by Hazel Hunter
“The bastarts have tracked us,” Cadeyrn said, his hands fisting.
Emeline tried to stand, staggered and fell on all fours. “Do you reckon I could crawl to higher ground? I’m a good crawler.”
“I’ll carry you, Florence.” Rowan brought Perrin over to Cade. “If you can handle two.”
“One, actually,” Lily said as she stepped to the very edge of the cliff. “Get to climbing. I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.”
“Are you out of your mind?” the carpenter demanded. “It’s six stories down. Get away from there.”
“Take our ladies to higher ground and get them to Dun Mor, right away,” Lily told Cadeyrn, who was putting Perrin’s limp form back on the ground. When he met her gaze, she smiled. “I love you, boyo. Never forget that.”
“Gods, Lily.” As he started toward her his expression filled with something she had never seen him once show: fear. “You cannae do this.”
“Terribly sorry, love. My choice, really.”
She turned and spread her arms as she jumped off the cliff.
Falling was almost as exhilarating as flying, Lily thought as she plummeted. She turned slowly, letting the air stream over her, and felt as free as she did in Cadeyrn’s arms.
She hit the water a moment after she heard her lover shout her name, and the shock of the icy pool knocked the breath from her lungs. Falling might be lovely, but drowning was decidedly not. Kicking madly, she surfaced, gasping for air. Her back and legs ached from the impact, but the water almost instantly numbed them. She shook the wet hair from her face as the famhairean began clawing their way out of the earth.
“Lily,” Cadeyrn shouted from above.
“Hello, you sodding monsters,” she called out, grinning at their hate-filled cracked faces. “Did you enjoy scampering about the countryside? Not that you could scamper. You lot are nothing but oversized worms.”
Coig uttered a scratchy, horrible sound as he trudged toward the pool. “Come to me, you conniving mortal snail. Come now and I willnae pull off your arms and stuff them down your deceitful throat.”
“You had your chance, you sadistic wanker.”
She swam backward as she summoned all of her power and directed it at the first pair that came out of the ground. Her push sent them flying into another pair while she redirected her power to the water around her. It rose up like a shimmering curtain to surround the pool with a ten-foot wall.
“Get out of there, you ditz,” Rowan yelled down to her. “Run while you still can.”
“Busy,” Lily called back.
Pain blossomed behind her eyes. When she wiped a warm trickle from her nose, blood flowered over her knuckles.
“Lily, for the love of the Gods.” That was Cadeyrn, and he sounded as if he might jump off the cliff now.
“I’m all right here, my lover,” she said as she looked up at him. “But I can’t hold this forever.”
Something hit the water with a splash and zipped past her. Lily felt a slice of pain across her outer arm. The freezing water around her took on a scarlet tinge as she ducked another spear that came hurtling at her head. More followed, some piercing the depths around her while others flew up over her toward the top of the falls. She heard Rowan cry out, and then Cadeyrn shouting for the women to take cover.
It would all be for nothing unless she stopped the spears as well as the giants.
Something hot and agonizing pounded from inside Lily’s skull as she poured on more power to hurl back the weapons. Only a few got past her, but when she heard Emeline shriek in pain, she knew she’d have to go full on with everything she had. With a huge mental shove, she sent the wall of water directly at the famhairean, dousing all of them.
The giants’ sodden bodies shook as twigs and leaves sprouted all over them. Coig, who got the worst of the soaking, suddenly grew roots that sank deep into the ground. When he met her gaze, he looked exactly as Edgar had when he’d gotten a quail so stuffed with dill it reeked like a giant sour pickle.
Good-bye, Daddy.
As much pain as she was in, seeing Coig rendered immobile made laughter pour out of Lily.
“I win, Coig, you gormless manky plonker.”
Her pleasure didn’t last too long. A few moments later her vision dimmed, and her left arm became completely useless. She couldn’t move her left leg, either, so her body began to sink.
Emeline had warned her about this.
Brilliant. I’ve had a stroke.
