CHAPTER 9--PHELAN

  For someone who had seemed like she was in such a hurry only hours before, Edana sure was taking her sweet time now, Phelan thought. The sooner he got her out of the city, the better. These chains were starting to chafe his skin. Just another thing he needed to discuss with the princess.

  His chafed skin was the least of it.

  Where the hell was she? They’d been waiting for nearly an hour. The horses were saddled. Two soldiers whose names he didn’t even know were taking advantage of their free time by dozing against a nearby tree. He smiled to himself. Soldiers learned to sleep anywhere, he knew.

  The others, Kyl and Donal, stood near the horses, no doubt discussing what they would do with a prisoner along. Not that it really mattered what security measures they would take. When he got these chains off his wrists, they would probably all be dead.

  Maybe it wouldn’t come to that if he could get them to listen.

  “So,” Phelan said to Kyl, “What’s going on with you and our favorite girl?” He grinned. Might as well get the man’s attention, he thought.

  Donal snorted back a laugh as Kyl glared at Phelan.

  “Our favorite girl is none of your damn business. You’d do better to worry about helping us find the queen before you’re executed.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. I doubt Edana would be willing to part with me just yet.” Phelan shrugged nonchalantly. “You can ask her. She and I have a very…special relationship.”

  Kyl’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Watch your step or I’ll kill you now and get it over with.”

  Phelan laughed. Who would have thought people in the city of Tara would be so bloodthirsty? He’d been threatened by not one, but two princesses of Eire as well as a member of the royal guard.

  He held up his chained hands. “Surely you wouldn’t kill a man when he’s at a disadvantage.” He clucked his tongue. “Not very sporting of you.”

  Kyl walked forward until he was nose-to-nose with Phelan. “Understand something,” he growled. “If I want to kill you, I will. Chained or unchained, it doesn’t mean much to me either way at the moment. You’re playing games with people I care about. Sporting or not, if you step out of line, I’ll gut you where you stand. We clear?”

  Well, you had to admire the man’s honesty, Phelan thought. In his experience, the people most likely to kill you didn’t tell you, calmly, that they would murder you in cold blood.

  He smiled to himself. If the circumstances were different, he could probably like this man.

  But there was too much at stake. “We’re clear,” he said. “Just as long as you know that the same goes.”

  Before Kyl could respond, Phelan noticed Edana approaching. She was dressed in the dark colored breeches and tunic of a forest worker, a recurve bow in hand and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder.

  Even with the bow and several knives he saw strapped to her body, she still looked like a princess. A very dangerous one, he conceded. He knew she’d been trained by a local battle master, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that there was a world of difference between training and actual life-or-death combat.

  But it had him rethinking his strategy. After this was done, there could come a time when he would need her. If he could determine her innocence.

  “Are we ready?” she asked as she reached them.

  The two sleeping guards were now up and gathering their things.

  Donal, who had been busy enjoying the brief scene with Phelan and Kyl smiled. “You just missed the show.”

  Edana gave him a questioning look.

  “The boys here were about to come to blows.”

  “Does that really surprise anyone? The best and worst usually do.”

  Kyl grinned, an expression Phelan hadn’t seen on the man before. “When she says the best, she means me.”

  Phelan snorted. He would regret it if this man had to die.

  CHAPTER 10--EDANA

  “So where exactly are we going?”

  It was the third time Phelan had asked. Once again, however, Edana chose to ignore him. She didn’t have to answer him if she didn’t want to. She didn’t even have to speak to him if she didn’t want to. He was still a prisoner. And prisoners didn’t deserve the luxury of a response. She nodded to herself as the thought settled in her mind. Ignoring him was definitely the best course of action.

  “Are you going to answer me?” he nagged.

  Enough was enough.

  Edana growled and turned on her horse’s back to glare at him. “Notice that the others present aren’t asking questions,” she pointed to the rest of the group. “Do you want to know why they’re not? It’s because, and I understand this may be hard for you to grasp, but I don’t have to answer to anyone here, least of all you.”

  With a final glare in his direction, Edana turned back in the saddle, her braid swinging wide as she did. “I’ll tell you where we’re going when I want you to know.”

  Phelan shrugged and offered an innocent smile. “You do know where you’re going, don’t you? I mean, I’ve traveled this land before,” he said, ignoring the dangerous glint in her eyes as she whipped back around. “If you need directions, you just have to ask.”

  “I don’t need directions,” Edana hissed.

  “Wait a minute.” Phelan held up a hand. “Do you even have a specific destination in mind? Do you have a plan?”

  Edana lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, trying to relieve some of the ache Phelan’s incessant nagging had caused. She counted to ten. Slowly.

  When she raised her head again, she noticed that Kyl was grinning at her. Her gaze narrowed angrily.

  The bastard, who was supposed to be her best friend, found this amusing!

  Kyl shrugged, lifting his hands and letting them fall again as he did so. “He has a point.”

  “Ha,” Phelan said, pointing a pleased finger at Kyl. “Thank you!”

