“We need to get out of here.” Aini snagged Neve’s hand and they ran to the far side of the kirkyard.
Another ghost materialized near a snowdrift by the kirkyard’s stone wall. With the Cone5 working, Aini saw it first and pulled Neve to a halt before they could sprint straight through him. This former person wore clothing from at least two hundred years ago. A patch covered his right eye.
“It’s another one,” Aini said as the blue-white light that would allow Neve to see bloomed into being.
Neve gave a single nod and seemed to gather herself up. “You should ask him about the earl and see if he has any suggestions on how to sway him.”
The spirit spoke before Aini could say a word. “Command me, Seer.”
A shudder danced through Aini’s ribcage. “Who are you?”
“A salmon trader’s son.” His words wavered, fading in and out, making it nearly impossible to understand. “…your strength…could call one such as me without the Coronation Stone.”
Aini’s heart lurched. “What did you say? What do you mean?”
He inclined his head. The scent of the river—wet banks and minerals in the water—rose off his glimmering form. “I am no king. I come because you are the Seer.”
“What is he saying?”
Neve leaned closer as if proximity were the reason she couldn’t understand the spirit’s words. Of course that wasn’t true, but this ghost did seem more human than any of the others they’d run into so it made sense Neve’s first reaction was to come close to hear him like she would a person who was speaking softly.
“I can command you even though the Heir isn’t here with the stone?”
The ghost nodded. “I am no king.”
Aini turned to Neve. “I think this boy is willing to do what I ask because he somehow knows I am the Seer.”
“Could he fight for us?”
The spirit lifted, then fell, his shoes dipping into the earth. Aini felt desperate to squeeze information from him before he faded away. “Can you fight?”
Confusion twisted his face. “Touch? No. I am no king.”
“I don’t think he can physically affect the living world,” Aini said to Neve.
“What about a message?” Neve jerked her chin back toward the castle. “Maybe he could persuade the earl to make a decision we like.”
“Would you do that?” Aini asked the spirit. “Can you tell Earl Callum to support the rebellion against Earl Nathair, Chief of Clan Campbell and the king’s Head of Security?” She felt the odd need to be formal with this boy.
“As you will it, Seer.” The ghost’s form exploded into a shower of glittering dust and the kirkyard fell silent. The click of the icy rain on the tombstones was the only sound.
“He is going to talk to Callum,” Aini said. That was unexpected.
“What if he threatens the earl?” Neve walked at Aini’s elbow. The heavy fog still shrouded the kirkyard’s entrance.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, well…it’ll be for a good cause.”
Aini found Thane in the dining room where he was scribbling on a piece of paper. Numbers and letters filled every inch of the sheet except for one spot where he’d sketched a brain coded with patterns that showed which altered sweets affected which region.
He mumbled under his breath and pushed up glasses that weren’t there. “Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese…” A smile lifted Aini’s cheeks. He was rattling off the periodic table of elements.
She put a hand on his shoulder, feeling the muscles under his shirt, warm and strong. He hadn’t donned that terrible sweater yet because Callum’s staff had taken most of their clothes to be laundered and given each a spare set of something simple to wear. “It’s going to be okay. I found another ally for us in the kirkyard.”
Turning, he looked up at her with wide eyes.
She told him about the salmon fisherman’s son and the effects of the Cone5.
“I wonder if it’ll work.”
Callum strode into the room, boots covered in grass clippings and his face pale. “I’ll help you, lad. Lassie. It’ll be an awful mess, but I’m in it with you. To the end.”
Aini longed to ask if the ghost’s message was what had moved him to this decision, but she didn’t want to push it. Too often lately, she’d blurted things out and acted rashly. Bravery was one thing, but she’d gone past that a time or ten and sailed right into foolishness. She had to regain her strong practical instincts and be smart about what she suggested, said, and did.
“Are you truly ready to rebel against your father and your king, young Thane? How about you, Seer? Are you prepared to go to your deaths if the chaos calls for it?” As Callum spoke, Myles, Vera, Neve, and Bran walked into the room.
Thane stood. “I thank you for siding with us, Uncle Callum. And yes, I am ready. As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“It’s not as if we have much of a choice,” Aini said. “We’re called to do this and fate won’t let us ignore the situation at hand.”
“Yeah the baddies are going after you all regardless, so you might as well give them some good trouble,” Myles said.
Thane cracked a smile, but Callum’s face remained serious.
“What do you suggest we do first?” Callum asked. The butler/guard/server came in with a tea tray and Callum waved the man out of the room.
“Will you call a clan gathering at Inveraray for me, Uncle?” Thane’s jaw cast a shadow over the tendons in his neck and the worn edge of his white undershirt.
“You’re certain that’s the right choice.”
“I must detail Nathair’s and the king’s wrongdoings. Then we’ll expose who we are and what we plan to do.” He nodded toward Aini. “I have to make my plea, answer their questions, and win them to our side.”
Callum smiled sadly. “Aye. To do this and come out alive, you will need to do a great deal of very fine talking.”
“As long as I don’t have to jump any more of your bonfires, I’ll be fine.”
Callum barked a laugh. “I can’t promise you that won’t happen after a few drams of whisky.”
