"I think you're looking for trouble in the wrong place," he said evenly.
"But?"
"But not everyone is going to be what they seem."
"Cryptic," she muttered, already feeling more annoyed than she should. It wasn't fair for her to have such high expectations on him. The only person she had the right to expect things from was herself.
"But yes, I'll watch him for you."
"How did you-"
"You're very easy to read, Macey. Your mistrust is written all over your face. Much like your anger is on occasion too. You might want to watch it around the beithir too. She's your friend, true, but you can't ask her to choose between you and the man she loves."
The words sunk in slowly. Mostly because she wasn't ready to accept them yet.
"So what do I do?" she whispered.
"I can't answer that. You're the only one who can. But you need to trust the other Wardens. Any weaknesses in the bonds you share will only play into the enemies hands."
"What did you just say?" Macey asked eagerly, an idea forming in her head.
"Any weaknesses will be an advantage to your enemies?" He cocked his head, a puzzled expression on his face.
She didn't explain to him. She couldn't. The less he knew about this the better. In fact, there was only one person she'd be able to talk to about the plan forming in her head and she doubted he'd like it. Still, he was a Warden. He'd do his duty, as they all would.
"You look like you're plotting something."
"Oh I am, you gave me a great idea." She went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, leaving him shocked in her wake.
For the first time in a while, she felt like she had a handle on the situation. And more importantly, a plan in place. All she had to do now was hope Izban played his role.
Chapter 11
"Why are you looking so smug?" Jared demanded between bites of his breakfast. "We haven't gotten any closer to breaking the castle's defences and you wouldn't let us do anything fun last night."
"Too right I didn't," she replied, carefully avoiding his real question. "There are far too many people about for us to do that." And she didn't want her night time activities reported back to the kelpies. It was one thing them knowing she had four men, quite another for them to do it and get caught.
And then there was Luc...
Her gaze strayed to the daimon, who was busy chatting with Cam, no doubt about some mystical and ancient being the rest of them hadn't heard of. So long as she was told about whatever beast it was before she had to face it in the flesh. Though that was seeming less and less likely as time went on. There was certainly more to this world than she first thought.
"Macey? You didn't answer the question."
She ignored him, her attention already on a frazzled looking Amber barging out of her tent.
Right on schedule.
"Izban?" she called. At first, it almost seemed like she was just calling for him. But Macey could hear the concern in her voice.
At least that meant the Ice Warden had done what she'd expected him too. Guilt welled up inside her at the thought of hiding this from the others, but she knew she had to. For this to work, they couldn't know.
"Have any of you seen Izban?" Amber asked, reaching the fire around which they sat.
"Was he not with you?" Cam asked, breaking in his conversation.
Amber shook her head violently. "No. His spot in our tent is cold too. He hasn't been there in a good while," she said before anyone could ask her how long he'd been gone.
"When did you last see him?" Rónàn asked, ushering her to one of the log seats and handing her a steaming cup of tea.
She took it reluctantly, but Macey could tell she wanted the support of her friends. Her heart broke a little for the beithir, this next day or so wasn't going to be easy for her. Not in the slightest. And if this went wrong...
It didn't bear thinking about.
"Was he alright last night?" Rónàn continued with the questions.
"He seemed to be, yes. Perfectly normal. He kissed me goodnight and then we..." She scuffed the dirt with her shoe, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
Beside Macey, Jared nodded, confirming she was saying exactly what Macey thought she was.
"And then he was just gone?" Rónàn's face pulled into a frown, as if he just couldn't work it out.
Macey stayed silent, not wanting to reveal what she knew. Now wasn't the time, even if it hurt her friend in the short term. Amber would understand it was for the good of them all. And the world.
She looked up at precisely the wrong time, catching Luc's eyes. The daimon gave her a knowing look, like he'd seen what she was up to and worked the rest out. The implications of that were ever so slightly terrifying, but she didn't break.
"We'll find him," Rónàn assured the beithir. "He has to be in the camp still, there's nowhere else to go."
"If only that were true," Amber muttered, giving a haunted glance at the Keep behind them.
Macey didn't turn to look. She didn't want to face the place she'd been held captive until she had to. Maybe that was the coward's way of dealing with things but at this point she didn't care. She'd rather be a coward than a quivering mess and that's what the castle would leave her as, she was sure of it.
"He can't be there," Jared butt in. "If he is then he'd have found what we've all failed to so far."
"Maybe he did. Maybe he called his aos si and found a way..." Amber's eyes grew large, as if becoming convinced that was true.
"He tried that already," Cam pointed out. "I doubt it would work any better the second time."
They all nodded and relief flooded Amber's face as a result. She was so worried for him, which only tore Macey up inside. She didn't want to be doing this to her friend but it truly was safer if she didn't know the truth.
