I wanted to ask them what had been said, but there was a mood surrounding them that I didn’t want to disturb.
Mathilda nodded to herself and went into one of the bedrooms. She came out with a dollhouse. It wasn’t near as fancy as the toy castle they used to live in at my place, but it was also large enough to hold all twenty-three faeries. “I found this in my travels a few years ago, and thought that if I ever saw you again, you might like it. It will give you room to talk tonight. I will make sure your words do not go beyond the walls of this tiny house.” She tapped it as she set it on the table and a shimmer covered it.
Garbage flew up to her and gave her a kiss. “Thanks. Need thoughts and words.” Then she flew down and led her faeries inside. Bunky and Irving returned to the rafters and went into their version of sleep.
“The silence was for them as well as us; I think we could all use some sleep.” She pulled on a few straps off her sofa and two beds folded out. Then a third came from the chair. “Three here, and two in the extra bedroom.”
Alric almost looked like he was going to go outside regardless, then shook his head and flopped down on one of the beds in the living room. “I think some sleep is a great idea.”
He and I had agreed, when we first started getting involved, that intimacy would be when we were alone and not in a group. Just less weirdness for our friends when we were traveling in such close quarters. But even with the latest issues between us, I really wished we were alone. From the look on his face, Alric felt the same.
Covey and I took my old room; the two cots were small but would work. She was out almost immediately. I wasn’t too far behind her.
The whistle of a teakettle is possibly the nicest sound to wake you, at least if you have to be woken up. I personally am a fan of sleeping in as long as you want. I sort of had that when I was on the run with the faeries and constructs for that month, but the girls kept such weird hours it never felt like I got enough sleep.
Covey was gone, and a quick check of the bathroom told me she was showering. Voices from the front room told me I was probably the last one up. I showered after Covey finished and joined everyone at breakfast.
The faeries’ house was set further to the side, but I didn’t see any faeries out and about. “Where are the girls?” I looked up. “And Bunky and Irving?”
“The girls are inside their house. I think they might have talked all night long. Whatever Queen Mungoosey had to say, it got them worked up.” Mathilda handed me a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. “As for your construct friends, you’ll need to ask Padraig.”
Padraig was mid-chew so I waited until he swallowed. “I asked them to do some circles outside to check for anyone else out there. I studied the map and I think, after breakfast, we should be able to solve it.”
“Why not now?” Covey asked.
“Because I’ll need the table and we’re using it right now.” He grinned. “Plus I’m mentally resolving some of the issues of deciphering it, so a little more time would be a good idea. It’s a good thing we didn’t go to get Nasif; I’ doubt that he ever knew what he had.”
“You were supposed to go to sleep,” Lorcan chastised him, but his interest in what Padraig found was greater than his concern for Padraig’s sleeping habits.
“I was going to, but something bothered me,” Padraig said, then smiled at Mathilda. “And we’ll discuss this after we’ve finished our lovely breakfast.”
“That’s my boy. Siabiane always did say you were one of her favorites.”
With that added incentive, we all, including Mathilda, finished in record time. We moved our dishes off the table and Padraig unrolled the map. It had stayed in its spelled condition when we’d rolled it up. The ruins with the chest outline had still been visible. Now it looked like another layer had been put on top.
“Wait, we have to go back to Beccia?” That wasn’t going to make me happy. Besides, they’d been so certain the sphinx was not there.
“No, although it does sort of look that way.” Padraig placed his hands on two opposite corners, the one with the formerly hidden words and its mate. Then he said a few words to remove the warding.
At first it looked like nothing was going to happen, but Padraig just kept holding the map and smiling. Alric was looking skeptical when the map changed right before our eyes.
The levels shifted and what looked like a single vertical line led to a different section, hovering in the far corner was the same mark I’d seen before—the shape of a diamond with a sphinx inside it. I tucked my hands behind my back so I wouldn’t be tempted to touch it. There wasn’t a lot of room in this cottage, and slamming into a wall wouldn’t be fun.
“Now here is the map that leads to the sectioned off area.” Padraig moved two cups to hold down the first map, and then held what we thought was a mundane non-magical map up to it.
I was not the only one who jumped this time when the two merged.
“So that one is magical too?” I almost reached forward but held back.
“Apparently. And while this one showed where the sphinx had been, and where to find the chest, it wouldn’t have shown how to get to the area where the sphinx is.” He shook his head in admiration. “I think it is in a hidden realm as your friend Grimwold mentioned. They were called tir cudds, and the creators of them aren’t known.”
Lorcan, Alric, and Mathilda looked varying levels of shocked and interested. Covey looked as confused as I felt. Then she narrowed her eyes at the map.
“You don’t mean those mythical pockets of reality where riches were stored by the Ancients? There isn’t much documentation, but it was pretty much decided they were just wishful thinking by people who wanted an easy way to get rich.”
“Yes and no.” Lorcan pointed to part of the map right in front of the odd vertical line. “I don’t believe that they were to hide riches, I believe they were created to protect things. Plants, animals, relics that might destroy the world.”
