A slamming door startled her alert. Her eyes snapped open, and a young girl in a tight corset bustled into the room. She rushed up to Hazel’s rocking chair. “Oh, thank the heavens ye’re awake, Miss. His Majesty is callin’ fer ye down in the meetin’ hall. The whole castle is in an uproar.”
Hazel leaned her rocking chair forward. She surveyed the cold room of hard, grey stone. Only one tiny sliver of a window looked out over a wide grassy plane beyond. There was no lake or forest in sight—not anymore.
“His Majesty is callin’ fer ye tae come straight away, Miss,” the girl panted. “What shall I tell him?”
Hazel heaved to her feet. “You can tell him I’m on my way, but there’s no rush. The danger’s passed.”
The girl froze. “How do ye ken that, Miss? Ye’ve been up ’ere fer hours.”
“Never mind how I know it. Go downstairs and tell him I’m coming. I’ll be there in a minute. Where’s Fergus?”
“Miss? He disappeared. No one has seen him since the attack.”
“What?” Hazel gasped. “How could he just disappear like that?”
“No one kens, Miss. The King ordered a search fer him, but he’s nowhere tae be found. I’m sorry, Miss.”
Hazel sighed. “Never mind. Go downstairs and deliver the message.”
The girl hesitated. Then she rushed out of the room as fast as she entered it. Hazel didn’t go downstairs right away. She went to the window, just to be sure. What she first mistook for a wide plane now appeared to be some sort of mirage of shifting grey and white light. It played on the eyes like a scene from the outdoors, but she was still underground.
Now she was alone. Fergus disappeared somewhere. If the Faery couldn’t find him, Hazel certainly couldn’t. She just had to keep going, keep fighting, until she found her way through this mystery.
She let out a heavy sigh. None of this surprised her anymore. She left the room and walked down the curving staircase. Her instinct told her where to go until she found the King in a small chamber unlike the one she entered with Fergus. Bookshelves lined the walls, and the ten people in it filled it full.
Alasdair Sinclair stepped aside to let her through. Faing and Athol stood opposite him, and the company parted to create a path to the King leaning against the fireplace. “There ye are, lass,” he called out. “Tell us what’s goin’ on out there. None of us kenned what ye did, but the hole closed afore the Folk o’ the Dell could perform their spell.”
“I know,” Hazel replied. “I closed it.”
“How did ye do that?” the King asked.
“I just closed it. I couldn’t explain it to you if I tried, but I closed it and I repaired two others that would probably cause you trouble in the near future.”
He stood up straight. “Then you can stop these things attacking us.”
“They’re not attacking you. They’re a consequence of the curse, and I can’t stop them—not now. More will come through very soon. I can promise you that. I don’t know how to stop them. I don’t know if I can stop them. The curse—well, let’s just say it’s progressed pretty far—a lot farther than I realized. It may have gone too far to stop it.”
The King stared at her wide-eyed. “Dinnae say that, lass. Fer the love o’ all that’s holy, dinnae say that.”
Hazel hung her head. “I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you something different. I only wish I’d found out sooner. Then maybe I could have done something to stop it. I’ll do what I can, but it’s pretty bad.”
“Tell me, lass. Tell me what’s goin’ on.”
Hazel shook her head, but she couldn’t look at him. “I can’t. It wouldn’t make sense to you. This is mine, and the curse exists in my world. I…. I’m not sure what I’ll do next. It’s like the Loch Nagar witch said. I can close the holes one at a time, but that will only make the problem worse. The more holes I close, the faster they’ll pop up everywhere else. Pretty soon they’ll eat away the whole fabric of….” She stopped.
“Tell us what tae do, lass,” the King urged. “Tell us what tae do tae lift the curse.”
“I only wish I knew.”
“The Stone of Destiny mun’…” he began.
Hazel cut him off. “Forget the Stone. The Stone can stay where it is for now, and we can get it back without much trouble. The curse is a much more dangerous threat at the moment, and I don’t know how to fix it. Leave the Stone where it is.”
