Celtic Mist: The Calm Before the Storm (Battle Raven Series) (24 page)

Firnir shrugged as he looked at the ground hunched over. “Lord Faolan takes his amusements where he can find them. He wanted a woman to sit by his side. She was next in line and very persistent.“

“I am most certain she was.” Tynan said as he walked away from the doors. He heard the heavy chain mail of the guard walking their way through the throne room and hurried on with his conversation.

“Does Lord Faolan believe that a woman who betrayed and murdered her family can be trusted?”

Firnir sighed and straightened. “I believe that would be the point general. She is ruthless, heartless and will do what it takes.”

“She will do what it takes all right. However, she is no Paili.” Tynan said.

Firnir pushed Tynan to the side out of sight of the thrones as the doors opened.

“Be wary of Cyri general she is a mistress of manipulation and deception. You are correct she is no Paili.” he realized he was not playing his role and looked to Tynan.

Giving Firnir’s shoulder a rough squeeze Tynan gave him a grim look. “I always had a feeling you were more than you seem. Which is good Lord Faolan will need all who are loyal to him with that woman at his side.”

“Thank you general.” Firnir said and hunched himself over and looked at the ground. He shuffled his way into the throne room with General Tynan following behind him.

As the general walked to the platform he studied the man before

him. There was no trace of the vulnerability he showed the other night. Faolan sat stone faced and cold on his throne. He looked to the woman sitting next to Faolan. There was no mystery to this woman. She radiated cruelty and smugness and certainly was no Paili. Lady Paili had a mysterious nature about her that was even more dangerous because one would never know what she would do. This woman, Cyri, let it be known by her body language and glare.

He reached the bottom step and went down on bended knee before Lord Faolan. “You requested my presence.”

“Rise general. My lady Cyri has requested a banquet for all those to see that she is by my side.”

Tynan rose. “It will be done my lord.” He turned to Cyri and bowed. “My lady, what do you wish for entertainment? I will have it prepared.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I will take care of the preparations for entertainment. You do not need to bother yourself with them.”

“As you wish my Lady.” He turned to Faolan “My Lord. I will let it be known preparations of the banquet room should begin. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”

“That will be all general. Dismissed.” Lord Faolan said.

Tynan gave a short bow to Lord Faolan and to Lady Cyri. He turned on his heels striding to the double doors. As he passed through the doors he heard Cyri say to Faolan. “I dislike him. Get rid of the general.”

Firnir’s voice echoed in the hall “My Lord. I believe . . .”

The doors shut behind Tynan before he could hear the rest of what Firnir was going to say or Lord Faolan’s response. He thanked God that he sent Aalia and his son away.

A pinpoint of light shown ahead and the little group quickened their pace to the mouth of the cave. They put out their torches as a rotted out door covered in vines and moss came into view. Cadmon moved it aside and took a look outside.

“All clear.” he said an covered his eyes with his hand looking around. He walked to the edge and looked down. “Fairmore is less than a half days journey from here. Or sooner depending on our pace.”

Kedryn looked down the mountain and around where they were standing. He could see three overgrown paths leading from where they stood. “Which one leads to the overlook?”

Cadmon pointed to a path to their right. “It should not take you long to reach it. We will move down this path here. It is possible you may even reach us before we get to the Estate where you left your horses.”

Looking to Damon. “Are you ready?”

“Yes. Lets go.” Damon said as he gave Bevin a quick smile and headed down the path with Kedryn following.

If a couple of hours was not a long time to Cadmon, Kedryn wondered what was. Damon almost slipped of the side when they reached the outcropping. Kedryn let out a low whistle. To their side was a large waterfall and his eyes followed it down to where the castle was carved into the mountain below. Sloping down the side of the mountain were soldiers tents as far as the eye could see.

“I hope your troops are ready I heard that Faolan was planning on moving forward in around six to eight weeks. That was before Daigh met his end and I do not see why anything would change with Tynan in command.”

Kedryn sat his pack down and pulled out a notebook and pencil.

He sketched out the surrounding area and marked where the mountain sloped down into the valley beyond. He knew the formation used during the first battle was not going to work. They would be crazy to use it and march down a mountain.

“I’ve seen enough. Lets catch up with the others.” Kedryn said as he put the paper and pencil away and shrugged on his frame pack.

It was around noon when Kedryn and Damon caught up with the rest of the group at the Estate. Cadmon was saddling up a horse and drew his sword when he heard their footsteps. When he saw Kedryn and Damon he placed it back into its scabbard.

“Where are the others?” Damon asked as he helped Cadmon with the buckles on the saddle.

“They are checking the pantry while we waited for you two to catch up. How does it look?” Cadmon patted the horse.

“Bad. I would say there will be three Firbolg to one of our soldiers. Or more” Kedryn said.

Cadmon let out a curse and led the two horses he had just saddled to the house and tethered them up next to four others.

“Those are not good odds. It is a good thing the Lady Battle Raven is on our side.” Damon stepped onto the porch.

Kedryn knew his mother’s power would be of great help but all he could think about was the scar Liam gave her. She was just as vulnerable as the rest of them. He sighed and looked at all of the horses puzzled. “Where did the other two come from?”

“Strays. Our horses were out roaming the estate and the other two were with them. You should have seen us all trying to round them up. Missed all of the fun.“ he let out a laugh “Since Bevin and Kiara are the two lightest they will share a horse.”

“Right then.” Kedryn said and looked up as the group started to come out of the front doors of the manor house.

“Good you are here. Now we can go.” Lawler said as he walked up to a horse and attached his pack to it.

