Page 81 of Shield of Fire

He shrugged. “Perhaps they wish to throw hunters off the track. Did they mention any other location?”

“Cloondeash, but only as a reference point, from what I could gather.”

“The Cloondeash encampment was established by those who survived the Gruama destruction.”

I scooped up a bit of pancake slathered with clotted cream. “Then it’s possible they’ll have records of what, if anything, remains of the original encampment.”

“Perhaps.” He picked up his coffee and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll contact them?—”

“Why can’t we just go out there?”

“There is no we—Cloondeash is a Myrkálfar encampment—you would not be allowed entry.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Even if I accompanied the heir to the throne?”

He smiled. “Being heir isn’t an open key that provides entry into all encampments.”

“Well, what good is being king then?”

“I’m not, but it is a question I often ponder.”

The odd seriousness in his tone had me frowning. “You’ve said before that your sister is currently running the day-to-day operations, but what does that actually involve?”

He shrugged. “Our monarchy is little different to the human one?—”

“The human one is a constitutional monarchy, and the queen no longer has a political or executive role even if she still has constitutional and representative ones. While the Myrkálfar throne no longer officially exists, her king still presides over the rules and regulations of your people.”

“That doesn’t give us the right to enter other encampments at will. Said rules and regulations need to be followed, even for those of us destined to rule.”

I ate the last piece of pancake and leaned back in my chair. “And what of Gruama? Would it be considered out of bounds to me? Because you can’t go there alone, Cynwrig.”

“I’m not the one prone to such foolishness.”

I half smiled. “I am getting better in that respect. Take the recent trip to Swansea as an example.”

“Hmm” was all he said to that.

My smile grew. “You didn’t answer my actual question.”

“No, Gruama would not be under such a restriction, because it is no longer considered an active encampment but rather a graveyard.”

“Active or inactive?”

“Active.”

“Cloondeash use it to bury their dead?”

“It’s considered sacred ground to this day.”

“How can the dead be buried if the place no longer exists?”

“It no longer exists as a settlement, but the running earth did not destroy the entire encampment. Pieces remain.”

“Does anything live there at all?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” He eyed me for a second. “Why?”

“Because the scroll said to be wary of that which guards.”

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