Chapter Thirteen
We had ridden for hours. At least for the moment I was sharing with Marcus and not the obnoxious Gideon. The warriors had all gone with Bronwyn and Devyn, whose slow pace made them more vulnerable, but one of them had given his horse to Marcus so we had two between the three of us. This meant that I spent a couple of hours on one before being transferred to the other in order to keep up the punishing pace that Gideon set.
Bronwyn was heading directly northwest to get Devyn to the druids at Dinas Brân as quickly as possible. We were taking the somewhat longer route southwest into Powys to lure away the hounds before turning north again.
As the sun set, we hit a river that Gideon told us was the Severn. Its dark waters looked icy in the wintry evening. We stopped to allow the horses to drink and I gratefully eased my aching bones off Marcus’s horse. It was a momentary relief as I stretched my legs in the chilly evening air, wrapping my cloak tighter around me.
“How much further before we stop for the night?” Marcus asked while Gideon led the horses over to the river to drink.
His face slanted towards us, then beyond us contemplatively. “We need to put as much distance between ourselves and those creatures as possible.”
“That’s not an answer,” I said.
His lips curved up to the scar on his cheek. “We keep going.”
“What do you mean, we keep going? You plan to ride all night?” I asked. The horses were already tired; it had been a long day, and horse riding was new to Marcus. We would kill ourselves if we kept going in the dark.
“Not all night.” He smirked. “There’s a town south of here. We can rest there for the night.”
Marcus and I looked at each other. Could we trust Gideon? So far on our journey we had avoided towns. The one time that rule had been broken, we were discovered, and now Devyn was injured. Bronwyn had warned me that Gideon’s interests were not necessarily aligned with ours.
Our suspicion was clearly not too well hidden as Gideon rolled his eyes.
“You think I’m leading you into a trap?” he asked. “I’m less concerned with the Anglians who are looking for him than the hounds which are coming for you, city girl.”
I swallowed at the reminder of the menace that was hunting us. I didn’t miss that Gideon saw me rather than Marcus as the real magical magnet.
“We’ll be safe in the town?” Marcus asked.
“They’re stronger at night,” Gideon explained. “They won’t attack us in the daytime so being behind town walls surrounded by people will be safer, yes. Whether we are entirely safe depends on how determined they are.”
I tried not to think too hard about how determined those eerie beasts were once they were in pursuit. I had caused this. Callum warned me that the hounds were unlikely to forget me and that I shouldn’t do anything to attract their attention. Well, pouring everything I had into Devyn to try and heal him had caught their attention.
I sat down on the bank, watching the swirl of the great waters. A terrifying thought occurred to me.
“What if they went after Bronwyn and Devyn instead of us?”
“We should be so lucky,” Gideon said grimly.
“It’s not possible or it’s not likely?” How could he wish that on them? They couldn’t travel quickly with Devyn so ill, and they would stand no chance against the hounds.
“Both.”
We waited for him to explain, but in typical fashion he had turned away to tend to the horses rather than expand on his reply. Gideon didn’t do much of that, I had noticed. It was still unclear to me why he’d thrown that knife at Devyn in the first place, when he’d already realised that he bore no threat to Bronwyn, much less why the blade had been tainted with whatever was making Devyn sick.
I had had enough. Anger burned through me as I picked myself up off the cold, damp ground and strode over to Gideon. My arms were already outstretched to push the hulking warrior but he turned at my not so stealthy approach, and I ended up with my hands pushing against his chest. However, as a trained soldier, he was braced for impact, and I just crumpled against him.
I looked up to find him smirking down at me. Fury blazed through me, but he held his ground. He had to be able to feel my anger.
“Easy,” he gentled me, his amusement fading.
Energy pulsed through me, looking for an outlet. Gideon’s eyes widened as he seemed to sense the power snapping and crackling beneath the surface.
“Dammit,” he cursed, and picked me up before striding into the river up to his knees.
The energy in me paused, unsure of its target, his actions having bewildered me.
“Put your hands into the river and let the water take it,” he ordered me.
Who was he to tell me what to do? He hurt Devyn, forcing me to leave him behind while he carried Marcus and me off to gods knew where.
“Listen to me,” he barked, pulling my attention outward once more. “Your power attracts the hounds. You need to release it as gently as possible, do you hear me?”
I nodded.
“Lean down and put your hands in the water. The Severn goddess will take it; you just need to release it,”