As the frigid water closed over her pounding head, she looked up through the bubbling water to see a transparent shape splash down into the depths. Suddenly cool blue light enveloped her, wrapping her in the softest sensation, as if she were being cradled by downy wings.
The shape turned dark, and then became Cadeyrn.
Hard hands seized her, and water rushed around her. Her lover swam with her to the surface, water streaming down his face as he held her plastered against his chest.
“I willnae let you go,” he said, his voice shaking. “You must stay with me and love me, lass, for that is your punishment. I shall marry you to be sure of it.”
She couldn’t speak. Her mouth moved but only slurred sounds came out of it. Somehow, she dragged up the one arm that still worked, and put her hand to his face. She could hear more giants coming up out of the ground, and the cries of the wounded women at the top of the falls. She closed her eyes, calling on Cadeyrn’s battle spirit to help her, and with the last of her strength pushed him away.
Do your job now, my love. Save our ladies. Save yourself.
Chapter Twenty-One
CADEYRN DRAGGED LILY to him yet again, and saw the blood trickling from her nose and ears. He gripped her neck and moved his fingers until he found her pulse, which throbbed slow and weak. Half of her face had pulled down, distorting her pretty features. He couldn’t leave her, but with the advancing famhairean he couldn’t carry her up to the other lasses.
Gods, that you would thrust this choice upon me.
At the top of the falls he saw Rowan with a hand to her blood-soaked shoulder. Emeline clutched her side with both hands but blood seeped through her fingers. Perrin still lay unconscious where he had put her. The three of them couldn’t climb down to him. With such injuries either or both might soon bleed out.
Cadeyrn would not sacrifice the other lasses to save his dying love. Nor could he leave Lily behind to die alone. They would have to do as he did.
“Rowan,” he shouted, and when the carpenter looked down at him he pointed to the cliff’s edge. “Jump. All of you.”
“You’re insane,” she called back.
“Lily survived,” he shouted. “So can you.”
Just then a spear whizzed by so close that it nearly parted her hair. She hoisted Perrin over her unwounded shoulder and held her hand out to Emeline, who shook her head. Rowan said something to her and held out her arm. When the nurse hobbled over to her, Rowan clamped her against her side.
Emeline let out a screech as Rowan jumped over the edge with her and Perrin.
They fell in the water with a tremendous splash. Cadeyrn held onto Lily as he swam one-armed over toward the other women. Spears began shooting past him, and then he heard a voice bellow in the old tongue.
“Bràithrean an fhithich.”
He turned his head to see his chieftain and clan ride in behind the giants, their swords flashing in the moonlight as they hacked away the famhairean’s limbs. Beside Brennus his wife also rode, her pale slender hands freezing every giant she touched.
The Gods had heard him, and had answered in the best possible manner.
Cadeyrn reached for Rowan, tugging her and the other lasses to him as he took on his water-traveling form. “Keep hold of me.”
“You got it, pal.”
The carpenter wrapped one arm around his neck, and used her other hand to cover Perrin’s nose and mouth. Emeline grasped him around the waist.
At long last he sank down into the icy waters, filling them with
bubbling light as he envisioned the river outside Dun Mor, and streamed from the waterfall into the currents that transported him and his ladies to the other side of the highlands. When he surfaced and returned to his human form, Rowan released him and looked around at the Great Wood.
“You really were telling the truth.” She chuckled and shook her head as she dragged Perrin and Emeline over to the bank. “Come on, Florence. We’re safe now.”
As soon as Cadeyrn released her, Emeline helped Rowan shift Perrin onto the bank. Then she turned around and slapped the carpenter with a loud, cracking blow.
“That’s for dragging me over the cliff,” Emeline said flatly. “I told you I’m terrified of heights. I cannae swim, either. And I might have bled to death.” When Rowan opened her mouth, she held up her hand. “If you call me Florence again, you hateful wench, I’ll break your pretty nose.”
“Duly noted. By the way, I’m really sorry I didn’t leave you to die.” The carpenter rubbed her cheek as she watched Cadeyrn carry Lily out of the currents. “What’s wrong with her face?”