"I'm sorry, I know we don't have time for this. Just give me a little longer and I'll be ready for the day." Amber's face changed suddenly, growing from drawn and worried to determined. This time it was admiration which flooded through Macey. Her friend was truly a very special woman. Her bravery and determination were something to be admired.
"What's the plan for today?" Luc asked, looking around the circle.
"We need to prepare for another attack on the Keep," Macey answered, speaking up for the first time since Amber had joined them. "But not attack until dusk."
Seven heads swivelled in her direction, each of them looking at her with differing levels of disbelief.
"Why dusk?" Flint asked the question they were probably all thinking.
"A feeling," Macey lied. In truth, she was hoping to have had a signal by then and wanted to be sure they didn't waste the opportunity they now had. If they wasted it, there was a chance the woman who was fast becoming her best friend would never speak to her again. Even thinking that didn't sit well with Macey. Just as she didn't want to lose her men, she didn't want to lose her friend either.
"You want us to stake our lives on a feeling?" Cam asked, raising an eyebrow in slight disbelief.
"Why not a feeling? Hasn't our whole relationship been based on a gut feeling?"
She watched as Cam spluttered but didn't confirm or deny it. She didn't need him to. She knew as well as he did that he'd taken her to the house because it felt like the right thing to do. She almost laughed. That seemed like so long ago. A completely different time when she really was nothing more than a kelpie princess kidnapped by two wraiths and an incubus.
She sighed. It was true it had been simpler then but she couldn't bring herself to regret the rest of their journey. It had brought her to so many different places and met so many different people. Without it, she wouldn't have found Rónàn. Or Amber. Or Luc. People made this whole thing worth it.
"Okay then," Rónàn said slowly. "What are we going to do until dusk?"
"I could think of a few things," Jared muttered and while Macey was tempted to give in to his desires, she knew there were more important things to do.
"Amber, do you want to join me? I think lightning will be the hardest element to work with."
The beithir nodded, still a little pale from worry. Macey was going to have to distract her as much as she could. She didn't want her friend to suffer. Although if this went wrong, she might no longer have a friend, but an enemy. She sighed inwardly. Was it worth that? Losing their friendship? She thought of all the pain Amber had gone through at the hands of the Mahoun and decided that it was. As long as the Mahoun was put to justice, it would be worth it. If it all failed though... she didn't want to think about that. It had to work. It just had to.
"Yes, I'll help you," Amber said softly, her usual smile gone.
"Call us if you need any of us as well," Cam offered, nodding at the other Wardens. "Guess we'll do some training ourselves."
Macey took Amber outside, a short distance away from their camp, far enough that they weren't watched by curious onlookers.
"How are we going to do this?" the beithir asked.
"Ehm..." Macey didn't actually know. This was all one big fumble in the dark.
Amber smiled grimly. "Let's try this. I'll charge the air around us with electricity, that will make it easier for you. All you'll have to do is gather that power and discharge it into lightning."
That didn't sound too hard. Still, it took Macey at least ten tries until she managed to create a small, pitiful lightning bolt which barely reached the ground before disintegrating.
Amber laughed. "I don't think this is your strongest element."
Macey joined her laughter, glad the beithir was distracted enough not to think about her missing boyfriend. "No, I doubt that. I just don't feel the magic the same way I feel my own. It's strange, like it's a foreign object in my magic, if that makes sense."
The beithir nodded. "Maybe try combining the lightning with your water magic? That might make it stronger. Water conducts electricity."
Macey hadn't thought of that before, but it made sense.
Amber charged the air again and Macey felt the familiar tickle on her skin. She focused on her tattoos, reaching for the lightning power embedded in one of them. This probably wasn't the actual place her new elemental magic resided, but it made it easier for her to focus on it.
This time, she also pulled some of her normal water magic, and activated both of them at the same time. A lightning bolt tore through the air, strong enough to make her hair stand up.
"Yes!" Amber shouted in delight. "That's it!"
Macey grinned and created another lightning bolt. This time, the air wasn't charged as much, but it ended up being still slightly larger than the very first one she'd made.
"Now you just have to do this another hundred times or so," Amber said with an evil grin. "By then you should have a feeling for the magic."
Macey sighed. The beithir was probably right, but she didn't really like this magic. It felt wrong, especially when combined with her water magic.
"Are there any other ways I can use lightning?" she asked, hoping to distract Amber. Her eyes had begun to grow sad again.
"Well, sometimes I use thunder to scare people," Amber said with a shrug. "If you want to distract someone, create some thunder close to their head. They'll shriek and forget whatever they were about to do. I did that all the time as a child, until I almost burst someone's eardrums and my father forbid me to do it ever again." She grinned. "Not that I listened to that."
"Rebellious teenager?" Macey asked, remembering her own teenage years. She'd got up to a lot of mischief.
Amber smiled. "Something like that. That was until they sent me to Ben Veir though." She shuddered a little and Macey quickly changed the topic. She'd heard how other students had bullied Amber there and she really didn't want to open old wounds.
