Infinite Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 5) (19 page)

Aidan was as strong as the Nuckelavee, but they were both so vicious that his injuries would be dire if this continued.

Think, think!

The Ceasg had warned that there was no fresh water to cross to stop the devil of the sea. Water!

I called upon my power, mirroring Aidan’s Elemental Mage powers. I rarely worked with water, but the cool, refreshing feel of it brushing against my skin told me I had the hang of it. I let the power surge in my chest as I envisioned a massive jet of water shooting from my hands.

Aidan and the Nuckelavee thrashed on the ground, tearing at each other, as I hit them with a massive stream of water. It felt cold and bright against my palms as it shot toward the Nuckelavee.

The demon creature howled as a deluge of water splashed against its hide. A massive cloud of steam burst up, obscuring the fight. The steam disappeared in time to show the soaking wet Nuckelavee right before the beast collapsed in a rush of water.

Griffin Aidan stood ankle deep in the puddle in the middle of the forest.

“Whew.” I dragged a hand over my forehead. “I guess we’ve sent him back to the sea.”

A swirl of gray light surrounded Aidan just before he returned to his human form. Blood poured from a wound in his arm, and he clutched his side.

My heart thudded heavily at the sight, and I raced to him.

“Are you all right?” I examined the deep cut on his forearm, then gently peeled up his shirt to reveal a deeper one on his abdomen.
 

Aidan collapsed heavily to his knees, and true panic pierced me. I dropped down beside him, gazing into his eyes. They were blurred with pain. I didn’t understand. The cuts were deep, but not enough to slow him down.

When a trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, my skin turned ice cold.
 

Internal bleeding.
 

Of course. The Nuckelavee must have stomped on him with its great hooves.

Aidan fell onto his side. I cried out, too terrified for tears.

“Aidan!”

He gasped harshly but couldn’t speak.

My heart pounded as fear crawled along my skin.

He was dying. Aidan was
dying.
 

My hands shook as I tried to think of how to help him, but my terror slowed me. The golden cuff at my wrist caught my eye, and a thought pierced me.

I tugged off the cuff and threw it away. Magic swelled inside me, making me shake as a current ran through me. I reached for Aidan’s healing powers, hoping to mirror them. They weren’t strong—not enough to heal wounds as terrible as his—but I hoped that with my massive amount of power, I could enhance them enough to save him.

The idea of losing control made my breath catch in my throat. If I lost control trying to heal him, I’d kill him.

But his skin was so pale, his gaze now almost vacant.

I had to try.

My power grasped ahold of his. The forest scent of his magic was weaker than normal and I could barely hear the sound of crashing waves. But it was there. The healing gift was ephemeral, like a subtle smoke that I had to grasp onto.

I caught it and pulled it toward me, imagining mending all of Aidan’s wounds. I ran my shaking hands gently over his body, forcing the healing energy into him. My palms warmed, and the backs of my hands glowed red.
 

Tremors rocked my body as I knelt over Aidan. Tears that wouldn’t fall burned at my eyes as I kept my gaze glued to his pale form. The magic inside me pulsed and surged, trying to break free. I shook with it, almost losing control.

I sucked in a deep breath and focused, pushing more healing energy into his body.

Slowly, the color returned to his skin. His gaze cleared. I glanced down at the wound on his arm, noting that the skin had knit itself back together.

“Cass,” Aidan croaked.

My gaze jumped to his. Joy flared hot and bright inside me at the sight of his smile. All the color had returned to his face, and his eyes were clear.

“You’re okay.” Tears finally started to fall, now that the moment for action was gone. They poured down my face, hot and salty when they reached the corners of my mouth.

Aidan pushed himself upright and pulled me into his arms. I really started sobbing then, the reality of what had almost happened hitting me.
 

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’m fine. You healed me.”

I clutched at him, running my hands over every inch I could reach to confirm that he really was okay.

“You almost died,” I whispered.

“Yeah.” He laughed. “But you saved me.”

I pulled back, glaring at him. “You’re laughing?”

He grinned. “You saved me, Cass. I was a breath away from dying, but I’m here. Because of you.”

