by Love, Dianna
Sand bit Daegan’s skin. It had to be striking Luigsech too. He used his power to swap her short-sleeved shirt with long sleeves and called up a soft scarf to wrap around her head and face, except her eyes. He covered those with clear glasses he’d seen on workers in Atlanta.
All he could see of her now was a shocked gaze.
Daegan called back to Tristan, “Appears to be the place described. I shall call if I need anythin’.”
Tristan didn’t look convinced about leaving them.
“If I run into trouble, ya shall do me more good bein’ somewhere else, but available,” Daegan added.
“Okay, boss. I’ll be listening for you. Stay in touch.”
“I shall.”
Tristan vanished.
Daegan returned to Luigsech who had not moved. “Are ya havin’ trouble, lass?”
“This was a ... a mistake.” Her muffled words were hard to hear in this wind. He lowered his ear near her mouth. She said, “We ... we ... should go back.”
Turning his head until they were nose-to-nose, he asked, “What do ya fear, lass?”
“Are you kiddin’? We’re on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.”
He jerked back from her loud voice. “’Tis where ya said to go.”
“I know.”
Her tiny answer cut into his heart. “I shall not allow any harm to come to ya, lass. But if ya wish to go back, I shall call Tristan to come for ya.”
“What would you do?”
“Take your instructions and find the oracle. I cannot turn my back on my people.”
She blinked hard as if forcing tears hanging on her lashes to not spill. “Okay, we go together.”
“Why?” He had to know what drove her at these times.
“I have people to protect from Imortiks, too.”
Of all the times she’d shouted at him and refused to believe what he told her about the Imortiks, what had changed her mind?
That professor. He must have told her something about the grimoire that made this hunt personal.
Daegan would not use her fear against her as he would an enemy. She deserved his support. Maybe now she’d be less difficult.
He said, “We are here to protect many. It shall not be an easy path ya described for us to make around this mountain, but I can see in the dark. If ya take my hand, I shall not let go of ya.”
Her soft blue eyes deepened in color. She drew herself up and nodded, then extended her hand.
“Ya should let me carry the backpack,” he suggested.
“I’m good with it. I’d rather carry it and be able to grab you if I need to.”
Those were her last words before they began the trek.
Daegan executed every instruction Luigsech gave him, not complaining when they had to back up when she felt they’d missed a place to drop down a step or turn. The wind calmed when they slipped between rock outcroppings. After a slow and arduous descent hardly much lower than where they’d begun, he stepped onto a narrow goat path wrapping the outside of the mountain face.
This would test Luigsech more than where they had started.
He’d like to think darkness would ease her worry over heights, but the inability to see into the black void below must have increased her fear. It hurt to feel her terror and have no way to console her.
Wind slapped his face and pinned his hair straight back when he faced into it. He had her grip the waistband of his jeans so he could keep his hands free. She complied, but dread poured from her.
Another thirty steps around the goat trail, Luigsech called out, “I didn’t think I had a fear of heights, but I evidently do.”
Daegan desperately wanted to teleport her to the next spot they hunted, but the professor had warned the oracle expected someone who wanted her advice to put forth effort. When Luigsech had asked what he meant, he’d said to only use the same abilities a human would once they started the descent.
Turning to walk sideways, which was not as efficient, he pried her hands from his jeans. Gripping her fingers firmly, he said, “Ya shall go nowhere without me and I have no intention of fallin’.”
She froze in place.
He shouldn’t have stopped.
Wind continued to buffet them.
He spoke softly. “Ya can do this.”
Nodding, she swallowed and said, “Keep goin’.”
“Good lass.”
The ledge dropped a little every ten or twenty feet. She gasped any time he made a sudden move. He had to hug them around a curved and indented part of the mountain face that should be nothing more than a black shadow, but shapes and rock changes held a reddish glow. Nothing shined down on this spot. He’d learned long ago to accept some things in the supernatural world.
When he glanced down, the tip of his boot hung over the end of the goat path.
Beyond that was a long drop.
He searched this carved out part and detected the goat path continued on the other side, but over twelve feet away. Without tapping his power, there was no way to make that leap.
He might, but not without losing her.
“Do you see the crevice and feather?” she called from behind, unable to see past his body.
Daegan searched everywhere for what she’d described, then noticed the shape of a feather carved along a vertical opening in the rocks.
He had no idea how to take Luigsech down to reach that crevice. He scraped his face when he turned his head close to the rock they hugged so he could speak to her. “I found the feather carvin’ and crevice. I must go down to be sure the openin’ ’tis wide enough for passin’ through. Ya wait here until I come for ya.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you crazy? I’m not stayin’ here.”
They were protected from most of the wind, but merely standing with muscles straining would wear them out soon enough.
