The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,107

to his feet once more, he gauged the sun’s position and started northward. “I’ll meet you there,” he said. Tailtiu was already gone when he looked back.

Chapter 34

The journey back home took most of the day, and Will was forced to stop and hide twice when he heard the sounds of men and horses. It seemed the Darrowans were taking the job of patrolling the area around Barrowden seriously. Then again, it was also possible that word of what had happened to a couple of their sentries in the pass had already been reported. Will assumed that they probably thought someone had attacked the sentries while sneaking into the area around Barrowden.

He grew nervous when he got to the area near Arrogan’s house. For some reason being caught by his mother was more terrifying to him than being caught by the enemy. He gave the house a wide berth, circling around it to approach the tree that Tailtiu had mentioned from the far side.

The congruence point was right where she had mentioned, and as Will stepped up to it he noticed a set of claw marks on the ground. Something big had scored the earth as well as the bark on that side of the tree. The goddamn cat, he guessed. Glancing around, he felt as though something was watching him, but he saw no sign of the feline. He suppressed a shiver and shifted himself to Faerie.

It was dark on the other side, for he had appeared within a small cave. Light entered from an entrance some ten feet away, but the area around him was too dark for him to make out much. He froze when a deep rumbling vibrated through the air, making the hair on his neck stand up.

Could the goddamn cat cross between worlds? Was it making the sound he heard? Please let that be the cat, he begged silently. “It’s just me,” he said aloud.

Something was behind him, and he felt its breath on his neck. Whatever it was sniffed at the air, and Will clenched his eyes shut. The rumbling vanished, and so did the presence he felt. Cracking one eye, he turned his head, but he saw nothing.

Unsure what to do, Will stumbled forward awkwardly. “Thank you,” he said to the empty air, feeling foolish.

The area outside was different than the other places he had seen in Faerie, rather than a forest it was a wide field interrupted only by large stones that cropped up here and there. The sun was bright, the wind was cool but not chilly, and other than the strangeness he felt everywhere in the fae realm, it seemed entirely pleasant. He stepped out under the sunshine and nearly tripped over a large branch on the ground.

Except it wasn’t a branch. As his eyes focused on the thing, he realized it was an enormous femur, sticky with blood and drying bits of flesh. The rest of the carcass lay scattered around him. Will hastened to put some distance between himself and the remains, noting the numerous other old bones hidden in the grass.

A movement in the distance caught his eye, and he saw Tailtiu across the field, some hundred yards distant, waving her arm to get his attention. She stood beside a massive rock formation that jutted at least twenty feet into the air. Will wasted no time crossing the distance to meet her. She looked nervous when he drew closer.

“How long did you have to wait for me?” he asked.

“Too long,” she answered. “This is as close as my people dare approach, and even this is risky.” She pushed something into his hand, and when Will glanced at it he saw a piece of paper.

“What’s this?”

“You keep asking its name.”

Unfolding the scrap, he started to sound out what was written there, a habit he had picked up while learning to read. Cath Bawlg.

His aunt clapped her hand over his mouth. “Don’t say it, and that goes double in Faerie.”

“So the goddamn cat is a native of the fae realm?” asked Will.

Tailtiu shook her head. “It lives wherever it wants. For the past century or so, it has lived here.”

Will frowned. “I saw the remains of a lot of kills back there. If something eats here, doesn’t it become part of your realm?”

“Not if that thing is already immortal,” said Tailtiu. Her voice dropped to a whisper, “And whatever it eats does not return; its prey remains dead—forever—including us.”

That was certainly ominous, but it bordered on a topic