He kept his eyes on the ground as he walked, too caught up in his own thoughts to keep an eye on the townsfolk as they passed. With as Faie-addled as Finn had become in the forest, she'd probably told Kai everything there was to tell during their time alone. It still bothered Àed that he had not watched Finn more closely. Of course, having her stolen away while he slept bothered him a great deal more. In his prime he would have seen such an act coming a mile away . . . and Kai and Liaden/Anna would not have lived to tell the tale.
He could at least be proud that he had found her again. He had not lost her like he lost Keiren. It had been Keiren's choice to go, but it was still his fault that she'd made that choice. How could anyone have expected a man like him to raise a daughter? She'd been fated to turn out even more corrupt than he. It was in the blood, after all.
He looked at Finn as she cast a worried glance over her shoulder, as if someone might be following them. He knew Keiren's fate could just as easily befall Finn. Though she was kind, and seemed to have a firm sense of morality, she was powerful. She didn't know it yet, but she would. For any with the wherewithal to look properly, she shone like a small sun. She was shining more each and every day, making it easier for him to sense her when she was not near.
He wondered what events had occurred since she had been kidnapped, because something had brought her power to the surface, whereas before it was deeply buried. He would have very much liked to put her kidnappers to the question, but Finn protected them, and he would not go against her wishes. He would not alienate her as he had Keiren. He would also not make her aware of the power she possessed any sooner than he had to. It had done Keiren no good, and would do no good for Finn.
As they neared the gates of the port, Àed's thoughts led him to their current plan, a plan that would bring far too many answers to all. Iseult had devised a way to reach the Archtree, which was all well and good, if he actually knew how to find it. Àed knew that Iseult had a map, as he was nothing if not observant. Whether the map was correct or not . . . that was a whole other thing entirely. He hoped that the map was not correct, but he would not bar Finn from the tree's answers if they found it.
Àed shook his head. That dreaded moment was still far off. Their current task was to meet with Gilion. Gilion had been around longer than him, and likely even longer than Finn. Gilion could tell them if the map was valid. Not that he would, but he could. There was no need to worry, at least not yet. The map might not be the right map at all. Iseult was not aware that Àed even knew of the map, nor was he aware of why they were going to see Gilion. Àed had led him to believe that Gilion possessed information on what had happened to Finn. He might even have such information in reality, though once again, knowing information and being willing to tell it were two very different things.
Àed glanced back at Iseult. While he was grateful for Iseult's obsession with keeping Finn safe, he was also wary of his intentions. The Cavari had destroyed Uí Néid, yet Iseult seemed to genuinely care about Finn when the two should have been mortal enemies. Still, despite Iseult's affections, he highly doubted that the man's only goal regarding Finn was to right the wrongs of Uí Néid.
Àed glanced back again, and for a moment almost thought that he saw Óengus following behind them, but when he looked more closely, the man was nowhere to be seen.
Finn looked up at the ominous spires of Port Ainfean as Iseult guided her and Àed toward a large horse stable near the gates of the port. As they approached the stable, she first noticed Àed's shaggy horse, then the two normal looking horses saddled beside it.
“I requested upon our arrival that the horses remained ready,” Iseult explained as he handed her the reins to a chestnut colored horse. “I was not sure if we would have to depart quickly.”
The stableman approached, then quickly retreated after Iseult placed several coins into the palm of his dirty hand. Iseult turned and helped Finn up onto her saddle so that she would not have to hike her skirts up higher than necessary, then mounted his own horse, a sleek black creature that Finn found somewhat intimidating. As Finn's horse pranced about, unhappy with the new weight on its back, she found herself missing the shaggy mule-horse she had left with Anders.
Her heart ached slightly as the three of them rode out of the stable and through the gates of Port Ainfean. She did not appreciate the aching feeling at all, and wished more than anything in that moment to be a tree again. She never ached as a tree.
Óengus had been waiting outside the small house where they had first procured Finn, as she and her companions emerged and made their hurried way out to the main road. He'd heard Iseult mention the Sand Road, which meant they were either going to Migris, or one of the small settlements along the way. He could rationalize Iseult's desire to rescue Finn, he obviously cared for her, but he was unsure of Finn's motives. There had to be a reason for a girl who was once a tree to travel the Sand Road. Either there was somewhere Finn needed to be, or she was looking for something of great importance. People would usually pay a great deal for things of importance, and he was not limited to only procuring people.
He casually sauntered out to the main road, feeling confident as his mind set to a new endeavor. He could see Iseult's tall form, and the smaller shapes of Finn and Àed in the distance. He followed, leading his horse behind him, keeping enough distance to not be noticed, but staying close enough to never lose sight of his quarry.
Kai rolled over in his bedroll, feeling a bit of a headache from the night before. He imagined Finn would be much worse off than he.
“Are you alive up there?” he called in the direction of the bed.
There was no answer.
Kai inched his way out of his bedroll, then stood to look at the empty bed. At first he thought perhaps she had just gone in search of Malida, but then he noticed half of their supplies were missing, as well as the extra bedroll. Now fully awake, his jaw dropped in surprise with the realization that Finn had left intentionally.
