Dark Isle(28)

Darkness slowly faded into early morning light, and with it the last effects of the Fairy Honey left me.

“Aednat, please, get off my arm,” I said, no longer whispering. “Aednat!” She jumped up, her eyes wide and her hair a total mess of mossy bits and pieces of grass.

In a matter of minutes both Aednat and Luke were awake and I’d downed a dose of Fairy Honey. The glare that Luke sent Aednat’s way was amusing with that much of the intoxicating drink in me, and I couldn’t stop giggling. Finally, Luke gave up and sat beside me.

“Did you learn anything from her?” he asked, pointing at the Banshee as she dangled her toes in the pool of water.

“Yes, but I can’t remember right now.” I hiccupped and snickered, the Fairy Honey working its magic on my senses.

A rumble in the ground swayed the trees around us. Luke braced himself as if we were under attack—which I guess in a way we were, he just didn’t know it yet. The thought sobered me, despite the Fairy Honey singing in my veins.

“We need to talk about the next step,” I said as I sat up, my body stiff from the hard ground.

The trees shivered from the earthquake, though it had passed. I’d thought about this all night and now that my head was clearer, I knew what had to be done. “Luke, we have to find Lir, he’s the only one who knows where Chaos is hidden. We need him if we are to stop Card—and that is more important than anything.” I knew finding the three Smiths and having them forge a new Excalibur was important too, but if we could prevent Chaos’s release, it might not even be necessary if we were lucky.

He glanced over at Aednat and frowned. “Nice of you to fill her in.”

“She already knew,” I said.

Luke took my hand and steadied me as I stood. “I thought Lir said that he didn’t want you to come for him.”

“That was before we knew what Card was really doing,” I said, my legs wobbling. “Aednat and I, we figured it out last night.”

“Oh really?” Luke’s tone left no doubt to his thoughts on Aednat. “Was this before or after she attacked me?”

A burst of laughter erupted out of me. “Attacked you? She knocked you out with a mushroom; I’d hardly call that an attack.”

He took his hand back, and knocked a clump of moss off his pants, his movements sharp and choppy, his eyes not meeting mine. “Whatever.”

Really, I had to deal with this now? “Look, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I don’t think you would have let the conversation go where it did. I understand why she knocked you out.”

Now his eyes did meet mine. “And where did the conversation go, exactly?”

Aednat skipped up to my side and slipped her hand into mine, speaking low enough that only I could hear her. “Do not tell Shining boy. He not believe, he try to stop us.”

She’s right about that. Remember Luke’s first reaction? Disbelief. I’ve no doubt that Nuadha will ignore all the signs that Chaos is coming too, Cora said.

“We discussed Chaos. Not that you want to believe that’s what’s happening,” I said, enduring the glare from Aednat. I wasn’t going to keep things from Luke; he was trying to help me, trying to keep me alive—even if he was irritating the hell out of me with his arrogance.

Luke held up his hands in mock surrender. “Fine, okay, I believe you!” He looked from me to Aednat and back again. I could see he was just playing along.

Jaw clenched, I struggled not to yell at him. “My ancestors confirmed it too, Luke, before Aednat and I spoke last night. That’s three warnings that Chaos is about to be unleashed if we don’t stop Balor. How many more do you need? Card is digging it out of the ocean for Balor, that’s what’s causing the earthquakes.”

Even as the words left my mouth, another quake rumbled through the Island. Luke steadied me as I held tight to Aednat. Her eyes were wide with worry. “We must hurry if we are to stop him.”

“You don’t want our help now to restore you to your throne?” Luke asked, his surprise obvious.

Without a pause, Aednat nodded. “It is the way of a true leader; sometimes we must give up what we want most to do the right thing. Maybe Aednat must give up throne in order to manage Chaos, maybe not. Only time will tell.”

Words so wise coming out of such a young-looking girl were more than a little unnerving, but she spoke truly.

“Besides,” she continued. “Aednat knows where Lir is; if we free him, he will stop Card. He is the only one that can. Besides Quinn, that is.” She gave me a wink of her blue eye.

I closed my eyes and the light flickered across my eyelids. “Let me guess, Lir is being held captive by the Banshee Queen.”