Chapter Six
Edan
Edan listened to the two men on the Mull Cog arguing about the lasses they were interested in.
He hadn’t had the chance to speak with the man named Magni MacQuarie yet.
He was too busy chattering on about lasses named Lia, Sylvi, and Tora.
Edan’s sister had decided not to travel because they all thought it best to have someone home in case the bairns returned, so his brother Roger had agreed to come with him.
Roger was busy studying the ship. He spent his time talking to the ship lads who were taking care of the cargo while Magni and Cormac argued.
Magni spoke first, “I’m sorry, I think Sylvi is the strongest of the seers.
When she tells what she sees or feels, she gives details.
Tora just tosses it off like it’s something to be thrown away.
‘Grandda coming’ was one she predicted correctly.
But she never gave any details. Connor was nearly dead.
Sylvi was totally destroyed, running in circles. To Tora, it meant naught.”
“Don’t mess with Tora,” Cormac warned. “She can use a dagger as good as her bow. Tristan thinks her skills are the strongest.”
Edan held his tongue, though it was difficult.
The two chattered on about daft things like seers and magic.
He wished to yell on a hilltop that there were no seers in the world, no faeries, and no changelings.
His daughter was not with the faeries and his faith in the world dropped a wee bit further every time someone mentioned it.
It was time to interrupt their foolish discussion. “Have you seen any odd ships about?”
Magni turned to him, pity in his gaze. “We patrolled last eve. I looked, checked for any new ships, any unusual captains. Any new crates. Naught. We saw nothing unusual.”
Roger joined him at the railing, overlooking the calm sea. “I thought you might back out, Edan.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you don’t believe in seers. So why visit them other than to make our sister happy?”
“Aye, you’ve the right of it.” He didn’t bother explaining to his brother that there was mention of the existence of mercenaries stealing bairns a while ago. That was the information he needed. What had they planned to do with bairns?
Edan thought on how much he missed Florie. He remembered their betrothal. It had been arranged by his and Florie’s fathers many years ago. In fact, he’d forgotten about Florie until he moved back to Islay.
His father had moved them to Jura shortly after Edan had been born and apparently he’d forgotten of the betrothal too.
But a couple of years after he’d returned to Islay, her father had appeared at their door, declaring it was time for Edan to take Florie as his wife.
He didn’t even remember Florie at the time, but she was a pretty lass with a warm smile and loved bairns.
She would have been a wonderful mother to Heilyn.
They’d married soon after and made a life together in their clachan. Florie had a heart of gold, and he’d become fond of her only to watch her die in front of him. The midwife had called him in to hold her when she took her last breaths.
As devastated as he’d been to lose his wife, he’d been blessed to have Heilyn.
Not knowing how to handle an infant, his sister had helped him, and his sweet lassie became the light of his life.
A reason to go on, to toil from dawn to dusk.
He hadn’t lost the sick feeling in his gut since she’d disappeared.
The emptiness had settled into his bones, as though something had been torn free and left him hollow.
Roger asked, “Are you going to keep an open mind, Edan?”
“About what?”
“You know of what I speak. Faeries. Our sire believed in them and you never did. Nearly all the Scots believe in faeries. Why you don’t is beyond my understanding.”
Because their father’s foolish belief made them live on Jura. They’d have been better off if they’d lived on Islay all along.
Because their father had some odd notion that they were cursed by the faeries.
Utterly ridiculous.
Edan didn’t know how to tell the truth of it. He couldn’t believe in faeries. If they existed, it would be too painful. He’d have to accept the truth of something he would deny until the day he died.
And he would never accept that tale of his sire’s as true, the one that only Edan knew. Because belief meant possibility. And possibility meant blame.
“I can see it in your eyes that you’ll never believe in them. If that is the case, then why are we traveling across the water to Mull?”
“Because I have no other choices. You know it as well as I do. We’ve searched every cottage, every river, every glen, every ravine on all of Islay. They are not there. We’ve seen no sign of Milo or Heilyn. Where could they possibly be?”