Relief loosened Aini’s tensed muscles and relaxed her fists. The revolution was about to begin in earnest, but at least they had this powerful earl to back them.
Chapter 15
A Calling of the Clans
Thane had only seen it done three times. Never from here. Uncle Callum put five of his loyal men and women onto horses. The saddles bore skirts showing his coat of arms, and as the riders burst from the front gates of Huntingtower, the colored fabric fluttered in the vortex of the horses’ speed and the opposing wind. Hooves threw chunks of grass and soil behind the mounts and Callum blew a horn taken from a Highland cow. The sound reverberated in Thane’s chest and reminded him of the kings’ blood inside his veins.
Thane stood close to his uncle, near enough to smell his shaving cream and the wet wool of his coat. No one in his family, extended or immediate, had ever risked this much for him.
“I thank you, Uncle,” he said softly, feeling very young. “If there’s anything I can do…”
“You can win, that’s what you can do. Win, then let me come back here, to my home and my people.”
The beat of hooves faded as Aini drew up beside Thane. “Why horses and not cars?”
“It’s tradition,” Thane said. “No other news is delivered this way. Only the call for a gathering. The moment the horses are spotted in each county, word is spread and the traveling begins. It won’t take nearly as long as you might guess.” He faced her and set his hands on her shoulders. “Are you ready to stop doubting yourself and act as the Seer that you are?”
Smirking, she covered his hands with hers. “Say that into a mirror, love.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Are we ready?”
She studied the space around him, most likely watching his aura glow. “I know one thing for sure.”
“What’s that?”
“I am more t
han ready to stop sneaking around in dirty boots, pretending to be someone else.”
“Is it the pretending or the unclean footwear that has you most bothered?”
“Shut your gob, laddie.” Aini pinched his stomach and marched back inside.
Thane said a little prayer that she would make it through this. It would kill him if she…no, he wouldn’t say it. Not even in his mind.
The late afternoon sun warmed the steering wheel and Thane’s knuckles. The road was empty. Too empty. He didn’t want to mention it and worry the group more as they approached Inveraray. The quiet back roads gave way to salt-white shops, black roofs, and…gray pavement devoid of any tourists or locals? A dark feeling crawled down Thane’s back.
“Do you have your taffy on you?” he asked Aini.
She’d told him the young ghost claimed she could command him and other lesser ghosts. Hopefully, they’d scare the stuff out of their enemies.
“Yes. Do you have your caramel?”
“Aye. But no gun.”
“Well, we agreed on no obvious weapons, right?”
“Right,” Bran said from the backseat.
Myles snorted. “Besides the caravan of Callum and company behind us who are surely toting buckets of guns.”
“Yes, besides that, we come in peace.” Aini’s lips bunched to one side like she was thinking.
Thane’s palms began to sweat. “I never took the stone from its hidey hole in the back of the truck.” He lowered the visor to block the harsh, lowering sun. “How am I supposed to do anything with that big boy anyway?”
“I really want to make a joke right now,” Myles said.
Neve tsked at him. “Restrain yourself.”
“It’s a valid question,” Bran said.
“You commanded that ghost to talk Callum into his decision,” Neve said. “So why do we need the stone now? Aside from making it roar in front of the people to show them you’re the Heir.”
Aini shook her head. “The ghost I used to send the message to Callum said he couldn’t do anything physical to this world. It’s my guess that only the ghost kings can carry out any true defense of the Heir. We need the stone in Thane’s hands to call them up.”
“Which leads back to my question: how do I use the stone properly? It’s no small rock.”
Aini snapped her fingers and some of Thane’s worry faded at the sight of her mind at work. “We can break off another piece of the stone. A small piece. You could wear it on a chain around your neck.”
“Och, that’s a braw plan,” Bran said. “Does anyone have a drill in their back pocket?”
“Are you being sarcastic with our Seer?” Vera hadn’t spoken since the nose-breaking. Thane had hoped she was working toward being amenable. But maybe she was merely angry as a wet cat. “You can slight me all you like, you and your bizarre threesome you have going on back there.” She looked at Myles and Neve in turn. “But the Dionadair won’t put up with you disrespecting our Seer.”
“I meant no disrespect at all.”
Bran’s voice was dangerous. He may have been the kindest man Thane knew, besides Lewis MacGregor, but he had beaten deadlier people than Vera down, and Thane had no doubt he’d take the whole rebel crew on if he thought it was the right thing to do.
Thane blinked at the sun and took a right turn. “We’ll stop at the car park just there, near the apothecary, and see if Callum’s group has a way to make this chip of the stone.”
A half hour later Thane wore a leather string around his neck. A chunk of the Coronation Stone, roughly the size of a pound sterling, hung heavily from a metal ring. Bran had drilled the tiny, careful hole, using his explosives skills. Thane kept the stone between his undershirt and his sweater, not wanting the magical object to touch his skin.
“Does it feel strange?” Aini asked as they started toward home.
“It does.” The fire in his blood burned hotter with the stone so close to his flesh. It was a scary sensation. Like he might come undone if he kept it so close for too long.
