Veiled Threat (28 page)

Wary after seeing the troop of demons pass by, I moved in a more easterly direction than I’d planned, curving round the valleys and hills until Edinburgh grew close, looming up out of the darkness.

If I’d expected a city like Glasgow, I was mistaken. Glasgow was all low-lying buildings and cracked stone; Edinburgh, even from a distance, was completely different. The castle rose above the city, watching over everything and giving the place an air of drama and mystery. Given its history, that was hardly surprising. Even with my limited education, I knew what role the city had played in Scotland’s past, but I hadn’t imagined that it would appear so majestic. I’d seen a couple of ancient oil paintings ‒ I was pretty certain I might even have stolen one once from a merchant’s Aberdeen townhouse ‒ but seeing the castle was entirely different. It was also comforting to know that the demons hadn’t destroyed it. It had stood for eleven hundred years; maybe it would stand for eleven hundred more. One could only hope.

As I got closer, it was clear that the castle was in need of some repair. A tower on the eastern side was little more than rubble. That wasn’t surprising; apparently this was one of the last strongholds to maintain a presence against the demons after their invasion. The people inside – both Sidhe and otherwise ‒ had fought hard. No one knew what had happened to them. It was believed that they’d all died when the castle had fallen. Considering what I now knew, the truth was probably worse.

In any event, it wasn’t Edinburgh castle that I was aiming for. I tore my eyes away from it and focused on the buildings and the roads which surrounded me. They seemed as empty and lifeless as the ones in Glasgow but this time I knew better than to take things at first glance. I peered into dark interiors and kept a close eye on the rooftops. Getting here had taken ages and I was nervous about time slipping away. I knew the demons roused themselves at midday so I’d have to find cover before then. I didn’t know how long they stayed up for, however, or what they did during those hours of wakefulness. I guessed I’d soon find out.

I kept on a straight path, heading for Arthur’s Seat. From time to time, I twisted away as odd noises travelled over the rooftops. They were never anything definite, just muffled thuds breaking the eerie silence, punctuated by the occasional swishing sound. There were no voices or snarls or screams but each time my hackles rose and I adapted my course to keep well away.

The only thing I was thankful for was that I didn’t have to cross any rivers. The memory of the stinking, viscous Clyde was more than enough to live with. I’d jumped in there when I was avoiding the demons in Glasgow. The waters had concealed me then, but I didn’t feel the need to go for a dip in another Fomori river again.

As I wended my way forward, I reminded myself that the Gifts I’d stolen were finite; I had to resist the temptation to use them because I was feeling nervous.

To keep my spirits up I sang in my head, where I was pitch perfect and no one could complain that their ears were bleeding. As I arrived at a crossroads and prepared to turn left, I launched into a rendition of ‘I’m Too Sexy’. I hadn’t even finished the first line when I spotted a flurry of movement down one of the streets. I flung myself backwards, using the corner of the nearest building to shield my body. Then I peeked round.

Whoever they were, they weren’t Fomori. For one thing, they were too tall and I caught a glimpse of a flap of fabric and a flip of long hair. I had yet to see a single demon which wasn’t naked or virtually bald. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked again.

There were a lot of them; I counted at least thirteen heads crossing the cobbled street before they were swallowed up by the darkness. They appeared to be carrying objects from one broken-down old house to another.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to know who they were and what they were doing. The demons slept on the rooftops, not inside, and I’d seen no evidence that they entered any of the buildings. Perhaps the houses were kept purely for their slaves, those poor souls descended from the people trapped here when the demons annexed the Lowlands. It was also almost ten o’clock at night which didn’t tally with the other information about the demons either.

I could edge my way forward and see whether any of them spoke English. If they spoke Gaelic, I could probably use my own meagre smattering to have a quick conversation ‒ but there was no way of telling whether they’d want to talk to me or not. Whoever they were, they knew no other life than this. They might be terrified and immediately raise an alarm. They might adore their demon overlords and run to tell them that the scary Adair was here.

