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Casidhe cupped her hands on the table, trying to calm her nerves. This had not been the comforting family reunion she’d envisioned.
Herrick motioned to one of the servants who came quickly.
“Yes, sire.”
“Bring the seer.”
Five minutes passed in stilted silence before a statuesque woman an inch taller than Casidhe with black hair so dark it shimmered blue, walked in wearing a gray robe that moved sluggishly as if sewn of wool. The searing lavender eyes stood out against the nut-brown color skin on her smooth face, which showed no sign of aging for a woman in her fifties.
She wore three strands of silver chains in different lengths. A charoite stone with swirls of deep purple that seemed to move hung from the shortest chain close to her neck.
She went straight to Herrick, never wasting a look at Casidhe. “What do you require of me?”
Herrick said, “You know Casidhe.”
The seer nodded. “I heard she had returned.” Now turning to Casidhe with a forced smile, she said, “’Tis good to see you again.” Then her gaze roamed to the sword and sheath. She stepped back, her body tense where she’d been relaxed a moment ago.
Casidhe asked, “What’s wrong?
“You have brought Lann an Cheartais with you. That disturbs me.”
Ready for yet another blow to her battered ego, Casidhe’s question came out with an edge. “Why?”
Herrick intervened. “She does not criticize you, Casidhe.”
Sure as hell sounded like criticism to her. Casidhe waited for more. She’d done her duty and would not apologize when no one was providing more information.
Herrick stated to the seer, “I need your sight so we can understand what is goin’ on. An unknown bein’ came to the archival centre. Neither Casidhe nor Fenella know who it was, though he did ask about the Treoirs. I must know if this has anythin’ to do with the red dragon.”
Casidhe silently thought, Here we go again. The red dragon Herrick had told her about had been captured and locked away in TÅμr Medb during the Dragani War. Still there, supposedly. She’d feel some sympathy for anyone trapped in a realm, but not the dragon who started the war that ended peace among the dragons and cost Herrick his family.
The seer gave him a pensive look. “Allow me access to the blade.”
Before she was ordered to do so, Casidhe stood and stepped aside so the seer would be able to move as close as she wished.
The woman stepped up until her body bumped the edge of the table. She extended her arm with a wide sleeve covering it and held her hand reverently above the blade. Then she moved her palm facedown above the sheath back and forth horizontally.
On the third swipe across, the blade slid out of the sheath and rested on the table.
Unbelievable. Casidhe narrowed her eyes at the sword. It wouldn’t come out to help her protect herself, but it showed off for the seer?
After standing in that position and not moving for a minute, the seer lowered her fingers to touch the blade. Her reaction was immediate.
Her body straightened with her hands away from her body. Her eyes rolled up in her head. She stayed that way for the longest time, so stiff looking Casidhe wondered if she might break.
Casidhe tossed a look of question to Herrick, who shook his head in warning to not touch her or speak.
After at least two minutes of watching the seer while she appeared to be straining with her hands trembling and muscles tight in her neck, her arms dropped loose at her sides. Her shoulders relaxed and she blinked, her eyes returning to normal again. She took several deep breaths and clasped her hands in front of her.
Drawing one last calming breath, she turned to Herrick. “Something important has changed. The red dragon appeared to me in his dragon form, no longer locked inside of a throne in TÅμr Medb. I do not know what that means.”
“You think he lives free today?” Casidhe questioned.
The seer turned a flat gaze to her. “I speak only of what I know. He lives.”
That changed everything. She started thinking of how to research him. “What of his family? Would his sisters still be alive?”
Herrick pushed that aside. “I do not care about his family, only mine. Besides, his sisters were not immortal like him.” He returned to the seer. “If Daegan managed to escape Queen Maeve, he is a threat to all of us. It’s too coincidental that he is free and my sister’s sword comes to life at the same time. Daegan would not want any dragon to live besides him.”
Casidhe lifted a fist. “He will never touch our family.”
