The arpeggios transformed gradually, different notes inserting themselves into the scales like fish jumping in a waterfall. Out of the notes began to emerge a melody. It was tentative at first, almost a hint of a song, but grew in confidence.
Gwen closed her eyes and leaned back on her hands, enthralled. She let the music take over her senses as her imagination travelled on wild, whimsical paths. She recalled the cycle of star births and deaths she had witnessed at the marking ceremony and imagined herself floating in the vast emptiness between stars. The stress and pain of the past few days did not diminish, but the scale of her suffering shrank to nothing compared to the universe. It seemed easier to manage, somehow, after briefly touching eternity.
The music grew softer, quieter, and died away. Gwen let the moment finish before opening her eyes. Aidan smiled contentedly down at the lyre. Bran stared at him open-mouthed.
“That was amazing. How did you remember all that, especially if you’ve never played a lyre before?”
Aidan shrugged with a shy half-smile. “I just made it up.”
Gwen raised her eyebrows.
“That was beautiful, Aidan. Thank you for that.”
They smiled at each other.
Bran spluttered, “Seriously? You just made it up? Right now?” Aidan nodded and Bran looked flabbergasted. “Wow, there might be something to being human after all.”
“Where did you learn?” Gwen asked.
“I had lessons in piano and flute as a kid,” Aidan said, carefully laying the lyre on the ground away from the fire. “I taught the rest to myself, figured it out on my own. We didn’t always have money for instruments, but I got good at scrounging and buying used.” He made a face. “Mum’s not so keen on it. She likes hearing me play well enough, but she doesn’t think I can make it a real career. She’s a nurse, you see—I don’t think music is practical enough for her.”
“But you’re so good,” Gwen said, surprised.
Aidan shrugged.
“Thanks.” He picked up the flute and fidgeted with the keys. “I used to imagine my father was into music, like me.” He laughed humorlessly. “I guess I was wrong.”
Bran pitched in.
“Declan can’t make up music like you can, it’s true. But he’s an excellent player, and always has music in his house. I remember him saying once that he wished he had lived five hundred years ago, when bards still roamed the land and music was fresh and alive.”
Aidan stared at Bran, his face unreadable. Then he put the flute down and shoved another log in the fire. Sparks popped out and the wood hissed as sap bubbled within.
Bran said cautiously, “Will you—are you going to play some more? The night is still young, and I haven’t heard anything like it before.”
Aidan looked surprised, but gratified.
“Well, sure. Gwen?”
“Oh, please,” she said, lying down beside the fire and closing her eyes. She let her thoughts drift as Aidan brought the flute to his lips and began to play.
***
The fire was dying by the time Aidan put down his flute. Gwen had long since fallen asleep, her breathing deep and even. Bran was uncharacteristically still. He lay flat on his back, open eyes watching the star-strewn blackness above.
Aidan leaned back on his hands and kicked out his legs, toasting his feet by the fire.
“So what’s your game, Bran? Why did you really come to find us?”
Bran turned to look at Aidan with wry amusement.
“I didn’t lie. I think it would be the greatest joke ever to steal a human from Queen Isolde. All the ruling families can be so stuffy. Mine included.” He turned back to the sky. “And I wasn’t kidding when I said I liked Declan. He’s not as full of himself as the rest of them.”
Aidan swallowed. The fire gave a few weary crackles. Aidan let a few beats pass, and then said, “So it’s all just for fun? It’s a bit hard to believe.”
Bran looked at Aidan, as if measuring him up. He said, “I’ve always been fascinated with humans, ever since I was a child. My favorite nursery stories were the human tales. It’s like finding myth come to life, meeting you two. I guess I couldn’t resist knowing you better, learning more about humans, maybe even…” He stopped.
“Maybe what?” Aidan prompted.
“Nothing.” Bran laughed lightly. “I’m just always looking for an adventure. You two conveniently gave me one.”
Aidan lowered himself to one elbow with a sigh.
“I guess that makes sense. Although you’re the myth, you know.”
