Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

amiss. Ciara’s wolf’s hearing could tell the other woman’s heart rate had increased and fear scented the air around them.
    Eirik’s head came up and he sniffed at the air, a frown showing on his strong features. He’d noted Mairi’s scent of fear and wasn’t happy about it.
    The danger must be closer than Ciara realized for the dragon to be worried in this way.
    She let her horse move next to Mairi’s until they were close enough for her to reach out to the other woman. Ciara took Mairi’s hand and leaned so she could speak directly into the human woman’s ear. “You must control your fear. If wolves from your father’s pack hunt us, they will smell it.”
    The scent of fear spiked, but Mairi made a clear attempt to calm herself. Taking deep breaths, she even closed her eyes as if she trusted Ciara to make sure her horse stayed its course.
    “Good. Remember, we have five Chrechte warriors with us and one is a dragon.” Calling the two raven youths warriors was stretching it a bit, but Mairi needed the assurances. “Naught will happen to you. I promise.”
    Mairi squeezed her hand, her fear fading a bit. And Ciara had an idea. She’d never tried anything like this before, but there was nothing to lose by it.
    They were taught that human children of Chrechte parents shared none of their gifts because they did not share the ability to shift. Ciara had not always been convinced of this.
    If MacAlpin had not had Chrechte cunning, would hehave been able to betray and kill the others of his line the way he had done?
    “Concentrate on the scents of the forest around you,” she instructed Mairi. “Can you do that for me?”
    Mairi nodded with a tiny jerk of her head.
    “Good. Can you smell the trees?”
    “Yes,” Mairi barely whispered on a puff of air.
    “Now, smell the earth, the dead leaves, the boar who traveled here earlier today, the fern and heather. Let their sun-warmed fragrance fill your senses.”
    The scent of Mairi’s fear began to dissipate.
    “Good. Keep concentrating on the fern and heather.” Two scents found throughout the forest, they would mask Mairi’s own without causing any who hunted them to stop and consider.
    Mairi continued to breathe deeply, her eyes closed, but her scent was almost completely gone now.
    “Now think about that smell surrounding you. Imagine your very skin giving off the perfume of heather, the leafy smell of a fern.”
    It worked; Mairi’s scent was masked completely by the scents of the forest around them.

Chapter 15

No doubt but there is none other beast comparable to the mighty dragon in awesome power and majesty, and few so worthy of the diligent studies of wise men.
    —G ILDAS M AGNUS, A RS D RACONIS
    C iara did not know if the other woman had been able to do this because she had the gift of sight, more of her father’s Chrechte blood than she’d ever realized, or simply because any child of a Chrechte could do it.
    And it did not matter. All that was of any importance in that moment was that Mairi’s scent would not give them away to their enemy.
    “Open your eyes now, Mairi.”
    The other woman did, their blue depths glazed with her effort to concentrate on masking her scent.
    Eirik’s head snapped around and he stared at Ciara with shocked question, though he remained silent as a good warrior should.
    Ciara smiled, her pride in Mairi’s accomplishment warm inside her. She tilted her head toward Mairi to let Eirik know the human had done it, not Ciara. Not that she could have, but perhaps among the Éan such would have been possible.
    Eirik narrowed his eyes in acknowledgment but turned around to focus on where he led them.
    Ciara leaned sideways to speak in Mairi’s ear again. “It is very important you keep your focus on these scents. You are too new at this to maintain the mask on your scent without full concentration.”
    Mairi nodded, this time firmly.
    Eirik’s horse veered to the right and Ciara followed him, nudging Mairi’s leg to make sure she did the same. The path narrowed through the trees and Ciara was forced to ride ahead of Mairi, rather than beside her, but the other woman did not slip in her concentration for even a second.
    They rode in complete silence for two hours before Eirik put his fist in the air to call them to a halt.
    He looked back at them over his shoulder. “We are in no danger of being discovered by the MacLeod soldiers spied from the sky.”
    So, the eagle and ravens had been on guard duty. No