drop to their knees and bow. To me!
"Chérie," Bastien said beside me. "You have a strange influence on others, no?"
I glanced at him and blushed. "I have no idea why they're doing that. And for the Goddess's sake, put some pants on!"
He laughed. "I do not think the Goddess is offended by her creation, ma chérie. And neither are you."
"Is it really you?" one of the smaller Boggarts looked up from where they bowed. "Are you the one they say will slay the Dragon?"
FIFTEEN
"Ah…no, no, no," I said, waving my hands. "I'm not going to slay him. See, he's a prisoner. I want to save him."
That statement confused them. "But he will destroy us!" one of the other Boggarts said. "He will burn us again and none will survive."
I could see I had a lot of bad Dragon baggage to wade through. I glanced at Bastien as one of his Lycans brought him a folded pair of jeans. No underwear. Eh, probably better that Lycans go commando. I pursed my lips. "Listen to me, he won't burn you. Not if I can save him. But I need your help to find a Cairn. That way I can bring him through it and you can all go back home." I clapped my hands in joy.
I got a lukewarm reaction. "Samantha," the nasal one said. "We were told by our Queen to remain here. To remain safe. Until Samantha slew the Dragon."
This wasn't going the way I wanted it to.
Bastien finished dressing and I looked. Yes I did. I'm in love but not blind. The jeans were soft and holey and fit…well…perfectly. Just like Crwys's jeans always did. "Little monsters," Bastien said as he clasped his hands together. "You cannot stay in hour home. You make our young ones have nightmares."
They looked at each other. I didn't think they understood. I waved at them to get their attention. Time to change tactics. "Okay. I get it. You're scared of the Dragon. So help me remove him from your home by helping me find a Carin. Can you do that?"
"Oh," several of them said. Nasal held out his hand. "You will slay the Dragon. Come slayer."
Bastien snorted. I kicked him.
The Boggart moved past me to the left and I followed him a few steps before I called back, "You all have to come and leave the Lycans alone. Or they will eat you."
That lit a fire under their ugly little butts. The entire population of Boggarts followed us through the woods. Us being Bastien and I, since it appeared he wasn't going to leave my side. I was sweating through the thick moist air of the swamp and cussed a few times when my boots went down to my ankle in muck.
I knew the Cairn the moment I saw it. A large circle of toadstools in the middle of a clearing. I could also feel its Arcane Magic touch my own. My fingers tingled as the Boggarts made an outer ring around the toadstools. This gateway into Alfheim was so different than the one I'd traveled through in Savannah, Georgia. Not just in the way it felt, but the way it looked. I knew Cairns took on the personalities of the Faeries who made them.
I heard and felt Grey on the edge of my thoughts just as she, Ivan and Dharma burst out of the swamp and into the grove. Grey continued moving until she was beside me and brushed her head against my thigh. Ivan and Dharma stopped opposite me and I noticed Ivan leaning heavily on Dharma. It took a few minutes before everyone saw the Boggarts.
Dharma whistled. "That's a lot of Boggarts."
"Ivan," I said. "Go back to the car and rest."
"I'm fine."
"Dharma—"
"I tried that already," Dharma said. "If he drops from exhaustion, I'm leaving him for the alligators."
I didn't like the way Ivan looked. He was standing at an odd angle, and I could see the gaunt look to his face from where I stood.
The speaker for the Boggarts turned to face me. "Samantha will slay the Dragon now."
"Oh wait," I held up my hand. "No slaying Dragons. I already said that's not going to happen."
"But it will!" several of the Boggarts said with happy cheers, even though they all remained in a circle.
"You might wanna fill us in?" Ivan said. "We've been following the bike trail on foot ever since wolf-man there left us behind that chain." He pointed at Bastien as the Lycan moved to my right. I