Then again, she hadn't planned to become stranded on one of the coasts.
The selkie coughed. "Are you aware you have six marks on your back?" he asked.
"Ye...six?" She spun around to face him. "Did you say six?"
"Yes, there's six. Five smaller ones in an almost circle, with the sixth larger in the middle. There appears to be a gap though."
"Six..." she repeated, realising that must have meant she'd gained her own mark. Just Izban's left to collect then. That was a start, even if she wasn't aware of just how to actually manage that.
Then again, this whole adventure had been a mystery from start to finish. She didn't see why now would be any different.
"Do you know where we are?" she asked the selkie.
"Of course," Rónán replied.
"How far is it to Village Bay?"
"Maybe fifteen minutes' walk? Are you cold, by the way?"
She blushed a little, reminded that both of them were still naked. She hoped her men wouldn't see her like that, they might get jealous. Waves, she'd get jealous if she saw them naked with another girl.
"I'm fine, but I need to get there quickly. Just point me in the direction and I'm sure I'll find it."
He frowned. "Trying to get rid of me?"
"Not at all, but don't you have better things to do?"
Rónán chuckled. "Now that I saved you, I'd quite like to know you're continuing to be safe. Do you have friends here on the island?"
Macey nodded. "Yes, several of them. We're only here to do... a task. Something I tried to do and almost drowned. We'll leave as soon as we're done with that."
"Pity, it's rare that we get visitors here who aren't humans. There's been too many tourists recently that we have to hide from. And divers, exploring the sea caves. There were none today though, so I took the chance to go for a dive in my favourite cave - that's where I found you. Were you exploring them as well?"
"Something like that," Macey muttered, but then had an idea. "Have you ever noticed the crystal in that cave? On the pedestal?"
"Of course. It's been there as long as I can remember. Generations of selkies have tried to lift if off its stand, but none have succeeded. It's become a bit of a tradition for young selkies to try, like King Arthur's sword. Why are you asking?"
"Just wondering, it looked so pretty," Macey evaded the question. "But shall we walk back to the village? I may be getting a little cold after all."
Her men spotted her before Macey could see them. They ran up the hill the kelpie and the selkie were descending from and before she knew it, Macey was wrapped in Flint's warm arms.
"You're freezing. Here, let me warm you."
Hot air enveloped Macey and her goosebumps slowly disappeared. She hugged Flint back, reveling in his touch and warmth. Right now, the Fire Warden was exactly what she needed.
"Who are you?" Cam asked Rónán with barely hidden hostility. The selkie was standing behind Macey, looking a little uncomfortable. Not because of his nakedness, but because the three men were glaring at him.
"I'm the selkie who saved your girlfriend's life."
That shut up Cam and Macey was glad about it. She didn't need them start a testosterone-induced fight.
"What happened?" Flint asked Macey, still holding her tight in his arms.
"I underestimated the thing inside the Staran. But I know now why they're dying, and I know more about the Voice too. How about we return to the house and talk about it there? I'd love to put on some clothes too."
"Don't worry, I brought them with me," Jared said cheerily and produced the clothes Macey had shed before she'd shifted earlier. She quickly put them on, but handed her jacket to Rónán.
"You can bind it around your waist," she suggested. "You don't want to give Amber and Izban a heart attack."
Rónán laughed but did as she'd suggested. "Who are those two? Prudes?"
"No, but Amber is the youngest of us," Macey said. "It seems that I'm a bit protective of her virtue."
Jared laughed. "You don't want to know what they were doing when we came to look for you. I don't think there's much left of her virtue."
Macey cringed. "Stop it, I don't want to imagine them snogging."
"Didn't you encourage them to work out their sexual tension not long ago?"
"Yes, but..." Macey shook her head. She didn't know why she was suddenly thinking of Amber in that protective way. Like a big sister, even though there were only a few years between them.
