16
____________________
Raegan didn’t let me join the next morning at breakfast during which Diarmuid announced their decision to him. Something about me being too much of a distraction with my “foolery” with Aisling and Rory, whatever that meant.
He did, however, relay the information to me as he grabbed my arm and shuttled us out of the Cluaineach castle, giving me hardly any time to finish changing back into my Choilltean attire before Shea and Niamh had the chance to ridicule the soft material of the Cluaineach clothes.
“What does that even mean?” I huffed to him from the back of one of the foxes, who this time accepted my request and now carried Raegan and I back towards where we left Killian and the rest. Raegan rode at my side, his body less familiar in the tight winding of Choilltean clothes that felt itchy on my skin.
He returned to having his hair half pulled back, the other half voluminous enough to conceal his ears – which I had yet to ask him about.
Crossing that threshold seemed years ahead of us, and we only had weeks left.
“It means what every decision those of Cluaineach make means – they’ll do nothing until the situation is dire enough that they are forced to act.”
“But at least they said they would side with Choilltean when the moment arises?”
“Lucky us,” Raegan groaned as he pushed some hair from his face.
“Can’t you just… you know… make them rally with you now?”
Raegan shot me a look that suggested our day yesterday was a thing of the past, that our temporary friendship had run its course and I needed to return to knowing him as nothing more than a prince.
That was fine by me. I was going to be back with Killian, soon, and the tension of my time with the Prince would also be in the past. I was even looking forward to seeing Niamh and Shea again.
As if my thoughts were capable of summoning them, all three could be seen just past the next settlement of grass.
They were sitting cross-legged, positioned across from one another in a triangle where they played with something between them all.
It looked to be some sort of game including pebbles and leaves. Pixie things.
Niamh shot to her feet first, her line of sight the clearest as Raegan and I emerged on the two foxes. Shea was next, hissing something at Killian that made his whole body snap towards us, the dark hue of his eyes brightening as he looked between Raegan and I.
Shea grumbled something beneath her breath before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a ring, flicking it towards Niamh who caught it with a cry of success.
“Told you she’d survive,” Niamh rubbed salt in Shea’s disappointment, the two of them ending a three-day long bet.
“Cluaineach wasn’t that bad,” I announced, hoping to somehow lessen the competitive streak that was rising between the two of them.
“They weren’t betting on your survival of Cluaineach.” Killian grinned as he stepped towards our mounts, offering me a hand. I took it, less gracefully than I wanted, and slipped down from the red pelt. Raegan landed with a thud a second later and sent the foxes on their way with a subtle whisper.
Killian abandoned me only for a second as he strode towards Raegan, yanking him into a brutish hug that ended with the two of them slapping one another's backs.
Killian took a step back and offered him a deep bow. “My Prince.”
“I’m gone three days and you learn manners?” Raegan tutted before moving past him and accepting hugs from both Shea and Niamh.
Snickering to himself, Killian returned to his previous position in front of me and squared his shoulders as his eyes roamed over my face. “Any troubles?”
“None I couldn’t handle.”
That wild grin of his was as radiant as ever as he nodded at me. “I hate to admit it, but I think I missed you.”
Blushing, I dipped my face and let my hair curtain my rosy cheeks. “You’re just a big softie, aren’t you?”
He shrugged, the turned up corners of his lips never settling.
I stepped closer to him, dropping my voice to a whisper. “I hate to admit it, but I think I missed you too.”
Placing a hand to the nape of my neck, Killian pulled me against him. I didn’t fight the strong arms that wrapped around me a second later. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
I hummed an agreement, and he released me a second later.
“Is it correct if I assume you have a thousand more questions?”
“I’m a little terrified at how quickly you’ve come to understand me.”
Killian winked, motioning with his head for us to return to the others. As we walked towards them, Raegan’s eyes met mine for a flash. Something resided in that shared glance between us, a pact of sorts, a promise of silence.
Behind them, standing proud and magnificent beneath a sky made just for them, was the small herd of pegasus’ that I had already accepted as an extension of the pixies around me.
