CHAPTER Thirteen
The last time I’d made the journey to the Cairns, I’d been able to take advantage of the local transport system. Unfortunately buses don’t tend to run at 3am in rural Scotland, so I was going to have to travel by foot this time. I knew that this was when I would be at my most vulnerable. The mages would not doubt be casting their locator spells at right that very moment, so it wouldn’t be long before they’d be able to catch up with me.
I ran fast, wending my way through the different twists and turns that led me out of the small city. The air was still bitterly cold but the pace I kept up and the adrenaline skipping through my system was keeping me warm. The curl of heat from the blood fire inside me was also active, allowing me to fire, no pun intended, on all cylinders. I kept my eyes out for any more potential collisions with crazy midnight moggies who had a death wish, but my luck was finally in and I didn’t see a soul, whether it be animal, human or otherworld.
Before too long I was on the edge of Inverness, making my way onto a small worn path that ran alongside the road that the bus had taken when I’d travelled that way weeks before. Despite the frigidity of the night air, sweat was beginning to form on my forehead and I could feel my body getting sticky. Prickles of pain from the wooden shards that had embedded their way into my skin during the fight with Martha and her sci-fi friend were sending unpleasant shivers through my body, but I resolutely ignored them and kept on running. At one point, I clenched my fists as I stumbled slightly over the uneven ground and the pain level increased dramatically; when I glanced down at my hands a rippling green flame was flickering over them, barely half a centimeter high. I swallowed and looked away. I supposed about the only thing I could be thankful for right about now was that Corrigan hadn’t tried to contact me again. I wondered what he’d meant when he’d said that I had initiated the Voice. He was obviously just trying to unsettle me, but I wasn’t sure to what end. His little mind games were becoming irritating.
I made good time and reached the turn off where the bus had previously dropped me off without any further incident. By now I was breathing hard with the exertion and feeling slightly dizzy. Not for the first time I wished that I’d paid more attention to my ever decreasing fitness levels.
There was a glow of light from what I assumed was the hippy encampment up ahead, and some kind of distant humming drone that sounded vaguely familiar. The familiar heady scent of lavender rose up into the air around me and, now that my goal was in sight, I started to slow somewhat to a more manageable jog. The fact that there had been no sign of any mage-like activity was comforting and I was starting to hope that perhaps I was getting away and that they wouldn’t bother coming after me.
As I got closer to the Cairns themselves, I realised that the humming sound was coming from a particularly annoying didgeridoo. I winced. Aborigines aside, it baffled me as to why anyone would choose that as an instrument to play. I could now make out some individual campfires and clusters of people sat around chatting and drinking, occasionally taking long drawn out gulps from bottles that were being passed around. The smell of the lavender was giving way to the pungent odour of marijuana, and the low chatter of a couple of dozen voices was becoming more distinct. Trying to appear less conspicuous (after all, who goes for a jog in the middle of night in wintery Scotland?), I slowed now to a walk, thrusting my hands into pockets just in case they were still glowing with green fire.
I was a bit surprised, and definitely relieved, that there wasn’t a police presence. It was possible, of course, that they were all off dealing with a sudden terrible fire in the middle of town. The people sat around chatting barely registered me, although as I swung around towards the stones themselves, one slurred voice did call out lazily.
“Want a smoke, flower?”
Flower? A spasm of irritation caught me and I flicked my eyes over in the direction of where the voice was coming from. A lanky long haired man with a yellow anorak on was lying propped up on one elbow, casually holding out a joint. As if clouding my mind was going to help me now.
“No, thanks mate,” I called back, struggling to keep the edge out of my voice.
“Hey, no problem,” he drawled out. “Come back if you change your mind.”
At that point his eyes focused on some point behind me and I could just make out his pupils widening in the dark. “Far out,” he whispered, and whistled softly.
A tendril of dread joined the heat in my stomach and I glanced around to see what he was looking at. My stomach lurched as my eyes fixed on a snaking blue light that was making its way inexorably through the groups of people, following the path I had just taken and heading right for me. Shit. I turned round and ran.
The stones were just up ahead, scant metres away. It would do me no good reaching them if the locator spell found me first however. I lacked the skill to open the portal, even it had still been dusk and the Cairns were at their most powerful. I still didn’t know much about how these tracing spells worked, despite having seen Alex put them into action, and I didn’t know if having tracked me this far it was already too late, but I had to try to avoid it and then maybe I’d still have a fighting chance somehow. Perhaps if the power of the Cairns interfered with it, it would get confused and head off in another direction. I had to hope.