Padraig shook his head. “You’re right on the pieces being in order; it makes sense that whoever crafted them set the heaviest protection on the final piece.”
“So how do we get into this place once we’ve found it?” I wasn’t pleased with the distance north it looked like we’d need to go. I could be wrong, but it appeared we’d be riding for at least two weeks to get to the line, which I assumed was the demarcation for this hidden realm.
Lorcan looked up from his intense study of the hidden realm map. Padraig might have been the one to find it, but there was no way anyone other than Lorcan would be carrying it now. His focused study turned into a frown as he read a section of the map. “There has to be a sacrifice. It is the only way. We have to find out who or what before we can cast the spell to cross inside.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
That quieted everyone.
“Just what sort of sacrifice are we talking about? I am not losing someone because of this.” Covey stepped back with her arms folded.
Mathilda didn’t say anything, but looked exactly like Covey—no one was going down on her watch if she had anything to say about it.
Alric kept looking at the map. “If it means we can get this thing, and destroy the weapon, I will offer myself.” He didn’t look up at first, and when he did he carefully didn’t look my way.
I kept the things I wanted to shout at him inside my head, but I was almost shaking with anger and fear.
“It might not come to something so drastic,” Lorcan said. “The term sacrificed can mean many things.”
“You might not be what is needed to be sacrificed,” Padraig said. “The wrong sacrifice would be worse than none. Once we have gotten to the area and start the trigger spell, we can’t get out.”
“I know. But I stand willing to do whatever is needed.” Alric had that grim, stoic, lone wolf look again.
I really needed to find out from Lorcan and Padraig just what made him that way. When I first met him I thought he was nothing more than a thief and a con man. And he was a
thief and a con man. But he was doing it, every part of it, to help his people. Hard to hate someone for that, but I could be annoyed by it in my own head. And terrified.
“Is good. Go now?” Garbage and her troop came out of the little house. They looked a bit subdued and tired; they probably had been up all night. However, they weren’t as down as they had been after the brief talk with Queen Mungoosey.
“Do you know where we’re going?” You never could tell with them, maybe their queen had tipped them off.
“There.” Garbage pointed to the map. “Is where she say we go.”
Mathilda moved closer to the table and the girls. “Queen Mungoosey told you to go to the hidden realm? Did she say why?”
Garbage shrugged, a move echoed by the rest of the faeries. “We need, we go. That all.” She pointed to Padraig, Lorcan, and Alric. “You get us in.”
Alric leaned closer to Garbage. “Not the others?”
“Yes, no, no.” Garbage pointed to Mathilda first, then Covey and me.
“Maybe Covey and Taryn should stay back,” Alric did look me in the eye this time.
“I am not missing a chance to view a tir cudd.” Covey didn’t move, but her fingers did flex and turn a bit claw-like.
“We’re not going to ruin this, you know.” I wasn’t happy. I’d been worried about Alric doing something glorious and stupid and now he was trying to shut me out again. Anything for his cause.
“That’s not why. You might be the sacrifice. If you’re not there, then you can’t be pulled in.” His look softened.
Covey shook her head. “I can defend myself, thank you. And if I am the sacrifice, I’ll deal with that when we get there. End of discussion. I’m going.” She flexed her fingers one more time, then stalked into the bedroom, and came out a moment later with her pack.
“Can Taryn and I talk outside? Alone?” Alric asked, but he was already heading for the door.
“We have time. We should leave soon, but I want to get more of this map sorted before we get started,” Lorcan said.
Mathilda and Covey shared a look, and then turned it on me. I was annoyed with Alric but I wasn’t going to call him out on it—not until I heard him anyway. I shrugged and followed him out.
He’d walked away from the cottage, a little way into the woods, but his back was to me. He didn’t turn until I was almost next to him.
“You can’t go,” he said and held up his hand to stop me from replying. “I’ve had the dream again—the one I had in Null. The one where you died and I couldn’t save you.”
He looked calmer than he had the morning after that dream back in Null, but he also looked more rattled than he had in the cottage.
“You’ve been hiding it.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. “How long?”
“Since we found you. I had it the first night you were gone, then not again until the night we stayed at the pub. I figured it was better if only one of us was worried about it.”
The pain and fear in his face drove away any annoyance or anger at his earlier behavior. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I need to go.” I reached up and stopped his complaint with a kiss. Once we finished I continued. “I can’t explain it, but I need to be a part of this. All of this. What if I am the only way we can stop Nivinal and his people from destroying everything?”
“I’m sure we can do it without you.”
“What if you can’t? I have to deal with the fact that you might not survive our next fight as well. You did almost die once, you know. Orenda and I almost couldn’t save you.”
He kissed me again, but there was a lingering sadness. “I just don’t know that I could survive losing you. I really don’t. Our situation isn’t great, and I’ve never been a romantic guy, but losing you would destroy me.”
I put my head against his chest. “I feel the same way. So, let’s just stick together on this. If we stay together, we can keep each other alive, right? And we don’t know why the faeries said Covey and I wouldn’t help get us in—it could be simply because it’s somehow coded to elves and we’re not.”