Leading them, head high upon a broad neck over sturdy legs was Rìoghail, a king amongst his kind as he let out a short snicker upon seeing Raegan.
Just behind him, flicking his head up and down to rid himself of pesky flies, was Gaoth. A coat of pooling moonlight that stretched from snout to tail, he was somehow even more impressive beneath the sharp light of midday.
So, with less than twenty-six days left at this size, with these people, we each whispered our partnership plea to the creatures and mounted up, with all intention to return to Choilltean and present King Ronan with the somewhat fluid allegiance Raegan had secured of the people of Cluaineach.
Killian and I, upon Gaoth, led the group up into the skies and away from the grasslands, soon soaring over the sea under the permission of the Queen of Uisge who had allowed Killian, Shea, and Niamh to cross earlier that day.
The whole time I couldn’t help but to notice how solemn the mood was between us all, neither Shea nor Niamh making their usual attempts to rile up Killian and Raegan.
The latter kept to himself, muttering occasionally from where he covered the group from the back, Rìoghail less than thrilled at taking the rear position of his herd.
Even Killian, seated behind me with both of his hands wrapped around my waist, was quieter than usual.
It was then that I realized the three of them did know about Raegan, that they understood what this journey had meant for him and now knew to stay quiet until their Prince offered conversation on his own terms. Which, knowing him, was not likely to happen.
So silence stretched as we glided along, the only noise to be heard being that of the subtle beating of wings, the whistling of the sea beneath us, and the occasional cry of a seagull as it swept along the water-edge in search of fish.
Our speed pulled back as we finished crossing the water, the vast forest visible within moments as we floated past the sandy beach, soon looking down not at blue waves or golden granules but thick, inhabitable dark grass that prefaced the woods we were soon to enter.
I knew and prepared for the fact that the sun would leave us the moment we crossed into the dense walls of woodlands, but I had forgotten just how suddenly it would depart from us, even as we flew along the preceding meadows.
But the sun hadn’t left us, it still shone on everything except for the small bubble of my companions and our mounts. The reason that an all consuming shadow had spread over top of us was because something was over top of us, blocking the reaching rays of the light.
I looked up just as a war cry ripped from Niamh’s mouth, her hands moving for her bow and an arrow that she had nocked before I saw what lingered over us all.
When the first thing that I saw were two stretched, leathery wings fanned out above me, I released a deep breath of relief – my first assumption was that Gliocas and Urram had joined us for the flight back home.
But the underneath of the creature was not a scaly, tight hide but a giant pelt of deep red, near-black fuzz.
It glanced down at me, two terrifying orbs of black for eyes, and I knew for sure it was not a dragon that lingered but a bat.
Even worse still was that it was not the only one – dozens of others glided alongside it.
They were not just out for a leisurely flight, but that they were being ridden. By pixies.
The rear talons of the bat stretched out towards Gaoth just as the pixie above it released an arrow towards Killian and I.
With a roar, Killian pulled his sword from over his back and deflected the tip of the pointed head, just as Gaoth let out a squeal, tucked his wings, and dove down and out of the way of the approaching claws.
Our herd dispersed across the sky, Raegan and Rìoghail climbing high as the Prince drew a glinting sword over his head, Shea and Niamh both spreading to the side before their pegasus’ both twisted and made to get above the bats.
Killian and I, though, let Gaoth dive down towards the ground where he landed unevenly over his four hooves, his stumble tossing me from his back before Killian could grab ahold of me.
Blood trailed from one of Gaoth’s hips, two noticeable claw-marks beating a trail down the round of his rump as the stallion hobbled his way across the grass.
Killian jumped down from him as quickly as he could and turned to his stallion.
Cautiously keeping an eye on the chaos that rang out above us, Killian moved to the wounds across Gaoth and tried his best to examine them.
But I was a vet. Pushing up from the ground, ignoring the way that my body screamed at me not to, I found a semi-balance and limped my way over to the two of them.
Just as I did, one of the bats landed heavily behind us, his one wing dripping with blood that was not his own but Gaoth’s.
The pixie slid down from his back, two curved blades in his hands as he gurgled to himself.