Edan joined Magni at the side, just catching a view of the pod of dolphins, a huge school of fish surrounding them. “Is that a bairn on that dolphin?” His voice lowered despite himself, as though something in the air demanded quiet.
“Aye, I know her.” He chewed on his bottom lip as he glanced back over his shoulder at the disappearing lass.
Roger asked, “Back to the castle. Who do we ask for?”
Magni sighed as the dolphins continued on, disappearing around the bend of the isle. He turned back to Roger and said, “Aye, Dyna Grant will help you. I promise.”
Edan had seen enough of this trickery. Had they set up the odd girl to go by? Was she a special swimmer? And how could they know for certain that some woman could help him?
“How can you say such a thing?” Edan asked, doubt coursing through him. “And what was that lass doing on a dolphin? Should we not go after her?”
Magni sighed and leaned against the mast. “I say it because I know the lass.”
“Who is she?”
“It doesn’t matter who she is. It’swhatshe is that matters.” Magni’s gaze locked on his as if he wouldn’t allow him to turn away.
Edan went along with him. Why not? He had nowhere else to go but to jump into the sea. “What is she?”
“Her name is Lia, and she’s a faery. She’s not really that small, she just appears to us that way. That’s the only way we’ve ever seen her.”
“A true faery? In the sea?” Roger stood up and went to the end of the boat. “Where did she go?”
Magni said, “She’s gone.”
Edan sat back down with a huff. “You cannot expect me to believe such a ridiculous thing.” Yet the image would not leave him. The lass’s gaze had been too knowing… too certain.
Magni smirked. “Have you ever seen a lass of six summers ride a dolphin in the middle of the sea?”
Edan dropped to the deck, sitting cross-legged. The odd sight finally settled on him. He couldn’t deny what he saw. As much as he’d tried to ignore it, something wouldn’t allow it.
His vision dimmed, the rocking boat not helping one bit.
Roger yelled, “Edan?”
He opened his eyes to the vision of a lass riding a dolphin in the middle of a pod, surrounded by more fish than he’d ever seen in one place. All the absurdities of what he’d just witnessed gathered around his tight control of his beliefs.
A small child on a dolphin.
He whispered the thoughts he couldn’t settle in his mind.
“She wasn’t hanging on.”
He stared straight ahead, as if the vision played in front of his eyes again.
“The dolphin she rode never dove under the surface. The others around her went under and came up the way dolphins do. Hers didn’t.”
He swiped at the sweat on his brow. Hellfire, he could not believe in faeries. If he did, his father’s rantings about death and dark knights and monsters in the night… they could all be true.
“She had a green gown on. That was all. And it was dry. The water is ice cold and the wind is bitter.”
Roger clasped his brother’s shoulders from behind. “We’re going to the right place. We’ll find someone to help us find Heilyn and Milo. You’ll be fine, Edan.”
Edan stared up at Magni, still unable to stand. He knew his knees would buckle. Had the sun been too much for him? Was that what had just happened? The sight of that wee lass on a dolphin would never leave him. “It means something to you. What does it mean? When does she come around?”
Magni pursed his lips, looked up at Roger who nodded to him.
Edan said, “I can handle the truth. I deserve the truth. I just need to know something. Anything about my daughter.” He lifted his gaze to Magni.
