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“She’s already here. Larkin and Blair are out there, out there in the dark. We need to do something, quickly. Counteract the spell. There must be a way.”
“Riddock should send riders out.”
“They’d never get there in time. It’s miles off, Hoyt.”
“They’ll go in any case.”
When they rushed inside, Cian was already coming down, Moira hard on his heels.
“He was already coming,” Moira said.
“I felt the change. False night. I can get there quicker than you, or any mortal.”
“And what good will it do if the sun comes back?” Moira demanded.
“Time I gave that bloody cloak a try.”
“We don’t separate. We can’t risk it. And sending riders, Hoyt.” Glenna shook her head. “They won’t help now. We need a circle, and a counter spell.” Maybe a miracle, she thought. “We need it fast.”
“It has to be outside, under the sky.” Hoyt looked into his brother’s eyes. “Will you risk it? We can try it without you,” he said before Cian could speak. “The three of us.”
“But the odds are better with me. Let’s get it done.”
They gathered what they needed. Hoyt and Glenna were already outside making hurried preparations when Cian came down again with the cloak.
Moira stepped forward when he got to the base of the stairs. “I think faith in your brother will strengthen the spell.”
“Do you?”
“I think,” she said in the same measured tones, “your willingness to risk so much for friends has already given you protection.”
“We’re about to find out.” He swirled the cloak on, pulled the hood up. “Nothing ventured,” he added. And for the first time in nearly a thousand years stepped into the sun.
There was heat. He felt it weigh down on him—lead heated almost to burning. It pressed on his chest, shortened his breath, but he crossed the courtyard.
“I haven’t turned into a human torch yet,” he said, “but I wouldn’t object if this didn’t take long.”
“Fast as we can,” Glenna told him. “Bright blessings on you, Cian.”
“Let’s keep the bright off it, if it’s all the same.”
“Carnelian for speed.” She began placing crystals in a pentagram pattern on the stones. “Sunstone for light. Agates—dendritic for protection, plume for binding.”
Now she took up herbs, dropping them into a bowl. “Garlic for protection. Sorry,” she said to Cian.
“That’s a myth.”
“Okay, good. Holly, restoration of balance. Rose and willow. Power and love. Join hands. Keep yours inside the cloak, Cian, we’ll come to you.”
“Focus,” Hoyt ordered, with his eyes on the black sky, the bubble of night to the south and east. “Draw out what you have. Both of you have power inside you. Draw it out and forge the circle.”
“Guardians of the Watchtowers,” Glenna called out. “We summon you.”
“Of the east, of the south, of the west, of the north, we call your fire to cast here this circle.”
At Hoyt’s words the yellow candles Glenna had chosen to represent the sun sprang to light.
“Morrigan the mighty, join with us now,” he continued. “We are your servants, we are your soldiers.”
