Blue Keltic Moon (Children of the Keltic Triad) (7 page)

“...fool, Lachlan...”

“Daddy,” Lucidea whispered. Jayse wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him.

Gowthaman’s grip on his pen tightened with a flare of primal envy. No. He would focus.

“...left a journal. Ramblings of the Sinhu crown prince.” Pagas laughed, currents of evil flowing through the sound. Breanna shivered.

“...able to use single pages to torment the secondary prince. The remainder is hidden in the rough stone wall behind the library. So near to those who would cherish Lachlan’s words, yet so far.”

Coralie was on her feet in an instant. “I shall go—”

“Wait.” Jayse lifted one hand. “There may be more.”

Coralie clenched her fists, but remained still, only rising to her toes, ready to rush off at any moment.

The recording device fell silent. Gowthaman glanced up from his writing. Matching frowns around the table focused on the trio of figurines. Finally Lucidea stretched one hand toward them and carefully poked the connected bases. “There must be more. There has to be.”

Coralie took a step toward the table. “Aye, more. Please.
Air mo shon.
”

At her words the disks resumed humming, the tones slightly lower and more discordant than before. Breanna made a soft sound of triumph then positioned her pen on the sketchpad and returned to an intense listening silence.

The voice speaking was different, deeper, more commanding and honest. A pleasure to listen to.

“Morghan.” Coralie’s voice broke and her eyes filled with tears as she slipped back to her chair. Lucidea took her hand.

The recording started in the middle of a thought. Breanna made a quick notation then glanced sideways at Gowthaman. His mouth set in a thin line, he returned the look. Even more than she might ever feel a loss of some of Morghan’s words, Gowthaman mourned any missing information. Pagas must have recorded over the words Morghan had already placed there. With luck, they would be able to correlate what they already knew with any new information Morghan may have placed in his message.

“...I have felt the vibrations upon the wind while the waters speak to me. Spurred by these feelings, I take upon m’self a charge. To protect the human world as well as my Sindhu folk.

“Why the human world? I believe this world be the only place he can thin the veil enough to break through.”

Morghan took a deep breath. Only the scratching of Gowthaman’s pen could be heard in the room.

“As ye ken, Coralie an’ I searched long for the incantations used to originally bind the elemental. While we did no’ find the exact words, we also discussed the conditions needed for his escape. I believe until recently the elemental did no’ ken this knowledge either.

“A conjunction of full moons is needed. No’ just any full moon, but the second within a human month. What ’tis called a blue moon. An’ no’ just a single blue moon, but the conjunction of three blue moons in three differin’ worlds. I believe a world where magic is no’ so believed in must be home to one of the moons. I am also convinced one must be in the world the elemental wishes to enter. Both conditions are ripe in the human world.”

Listening not only to Morghan’s words but also to the tones of his voice, Breanna scribbled her notes. Without looking she knew Gowthaman’s notes were more complete and infinitely more readable. She sensed him nodding as if the recorded voice confirmed the theories he’d already discussed with her. Hopefully that was true. It didn’t sound like they had much time to prepare. The worry in Morghan’s voice was nearly palpable and a corresponding urgency rose in her.

“An’ I ken the elemental has much of the knowledge I’ve gathered. Mayhap his understandin’ is greater than mine, but I must hold to the truth he does no’ ken everythin’. I wish I could speak of this to ye afore my battle with the elemental this night. There is much to say an’ too little time. Once I complete this recordin’...”

Morghan paused again. In the silence, Coralie drew a shaky breath.

“Sweet Coralie,
eudail
, ’tis my hope ye and Lucidea be still at the manor and that she has accepted in truth her heritage. Fair niece, the help I can give ye now rests with yer father.

“Time grows too short and I must face the elemental. I set the field of battle to give him no foothold in this world. Luck is no’ my companion this night. I feel a chill wind of evil intent. The elemental is strong. Do no’ underestimate him or his tricks. He will use any means to gain his desires. This night, an’ in the future.

