Chapter Seven
Rain swayed towardDaric as he dipped his head. She’d been waiting for this moment forever.
Their lips hadn’t quite touched when an accusing voice sent them rearing back from one another. “Not only do I find invaders at my back entrance, but now they start kissing?”
A crone dressed in ragged robes brandished a staff at them. “I’ll teach you to come into my home uninvited!” Shestarted chanting a spell that made the sphere at the top of her staff glow.
Just as Daric started to step in front of her, Rain blew the witch back with a stiff wind, pinning her to the wall of the cavern. The crone’s weapon clattered to the ground, and the greenery that Rain had already created grew again, crisscrossing the woman and stopping all movement. The witch gaped at them, falling silent.
Daric turned his head and arched a brow in Rain’s direction. “I’d like to come to your rescue occasionally. It would comfort me in my masculinity.”
Rain’s lips twitched. “Your masculinity is not in question, Daric.”
“But I do so enjoy a damsel in distress.” He was clearly teasing now.
“I’ll swoon for you in a moment,” Rain replied. “Let’s just see if this is the Barrow Witch.”
“Barrow Witch?”the crone spat. “Does this look like a barrow to you?”
“Then I suppose that makes you the Cave Witch?” Daric asked.
In answer, the crone tried another incantation, hissing unfamiliar words that seemed somehow to Rain to relate to bowels melting. No wonder everyone hated sorcerers—and she should not have understood a word of that.
Isme dolunde vaten crewpunched into her with new vigor. Thesorcerer’s words in Upper Ash had meant little to her at the time, leaving only the impression of hardship and the near certainty that she could decipher their meaning with time and effort. That impression deepened upon hearing the witch’s chant. The language of sorcery became clearer, and Rain suddenly knew down to her very essence that there was a terrible choice to come.
Daric advanced andstuffed a wad of the woman’s own tattered shawl into her mouth. The witch glared at them. Rain did her best to shake off the feeling of dread now weighing her down.
“Let’s get a bloodstone and leave this place,” Daric said.
The witch grunted muffled protests.
Rain hesitated. “She might know where the Barrow Witch is.”
“The only barrows in Leathen are in the Wood of Layton,” Daric said. “NearBraylian’s Cauldron.”
“She might not be home,” Rain pointed out. “I think we should ask.”
Ceding to her wishes, Daric turned back to the witch. “We may have started off on the wrong foot. Please forgive us for bursting into your home uninvited. We didn’t realize it was occupied, and we all startled each other.”
The crone narrowed her eyes, but she was listening.
Rain nodded for him to continue.Daric was nothing if not diplomatic.
“We need to find the Barrow Witch. Would you happen to know her?”
The old woman just watched him as he slowly reached out and removed the gag from her mouth.
“Do I look like I frequent barrows, you idiot? I’m a Cave Witch and therefore frequent caverns.”
“I see,” Daric said, all dignity, as usual.
Rain almost laughed at his unwaveringly cordial expression.She wasn’t duped. To her, his face looked crisp, like a sour apple.
“We were led to believe this cavern contains a rare gem called bloodstone,” Rain said. “We need some.”
“Oh, do you now?” The witch cackled. “Well, I need a cook and a maid. Which one of you likes to stir the pot and who prefers to clean?”
“I think we’ll just take a bloodstone,” Rain said, losing some of her humor and patience.
