Deorsa had gone when she stepped out of the cave. “Damn,” she muttered. “Where is he?” She hurried back to the great hall but saw no one there.
“Kaetha.”
She jumped as Meraud stepped out from the shadow of an alcove. “I didn’t see you there.”
There was a cold stillness to Meraud’s face, like the snow frozen on the mountaintops, but then the hint of a smile appeared to thaw it. In the alcove, Kaetha saw a basin of carved stone which twisted and curved like river weeds, the water inside it glimmering in the coloured light from a window.
“You had the disadvantage,” Meraud said. “I saw you coming. And,” she stepped slowly towards her, “now that you are here, I sense the burdens you carry. Such worries and cares. I see things like that, Kaetha, it’s part of my gift, I understand people’s feelings and how they affect them. You are capable of much, Kaetha, but your emotions will set you back, stop you from doing what you set out to do. They will be your biggest enemy, if you let them. Anger, fear . . .”
“What fear?” she snapped.
“Of not being able to control your powers as others with your gift can. Your magic is raw and untrained and might flare up in a surge of emotion. Perhaps it has done this before. The fear that it will do this again twists inside you like a knife.” Meraud stepped closer to Kaetha than felt comfortable. “Fear makes magic harder to control. I could help you.”
“Help me? In what way?”
“I can use my gift to help you to control your emotions. They won’t be gone but neither would they have mastery over you. Only then will you have a better chance of reaching your potential, of using your magic to achieve what you desire.”
To rescue Pa. She couldn’t fail him because of her own fear. Meraud was right. “Alright. You can help me.”
A look of satisfaction passed over Meraud’s face and she placed her hands on either side of Kaetha’s head.
She felt tensions she didn’t even know had been there melting away. She couldn’t stop her eyes from closing. She knew what she had been worrying about before but wondered why she had been. What use was worrying? Things would happen or they wouldn’t happen. She might succeed. She might not. She was like a piece of driftwood floating in the sea, cut free from what had held her down. Nothing mattered now.
“Better?”
“I feel good,” said Kaetha, mirroring Meraud’s lukewarm smile. She heard footsteps and turned leisurely to see who was coming. “Donnan.”
“I’ve been looking for you. What’s the plan? I’m ready to leave now if you are.”
“Leave? Why would I want to leave?”
“Kaetha?” His face contorted in disbelief. “We must find Mairi. We need to leave as soon as we can if we’re to have a chance of getting to Aedan.”
“But what could we do for him even if we did find him? It’s time to let this go.” She smiled. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Donnan looked from Kaetha to Meraud. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing is wrong,” said Meraud.
Kaetha gazed at her face, thinking then that there was a look of her mother in those refined features, something she hadn’t noticed before.
Meraud’s subtle smile was beautiful as she fixed her eyes on Kaetha. “Her place is here now.”
TWENTY FOUR
Beneath the Surface
Arms spread wide, Kaetha stood, feeling the tightening of her robes as Appointed ones hovered around her with pins.
“No point in putting up with robes I keep tripping over,” she said.
“None at all,” said Meraud from a high backed chair.
Donnan burst into the room. “You’re here then,” he said, a little out of breath.
“Still that face,” said Kaetha. “I don’t see how I’ve offended you.”
He ignored her comment. “I’ve spoken to Branna and she’s sending people to unseal the tunnel for me. Then I’m going to go looking for Mairi. On my own.” He paused. “Unless you’re coming with me?”
“When?”
“Now, damn it!”
“Calm down. As you can see, I’m busy now. But I wish you luck.”
“This is not right.” He charged up to Meraud. “What in hell have you done to her?” His face was close to hers, his hands gripping the arms of her chair.
Meraud did not flinch. “I’ve helped her to see that she need not worry so much.”
“That’s not all you’ve done, witch!”
“Donnan, you really shouldn’t say ‘witch’ in that tone, as if magic is bad,” said Kaetha. “But I see that you simply don’t understand.”
He gave a sorry laugh. “The Kaetha I know would have snapped at me if she thought I’d said something I shouldn’t have. But now – what’s come over you?” He shook his head as he walked up to her. “I don’t understand this,” he said in a low voice. “Where are you, Kaetha?” He sighed. “I’m going. Mairi needs me so I’m going. She needs you too by the way, you’re her stepdaughter after all.” He hovered in the doorway, a pleading look in his eyes.
“Kaetha is more than just a niece, daughter, stepdaughter and friend now,” said Meraud, taking up a piece of sewing, pulling the thread with fluid motions. “She’s part of a wider family here in Neul Carraig.”
“You’re looking at me like I’m ill, Donnan. I assure you I’m not,” she said, offering him a reassuring smile. “Can’t you believe me?”
“I’d sooner believe I never knew you.” And he left, the door banging heavily behind him. “This isn’t you, Kaetha,” came his muffled voice. His footsteps faded into silence.
The sloping paths that wound down the south side of the mountain were dug into the rock, no doubt by the skill of those chosen by Earth. The