The King cocked his head to regard her. He pushed himself off the fireplace and strode toward her. He lowered his voice to a confidential murmur. “Ye can best, lass. Ye mun’ tell me ought I can do tae help yer quest.”
“If only I had Fergus here, he could see what we need to do. I’m blind without him.”
The words choked in her throat. She never realized the truth until the words came out.
“We ha’e other seers ’ere, lass,” the King told her. “They can tell ye where tae go.”
“Can they tell me where Fergus is?” Hazel asked.
The King looked away. “It may be.”
The words screamed through her brain, but she dared not say them out loud. She didn’t want another seer. She wanted Fergus. She wanted him, not for his sight, but for his solid presence at her side. She relied on him through this whole devastating experience, from her first days in Urlu. She didn’t want to face this fight without him at her side.
She gave up her humanity for him. She became an Urlu so she could be with him. Now she didn’t belong anywhere in the world but with him. Where was he? Was he dead? Was that what the Faery King didn’t want to tell her?
Chapter 17
Fergus walked through the forest until he crossed the river, but he refused to look toward his home castle. The temptation to return to his brothers overpowered him. He had to get out of here before he succumbed.
One thing he knew. One way or another, Hazel would go after the Stone. Whatever else she did, she would wind up at Loch Nagar. He only hoped and prayed she showed up there with some forces to fight the witch.
He ought to go back to Angus and spill his guts. He ought to rally all the Urlus to attack the witch. Heaven above, what was he thinking? Of course! He could get the Urlus to fight the…. Stop a moment. The Urlus wouldn’t fight the witch. They would fight the Burgees. The Burgees would turn them to stone. Fergus couldn’t tolerate that.
No, he had to leave here. He had to find a different way to defeat the witch and retrieve the Stone. He couldn’t do that without Hazel. Even ignoring her magical powers, he needed her at his side.
His heart ached for her. He spent one night with her, a night to crown his life. Would he ever get another night like that? He couldn’t go home to his brothers and his comfortable castle until he found her. He couldn’t watch Angus with Carmen and Robbie with Elle until he knew for sure he had the woman of his dreams on his arm for life.
He needed her. It all came down to that. He might as well go through life with one arm or one eye as face the world without her. He never let himself admit it, but that was the honest truth. He was half dead without her.
He set off for the fifth time, away from the castle, but he didn’t head for the mound, either. He wouldn’t find his answers there. He had to get back to Loch Nagar. He wouldn’t attack the castle alone. That would be suicide, but he would be there when Hazel showed up. He would be ready to help her get the Stone back.
He passed the mound, crossed the last stretch of forest to the fields beyond, and took off running over the open ground. His heart exploded out of his chest, his wings unfurled, and he launched himself into the night sky.
He stretched his dragon neck to the far eastern horizon and flexed his wings to cover the ground at racing speed. He rocketed toward Hazel, wherever she might be. He narrowed his eyes into the freezing wind and dusted the treetops going at his top speed. He charged through the night and into the pearly grey morning.
The jagged mountains came into view, and he zoomed up to their highest peaks. He circled until he spotted Loc
h Nagar in the distance. He wouldn’t go close enough to incite the Burgees. He would just skirt around until he spotted some activity down there. Hopefully Hazel would happen along pretty soon.
He soared around for a while, but nothing happened. He got tired of waiting, so he searched the mountain range for a likely landing place to rest his wings and get some sleep. He spied a peak flattened on top. He could land there.
He stooped toward it when a sizzling streak of orange fire shot out of Loch Nagar castle. It singed his wing. He barely had time to turn around when another three of the burning rockets launched into the air. They crackled past his ears, and one of them clipped his neck.
He whirled around with a shriek, but he couldn’t see any enemy upon which to return fire. He couldn’t see anything but the castle lying silent and peaceful below. While he deliberated what to do, another kind of weapon fired from the castle. He sensed it coming, but he couldn’t see it. It was invisible.