The nurse glanced at Lily, made a sharp noise and limped and hopped down to join them.
“Put her on the ground, please, lad.” When he did she pushed up Lily’s eyelids and checked her ears. “Lily? Can you hear me?”
At that moment Perrin’s eyes opened, and she rubbed the back of her head. “Why am I wet? I was talking to Lily. Oh, my God.” She sat up and looked around them. “Ro?”
“She knocked you out,” her sister said, crouching down to give her a hug. “You missed the spear and water fight, too.” Her dark eyes met Cadeyrn’s gaze. “Lily and our Skaraven saved us.”
He held onto his lover’s hand. Now you must save me, my lady.
“Cade, it looks as if she’s had a stroke,” Emeline said very gently. When she saw his blank look she added, “The blood to her brain was cut off, likely when she used too much power. It causes paralysis on one side of the body.”
He told himself she still breathed, and her heart still beat. Death had not snatched her from him…yet.
“Can she recover from it, Emeline?”
“Some do, but the damage is done,” she told him. “We need to get her inside and warm.”
“Mayhap I can be of aid,” a deep voice rumbled as a huge shape stepped out of the shadows.
Perrin screamed and lunged in front of her sister.
“It’s okay, Perr,” Rowan said and patted her back as she regarded Ruadri. “Just FYI, we’re not good with sneaky, supersize guys appearing out of thin air. Cade?”
“’Tis our clan’s shaman, Ruadri.” He tried to focus on his brother, but his mind still reeled with what the nurse had said. “He’s the most trusted of my brothers, so dinnae fear him.”
The shaman carefully approached, while the nurse hopped backward and put more space between her and Ruadri.
“My lady,” the shaman said, sounding pained. “I shallnae harm you. I’m a healer, like you.”
“You just stay away from me,” Emeline told him, sounding furious now.
“Ru, summon the sentries and take the lasses back to the stronghold.” Cadeyrn lifted Lily and carried her to him. As he handed her to his brother it felt as if he were wrenching off his arms. “She used too much of her power, and ’tis made her apoplectic. I must borrow your blade and return to the battle.”
Ruadri turned to one side so Cadeyrn could draw his sword from his belt. “I’ll do what I can for her and see her safe until your return.”
“Go carefully, Brother. She’s my heart.”
Cadeyrn kissed Lily’s brow before he turned and ran to the river. He dove in without looking back. Bonding with the water, he raced back to the ridge falls and emerged from the pool with Ruadri’s blade in his hand and wrath in his heart.
Brennus and the clan had moved into a long, rectangular schiltron formation to create a living wall around the famhairean and block the escape of those not yet sprouting branches. Most of the giants had their backs to the water, giving Cadeyrn the advantage of approaching them unseen. His hands gripped the hilt of the long sword, finding the proper hold as he came upon them from behind. He struck two with a forward and back blow, sending pieces of them flying as he sliced off the arms in which they held spears. As they tottered, he cut their legs out from under them.
Another turned to jab a spear at him, hatred in his face.
Cadeyrn caught the weapon and wrenched it out of the giant’s hands. “You dinnae fight unarmed lasses now, you cowardly cac.”
Kicking the famhair’s knee broke its leg, and with a savage thrust he drove his sword through its neck. With a twist of his hands he decapitated the giant and shoved aside the headless torso to ram the stolen spear into the face of the next to rush him. He quickly surveyed the battle. Lady Althea moved among the fallen famhairean using her freezing power to make sure they’d never rise. Cadeyrn noted the positions of his clan and the giants still able to fight. They had clustered tightly, the weakness of the untrained.
“Brennus,” he shouted to the chieftain. “Thistle bloom.”
The chieftain called out the maneuver. The Skaraven shifted into a tight inverted triangle, their blades pointed outward in a continuous fan of lethal iron. With a flurry of chops, thrusts, and great arcing swings of his blade, Cadeyrn drove the famhairean before him and around the triangle. Instantly the formation spread out like a blooming thistle, surging past the confused giants, before the men reversed direction and trapped their enemy within it.
