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Nimue had given Excalibur to me? I blew out my cheeks, stunned at this new information. I thought about the conversation I’d had with Emrick about his love for Meri. She’d saved him, he’d told me. He’d been lonely for so long before he met her. He’d had another great love, but he’d lost her. He must have meant Nimue, of course.
‘Are you and she immortal?’ I breathed.
He shook his head. ‘No. One day others will take our place. But for now we have our roles to play, and since I’ve been freed and you wield the sword, I presume our islands have need of a Great Guardian once more.’
‘They do,’ I said cautiously, ‘but it’s not as simple as all that.’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
We all looked at each other. Where to start?
‘We’re in 1673 now,’ Phoenix said, ‘but the real trouble is in the twenty-first century.’
‘And that’s when Wulfram became the Great Guardian,’ Wren continued. ‘It’s a long story.’ She eyed him warmly. ‘And to be honest, I think you’re too tired and probably far too hungry to hear it all now. You should eat and rest. We’ll tell you everything later today.’
‘I think that’s a very good idea,’ Phoenix said. ‘I’ll make us some lunch. In the meantime, we need to think about contacting the fae. We have a meeting to arrange with the Seelie Court, remember?’
‘And how do we do that?’ I wondered aloud.
‘Easy,’ he said, smiling. ‘Now we have Nightwing it should be easy. We can attach a message to her, and she’ll deliver it.’
‘Really?’ I gave Nightwing an admiring glance. ‘She’s quite something, isn’t she?’
‘She is.’ He stroked her affectionately. ‘I can’t tell you how happy I am to have her back in my life. Now,’ he added, as he got to his feet briskly, ‘lunch. And you can think what to write in that message.’
Chapter 51
Wulfram 1673
Nightwing was dispatched that same day with a message from Phoenix Tremayne, requesting a meeting with the Seelie Court to discuss the matter of the time-travelling witch. Emrick might only have a vague outline of what had happened to us but that didn’t prevent him from being useful when it came to the precise wording of the message. He was the one who told us to add that we acted with the blessing of the Great Guardian, something I’d completely forgotten to mention.
We saw Nightwing off and hoped fervently that our request would be met favourably.
We spent another comfortable night in Peloryon House, as we supposed it was. Emrick was overwhelmed by the bedroom we showed him to, and considering he’d spent well over a thousand years lying in a stone tomb, I should imagine he found the spring mattress on his divan exceptionally comfortable, and the winter duvet snug and cosy.
While we waited for Nightwing’s return we told him everything we could remember about what had happened to us. He amazed me by not asking too many questions, listening intently, and absorbing the information like a sponge. He didn’t seem surprised by anything we’d told him except for one thing.
Meri.
‘My heart belongs to Nimue,’ he said firmly. ‘I could never—’
‘I know that,’ I said. ‘You told me you never thought you could love another after her. But you did, Emrick. We saw it and it was beautiful. Your relationship with Meri was everything to you, believe me.’
We told him how Meri had brought us all together on the island and how brave she’d been, facing her own death with such acceptance and courage. I found it hard to say the words, thinking of Wren sitting just feet away from me, bearing the same burden. She showed no signs that our story was affecting her, and I thought again that Meri must have inherited a lot of her character from my sister.
There was so much to tell him that I knew we couldn’t possibly do it all in one day. We broke it into small chunks and gave him time to absorb each bit before moving onto the next, but even so there was still a lot to tell him when we went to bed the second night.
I realised, though, that it didn’t matter. I would be leaving this place soon, but Wren and Phoenix would remain, and there was nothing to stop them spending time with Emrick and telling him more as the weeks and months progressed. I had no fears about them forgetting it. Who could forget the incredible events that had happened to us, after all?
Nightwing returned late that evening. She perched on Phoenix’s shoulder and tilted her head to the side. As far as I could see she carried no message, but I was wrong. The message was in her head, and she imparted the information to Phoenix in the same way Frey told me anything I needed to know.
‘The meeting has been agreed,’ he told us nervously. ‘We’re to travel to the Scottish Highlands where the Seelie Court will hear what we have to say. We have three days to prepare.’
‘Three days?’ I gasped as we exchanged worried glances. ‘We’ll never make it there in that time. You can hardly manifest a car and drive us up there. For one thing, the roads aren’t up to it, and even if they were can you imagine what people would say if they saw that?’
‘We’d need to go by carriage,’ Phoenix agreed. ‘I can make sure the horses travel much faster than they would normally. Even so, I can’t see how we can make it in that time. I can’t imagine how bad the roads are so far north. Unless…’
‘Unless what?’