I sprinted, avoiding some empty cans of lager that were scattering the pathway, as well as managing to just stop myself colliding with a couple that were snogging next to one of the standing stones. Mustering up every last ounce of energy I had, I pelted through the corbelled passageway towards the back wall of the cairn, afraid to look behind me. Tea light candles were flickering next to the wall of rocks, creating some sort of miniature shrine. What the reason for this was, I had no idea, and I inadvertently kicked a few over as I slammed into the rock face. I turned, pressing my hands against the rough stone surface and blinked rapidly, trying to focus to see where the blue snake of light was.
It was hovering back at the entrance to the cairn, flicking its almost animal like head one way or another. The kissing couple had broken off from their embrace and were poking at it with outstretched fingers, eyes widened in wonder. I spared a moment of curiosity as to how the Ministry would prevent reports of a mysterious blue light appearing during the winter solstice from filtering across the internet, but that thought quickly vanished into a wave of desperate relief as the light abruptly blinked out of existence, leaving just the dark night behind in its wake. I sank down against the wall until I was on my haunches, closing my eyes in a mixture of disbelief and liberation. It had worked.
I allowed myself a moment’s respite, resting my head against the rough cool stones and blanking my mind. Then I straightened up and prepared my mental checklist. I had to, in no particular order, avoid being either detected or found by the Ministry of Mages, the Pack or the police; I had to find some way to rescue Mrs Alcoon from the coma-like stasis the mages had put her under and convince them that she was exactly what she appeared to be – nothing more than an elderly Scottish woman with a bare smattering of magic; keep my promise to Solus and tell him that I was of the Draco Wyr and hope that he didn’t attempt to drain my blood so he could use it for whatever it could be used for; and find out why, all of a sudden, I could call up green flames at my fingertips. Easy.
Mrs Alcoon was relatively safe for now and, besides which, there had been no sign of Solus since he’d bundled her off to Tir-na-Nog. I was somewhat surprised that he’d not taken advantage of the differences in time to show his face again and to demand his ‘reward’, but I decided that I couldn’t worry about that right now. Notwithstanding annoying mental intrusions, the Pack were nowhere in sight and therefore would be easy to avoid. More pressing were my concerns about the mages and the police. The cloaking power of the Cairns wouldn’t last long – the Winter Solstice was already virtually over. My magical knowledge was not strong and I knew I couldn’t count on the Cairns to hide me forever. Unless the mages were absolute idiots they’d work out I was here sooner or later anyway, as would the local police. Enough so-called druids and hippies, no matter how stoned they were, had seen me here. My previous idea of merging myself into one of their groups was probably a foolish one. If I involved myself with more humans, I’d probably only succeed in involving them in lots of trouble. I didn’t need any more on my conscience than I already had.
I chewed my lip. The longer I hung around in indecision, the less power the Cairns’ portal would hold. I looked over at the hazy figure of the long-haired man who’d called me flower and made up my mind, pushing myself away from the relative comfort and safety of the stoned passage-way and walking slowly back towards his direction.
Pasting a smile on my face, I called out to him. “Hey, mate, any chance you have a phone I could borrow?”
“What do you need a phone for, flower? Let’s hang back and enjoy the moment and forget the outside world.” His voice trailed off and, as I got closer to him, I realised just how unfocused his eyes were. I fought the urge to slap him around the head a few times.
“I…uh…need to call my sister. She promised she’d be here but I can’t find her. I’ll give you money for the call – it’ll only take a minute.” I gazed at him beseechingly.
He blinked at me slowly. “Well, sure then, flower.”
He reached into the side pocket of his stained yellow windbreaker and fumbled around for a few moments. I had to fight the urge to push his hand out of the way and find it for myself, despite whatever communicable disease I might pick up in the process.
“Hey, did you see that freaky blue light? This Winter Solstice is rocking, man!”
I just stared at him. He shrugged amiably and finally pulled out his phone, holding it out. I snatched it out of his hand before he changed his mind and stared down at it for a moment. Alex would probably know what to do but I wasn’t convinced I could trust him now that all the mages were involved. Not that I could blame him for that; his first loyalty would have to be to the Ministry and I got that. It didn’t help me much though. There was someone else I could call though.
