Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

safe.”
    Her head started to ache badly and she let the barriercrumble. Suddenly his voice was in her head again, but it wasn’t his human voice. It was his dragon and he was crooning the way he did when trying to comfort her.
    Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She’d been weak enough. Her people’s future depended on her being strong, on finding the Faolchú Chridhe .
    She could deal with the pain in her heart later. She wasn’t even sure her own thoughts made sense, that her hurt wasn’t of her own making. So much had changed too quickly and she had a mate she had always told herself she did not want.
    But knew now she would be miserable without.
    He’d pulled her into his arms and was caressing her, the soft comforting sounds continuing until she relaxed against him, the headache gone as quickly as it had come. “I am sorry. I won’t do that again.”
    “Thank you.”
    T hey traveled by horse, except her father’s Faol soldiers. Everett and his brother traveled in their wolf form, scouting ahead of the riders. It took three days to reach the MacLeod border from the sea.
    Despite the fact this part of the journey had been on their own, or friendly lands, it had been quiet among their group.
    Ciara knew Lais missed Mairi. Leaving his new mate had to have been extremely hard on both of them. But Boisin had encouraged Lais to go, saying Mairi would get further along in the beginning of her training if he was not there.
    Vegar was a silent man who could easily be mistaken for a Viking warlord. Artair was not his friendly self, either, having told Ciara that he’d opted to leave Balmoral Island rather than continue pining after a love that would never be.
    She’d been shocked to discover her father planned to take Artair into training and was sending one of his own soldiers in exchange to the Balmoral. Less so when she found out that Artair was one of Boisin’s grandsons and would be teaching the old stories to the Sinclair Chrechte.
    Eirik spoke to her over their mating link, but not often as his keen dragon focus was on potential threats aroundthem. Mairi had told them that her father’s soldiers did not limit their patrols to his lands. Knowing how large his force of wolf soldiers was, no one had evinced surprise at that knowledge.
    Though the grim attitude prevailing among the warriors made it clear they saw the MacLeod as a serious threat to the other clans in the Highlands. On the border with the Lowlands, he had a closer relationship with Scotland’s king as well. Declaring war on him could come with consequences to the country that no one wanted. ’Twas a quandary indeed.
    And Ciara chewed on it for hours as they rode. She’d slept in the dragon’s arms both nights, but he had not entered her dreams on either occasion.
    She was not sure why, but this time was smart enough not to ask since she could not be sure she would like the answer.
    They waited to cross the border until night. Niall had told them what he had learned from the former MacLeod soldiers in regard to border guards and patrols. There were far more than even her father indulged in.
    Using that knowledge, they rode onto MacLeod lands during the first watch, when the patrols were supposed to be changing.
    From the border, Ciara and Eirik had agreed on a route based on the landmarks named by the kelle and Mairi’s knowledge of her father’s holding. The seer had been certain she knew both the dell and the river the kelle had spoken of, saying some still called it Kyle Kirksonas , though her father had done his best to rename landmarks in homage to himself. Once they reached it, it would simply be a matter of finding the right rock.
    Mairi had made her suggestions on where she thought the wall that was not a wall might be, but cautioned against letting down their guard. Mairi had agreed with the soldiers caught in Sinclair forest that the patrols were likely to be heavy, particularly as far into the holding as they would have to go in order to reach the glen.
    Nevertheless, they found the glen without incident and as soon as they rode into the narrow valley with high walls, Ciara knew this was indeed the place. She could feel the Faolchú Chridhe calling to her more strongly than ever, but the sense of Chrechte magic was there as well.
    Old and unused, it still resonated off the rocks and from the river as it burbled through the peaceful surround.
    They made camp in a brak , the hollow in the rocky hillside