Page 90 of Keldori By Daybreak

Our skirmish had left burns and gouges in the loam, and while the head injury made remembering the details of our fight foggy, I could track bits and pieces of the duel through the dark spots left on the canyon floor.

Una’s low growl brought my attention back to her. Her green, tufted ears pinned back against her head and her lips drew back to reveal serrated teeth.

I looked between her and the moss-covered rock walls several times before things started to click into place. Maybe I would’ve been quicker to realize if it weren’t for the concussion. This was the plan after all.

“Ferrin!” I shouted stupidly, pushing past Una to flee towards the dark steps to the lower floors of the keep. “Ferrin’s coming!”

I stumbled into Ciarán on the bottom step, and he pressed a hand over my mouth. I hadn’t realized I’d continued to yell Ferrin’s name until Ciarán had forced me silent.

“If he really is outside, are you trying to alert him that we know he’s here?” he hissed. I shook my head against his palm, and he let me go. He looked over his shoulder at the open doors of the keep. “It’s quiet out there. You were probably dreaming.”

Una replied for me with another low growl. She crept through dust-laden moonbeams that shifted across her jade pelt like falling water, and her growl grew louder the closer she got to the entrance.

Ciarán’s shoulders stiffened, and he pushed me back towards the stairs.

“What’s happening?” Orla appeared in the doorway of the main hall, the glow of the skalsprings throwing her outline into sharp relief.

“We need to go.” Ciarán pressed me towards the stairs. “Where are the others? Are they ready?”

“Ready for what?” Orla demanded.

“Ready to go!” Ciarán repeated. “We’re leaving now!”

Tiernan limped out from the hall behind Orla, dragging Fana by her wrist as she struggled with her thick travel cloak.

“Is it him? Already?” Tiernan asked. Ciarán looked towards Una, who had taken up guard by the main doors with her hackles raised. Tiernan’s face clouded, and he tugged Fana towards the stairs. “We’ll meet you up there.”

Ciarán scooped Jonquil from the bottom step and pressed her into Fana’s arms before turning to Orla.

“Grab your things. Help Wren gather hers, and follow Tiernan to the top floor.”

Orla nodded and took my arm to lead me back upstairs.

“Ciarán?” I asked, craning around to watch him. His hands glowed orange with magick, and the dust at his feet gathered and grew into two Nightmares.

“I’ve got the gate,” he said, gesturing for his Nightmares to attend the copper plate in the belly of the keep. “Go with Lady Quill.”

“Gate? What gate?” Orla pressed as she guided me back up the stairs after Tiernan and Fana. “Not the reservoir gate, right?”

“I don’t know.” My slurred speech helped sell the lie, and Orla sighed in frustration as we ducked down the second floor hall towards my room to grab mine and Ciarán’s packs.

I found my mended hoodie where I’d left it and pulled it over my head, but I saw Orla eyeing my arm bandages as I did.

“You said Ferrin was coming,” she said, helping me shove my few belongings into my pack. “How do you know?”

I blinked, trying to force my faculties back to one hundred percent.

“Una,” I explained.

“Una could be growling at anything. Why are you all so sure it’s Ferrin?”

I shook my head, not trusting my mouth enough to speak out loud.

“Hurry! Orla, your pack!” Iseult hissed at us from the hall and shook Orla’s bag at her.

Orla screwed her face up in frustration. “Why does everyone seem to know what’s happening except me?”

Iseult shoved Orla’s things into her arms and grabbed her hand to lead us back down the hall towards the open air walkway.