“Ha.” Bran rolled over to look at Aidan fully. “While we’re asking questions, what’s between you and Gwen?”
Aidan picked up an errant pinecone and began fiddling with it.
“I don’t know. We were getting pretty friendly before we came to this world, then we were all over each other at Loniel’s bonfire, and ever since then she’s been off and on. I think she’s just been controlling her emotions for so long for fear she’d use magic that she doesn’t know how to deal with them anymore. I don’t know, she’s such a closed book sometimes.” He sighed, picking apart the pinecone. “I wish we were back at Loniel’s bonfire.”
Bran chuckled.
“I bet you do.”
Aidan tossed the pinecone at Bran. Bran lazily raised a hand and burst the cone into a silent shower of sparks.
“That’s not what I meant.” He lay down and gazed upward at the stars. “She just seemed so free. So unburdened by being careful all the time.”
They contemplated the stars. Bran yawned.
“She can’t hold out forever. No one likes to be caged. She’ll stretch her wings eventually.”
They lay in companionable silence for a while. Aidan looked at Gwen as she breathed quietly, her face lit by the glowing embers of the dying fire.
“Bran?”
“Mmm?” Bran’s eyes glinted with the reflection of the stars above.
“Could you show me how to make that tracker ring thing?”
Bran grinned and sat up quickly.
“Of course. The ring is pretty simple to make in itself. Tracking takes much more effort and concentration. You have to focus all your will on reuniting yourself with the ring you’ve made. You’ll be able to feel the direction it’s in, a sort of pull in your gut. It will even come to you, if your will is strong enough. I haven’t tried that before, but that’s the theory.”
Aidan sat up as he listened.
“How do you make it?”
“Get some hairs first.” Aidan reached up and yanked a few out of his head, wincing. Bran continued, “Okay, good. Now just do a matter-transformation spell to turn it into metal.”
“Oh, of course.” Aidan looked at Bran from under raised brows. “The old matter-transformation spell.”
Bran laughed.
“It must be terrible to not know anything. Here.” He put his fingers to Aidan’s temple and closed his eyes. Aidan looked perplexed for a moment, and then his eyes snapped shut and his mouth opened in shock.
Bran removed his hands, beaming.
“There we are. Give it a go.”
Aidan opened his eyes, looking astonished. He slowly cracked a smile.
“Wow. I know it now. That was—really easy.”
Bran nodded, grinning smugly.
Aidan held out the hairs and stared at them intently. Nothing happened for a moment, until the hairs started to melt together, turning thick and shiny.
“Now twist it into a ring,” Bran instructed.
Aidan ignored him. Placing the melting hairs in his hand, he stared at them. Slowly they pooled into the center of his palm. The puddle of molten copper glistened in the firelight until it coalesced into a round, rigid disc with markings across its surface.
“What’s that?” Bran asked curiously.
“It’s a pence,” Aidan said proudly. “I wanted to try a different shape.” He passed it to Bran to examine.
“I’m impressed,” Bran said. “I’d be
more impressed if I knew what a pence was.”
“Do you not have money here?” Aidan asked incredulously. “You know, coins and paper you can buy things with?”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that from the old stories. No, everything is traded here. Goods, labor, spells, secrets.”
A sharp crack echoed in the woods beyond Gwen’s sleeping form. Aidan leaped up, his face pale.
“Relax, Aidan. It’s just the noises of the forest. Are there no forests in the human world?” Bran lay back, his hands behind his head.
Aidan sat down, keeping a wary eye on the darkness beyond Gwen. “Not like this one. Not where I’m from.”
***
Gwen awoke with a start at first light. The sky was only just starting to grow pink and the forest was dim and cool. The fire was full of ash, grey and cold. Bran and Aidan lay sprawled on either side of the fire in the mouth of the cave, their matching red hair making them look like brothers. Gwen sat up and pulled Bran’s sack toward her, fishing out an apple. She crunched it while she worked out the details of her plan. Today was the day they rescued Ellie. Today was the day they had to rescue Ellie. Gwen didn’t allow herself to think of failure.
