Ailith was quick to release her. “Who wishes to guard them? I don’t.” She handed them over to Dyna.
Edan cupped her cheek and said, “You were so brave. How can I ever thank you?”
Ailith leaned into him and his thumb brushed her skin, her gaze locking on his. She wished to say much more, but she was forever conscious of who was listening.
“I feared the ravens were going to kill you. Are you hale?” Ailith reached up to straighten some of his wild hair, ruffled by the birds. “I think you’re still bleeding in some spots.”
“I’m fine, Ailith. I’m grateful for your quick thinking.”
Her father approached, parting them. “MacRuari,” he said, “you were fortunate my daughter was here to help you. But I have to admit, I would have acted as you did. I had my hand on the hilt of my weapon too.”
Lia said, “You show such promise with your gift, Ailith. You use it well. Did you see anything else when you reached into the stone?”
“Nay. Just a strange chamber with bairns sleeping, surrounded by a score of guards.”
They mounted and set off back toward Finlaggan. Dyna muttered, “I have the insane need to check all my bairns at Magni’s cottage.”
“I feel the same,” Alasdair said.
Ailith said, “I’m starving. I hope you see a pheasant on the way back, Dyna.”
Two pheasants dropped out of the sky in front of them.
Edan stared at her. “What powers have you again?”
Her father said, “Don’t ask for a deer, daughter. I don’t want one landing on me.”
Lia interrupted their conversation. “And now, I’ll take my leave and visit with you all on the morrow.” She disappeared.
Ailith glanced over at Dyna. “Is she always like this?”
“Nay. She is different here. Something she saw in the faery hill caught her attention. I thought she’d tell me later, but she’s keeping it hidden.” The group traveled on without a word, as if they’d lost their leader.
“Where did she go?” Edan asked, searching for the lass. “She just vanished.”
He stared after her, wondering where she was headed. If he were to wager, the wee faery was going back to see the bogle.
Dyna said, “I don’t ask Lia, Edan. Some things I don’t wish to know. We’ll find out when she wishes to tell us and not before. Your guess of going back to the bogle is as good as any. I’m going to forget about faeries for now. We all need a rest.” She glanced over at the plump birds attached to Alasdair’s saddle. “Ailith, I don’t know if it was you who brought the pheasants orif it was Grandda sending them along, but I’m grateful. I’m too exhausted to hunt.”
Edan wondered briefly if he should follow the faery to the bogle, but then he decided he was desperately in need of sleep too. This journey exhausted him.
Dyna whispered, “You’ll never find her to follow her, Edan. Don’t try.”
Edan thought about heading home to an empty hut again, lacking the joy of his wee daughter. He glanced over at Ailith, and she smiled back, but the dark circles under her eyes told him she was as exhausted as he and Dyna were. What would it be like to go home to a lass like Ailith?
His mind traveled to a place where Ailith would be the one chasing Heilyn on the beach instead of him. Where Heilyn would run to her and wiggle her fingers the way she did when she wished to be picked up. Where she would hold her open lips up to Ailith to offer a kiss instead of to him.
Instead, he had to go home alone and think of bogles and banshees and pecking ravens.
When had his life turned into a succession of odd events?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lia
Lia had to return to the faerie hill. She sensed something there, something she couldn’t let go of. She assumed her adult form again, ready to stand her ground if the evil creature reappeared.
It was more than just a faerie hill.
