Kai was glad that she did, as he was still too stunned to speak.
“She is safe,” Móirne replied, “for now. She travels with some of the lesser denizens of our kind. They will aid in her journey for a time.”
“Then why are you here?” Anna asked. “Or are you really here.”
Móirne quirked the corner of her lips in a very un-Finn-like smile. Finn’s smile was always broad and warm. This woman’s was secretive. “I am not truly here, you are correct. I’ve come to ask a favor,” she turned her gaze to Kai, “of you. You may not remember, but you owe me almost as much as you owe my daughter.”
“You helped her save me,” he recalled. “She told me what happened the next morning.”
She nodded. “Yes, and now I need your help. I expect you will not refuse.”
“If it will aid Finn, I will give you whatever you wish,” he replied.
She smiled a little wider. “Perhaps she was right to save you, and it’s actually quite convenient for me. I need you to draw the attention of my people. I’ve done my best to hide Finn from them, but her magic shines brighter every day. It draws our people to her like moths to a flame. Soon I will not be able to protect her, but I can still buy her time to finish what she started.”
Kai’s heart began to race. He’d heard enough of the Cavari to know drawing their attention was unwise. He couldn’t let them find Finn. He might only be human, but if he could help, he would. “Tell me what to do.”
“Kai, you cannot,” Anna argued, placing a gloved hand on his arm.
He shook his head. “Tell me what to do,” he asked again, his gaze remaining on Móirne.
She approached him and stood beside his horse, which remained eerily still, as if asleep. From the folds of her robe she withdrew a shiny gold locket, dangling from a fine gold chain. “This belonged to my daughter,” she explained. “She left it with me before she-” she cut herself off, a sad look in her blue eyes.
Shaking her head, she held the locket up to him. He took it gently in his palm, trailing the chain across his fingers.
“Wear it,” she instructed, “and along with her blood running through your veins, it should draw their attention. Continue on your intended course, but keep to the woods. Once you make it to the next burgh, you should be safe for a short while. They are as of yet ghosts in this land, unable to fully enter the world of man, yet do not mistake me, if they catch you in the wilds, they will kill you. They will pull you into a place like this,” she gestured to the surrounding mist, “and you will not leave alive. It is only the energy of so many humans in one place that disrupts their weakened magic.”
He stared down at the locket thoughtfully, trying to commit every word she spoke to memory. “So make it to Garenoch, and they will not be able to harm us?”
She shrugged. “They may call other Faie to do their bidding, just as they have done in other cities and burghs, but it will take them time to muster such forces. Enough time for Finn to complete her task. After that, they will not be able to control her.”
Kai draped the chain around his neck. “I will do as you say, but how will I find Finn afterward?”
She smiled sadly. “If she so desires, she will find you. Let us hope she will still be the same woman you remember.”
He opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but suddenly she was gone, along with the mist.
Anna eyed him sternly from within the shadows of her hood. “You’re a fool.”
He grinned at her, elated with the small shred of hope Móirne had given him. “I never claimed to be anything else.”
“And they’re not afraid of you?” Corcra asked from her perch on Finn’s shoulder.
The rest of her kin buzzed around them, occasionally alighting on Loinnir’s fuzzy white head for a rest. For once, the sun was shining warmly on her face. Loinnir’s gait was smooth and comfortable beneath her, her wound had been properly stitched with pixie thread, and she’d just eaten another portion of the honey bannocks provided by the Aos Sí.
She began to shrug her shoulders, then halted the gesture, not wanting to topple Corcra. “They’re my friends,” she explained, referring to her missing companions. “Why would they be afraid of me?”
“Your magic,” Corcra replied. “All humans fear magic, except for the few who can wield it themselves, and those just fear being found out and associated with the Faie.”
“Two of my friends have their own magic,” Finn smirked, thinking of Anna, “though one doesn’t like to admit it.”
“Hmm,” Corcra buzzed. “Be that as it may, I imagine they still fear the Faie.”
Finn nodded. “I must admit, I fear some of the Faie myself. The Trow have been very kind to me, but others have not been as . . . pleasant.”
Corcra hummed in agreement. “Yes, there are more violent, dark Faie, just as there are more violent, dark humans.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Finn muttered, “but my friends are as light as they come.”
Corcra chuckled. “I’ll have to take you at your word, as I don’t plan on conversing with any humans any time soon.”
Finn laughed. “Well I appreciate you speaking with me. I feel hopeful now that there are other Faie as kind as you and the Trow.”
A few of Corcra’s people circled back from the path ahead, then came to buzz around them in a cacophony of tiny voices that Finn found difficult to decipher.
“The road you seek is just ahead,” Corcra explained. “This is where we must part ways, and you must leave Loinnir behind.”
At that moment Loinnir reared her head backward and shook out her mane, dislodging the few pixies who rested there.
“Hmm,” Corcra murmured, maintaining her perch on Finn’s shoulder. “It seems she would like to remain with you, but I do not know . . . ” she trailed off as both her and Finn’s attentions were drawn by Loinnir’s horn.
The air around it seemed to shimmer, then it slowly faded from sight.
“Well that solves that, I suppose,” Corcra mused.
“You mean she’ll really stay with me?” Finn asked hopefully, feeling immense relief, not only that she wouldn’t have to walk, but that she wouldn’t have to be alone.
“She’s chosen you,” Corcra explained. “She says you are her new queen.”
“Well she has my gratitude,” Finn replied, “but as I’ve already explained, I am no queen.”
Corcra simply shook her head and took flight. “We’ll see, lass. We’ll see. We’d appreciate it if you’d ride out on the road first. Draw the immediate attention of anyone who might be around to see, so that we might fly unnoticed high overhead.”
“Of course,” Finn replied. “And I hope to see you again.”
Corcra hovered in front of her face and smiled. “Aye, lass. And we’ll keep an eye out for your friends. If they are as friendly toward magic as you say, perhaps we can pass your message along to them.”
Finn grinned. “I’d appreciate that. We cannot seem to stop losing each other. It would be nice, for once, if I were the one to do the finding.”
Corcra gave her a little wave, then flew up high as Finn rode out onto the road.
Finn looked both ways to see a small caravan of travelers not far off. Quickly deciding that her promise to Corcra was worth the risk, she urged Loinnir to trot toward them, drawing their attention as the pixies flew high over the road to the relative safety of the woods beyond.
Another day came and went as Iseult and Bedelia waited in their cell. Apparently Oighear had defeated the contingent of men, as the occasional guards that passed by seemed unworried. Iseult had hoped the men would prove enough of a distraction for him to escape, but it seemed few were a true match for Oighear.