It rippled the air around him. The next instant, it hit him full force. It didn’t fly past him. It wrapped him in invisible coils and pinned his wings to his sides. His whole being screamed in rage and terror. He couldn’t fly. He hung suspended and powerless in mid-air, but he didn’t fall.
The invisible force swaddled his limbs and wings until he couldn’t move. It rolled him over and over in the sky, but it never descended. He struggled and screamed, but to no avail. He railed against the Loch Nagar witch. She must be watching him from inside her castle and laughing at his impotent efforts to free himself.
No matter how he kicked and fought, the force tightened its grip on him. It carried him back to the castle and lowered him to the ground. It came to rest in the courtyard, but it still didn’t release him.
He gave one or two more ineffectual jerks and gave it up. He collapsed, limp and helpless, on the cobblestones. What was the point in fighting? He tried to help Hazel, and he only made the situation worse. If she found out he was a prisoner here, she might do something unwise and ruin the whole situation.
No, he couldn’t start questioning Hazel now. She had her own problems to solve, and so did he. He had to find a way out of this. While he lay there, his temper cooled. He shifted instinctively, and his head cleared. He looked around the courtyard, but he didn’t see any people or animals. He heard no sounds in the distance. Maybe the place was deserted. Maybe the witch lived here alone and used her power to survive.
He lay there for what seemed like hours. Boredom set in until he prayed something would happen, even something deadly. He started to lose his temper again when a door slammed somewhere. He craned his neck to look all around and spied a woman coming out of a chamber behind him.
She was young, almost as young as Fergus himself. Her golden tresses brushed her shoulders above a long, cream-colored gown. A golden pendant in the shape of a star blazed on her lily-white breast. Her beauty captivated her. He never expected a witch to look like that.
Then again, he couldn’t know if she was the witch. No, she definitely was. He saw that right away. She swept across the courtyard and gazed down at him. A gentle smile played across her lips. She was a witch, but her appearance soothed his worst fears. She must be good the way the Faery King said she was. So why did she steal the Stone of Scone?
Her eyes darted right, then left again, and the force holding him released. He relaxed on the cobblestones. “You can get up now,” she told him. “You’re safe here.”
He got to his feet and glanced around the courtyard. “Thank ye. Are ye alone ’ere?”
“I’m not alone, but I have no companion to keep me company. Why don’t you come with me and get something to eat? You must be hungry.”
He nodded. “I thank ye again. I wasnae expectin’ this.”
She motioned him toward the door from which she just emerged. “This way. I’m Althea. What’s your name?”
“Fergus Cameron. Me brother Angus is King of the Urlus.”
She nodded. “I can see you’re an Urlu. Your brother’s fame has spread to the corners of the world.”
“I’m sure it has,” he replied. “It was a sight tae see.”
“And you were there to help him win back his Throne, I hear.”
He cocked his head. “You hear?”
“Of course. The whole realm watched and waited to see the Phoenix Throne released from its curse.”
“If ye ken that much, ye mun’ ken likewise the curse an’t released as yet. It still returns again and again tae threaten us.”
“I know it.”
He took a closer look at her. “Ye’re the one as talked tae ’Azel aboot it, are ye no?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then ye ken she’s the ainly one as can lift the curse. How’s she supposed tae do that withoot gettin’ sent back tae her own world?”
She opened a different door and ushered him into a hall set with a long table. Two places sat opposite with food steaming on the board. A decanter of dark wine glistened in the light coming through windows in the roof. She waved toward the table. “I don’t want to hear any more about Hazel until you’ve eaten something and drunk something. If you still want to talk about Hazel after that, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.
Fergus sat down. She poured him a glass of wine and served him a meal. She sat across from him and touched her own glass to his. “Here’s to you finally getting here. I thought you never would.”
He took a sip, and the liquid burned a hot path to his stomach. It filled him to the brim with overflowing satisfaction. He hungered for that feeling more than any food. He settled back in his chair and feasted his eyes on her angelic face. Her smile occupied his whole mind. She erased every other thought from existence.
