Henry strengthened his hold on my hand. “We need to move before Ailish drops on our heads.”
Brigid’s fire ran to my fingertips. Nothing changed with the first step or even the second. On the third, a faint light penetrated the darkness, and I realized we were in a stone tunnel of sorts, as though someone had burrowed straight into the hillside. The voices grew more distinct, and shapes appeared, two lone figures ahead of us.
Henry must have seen them as well, for he quickened his pace and another half dozen steps brought us behind Cate and Tom. Somehow Cate had managed to keep hold of her lantern, which she now held aloft. Tom stood at her side, his broadsword at a slightly higher angle. We edged closer, and the sides of the tunnel curved outward at what looked to be the beginning of a cavern.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
Cate tilted her head up, though only darkness could be seen beyond the small circle of lantern light. “Between our two worlds.” Her hushed voice skimmed the stone that surrounded us on all sides.
A soft hiss passed over me, I assumed from another crossing.
Henry placed a protective hand on my shoulder. “It would appear that no one is home.”
Creases formed around Cate’s narrowed eyes. “I’m not so sure about that.” She continued to study the darkness but said no more.
Silent as a ghost, Ailish drew alongside me. She didn’t speak a word, just inhaled a slow, deep breath through her nose. Releasing it, she repeated the action, this time holding it for several seconds.
“What is it, Miss O’Bearra,” Cate asked.
Ailish exhaled, and her cold breath brushed my cheek. “I smell death, milady.”
Chapter Twenty
The Spoils of War
My whole body turned rigid with fear. “What do you mean?”
Ailish wrinkled her nose. “The scent be thicker than porridge. Straight ahead ’bout twenty paces.”
Cate and Tom exchanged worried looks. Neither spoke, though I could well ascertain their thoughts, as they no doubt mirrored my own. Is it Nora?
Tom turned to us. “It could be a trap. Be ready for anything.”
Henry unsheathed his sword. Cate pushed the cloak back from her arms while I summoned more power to my fingertips. Ailish rubbed her hands together, I assumed from a rush of Cailleach’s power.
We moved in a small bubble of light, Tom and Henry fanned to the shadowy edges, Cate at point with Ailish and me just behind her. Our footsteps echoed over the stone, until it sounded as though small bands were approaching from every direction.
My heart pounded a frantic beat. Please don’t let it be Nora... Please don’t let her be in here. With all my might I wished my dearest friend to be entirely human.
Ailish inhaled another long breath. “Nearly there,” she murmured.
The furthest reach of our light fell on the dark outline of a hulking shape, near my height, yet at least three times wider. A few more steps, and the lines grew more distinct, transforming into what appeared to be an imposing stone throne. Its grayness matched the ground so perfectly, it looked to have been carved from a gigantic boulder that had fallen into the room.
One last stride separated us from the throne when Cate lifted the lantern a little higher. Dread pressed against my chest, and for half a heartbeat my breath stopped under the intense weight. Then I gasped as my feet stuttered to a stop.
“Oh, dear Lord...” I said and crossed myself for the second time that night.
A woman sat unnaturally upright in the throne. Raven black hair fell loose to her waist, framing the pale husk that remained of her face and neck. She stared unseeing through shrunken eyes. Bloodless lips and perfect white teeth rimmed a silent scream.
“It can’t be,” Cate breathed.
Edging forward, Ailish stepped onto the throne’s dais and put her nose an inch from the corpse. “Been dead two days past.”
The men pushed closer, and I moved alongside Ailish. “More like two years,” Henry said. “She looks mummified.”
“Me nose doesn’t lie, and it’s saying she’s been dead two days.”
Lifting her skirts with one hand, Cate stepped beside me onto the throne’s dais. She studied the woman for a moment before brushing a gloved finger along her shriveled cheek. “It’s possible, though I thought the skill long lost to the mortal world.” She looked at Tom. “What do you think?”
“That you’ve hit the truth of it from what I see.”
The truth of what? I peered at the corpse, eyes narrowed in search for a clue as to their meaning.
Claret silk draped the woman’s slender body in a loose-fitting gown that joined at the shoulders, leaving her withered arms and neck bare. A dark blossom stained the cloth beneath her sternum where something protruded at an upward angle.
Good gracious!
“Murdered...” Ailish whispered.