I took a deep breath and dialed, jabbing out the numbers without thinking about it any further, and hoping that the right person answered.
It took some time before someone picked up. Well, it was around five o’clock in the morning although that didn’t stop my impatience from sending pinpricks of tension across my body. I was aware that the phone’s owner was watching me with his head cocked, a lazy grin on his face, so I turned away and took a few steps in the other direction.
Finally a sleepy voice answered. “Hello?”
“Hi.” I coughed slightly, trying to disguise my voice. “I need to speak to Johannes. It’s important.”
“Huh? It’s the middle of the freaking night.” It was a girl’s voice, sounded like Ally but I wasn’t completely sure. At least it wasn’t Anton.
“Yeah, like I said it’s important,” I repeated.
Ally muttered something and put the receiver down. I turned round and looked at the stoned yellow windbreaker guy who was still watching me. I gave him a strained smile and held up two fingers.
It seemed like an age before someone picked up the phone again.
“Yeah?”
Thank f*ck. It was Johannes.
“J, I don’t have much time. I need your help.”
“Mack? Far are ye? Whit’s going on?”
The comfort of hearing a familiar voice almost overwhelmed me. “J, I need to find out if I can get an old portal opened. I don’t have much time.”
“Whit happened tae ye? Ye disappeared! Thae Brethren’s efter ye, ye know?”
“I know, I know, J. I’ll explain some other time. Please, the portal?”
“Whit kin’ is it?”
“It’s an old one. Centred around a cairn that’s only really got power during the solstice. That’s…”
“Now,” he interrupted. “Hol’ on.”
I could hear him talking to someone in the background and felt my stomach muscles tighten. I didn’t want to involve more people than I absolutely had to. I could hear the phone being passed to someone else.
“Mackenzie? Where are you? What happened to you?”
A pain rose in my throat as I fought to hold back my tears. “Julia. Are you…are you okay?” The last time I’d seen here she’d been lying unconscious and fighting for her life – and there’d been nothing I could do about it.
“I’m fine. In a wheelchair, admittedly, but I’m fine. Why did you leave?”
I struggled to explain. “Anton, he…I…”
The voice on the other end of the line was grim. “Yes, that’s what we thought. You didn’t have to leave, Mackenzie. We would have helped you.”
“It was for the best, Julia. I had no choice. I…I miss you.” The cloud of tears threatened to spill over and I had to fight hard to maintain my composure. “I don’t have much time though. I need your help.”
She became all business-like. “Yes, a portal? At a cairn site?”
“Yes. I need to know if it can be opened. I don’t have much time before dawn hits and I don’t think it’ll have any power at all left then. I need to…” I took a deep breath. “I need to get through it.”
“Do you know where it leads? You know how dangerous portals are, Mackenzie. It could go anywhere. It could open up in the demesnes of anything.”
“I know, and, no, I don’t know where it leads but I don’t have any choice right now, Julia. Please, help me.”
“Okay, okay. Johannes?” I could hear more muttering before she came back on the line. “Right, this is what you need to do. If the portal is still active, there will be one stone marked with a rune. You need to touch it with both hands and say the incantation.”
“And what’s the incantation?”
“That will depend on whoever built it, dear. Is it a human cairn?”
“I think so. Around four thousand years old. In…” I hesitated for a moment because I didn’t want to give too much information away in case Julia would be compelled at some point in the future to give it up. “In Scotland.”
“In that case, you’ll need to try the Gaelic for open. I don’t know if that will work, but it’s worth a try.”
I kept my voice calm. “Do you know what the Gaelic for open might be?”
“I don’t speak Gaelic, dear.”
“Can you find out? Does Johannes know?”
I could hear Julia asking Johannes in the background, and heard him answer in the negative. Shit.
Julia came back on. “If you hold on, we can find out. I’ll just get the computer up and running. There’ll be a translation website we can find. Mackenzie…” Her voice stopped abruptly as I heard someone else’s voice suddenly appear in the background, demanding to know what was going on. I swallowed hard as I recognised the deep timbre.
“Lord Anton, it’s an old friend,” came Julia’s firm voice.
Lord Anton? John had never demanded that we use the pack honorific to address him. I wondered if Anton was feeling the need to assert his authority because he wasn’t naturally receiving the respect that he thought he deserved in his new position as alpha.
“And who might that be?”
