Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

certain he spoke the truth, that knowledge an immovable boulder inside her heart.
    “’Twould have been found by now otherwise. You have spent seven years denying its call.”
    “I was afraid of what it could do.”
    “Because you saw only the selfish lust for power your brother exhibited. You did not understand the gift the sacred stone is and should be to all the Faol.”
    “No, I did not.” She swallowed and then admitted, “I did not let myself see the selfishness driving my brother, either. I needed to believe he wanted the best for the Faol as well.”
    “He was young and deceived. He might yet have come around to understand the power was not meant for a few, but for all.”
    “Thank you for saying that.”
    Eirik shrugged and Ciara had to suppress a smile. He was much like her adopted father in some ways.
    “We will wait to take to the sky until we see Lais and Mairi safely launched on the water,” Eirik said, clearly done with the other subject.
    “All right.”
    “You are being very agreeable.”
    She shrugged. It was not her way to disagree for the sake of argument; if he thought otherwise, she could not help that.
    W hen they arrived at the water, the eagle shifter was there to greet them. He bowed his head toward Eirik and grasped Lais’s arm in a warrior’s greeting.
    “Where are Fidaich and Canaul?” Ciara asked Eirik.
    “I sent them back to the Sinclair so they could tell him about the MacLeod soldiers on his land.”
    “What will he do?” Mairi asked worriedly, seemingly oblivious to the implication behind Eirik’s claim to have sent the ravens away when they had never come out of the sky.
    “He will send Niall and a group of Chrechte soldiers with him to confront the interlopers,” Ciara replied when it became apparent none of the warriors intended to do so.
    Her father would not take a rival clan’s trespass on theirlands lightly. Niall would be on a mission to teach the foolish soldiers a lesson as well as bring them to heel.
    Lais added, “Those who survive the encounter will be taken to the Sinclair.”
    Ciara wanted to kick him for his helpfulness . Mairi had gone gray. She might not want to return to her father’s clan, but that did not mean Mairi had no concern for her former clansmen. She understood, as Ciara did, that the soldiers may only be guilty of following their laird’s orders.
    “Will he ransom them back to my father?” Mairi asked with a tremble in her voice. “I do not think he will pay, even for a Chrechte warrior.”
    Though it was not an unheard-of practice between rival clans to demand payment for the return of those caught in battle (and to kill those the laird refused to pay for, or sell them into slavery), Ciara knew it was not something her father would do. Not unless there was a circumstance in which Talorc wanted to return a clan soldier. Then he might demand ransom.
    “If he finds them worthy, my father will give them the opportunity to pledge allegiance to him as clan chief and pack alpha.”
    “Truly?” Mairi asked with hope.
    “My father is a Chrechte of great honor.”
    Eirik grunted. “He is at that.”
    “What will Laird Sinclair do if the soldiers won’t pledge him their loyalty?” Mairi asked, sounding as if she really did not want the answer.
    “He will probably give them over to Niall to beat some honor into them.” Life in the Highlands was not so civilized as their king would like to believe.
    Ignorant of his long-distance Chrechte heritage, King David had been heavily influenced by his years in England. Still, he was considered a good leader by most of his people. Although, while his Highland lairds were as loyal to him as they would be any king, they did not share his fascination with the English way of life.
    Mairi flinched, her eyes filled with horror. “That is barbaric.”
    “A man beating his daughter almost to death is barbaric ,” Eirik said with disgusted conviction. “An honorable wolf teaching another how to live in the true Chrechte way is necessary .”
    “Do not worry yourself,” Lais said with a pat on Mairi’s shoulder. “Depending on how committed to your father’s orders they are, the soldiers may not survive their first encounter with Niall at all.”
    Ciara had to stifle an amused snicker at the eagle’s attempt at comforting Mairi. For a healer, he was awfully bloodthirsty.
    Taking pity on the other woman, Ciara said, “Niall is a great warrior. He does not have to kill an enemy to win a