“Martingeese,” I said softly, as the impulse to head toward the pond overwhelmed me. It was as though a homing button had just activated, driving me to turn off the main path and head toward the pond. “This way. We have to go to the pond.”
The others said nothing, just caught up to me. I took the lead, because the trail leading down the grassy slope was only passable by one horse at a time. Annabelle picked her way down carefully, through the dust of the path. The hill was steep, and my horse didn’t seem to trust walking through the grass, so I gave her the lead, guiding her gently and allowing her to sort her way down to the clearing near the pond. On the opposite side, I could see as we got closer, were more foothills, buttressed against the other shoreline.
“The cavern—it has to be there. I know it.” And I did—as sure as I knew my name, I knew that the cave hiding the Maharata-Vashi was on the other side of the pond.
The birds flocked into the sky as we rode toward the pond, and I became acutely aware of how exposed we were from the air and the sides. I pressed Annabelle to a trot, wanting to be out of visibility’s range as soon as possible. We came to the shoreline and I immediately began trotting around the edge, taking the quickest route to circle the pond.
“Camille? Camille, is something wrong?” Delilah galloped up to my side.
“We need to be out of sight, and we need to get to the other side of the pond as quickly as possible. There’s something out there, trying to get a fix on us. I don’t know how I know it, but I do know it. Trust me, please.”
Whether it was Shadow Wing tracking us, or some wayward sorcerer who was after the horn and hide, I had no clue. Or maybe it was one of the Great Fae Lords, waking, who didn’t want me to interfere with the running of the portals. Or perhaps just a hungry ogre, looking for lunch. Whatever the case, it was imperative that we got out of sight as soon as possible.
The others didn’t argue, just followed me toward the opposite shore. We managed to circle the pond without anything happening, but I was still uneasy. But we reached the edge of the foothills without incident and I tried to focus on looking for the cavern. The scrub brush was thick between the shore and hill, but it was low growing. I shaded my eyes as we rode along beside it, searching for the opening.
“Where is it? It has to be somewhere along here. How hard is it to spot a cave? It’s still daylight.” I was starting to feel frantic. “We need to find the cave, now.”
“Calm down, Camille.” Smoky tapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll find it.”
“I know, but we have to find it. Please, trust me. We can’t screw around.” I pushed Annabelle forward, trying to get around him, but he said something under his breath and the horse stopped. Great, he had to be a horse whisperer, too?
“Camille—what’s gotten into you? You sound terrified.”
By now the others were starting to gather around me. Venus rode up and cocked his head, staring at me closely. After a moment, he nodded and said, “Tagalong.”
“What the hell is a tagalong?” Delilah was squinting at me.
“A spirit has latched on to her. She’s not possessed, but she’s feeling their impulses. Camille, tell us exactly what you’re feeling.”
I stared at the old shaman, trying to listen to him. I knew he was saying something important, but his words seemed drowned out in the thundering fear that raced through me. I focused on the feeling of his hand on my wrist. It was real. Solid. Warm. Comforting. As I poured my attention into his grasp, into the touch of his fingers against my skin, the panic began to subside. It was still there, but at a lower ebb, no longer reverberating through every cell in my body.
“I feel panic.” My words felt like they were coming from somewhere distant, outside of myself. “I have to hide the scroll. I have to hide it or something horrible will happen. I have to seal it away to know it’s safe. There’s something looking for it, to destroy it. To prevent me hiding it for the queen to find.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, they sounded jumbled up, a mix of my thoughts with someone else’s. “No. I mean—I need to find the scroll.”
“Yes, a tagalong but one, I think, that has a reason for choosing you other than looking for a psychic happy meal.” Venus motioned for me to get off my horse, and he did the same. “Close your eyes, Camille. Close your eyes and take a deep breath.”
I didn’t want to close my eyes. We were out in the open and they were coming. They would ride into our midst and strike us down. But Venus’s voice was so soothing that I couldn’t help but obey.