“So why visit seers and people who have met faeries?”
“It’s said they also knew of men who sold bairns across the water.
Mayhap we can learn more about that. I don’t know.
Because I feel helpless. I need hope from someone.
Mayhap they can lead us to another place to look.
Or mayhap they have a faery living with them to convince me they are real. I need something. Some hope.”
“But if you don’t believe, even if you see one, how can it help?
I’m sure you’ll not believe someone is a faery if it approached you as we sit here on the deck of this ship.
” His brother’s voice dropped to such a low tone that Edan felt as if their journey would prove to be unsuccessful.
Why was he going to see a clan of seers and faery believers?
“I can’t fight what I don’t understand. If I understand more about faeries, where they live, what they believe, mayhap I’ll know where else I can look for my daughter. I’ve run out of ideas.”
Roger drawled, “I thought you were wiser than that.”
And Edan lost his patience with his well-meaning brother.
He bolted up from the place he sat and yelled at him.
“Because what else can I do? I’ve looked everywhere, and I will not give up.
You don’t understand because you haven’t lost your wife, but Heilyn means more to me than anything else.
I’d give my life for her, but how can I when I have no idea who holds her?
Where she is? Why would anyone steal my precious daughter?
What choice do I have? I’ll do anything.
I will not give up. Never! Do you hear me? ”
Edan got up and paced across the vessel, realizing he’d caught the attention of the two men managing the ship.
“Never,” he whispered to himself. The word felt less like a vow and more like defiance against something unseen. They didn’t understand the everlasting pledge to protect a child, one who belonged to you, one who should be safely by your side. It was his primary job as a parent, and he’d failed.
Magni approached him. “Did you learn anything new about your missing daughter?” The man was tall with dark brown hair down to his tunic. The breadth of his shoulders told Edan that he knew how to handle the sword sheathed across his back.
Edan gulped down the sour fluid that threatened to be expelled over the side of the vessel. “Nay. As we said, we were told to go to Mull. That someone there might be able to help us learn about mercenaries who steal bairns. Know you who we should see?”
Magni clasped his shoulder. “Aye, I do. You need to go to Duart Castle and Clan Grantham. It holds many members of Clan Grant and Clan Ramsay. I know the Grants well and they have many seers. I hope they can help you.”
Edan asked, “I don’t believe in seers or faeries. I’m looking for information about mercenaries.”
Magni thought for a moment. “That’s unfortunate.
Seers can see what is happening at present and can see what will happen before it does.
Some can see in the past, and that is probably the one you need.
If they could help you, why not get all the information they can offer?
They are verra good and kind-hearted people. ”
Roger’s gaze focused on the land emerging ahead. “Is there an inn we can stay at while we visit?”
Magni took a step back, taking the focus away from Edan, something he was glad of. He didn’t wish to hear anything more about faeries and seers.
“We’re traveling to Craignure, a short jaunt from Duart Castle. If you have issues, the Granthams will offer you a chamber for a few nights.”
“In their castle?” Edan asked, stunned by this possibility.
Magni pointed over his shoulder. “We’re about to pass Duart Castle. It’s the large one on the promontory. And aye, they have many chambers with wonderful views. They will offer you a place inside the castle that will more than suit your needs.”
“Why?” Roger asked, brushing his fair beard while he spoke.
“Because they are Highlanders. You’ve not heard of Alexander Grant’s line? Logan Ramsay’s daughters? The archer Gwyneth? Have you never heard of the Highland hospitality?”
Edan nodded. “Aye, we’ve heard of their sword skills. And the woman’s archery skills, but not their hospitality. True that a woman is an archer?”
“Aye. They are all related one way or another to the Grants and Ramsays.”
“Will they help me? Can they find my daughter?” Edan’s hands flexed as if he could actually grab onto something that would give him hope.
Magni scowled, scratching his head just as Cormac jerked the boat and yelled at him.
