Earth's Requiem(29)
“Well, thank God she’s taken a shine to me.” The fine hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Aislinn froze, pulling invisibility about herself. “Don’t say anything, but we’re not alone.”
“I know. Trust yourself to me. I won’t hurt you.”
He closed his arms around her. She felt the shift and knew he was moving them. In seconds, the walls of his home shimmered into being. “What was out there?” She dumped her armload of plants on a rough counter. His impromptu embrace when he’d transported her had crushed the greens. The front of her shirt was sticky with aromatic plant juices.
“Not sure.” His brows knit together. Then his frown deepened. She felt him pull earth magic, lots of it. “Stay here,” he barked. “Bella’s under attack. She needs me.”
“Not a chance.” Aislinn locked her hands around his arms. “Either I’m coming with you, or neither of us goes. Rune is out there, too.”
Chapter Seven
The stink of dark magic was thick in the air. What had merely been a hint a few moments before had turned into a positive stench.
“What’s your strongest suit?” she hissed as soon as they were back in the forest.
“Earth. Then water.”
“Okay. You draw earth. I’ll mix in fire and stoke it with air if we need more.” Using a dollop of magic to partially mask her presence, Aislinn started off at a fast trot.
Fionn made a grab for her arm.
“Not so fast. You could be running right into a trap. Mind speech only from here on.”
She stopped, spun to face him, and jabbed an impatient finger into his chest. “If you have a better idea, let’s hear it.”
“I don’t recognize what this feels like. Do you?”
Reaching out with tendrils of her Seeker sense, she realized with a shock that she didn’t either. “No.”
“Since neither of us knows what we’re facing, we go really slow. And I go first.”
She fumed, but she didn’t want to jeopardize them by arguing, so she followed him, her senses hyper alert. What the hell was out there that felt so putrid? And why couldn’t she sense Rune?
She heard the bird squawking long before they found her. Either Rune wasn’t with her, or he was already dead. A cold edge of fear knifed into her gut. She fanned magic around herself, less concerned about invisibility than having power at hand if she needed it.
“Good that you’re ready,” Fionn said approvingly.
A bat dive-bombed them. She swatted it away and then stopped dead. Bats. Were they the same ones she’d seen earlier? Half running, she caught up to Fionn. “I think it’s the bats I was worried about.”
“I don’t. Hurry. Bella’s dying.”
The bird’s life force was weakening. Aislinn felt it flicker, flare up, and pulse and knew the bird was waiting for Fionn. Trepidation chilled her. She’d seen it happen often enough in battles. People waited for those special to them, only to die in their arms. She wondered what it would do to Fionn to lose his bond mate. It would tear his heart out, but would it sap his will to go on?
Aislinn swallowed hard. She knew. She’d struggled against just packing it in—and more than once. It would have been easy enough to toss herself in front of the enemy dozens of times. But something inside—maybe a misplaced preservation instinct—kept her fighting to stay alive. Damned if she was going to simply hand her world over to the invaders.
Lost in her thoughts, she wasn’t paying attention and ran right into Fionn. She heard his sharp intake of breath and peered around him.
Fuck. Aislinn lunged forward, but Fionn snagged one of her arms and held on tight. Something that morphed from form to form held Bella suspended by her wings. One moment, it appeared as a man, then a large, growling cat that looked like a cheetah, then an impossibly tall bird. Realization slammed into Aislinn: it had to be D’Chel, the dark god who controlled illusion. Blood dripped from the raven. Was she truly mortally wounded, or was her appearance another of D’Chel’s trickeries?
At least I know why the evil didn’t feel familiar. D’Chel must have twisted it somehow.
A tortured sound burst from Fionn. Letting go of Aislinn, he raced into the clearing. “Loose my bird,” he snarled. “If you want to fight someone, fight me.”
Maniacal laughter with an ice-cold edge filled the air. “It would scarcely be a fair contest, Celt.”
Aislinn groaned. They were supposed to be in this together. Fionn had just stormed into the fray as if he’d forgotten she even existed. Rustling sounded behind her. Worried it might be D’Chel’s minions, she pivoted in the direction of the noise.