“I offer ye my knowledge, such as it may be. For if ye listen here, ye have the skill. Dinna concern yerself wi’ my fate, I do as I must. As ye will. Remember, a message waits for ye with my beloved brother.
Mo air shon
, for my sake, my loves. For the sake of both our worlds, ye must no’ allow the elemental freedom.”

Morghan’s recording ended with an odd, metallic squeal. After staring at the figurines and willing them to speak again, Breanna asked, “You think that’s it?”

Coralie nodded. “That sound indicated the end of the magic. ’Twas all he had to say.”

Jayse scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Wonder what he said before, what Pagas recorded over.”

Bree doubted they’d ever know until they were able to ask Morghan himself. And unfortunately, he’d given them less information than they already knew. “What did he mean that the help is with your father?”

Dabbing at her eyes with a napkin, Lucidea shrugged.

Jayse straightened from comforting his wife and gave Bree a terse grin. “I may be able to help there.” With attention focused on him, he unfolded the sheet of parchment he’d brought to the table.

Lucidea waved one hand toward the page. “That’s a letter Morghan left for me. I’ve read it so many times. There’s nothing... Oh.”

Jayse’s grin spread. Coralie’s eyes widened. Gowthaman cocked his head to one side. Bree felt totally left out of the loop. “What?”

Jayse explained. “There’s a line in this letter that we’ve never been able to figure out. It seemed so out of context. But in the light of Morghan’s statement that the knowledge is with Lucidea’s father, we might finally understand what he was trying to tell us.”

Still confused, Bree tapped one finger on the table. “But, you’ve never found... Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to bring up any more bad memories. But how could something be with your father, when you never found his... uh...”

“It’s okay, Bree.” Lucidea took the letter from Jayse and lovingly smoothed her hand over the parchment. “Here’s the line he wrote. ‘Lachlan listens, for the future whispers to his ear’.”

Gowthaman straightened with a jerk and dropped his pen. “In the skull?”

––––––––

G
owthaman winced as a single blow from a heavy hammer punched a small hole in the side of Lucidea’s father’s head. Tears streamed down Lucidea’s cheeks as she carefully picked away the pieces of hard clay exposing a small section of the skull.

“Eww,” Breanna muttered. “Is that real? Did you always use a real skull as a base?”

“Of course not. But Morghan needed the reconstruction done so quickly I didn’t have time, or means to make a cast. At the time, I figured I’d pull the clay off when I was done. But when he told me who this was... I couldn’t. There wasn’t anything else left of... my father. Then I was going to give the skull to the Sindhu people so they could perform the rituals to send his spirit to the great sea. But when the time came, I just couldn’t. I mean, Coralie magicked a stone replica for the palace, but I couldn’t let this little bit of Daddy go.” She stroked the side of the bust’s cheek. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “But if this will help my uncle...”

Breanna peeked around Lucidea’s shoulder at the smooth bone. Withholding a shudder, she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. Something didn’t look quite right. “May I?” she asked.

Lucidea shrugged, stepped aside and Breanna smoothed her fingers over the darkened bone until she touched a slight, sharp point. “Here, what’s this?”

“That wasn’t there when I did the reconstruction.” Lucidea reached around her to touch the tip of one finger to the protrusion. “Oh, Coralie, touch this. I think I feel magic.”

Coralie moved closer as Bree stepped back. After touching the point, a soft smile graced her lips and she closed her eyes. “He must have placed this here after ye completed yer work.”

Coralie stood back as well. Lucidea gave the miniscule protrusion a slight tug. It moved, then slipped from the skull in a long ribbon of curling parchment.

Breanna grinned. “Looks like you won’t have to totally destroy your work after all.”

The strip unfolded to a sheet about the size of half a notebook page. Lucidea spread it carefully on the table but slid the parchment to Gowthaman instead of reading it herself. “I can’t. You look at it.”

With infinite care Gowthaman moved the parchment closer and bent over the table to read. “Interesting. It is not written in Sindhu or English, but in the language of a long dead human population. A moment please.” He studied the parchment silently then leaned back and looked up at the expectant expressions.