Despite the distance, I could hear Anton’s voice loud and clear. He’d use his Voice on the pair of them and find out who I really was. It wouldn’t go well for them. I decided a pre-emptive strike was my only option.
“Put him on, Julia,” I said calmly.
“Wait…”
“Just do it.” I didn’t like ordering Julia around. After all, she’d been my alpha, even if it had only been for a short period. But I couldn’t let Anton decide to punish her for my actions.
The receiver clunked faintly as it was passed over. “Who is this?” demanded Anton.
“It’s me, Anton. Mackenzie.”
There was a moment of silence before he replied with a dangerously quiet voice. “Mack, I thought I had made my feelings clear.”
“You didn’t tell me I couldn’t call up for a chat, Anton.”
“I would have thought it wasn’t necessary to make that explicit. And it’s Lord Anton to you.”
“Not any more. I’m not part of the pack, remember?” I couldn’t resist taunting him.
“Of course you’re not. That’s why you’re out there on your own without a friend in the world.”
I balled my fists up. The wanker. Irritated heat flashed up through my veins. “Now you know who this is, can you put Julia back on the phone? We have some catching up to do.” I was impressed at how even my voice managed to sound.
“Actually, no, Mack, I don’t think I will do that. It’s 5 o’clock in the morning. My pack need their sleep. Don’t call here again.”
“Anton, wait, I…”
He hung up the phone. I cursed loudly, causing several of the solstice hippies to glance over in my direction. The yellow windbreaker guy was staring at me. I dug into my jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled note, passing it over to him with his phone.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“Any time, flower. Did you find your sister?”
I ignored him, aware that I was being rude but unable to muster up the energy to care, and walked back towards the back of the cairn, then paused suddenly and turned round.
“What’s the Gaelic for open?”
“Huh?” He looked baffled.
“The Gaelic for…” I gave up. “Never mind,” and turned back towards the stones. These so-called druids were just here for show, it would be stupid to think that they’d actually know anything about the real history and culture of the place. Let’s face it, Yellow Anorak had a state of the art mobile phone and probably a job in the city. I doubted he really knew anything even remotely helpful about the reality of the Cairns or the culture behind them.
“Hey!” he shouted from behind me.
I ignored him and kept walking.
“It’s oscail.”
I paused and turned back. He was holding his phone aloft and beaming. Of course, a state of the art mobile phone would be able to access the internet, even here in the middle of nowhere. I felt immediately guilty for dismissing him so readily and for, again, being so quick to judge. The kindness of strangers… I smiled my thanks at him and jogged back, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “You might have just saved my life.” He gave me a lazy salute back, before settling down onto his previous spot on the ground. I smiled gratefully at him again, and then headed back to the stones.
When I got back to the edge of the cairn, I began feeling around with my fingers to see if I could find the rune. Many of the stones were covered in a soft moss, and the shrouded darkness at the back of the passageway made it difficult to really see anything. I felt me way along each stone, fingertips brushing against the surfaces, trying to feel for anything that might suggest a marking. Tracing round the edges, and feeling nothing, I could my frustration rising yet again. I took a deep breath. I HAD to get a grip of myself. I took a step back and inadvertently knocked over yet another flickering tea candle. Bending down to pick it back up, something caught the edge of my eye. I knelt down and reached over, carefully brushing the edges of the dark green moss aside. There was a rune after all!
I closed my eyes and touched it gently with the tip of my index finger, hoping I’d be able to recognise it so I could have some clue about where the portal would lead. Having advance knowledge would be helpful. It was one of the more obscure ones, however, and my weak knowledge of Otherworld languages wasn’t enough to help me translate it. I supposed it didn’t matter. Dawn was approaching and if I didn’t try something soon, then it wouldn’t be long before the long arm of the law – magical or otherwise – caught up with me. I took a deep breath and pressed the palms of both my hands against the cool rock and whispered, “Oscail.”
For a horrifying moment, nothing seemed to happen. Dread filled me; all this risk-taking: running around the freezing Scottish countryside, getting Julia and Johannes into trouble, all of it, had been pointless. A silent wail built up inside my chest. Maybe it was too late, the moment of the Winter Solstice was too far past, or the power of the portal was just too diminished. I sank down, defeated, my fingers falling away from the stones, and then, without warning, the air around me started to crackle and shimmer. The pit of my stomach was hit with a familiar wave of nausea and I was falling, falling through the ground.