Stone of Destiny(43)
I’d dreamt of this, but my memory of the dream was hazy.
Saoirse murmured something and held out her hands again. “This isn’t what I wanted to show you. I haven’t seen this vision before,” she whispered.
On the water’s surface, we approached a large stone sculpture. It was shaped like a giant popsicle and came up to my chest when I stood in front of it. Liam grabbed my arm before I could touch the stone. Familiar laughter rose above the sounds in the distance. Aoife.
Before we could see what happened next, Deaghlan’s voice rang out from the path. “Saoirse!”
The water bubbled and the vision disappeared.
“I’m going back to make sure Aodhan has things under control,” Deaghlan said, his voice laced with venom.
Saoirse glanced at me, her lip quirking just slightly. “Very well,” she said to Deaghlan.
Niamh jumped up. “I’ll go with you.”
“What, are you going to babysit me now, too? Not necessary,” Deaghlan said, turning on his heel.
Niamh hurried after him.
Saoirse sighed next to me. “Do you know what that was in the vision, Allison?” she said.
“I have no idea. But I have seen it before, in a dream.”
“Interesting,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “That was the Hill of Tara, in Ireland. Does that mean anything to you?”
I shook my head. “Not really. I mean, I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know very much about it.”
Saoirse smiled. “The standing stone we saw was a gift from my great grandfather to the High King of Ireland a great many years ago. It’s known as the Stone of Destiny.”
“What’s it for?”
“Human legends say it cries out when it senses the true king of Ireland. But it’s far more valuable than that. It’s the last piece of raw háillan in existence.”
Fháillan. The metal worn by Aodhan, Liam and Niamh to protect them from iron.
“Did Niamh tell you Samantha overheard Aoife talking about fháillan mines?”
Saoirse’s unusual eyes widened. “She didn’t.”
“All she said was that Aoife was talking to her guards, about binding rituals and mines. Samantha didn’t know anything else, she didn’t even know what fháillan mines were.
Saoirse’s eyes darkened and became unfocused. I didn’t know what to do. “Saoirse?”
She remained perfectly still a moment longer before her eyes regained their light.
“I apologize,” she said, taking a breath. “I just wanted to see if I could make sense of what you told me in addition to what we saw in the water.”
“And could you?” I asked.
Saoirse looked at me as if she wasn’t sure how much she should say. “Niamh told me about Aoife performing a binding ritual. I’m afraid that’s true. Aoife knows the only way to perform such strong magic is with a large amount of fháillan. There are no fháillan mines in Tír na n’Óg, so she will perform it at the next best place, the Hill of Tara, at the Stone of Destiny.”
Even though I’d known this was a possibility from what Samantha had told us, hearing Saoirse say it with so much certainty caused my heart to stutter.
“When? Can you tell when she’s going to do it?”
She glanced down at the tips of her slippers. When she looked back up, her expression was neutral. “There are four great fire festivals on Tara. One for each of the seasons. The next one will take place on Samhain, also known as Halloween.”
“Halloween? That’s over a month away, so we’re not too late?”
Saoirse stood, and the unreadable expression on her face twisted my insides. Did she know something she wasn’t telling me? I followed her back up the hill to the Bruidhean, tears of frustration burning behind my eyes.
We found Liam and Ethan still sitting in the same place we’d left them. Samantha paced at the end of the dining room like a caged animal. Her hair stuck out in every direction from her constant abuse.
Liam’s hopeful expression caused something to unravel inside me. Anger, frustration and fear flooded through me. I pictured my mother’s face as she looked at Liam with pure love in her eyes. I wasn’t sure what, but I knew I simply had to figure out a way to set things right. And the only way to do that was to deal with Aoife myself.
Liam stayed quiet while Saoirse told him what we’d learned. Something churned in his eyes. Anger laced with regret that mirrored my own. Tension coiled in his forearms as he closed and opened his fists on the table.
“It’s simple, then,” he said. “I’ll go to Tara and stop her.”
“Of course, Liam,” Saoirse said, her smile vague.