Age of Druids (25 page)

She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. “I thought that might be where you’ve been. I woke a few times when you were gone.”

“Can you move?”

“I don’t think I can walk,” she said. “You should go without me.”

“I’m not leaving you,” he said sharply. “If they return and I’m not here, they might kill you.”

“But you can move faster without me. I’ll only get us caught. Go get help.”

“Help from whom? Even if I run to the Colorado police, how would they believe me? They’ll think I’m crazy. And we’ve been missing for weeks. The Mistgate won’t still be open. To return to the Otherworld, we’ll need to find our way to a country with a permanent gate, which means outside North America. I only know the European and a few of the African gates well. I visited some Asian countries, but Europe would be easiest, I think.”

Tears welled in Demi’s eyes. “What should we do?”

“We leave together and get you medical help. If we can reach an emergency room, they’ll treat you even without ID. I can write a letter to the druids’ London address. I’ll tell them where we are. It might take a few weeks, but we’ll at least be safe. We can go to my sister’s after you get out of the hospital.”

Demi closed her eyes while she considered. “I can’t think of a better plan,” she said. “You’ll need to bear my weight.”

“I can do that.” He gently put his arm under hers and began to lift, stopping when she cried out. “This isn’t going to work.”

“Keep going,” she said. “It hurts, but we have no choice.”

Steeling his nerve, Huck nodded and continued to lift, ignoring the whimpers she muffled by pressing her mouth into his shoulder. When she was upright, he asked, “How are you doing? Still want to move on? Maybe we should wait a day or two.”

She shook her head. “No,” she said, her voice ragged. “My ribs are at least cracked and something is wrong with my hip. It might be broken. I can barely move my left arm. I’ve been using what blood power I can access to heal some internal bleeding.”

“Hell.”

“Exactly,” she said. “I’m only alive because I’m a druid and because I managed to keep this.” She tapped the talisman she wore around her neck. “I’m surprised they didn’t take it from me.”

Huck shook his head. “They don’t seem very bright. I’m surprised they managed not to starve us to death.”

Demi said. “Standing hurts. We should go while we can. I’ll do my best not to pass out.” She said the words with a smile, but she was clearly putting on a brave face. He couldn’t lose her. All this was his fault. He couldn’t return to the Druid Hall without her.

“We’ll need about ten minutes to get from here to the exit, and I might be forced to hide. I should carry you.”

“Wait,” she said. “Let’s think positive. If we do escape, we might need food. Let’s take the rabbits.”

“Good thinking,” he said and used the old scarf to tie them to a belt loop while Demi did her best to balance beside him. Nothing about the action was pleasant, but somehow doing so made him more certain they’d make it. “Ready?”

She nodded, wincing when he lifted her into his arms. “This is the second time you’ve had to rescue me from captivity,” she said. “Let’s not ever do this again.”

“Next time, you can rescue me.” He moved to the door, off-balance and awkward with her in his arms, and peered out. “Okay. Try to be as quiet as possible.” She glared at him, and he said, “Sorry.”

She softened her expression. “Just get us out of here.”

The journey started out easily enough. He followed the runes he’d carved into the walls. Once he reached about a third of the way through, he stopped. Pushing backward into a darkened corridor, he saw a creature staring at one of his runes. On the opposite side, he’d also carved an infinity symbol, to remind him this way was a loop and would lead him back where he started. But the creature ignored that and focused all his attention on the rune.

“Oh my god,” Huck whispered.

He retreated, rushing to return to their cave. He didn’t dare make a sound until they were back where they started.

“What’s wrong? Did it see us?” Demi asked.

“I know how they found us. Our talismans. They are attracted to them.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Not a hundred percent, but it makes sense. That’s probably why they haven’t bothered guarding us too closely and why they keep catching us. Over the past couple of days, I kept having seriously close calls. I’d started wondering if they smelled me.”

“If I leave my blood talisman behind, I can’t heal.”

“Are you healed enough that you’d survive, because we can’t cope with another attack like the last one. If I’m right, and we leave the artefacts behind, maybe they won’t follow. I mean, think about it. Why are they holding us? They obviously want something, but how did they know we aren’t regular humans?”

“Maybe they can sense us the same way Flùranach does.”

“You think they’re fae?”

“I don’t know what they are. I’m not even certain they’re alive. They feel wrong to my blood senses.”

“What do you want to do? We can try again, keeping the talismans, but I think we’d be taking a chance.”

Demi sighed. “You’re right. If we reach a hospital, I’ll heal the old fashioned way. Eventually I can create another artefact.”

“Should I put you down?”

“No,” she said quickly. “I can’t bear my weight again. I’ll get them.” She reached into her shirt and took out the small medallion. “This is the only one I have on me.”

“What about Munro’s?”

“Oh god, you’re right.” With slow, deliberate movements, she was able to retrieve it from her shirt pocket. “I’d forgotten. Do you think he’s looking for us?”

“If I know Munro, absolutely,” he said. “I have two around my neck. Can you reach them?”

Demi nodded. It took longer than if he’d removed them himself, but he didn’t want to jostle her more than necessary. She stared at the four artefacts. “I know we can remake them when we get home, but I hate leaving them behind. It feels wrong. What if they can use them?”

“I don’t think so,” Huck said. “If they could, they would have taken them a long time ago.”

“You’re right,” she said. With a sigh of regret, she dropped the four pieces to the floor of the cave.

“Okay,” Huck said. “Once more, then.”