“So, you’re laughing.”

“It’s amazing.” His grin widened. “You’re amazing.”

I sat back on my heels, and a laugh bubbled out of me. Not because I thought I was amazing, but because I couldn’t believe my good luck. And probably also because I was coming down from the adrenaline high of a lifetime.

“Laughing in the forest when you have things to be accomplishing? Tsk tsk.” The creaky old voice sounded from the trees behind me.

I whirled on my knees, searching for the owner of the voice. A small figure walked out of the woods. He was no bigger than a child, with the legs of a goat and a wizened old man’s face. A brown cloak was draped over his back.

“You may trust the two-legged and the no-legged,” the Ceasg had said.

I really didn’t want to hurt this little, uh, creature, so I hoped the Ceasg had been right.

“Who are you?” I asked, keeping my magic at the ready. Adrenaline was still coursing through my body, making me doubt my ability to maintain my control.
 

“I am MacKintosh, a Bauchan.”

I’d heard of Buachans before. “Are you the helpful kind of hobgoblin or the tricky kind?”

He grinned, his teeth bright white. “Both. But in your case, I am here to help. I will lead you to the broch.”

He gestured with an overly large hand, beckoning us to follow.
 

I glanced at Aidan.
 

He nodded. “I trust him.”

It was enough for me. And after the stress of all that had just happened, I really didn’t want to fight again.
 

As we climbed to our feet, I paid close attention to Aidan. My heartbeat calmed when I noticed how steady he was. I swooped down and grabbed my dampening cuff, shoved it on my wrist, then followed Aidan and MacKintosh.

“Lovely weather we’re having, isn’t it?” MacKintosh asked as he led us toward the broch.

“Yes,” I said, following him off the path and into a more heavily forested part of the wood.

“I myself prefer a bit more rain, but I know how you lot prefer the sunshine,” MacKintosh said.
 

He kept up a running stream of commentary as we walked through the forest. I kept one ear on his chatter and one ear out for trouble. The sun was setting, and the forest grew dark, leaving shadowed nooks that made for perfect hiding places.

I didn’t get the impression that MacKintosh’s chattiness was because he was particularly comfortable in this section of woods, but rather that he just liked to talk. He went a mile a minute, commenting on everything from the flora and fauna to the latest centaur football match that had lit up supernatural televisions last night.

He led us on such a circuitous route, in between trees and over gullies. I had no idea where we were by the time we reached a clearing in the woods. No wonder the surveyors hadn’t found this place when they’d made their maps. My head was buzzing from trying to keep an eye out for danger while not offending our guide.
 

“And here it is.” MacKintosh swept his arms out to indicate a stone tower in serious disrepair.

The sun had fully set, and the moon was behind clouds, so it was hard to make out the details of the tower. But the thing was huge—easily forty feet wide and half as tall. One whole side had tumbled down, revealing massively thick walls.

“Not very impressive now, but give it a moment,” MacKintosh said.

I nodded, unsure of what he meant, and approached the broch slowly.

“Can we just walk in?” I asked, hoping there weren’t enchantments we had to get around.

“Wait until the moon shines upon it,” he said.

I glanced up, noticing that the moon was about to break free of some clouds, which glowed white at the edges. When the moon finally peaked out, I glanced back at the broch.

I stutter-stepped, surprised to see that the broch was now twice as tall and the wall had been repaired. There was even a conical wooden roof on top.

“What happened?” Aidan asked from beside me.

“Beats me.” I studied the broch, which would have been an excellent defensive structure in the Iron Age. I was about to call Nix and Del on my comms charm to tell them we’d found it when MacKintosh’s voice sounded behind us.

“Quick! The moon will disappear soon. You can only enter in the moonlight, so go now!”
 

I glanced back at him to see him shooing us, his brown gaze bright in the moonlight. “I need to tell my friends we’ve found it.”

“No time! Go, go!”

The panic in his gaze convinced me. I turned back to the broch and approached, entering a darkened archway. A heavy wooden door was positioned inside, but it was propped open. As I stepped through, I caught a glimpse of movement inside the broch.
 

