“What?” Ealasaid gasped, suddenly halting.
Anna smirked and continued walking. Soon Ealasaid caught up, eager for an explanation.
Kai sighed and caught up himself. “Just know you were lucky to part from us when you did,” he muttered, leaning close to Ealasaid’s shoulder to prevent eavesdropping. “We ran afoul of Aos Sí, a Faie Queen, and now even more frightening pursuers are on our trail.”
Anna snorted. “The latter part is thanks to Kai.” She glared at him.
He scowled. “You would have done the same for me.”
She laughed. “If you say so. Now let’s find some fine wine, and agree to never leave civilization again.”
“I’m with ye on that one,” Sativola agreed.
Kai gripped the locket beneath his shirt with his free hand, wishing he could agree with them. Would the Cavari still wait outside of Garenoch now that they’d seen he wasn’t actually Finn, but a man with her blood, wearing her locket? They’d pursued them, sure, but now that they were within the town, would the Cavari not set their sights back on Finn?
The scent of baking bread hit him, making his stomach growl, but he feared he could not enjoy it. He couldn’t let those fearsome riders seek out Finn instead. He needed a new plan.
Chapter Fourteen
Bedelia was not sure how much longer her legs would carry her. The heavy chains wrapped around her upper body, securing her arms, had fatigued her more than her injuries and restless nights spent in the cell with Iseult. They at least had left the deeper snow behind, though the ground was still icy. Around them lay numerous corpses, their frozen blood staining the ground in slick pools.
“An Fiach,” Iseult muttered, his shoulder close to Bedelia’s.
She nodded. She’d recognize the uniforms anywhere. Were these the same men from Port Ainfean, the ones who pursued Finn and Kai? Given their location, it would make sense, especially since Oighear now possessed Naoki. These men likely captured her when she protected Finn’s escape from the port town.
Their Aos Sí minders, on horseback while Bedelia and Iseult walked, cleared their throats in warning. Bedelia instantly moved forward, closer to the corpses, not wanting to incite another lashing. Her back was still damp with blood from the last. She looked down at the dead men’s faces, most frozen in horror, or with blank open stares, their eyes iced over. She pitied them. Perhaps in some ways they’d been her enemies, but no one deserved to die in a battle they had no chance of winning. These men had been soldiers, and they’d been slaughtered like defenseless lambs.
Iseult reached her side once more, putting some distance between themselves and their captors. Oighear had dismounted with Naoki’s leather cord in hand to let the little dragon sniff around. She’d layered a fluffy white fur cloak over her shimmering dress, though she didn’t seem to truly feel the cold created by her own magic.
Bedelia turned her gaze away from Oighear and frowned down at the nearest corpse, its dark brown uniform soaked through with blood. “These are the men who attempted to delay us in Port Ainfean,” she suggested, wanting to make sure Iseult had drawn the same conclusions as she. “That’s why they had Naoki.”
He nodded, observing their surroundings rather than the corpses.
“But doesn’t that mean Naoki was leading them to Oighear’s compound?” Bedelia whispered. “If she was following Finn’s scent, that’s where she’d go. So we’ll just be backtracking.”
“These men are far west of our previous trail,” he muttered. He gestured to the frozen hoof prints in the mud, several paces behind where the battle started. “If they continued on in the direction they were heading, they would have missed the compound entirely.”
“I don’t understand then,” she whispered. “Were they not tracking Finn after all?”
She watched his expression as he stared coldly down at a corpse. Dried blood formed a messy pattern down his hairline, and she knew there was more on his back. She wasn’t the only one who’d sustained beatings and lashes.
Iseult glanced back at their minders, then answered, “I believe the dragon tracks Finn by her magic, not her scent. They were likely heading toward the compound, but changed course when Finn escaped.”
“Precisely,” Oighear agreed, suddenly appearing behind them.
Bedelia nearly jumped out of her skin. Iseult did not. Instead, he turned his cool gaze to the Faie Queen.
Bedelia tried to quiet her breathing. Hadn’t Oighear just been several paces away, over by the next group of corpses? She internally scolded herself. One would think after all her time with Keiren, she’d be used to magic. She turned to glare at Oighear, but the woman’s eyes were all for Iseult.
“You don’t seem to regret speaking your suspicions near me,” Oighear commented. “That means you knew I’d already figured it out?” She raised her colorless brow.
Iseult nodded once, making Bedelia feel like a fool for not figuring things out as quickly.
“You would not return to this place for Naoki to find Finn’s scent trail,” he explained. “She would then only lead us back from whence we came. You knew Naoki had been tracking Finn’s magic, not her scent. She’d last sensed her from this location, leading these men here, so it’s a sensible area to begin anew.”
Oighear reached down and stroked Naoki’s bony head. “Dragons can sense magic better than any other creature, except unicorns, perhaps. Even a fledgling like our little friend can sense the magic of its familiar spirit across an entire ocean. This dragon has chosen the Cavari girl. We returned here because it is the border of my domain. Here ends my warding against foreign magic. It’s as good a place as any to begin her tracking.”
Bedelia began to sweat despite the cold. If what Oighear said was true, as long as she had Naoki, she’d always be able to find Finn. With her and Iseult along, Naoki seemed comfortable, as if believing her friends would never cause Finn harm.
Oighear smiled wickedly at Bedelia’s expression. “I suppose you now realize I have nearly won this game.”
Bedelia glared at her. “Perhaps, but the next time you meet Finn, it will not be in a room warded against her magic.”
Oighear snorted and gave Naoki’s tether a tug. “I am not afraid of a single Dair. An entire clan, perhaps, but one girl is no match for me. Now let us be off, we have much ground to cover.”
She strode past them, tugging Naoki along, then mounted her gray dappled horse. From her perch, she cast a smug gaze upon Bedelia and Iseult as their keepers rode up behind them, prodding them forward.
“We have to do something,” Bedelia whispered, leaning in toward Iseult’s shoulder.
He did not meet her worried gaze, but answered with a slight nod, barely perceptible.
She could only hope he had more ideas than she, because if left up to her, they’d likely both die from exhaustion long before Oighear found Finn.
Ealasaid could hardly believe her ears upon hearing Kai’s story. Here she’d thought she would be the one with all of the information to share, but the Alderman of a small burgh like Garenoch gathering magic forces was but a trifle compared to encounters with the Faie Queen.
She took another sip of her hot tea, then pushed away her empty plate. They’d all had a hearty meal at their inn, an odd place called the Sheep’s Delight, while Kai told his tale. Anna had remained mostly silent throughout, while Sativola drank more whiskey than Ealasaid thought possible for a single man.
“It’s odd being back here,” Anna muttered to Kai, staring down into her half empty mug of wine.
“The place where it all began,” he mused. “Think what might have happened had Anders and Branwen not recognized àed.”