters and warriors, but she had been the more fierce of the two. She’d carried secrets to her grave he’d discovered after she’d died.
She should have come to him with one while she lived.
Casidhe pulled a handful of hair off her face and held it against the wind. “It took me so much longer to cross the land you just flew over in less than a day. Thanks for that, but I don’t like you bein’ at risk away from the castle.”
“Do not worry for me. I would carry you farther, but there are too many human aircraft in the sky after this location even at night.” His gut churned with admitting silently that had not been the real reason he flew no farther. He had a deadline whenever he left the castle. “You are sure you can return easily from here?” He had not been this way in a long time to check on the families loyal to him. Fenella maintained a route via squire families for sending messages at any time.
“Absolutely. Fenella and I stay in touch with squire families to insure I will have help to travel this secret route when need be. See that house halfway down to the valley?” She pointed to a small house with smoke rising from a chimney.
“Aye.”
“That’s a Luigsech family. I know them. They will get me to the cargo hanger at the airport. Once their son packs me up in a box to be shipped as freight, I’ll be on the next flight in probably less than three hours. I’ll be back in County Galway by early afternoon.” She moved in and hugged him. “You need to get out of here. I already miss you.”
Holding her close, he wished for her to have the family she had never had and the same for himself. One day, he would have to tell her more, but not until he could leave the castle for longer than two days should she need him. One as curious as Casidhe would act on that information and bring trouble to her door.
He had to fly nonstop to get back in time as it was.
Just knowing the red dragon and Skarde still lived meant there could be others.
It seemed impossible, but no more than him being alive.
Casidhe had only to do what he asked and not put herself in danger. He grasped her shoulders. “Promise me you will take no chances. Just do what you do best and research. When you have it all, ask Fenella to send it to me. I will deal with the red dragon.”
She squeezed him tighter and whispered, “I will, but I can’t lose you.”
He didn’t deserve her love.
Pulling her back so she would face him, he said, “I have lived for two thousand years. I am not easy to kill. All I want is Skarde, not to go to war with the red dragon. If the seer is correct, and she has always been, then the red dragon is free and he may be our only key to findin’ Skarde. If not, then I will give him reason to find Skarde for me.”
Her pretty face squeezed with a frown. “How would you convince him to help us?”
“Every dragon wants somethin’.”
“Oh!” Her eyebrows lifted in understanding. “He’ll want to add to his hoard. Of course. We can make this work. It may be difficult to find him, but I’ll bet those two people who came into the archival research centre know somethin’. No one walks in and asks about the Treoir family out of the blue.”
“This is true.” He chewed on another worry. “Keep the ring I gave you hidden. It’s very valuable and could be used in a trade.”
“I have kept it well hidden.”
“Good lass.” Releasing her, he stepped back. “Off with you. I will watch until you reach the house.”
“That’s going to take me fifteen or twenty minutes.” She glanced east. “The sun will be up soon.”
“’Tis worth waitin’ a little longer to be sure you arrive safely.”
Pulling her coat together and buttoning it closed, she lifted up to give him a quick kiss on his cheek. Then she took off jogging toward the woods that blanketed the incline from this high point to the home.
It took her less than fifteen minutes.
That lass would forever excel at any task.
Turning at the last moment, she lifted her hand in a quick wave, even though she could not possibly see him with darkness still hanging close.
Then she knocked on the door and a woman welcomed her inside.
He quickly shifted into his dragon. Nuall took a step and leaped into the air, staying just above trees with a dusty light brightening the horizon. By the time the sun rose, his dragon had swept along far above the clouds over parts of Russia with little air traffic. Added to that, stormy weather boiled south of him. Staying above that allowed him to cut some distance while remaining out of sight the rest of the day instead of hunkering down until dark.
You should stop soon to eat, Herrick suggested to his dragon.
You are anxious to be home. I can wait.
He had the best of dragons. You are an excellent companion, Nuall.
When he realized he would have plenty of time to return home and the storms kept so many aircraft from flying, he gave Nuall freedom to cruise around above the storm and over land with few inhabitants. When the time came, his dragon took a direct route, entering what Herrick considered his territory with two hours to spare. On the way to the castle, Nuall spotted a wild tur grazing in a valley.
Herrick directed his dragon to eat.
Nuall descended to make quick work of killing and eating the animal. The meal took longer than usual, but his poor beast was exhausted.
With his belly full, Nuall sprung into the air and flapped calmly until landing in the castle yard. Herrick shifted, feeling just as worn out in human form, but he thanked his dragon and told him to sleep.
He took long strides to the castle amidst shouts of welcome from those of his people not already headed home for the evening meal.
On his way up the castle steps, his squire, Ryann, who was Fenella’s cousin, rushed up to him. “What do you need after your long trip, sire?”
“Nothing. Nuall fed on the way in. We are both tired and require only rest. Send everyone home for the evenin’.”
“Yes, sire.”
A few servers shuffled around the great room, cleaning up for the night.
He nodded at them. They smiled and continued working. He had never wanted to be a king and no one treated him as such. They showed him respect as their overlord, which placed the responsibility of their wellbeing on his back.
A good relationship for both sides.
He climbed the stairs to his room on the second floor and washed up. Feeling a bit refreshed and with a change of clothes, he had forty-five
minutes left. Plenty of time.
Herrick stepped out of his room and felt a disturbance in the air.
Swinging away from his intended path back to the stairs, he found the seer standing as an angry statue at the end of the hall.
“What is it, seer?”
She walked forward, her glower flawing the attractive face. “You sent her back.”
His irritation spiked at the condemnation in her statement. He wouldn’t tolerate her boldness from anyone else, but she had been his eyes and ears for many years. He’d searched for thirty-eight years to find her after the last seer passed, and another five years to convince this one to live at the castle.
She’d exacted a cost that he would pay one day, when the time came, but finding one with her powers in this current day presented a difficult task.
“Yes, I sent her home,” Herrick replied. “’Tis the only place she can perform her work. I flew her half the way to ease her travel.”
The seer curled her lips in disgust. “Such a considerate king.”
“I am not king.”
“You should be. Only a king would send an innocent into battle. You should tell Casidhe the truth about who she is and why that sword has come to life now.”
Herrick regretted sharing so much with this seer, but he’d had no choice. She would not come here without knowing everything he could tell her. She did not know all, though.
Some secrets could be shared with no one.
Holding his patience and keeping time at the front of his mind, he brushed off her concern. “Casidhe knows what she needs to know. I see no reason to complicate her life.”
“Complicate? The girl is in danger.”
“She is safe,” Herrick argued.
“If you wanted her safe, you would treat her the same as Fenella, who you gave a last name that meant nothing to others in our world. You would not have pinned a name on Casidhe that would be a bright target to your enemies. You use her as a staked rabbit for an eagle.”
He carried plenty of guilt for decisions he’d made and did not need the seer shoveling more on him. “I do no such thing!” he shouted, then calmed himself before others heard this conversation. “Casidhe will be fine. She has no background tied to Luigsech for anyone to hunt for her. She thinks makin’ her last name Luigsech was brilliant so that the squire families of the same name in any country who know of us will aid her.”