“Your aura is brighter. What are you worrying about?” She squeezed against him to look in the mirror at the trail of trucks and cars behind them, probably double-checking Callum was keeping his word.
“Not about my uncle, if that’s your fear. I’ve never seen him break his word. I don’t like the look of the streets, if I’m honest.”
“There’s not a person out today,” Neve said, “and with this better weather, you’d think they’d be at the shops.” She spoke the truth. After all that rain and ice, folk should’ve been on the streets, buying and talking and drinking.
Everyone in the truck went quiet as they drove past a sign for the castle.
“I’ve never seen Inveraray Castle.” Aini leaned over Thane’s arm to peer out the window as he turned the truck toward the new gatehouse at the base of the drive.
A woman and a man in Campbell tartan and kingsmen jackets stood at the barred entrance. Codekeepers. Thane’s pulse ticked faster. Faster. This was the moment. They’d be shot on sight if Nathair had found out about Bass Rock and the death of Rodric.
Thane lowered the window. “Gallowglass,” he said.
Aini shared a puzzled look with Myles. Thankfully, both kept quiet.
The woman pressed a button and the black, iron gates swung open.
The pebbled drive curved between hedges that threw dark green shadows. The flickering shapes of birds shook the tiny leaves, making the plants themselves seem nervous.
Vera cleared her throat noisily. “I just hope you have the stones to lead, Heir.”
Maybe it was just the stress of everything, but Thane was fairly certain Vera was growing meaner by the day. Thane threw the door open and Aini climbed out behind him.
“Stones the lad has,” Bran said. “It’s his sense of self-preservation I’m not so very certain about.”
The group cleared the truck to catch the first view of Thane’s childhood home.
Aini sucked in a breath.
Thane tried to see it as Aini would. Larger than Huntingtower. Less ancient, more majestic. The structure blocked the orange-pink glow of the setting sun. Its smooth, stone exterior had a corpse’s pallor. A series of conical towers, graced with medieval style turrets, stood guard at the ends. Gothic, arched windows looked down on the group. The newer stone surrounded what looked like an older, more square version of what castles started out as—fortifications. Part of this house was very old. Part of it was much less ancient.
“Can you see the old keep within the structure?” Neve said.
“I noticed that.” Aini just kept staring.
Whistling low, Myles took Neve’s arm and followed Thane. “Let’s hope we live long enough to show this place our backsides as we leave.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Neve said.
Thane’s took a breath and tried to calm down as he surveyed his childhood home. He could not drown in that overwhelmed feeling right now. “Welcome to Inveraray Castle, everyone,” he said darkly.
Vera fluffed her short dress and fell into line behind Aini.
Bran looked like he was about to vomit. Made sense. He’d seen more of what Clan Campbell could do than the rest of them combined, save Thane.
Chapter 16
Demons to Wrestle
No kingsmen guards in Campbell colors flanked the door. Aini wasn’t sure that was good. A woman with white hair piled high on her head and a long woolen skirt emerged from the front door. Something about the set of her shoulders and the shape of her head reminded Aini of Thane.
Thane’s face softened as the woman smiled at him. “What happened to your phone? And where is Jimmy?”
The woman squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers tightly against the back of his neck. Her skin was smooth for someone with white hair, her face nearly free of lines. Why would a woman of her age—perhaps a little younger than Aini’s father—have lost all the color in her hair?
“Oh I’ll tell you everything, but first
let me meet your friends.” A shadow crossed her face. It could’ve been fear or worry, or maybe she had a secret.
Thane hugged her again, then presented his mother to Aini and the others. “This is my dear mother, Senga Campbell.”
“I knew it,” Vera whispered. “Maternal threads are a very peculiar shade. I’m getting better at this every day.”
Aini put her hands over her heart. Her own mother would never meet him. Her eyes burned. At least her mother wasn’t suffering through this.
“Welcome.” Senga’s voice was a little shaky, like she was nervous. She touched her silver ball earrings nervously and opened the door. “Please come inside.”
The group gathered awkwardly under the chandelier of the entry hall as Thane took his mother aside.
“Have you heard any talk about me?” he asked her.
“You know no one tells me much of anything.”
“I also know you have your way of finding out what you need to know.”
“Not any more. Your father lies and lies and all anyone around here does is parrot him.”
She led everyone into a mint-colored parlor covered from ceiling to floor in tapestries.
“Two days ago, one of the guards took my phone. No one will admit it, but I had it next to me while I was reading the paper. A woman came in to retrieve something from Nathair’s desk, then the phone was gone. It was her. I know it. But why, I have no idea. And Jimmy. He disappeared.”
“When did you see him last? Was there an argument?”
“Who is Jimmy, if I may ask?” If he was Thane’s brother, surely Aini would’ve heard about him before now.
Thane swallowed. “Jimmy is our butler. He has run the household for more than three years now. He’s a good sort.”
Senga agreed. “I’ve told the kingsmen here to look for him, to ask after his family in Inverness, but we haven’t heard anything.”
“Probably wise of him to fly the coop before the foxes get hungry.”
“What do you mean, son? Are you in some trouble?”
The Edinburgh Seer Complete Trilogy Page 38