Her apple done, she reached into the sack to grab two more and crawled over to Aidan.
“Wake up,” she said, shaking Aidan’s shoulder gently. He blinked unfocused eyes at her. “We need to get moving. Here’s breakfast.” She put an apple in his hand and wrapped his fingers around it.
Aidan sat up slowly as Gwen went to wake Bran. Both were yawning and rubbing their eyes as Gwen sat back down and looked at them.
“Okay, here’s the plan.” Aidan looked confused, and Bran sleepy. “Eat your apples—you’ll need your breakfast.” They started chewing obediently. “Okay, Bran, you can go visit Isolde’s court, right? Now that you’ve got your mark?”
“Yeah, she won’t refuse a son of Faolan.” Bran swallowed a bite of apple. “If I’m visiting properly, though, I’ll need to bring a gift.”
“Hmmm, we’ll have to think about that.” Gwen mused a moment. “Do you think if I wear a mask, you can pass me off as your date and Isolde won’t recognize me?”
“I reckon so,” Bran said. “We can change the color of your dress no problem. I could bring Aidan in a mask as well, but the two of you together might cause her to look too closely…” He considered Aidan for a moment. “What if we made you the gift?”
Aidan raised his eyebrow.
“Umm—in what way, might I ask?”
Bran laughed.
“She’s always getting new human dancers and musicians. I could say my father sent you as a goodwill gesture. I could say he received you from Landon’s court earlier, but knew Isolde appreciated music. That should get us in and welcomed no problem.”
“But everyone thinks Aidan is Breenan,” Gwen said. “He’s never been mistaken as human.”
“People see what they want to see,” Bran said. “But we can enchant him to exaggerate his human traits. No one’s going to look too closely at a human. No one will care.”
“But what if they put that binding spell on me too?” Aidan demanded. “Then both Ellie and I will be trapped.”
“The spell is designed for humans, I expect, so it should only hold you half as well,” Bran said casually. Aidan looked at Gwen, unappeased. “Besides, you have magic. You’ll be able to break free, no problem.”
“Well,” Aidan said, looking nervous but mollified. “If you think it will work.”
“Okay, so we all walk in. I’m masked, Aidan’s disguised, and Bran is himself. Bran will ‘give’ Aidan,” here Gwen made exaggerated quotation marks with her fingers, “to Isolde, and Bran and I will start dancing close to Ellie. Bran will cut in and dance her away and Aidan and I will follow when we can. We’ll all meet in the forest directly outside the castle door when we’re done. Then we’ll try to find the stone doorway.”
Aidan whistled his misgivings but made no comment. Bran grinned.
“Perfect. Aidan, remember to toss a confusion enchantment at your fellow musicians when you leave, so they don’t stop you.”
“Umm…” Aidan laughed once. “Don’t know that one, sorry.”
“Oh!” Bran thought for a moment. He reached out and touched Aidan’s forehead. “I’ll show you. Close your eyes and feel what I do.” Gwen watched as Aidan closed his eyes and Bran narrowed his in concentration, looking at her. Gwen was curious, until it clicked.
“Hey! Are you going to use it on me?”
Bran grinned briefly. A woozy feeling passed over Gwen, and her brain felt fuzzy. She could see things in front of her, but nothing made sense. She blinked a few times, then her mind cleared and Bran sat in front of her laughing delightedly.
“Bran!” She tossed her apple core at him. He dodged it, still laughing. “A little warning next time.” She stopped. “Where’s Aidan?”
“Right here,” said a voice in her left ear. She jumped violently and turned toward Aidan’s excited face. She swatted his arm.
“Oh, you made me jump.” She laughed. “So, the spell works? You get it now?”
“Oh yeah, no problem.” Aidan and Bran grinned at each other.
“Good.” Gwen leaped to her feet. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
***
They hiked to the main path and walked until they were just out of sight of the castle doors. Bran cleaned Gwen’s dress with magic while Aidan did his own clothes, then Bran set to work on Aidan’s face.
“It’s just an illusion spell.” Bran’s voice was soothing as Aidan looked at him warily. “You won’t feel a thing.”
