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Daegan leaned close to the end of a small stone building across the parking lot from a grocery store. He’d cloaked Tristan and himself so they could move to stand next to the front of the closed business and observed the Luigsech woman as she went in and out of the grocery.
He opened up his senses to hear the conversation going on, then glanced over his shoulder at Tristan, who watched with a tense gaze. Tristan’s grim look echoed Daegan’s frame of mind.
They’d come to this small village in what was now known as County Galway, thinking to find a woman called Casidhe Luigsech. Daegan had never been one to accept coincidences when it came to the enemy.
He’d watched the ancestral research centre for hours until the man now speaking to Casidhe Luigsech showed up with something wrapped in a cloth.
When he left the centre earlier, his hands were empty.
This Luigsech woman arrived an hour later. An older woman who must have been inside all along left after that by truck.
Now Luigsech spoke to this man who continued to glamour his identity and cloak their words, but not before Daegan heard her call him Cavan.
More questions than answers about this woman.
She had the same last name as the squire family King Gruffyn had written about in Daegan’s family chronicles.
The Luigsech family his da had said to trust.
That might have been the case thousands of years ago, but Daegan had a serious sense of mistrust right now. He hadn’t at first thought much about the young woman with her dark reddish-blond hair, eyes the color of polished sapphire, and a shapely body as she pedaled away from the centre. She’d appeared common enough, attractive actually, to be fair, but Daegan had changed his initial assessment.
No common human would be conversing with a being capable of that glamour and shielding their words.
Tristan suggested she looked to be in her late twenties.
Daegan had considered walking into the archival centre upon arriving here to ask questions. His sixth sense had made him wait.
Now he was glad for it.
Tristan spoke to him telepathically. Looks like Isak’s suspicions about this Luigsech woman were justified. Can you figure out who she’s talking to or with?
Daegan replied, I only caught her callin’ him Cavan. He hides his appearance with a glamour for a reason. I wonder why he did not go to her when she sat alone in the building readin’? Daegan had watched her profile in the chair.
Tristan mused, We don’t think she’s human, so he must also think that and decided to err on the side of caution by not walking in while she was there. He may think she has more power inside the building.
’Tis a valid point about his caution, Tristan. I suspect he’s been watchin’ for her to leave the buildin’ and he likely took a book in there for translatin’. Or perhaps for another reason to do with majik.
Cavan released the woman’s arm and took a step back.
Tristan asked, What now, boss?
Daegan did not want to lose sight of that woman or Cavan. Following the woman would likely require cloaking, which only Daegan could do. Also, he believed Tristan could track Cavan with little trouble since Tristan could teleport away when need be. You follow Cavan, but stay far enough back he does not see you. If he cloaks himself and vanishes or does somethin’ else where you no longer have a way to follow him, stay there and call your location to me. If you do not hear right back, teleport to the same spot where we arrived earlier. I’m goin’ to follow that woman and see what else I can learn.
Sounds like a plan, boss.
His second-in-command’s irreverent speech implied Tristan’s confidence to carry out his task. Tristan would have made a great warrior back in the time of kingdoms and dragons.
While waiting for the woman and Cavan to separate, Daegan drew in a deep breath. Every country had its own unique smell. He seemed to notice more here with his dragon senses.
He had lost so much when Queen Maeve cursed him for eternity. Lost time with those he’d loved. The world had flown by and nothing would ever be the same again.
Ruadh grumbled low. Queen and druid must die for curse.
His dragon had been patient. He deserved to rip Queen Maeve and Cathbad the Druid to pieces for what they’d done to Daegan and his dragon, but everything in its time. You are right, Ruadh, and that day will likely come as neither of them can be content with what they have. They will make a mistake and we shall be there to see that they pay for the transgressions against us. Until then, we must take care of how we move forward and locate the grimoire volumes.
The Luigsech woman seemed angry with this Cavan, but that did not absolve her from being in league with a supernatural being.
Just what was going on with those two?
The woman gripped the bike’s handlebar with a strangle hold. Tristan’s quiet words floated through Daegan’s mind. Looks like Cavan is ready to leave.
Daegan warned Tristan again, Teleport away immediately if you suspect this Cavan realizes you follow him.
Tristan replied, I’m on it.
As Cavan strolled away from the woman, Tristan melted into the scenery, headed in the same direction while remaining fifty feet back from the main thoroughfare.
