Colum’s face darkened. His gaze lowered and he stared at the knotted reins draped across his thighs. “I come here because of Tamhas.”
“Tamhas?” Gray straightened and took a step forward. “What of him?”
Colum cleared his throat and urged his horse back several steps. “I fear the old man is unwell, or perhaps dead. No smoke comes from his dwelling and ye know how he hates bone-chilling days such as this. He would surely have a fire.”
Tamhas never allowed his fires to die, not even during the hottest days of summer. But if Colum was so concerned about the old conjurer, why had he not checked on the man himself? Gray shook away the freezing rain and shrugged deeper into his plaid. “Did ye call out to the man or pound upon his door?”
Colum’s face blanched a shade lighter ’neath the reddish stubble of his day’s growth of beard. He quickly shook his head, staring at Gray as though he had sprouted a second head. “Och, no. Ye think me a fool just begging to be cursed?”
“Fool? Nay.” Gray chuckled low, then jabbed a finger at the center of Colum’s chest. “Coward? Perhaps.”
Colum’s eyes narrowed and his chin lifted as he turned the horse aside. “Aye, well ... I dinna think it cowardly to give a man who is so powerful in the old magic the privacy and respect he deserves.”
“But ye think I should darken his door just because ye’ve not seen any sign of life from his cave?” Gray studied Colum closer. The man was lying. What plot had he and the old demon conjured? Why else would Colum refuse to look him in the eye?
Colum shrugged and nosed his horse toward the bare, hard-packed earth leading away from the clearing. “Do as ye will, my chieftain. I only thought ye might have a bit of concern for yer only uncle.”
Hell fire, Colum would have to voice that. Gray swiped the rain from his face then worried a hand through his soaked hair. Mother had made him swear to always watch out for Tamhas. She knew the dangers the old man faced from those outside Clan MacKenna. Not everyone in this part of the Highlands was so accepting of the old man’s strange ways.
“Colum!”
The horse stopped and Colum turned in the saddle. “Aye?”
“Did ye happen to bring me a mount or do ye plan for yer chieftain to walk to the old devil’s lair?”
Colum grinned and nodded down the hillside toward a large outcropping of boulders. The moss-covered stones sprouted like jagged teeth around a bubbling trickle of water. A monstrous horse that dwarfed many of its breed stood patiently waiting beside the crooked stream. “Yon stands yer Cythraul. ’Twas as close as I could get him to the ruins.”
Gray pressed his thumb and pinky finger against the corners of his mouth and pierced the oppressive stillness of the hillside with a sharp whistle.
Cythraul turned with ears perked forward, then violently shook his shaggy black head and took a step back.
Colum laughed. “Now do ye believe me?”
“Aye, well...” Gray dropped his hand to his side and shook his head. “Ye canna blame the poor beast. The night of the fire is still too fresh in his memory.” He felt the warhorse’s uneasiness. The animal was not the only one still troubled by that night.
“’Tis all right lad,” he called down to the horse. If not for the loyal Cythraul, Gray would have died that night as well. He worried his thumb across the tips of his fingers. His hand still tingled with the memory of the reins nearly cutting his flesh as Cythraul dragged him out from under the blazing collapsed beam.
With one last glance back at the ruins, Gray motioned Colum forward as he started down the hill. “Come. Let us check on dear uncle and see what mess the old devil has conjured this time.”
“Aye, m’chieftain.” Colum grinned and as he headed his horse down the hillside.
* * *
“So, we’re all good then?”Trulie looked up and down the line of troubled faces, then forced her reassuring smile more firmly in place. She had to be brave. She wouldn’t leave her sisters with a parting memory of her losing the battle with her insecurities. Thunder rumbled in the distance, interrupting the high-pitched cadence of crickets and katydids chirping in the darkness.
“You’re using the pond instead of the wading pool? Seriously?” Lilia tiptoed, stretching to eye the shimmering expanse of water. She reminded Trulie of a chipmunk perched on its hindquarters. Her eyes flared wider as the ring of fire blazing around the pond popped and threw orange sparks up into the darkness.
Granny nodded at the small pond reflecting the glow of the crackling flames. The dry tinder stacked around the water’s edge roared and sizzled. Long fingers of orange, yellow, and white clawed at the night. “The wading pool is cracked. Won’t hold water long enough. Remember what I taught you. Never rely on just the strength of the moonlight to open the web. Fire and water increase your accuracy for the day you wish to hit.”
“I have seen snakes ... and worse in that pond.” Kenna wrinkled her nose as she nodded at the surface undulating inside the circle of fire. “And now you’re telling me you’re going to jump into that nasty water?”
Trulie took a deep breath. She had known this wasn’t going to be easy. All her emotions knotted into a lump in her throat, trying to choke her. Together, they had all jumped centuries dozens of times, but this was the first time they had ever separated. Her heart ached as she remembered that very first jump for them all. The twins had been infants swaddled against Granny’s chest, and five-year-old Kenna had buried her face in Trulie’s embrace. She wondered how poor Granny had felt about dragging them all to the future. Trulie straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat. Granny feared nothing. It was time she did the same. “I know it’s been a while since our last jump together.” She forced a brave smile she didn’t really feel. “You know you don’t touch the water or the flames. It’s like the turnstile to enter a ride at the amusement park. Kind of like waiting to ride a cosmic roller coaster.”
“I hate roller coasters and you know it. They always make me puke.” Kenna scowled at the flames and squeezed Trulie’s fingers so hard they started to go numb.
And Kenna would puke again when it came time for her next jump.Poor thing. Traveling across the web always made her sick.Trulie chose not to voice that thought. No sense in talking Kenna into feeling queasy. The time web would take care of that. Skating through the centuries was not for the faint of heart. She leaned forward and looked down the line at Mairi. The young girl had gone quite pale. “Mairi, you are awfully quiet. Do you have any more questions before we go? Are you good until we can light the fire porthole and let you know we’re settled?”
Mairi caught her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded with a single sharp dip.
