“Careful,” she whispered to Jamie. “It’s close.”
He glanced at her and nodded. A stand of stunted pines grew along both sides of the road here, obscuring the view. A perfect place for an ambush.
Jamie had noticed this too. Putting a finger to his lips for silence, he pulled up his horse and dismounted, indicating for Elise to do the same. They left the road, turning inland and slipping into the darkness between the trees, leading the horses by their reins. A thick carpet of dead pine needles covered the ground, deadening all sound and sending up a faint smell ofmold and rot. The air beneath the trees was unnaturally close, which only heightened the sensation that danger lurked nearby.
But no danger presented itself and they reached the edge of the pines without seeing anything untoward. Yet Elise’s feeling of unease only increased. The air felt thick and heavy, like she was walking through treacle. Beyond the pines lay a scrubby landscape of scraggly bushes and trees, none of them much taller than Jamie, that sloped down towards the sea.
He glanced around, surveying the landscape. “We’ll leave the horses under the cover of the trees and approach on foot.”
She nodded and they set out, hurrying from cover to cover in case unfriendly eyes might be watching. Finally, they reached the start of the long slope down to the coast and Jamie hunkered down, indicating for Elise to do the same. Here the sense of unease was so strong that it was all Elise could do to keep her racing pulse under control. Her instincts screamed at her to get out of here, that she and Jamie were in danger.
Slowly, carefully, the two of them crawled on their bellies through the brittle autumn grass and looked out. The slope descended steeply, not quite a cliff but a gnarly hill covered in thick clumps of tough grass and thornbushes. As it leveled out it led to a wide, horseshoe bay with a pebble beach littered with driftwood and dead seaweed. Out in the water, held between the arms of the bay, lay several flat, sandy islets also strewn with driftwood and seaweed.
It was a desolate and unforgiving place. And it was also empty.
There was no sign of life. No sea birds in the sky. No seals hauled up on the islets. And certainly no pirate base or evidence that any human had ever been here.
Elise gaped. “What? I…I don’t understand.”
Her senses were still tingling, her instincts screaming at her that danger lay all around, but that was at odds with the evidence of her own eyes.
“Ye are sure this is the right place, lass?” Jamie asked.
She nodded. “I’m sure.” Wasn’t she?
Jamie looked around. He was poised and alert and his grip on his sword didn’t loosen. “Stay here. I’m going to take a closer look.”
Elise grabbed his arm. “No way! You arenotgoing down there alone! Weren’t you the one lecturing me about putting myself in danger?”
He studied her for a moment and looked as though he was about to argue, but then thought better of it. “All right. But dinna do anything stupid, aye?”
Elise shot him a quick grin. “Me? Stupid? When do I ever do anything stupid?”
A tiny smile curled one corner of Jamie’s mouth. “I think it best if I dinna answer that question.”
Together they left their hiding place and began a slow, careful descent of the slope. Despite the fact that there was nothing in sight except the empty, storm-wracked beach and the gray ocean, Elise’s uneasiness did not abate. That crawling feeling between her shoulder blades like ants marching across her skin only increased as they stepped out into the open. She could feel unseen eyes watching her.
Yet they made it down to the beach without incident. The wind was stronger here, slapping into Elise’s face as though it was annoyed at her intrusion. She held her hair back from her face to keep the whipping threads from her eyes as she turned in a slow circle. There was nothing to see, nothing that would indicate why her instincts had sent them to this place.
Nonetheless, Jamie insisted on a thorough search. They scoured the beach from one end to the other, searching forfootprints or ridges in the sand that would indicate a ship may have been beached here. There was nothing. The only prints were those of wading birds and the shallow depressions where seals had hauled themselves out to bask. After the beach, they searched the hillside for signs that anyone had been here: old campfires, the remnants of food or scraps or fibers of clothing.
Nothing.
Finally, after more than an hour, Elise threw up her hands and gave a cry of exasperation. “This is useless! We’re wasting our time!”
She had been so sure she was right. She was Elise MacFinnan, spellweaver extraordinaire, wasn’t she? How could she be wrong? How could her gifts have led them so far astray?
But she could not argue with the evidence of her own eyes. Just as Jamie had said, there was no pirate base here. There wasnothinghere. And Elise was no closer to completing the mission Lir had brought her here for.
Jamie walked over to join her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve dragged you out here for nothing. You were right and I was wrong. There, I’ve said it.” She huffed out a breath, feeling tears of frustration welling in her eyes. “You can say I told you so if you like.”
“Why would I say that?”
“Because I’ve wasted everyone’s time! Wastedyourtime when you could have been back at Dun Arach doing something that might actually help rather than coming on this fool’s errand!” She blinked furiously to stop the tears from falling. She wouldnotcry in front of him.
He stepped close. She looked away, not wanting him to see how close she was to losing it.
