Without waiting for her, Rune bounded through the opening, tail pluming. Aislinn hurried after him. She waited for the portal to swing shut, understanding from Marta’s directions that she’d need to mark the spot so she could find it from this side. In the muted glow from her mage light, she piled rocks in a pattern that looked different from all the other rocks littering the tunnel floor and then imbued them with a jot of magic that would light when she called to it. Glancing around, she wished she knew if this tunnel was the same one she’d wandered through during her first visit. Things felt different to her astral self, so she couldn’t tell.
She looked for Rune and found him silhouetted against the pervasive gloom a few paces away. Catching him up, she said, “Little talk, mind or no.”
He nudged her with his nose to show he understood. She shivered slightly. It was cold and damp in the tunnel. She was glad she’d layered on warm clothes.
Which way should I go? Cautious not to use too much magic, she sought the most expedient route to the surface. Mostly, she saw this as a reconnaissance so she could figure out where things were. If the harmonic ran through the tunnel, there might not be a reason to ever leave it, but she needed some above-ground landmarks. According to Marta, the harmonic started under the library. It was most vulnerable there, and that was where she’d planned to sabotage it. Let’s see what I find. Aislinn had never been one to trust someone else’s magic. The couple of times she’d done that, she’d been sorry, and it had been a good object lesson.
Ever so gently, Aislinn tried to sense if any Old Ones lurked nearby. She used a form of radar, where she sent magic outward. It pinged back at her differently if it encountered life forms between her and the direction she’d chosen. When her power returned to her, sweet and clean, she let out a tense breath. It whistled loudly, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Whoops. Need to be more careful. Other than her mage light, which she dimmed to nearly nothing, she shuttered her power within herself and started walking.
The tunnel widened after a few hundred yards. Light filtered in from somewhere, so she doused her mage light completely. The tunnel floor was definitely moving upward. She hugged one wall and proceeded slowly. In another hundred feet, it became obvious that she was heading for an opening.
She made a clucking sound low in her throat. Rune, who was ahead of her, stopped and waited. She sank a hand into his fur. “Stay close. Merge with me.”
Wolf senses exploded into her brain. She smelled Old Ones, heard them. They were close. Why hadn’t her own magic picked up on them? Aislinn shoved that worry to a back burner, intent on determining where the Old Ones were. Understanding slammed into her. They’re walking right over my head. As the tunnel closed on the surface, she was probably directly under their buildings. And right under their noses. Making herself still as the rocks, she listened, blessing Dewi for the ability to understand their language.
“I tell you, we need to bring the girl back here. She holds the key, since we lost the other.”
“She does not want to come.”
“I can sweeten that pie. She’s besotted by one of those Celtic pests. If we lure him here, she’ll follow.”
“Really? Which one?”
They sound like a bunch of gossipy old women. In spite of her fear, Aislinn suppressed a grin. Wait, what had they just said? She strained to pay attention to the guttural clicking sounds.
“…living where our special one was.”
“Yes, unfortunate that she never saw herself in that light. She hated us.”
“We should have intervened after she trapped her parents and diverted their magic—”
“Yesssss,” someone interrupted with a hissing sibilance. “I told you at the time that she had to be reprogrammed, but did any of you listen to me?”
“We can all see clearly behind us,” another said in a placating tone. Was it Metae? Aislinn thought she recognized the intonation.
One of the Old Ones made a gagging sound, which cut off the other’s words.
A new voice chimed in. “The parents were loyal, but their daughter fought us at every turn, clinging to her human side. Bah! We barely had enough power to keep Taltos intact. Dealing with her would have drained us.”
“Surely we could have managed one lone human...”
“You have the memory of a sand fly. It is not that we did not try. She was uncontrollable, especially after she corralled her parents and tapped into their magic.”
“Ssssssht. That is not to be spoken aloud.”
“At least it maintains the gateways so we don’t have to—”