Iron Master – Jennifer Ashley Page 0,48

you, exiled to the world of humans. The spell that kept you out was strong but I heard that you broke it once and fought beside dokk alfar. I sought them out. They told me that blood had let you come through, blood sacrificed.” He shrugged, trying not to shiver. Cian hadn’t been able to get warm since he’d let himself be drained, though his strength had finally returned. “So with the help of my lead spell-caster, I sacrificed mine. The spell was dissolved, and I could pull you in. I apologize for dumping you in front of a hoch alfar hunting party. Not my intention, but I could only control so much.”

Reid remained fixed in place after Cian finished, his eyes giving away nothing. Peigi, growing impatient with the long speech and the silence afterward, sent a question to him. Reid broke his gaze from Cian and translated.

Cian knew Reid told her exactly what Cian had said, because Peigi bent her dark glare on Cian.

If you’re going to piss off a Shifter, one of his friends had warned before Cian had taken this step, don’t choose a bear.

Cian added to himself, Especially not a female bear who thinks you’re endangering her mate.

“She admires your courage,” Reid told him. “Though not your methods. But we’re here.” He moved to the table and regarded the map with interest. “Wherever here is.”

Cian pointed to a drawn clump of buildings near the northern mountains. Those mountains were remote and wild, reached through territory no hoch alfar wanted to traverse, not to mention guarded by the warded barrier. The fact that a hunting party had turned up so close to the barrier warned him that the perimeter was already weakening.

“This city is called Harnsvall. We are closest to where the karmsyern resided.” He moved his finger to the range of mountains that snaked down about twenty miles from the city walls.

Reid leaned on the table, studying the map. He turned his head and spoke to Peigi, indicating what Cian had showed him. Peigi rested her hands next to his, the two of them at east with each other. They shared the informality of two people so in accord they didn’t need to exchange words.

“Any idea how a hoch alfar was able to steal it?” Reid asked.

“No.” Cian’s frustration knotted inside him, but he kept his voice calm. Running around yanking out his hair wouldn’t help the situation. “It was guarded by spells, plus the fact that it is pure iron. No hoch alfar should have been able to approach within miles of it. That’s why I suspect their tame Battle Beasts.”

Reid nodded agreement, his lips tightening in anger. His gaze moved from the area in question to a fold of land far to the west, as though drawn there involuntarily. Reid’s own territory, Cian realized. The elders had told him Reid came from Berlheim, which was in the west, between the mountains and the sea.

“There are a few problems with the idea that Shifters took it, though,” Cian went on. “Shifters don’t practice magic—they are magical beings themselves, but don’t use magic. They could carry off the karmsyern without being poisoned by the iron, but they’d have to negate the spells around it first. Some of those are cloaking spells.”

Reid translated for Peigi. Her brows drew together as he explained, then she turned intelligent eyes to Cian and asked a question.

“She wants to know if the karmsyern alone keeps out the hoch alfar,” Reid said. “As in, don’t we have guards and other things in place to alert us of their activity? And if not, why not?”

Cian answered Peigi directly. “You hit on a conundrum that has plagued us for centuries. Fought over, in fact. We do have guards, sentries, gates, bridges, warded barriers, and so forth, but the hoch alfar have poisoned arrows. If they want in badly enough, they come. Not many can enter at a time or penetrate very far, but they take what they please and disappear. The karmsyern at least prevents them from invading in force or staying long.”

Peigi’s next question was short. “Can’t you make another one?”

Cian let out a laugh, feeling marginally better. “I want you at the next privy council meeting. Sometimes our leaders have to be hit over the head with the obvious.”

“It’s a good point,” Reid said. “Melt some iron, do some chants, and Peigi and I go home.”

By home, he meant the world of humans and Shifters, Cian understood. Not Berlheim in Faerie.