“Why don’t you do it on yourself too?” Aidan asked. “Then we could all just go in without anyone noticing.”
“Illusion spells are pretty easy to see through. I’m counting on your status as a human to make sure no one looks too closely. No one would expect a human to have an illusion spell on them because humans don’t have magic, so no one would be looking for it.” He turned to Gwen. “So how do I make him look more human?”
Gwen chewed her lips and studied Aidan. He made a silly face back.
“Rounder cheeks and chin, larger rounded nose,” she said decisively. “Try that for starters. Oh, and brown eyes and brown hair, because she saw Aidan and his red hair yesterday.”
Bran cocked his head sideways and stared at Aidan. Gwen watched, fascinated, as Aidan’s face melted into a new shape. It was and it wasn’t Aidan. He was still there behind the now-brown eyes, but she wouldn’t have recognized him if she passed him on the street.
“That’s so weird,” she breathed.
“Damn, I want to see,” Aidan said. He sighed and tucked his flute under his arm. “Ready?”
“Don’t forget my dancing spell. And my dress color. And my mask.” Gwen fidgeted with her fingers in her nervousness.
“Yes, my lady.” Bran looked around in consideration. Then he whistled a short tune and waited, head upturned. Presently an answering whistle sounded in the trees above, and a small bird with striking orange feathers darted out of the branches of the nearest tree. Bran extended his arm and the bird landed on his wrist. Bran slowly reached toward the bird, hummed a few notes, and plucked out an orange tail feather. The bird flew away with a trill of indignation and Bran held up the feather in triumph.
“Come on, Gwen, let’s make this mask,” he said.
She looked at him questioningly. He stepped up to face her and laid the feather between her eyes on the bridge of her nose. He stared intently. A tickling sensation crawled across Gwen’s face, over her eyebrows and along her cheekbones. Aidan exhaled loudly in amazement. Bran put his hands on her sleeves, and flicked his head. Her dress shimmered with every color at once like iridescence on an oil slick, and settled on a deep autumnal orange to complement the feather. Bran stepped back, satisfied.
“There, all ready. You can take the mask off and on as you like.”
Gwen reached up and felt her face. The area around her eyes and ov
er her nose was soft and nubby. She found the edges of the area along her hairline and pried it away from her face. It came away with a pop as if suctioned on. She turned it over to view the front.
Bran had multiplied the orange feather a hundredfold. The feathers spread in a fiery wave from the nose to the edges, overlapping in layers upon layers. Tiny black feathers outlined the eyes. Overall the mask had the look of a wide-eyed phoenix.
“It’s gorgeous,” Gwen said, holding it back to admire it. She lifted it to her face again and it latched on with a little whoosh of air. She turned to Aidan. “Can you recognize me?”
He gave her a half smile. “You look just like a Breenan.”
“Well, I guess that’s the idea,” Gwen said, unsettled by the thought. “I just need my dance spell, please.”
Aidan came over and touched her forehead gently above the mask. Gwen was a little discomposed to look at him, unrecognizable as he was with his new stubby nose and warm brown eyes. She smiled tentatively.
“All ready then?”
He stroked the feathers of her mask gently, his face serious. Then he nodded and they turned to go. Bran offered his arm to her and gestured to Aidan.
“You should walk behind us, as the gift.”
Aidan grimaced but fell into place. They rounded the corner as the castle loomed large above them, and mounted the steps to the sound of the orchestra swelling through the door. Gwen’s stomach knotted, and as she looked back at Aidan she saw his knuckles whiten on his flute. Only Bran seemed unfazed, striding forward confidently. Gwen breathed out hard through pursed lips. Then she straightened her shoulders, put her chin up, and walked through the door with Bran.
Chapter 18
Gwen’s eyes adjusted to the candlelight quickly. She gripped Bran’s arm tightly as he looked around. He waved to an older Breenan in a brown suede jacket with green trim. Gwen thought it might be a sort of uniform, because the man moved smoothly over and bowed to Bran.
Breenan Series Box Set Page 18