Limbs and spears flew into the air, until one of the giants called out, “To the Wood Dream.”
Cadeyrn roared his fury as he shouldered past his brothers to see the giants disappear into the ground. Glaring yellow lights rose from the injured to plunge after them. Huge furrows knocked the Skaraven from their feet. But Cadeyrn stabbed at the earth, hacking deep until a hard hand jerked him upright.
“They’ve fled,” Brennus told him, and nodded past his shoulder. “All but that one.”
Cadeyrn turned to see the famhair that Lily had called Coig, the one she most hated, the one that had broken her neck. The water had left him rooted fast by the edge of the pool, his form distorted by a growing tangle of ugly limbs. Cadeyrn stalked over and around to behold the giant’s face still visible in the tumorous growth.
“You cannae kill us, you mindless fool,” Coig said, his grating voice filled with gloating satisfaction. “My kin shall fashion a new form for me, and I’ll have her again. When I do I’ll fack her with my great hard–”
Cadeyrn drove his blade into the giant’s mouth, splintering the remains of his teeth and slicing down deep to silence his tongue. He drew back his sword to hack at the branches and outgrowths, over and again, until Coig mutely stared out of a ragged stump. He then called to his clan, and they gathered around the giant.
“For my lady, that you may never touch another innocent again.”
Cadeyrn hacked at the roots from under the stump. When he’d freed it from the ground the clan helped him lift and heave it into the water, where it sank to the bottom.
Brennus came to stand beside him and watched the churning surface. “It doesnae rise to take another form.”
“’Tis as I reckoned,” Cadeyrn told him tonelessly. “The true reason they avoid water. They cannae escape it. The tree-knowers should have put them in a facking loch.”
“Aye.” The chieftain squeezed his shoulder. “Now that we ken this, we’ve a powerful new weapon. Imagine the pit traps we might set.”
Cadeyrn nodded, but the only thing that filled his head was handing over his lover to Ruadri and leaving her. He should have stayed. She could be dying this moment.
Althea appeared beside him and regarded the pool. “We should post a no-swimming sign here, I think. How are our girls?”
“Wounded, but yet strong,” he told her, and then found himself in an affectionate embrace. “My lady, you should ken that Lily… She…”
“I saw what she did, and what it
did to her.” She drew back. “Don’t give up on her yet. Lily’s one very tough gal.”
Shouts came from behind them, and Cadeyrn turned to see more Skaraven riding through the trees toward them. Kanyth dismounted and trotted quickly to take him in a rib-cracking hold as he pounded his back.
“I ken you to be too cunning to die, you great schemer.” His grin vanished as he saw his face. “Never tell me you didnae save the lassies.”
“He did,” Brennus said before Cadeyrn could reply. “What of the giants?”
“They doubled back here.” The weapons master surveyed the ruins and remains of the battle. “And you couldnae wait for us to share in the glory, you selfish bastarts. Do you think I make blades for the art of it?”
“Certainly no’ for the comfort,” the chieftain said drily.
Taran rode up to the falls and dismounted, clasping forearms with Cadeyrn before he said to Brennus, “The new furrows subside at the treeline. They must have gone deeper to avoid our pursuing them beyond it.”
“We’ve dealt them a heavy blow,” Brennus declared. “’Twill take much time for them to fashion new bodies for the escaped. We’ll join the McAra and see what they’ve learned.” Brennus caressed his wife’s face. “You should return to Dun Mor and see to our ladies.”
“Yes, I think I’ve had enough glory for one day.” She kissed his palm. “Cade, would you mind being my escort?”
Though Cadeyrn’s heart ached for Lily, he waited for the chieftain.
Brennus nodded his agreement. “Go to her, lad. With our thanks.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
BRENNUS RODE FROM the ridges with his clan to follow the trail of McAra, his mind much occupied with this new revelation about the famhairean. He also wondered if his second would ever be the same after his ordeal, and said as much to his weapons master.