"Let's go back," Cam suggested. "I can't wait to hear what's been going on in the cave and why you suddenly brought a selkie along. I thought your two kinds didn't get on."
Rónán and Macey sighed in unison.
"That animosity is based on a lot of nasty rumours on both sides," Rónán explained. "But the two of us seem to be mostly unaffected by those."
Macey cringed a little, remembering how anti-selkie she'd been in the past. She'd certainly become more tolerant in recent weeks, mainly because she'd not had any exposure to other kinds of supernaturals before. Now she was surrounded by them and she loved the variety.
It turned out they were only a few minutes away from Luch's house, but despite the short distance, Macey wished she was wearing shoes. The ground was full of pointy stones that hurt her bare feet. She almost debated a partial shift so she could have her webbed hooves, but that seemed too much of an effort. With all the adrenaline caused by almost drowning, she'd forgotten how tired she was, but now that she was safe with her men, the exhaustion returned.
"Macey!" Amber was standing in the doorway, waving as she saw them approach. "We were worried about you!"
"Everything's fine!" she called back. "More or less," she added under her breath. She was going to need some tea to get the strength to explain everything.
* * *
A few minutes later, she was wrapped in a blanket and had her hands curled around a warm mug of tea. Flint had dried her hair, although he'd managed to make it extraordinarily frizzy. Rónán had been given the same treatment - except for the hair. His short blond hair had been dried by the wind already.
Taking a long sip of tea to strengthen herself, Macey told the other Wardens about what had occured down in the sea cave. Somehow, she didn't mind Rónán hearing it all. It wasn't as if it was a secret, and if he wanted to stay along and be confused by her strange tale, that was fine. She liked the selkie, even though she'd only met him half an hour ago. She had a good feeling about him; maybe he'd be one of their future allies. They could certainly use having the selkies on their side. There were a lot of them, many more than kelpies.
"So, this thing inside the Staran is the same as the Voice?" Izban asked, summarising what Macey had told them.
"Yes, and it said that there are many more of them. If they can take on different shapes and purposes, they're going to be hard to find. I did see a tiny connection reaching out from this one though, so if we somehow managed to follow that, we'd be able to find them one by one. Maybe you have a spell for that?"
Izban nodded. "Possibly. I'd need to look at it first."
"I might be able to help with that," Jared said, making them all look at the incubus. "You said there was a hole in the cave ceiling that let in light and air, right?"
"Yes, it was tiny though."
"Then you're lucky I'm Earth," Jared replied with a grin. "If we find that hole, I can get us all down there. Maybe together we'll be able to kill that Self-Doubt thing and heal the Staran - at least for now."
"If you don't mind, Bradaigh and I will stay here," Luch said with a cheeky smile. "We have some catching up to do."
Macey smiled back. "Of course. Now that all seven of us are united, it should be doable. This will be our first big test. Time to show the world that we really are the Wardens."
She just hoped that overconfidence wasn't yet another sibling of Self-Doubt.
Chapter 17
With Rónán's help, it didn't take them long to find the hole. It was covered almost completely by bushes of sorrel,
but thanks to Jared's Earth magic, he was able to spot it despite the plants.
"Clever, it almost looks like a puffin burrow," Cam remarked. "The perfect camouflage."
To Macey's disappointment, they'd not spotted any puffins yet. Maybe it was the wrong season. She loved those tiny, comical birds, even though she'd only seen them once before. But the grassy slope they were standing on was covered in burrows where they'd lay their eggs in the summer.
"The cave ceiling was stone, right, not earth?" Jared asked Macey and she nodded.
"Yes, beautiful smooth stone. No stalactites, strangely enough."
"Good, that will make it easier to find where the earth ends and the cave begins. You may all want to step back a little."
They did as he asked, watching curiously as he kneeled on the ground and put his hands on the wet grass. He closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate hard.
The ground began to rumble and shake, but it was only a gentle tremor, nothing as bad as what Macey had experienced down below in the cave. She was a little sad that she wasn't diving into it this time. It had been so beautiful to see the world beneath St Kilda, but she understood that the others had to take the boring route.
