Page 55 of Alec

Ava eyed the dwindling pile of firewood they had carried into the great hall before barricading the windows and coating the sills with pine pitch, which caught the ice beetles when they tried to crawl inside. From the way they were piling up it wouldn’t be long before they overran the other beetles stuck in the pitch, however.

“We might try lighting the stuff,” Farlan was saying to Tasgall when she walked up to them. “Stone cannae burn.”

“I already tried to burn one with a torch,” Ava told him. “They don’t melt or catch fire.”

“The beetles but resemble ice,” her husband said. “They’re more like frost-colored glass, I reckon.”

“It’s more like a resin, or...shellac.” Ava nearly hit herself in the head. “Why didn’t I think of that? In my time, shellac is made from something secreted by a particular bug—a red beetle, I think.”

“A lac bug,” Ben said as he passed by them with an armful of blankets. “Before vinyl LPs they used to make records out of shellac, too.”

“Thanks, Doc.” She regarded her husband. “If a lac bug was enchanted to cover us with the stuff, then it would be just like what those caterpillars tried to do.”

“He wishes to render everyone inside the trap helpless.” Tasgall’s expression darkened. “Mayhap so he may search for his treasure unhindered.”

“I’d agree, Brother, but ’tis more than one bug,” Farlan put in. “And we cannae destroy them. When I struck one with a sword, my blade turned white and broke in three pieces.”

“The first one might have been sent to breed more,” Ava said. “Also, Seneschal, don’t keep hitting them with any kind of weapon.” She gestured at one of the guards Ben was tending to, who remained frozen with the handle of his ruined war hammer still in his fist. “That’s what he did.”

Some of the guards in the outer passage shouted the name of their war master, and a moment later Alec came in with Olivia, both carrying torches.

“Fire doesnae kill the beetles,” he said, tossing his into the hearth and catching a bow that one of the guards tossed to him. “They’ve near sealed off every entry to the stronghold.” He took a quiver of arrows from a watcher, glanced around the hall and gave the laird an appalled look. “Surely you’ve more men, my lord.”

“The creatures did their worst overnight,” Tasgall told him. “We’re the last who remain unfrozen.”

Ava let the men gather and talk while she went to Olivia and ushered her over to the table by the central hearth. “Love how the dress turned out. You and Alec spent the night in the stables?”

“I freed him but we couldn’t escape until after the MacBren and his men left.” She eyed the makeshift pallets where Ben was tending to the fallen. “Ava, how did it get so bad overnight?”

“We don’t know. Tas and I were here in the hall talking with Farlan and Ben when some guards reported hundreds of beetles pouring into the passages.” She nodded toward Ben’s makeshift infirmary. “We brought in as many as we could reach before we had to barricade ourselves inside. Nothing came after you and Alec in the stables?”

“No.” The surveyor suddenly flushed. “At least, I don’t think so. There’s no ice or whatever that stuff is in the stables.”

That seemed odd. “I wonder why.”

Olivia made a startled sound. “I almost forgot. I had a very strange dream, and the girl I met in it asked me to tell you and the laird everything about it. I know how crazy that sounds, too, but I think it could be important.”

“I’m from Texas. I’m fine with crazy.” She gave her a wry smile. “Go on and tell me.”

The dream Olivia described sounded at first like another tall tale, until she described the wave of red light, and how the girl had turned white and shattered when she’d fallen. She even took from her pocket the salt she had picked up from the floor of the stables.

“Well, I’ll be,” Ava muttered as she peered at the crystals, which had a slight golden color to them. “That’s downright biblical.”

“My aunt would slap me for it, but I agree with you.” At that point the surveyor gave her a worried look. “It was only a dream, though, so I wouldn’t put much faith in it.”

“It surely sounds that way, but it also reminds me of something my husband told me about the day the clan was cursed,” Ava said. “Two merchants were visiting the stronghold at the time. When the enchantment enveloped the castle, it made them both turn into pillars of salt that crumbled when they were touched. Tas believes the magic killed them because they were outsiders, and not part of the clan or the mortals who served them.” She nodded at the salt in the other woman’s palm. “I’m guessing that girl didn’t belong here, either.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “The girl told me she’d come to Dun Talamh to hide here from someone—a man, I think. I think he might have been the one who cursed the clan, and when he did that, he killed her, too.”

The laird and Alec came to join them, and Tasgall said, “Please, my lady, describe the lass from your dream.”

“She was younger than me, and very pretty. Ah, she had blonde hair and big brown eyes, and she was wearing an expensive gold silk gown.” She grimaced. “Most of the time I was talking to her she was a gossamer version of herself, like a ghost.”

Ava didn’t much care for the look on her husband’s face. “Do you know something about this girl, Tas?”

“Aye, I may.” His gaze shifted back to Olivia. “My lady, did this lass wear a tartan on her shoulders?”

“She did. It was yellow, brown and purple, and I was sure I’d seen it before, but not there.” Her face lit up and she snapped her fingers. “Lord MacBren wore the exact same tartan when he came into the hall, my lord.”