The Luigsech woman rolled away, but not pedaling so casually this time. Her face muscles tightened and she glanced all around, looking more suspicious by the moment. As she drew close to where Daegan had stepped next to a scrawny tree but still cloaked from view, his gaze went to her hand that trembled when she reached to adjust the bag in her basket.
Her bike hit a pothole and wobbled.
Out of instinct, he leaned forward to grab her before she fell, but pulled back.
What was he going to do?
Jump out and expose his presence to someone he had yet to rule out as an enemy?
She righted herself without falling. That’s when he got a good look at the fierce determination in her gaze. He didn’t think it had anything to do with her bicycling skills so much as figuring out something that Cavan had said to upset her.
The moment she passed by, Daegan kept his cloaking up and stepped out to follow her. He had no trouble jogging to within twenty feet behind. In fact, he enjoyed the chance to run at an easy gait, which allowed him to take in the countryside before the horizon swallowed the sun.
Another sunset his captured people were missing.
His mind lurched to Devon, Renata, and the others, keeping his focus tight.
The longer Luigsech pedaled, the more her shoulders relaxed until she spun the wheels smoothly. The road she took was unpaved, but covered in grit and dirt beaten down by years of travelers, sheep, and cattle roaming. A dusty truck rumbled toward her. It dropped two wheels off the road out of consideration.
She waved at the man driving and continued on.
Old wooden fence posts of rough cut logs had been sunken along the left side of the road long ago and still managed to contain cattle grazing in fields where the lavender heather blanketed the land. On his right, the hills began to rise. Locals still farmed the uneven land and raised their herds on the slanted ground as they had in Daegan’s time.
Either Luigsech had slowed or he’d picked up his pace, but the sound of her voice startled him into realizing he was within ten feet of her. He eased back.
Long shadows spread across the gentle hills. Night would shroud this area soon with no streetlights as in a city like Atlanta.
She began singing a song he didn’t recognize, but the tune had a lilt worthy of an Irish heart. Her sweet voice needed no instruments. The lass must be in good shape to ride her bike up and down these hills on a far simpler version compared to elaborate bicycles he’d seen in Atlanta.
His chest slowly eased. He’d been angry for so long with his people being attacked, he’d forgotten what a moment of peace felt like. Running along behind a pretty young woman singing a love ballad went a long way to calming his soul, if only for a few minutes.
When she took a right turn, she stood up to pedal hard, pushing her bike up a narrow incline that curved around and eventually opened into a setting that belonged in a painting.
The white stone cottage that probably held no more than two or three rooms had a high-pitched roof with a chimney stack on each end. A shorter roofed entrance jutted out from the center of the building with a bright yellow wooden door. Frames around the windows had been trimmed in a deep gold paint. A large barrel sat at the corner capturing rainwater from a spout.
Wildflowers had been planted on each side of the walkway. Ivy crawled up this side of the entrance. He recalled the yellow flowers with the odd scent of coconut, but not the name.
She stepped off the bike and leaned it beside the house then grabbed her bag of groceries. As she took a step, she paused and turned slowly.
Daegan had a moment of debating if he should hide, but she could not see through his cloaking.
She took in everything, then stared right at him.
His breath caught at being pinned by those searing blue eyes. Could she see him?
Shrugging to herself, she entered the building and closed the door.
So she hadn’t seen him, but had clearly sensed someone close.
He walked to the house and placed his head next to the door, listening, but heard nothing. Cloaking could dull sounds at times. He needed to find a window.
Moving around the house, he put his back to the wall and eased over to the window on the left side of the entrance. He peeked through sheer curtains. Candlelight inside the room chased away the dark. He heard her voice again, but not singing.
Who could she be talking to? Was someone else inside?
His mind went to Cavan. Daegan’s instinct warned the glamoured being who had met with Luigsech today could not be dismissed.
She specialized in locating old books.
Could Cavan have been hunting the grimoire?
Daegan dropped his cloaking then leaned his ear close to the window.
“What do you expect me to do when I need you? I have a duty. We all do. Yours is to support me if I have to battle.”
He could see her moving around, but no other person inside.
She kept up her demands. “As soon as I finish eating, we’re goin’ to find Fenella and get her out of here.”
She made a banging noise, which he figured out were sounds from a kitchen.
Cooking? Probably.
Distracted? Definitely
No better time than now to get his answers.