Her voice caressed him somewhere deep inside. “That’s better, isn’t it?”
He picked up his fork and knife and set to work on his food. He demolished it in seconds. He never experienced such hunger in his life. After he put his utensils aside, her hand slipped across the table. Her fingers laced into his. Nothing ever felt so right.
He fell into gazing at her face. No Faery sight disturbed the glorious vision of her face glowing in the sunlight, her skin stroking his hand, and her eyes sparkling with delight. He let himself slip away on a cloud of delight.
How long he sat there entranced, he didn’t bother to think. One moment blended with another, into eternity. She broke the spell by standing up, but she never let go of his hand. “Come. I’ll show you to your room.”
She escorted him out of the hall, up a long, curved passage rising into the castle’s upper towers. She draped her hand over his arm, and they strolled side by side. He kept his eyes locked on her face so he didn’t see where she took him. He didn’t care.
She led him into an immaculate room. He never stayed in a room as nice as this back in Urlu. Only Angus and Carmen stayed in rooms like this. Elle and Robbie had a nice room, but Fergus and his other brothers took lesser rooms on the ground floor. Now here he was, getting the royal treatment from the Loch Nagar witch.
The room occupied the uppermost level of the tallest tower. Four large windows surveyed the landscape all around, with the lake spread out at his feet. Althea stood close at his side. Her warm, vibrant body hummed with suppressed energy.
He could stand here forever and never get tired of it. Her company infused him with life. He drank in every morsel of this experience to its dregs. He never wanted it to end. Nothing intruded on it from the past or the future. He wanted nothing else for the rest of his life.
Chapter 18
Hazel sat in a chair by the crackling fire and listened to the Faery King in conference with his advisors. They stood around a table pointed at maps. “The Fifth Regiment occupies this hill above the Faulkland Heights,” Alasdair Sinclair told the King. “They’re runnin’ low o’ food, and the wagon train winnae reach ’em fer another week at the earliest. We cinnae divert the Seventh Regiment from the Balclutha Line, or the Wackneest will overrun the Line and cross intae W
aymore County.”
The King sighed. “Does e’en one o’ ye ha’e any good news tae tell me.”
Hazel got to her feet. “I have some good news for you. None of this means anything if we don’t break this curse and retrieve the Stone of Destiny, so you can stop concerning yourselves with that. You’re wasting precious time on trivialities.”
“Ye told me ye had no idea how tae retrieve the Stone or break the curse,” the King returned.
“I know how to retrieve the Stone, but breaking the curse takes top priority right now. We shouldn’t even be calling it ‘breaking the curse’ because that’s not what it is. We have to repair the damage to the fabric. That’s all I know. I have to repair the damage.”
“If there’s naught anyone can do tae repair it asides ye,” Faing Douglas pointed out, “then there’s no reason we shouldnae concern ourselves wi’ trivialities while ye get on wi’ yer business.”
The King held up his hand. “Ye’re both right, and that’s the problem. Ye’ve told us time and again, lass, that no one can solve this problem but ye yerself. I’ve offered me help, but if ye dinnae accept it, I ha’e no choice but tae return tae the business at hand. Can ye fault me fer that?”
Hazel turned away to hide her burning cheeks. “I guess not. I guess I’m on my own.”
She headed for the door when Alasdair Sinclair rushed up behind her. “I’m comin’ wi’ ye, lass.”
“Alasdair!” she exclaimed. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Aye,” he replied. “There’s many a mon that’ll fight and die fer Faery. Ye’re no goin’ out there alone tae fix this ’ere thing, no if I can come wi’ ye. Ye’ll need a good, keen mon wi’ a sword, now that young Cameron is….”
“I’m comin’, too,” Faing replied, “and so is Menzies. We started on this ’ere, and tae a mon we wish tae see it through tae the end.”
“You can’t do that!” Hazel exclaimed. “You’re attached the King’s Personal Guard, and Athol belongs to the Black Watch. You can’t just up and ditch your posts, especially when the King needs you for his other campaigns.”
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