He had one suggestion. If she didn’t agree, he had no idea what to do with her. “Ya can climb on my back and I shall carry ya down, but ya shall have to point out the way. I cannot lean away from the rock and look for my next move.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
He could barely hear her, but nodded. “I am.”
Her terror-filled gaze stared at him. She seemed so torn he felt sympathy for her. He’d like to tell her he could shift into his dragon if they fell, but he could not swear for sure he’d catch her in time. Better to remain silent.
Also, using supernatural ability would prevent a meeting with the oracle.
Luigsech nodded. “I’ll hold on and be very still.”
“Let me get a good grip on the mountain.” He ran his fingers until he found cuts and holes to latch onto. He asked his dragon for help. Claws grew from his fingers, sliding deep into the openings.
“Climb on, lass.”
She didn’t say a word, just patted her hands as if searching for a handhold blind. When he bent his knees, lowering his shoulders, she latched onto him, digging her tiny fingernails in deep. She moved slowly until her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs circled his waist.
He could feel her heart thumping fast and her chest moving with panicked breaths.
After all the fighting between them, her show of trust humbled Daegan. He’d extended his trust, too.
He just did not know if it would be enough to survive this.
Chapter 16
Casidhe held onto the only thing between her and falling to her death. Daegan.
The warm glow of shared trust lasted until he shifted to the right, moving a booted foot off the ledge.
Air backed up in her lungs.
She would die a horrible death. Just end up a bloody splat thousands of feet below in the dark.
Daegan stilled. His words came out gentle. “Calm your breathin’. Ya help neither of us if ya panic.”
She squeezed her fingers, which were gripped together, and closed her eyes. How long would it take to hit once she fell?
Muscles on his back, arms, and legs bulged as he inched to t
he right again.
“Have ya ever met an oracle?” he asked loudly.
She turned her head from where she’d smashed her face against his back. “What?”
“’Tis a simple question even for a woman who is easily confused.”
He had done it again. “You son of a gun. Stop insultin’ my intelligence.”
“I did no such thing. I merely made allowance. ’Tis not shameful to be slow to gather your thoughts,” he said, sounding amused.
“Here are my thoughts. I bet you have a tough time findin’ women.”
“I find plenty.”
“But do any of them stick around?” she replied tartly.
He did not answer at first.
Had she hit a nerve or was he out of breath?
He finally admitted, “Unfortunately, no. I can only mate with a select few and those women are not so many today.”
How did he manage to yank her chain one minute then make her feel guilty about her words the next? She’d lost her desire to bait him at the sadness in his voice.
Did he have to find a female dragon to mate?
Herrick had spent an eternity alone. So had Daegan.
She had never considered the similarities between the two men, only how they stood on opposite sides of a battle line.
Daegan’s right shoulder dropped with a missed step.
She clung to him.
He soothed, “Easy, lass. I merely passed a toehold.”
When she took in where they were, she noticed two things. Daegan had covered a significant distance since stepping off the ledge and this rock had a reddish appearance as if it held heat.
Like she would question anything weird now?
And he’d managed to calm her terror while doing so.
Daegan said, “’Tis time to tell me where the crevice is. We cannot waste me huntin’ it blindly.”
“You’re right.” Her heart still pumped in near-panic mode, but Daegan had moved them pretty far. She felt energized to reach their next landmark.
Tilting her head to the side, she saw it. “We’re the length of your body above the top of the opening. Then an arm length and a half left of it.”
“Well done, lass.” He’d grunted out the words.
She felt a twinge of regret for the grief she’d given him. Here this man risked his life to carry both of them across the face of the mountain and he gave her a nudge of support.
In another ten terror-filled minutes, he had them to the side of the ledge. What was he waiting for?
Sounding exhausted, Daegan’s huge muscles were pumped up hard as rock and straining from clinging to the small openings he’d gripped to make this climb. Holding onto his back gave her a personal glimpse into just how powerful a man he was in addition to being a dragon shifter.
“Ya must climb off and step down beside me,” he explained.
She squeaked out, “You’re kidding, right?”
Speaking in a tense voice, he replied, “What would make ya think anythin’ about this is to laugh about? I cannot hold here forever. Ya need to find your backbone and step off me. I cannot reach across the openin’ for a hold worthy of keepin’ us here.”
She worried out loud, “What if I move wrong and make you fall?”
“I shall not let go if ya do this today.”
How could he have any sense of humor right now?
He’d literally carried the load up to this point with a backpack on top of her weight.
She had to buck up and grow a pair of lady balls. “Okay, okay, I’m ... I’m doin’ this.”
“Keep hold of me until ya have a hand grippin’ the inside of the crevice.”
She eased her legs down. Muscles ached from having her legs locked around his body. She would never try to explain to another person how she managed to make that transition. Nothing about it had been attractive or useful information to a person who knew how to climb.
But she made it and felt a surge of joy she’d never experienced at accomplishing such a feat. “I’ve got it, Daegan,” she whispered.