"Okay then, teach me how to do thunder," she said instead.
"This will sound weird, but just imagine two clouds and squeeze them together with as much force as you can."
"Seriously? Imagine clouds?"
"That's what I do," Amber said apologetically. "I don't think I can describe it any differently. It just happens. I learned it as a child so it's kind of instinctive."
Well, that didn't help.
Macey did what Amber had said, imagining clouds, but nothing happened whatsoever. Her magic wasn't based on imagining things that weren't there. Maybe thunder was a project for another day.
"Let's do some more lightning," she said with a sigh and to prove her point, created a tiny lightning bolt which singed the ground.
It took a couple more attempts for Macey to be able to conjure lightening along with her water magic. But now, she watched the two dance together, entwined as if they should have always been as one.
"Try adding another?" Amber suggested.
Macey nodded, trying to think what would work best.
"Fire," Amber whispered. "You can control it already and it is similar to lightening. You should be able to add it easily enough."
Macey's stomach cramped tightly as she considered summoning fire. When she'd been waking her markings up, she'd hastily put out her flames as she was too worried about them consuming her again. The last thing she wanted was to bring down destruction on their camp just because she'd got cocky.
Still, Amber was suggesting it and if the beithir could get past what Macey did with fire, then she could too. She closed her eyes for a brief second and pulled the fire to the surface. Holding back so it didn't all come out at once, she fed it into the lightening and water spiral, spinning it around so the three elements plaited themselves together.
"It's beautiful," Amber whispered, an ever so slight hint of envy tainting her voice.
Macey's gaze snapped to the beithir, who just shrugged.
"Wouldn't you be envious if I was the one creating this?" She waved her hand towards the beautiful tunnel of elements.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why..."
"It's fine. I'm not jealous, just having a little bit of envy. You make a lot of sense. You have Air, three of the other Wardens are your mates. It makes perfect sense for it to be you. Plus, being the hero sounds kind of exhausting."
"Isn't being the best friend exhausting too?" she teased.
Amber laughed, sounding a lot lighter than she had before. "I think it’s safe to say we're all exhausted. But we're also all determined. We can take the worst the Mahoun throws at us and still be stood up fighting. But you know that, or we wouldn't still be stood by your side."
"Mmhmm." Macey nodded quickly, trying to ignore the guilt over Izban. He'd agreed to do his part after all, she really had nothing to feel bad about. If she kept telling herself that, then maybe she'd start believing it.
"I know you know where he is, Macey."
"What?" she snapped, the elemental plait dropping into nothingness along with her shock.
"Get the magic going again," Amber instructed. "But also, I wasn't sure until you just confirmed it. But you need to be able to keep control of your magic no matter what is thrown at you. If one statement from me can do it, then you're not good enough."
Macey focused for a moment, pulling out her water magic first before adding the lightning and finally the fire. "How did you work it out?" she asked once she was sure the magic was stable again.
"You didn't say anything this morning. And you're not that good of a liar either. I could see it in the way you were sitting."
"You're observant."
"And I know you well enough."
"I don't understand. If you know, then why are you still here?"
Amber sighed and sat down, indicating that Macey should too. "Keep the magic going though.
And maybe add a fourth one."
"Got you," Macey muttered, conjuring up Air to do her worst. The threads switched places, separating and turning into two threads entwined around one another.
"I know you and I know Izban. For the two of you to have agreed to something, I know it had to have been necessary for all of us."
"It is," Macey confirmed.
"It doesn't mean I'm happy about it though. Or that I'll ever forgive you if something happens to him," she warned.
"I wouldn't expect you to," Macey replied.
"And I'm sure it would be the same if the positions were reversed. Add another."
Macey nodded, calling on earth and adding it into the mix. Controlling the magic was harder now. She could feel it draining her far quicker than she wanted it to. Regardless, she kept it going. She didn't want to disappoint Amber more than she already had today.
"You're doing well," the beithir noted.
"I'm not sure I can do anything with the magic though." Her words came out through gritted teeth as she tried to keep her concentration. This was a lot harder than she wanted it to be.
"Of course you can." Amber looked around, probably searching for some kind of target. "What about that tree over there?"
"What do you want me to do with it?" Macey asked, eyeing it up from where she was sitting.
"Chop it down? Though really anything will do right now." Amber shrugged.
"Why aren't you asking me where he is?" Macey blurted.
"Two reasons," Amber answered, holding up two fingers so she could tick them off. "Firstly, if I needed to know, you'd have told me. I trust you. I trust him. Which means I don't need to know yet. And secondly, given where we are, there's only one place for him to be. And don't think the others won't have worked it out too by now."
"I'm sure they have," Macey replied, thinking back to Luc's knowing look. None of the men were stupid, they'd have figured it out.
"Stop stalling. Chop down the tree."
"I don't think this combination of magic is going to be good at chopping," Macey countered.
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