Chapter 7 #4
I walked into the tent and found Carrick was with her, sitting quietly across the fire.
His meager things were all packed, along with the supplies we had purchased for the aes sídhe tribes.
He was ready for me to take him home as soon as I allowed him to see Ornella.
He was completely set on speaking to her in spite of my trepidation over it.
“Did it go alright?” he asked me softly, so as not to trouble Nuala.
The witch sat cross-legged with her palms facing up on her knees, her expression blank, and her eyes glazed over with white.
éadrom was curled around her, his giant body forming a semicircle of fierce protection at her back with his green eyes on me.
I pulled my attention away from them and nodded in response to my uncle.
“Yes. Ciaran is sending scouts through now to secure the locations we intend to open portals to.”
“And did you speak to Ornella?” he asked.
“Not yet. I wanted to see how Nuala was doing, but I see she is still working. I will go to the dryad—”
“They have erected a shield!” shouted Ciaran abruptly, stalking into my tent with a furious energy about him.
“What are you talking about?” I asked with irritation, glancing at Nuala in regret when she was disturbed from her visions. She blinked, her eyes gradually returning to their mismatching colours as they focused on my rider.
“The Vale!” Ciaran continued shouting. I knew what was coming next even before he turned to shove over one of my accent tables.
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as the sounds of shattering glass and splintering wood filled my yurt.
“The Spring fey are all diminishing, and neither I nor anyone else can seem to open a portal to get them to safety!” Ciaran raged.
I would not normally react to Ciaran’s violent outburst, but the little hitch in Nuala’s breath reminded me that not everyone was immune to his loss of temper.
“That is enough,” I snarled at my disgruntled brother who was practically panting, his eyes wild with fury as he paced the room like a caged beast. I moved to put myself between where he was kicking a table leg out of his path and where Nuala sat at the fire to help her feel safer.
“They are dying, Rian. We do not have time to waste,” Ciaran retorted.
“Is it only the Vale you cannot reach or did they find a way to contain us in Autumn?” Carrick calmly interrupted our standoff, clearly trying to refocus our tempers.
I tried to form a connection to the Vale in my mind and met the ward he was talking about that felt like a wall of impenetrable stone.
I quickly shifted my attention to seek out pathways to the Winter and Summer Courts and was relieved to find that I could have forged portals to those places if I had the magical energy.
“I portalled here just fine. It was only when I tried to send scouts to the Vale ahead of the women and children that I realized there was some kind of ward stopping me. None of the other fey who can open portals were able to get through either,” Ciaran confirmed more calmly.
Nuala sucked in another breath, and we all turned in time to see her eyes glazing white again. Ciaran hissed a curse, unnerved by her uncanny appearance, but I ignored him as I waited eagerly for her to speak.
“You can still travel through the Tithriall,” she told us, her soft voice much deeper than usual.
“Then Ornella could go,” Ciaran guessed in relief.
“But she cannot carry others through the ley lines,” Carrick objected.
“No. You need a… a hybrid portal. One created using the Tithriall,” Nuala clarified, and then she blinked and shook her head slightly to dispel the vision.
“What does that mean?” Ciaran demanded, turning to me expectantly.
“Ornella was able to wield Light and Shadow magic together when she saved my life,” I recalled with intrigue at the possibilities of such a versatile talent.
“But Sage is in another world. She should not be able to access his power any more than we can,” said Ciaran.
“And yet she did,” I maintained.
“The bond between anam is vastly different than what is between you riders. It is their essences that are bound, not their blood,” Carrick mused aloud.
“So does that mean… s-she could… still feel him?” Ciaran asked tentatively.
“I will ask her,” I told him, and he gave a distracted nod before he seemed to regain his composure and turned his attention back to Nuala.
“So you think Ornella could use her natural gift for travelling through the Tithriall in combination with our ability to open portals?” he verified, and she nodded.
“Have you ever heard stories of fey who could weave antithetical magics?” I asked Carrick.
“I have not,” he admitted, crossing his arms over his chest as he considered. “It is especially impressive that she was able to make Light and Shadow collaborate.”
“I do not care how she does it, only that she can do it quickly,” declared Ciaran brusquely. “She is probably in need of a distraction now, so will you get her or shall I?”
“You are not going anywhere near her until I speak to her first,” I said, knowing full well that any interaction between them at this time was a recipe for disaster.
“Rian, the Spring fey need to go. Now,” he implored, and I sighed with a nod. I had hoped to be able to take my time with Ornella, coax her from her mourning with the same care and caution one might use with a tierak.
“Alright,” I sighed, snatching a bottle of liquor off the table on my way to the door. “I will go and get her.”