pretty well versed in magicks—hell, he’d taught the younger magickals back in New Hope—had learned a hell of a lot in that loft.
The place wasn’t much—they had to bespell it in the winter to keep from freezing half to death—but they did well enough. Maybe neither of them could cook worth a damn, but they didn’t starve.
“I’m going out for a beer.”
“Have wine instead,” Mallick said, “and tell me about Fallon.”
Duncan stopped in his tracks. “You sent us there? Goddamn it.”
“No, but I saw you, both of you, in the fire.”
“You didn’t send us?”
“No.” Leaning forward, Mallick poured the second glass of wine—a nice, tart apple wine he’d helped make the previous fall.
Duncan dropped down on the other end of the battered sofa. He’d rather a beer, but the wine was okay in a pinch.
He took a swallow, sized up Mallick.
The man didn’t lie, so there was that. Now he sat, patient—he often displayed the patience of a damn cat at a mouse hole. Gray threaded through his dark hair, worn longer even than Duncan’s. The white streak in his beard added a strange sort of … pizzazz, Duncan mused. He kept his body soldier fit.
Duncan supposed he looked pretty good for a guy with a few centuries under his belt.
“I was thinking about the beer, and pop. There we were. She said she’d been catching some rack time. She’d have earned it, from what Tonia told us.”
“Yes.”
“While we were there she had a vision.”
Mallick nodded. “Tell me. I could see, but I couldn’t hear.”
Instead of the beer and the walk, Duncan drank wine by the fire and spoke of visions.
“Her blood, mine, Tonia’s probably because of the twin deal. No surprise there. How and when,” Duncan mused, “that’s the mystery. Visions are a bitch more than half the time. More questions than answers with the cryptic bullshit.”
“The answers are there,” Mallick corrected. “You are of the Tuatha de Danann, as is Fallon. As was your grandfather. His blood, innocent blood, played a part in opening the shield. Yours, and the blood of The One, will close it.”
Duncan tossed back more wine. “How and when?” he repeated.
“Courage, faith. These are the what that lead to the how. When you have them, when all that must be done has been done, leads to the when.”
More cryptic bullshit, Duncan thought. “I put my life on the line, and will again. So does she. So do the people of New Hope, the people here, at every base we’ve established. So do the people who’re fighting who we haven’t been able to reach.”
“The gods are greedy, boy,” Mallick said mildly.
“Tell me about it. I don’t ask why—what’s the point—some people kill, torture, enslave other people. They just do.”
“Fear, ignorance, a thirst for power.”
“Just words.” Duncan dismissed them as he might a thin layer of dust. “It’s nature, for some it’s just how they’re wired. I’ve read the histories. People did the same as far back as those histories go. Before magicks faded and after. Maybe especially after. The world goes to hell, and they still do it.”
“Life is long.”
Duncan smirked. “Yours anyway.”
Amused, Mallick shook his head. “The life of all, of worlds, of gods and magicks and men. But since mine has been long, I can tell you there have been times of harmony and balance, and always the potential for it. Faith and courage build that potential.”
“Faith in gods and their cryptic bullshit?”
“In the light, boy. It’s what it holds and offers. You would fight and die for your beliefs, your ideals, to defend the innocent and oppressed. But after the battle, the blood, the wars, will you live for them? Light for life.”
“Solas don Saol.” Duncan thought of the words engraved on the wooden cuff Fallon wore.
“The One came to understand the fight won’t be enough.” Leaning forward, Mallick poured himself more wine. “You’ve failed to report the rest of your time with her tonight.”
“Not relevant.” Annoyed, Duncan decided he could use a little more wine himself. “Besides, you saw for yourself.”
Mallick said nothing, just sipped his wine. Damn cat-and-mouse patience.
“She moved on me. I kept my hands off her until she made the move. And I took them off her when she said no. Except she didn’t say no. She never says no, exactly. And I’m not getting into that with you. It’s weird.”
“You’re young and healthy, as is she. This alone creates attraction. But there’s more between you than a desire for physical release, and you both know it.”