“The ruins. There’s…” She could just see their shadow dark against the night sky. “Not heartbeats, not breath, but something. Awareness?”
“What walks there isn’t of the living, and not for a long time.”
“Ghosts?”
“Some spirits won’t rest, some can’t.”
“The stones are singing. Not those, not those. The circle. Can you hear them?”
“Aye. I often do, but not from this distance. I expect I hear them through you. They’re a holy place, like the graveyard. Sanctified, purified.”
“But not the ruins,” she said as they walked the road again.
“When some of the Pious turned, they turned sharp and dark. Innocent blood spilled there as offerings to that dark. Rituals, long forbidden even then. And some of it leaves a stain. And some think what they invited in now traps their spirits.”
“Do you think it?”
“I’ve heard them, those damned, and those they tortured and killed who are trapped with them.”
She glanced back because fingers of ice scraped down her spine. “Have you gone in?”
“I have, and so have seen them as well, walking along their way, chanting to their false gods.” He shot her a look—cool and final. “Best you don’t.”
He urged Merlin back to a gallop. And, happy to leave the ruins behind, Breen joined him.
Even as she started to reach out for Bollocks, he came running. All the dark and cold that had seeped in vanished with the sheer joy in his eyes as he raced toward the horses, raced around them, leaping, barking, wagging.
“There’s one who’s had his meal, I’ll wager. We’ll feed the horses, give them a good rubdown, then have our own.”
Lamps glowed in the window; smoke curled from the chimneys. Merlin didn’t need a signal to leap over the stone fence. Breen held her breath, put her trust in Boy, and followed.
“And here are our travelers.”
Morena came out of the house, with Harken and Marco right behind her. “A long day you’ve had, and we can hope a successful one.”
“I got everything I need and more.” Beyond thrilled, Breen eased off the horse. Yoga, she told herself. A lot of yoga in the very near future.
“Go wash up,” Harken said, taking the reins. “And go in and have the chicken stew Marco made. Morena and I’ll see to the horses, as we’ve already been to heaven with the stew.”
“Thanks, as I’m more than ready for it. They’ve earned an apple, these two.” Keegan gave Merlin a slap on the flank. “Word from Mahon?”
“All’s well,” Harken told him. “And our mother should be here by midday.”
“That’s fine then.”
Marco put an arm around Breen. “Bet you’re ready for some wine and a hot meal.”
“Count on it.”
“I’m going to have that ready for you. What a day, huh?”
“You can say that again.”
She went back to the well with Keegan to wash the dust of it away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Despite the stretching, Breen felt the long, challenging ride the next morning. Still, no one could see her hobble when she went down to let the dog out and bring in the stones she’d cleansed and charged the night before.
It took a few trips, but gave her such pleasure to see and hold and arrange all that now belonged to her on the table in the upper hallway.
The globe she took down to her office. She’d keep it there during her workday, and in her bedroom at night.
With the cottage quiet around her, she drank her coffee in the doorway, watching the mists rise off the bay as dawn broke.
She settled down to work, weaving the story with dark magicks, sleep snakes—and a dragon who melted a frozen lake with his fiery breath to drown demons.
She saw the battle as she wrote it, high, high in the mountains, where the wind whirled its ice and snow, where trolls battled to hold the line and demon dogs leaped for throats.
At one point she paused, wondered when she’d gotten so bloodthirsty. Then went right back to it.
By the time she walked with Marco and Bollocks into the woods, she’d worked out the kinks—body and story.
“Ready for more training?”
“Ready and able,” he claimed. “I kinda like the sword stuff. It’s sort of like cosplay. But I’m seriously digging on the riding. Wherever we end up, girl, we need to get us some horses. I meant to tell you, I’ve got a Zoom meet with your publicity people tonight. Well, our tonight. I need to be back and ready for it by seven. Trouble is, I’ve got no way to tell the time over there.”