His initial urge was to go after her, but why? He would not be turning her in for a bounty, so she was of little use to him. Even if he chose to be of use to her, it was clear that Finn wanted to be rid of him. He shook his head. She was a magical Faie-type being for earth's sake. How could he actually hope to be of any use to her? She had no place in his life, and he had no place in anyone's life. Not permanently at least.
He quietly gathered his things to leave, not in search of Finn, but in search of the next opportunity. He would find Anna eventually, and they would continue on much as they had before. Nothing had really changed.
Malida caught him as he was attempting to sneak out the back door, and he cringed at her sudden appearance. “First the girl, and then you, trying to sneak out without sayin' goodbye,” the little woman chided.
Kai rubbed at his groggy eyes and did his best to look apologetic. “It was a very long night.”
Malida clucked her tongue at him. “You shouldn't have let her go. She was good for you. I can always tell.”
“I did not have much choice in the matter,” Kai replied, “and she's better off without me anyhow.”
Malida raised both eyebrows in mock surprise. “My Kai, thinking of someone else before thinking of himself? The girl really was good for you.”
“I'm sure new opportunities will come along in no time,” Kai replied jovially, though his smile did not quite reach his eyes.
Malida just nodded and patted Kai on the shoulder before turning away. Kai turned back to the door to make his escape, but again his way was abruptly blocked, this time by Malida's daughter as she came inside and shut the door behind her.
“Where's your wife?” the young girl asked coyly.
Kai sighed and looked over his shoulder to assure himself that Malida had gone. “I'd like to know the same thing, honestly.”
The girl's expression softened. “I was out at dawn, gathering eggs for making breakfast in the tavern. I saw her on the main road, with a tall man and an old man.”
Ka
i nodded, feeling a nervous flutter in his chest. She was safe. “Good, that's good. Thank you for letting me know.”
The girl's face lit up, happy to be useful. “They were also being followed by a silver-haired man. I do not know that they saw him.”
Kai's expression turned to contemplation. The bounty was still available, and Óengus would want to fill it. With all of his conflicting emotions, he hadn't considered the fact that others would still be looking to fulfill the bounty. Perhaps she was not so safe after all.
He thought for a moment longer. “I need to go,” he decided. “Thank you.”
He patted the girl on the shoulder absentmindedly as he left, too distracted to notice her scowling after him.
He was so deep in thought that he did not notice the dark female form following him, yet always remaining hidden in the shadows, as he wove his way from alleyway to alleyway.
As they rode, Àed could tell that Finn was unsure of the task ahead of them, as if she questioned her choice to continue on. He knew it could not be so, because the girl had been positively irritating in her insistence to find answers. One would think that finding a tree that could give her any answer she sought would be her sole objective.
Yet he could see the longer she spent as a human, the more she became like one, and the more she was concerned with others. In the beginning, the girl could not have cared less about companions or the world of men in general. Now she fretted about leaving a man behind that had caused her nothing but trouble.
As they gained more distance from the port, Finn expressed her worries over the Faie, puzzling Àed, since someone who wanted to be a tree should not be overly concerned with what the Faie might do. However, he had to admit, the Faie worried him too. Talk had spread across Port Ainfean of more strange sightings, of bloody battlefields without evidence bodies, and people disappearing into the night.
Of course, there was not much to do about it, just as there was not much to do about Finn's developing humanity. There was no way for him to alter either event, and Àed highly doubted that any Faie they came across would be willing to explain what they planned, so it was better to not come across them at all.
“I keep getting the strange feeling of being followed,” Finn stated casually.
“As do I,” Iseult agreed from where he rode near her side. “We will be able to see anyone who follows once we're on the Sand Road. There will be little shelter to hide behind.”
Àed had not felt the presence of someone following them, and he blamed it on being too entrenched in his own thoughts. He glanced behind him and to either side, but could only see trees. “Gilion lives only a few days' ride from here,” he announced. “Once we reach the road, it should be an easy journey.”
He looked around at the trees once more. Yes, it would be an easy journey to find Gilion. It was the journey after that, that occupied his thoughts. That portion of the journey would be anything but easy. He glanced up at the sky as dark clouds slid in to block out the sun. A storm was coming. Àed hated storms.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Anders recalled the thundering of hoof beats, and now his sister was gone. He stumbled back out into the area where the confrontation had taken place. If it could be called a confrontation. He had not put up much of a fight.
He had pulled Branwen into a thicket to hide just in time. The hoof beats came to a halt in the clearing. First Anders saw the horses’ legs. He shifted slightly in hopes of seeing riders, but there were none. These were no horses. Where the horses heads should have been were human bodies. No, not human, Faie.
Their skin where it met with the body of a horse was gray-tinged and bloodless, like that of a corpse. The bodies otherwise seemed human, but not the faces. The creatures’ faces were too angular to ever be seen as human, especially with the large pointed ears as long as Anders' outstretched hand. Large, up-tilted eyes dominated their bony faces, peeking out under unkempt silver hair. While Anders tried to remember how to breathe, one of the creatures turned those large, up-tilted eyes toward him. The eyelids came down to briefly cover pure red, pupil-less eyes, then the eyes locked on Branwen.
