Chapter Five
She pulled away from his grasp and bent to examine a node as it passed, more to buy time to consider what to do next than anything else. Surprise flared when she understood they needed to exit—and very soon. “We’ll talk more once we’re out of here,” she said, and summoned power to slow the shaft’s undulations so they could leave.
“You figured something out,” he persisted. “I felt it.”
The time-travel shaft shuddered to a halt, and one of its walls opened onto a thick, evergreen forest. “Aye, ’tis true,” she said, “but we must leave. Now.”
He followed her into a driving rain, blinking water from his eyes. “At least the weather hasn’t changed in the last two hundred fifty years,” he muttered.
She wished for one of her stout, woolen, hooded cloaks, rather than the leather she wore. Behind them, a jolt in the damp air told her the traveling shaft had winked out of existence. She started to mark the spot in her mind, but didn’t bother. Magic was much closer to the surface here than in modern time. They could conjure a portal from damn near anywhere, just like they’d done on Fire Mountain.
Angus pushed magic into a rough circle around them and pointed north. “Inverness is that way. And not all that far. Which side are we aiming for?”
A dragon’s shrill hunting cry split the soggy air, and she pulled invisibility about them both. “Damn it!” She kept her voice low, made it blend with the rain sounds.
“Solves one problem.”He moved to her side, and she restructured her ward.
“Which one would that be?” she inquired acidly.
“They’re expecting someone to come after Eletea, which likely means they’ve set traps.” He shook wet hair back from his face. “They went to a lot of trouble to kidnap her. Not a big surprise, they’d guard their prize well.”
“I’m not seeing which problem that particular piece of knowledge solves.” Arianrhod smothered irritation. “Fuck this whole mess. Let Ceridwen find other flunkies.”
“Nay. Not a good idea. We’re here. We must help Eletea, and the most important task is maintaining the element of surprise.”
“How do ye know the dragon that passed overhead dinna spot us?”
“A hunch.” He smiled, and water dripped off his nose. “If it had, do you believe it would’ve left?”
“Mmph. Probably not. May as well get moving. As I recall, shepherds’ huts dot the hillsides in this area. Mayhap we’ll be fortunate and find an empty one where we can dry out and craft a plan.”
“I can do you one better.” Angus’s grin widened. “There’s an empty manor house not far from here.” He started off at a quick pace and turned to glance back at her. “Coming? Or should I draw my own invisibility casting?”
Arianrhod hurried after him, still sunk in ambivalence. She didn’t want to get sucked into the Celtic chaos that would blow up in her face if she disclosed her suspicions about Angus’s origins to him. Beyond that, resentment simmered that she was back in the Age of Reason, never one of her favorite time periods. People knew just enough then to become dangerous, plus it spawned the beginning of problems that would cause the eventual downfall of Earth’s fragile ecosystems.
Focus!Her inner voice held a sharp edge.
Fortunately, Angus wasn’t inclined toward conversation as she trudged through thick, muddy undergrowth behind him. It was easier than cutting her own path, and she wanted to keep expenditure of magic to a bare minimum—in case more dragons flew overhead.
She eyed his broad shoulders and considered coming up with a well-crafted lie, swathed in enough illusion to fool him, but she couldn’t convince herself to become the latest Celt in a long string to screw him over.
Angus deserved to hear what she was fairly certain was the truth about himself. Damn Arawn anyway. And her brother, Gwydion. And Ceridwen, who had to be in on the deception. They must’ve had need of Angus to go to all that trouble. She also understood why they’d kept their mouths shut. Angus would’ve returned to his own time and his own people—if he knew who they were.
That her kin had held him here, working for them, was unconscionable. Yet if she blew the lid off everyone’s maneuverings, the Pantheon would turn on her. Was it worth being targeted?
Of course not. It’s why I’ve kept my sex life off their radar.
She pitched against Angus’s back for the second time that day. “Och. Sorry. Wasna paying attention.”
“I figured as much.” He gestured in front of them through more trees. “The place I had in mind isn’t far. I stopped so we might determine if it’s still uninhabited.”
She wanted to ask when he’d stumbled across it. Instead, she focused a thin stream of power in the direction he indicated, careful to keep it subtle. “Looks good to me,” she said after scanning twice.
“Aye, I found the same, but wanted confirmation.” He shook himself, and droplets flew in all directions. “I’m not sure we have the time, but we need to think things through.” Shrewd amber eyes drilled into her. “If I have magic that could turn things in our favor, I need to know that too.”
She winced. There it was. He wasn’t going to let things lie, but then she’d known that from the moment he gripped her chin in the time shaft.
He bent so his mouth hovered near her ear. “I’d never tell where the information came from.”