Sadness burrowed into the seer’s face for a moment then she blinked it away.
Did that woman doubt all that Casidhe had done since going to the university so she could easily explain her ability to read ancient text? Did the woman not see how hard Casidhe worked or what she sacrificed?
Just as Fenella had pointed out, Casidhe had no one to share her life with and no other activity besides training her body and pouring through tomes for a sliver of information on Skarde.
“There is more,” the seer announced. Without waiting for an invitation to speak, she continued. “I saw Skarde for a fleeting moment.”
Herrick’s demeanor underwent a striking change from relaxed to tense, as if waiting for something that might crush him. He whispered, “Does he ... does he live?”
“I will need to focus on this longer, but I saw a glimpse of him traveling between two great clouds. He was being moved by a force, not his wings. He ... ” She shook her head, unwilling to say more.
“Tell me,” Herrick demanded. Power in his voice rattled every piece of furniture in the room.
“Keep in mind that I only say what I see, which does not mean it is definitive. My visions are fluid. Anything can change once I have seen them.”
Herrick crossed his arms and spoke quietly this time. “Tell me all.”
Nodding, she said, “Skarde appeared to be close to death so I could tell nothing about the place he left or where he was headed.”
Herrick sucked in a breath. “No.”
“I do not say he has died. I have not seen such. I only tell you he was very weak as he moved from one place to another.”
Casidhe’s pulse kicked up. Could she really find Skarde after all the years of hunting? She asked the seer, “What do you think the two clouds represented?”
The woman surprised her by angling her head in thought and not snapping at her. “I do not know, but I sense that it was not of this human world.”
“Maybe he was in a realm all this time like the red dragon,” Casidhe murmured. Then she asked Herrick, “Do you think Queen Maeve captured Skarde, too?”
Herrick lost his ferocious look and studied on her question. “I do not think so. The queen loved announcin’ that she had the red dragon. She had no ally among dragons and would have shoved it in our face if she had captured Skarde.”
Dead end on that line of thought, but Casidhe had a fire in her gut. She would find Skarde then Herrick would celebrate having her in the family. He would see her value beyond being someone to watch for visitors at the archival centre.
Now, if only she and Shannon’s sword could get along. She told Herrick, “If you can show me how to bond with this sword, I will find this red dragon and Skarde.”
“No,” Herrick boomed. “You are not to ever go near Daegan. You are not to invite any opportunity to meet him. All I want you to do is find out what you can about him. He will not stay hidden if he is free. Watch for any sign of him that comes through all of your technology and communication devices. I only want to know how to find Daegan then I will find Skarde.”
That splashed cold water on her fire. She argued, “What if findin’ the red dragon leads me to Skarde? You just criticized me for comin’ without notice and possibly bringin’ an enemy to the village. I cannot be doin’ this with my hands tied behind my back.”
Lifting a large hand to his forehead, Herrick muttered something to himself. When he lowered the hand, he looked tired. “You cannot go up against any dragon, but especially the red dragon. I know you work hard and want to do more, but I only have ever asked you to use your gift to find anythin’ you can for me. If that Cavan person returns to the archival centre, take on his work and find out all you can about him. Make sure to keep your energy hidden. I can tell you grow stronger. If I can, someone else can.”
Again, she’d like to know her roots, but if looking into her own past would bring unwanted attention to him and the village, she couldn’t do it.
Tension from the seer drew Casidhe’s gaze. The woman stared down with her mouth in a hard line and her hands clasped in a white-knuckle grip.
What had made her so angry?
Could she not be happy that Casidhe came for a visit?
Everyone here enjoyed kinship day after day. All Casidhe wanted was a slice of that for herself.
Herrick said, “You should sleep some, Casidhe.”
Give up this time with him? No. She smiled, “I’m refreshed from the meal.”
“’Tis good, but you will need to head back in a few hours.”
So much for her slice of time.
The seer cast a dark look her way, then turned and left.
