‘How many gifts does he have?’
‘Just the two. Which is two more than me. I don’t need any freaky Sidhe magic though. What I have to find out is if he wants me dead. If he does, then I need to know.’ I pushed away the surge of dismay I felt at saying those words out loud. Our childhood encounter notwithstanding, I’d known Byron for all of three days; I knew him no better than he knew me. Why he’d gone to such an effort to bring me here to simply kill me didn’t quite fit; neither did the fact that he wouldn’t benefit in any way from the Foinse failing. But fireballs after his announcement of being gifted in pyrokinesis? I couldn’t shake off my suspicion.
Brochan threw me a sidelong glance. ‘Forgive me if I’m mistaken but aren’t Sidhe supposed to get their Gift when they get their true name? If you just received your name, then…’
I interrupted him. ‘I feel fine.’ Apart from a cracked rib and singed eyebrows. ‘Apparently Sidhe also get sick. Something to do with their physical body accepting the Gift. I reckon that because I’m an adult that time has passed.’ I grinned at him. ‘It’s a good thing. It makes me more human than Sidhe.’
‘If you say so.’
I punched him on the arm. ‘I do.’
He smirked. ‘So you’re going to confront this guy?’
‘Nah. I’ll do a little reconnoitring first. The others were prepared to delay the journey to the Foinse if I got ill. I’ll pretend I am so that I’ve got enough time to find out what’s going on.’ I thought of Bob and my mouth turned down. ‘He also has something of mine that I want to get back.’
‘Sounds good,’ he said approvingly. ‘We can help with all that.’
My eyes gleamed. ‘You can. There are enough other species and races around here that you three can probably wander around the Cruaich more easily than I can.’
‘What do you need us to do?’
I met his eyes. ‘Find out what really happened to the Adair Clan.’
Brochan sucked in a breath. ‘Are you sure?’
I nodded. ‘I am.’
‘Okay. We’ll use the signal to get in touch with you once we have something.’
I shook my head. ‘No. I have a better way.’ Expect the unexpected. ‘You can summon me. Layoch. My true name is Layoch.’
Brochan’s jaw dropped. ‘You shouldn’t have told me that, Tegs. If I know your name then…’
I waved an airy hand in the air. ‘Yeah, yeah. You can obtain absolute power over me. I already trust you with my life, Brochan. Lexie and Speck too. The least I can do is trust you with one sodding word.’
‘The Sidhe never reveal their true names. Not even to their families.’
‘They can’t trust each other,’ I said simply.
‘You’re still taking a big risk.’
I smiled. ‘No, I’m not.’
He squeezed my shoulder. ‘Do you know what it means?’
‘My name? No. It has a meaning?’
‘You should brush up on your Gaelic,’ he scolded. ‘It translates as “warrior”.’
I gaped. ‘You’re kidding me.’
He lifted one shoulder in apology.
‘Oh, well,’ I dismissed. ‘I’ve not lived up to Sidhe expectations so far. I’m certainly not going to live up to that name. Not unless it’s an X-Box warrior anyway.’
Brochan turned and gazed back out of the grove. ‘Well, if you’re not going to fight your way back to the castle, how do you suggest we slip out of here unnoticed? The last thing we need are more fireballs being flung your way.’
‘Not to mention it’s better if we’re not seen together,’ I agreed. ‘Er…’
‘Pssst!’
Both Brochan and I jumped. ‘What the hell was that?’
‘Over here!’
We exchanged glances then peered in the direction of the hushed whisper. As soon as I realised who was speaking, my shoulders relaxed. ‘It’s her,’ I said, thoughtfully. ‘That’s good.’
Brochan watched the old woman as she continued to beckon. ‘Who is she?’
‘Apparently she used to know my parents. She might have insights into Clan Adair.’
‘Can we trust her?’
‘No,’ I said cheerfully. ‘We can’t trust anyone here. She also seems to have a touch of crazy about her. But she might still help us out.’ And with that, I stepped out from under the cover of the grove and joined her.
‘What happened? I saw smoke.’ She shivered. ‘Burny, burny. There were reports of fire…’
‘Everything’s fine. Can you do me a favour? Can you help my friend get to the tower over there?’
She didn’t take her eyes off me but she nodded. ‘There’s only supposed to be one person in the grove at any time. Grove for one and one for grove.’
‘So much for that then,’ I said.
‘I can help you too, Chieftain. We can use the back way. If you go to the fork instead of the spoon and turn right, you’ll be on the servants’ path. No-one will bother you there.’
I frowned. ‘I’m not a chieftain. Thank you for the information about the path though. I’ll use it.’