But when Aidan and I entered fully, everything was dark and empty. The walls were once again broken, and the roof was gone.
 

“Moon’s gone back behind the clouds,” Aidan said.

“Yeah.” I shivered. The enchantment was eerie, flashing this place in and out of existence at the whim of the moon.
 

We explored the interior of the broch for a moment, but there was nothing inside. Just a few dark gaps in the thick walls. I was about to explore one when the world lit up with sound and noise.

It took me a moment to realize.

“The moon has come out from behind clouds,” I murmured. The walls were once again complete, but it was the hustle and bustle inside the broch that was so unexpected.
 

A fire glowed in the middle while people sat and stood all over the small space. They were semi-transparent, as was the fire, but they were living their lives like it was a normal day. Someone was cooking, and another was weaving. Several men sat on benches around the hearth, chatting.
 

I glanced up, and the sight of the platforms extending out from the walls above made my head spin. There were multiple stories in the broch, but the center column was open all the way to the roof to allow the fire’s smoke to escape. There were people on the upper levels, too, though I couldn’t tell what they were doing.

But no one seemed to notice us.

“We’re invisible to them,” Aidan said.

“Yeah.” I realized that I couldn’t quite make out what everyone was saying. Not because they spoke an old version of Scots dialect that I didn’t understand, but because their voices were muted in the same way that their figures were. Like they were half on this plane and half in the next.

“I suppose we should look around,” he said. “The entrance is supposed to be in here somewhere.”

“I want to check out that gap in the wall there,” I said.

Aidan nodded. We cut through the broch, dodging people and two small piglets as we made our way to the gap in the wall. When we reached it, we had to wait for a woman to move out of the way.
 

Eventually, she did, going into the gap in the wall and turning left. I followed her, watching her climb up narrow stone steps sandwiched between the thick exterior walls of the broch. When she disappeared at the top, having gone out onto one of the wooden platforms, I looked right.

There was a set of stairs leading down, into the ground.
 

“Those look promising,” Aidan said.

I nodded and stepped toward the stairs. As soon as my foot landed on the top stair, the magic hit me, rolling over me in waves. My dragon covetousness welled, the strongest I’d ever felt.

“Very promising,” I gasped. “There’s something really valuable down here. I feel it.”

Slowly, I made my way down the narrow stairs, using the walls for support. Aidan followed close behind. I shook my right hand, igniting the lightstone ring so that the yellow glow filled the dark spaces.
 

The stairs went on forever.
 

“Thank magic I’m not claustrophobic,” I said. Still, my heart raced.

At the bottom, a passageway carved out of the earth led into the darkness.

“Super creepy,” I said. But my dragon sense roared. Whatever was at the end of the tunnel, I wanted it.
Bad.
 

“Watch out for traps,” Aidan said as we started down the tunnel.
 

“Will do.” This looked like just the type of place to have them.

But as I walked, I felt nothing but welcome. Like I was supposed to be here.
 

This was all fated.
From Aethelred’s prophecy to the Ceasg, Nuckelavee, and MacKintosh who waited for me. This place that welcomed me was just icing on the cake.

It terrified me. Not just because I wasn’t sure I could accomplish whatever I was fated to do, but because Aethelred had prophesied one of our deaths. Me, Nix, or Del. It was the thought of losing Del or Nix that scared me most. It was crazy, but I hoped it was me. I’d meant it when I’d said I didn’t want to live in a world without them.

“You’ve been pretty silent.” Aidan’s voice snapped me out of my dark thoughts.

“Yeah, uh, sorry. Just focusing.” Why was I lying to him? He loved me. Besides Nix and Del, he’d been my biggest supporter ever. “Actually, I’m just really worried about all this. And Nix and Del.”

Aidan’s big hand gripped my shoulder comfortingly. “It will be okay.”

I relaxed a little, wanting to believe him. But I kept my wariness wrapped around myself like a cloak as I walked through the passageway. No booby-traps appeared, though. The feeling of belonging remained, as well as the sense that there was a massive amount of treasure at the end of this passage.