“Power?” Kaelan asked, knowing too well how it was craved by too many.
“Sometimes, though more often answers.”
Kaelan recalled Winnie saying the same.
“You ask questions like a man already familiar with Driochmor,” Kilham said, studying him more keenly. “And there is something familiar about you.”
Kaelan met the elder’s gaze just as keenly. “Yet we’ve never met.”
Kilham’s brow creased for a few moments before fading, a last effort at recall.
“The man who took Tibby asked no questions. He simply snatched him up. But Winnie’s retrieval spell worked, though sooner than expected. Retrieval spells can be tricky. Then there was another who passed this way.”
Kaelan was quick to ask, “Did he say what he searched for?”
“Nay. But it was obvious he believed Driochmor held it.” Kilham nodded briefly. “You search for something yourself.”
“Everyone searches for something.”
“But you search for someone.” Kilham’s gaze lingered on him. “Did this someone enter Driochmor willingly?”
Kaelan answered without hesitation. “Aye.”
Silence settled briefly between them before Kilham spoke again. “Perhaps he does not wish to be found.”
Kaelan’s eyes hardened slightly. “That changes nothing.”
For the first time, genuine interest stirred visibly in Kilham’s expression. “So, you hunt him.”
“I seek him.”
Kilham leaned back slightly upon the bench. “Be careful of what you seek, Kaelan. You may not like what you find.”
Chapter Twelve
A Cave
And a Warm Misty Pool
Bria hurried through the village paying little mind to the wary stares that followed her. Her thoughts raced too quickly to settle, one colliding into another until she scarcely knew which troubled her most. Winnie’s words still echoed relentlessly inside her mind.
One of us.
One of Driochmor’s own.
It was impossible and yet…
Her pulse refused to steady. She needed to find Kaelan.
The certainty of that rose above everything else.
Winnie had explained how to reach Elder Kilham’s cottage, but Bria’s thoughts remained too chaotic to focus properly. She missed the narrow turn between two stone cottages entirely and only realized it moments later when the path led her toward the forest edge rather than deeper into the village.
Frustration tightened inside her.
Drawing a steadying breath that did little to calm her, she turned back quickly, forcing herself to pay attention this time.
Then she saw it.