Scratch that. Clumps of earth were floating into the air as Jared furrowed his brow. They hung above the ground while the hole slowly expanded.
Macey hadn't seen Jared's magic in action yet, but somehow, she hadn't imagined it to be this strong and impressive. Tiny beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead as he heaved more and more earth into the air. She watched with bated breath as the hole turned into a shaft wide enough to fit even someone Flint's size through.
Finally, Jared let out a sigh of exhaustion and the balls of earth fell to the ground, far away from the hole they once covered.
"How do we get down there?" Rónán asked but Macey shook her head.
"I'm not sure you should come with us. I think this is a Warden thing that we have to do ourselves."
"I could stand guard, in case you drown yourself again?"
Macey cringed. Maybe it was a good idea after all to have another person with them who wasn't directly involved.
"Okay," she admitted. "But try and keep back, no matter what happens once we touch the crystal."
The selkie nodded. "Of course. But again, how do we get down there? I don't fancy jumping."
Cam laughed. "Wind Warden, at your service. Who'd like to be first?"
When nobody volunteered, Macey sighed and stepped forward. "I trust you," she told him with a smile. But please don't let me fall nonetheless."
He chuckled. "Stand by the hole and keep your arms close to your body. Call when you're at the bottom, then I'll send the next person down."
She did as he'd asked. Before she could even say something, she was gently lifted into the air. It was strange; she couldn't feel anything holding her, not even something beneath her feet. She'd expected an air cushion or something like that to stand on, but no, it was as if she was floating weightlessly. It was a strange feeling and she wasn't quite sure if she liked it.
She hovered over to her right until she was straight above the hole. She refused to look down. Not that she was suffering from vertigo, but she didn't want to tempt it either.
Slowly, she sank down into the earth, descending through the dark tunnel Jared had created. It was wide enough that she could have reached out to touch the walls, but she kept Cam's warning in mind and resisted the temptation.
She only looked down once the shaft widened and she entered the cave.
It looked just like it had earlier that day, except that there was slightly less water surrounding the pedestal. The tide had to be out, which was a good omen. No drowning this time, hopefully. Flint would feel more comfortable soon, being surrounded by more air than water. She really didn't understand his aversion to water. Sure, it was the opposite element of fire, but her element was water and she didn't feel uncomfortable around fire.
When she landed softly on the stone slab the pedestal stood on, she called for Cam to lower the next one down into the cave.
Amber arrived with a smile on her face. "It's strange to fly without flying," she said to Macey as they waited for the others. "I think I enjoyed it."
Izban didn't look as happy as her, and neither did Jared. Flint had some trouble squeezing through the final bit of the shaft, but he didn't seem to mind his shirt being a little muddy. Rónán whooped as he was lowered down by Cam, obviously not used to such magic. Macey was wondering whether selkies had any magic of their own, besides the ability to shift into seals. She was going to have to ask him later, once their task was done.
Cam himself flew down fast, almost falling, only stopping when he was inches away from hitting the ground.
They all assembled around the pedestal. The stone slab below was just big enough to let them stand on it without getting wet feet. As promised, Rónán stayed back a little, letting the Wardens form a circle around the crystal. It looked just as it had before: beautiful and glistening in the light coming through the hole in the ceiling.
"I'm not sure what is going to happen once we all touch it," Macey warned as she put her hands on the crystal. "Maybe we'll all be in the same place, maybe we'll each have to fight Self-Doubt on our own. Don't forget that you're strong. We all are. We don't have any reason to doubt ourselves. There's a reason we were chosen as Wardens, so let's prove that we can defeat this evil thing."
"Well said," Cam smiled and placed his hands next to Macey's. "Let's show that if you mess with one of us, you will feel the wrath of all seven Wardens."
The others didn't seem interested in doing heroic speeches, and simply touched the crystal.