“MacQuarie! Starboard.”
Magni leaned over the side of the ship in time to see a pod of dolphins go by, and in the middle, a wee golden-haired lass on the back of the largest mammal, waving to him. Then she vigorously nodded.
“Lia?” he shouted, leaning over the side of the vessel. “Lia! Come back!”
Edan joined Magni at the side, just catching a view of the pod of dolphins, a huge school of fish surrounding them. “Is that a bairn on that dolphin?” His voice lowered despite himself, as though something in the air demanded quiet.
“Aye, I know her.” He chewed on his bottom lip as he glanced back over his shoulder at the disappearing lass.
Roger asked, “Back to the castle. Who do we ask for?”
Magni sighed as the dolphins continued on, disappearing around the bend of the isle. He turned back to Roger and said, “Aye, Dyna Grant will help you. I promise.”
Edan had seen enough of this trickery. Had they set up the odd girl to go by? Was she a special swimmer? And how could they know for certain that some woman could help him?
“How can you say such a thing?” Edan asked, doubt coursing through him. “And what was that lass doing on a dolphin? Should we not go after her?”
Magni sighed and leaned against the mast. “I say it because I know the lass.”
“Who is she?”
“It doesn’t matter who she is. It’s what she is that matters.” Magni’s gaze locked on his as if he wouldn’t allow him to turn away.
Edan went along with him. Why not? He had nowhere else to go but to jump into the sea. “What is she?”
“Her name is Lia, and she’s a faery. She’s not really that small, she just appears to us that way. That’s the only way we’ve ever seen her.”
“A true faery? In the sea?” Roger stood up and went to the end of the boat. “Where did she go?”
Magni said, “She’s gone.”
Edan sat back down with a huff. “You cannot expect me to believe such a ridiculous thing.” Yet the image would not leave him. The lass’s gaze had been too knowing… too certain.
Magni smirked. “Have you ever seen a lass of six summers ride a dolphin in the middle of the sea?”
Edan dropped to the deck, sitting cross-legged. The odd sight finally settled on him. He couldn’t deny what he saw. As much as he’d tried to ignore it, something wouldn’t allow it.
His vision dimmed, the rocking boat not helping one bit.
Roger yelled, “Edan?”
He opened his eyes to the vision of a lass riding a dolphin in the middle of a pod, surrounded by more fish than he’d ever seen in one place. All the absurdities of what he’d just witnessed gathered around his tight control of his beliefs.
A small child on a dolphin.
He whispered the thoughts he couldn’t settle in his mind.
“She wasn’t hanging on.”
He stared straight ahead, as if the vision played in front of his eyes again.
“The dolphin she rode never dove under the surface. The others around her went under and came up the way dolphins do. Hers didn’t.”
He swiped at the sweat on his brow. Hellfire, he could not believe in faeries. If he did, his father’s rantings about death and dark knights and monsters in the night… they could all be true.
“She had a green gown on. That was all. And it was dry. The water is ice cold and the wind is bitter.”
Roger clasped his brother’s shoulders from behind. “We’re going to the right place. We’ll find someone to help us find Heilyn and Milo. You’ll be fine, Edan.”
Edan stared up at Magni, still unable to stand. He knew his knees would buckle. Had the sun been too much for him? Was that what had just happened? The sight of that wee lass on a dolphin would never leave him. “It means something to you. What does it mean? When does she come around?”
Magni pursed his lips, looked up at Roger who nodded to him.
Edan said, “I can handle the truth. I deserve the truth. I just need to know something. Anything about my daughter.” He lifted his gaze to Magni.
“I’ll tell you, but it might not be true. Lia is known as the protector of bairns.”
“What?”
“Lia’s here to help your daughter and nephew. That’s what it tells me. The only question is for you.”
“What?” His voice cracked.
“Will you accept her help?”
Edan didn’t know how to answer. Accepting her help would mean he believed in faeries.
And he didn’t.