Kaetha bit her lip, knowing she should tell him about Mairi. But it was too hard.“I hope that she—”
Aedan pointed. “Look.”
Ahead of them was a vertical sliver of light. Before she could see the sea, she breathed in salty air.
“We made it, Pa!”
However, if she had expected the tunnel to lead to a cliff path which would take them along to Orach Bay, she was mistaken.
“Perhaps we’ve come at the wrong end of the tide,” said Aedan.
“We’re going to have to swim,” she said. “I can’t sense any Fuathan nearby. It should be safe.” However, the water surged beneath them, grey, angry and uninviting. A fluttering filled her stomach at the sight but it was her father’s expression that gave her the most alarm. “Do you think you can?”
“Perhaps you could use your magic? Make some sort of path in the rock?”
“I made that mistake before. That kind of magic would be too big. Too loud. He’d sense it. I think he even sensed me using invisibility.” Though he might have thought it was Gaoth, she considered.
Aedan masked his dismay as best he could. “Then we’ll swim. We can do it.”
Holding hands, they leapt into the shock of cold water. The force of the jump drove her down, she couldn’t tell how deep. In her mind, she was back at Longmachlag, waiting to die amidst the shipwrecks. Then she was in Braddon, Murdo forcing her head underwater. Panic flooded through her but she concentrated on moving her limbs, pushing herself higher and higher until she broke the surface of the water.
“Pa?” she called, looking around. A wave pushed her against the cliff face but she managed to kick herself away from it. “Pa?” She could see nothing but water. She felt as though her heart had stopped.
Then, at last, he emerged, gasping for breath, his face deathly pale, yet he somehow managed a smile.
“I’ve got you,” she said, pulling him with one hand as she swam.
Eventually, they reached the mouth of the River Eachburn at the edge of Orach Bay and clambered, panting, onto the shore.
As they rested, Kaetha drew on the sea’s energy to restore some of her strength. She felt sure that, if she used magic slowly and gently, it would be hard for Svelrik to detect it. After several failed attempts, she seemed to transfer a little energy into her father too. Though she guessed that he’d exaggerated how much stronger he felt. She also attempted to heal his cuts, bruises, burns and broken bones, her focus fumbling from one elemental stone to another. She sighed in frustration.
“Stop fretting about me.” Aedan gripped her hand. “Can you heal yourself at all?”
“It seems I don’t know how to use the stones for healing.”
His face darkened as he saw the extent of the wounds on her back. “Was that Sir Jarl?” he said with a frown.
“Svelrik.”
His face contorted with anger. “If you hadn’t come to save me—”
“Then I’d have lived my life with a pain infinitely worse. This I’ll heal from.” She tucked her head under his as he drew her close. “Pa, there’s something you should know. Mairi was with child.”
“Was?”
“She lost the baby.” Kaetha tried to keep her voice steady. “I’m so sorry.”
“I . . . I didn’t know that she—”
“Neither did I.”
They sat there for some time and Kaetha could feel from the spasmodic movements of his chest that he was crying, though he did so silently, holding her close all the while.
“We should be moving on from this place,” he said, after some time had passed.
Kaetha sniffed. “Aye. Let’s head to Gwyn’s home and work out where to go from there.”
“Can you keep us invisible that far?”
“I doubt it,” she said, “and I’m reluctant to use that kind of magic near the citadel unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“But then we’ll be seen,” said Aedan, “and dressed like this too, our injuries on display. Even people who don’t know of us will look on us with suspicion.”
“You’re right. We can’t go about dressed like this.” She inspected some lengths of seaweed beside them, then smiled at him.
He raised his eyebrows. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
She laughed at his alarmed expression. Then, with careful use of Fire, she dried the seaweed and, with Earth, she manipulated its form, flattening, softening, splitting and weaving until the weeds became like a patch of old cloth in her hand.
“You’re a wee bit incredible, you know that, Kit?”
She grinned. In time, they were both wearing long, dark hooded cloaks in a mottling of browns, rusty reds and dark greens. They walked along the river bank, Aedan putting a hand on Kaetha’s shoulder, wincing as he walked. Their progress was frustratingly slow.
A tabby cat dashed towards them then.
“Tam?” said Kaetha.
“A cat and a wolf?” said Aedan. “I know. I really shouldn’t be surprised anymore.”
Tam glanced around cautiously before shifting into his human-like form. “You missed the rat earlier then,” he said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Do you know where Mairi is?” asked Kaetha. “And Donnan?”
“If all went to plan, aye I do. She’ll have drawn Svelrik to the east of the city and I’m to take you to an inn called The Star in the western quarter. The innkeeper, Ewan Whyte, knows Alistair MacWallace. He has somewhere safe for us.”
“But how can we be sure—?” began Aedan but Tam had already transformed into a cat again.
“If Svelrik’s that far away, I think we can risk going about unseen,” said Kaetha. “It might be safer with all the Bluecaps in the city.”
Now hidden from sight, they followed Tam as he padded over the bridge towards the city. The city gate known as Bridge Gate was open but flanked by