  Before Edana’s temper could boil over, Kyl raised a conciliatory hand to her while addressing Phelan. “You need to keep your mouth shut. You aren’t making things any easier here. Edana,” he said, turning back to her. “I--we,” he motioned to himself and Donal, “can’t protect you properly if we don’t know where we’re going, or even what we’re doing.”

  “We’re finding my mother,” Edana said angrily. She hated that she couldn’t give them a specific answer. Maybe Ianna had been right about her. She was arrogant. She did rely more on instinct than logic. This whole thing could end in disaster, but she had to at least try.

  “Yes, I know that, but we need to know where to start looking. Is there something specific we need to have our eyes open for, or do you already know where she’s being kept?”

  Edana jerked her arm up, pointing at the still-smiling Phelan. “If I knew where she was being kept, do you think I would have brought that--that annoying horse’s ass along?”

  Kyl and Donal were taken aback at the vehemence of her words. True, Edana had always been considered hot-tempered, but she very rarely lost control so easily. Clearly, Phelan brought out the worst in her. For that alone, she decided she would kill him before this journey was over.

  Once her mother was safe, all bets were off. Perhaps he was the danger Fal had warned her about. Maybe this whole thing was about one of them killing the other.

  She could only hope so.

  When Phelan threw his head back and laughed heartily, Edana decided that she could be grateful for one thing. She always thought more clearly when she was angry, and his presence angered her to her very core.

  He would give her the focus she needed to find her mother quickly, and when that was done, he would pay.

  “We need to go to the dancer’s clearing,” she finally told them, after trying to reign in her temper. Whoever came up with the idea of counting as a way of finding patience must have been a blithering idiot.

  Their expressions were really surprised now. Except for Phelan, who looked only mildly curious.

  “Uh, your highness,” Donal said. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You never know who you might meet in that area. It’s no place for a lady.” He said the words, but his eyes gleamed with delight.

  Edana snorted. “Don’t think I don’t know what goes on there and who goes to see it.” She eyed him meaningfully. “And there are more important things to worry about than my delicate lady’s sensibilities.”

  Phelan and Kyl both chuckled at this.

  “Your “delicate lady’s sensibilities” have been missing for quite some time now,” Kyl laughed. He turned to Phelan as if they were suddenly the best of friends. “There was one time when the son of some visiting Welsh lord told her she wasn’t allowed to ride horses with the men. He was nice enough to suggest some other things women were good for. Mind you, she was only thirteen or so at the time,” he clarified, “but she punched the man right in the face and knocked him out cold,” he mimed a punch and smirked at Edana. “Then while all the other young men and guards were gathered around and too stunned to say anything, she grabbed a rope and tied his feet together. Then, she tied the rope to her saddle and started to drag the boy behind her horse. I don’t think she made it more than ten feet before her father and the Welsh lord came running out.” He smiled at the memory. “I don’t think she sat down for at least a week after that. That was the day that all her ‘delicate sensibilities’ fled her. I don’t think she’s exhibited them since.”

  While Phelan, Donal, and his men laughed, Edana couldn’t help but be saddened by the memory. That was the last time her father ever called her his little princess. After that, he had only addressed her by her name. She began battle training the very next day.

  She’d always been close to her father, but in that one moment of temper, she’d stopped being his little girl. It was also the moment her mother had given up hope that she would ever be a proper lady. It was a hard memory to deal with given their current circumstances.

  She thrust her sadness away before the memory caused her to do something foolish--like cry in front of these soldiers. She especially couldn’t cry in front of Phelan. She sensed that, like a wolf, he would use any weakness he found to tear her apart. Be strong, she told herself.

  “As I recall, you were in trouble for not stopping me,” she said dryly.

  Kyl grinned. “Yea, but it was worth it.”

  “Back to the issue at hand,” Edana said primly. It was moments like this when she wished dearly for female friends. “I’m looking for someone who can help us.”

  “Anyone specifically?” Donal asked.

  Edana debated telling them the truth, but she didn’t want to risk Phelan learning what she was after and connecting it back to Fal. “No, but I think I’ll know when I find them.”

  The men murmured their assent, though it was obvious that not everyone agreed with the looseness of her plan. She didn’t know if she would have agreed with it if someone else had been calling the shots.

  “Edana, can I talk to you for a moment?” Phelan asked, sounding serious for the first time since they met.

  Edana rolled her eyes. She could only imagine what this could be about. “Go ahead and talk then. It’s not like you haven’t been doing that since we left.”

  “Privately.”

  Edana huffed out a breath before stopping her horse. “Alright. Donal, take Tybal and Rhys on ahead,” she motioned to the other two men. “Kyl, stay here.”

  Edana dismounted as Phelan did the same.

  “I don’t like this,” Kyl argued.

  Edana offered him a small smile as she approached him. “Don’t worry.” She stroked his mare’s neck. “I’ll be right back.” She nodded to Phelan who walked a short distance away into a grove of trees, then turned to follow him.

  CHAPTER 11--PHELAN

  These guards were pretty cavalier about letting the princess wander off alone, Phelan thought. Especially when you threw a suspected assassin into the mix. Kyl was a little upset about the princess’s decision to follow, but he obeyed just as the other three did.