Lawler held out his hand for Kiara and she took it and glanced Kedryn’s way. With his help she mounted the horse and her shawl fell to the ground. Lawler swooped down and picked it up for her. He kissed her hand and Kedryn felt a flicker of jealously run through him. Kedryn walked up to his horse and attached his frame pack. He mounted and rose his horse up next to Kiara’s.

“Do you know how to ride?” Kedryn looked her over.

She looked at him amused. “Of course.”

Bevin appeared at the side of Kiara’s horse with Damon and he helped her up sitting her behind Kiara.

“This will be interesting.” Bevin said and Kiara let out a laugh. Niall walked up and patted the horse’s neck. “With the pace set extra weight with a man would wear on the horse. Since you both probably weigh together what one of us does it works.”

Damon clapped him on the back. “That was the polite way to put it.” he walked over to his chosen horse and mounted.

Cadmon moved his horse out to the front. “Are we ready? Who would like to lead the way?”

Kedryn nudged his horse forward next to Lawler. “Lead the way Lawler. You led us here so it makes sense that you lead us back.”

“Let’s go.” Lawler said as he looked at everyone who were patiently waiting for someone to give the word. He started his horse at a gallop and when he saw everyone was keeping up and the women really could handle the horse he quickened their pace.

When night began to fall Lawler slowed his horse down to a walk. He felt his stomach growl and realized they had not had lunch. Kedryn moved up beside him. “We should look for a place to set up camp.”

Moving the horses off of the trail they stopped.

“Niall could you and Damon go and scout around for a campsite?” Kedryn asked

“Of course. Give us just a few minutes.” Niall said and he jumped off of his horse. He handed the reigns to Kedryn and waved for Damon to follow.

They walked off into the failing light of the sun and Kedryn look at the others. They were no worse for the wear after the hard ride. Bevin and Kiara had slid off of their horse and were stretching their legs out. The men dismounted and started to check the packs and straps of the saddles.

A rustling of leaves made Kedryn turn and he saw two orange eyes blink at him and then disappear. Shortly after Niall and Damon appeared.

“There is a very small waterfall and pond. It is a bit of a jaunt but the easiest path for the horses. There will be fresh water.”

“Enough for fishing?” asked Kedryn.

Damon shook his head. “No. It’s not that big.”

“Bummer. Lead the way.” Kedryn said

Each grabbed the reigns of their horse and followed Niall and Damon. The pond was the length of two men from all sides. The moonlight gave the splash of wildflowers and trees a silvery cast. A hill sloped down where a tiny waterfall flowed into a small stream lined by a dark green carpet of grass.

“It is beautiful.” Bevin said and took Damon’s hand. She noticed Lawler glance their way but he did not say or do anything.

Damon let go of her hand. “There are some dead trees a few paces away. I will gather some wood to start a fire.”

Tying the reigns of his horse to a tree Lawler took the pack of food off of his horse. He pulled out the salted meat that Kiara had packed and handed it to her. “That was a brilliant idea my lady.”

She gave him a small grin. “Thank you. We will all be eating well tonight.”

Cadmon walked up to her “That will go well with the wine you and Bevin gathered.”

“Oh the wine.” Bevin said and walked back to where the horses were tethered.

As Bevin was pulling out the wine she heard a twig snap and immediately froze. As quietly as she could she pulled the bottle the rest of the way out of the pack. She listened and heard Kedryn’s horse stomp and quietly neigh. Bevin raised the bottle to her shoulder and quietly gathered up her skirt. She kept to the shadow of her horse knowing the person or thing that was moving her way had to pass by soon. As soon as she saw the shadow Bevin swung out the bottle and it connected.

A loud crack and the breaking of the bottle sounded through the camp. Niall shouted and they all ran to where the sound was. Kedryn took up a torch and lit it to see Scanlon sprawled on the ground holding his head.

Bevin screeched. “Scanlon! You could have made your presence known instead of sneaking into our camp!”

Rubbing his head he looked up at her. “Bevin? Is it truly you? We thought you dead along with Dillon.”

Bevin lowered her head at the thought of Dillon. “I was captured.”

“Aodhan will want to hear of this miracle right away, everyone will. It is a good thing you did not put your full effort into that.” he looked to Kedryn who was holding out his arm and let Kedryn help him up.

Kedryn gave Scanlon a lop sided grin and crossed his arms. “I thought you were the best scout around.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be attacked by friends.” Scanlon rubbed his head and looked at his hand. “No blood.” he turned to Bevin who walked up to him and put her arm around his waist He looked down at her and gave her a hug. “I’ve never been bested by a woman before.”

“Besides Serena. If you would have made your presence known instead of being sneaky I would not have wasted a perfect bottle of wine.” Bevin said and led him to where they were setting up the camp fire.

Scanlon squatted down by the fire pit as Damon walked up to the fire. It took Scanlon a couple of seconds to realize who the man was before him. Before anyone could do or say anything Damon was on his back with a sword pointed at his chest. Kedryn kicked sword away and Scanlon glared at him.

“Explain or I will consider you all traitors for having this Firbolg in your company.”

“That would take more time than we can spare. For now, know he is an ally.” Kedryn said

Scanlon narrowed his eyes at Kedryn as he sheathed his sword. “You can explain everything to all of us when we reach Tralee.”

Lawler helped Damon pick up the scattered wood. “Tralee? I thought we were supposed to head to Quenith.”

Scanlon turned to Kedryn. “Your mother was restless and Aodhan knew Carrick had some old scrolls she might want to look at. It seems she is onto another portal.”

“Truly?” Kiara asked as she set the pork out to cook. “Another portal.”

Scanlon walked up to Kiara. “You have grown into a fine woman, my Lady. Your father will be most pleased to see you.”

She gave him a curtsey. “As will I him.” she felt a tear slip down

her cheek as she thought of her brother and turned to Kedryn who walked up to her with her shawl in hand.