Page 86 of Forbidden

“The green island was next to be touched,” Cassandra said. “The storm surrounded it, caressed it, possessed it.”

Tawny eyebrows lifted, but Erik said nothing. He simply continued stroking the restless falcon with slow, calming sweeps of his hand.

“Only the deep blue water of the lake remained untouched,” Cassandra said. “But it yearned toward the storm, where the flower bloomed in scarlet riches and the island glowed in shades of green.”

The wind flexed, tugging at Erik’s mantle and the long red folds of Cassandra’s clothes. The falcon whistled and resettled its wings, watching the sky with hungry eyes.

“Is that all?” Erik asked.

“Is that not enough?” Cassandra retorted. “Where the heart and body go, the soul will soon follow. Then rich life might come, but death certainly will flow!”

“The amber prophecy,” Erik said beneath his breath. “Always that cursed prophecy.”

“You should have left Duncan to die in the Stone Ring.”

“Then the bud would never have bloomed and the island would never have glowed in shades of green. Oflife.”

“But that’s not—”

“Your dream describes rich life, not death,” Erik continued ruthlessly. “Is that not worth a few risks?”

“You are risking catastrophe.”

“Nay,” Erik said savagely. “Catastrophe is already upon me! My father is so tangled in clan rivalries that he refuses to spare warriors for his outlying estates.”

“It was ever thus.”

“I must have warriors,” Erik said. “Powerful warriors. Duncan is such a man. With him I can hold Stone Ring Keep. Without him, it is lost.”

“Then let it go, and Duncan with it!”

“Whoever holds those estates holds the key to the Disputed Lands.”

“But—”

“Whoever holds the Disputed Lands,” Erik continued without pause, “holds a sword at the throat of the northern lords from here to Dun Eideann’s stony knobs.”

“I have dreamed of no such war.”

“Excellent,” Erik said softly. “That means great risk will indeed be rewarded by great gain.”

“Or great death,” Cassandra retorted.

“It takes no prophetic gift to see death. ’Tis the common end of living things.”

“Stubborn lordling,” she said angrily. “Why can’t you see the danger of what you’re doing?”

“For the same reason that you can’t see the danger of doing nothing!”

With a muscular thrust of his arm, Erik launched the falcon. Her painted jesses gleamed and her elegant wings beat rapidly. She mounted the wind with breathtaking ease, riding the wild, transparent beast higher and higher into the sky.

“If I do nothing,” Erik said, “I will surely lose Stone Ring Keep. If I lose Stone Ring Keep, Sea Home becomes as exposed and naked as a newly hatched chick.”

Silently Cassandra watched the peregrine.

“Winterlance will be little better off,” Erik continued relentlessly. “What the outlaws don’t seize, my cousins or the Norsemen will take. Do you deny this?”

Cassandra let out a sigh. “No.”