The creature spoke in a strange clicking voice, and pointed to the thicket. Two more of the creatures approached. Anders tried to pull his sister away so that they might try and run, but Branwen pulled against him in the direction of the creatures. Anders had a hold on one of her arms, but she reached her free arm out towards the horse-like body of the nearest creature regardless.
Ignoring Branwen's outstretched arm, the creature turned to Anders. It was the last thing he remembered, and now his sister was gone.
Now he stumbled about on foot, as both his horse and Branwen's had run when the creatures approached, taking with them all of their supplies. He could clearly see what direction the hooves of the creatures had gone in, and did his best to follow them. Perhaps he could hire some sort of militia to get his sister back. No, he thought, those creatures dropped me without an ounce of effort. He tried to remember if the creature had struck him, but he had no recollection of such an occurrence. His mind felt foggy, but he had no telltale ache of a head injury.
He began to stumble along in the direction of the tracks, unsure of what else to do.
Àed looked off toward the other side of the nearby river. The past few days of travel had been uneventful, except for the rain. He had been convinced that the rain would never stop, when finally the sun made an appearance. The sun now shone on a small stone cottage with a cloud of gray smoke drifting from the chimney. The home stood alone, and was the only building near the Sand Road for two-hundred furlongs in either direction.
“How did I only notice that place just now?” Finn asked from atop her chestnut mount. They had camped not far from the small structure the previous night, but Àed had not bothered announcing that they'd reached their destination.
“Because ye didn't have me to point it out to ye,” Àed replied as he urged his mule-horse toward the riverbank.
Finn prodded her horse into motion to catch up to his side. “Is it some sort of magic?”
Àed nodded. “Of a sort, aye. Gilion prefers not to have visitors.”
Iseult rode on Finn's other side, never taking an eye off her since they found her in Port Ainfean. “Explain to me again, what good will he do us?” he asked without taking his eyes off the distant house.
Àed looked past Finn at Iseult. “He's had a longer life than meself several times over. He may even be older than our Finn.”
Finn glared over at him, her face a furious blush. “I'm not that old.”
Àed chuckled. “Old enough, lass. He can tell us if Iseult's map there is the correct one.”
“How did you-” Iseult began, finally turning his gaze to Àed, then held up a hand to stop any answers. “Never mind,” he conceded. “Let us meet this Gilion.”
Àed nodded gruffly. The party rode their horses across the River Cair, which had dwindled to little more than a shallow stream at that point, though it overflowed its banks with the extra rainfall.
As soon as they were clear of the water, they dismounted and tied the horses' reins to a nearby tree. The vibrant green hill that led up to the house was steep and muddy, and better traveled on foot. It was only when they reached the top of the hill, panting with exertion, that they could see how deteriorated the building had become. There were holes in the roof, and the mortar of the house was crumbling in several places to the point where it looked like the walls might cave in. Weeds and brambles grew up to cover the weakened walls, as well as part of the door.
Not wasting any time, Àed pounded on the rickety door. His knocks were quickly answered by a very tall man, who looked just as old as Àed had claimed. Long, pure white hair reached the man's waist. He wore white robes that were unstained, but seemed to have a fine layer of dust on them, especially heavy at the shoulders. The same dust coated the top of his head and the tip of his long nose.
The man's eyes were a pure milky white, highly evident as
he looked around blindly through the vines that obscured his door. His unseeing eyes settled on Finn and widened, then he promptly slammed the door in their faces. The sound of a lock sliding into place sounded shortly after.
Àed knocked again, but the door did not open. He placed his hand flat on the door and closed his eyes. After a moment, the lock could be heard sliding back into its original position.
The door creaked open slowly and Àed led the way inside. Finn and Iseult both had to duck in order to fit through the vines that Àed had easily passed under. The tall old man sat huddled in the corner of the room, making himself as small as possible. The entire interior of the house was covered in dust, just like Gilion. The man shook as if very afraid.
“Go away,” he said, with a tremor in his voice.
“What has happened to ye Gilion?” Àed asked. “Yer cowering like a little girl.”
The old man looked up with tears in his blind eyes. “The seasons are changing. The lines are faltering, undoing the old and bringing life to the new. Trees will fall, and changed earth will be left in their place. A storm is coming”
“Yer spewin' Traveler drivel now I see,” Àed commented. “Ye'll need to pull yerself together for a moment. We need ye to look at a map.”
“She cannot be here,” the man said pointing at Finn. “She wants her.”
Finn took a step back toward the door. “What is he talking about?”
“Trees will fall,” Gilion mumbled. “Change the earth.”
“Who wants her?” Iseult asked, ignoring the fact that Gilion was bordering on hysteria.
“Keiren,” Gilion said, a look of clarity returning to his face. “She doesn't just want her. She needs her.”
“What do ye know about Keiren?” Àed asked coldly. “What lies do ye tell about me daughter?”
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