Page 40 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

Rian

Ijolted upright in my bed, my heart racing with a strange urgency that made it difficult to breathe. It felt as if I had awoken in the midst of battle, my blood raging, my limbs humming with readiness.

I ripped the covers off my naked body and reached for the clothing I’d left on the trunk, dressing quickly before summoning my armour. I felt the phantom of the suit covering my moving body first, molding to me perfectly, before my armour manifested physically with my helm attached to my belt.

Éadrom remained on his bed at the bottom of my cot, but his ears had perked up. I thought that maybe he might finally show some interest in leaving my tent, but then his ears flattened again. Still defeated by the soul-crushing melancholy that I would not allow myself to feel.

“Stay here,” I bid him gently.

Carrick sat up from the couch where he had clearly been sleeping when I emerged from the bedchamber in my tent. Icould see right away that he had tried to tidy my ravaged home, a scene that I had not been willing for him to see, but he insisted on staying with me.

“You are awake sooner than—” Carrick began.

“I must go,” I said on my way to the wall of weapons across the large tent. “Stay if you must. I won’t be long.”

“Where are you going? Rian! Is everything alright?” Carrick demanded as he threw off his blanket and rose to watch me retrieve my broadsword and several daggers. Sheathing them with practiced efficiency.

“Everyone is fine, I must retrieve a Seer,” I explained once I was finished.

“A Seer?” Carrick repeated, following me again when I moved toward the open middle of my tent which was large enough to form a portal. “You dreamed of them?”

“She is a fire witch, and she is in danger, so I need to go right away,” I clarified impatiently over my shoulder.

“A fire—” he broke off and grabbed my arm to yank me to a stop. “Rian, what if it is a trap?” he pointed out.

“It is not a trap. I know these dreams, Carrick!”

“Then I will come with you,” he declared, and his tone left no room for debate.

“No, it is too dangerous,” I dismissed and tried to turn back to where I intended to form my portal.

“Then you should not be alone,” Carrick insisted.

I ignored him, closing my eyes to focus on the faint wisps of essence from my dream. The brief connection that the Tithriall had woven between us would direct me to the fire witch. I could no longer travel the way that Aodhan did through the Tithriall directly, but my portal would still get me close if I could focus on her location.

“At least take Darragh with you!” Carrick suggested.

“Darragh needs to be with the army, and Ciaran and Sage have their hands full. I can contend with witches on my own, Carrick, and this feels… personal,” I muttered. Not information that I would have usually let slip, but I was a little distracted locating the witch.

“What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously.

“Carrick, I cannot explain it, and I don’t have time to try and make sense of it. All I know is that I need to act.”

Carrick was quiet for a moment behind me, and I was finally able to focus. I was losing her scent fast and would need to move quickly if I was going to track her.

“I am going with you,” Carrick declared once more, completely unwilling to let it go. “You cannot go alone.”

“Fine!” I snapped in aggravation as I turned to glare at my uncle in exasperation. “But Sage isnotto hear of this, is thatcompletelyunderstood?”

“Understood. Where… are we going exactly?”

“We are going to Uile Breithà,” I answered sharply. “Now please be quiet so I can focus on her.”

“The mother world,” he murmured with anticipation, and then he was blessedly silent as I closed my eyes and began to form my portal.

It was not as easy as usual, typically such a wormhole through time and space was easy to establish as long as I had a good sense of where I was going. But this time was different. There was magic around Nuala that repulsed my attempts to get close, so I had to keep shifting my portal away until I could establish a good connection. And then I reached for Carrick, keeping my eyes closed and my focus on the witch to maintain the link, before I yanked my uncle through the portal with me.

We emerged onto a grassy plain that was dusted with snow and ice. We had startled a herd of massive creatures that were not unlike the anuk my people had domesticated to make milkand wool. The shaggy beasts were heavy, causing the ground to tremble as they thundered away with rumbling grunts, bellows, and bleats.

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