Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

protecting them from detection on three sides. Eirik assigned each of the warriors to their tasks and then turned to her.
    It is time, he said with mindspeak.
    She nodded.
    Take your dirk into your hand.
    To protect myself?
    To let the little stones call to the larger and help you determine which direction to search.
    I could just take the sword.
    He shook his head with a hard jerk in the negative. It is too risky. You might have another vision.
    And it might lead us straight there.
    And it might knock you out again. No.
    She didn’t argue further. He had a good point, but more importantly, she could sense his worry and she did not want to add to it. Could he be that concerned for her and not care?
    Regardless, he took too much on himself and perhaps she could share his burdens if not his heart. She pulled her dirk from the leather sheath under her belt. As her fingers curled round the handle, she felt a faint heat. Though nothing like what holding the sword caused, the sensation was still familiar.
    She closed her eyes and concentrated. She could feel the pull of the Faolchú Chridhe , but still not what direction it came from. Though she could sense that it was very close and the cavern it rested in flashed behind her eyelids.
    Eirik’s arms came around her and she let herself relax back against him, concentrating entirely on the call of the sacred stone.
    It was as if a veil was lifted and she could feel the pull to her left and forward.
    She opened her eyes and pointed. That way, she said through their mate connection.
    M oss covered the stone side of the steep brae that Ciara led them to. Erik called all but the Sinclair Faol who patrolled the area in their wolf form and Vegar who patrolled the sky to help scrape the moss away in search of the symbol the kelle had told Ciara about.
    The sun had moved across the sky and they had identified more than forty symbols carved in the stone hillside when Artair raised his fist to indicate he’d found another.
    Your kelle could have mentioned the whole bloody ben is covered in ancient symbols, Eirik said to Ciara through their mate-link.
    Perhaps she thought I knew. From the way the walls of the cavern in my vision were decorated, I think our ancestors were more artistic with their dwellings and meeting places than we are.
    He didn’t think the kelle had even thought about it. He and Ciara reached Artair at the same time. The symbol he had uncovered was subtly different than the ones they’d seen thus far, all of which had been duplicated at least once.
    It looked like the symbol associated by the Chrechte with long life, but with an additional marking that indicated transformation. Perhaps to their ancient forefathers, those symbols together meant healing.
    Just like at least half of the other symbols, there was a small indentation in the center. But instead of being circular as the others had been, this one was oval.
    Ciara lifted the thumb-sized emerald Eirik had pried from the hilt of the Faol king’s sword and placed it in the indentation.
    “The fit is perfect,” she whispered in awe.
    Is it? he asked in her head, not wanting even a whisper to carry to any MacLeod patrols.
    She nodded, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip. But it’s not doing anything, she said with some despondency, following his lead and using their mindspeak.
    He reached around her and added his strength to hers, pressing the emerald into the indentation. Suddenly the sound of stone scraping against stone groaned from inside the hillside. Then the stone wall in front of them slid backward to reveal a narrow opening.
    “It’s the cave,” Ciara whispered excitedly. She grinned at Artair. “You’ve found it.”
    He smiled but shook his head, no words issuing forth. He was a well-trained soldier and knew that voices carried in the forest. Though it was unlikely if there were any Faol in the area, that they would not have heard the sound the stone had made sliding away from the opening.
    Eirik called the others to him with the royal mind link and ordered them to protect the cave’s opening along with Artair.
    Eirik would accompany Ciara inside.
    The passage was narrow and dark, his big body barely fitting at some points, but they pressed forward, their only light a torch he carried. Ciara led the way and though it was against his protective instincts, there was no better alternative. If he led, her back would be unprotected if an enemy made it past the guards at the opening.
    Eirik had