"What now?" Jared asked, but a second later, Macey was pulled by her navel and pushed into darkness.
Seven stone thrones... she knew this place! Macey got up from the floor where she had landed and looked around for the others. All of them were here, by her side, either on the ground or in the process of getting up while swaying slightly. Izban seemed close to throwing up.
"Is this the place you were dreaming of?" Amber asked in wonder, walking to the nearest stone throne and running a finger over the smooth surface.
"Yes, but back then, there were people here."
This time, the thrones were empty. They were alone.
"Do you think we need to sit on them?" Flint asked, walking to the one next to Amber's.
Macey shrugged. "I don't see why not. Maybe something will happen then? This isn't what I experienced earlier. It was all very different then, shinier and less dark. No room but a tunnel. Well, it wasn't at all like this."
"I'll take the biggest one," Jared shouted and ran over to the one furthest away from where they had landed. Macey laughed when she saw his enthusiasm. It was good to have some humour in this strange place.
She took one on Amber's right. It was made from black marble, the dark stone interlaced with silver-grey strands. She hesitantly sat down on it, but in the end, it was just a chair. A very fancy, stone chair that was in a throne room. She ignored that bit, it was too strange.
Hadn't the former Warden in her vision said that one day, this throne room would appear for them all? She just hadn't expected it to be this soon. And why did they need thrones?
Cam was the last to sit down, looking down at his seat in bewilderment. "It says Camdan on the headrest," he told the others. "But it appeared out of nowhere."
Macey turned around, looking at her own backrest. True, her name was suddenly engraved in a golden, swirly font. How very weird.
"My name is here, too," Amber confirmed.
"And mine," Izban added. "What does it mean?"
"I think these thrones are now permanently ours," Macey said slowly. "Maybe we've taken over from the previous Wardens officially?"
"Yes, you have," a new, sad voice suddenly said. Luch.
The woman appeared out of thin air in the centre of the throne room, first translucent, then slowly becoming more flesh and
blood until she looked fully human.
"Luch? What are you doing here?" Izban asked sharply. "What's going on?"
He sounded slightly panicked, which was exactly what Macey was experiencing. She had a bad feeling about this.
"A new beginning means the ending of something old," Luch replied, her voice missing its usual spark. "To have the full power of the Wardens, which you need to defeat this evil, it needs to be taken from the last ones. And the very first."
"No way!" Macey shouted, jumping up from her throne. "You've co-existed with the other sets of Wardens, just continue doing that. We don't mind!"
"It's time that I join my husband on the other side. He's had to wait for me for far too long. And now that I've got to meet the six of you, I know that the Wardens' legacy is in safe hands." She smiled again, but it couldn't hide her sadness. "Please make it worth it. Defeat the parasite clinging onto the Staran, defeat Mahoun, defeat all of these evil beings affecting the world. Although with the first one, Self-Doubt, I may still be able to help you."
"Is there no other way?" Amber asked, tears making her eyes look large and bright.
"No, little beithir, there isn't. So don't cry. I've lived a long time and I've not been able to touch my husband for most of it. You should be happy for me."
A tear ran down Macey's cheek. "Then why are you so sad?" she asked Luch, who looked at her in surprise.
"I'm not sad about my death. I'm sad to leave you alone, without my help." She stood up tall, turning around until she'd looked at every Warden. "Are you ready to take your first big step as the Seven Wardens? Are you ready to make a decision over life and death?"
Despite her tears, Macey nodded and saw that the others did the same. They were united in grief for a woman they hardly knew, but who was going to sacrifice herself for the future of this world.
"Luch... thank you," Macey whispered, her voice breaking.
The woman smiled. "You're very welcome. Now, on to business. I'm going to summon Self-Doubt and will try to fight it. It will see me as the most delicious meal it's ever seen. I have a long life of memories for it to feed from, so hopefully, it'll be distracted. Kill it while it's not paying you any attention."
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