He gave me one more kiss, and then stood back. “I hate it when you’re logical. Just don’t leave me. We stay together through the end.”
I gave him a squeeze as we walked back to the cottage. “Deal. We stick together.”
Everyone inside the cottage made a good show of not being curious about what he and I talked about.
Alric nodded to the group. “I was wrong. All of us go and get this done. Any new information?”
Padraig nodded. “It appears that part of the sphinx’s ability is to call the other relics to it. As long as it’s paired with the obsidian chimera and a lot of power.”
Alric let out a whistle. “Now we know why Edana wants it—she already took the chimera.”
“The good news is, to work with the sphinx, the chimera can’t be inside someone,” Mathilda said. “So that means that we have a chance to get it from her.”
I shuddered at the amount of power just the projected image of that woman had. It was terrifying when we thought she was using the added strength from the chimera being inside of her; that she probably wasn’t, made me want to go find a place to be ill.
The faeries had been sitting around waiting since Garbage made her pronouncement. From the looks on the tiny faces, especially their general, they were ready to go.
“Let me grab my pack,” I said. By the time I came back, everyone was gone.
I refrained from shouting, but for a second I did fear that Alric had made them go without me. But only a second, and I would never admit it.
Everyone was behind the cottage loading up their horses, the faeries were buzzing around, and Bunky and Irving were hovering near Padraig.
Mathilda was watching everyone get ready, but she didn’t have a horse. “Are you taking the cottage on this trip?” Didn’t seem stealthy.
“Yes and no. I’ve found a way to keep up with you, although I’ll be going a different route. Padraig and I have mapped out the general stops each night. To be honest, I was going to just have it hide once we knew where we were going, but the faeries convinced me otherwise.”
I looked around at the fluttering faeries. “Which ones?”
“Oh, our faeries. They claimed it might be needed at some point and they thought Queen Mungoosey would like me to travel in it.” She shook her head. “I think they just want to sleep inside and in their tiny house. I took a quick look, they’ve already decorated it.”
I laughed and went to my horse. I guess as long as she didn’t mind, I wasn’t going to complain. Besides, having it along would mean less camping out for all of us.
Alric and Padraig took the lead after they debated the first leg. The map gave options, and of course they each had a different choice.
Alric won this round, but from the look on Padraig’s face, he’d not intended to go the other way. He probably just felt Alric needed something to focus on. I wished I could figure out Alric as well as Padraig had.
The faeries did their version of recon, which was fly ahead, and then come back impatiently when we didn’t move as fast as they wanted. Explaining to them the difference between flying somewhere and riding somewhere did nothing.
Except make Garbage start sizing me up for a possible pick up. I figured it out when we hit a clearing, and Garbage waved a dozen faeries my way. I scrunched low on my saddle and hung on for all I was worth as they dove low and started pulling my clothes.
“Ladies? What are you doing?” Lorcan had been studying the second map while we rode, but he looked up as they swarmed down.
“Help go faster?” Crusty looped around above me.
“I don’t want to fly. Lorcan, tell them not to pick me up.” I’d had two unsanctioned flying trips with those miscreants, and I didn’t need a repeat performance. However, both of those times I wasn’t expecting it. I was now. I knew faeries were unnaturally strong, but I didn’t think even they could take my horse too, and I wasn�
�t letting go.
“Ladies, Taryn and her horse need to stay on the ground.”
Lorcan had Garbage’s attention but the rest were pulling on me. Even more disturbing, I swore I thought I felt my horse start to rise, just a tiny bit.
“If you take her, you’ll have to wait for the rest of us,” Covey rode over to my horse and put one hand on its shoulder.
Garbage buzzed around a bit, then shrugged. “Go slow, is okay. But hurry!” She chittered something to the faeries in native faery and they flew off.
Bunky dipped a bit lower and gronked at Alric.
“No, stay with us; besides, there’s no telling where they’re going right now.” Alric seemed more relaxed than he had been. He still moved when Bunky made his obligatory dive for his head though.
It was good to hear Alric laugh as he stayed clear of the construct. I didn’t even think that Bunky was really trying anymore—he just did it as their thing.
We started moving again and Alric pulled ahead. He seemed to be casually riding, but I had a feeling he knew where all of us were, exactly.
“Think we’re going to be sacrifices?” Covey and I were in the rear, another argument from Alric that died with one look from Covey.
“I hope not. I don’t want Alric to be right. He’ll never get over it.”
Covey laughed. “I have a feeling if we were; whoever asked for us would throw us back. Well, me at least.” She gave her feral grin and flexed her fingers into claws again.
I dropped my voice. “Do you think we’re going to do it? Get the sphinx, form the weapon, and destroy it?” I wouldn’t admit it to Alric, especially when he was trying to wrap me up somewhere safe, but part of me wasn’t sure about this.
“I have no idea,” she said. “This is far different than either of our lives a short while ago. From an academic side? This is the most amazing thing ever. From the ‘I don’t want to lose my friends in some horrible world destroying battle’ side? It sucks.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
The Diamond Sphinx (The Lost Ancients Book 6) Page 22