“Very good. I shall wait until ya go inside before I step on the ledge.
“Okay. I’m on it.” She looked into the opening that was a foot taller than her and surprisingly wider than it had appeared from the side. It had a narrow V shape, eighteen inches wide at her feet. She started into the opening, refusing to think about the darkness ahead. Her body stopped short.
Daegan called out, “I can see your foot, lass. Keep goin’.”
She couldn’t turn and shouted, hoping he’d hear her. “I think my backpack is stuck. I can’t move.”
“Stay calm,” he told her.
She didn’t move a muscle except for her heart pumping madly. She held her breath, begging for Daegan to make the transition and not to hear him shout one last time as he fell.
What was taking so long?
His voice came to her quietly. “Ya do not need to grasp the walls, lass. Try to lower your arms. I shall carry the pack.”
“How?”
“The openin’ above your head is wider,” Daegan explained. “Can ya unlatch the straps?”
She scraped her elbows, but managed. “How are you going to fit through if it’s this tight for me?”
“I shall pass.”
Did that man ever run out of confidence?
The weight on her back vanished and she felt so much lighter.
“Move ahead, lass. Do ya have your wee light?”
She brightened at the idea of having her LED. “Yes. It’s in a small pocket on the side of the pack.” The sound of the pack being turned and pockets opened continued until his hand snaked over her shoulder.
She grabbed the powerful penlight. “Thank you.”
“Ya are welcome. Take care not to hurry ahead. Be sure where ya place your boot.”
“I will.” She moved tentatively at first, but a few steps in, she began placing more confident steps. What seemed like twenty minutes had passed when she hit a dead end. She shined her light over a solid wall of rock, which was oddly smooth to be in the middle of a mountain.
They couldn’t go back and climb up to that tiny goat path ledge again.
Daegan’s hand rested on her shoulder in what felt like a touch of support. “What did the man tell ya to do now?”
“He didn’t tell me much once we found the crevice in the wall,” Casidhe admitted. She didn’t have to see Daegan’s face to know he was disappointed. “I’m sorry, Daegan. I must have gotten somethin’ wrong.” She started rambling as she recalled her meeting. “Redmond didn’t tell me specifics. He said we had to start from that spot where Tristan teleported with us, then we followed every step after that and found all the landmarks. I can’t imagine how this could be wrong when he said the path would run out at an opening in the wall. Of course, he failed to say we’d need wings to reach the opening.”
“We used no wings,” Daegan said in a light tone she knew he did not feel.
She clamped her forehead with one hand, thinking. Then it hit her. “Wait, wait, I have an idea.”
“What did ya remember?”
“The poem. We were discussing this, then his dog got up and trotted out, which pulled us off topic. Right before that he was explainin’ how to gain entrance to the oracle’s world I would need a poem of time past and time forward.”
“Do ya have such a poem?”
Her heart clenched at the longing in his voice. “I had one in mind when he mentioned that, but I thought we’d need it at some entrance. There’s no one to recite it to here.” She dropped her head against the stone wall blocking their way. “I don’t know what I was thinkin’. I just wanted this to work.”
Daegan’s fingers gently massaged her shoulder. “Say your poem, lass. ’Tis no harm in speakin’ it.”
His hand comforted her in a way words could not.
She lifted her head and swallowed her anxiety. “He said I must recite a poem of past and present, but only the part that spoke to my heart. A poem that
brought harmony would open a door.”
“What poem do ya have a mind to be sayin’?”
“One by T. S. Eliot, a famous poet. He died before I was born. I often think of his words when I’m researchin’ so many different time periods. I know the whole thing, so what part do I choose?” she whispered, angling her head to look back at him.
He dropped his gaze, seeming to study on her question a moment. When he lifted his bright silver eyes to her again, he asked, “Does it have fifteen parts?”
She mentally envisioned the poem. “Fifteen? It has four parts and way more than fifteen lines. Why?”
“A wise old advisor of my father’s once said fifteen represented a source of power, but could also bring harmony. He spoke of many legends of the past, at times soundin’ as a prophet.”
She allowed what he said to soak in and realized in the few minutes they’d been talkin’ her body had relaxed. Her heart no longer raced along at a panicked pace. “Okay, I’ll give this a try.”
When she turned back to face the wall, she gave the smooth surface a longer look. Would this work?
Placing her hands on the wall, her fingers touched cool stone. As she thought over the poem, she could see no reason to skip around. She would recite from the beginning of T. S. Eliot’s beautiful Burnt Norton prose.
Dropping her forehead to the wall, she let go of everything else to give her heart to the words.
“Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.”
She waited, breathing slowly, begging for this to work.
Minutes passed. More minutes passed. She had to finally admit the words were not abracadabra.
Her heart dropped when nothing happened.
