“Wait. We aren't hunting?” Machar asked.
“Do you know how to find them?” Arach drawled.
Machar grimaced.
“Then don't make useless comments. Know when to be silent and listen.”
“Arach!” I hissed. “He's a father protecting his child. Imagine how you'd feel if our children were at risk.”
Arach grimaced. Then he shot to his feet and shouted, “They are at risk! That son of a bitch got into the Faerie Realm!”
I stood up and laid a hand on his arm. “And now, Faerie is watching the realm.”
“Faerie works through us. She can't stop the trickster from taking our children.”
“But she can alert our soldiers.”
“Vervain, the trickster put an entire unit of Red Caps into a daze in seconds.”
“What?” Machar snarled. “Not possible.”
“Have you not been paying attention?” Arach growled at him.
“Arach!” I snapped.
“No! I have no time to suffer fools! Our children are my greatest treasure.” He paused to add, “After you, of course, A Thaisce.” He turned and strode away.
“Where are you going?”
“To do as Odin suggested and gather my treasures close.”
“You have to use your ring to go back.”
“But then I can't return with them. I'll lose a couple of days, that's all. They have their guardians.”
“But we didn't prepare them for you being gone!”
“You will return to the moment you left. You can prepare them.”
“Arach!” I ran after him and grabbed his arm to stop him. “Think this through. If you bring the kids here now, after they've interacted with future me, you'll be taking a chance that I haven't told them anything about what happens. If I have, they will have to keep that secret. And children and not good at keeping secrets.”
Arach, his chest heaving and eyes flashing with magic, ground his teeth.
“They are safest there, Arach,” Odin said gently. “And even if they were taken, the trickster isn't interested in hurting children.”
“So far,” Arach said. “But they change the game at their whim.”
“Then go home,” I said gently.
Arach went still. “What?”
“Go home and protect our children. You can go back to the moment you left, ensuring that you are there to guard them before the trickster has a chance to return, and I will use my ring to return shortly after you. You'll know in seconds how this plays out and will be certain of our safety.”
“And if you don't return in seconds?”
“Then you come right back here,” Odin said. “You come straight back and warn us. Because if that's the case, we'll need all the help we can get.”
Arach let out a long breath and nodded. “Very well. Sometimes the smartest tactic is retreat.”