They were five minutes into their journey before they saw one of the creatures. It didn’t turn their way, so Huck felt a surge of hope. Moving slowly and hiding when necessary, he carried Demi to the exit he’d found before.

A howl of frustration came from somewhere behind them and echoed through the caves. He had to assume their absence had been discovered. “Hurry,” Demi breathed.

“Hold on,” Huck said. She couldn’t grip him any tighter in her weakened state, but he’d wanted to warn her things might get bumpy. Moving outside, he was dazzled by the bright sunlight suddenly shining into his eyes. He needed a moment for his eyes to adjust, but he kept moving, scrambling blindly, clutching Demi as tightly as he could.

She cried out and he stopped, managing not to run into a creature that had appeared out of nowhere in front of him. The thing looked even worse in the daylight than any of the others had in the darkness. It locked its dead gaze on Huck and sniffed the air.

Demi pulled up her arm to block its blows, but the creature tilted its head, looking puzzled.

Huck held his breath, shuffling backward as it turned at the waist to look behind, then swivelled the other way. With a disgusting gurgling grunt, it walked around Huck, back toward the cave.

Demi started to laugh hysterically and Huck chuckled, but stopped abruptly. “Let’s go. Just in case any of the others are smarter.”

“Agreed,” Huck said. His adrenaline flowed, causing his heart to race. Moving as fluidly as possible, he ran.

Demi did as good a job as might be expected in keeping quiet, but occasionally a small moan escaped her lips. “Do you know the way?” she asked, her voice tight with pain.

“I know where we were when they grabbed us. I’m hoping we’re not too far from there. If we go north from here, we may run into that huge cliff dwelling place. Besides, if they are attracted to druid artefacts, they will have stayed close to that site we found.”

“The stone pillars,” Demi said thoughtfully.

“Right. I didn’t connect the two before, but it makes sense. They won’t have ventured far from something that powerful.”

“How long do you think before we get to town?”

“I’m not going to town. There’s a park station by those cliff dwellings. I can carry you there. They’ll have emergency supplies. Food. Water. We’ll tell them we got caught in a cave-in or something.” He continued moving, praying he was right about their location. “It was only a fifteen minute walk from the standing stones to the cliffs.”

Demi laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, wincing as pain wracked her body. Now that they seemed to be out of immediate danger, Huck slowed to give her an easier time.

The sun felt good on his face. He wandered much longer than fifteen minutes, but he hadn’t been completely certain of their location. Anywhere was better than in those damned caves. At least the air was fresh. If he didn’t find the cliffs soon, he planned to head east, toward civilisation. He didn’t want to carry her through fifty miles of wilderness, but he’d do whatever it took. Eventually they’d find a path, a sign, some hikers, something. “If we make it home in one piece, I’m never leaving the Druid Hall again.”

Demi smiled, her eyes still pressed closed. “
When
we make it back, I may never leave the bathtub. I must look and smell terrible.”

Huck glanced down at her. Her face was stained with grime and her lips bloodied and swollen. A huge bruise darkened one eye. “You’re beautiful,” he said.

She let out a surprised laugh and opened her eyes. “You’re a beautiful liar.” He sensed her gaze on him as he watched the trail. After long moments, she said, “I’ll never find a better man than you.”

“Were you searching for one?” he asked, grinning at her to soften the question.

“No. I wasn’t searching for a man at all.”

“You’ve been through a lot in the past few years.”

“That’s true. But ever since I met you, I haven’t had to go through any of it alone.” Her tone was thoughtful. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Huck interrupted her.

“Oh hell,” he said.

Demi turned her head to look, but tall brush blocked her view. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s no ranger station,” he said.

“We’re in the wrong place?”

“Shhh,” he said. “Look.” He held back a low branch so she could see. They had arrived at the cliffside dwellings of the Ancient Pueblo people as expected, but all signs of modern life were gone: the signs, the reinforced stairs with railings, all traces of park rangers. The area teemed with people walking, living, working outside. “We should get out of here before someone sees us.”

Confusion spread over Demi’s face. “Who are they?” she asked. “What’s happened?”

“We’re in the right
place
…but the wrong
time
.” He stood, staring, trying to figure out what to do. The people in those caves might help, but he didn’t know enough to know what kind of reception he and Demi would get.

“There’s no hospital,” she said as though the realisation had just dawned.

“No, there isn’t.”

“What should we do?”

“We can either go down to see if they’ll help us, or we go back and find the standing stones and hope that Munro keeps looking. He must have figured something out because those creatures discovered his talisman in
this
time. Either that or…”
Or what?
His mind was blank. None of this made sense.

“I’m scared,” Demi said. All the time they’d spent in that cave, she’d never admitted to being afraid.

“Everything is okay. Escaping the cave was surely the worst of it. Now we just need to figure out how to get home, to the right time. We got
here
, so there must be a way back.”

“You think we should return to the standing stones?”

“I do. We can find water and wait it out. If Munro is nearby, he’ll find that big-assed artefact the same way we did. I’ll help you make another healing stone.”

“I’m not sure I can,” she said. “The flows here are weak, and so am I.” When he didn’t answer, she said, “We can try.”

“You want to go ask for help?”

“No,” she said. “If Munro is searching for us, he’s looking in
our
time, not thousands of years ago. However we got here, those stones had something to do with it. Maybe we can figure out how we activated them and return to modern times. If we go down to those people, they might help us, but we might be stuck here the rest of our lives.”