  They were making it too easy. Didn’t she suspect anything by this point?

  When Phelan reached what he thought was a safe distance where they wouldn’t be overheard, he stopped and turned to face Edana.

  She stopped as well, feet apart, arms crossed. The stance may have seem relaxed, but Phelan noticed that one hand was resting on a small dagger she had strapped to her arm. It appeared that at least she took her safety seriously.

  “I need to know why you want to go the dancer’s clearing,” Phelan said without preamble.

  Edana rocked back slightly and eyed him warily. “Does it matter why?”

  “It does to me.”

  “And why’s that?” Edana asked.

  “I don’t have a death wish,” he stated flatly.

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, her tone matching his.

  Phelan sighed to himself. Of course, she wouldn’t make this easy on him. “By staying this close to the city, you’re making it easier for someone to track your movements and set a trap. We need to avoid the clearing.”

  “No,” Edana replied simply. “I need to go there before we take the next step.”

  “Why?” he asked angrily, losing patience with the conversation.

  “Why does it matter? You haven’t contributed anything helpful so far to find my mother. You said you knew why she was taken, but I’ve figured out the why for myself. If you have anything to say--preferably something useful--then say it. Otherwise, keep quiet. I didn’t bring you along so you could talk my ear off. You said you could help so help!”

  Phelan studied her face. Her cheeks were flushed in anger, her eyes bright with it. He sighed again. She had to make everything difficult. It appeared that the only way to get what he wanted was to share information.

  “There’s an ambush waiting for you at the clearing.”

  Edana’s face registered shock and doubt.

  “How do you know this?”

  He wasn’t quite ready to share all of his information. “I have my ways.”

  Edana shook her head. “You say there’s an ambush, but you won’t say how you know. This comes after you snuck into the citadel and tried sneaking into my rooms on the night my mother was taken. Clearly, I can’t trust you, yet suddenly you expect me to believe this without even knowing where you got your information?”

  Phelan nodded. Everything she said made sense. In theory, at least. But if she wanted to stay alive long enough to find her mother then she would have to do what he told her. “You can’t trust me anymore than I can trust you, but for better or worse, we’re stuck with each other. Which means, I’m in just as much danger as you. More probably, seeing as I’m still wearing these chains.”

  When she said nothing, he continued. “I have my reasons for helping you with this.”

  “Care to share them?” Edana asked, her eyes locked on his.

  Phelan shook his head. His reasons were his own. He doubted that she would be willing to listen at all if she knew what those reasons were. Most likely, she would have left him in the dungeons to rot. It probably wouldn’t matter that none of this had been his doing. “For now, let’s just say that you and I want the same thing. We need each other to get it.”

  At least that much was true. She knew it too, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

  The silence stretched on for several minutes. The only sounds were the trees rustling in the breeze and their horses whinnying in the distance. Edana’s brows were lowered in concentration.

  Occasionally, Phelan would see her lips move as if she were speaking to herself. He might have smiled if everything wasn’t resting on her answer. He needed her to avoid the clearing if at all possible. He needed her to get what he wanted, and no matter how much it pained him, he needed her alive and well to do it. That had been made clear to him from day one.

  Finally, she spoke. “I need to find the Druids.”

  Phelan’s mouth opened in surprise. Before he knew it, he was laughing helplessly. By all accounts the Druids were gone--long dead after a conflict with the king nearly a century ago. Only one person--he used the term lightly--could have told her the truth about the Druids.

  “Did Fal tell you to find them?” Phelan asked when he regained his breath.

  Edana nodded, but was clearly perplexed by his humor and hesitant to talk about their shared dream. “He said that the Druids would help me.”

  Phelan laughed again, noting the growing impatience on her face. He held up a hand to forestall her next question. “I know where we can find one. But she’s elderly, so you’ll need to be careful with her.”

  Edana’s face lit with sudden hope. “Who is she? Where do we find her?”

  “She can tell you her name and everything else you want to know when you meet her. She lives in a small home in the forest northwest of the Navan.”

  “So close to Tara?”

  “Only a few people know who and what she is. There’s been no need for her to seclude herself more than she already has.”

  “Well, let’s go then. She can help me find my mother!” Edana turned to leave but was stopped by a strong grip on her wrist.

  “You can’t tell the others what she is,” Phelan said stonily.

  “Okay,” she replied slowly after studying his face. “Care to tell me why?”

  He hesitated briefly before going with the truth. “If people know what she is, she could be in danger. I’m trusting you with this, because apparently, I have to. Since she can‘t defend herself, I think it‘s best that this stays between us.”

  Edana nodded. “If that’s what you want, I’ll respect it.”

  Phelan stared at her briefly, looking for any sign that she was lying. When he was satisfied that she wasn’t trying to deceive him, he nodded in return. Only then did he notice that he still held her wrist in his hand.

  The chain binding his hands jingled as he released her and stepped back.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  CHAPTER 12--EDANA

 

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