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‘The Sword of Feidhlim!’
‘You found it!’
‘Where was it?’
‘Have you had that with you the whole time?’
‘The whole time,’ I admitted. ‘Isn’t it beautiful?’
‘Oh, Wulfram!’ Keely breathed, her eyes bright with tears. ‘You did it! You actually did it!’ She threw her arms around me. ‘I’m so proud of you.’
‘Now you have proof of your identity as the Great Guardian,’ Killian said, clearly relieved. ‘This will change everything. Once the fae and the witches know you’re who you say you are there’ll be no more talk of war, especially since they’ve already had the information that Blaise St Clair went back to his own time. And when they know you’ve got one of the keys safe, too…’ He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. ‘Job well done, Wulfram. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you succeeded. I’ll not lie to you; things were looking dodgy there for a time.’
‘But where was it?’ Aurora asked, and everyone fell silent suddenly as they waited for me to fill them in.
Emrick got to his feet. ‘I think maybe I’ll leave you to it,’ he said. He smiled warmly at me and left the room.
I looked round at all those eager faces.
‘Perhaps you’d better make yourselves comfortable,’ I said. ‘I’ve such a lot to tell you.’
Chapter 48
Wulfram 1673
It took us a while to compose ourselves at the gravestone. As realisation dawned, a new reality confronted us, and we needed time to adjust to that. Our plans had changed, and I knew we needed space to be alone together to get our heads around our circumstances.
‘I think,’ I said heavily, as Blaise and Romy stood, arms around each other as she sobbed quietly into his chest and he stroked her hair, ‘we need to find somewhere to stay tonight. Just in case the island doesn’t appear today.’
‘Not another inn,’ Romy begged. ‘I can’t. I don’t want to be around people today.’
‘A cabin in the woods,’ Blaise suggested. ‘Like I said, I’m pretty sure I can manifest something suitable and shield it from onlookers.’
‘That would be so much better,’ she said gratefully. She wiped her face and pulled away from him. ‘I’m so sorry I’ve made such a fuss.’
‘You haven’t,’ I said. ‘And, well, even if you have I don’t blame you.’
‘Me neither,’ Blaise said ruefully. ‘It’s a lot to take in.’ He kissed her nose then rested his chin on the top of her head, gazing out to sea. I wondered what was going through his mind. It was just as much for him to take in, I thought, and marvelled at his composure. Then again, he didn’t know everything. Romy had been very careful to leave one important piece of information out.
‘Come on then,’ I said. ‘Let’s head back into the woods and see if we can make this cabin happen.’
‘Wait,’ Blaise said suddenly, an edge of excitement in his voice. ‘Over there! Am I seeing things or…’
Romy spun round and I hurried to their side. We all stared out to sea and gasped. There was a ripple in the water. Not just in the water either. It was the strangest thing—like the whole horizon was rippling too. Like the very air itself was shimmering. It reminded me of something.
The O’Briens! It was the same effect I’d seen when they’d changed from their human form into their true selves.
‘The island! It’s coming back from the Otherworld.’
‘It has to be,’ Romy said. She closed her eyes. ‘Oh, please be the island. Please.’
We moved closer to the cliff edge and then squealed in delight, hugging each other. There was no mistaking it. Peloryon Island—our precious piece of Lyonesse—was back in the mortal realm.
‘We can go home,’ Romy said tearfully. She turned to Blaise. ‘We can go home, darling.’
He smiled, his own eyes bright with tears. ‘And we’ll make it a home. Never fear.’
My heart lifted. At last we were getting somewhere.