“By using a language few are able to read, Morghan protected this information. He gives a series of computations for the rising of the blue moon in a number of worlds. With your permission I will refrain from explaining the complexities of his computations until I compare them with my own.”

Nodding, Lucidea said, “Go on. I’m not interested in the computations, as long as there’s answers in the end. Does he say anything else?”

Gowthaman pointed to a line three quarters of the way down the page then slid his finger along the line as he continued. “He writes as though he knew he would be taken to the world between worlds. According to his reckoning, a simple rescue will fail. Instead, another must... enter... the gray world to find him. The only time this will be possible is two nights prior to the conjunction of moons, for there will be a significant weakening in the veil.” Thoughtful, he paused. “That may be why the only records I have discovered concerning beings sent to the world between world make mention of the days prior to the full moon. Fascinating. That may mean a tidal component to the thinning of the veil.”

Gowthaman shook his head to clear his thoughts and gave an apologetic shrug. Breanna smiled and his breath stalled in his chest. She had become accustomed to how his mind skipped from one interesting fact to another while still retaining a connection to the original information. Others were frequently confused by his seemingly random thoughts.

Jayse made a thoughtful sound deep in his throat. “So someone must go into the world between worlds.”

The parchment blurred. Gowthaman grasped the table edge, squeezing but not feeling the pressure against his fingers and palms. Forcing himself to breathe, he struggled to push back the rise of mental pain and dark, empty memories. The mere mention of anyone entering the world between worlds drove him further from the reality of his world. And from caring.

A warm hand covered his with gentle, comforting pressure. He knew the shape of her fingers, and the peace she could bring to him with just a touch. The clarity he needed and longed for. But not now. Perhaps never again. He’d taken too much from her already, and could give nothing in return.

He took a shallow breath and slipped his hand from under Breanna’s to reach again for the parchment. If he held the slip the shaking would give away his fear, so he simply rested his hands next to it and continued.

“These computations indicate the rescue party must enter the world between worlds in two nights’ time. Once there, Morghan must be found before the full moon. On the night of the conjunction, the veil will again weaken and using the incantations to create a stable opening, all will be able to return here.”

“What about the fire elemental?” Jayse asked

“Though this parchment doesn’t address that factor, I believe this is how the elemental attempted to enter this world, and when unsuccessful, dragged Morghan back with him. Undoubtedly his strength will have been renewed since that time and he will again make the attempt. We cannot allow him access. Not to this world, nor any world. He must be permanently contained.”

It was a harsh statement. However, he should have made the more appropriate, the more realistic proclamation. Brandr Ur would have to be destroyed. There were some beings with no goodness, who could never be redeemed. Much like he could never return to the man he had been before the attack on his mind.

“There is nothing more on the parchment. Perhaps after comparing the calculations, I will be able to provide more exact theories.”

Lucidea stood and flattened her palms against the tabletop. “I’m going. We’ll get everything arranged tonight.”

“I’m going with you.” Jayse stood beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. She gazed up at him with love and thankfulness then leaned her head against his shoulder.

Breanna closed her eyes against the sight. Jealousy reared an ugly head. How she longed for the kind of love and support these two had for each other. She had no doubt where one would go... Her eyes flew open.

“No.”

Startled gazes turned to her. Lucidea opened her mouth but Breanna prevented her speech with a wave of her hand. “You can’t do anything dangerous like that.”

“And why not?” Jayse asked. “Morghan is her uncle. Who better to—”

“No, you don’t understand. She can’t. Not now. Not when she’s...” Breanna froze, horrified she’d been about to break her promise to Lucidea. “No, I’m the leader of the Alastriona. I’ve trained for this. I’ll go and bring Morghan home safely.”

“Breanna. My uncle. My rescue. Of course I’ll want to you assist.”

Widening her eyes and glancing at Lucidea’s abdomen in what she hoped was a meaningful manner, Breanna strained for Lucidea to understand. Lucidea couldn’t endanger her child, not when she’d had so many disappointments in the past. When Lucidea simply stared at her in confusion, Breanna made a decision. The safety and healthy growth of Lucidea’s child was more important than the promise she’d made. She’d deal with the consequences later.