Suddenly, she felt her shield rip away. Quivel was amongst those chasing them, she sensed, and he had just countermanded her word of power. They were vulnerable to the lightning strikes now.
“We need shelter!” Trynne cried out.
“A cave! Over there!” Fallon shouted over the tumult, pointing.
Off the trail, through the gorse, they saw a place where the stones had fallen and created a small warren. They trampled through the green, hurrying to reach the safety of the cleft of rock.
Fallon reached it first and ducked his head inside. He nodded and then waved them forward as more lightning crackled through the sky. Owen ducked his head and entered the cave. Then Trynne.
Then finally Fallon. His eyes were bright with fear and excitement as he moved deeper into the shallow cave. This time his height was no advantage—he had to duck very low to follow them inside.
Fallon lowered onto his haunches and gazed back out the cave entrance. The landscape was brightened every few moments by fresh displays of celestial power. The rocks thrummed with the pressure from the thunder. Trynne pressed her sweating palms against the stone. The cave was dark, but the sporadic lightning bursts helped them see each other. The air had a tang to it, the smell of dross from a smithy’s forge.
“It won’t take them long to find us now,” Fallon muttered, wiping his hand across his whiskers. “I should have killed Quivel. I was tempted to. He’s desperate to leave and he knows we have the Tay al-Ard. If he doesn’t catch us before dawn, he never will.”
A moment later, complete darkness fell.
“They’re coming,” Owen whispered after the stillness became prolonged.
They all quietly drew their swords in preparation.
The sound of hounds baying started up again, much closer this time.
“Do we run?” Fallon asked softly.
Trynne felt the seclusion of the cave would offer more protection. At least they would know no one was coming at them from behind. “I think we fight it out inside here,” she said. “The entrance isn’t very big. They won’t be able to charge us in large numbers. It’s as good a place as any to withstand a siege. We need time, that is all.”
“If the device you have can truly get us out of here,” Owen said, “then yes, this would be a good place to make a stand.”
“Just like Dundrennan,” Fallon said, glancing back at her with a smile of remembrance.
As he said the words, she recalled being on top of that tower with him, the stars glittering like jewels above them as he took her into his arms and kissed her. The memory of that kiss still haunted her. It made her yearn for what might have been. Was he remembering it as well?
“I can hear them,” Owen said. His sense of hearing had always been exquisitely sharp. As they quieted their breathing, soon they could all hear the noise of the dogs snuffling through the brush toward the cave. Within moments, the hounds reached the entrance and started barking fiercely.
Men shouted to each other. Then the bob of torches and light came nearer, revealing the menacing hounds outside the cave. The slavering noise, the scratching of claws against the gravel—all showed the beasts’ eagerness to attack.
“。 . . the dogs, they can’t hear us. Silence them. Come on.” It was Quivel’s voice.
The hunters came and pulled the dogs away by their collars.
The noise of tromping men filtered into the space.
“Can you hear me now?” Quivel asked. “Look, it’s not sunrise yet. Cannot we bargain? There is no magic I can use to force you to come out of there. I know that. But I’m content to kill you by other means if it prevents me from being trapped here. I have some poisonous leaves. If I make a fire and blow the smoke in there, you will all sicken and die. Then I can take back what you stole from me.
But I cannot leave unless I know who is waiting for you on the other side. So can we not be civilized at— nnnnghh! ”
An arrow struck Quivel in the breast, spinning him around and dropping him. The dogs started howling again as the whistle of arrows filled the air. The hunters began to shout in panic, and the hounds went into a frenzy of terror. They jerked free of their masters and fled.
Fallon craned his neck, expression full of surprise, trying to see what was going on, and Trynne couldn’t help but do the same.
Arrows had rained down on the sentries outside the cave, dropping them one by one. The others began to flee in confusion, dropping their torches and scattering back toward the trail.
The commotion ended and darkness settled in once again. But there was a little glimmer in the sky, the faintest touch of dawn that brought Fallon’s face into the grayish light. His gaze was still fixed on the entrance to the cave.