I told myself firmly not to get side-tracked. Byron needed me. These others might need me too but right now I couldn’t be sure. Until Golden Boy was safe and sound, I had to deal in absolutes.

I waited until the last of them disappeared and sped across the road. It looked like there was another street veering left a couple of hundred feet away. It wasn’t too much of an adjustment to my course.

I stayed close to the walls of the empty buildings, maintaining a good pace but staying vigilant. The desolation of the old city was starting to get to me. From time to time I spotted objects lying forlornly on the ground: bits of broken wood that looked like they might once have made up the parts of a children’s toy; a glass bottle or two; some china plates lying intact, as if they’d been used for a game of Frisbee before being abandoned abruptly. There was even a mottled cannon ball that had gouged a hole in the cobbles. I shivered. I could only wonder at their provenance.

There was another turning ahead. I could choose to go straight on or turn right. I knew from May’s crudely drawn map – and Bob’s explanation – that going straight was the most direct route but that didn’t necessarily make it the best one. It was important that I stayed away from main thoroughfares in case some of the Fomori got up early, looked over their parapets and saw me. And there was the tiny matter of those patrols.

I glanced in both directions. On the right-hand side, about halfway towards the next crossroads, the road seemed to be blocked. Timber, chairs, tables and beds, which had probably once adorned the house of some rich, dead dude, were piled up to create a barrier that would be awkward, although not impossible, to get over. The road straight ahead was completely clear.

Rather than immediately taking the easy path, I pursed my lips and leaned back against the wall. The troop of demons which Bob had forewarned me about had led me to enter the city limits at a different angle to the one I’d planned. The non-demon workers had made me change course again, if only slightly. There were distant noises which had spooked me enough to make me keep away. Now there was a very obvious barrier so I was forced to go ahead rather than right.

‘I don’t believe in coincidences,’ I whispered. Considering where I was, I didn’t think I was being paranoid. I thought I was moving towards Arthur’s Seat through dint of my own free will but what if they knew I was coming? What if I was being herded?

I squashed the sudden, sharp stab of terror and shuffled further back into the shadows. It made sense. If the Fomori knew about the prophecy and believed in it – and were scared of what I might do as a result – then they’d want to be careful. Maybe Aifric had told them I was on the way. That scenario was the most optimistic: he’d have bargained Byron for me. I hoped that the Fomori wouldn’t want to hurt the Steward’s son too badly – but I couldn’t bank on that.

Regardless of how they knew I was coming, they’d take their time approaching me. If I were them, I’d wait until I had the perfect spot for an ambush before setting my trap. I’d want the odds to be in my favour.

I was canny enough to avoid falling into that kind of trap. The issue was that if the Fomori already knew I was coming, they’d know where I was heading too. They’d use Byron as bait to lure me. On the one hand, that was good; it meant that, they’d keep him alive. On the other hand, it made my task harder.

I wanted to reserve my stolen magical Gifts until I really needed them. I was sure that the Foinse had helped me to draw in more magic without harming the original owners too much, but they were still finite resources. All the same, there was no point in keeping the Gifts back if it meant risking capture. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I wasn’t going to be particularly good at this part because I’d had no practice. I had to be sure, though.

It was the oddest sensation. I pulled on the threads of the Jardine Sidhe’s far-sensing and sent them out in all directions. I didn’t want to expend all the energy at once so I was very, very careful. A vague awareness tickled at the back of my mind. I couldn’t explain how it worked but it was like when your subconscious felt someone looking at you from behind and you turned without even realising it. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t just what was behind me that was the problem.

I was completely encircled by a mass of demons, too many of them to count. It was a net of Fomori which would tighten and tighten until I had no way out. Even if I had the wherewithal to fight, I’d never manage it. There were simply far too many of them.

For now, they were keeping their distance; there was a radius of about a mile before I could sense a single Fomori soul. That left a considerable margin of error on their part. It only made sense if they had someone doing the same thing as me – far-sensing. I was looking at them but they were also looking at me. Crapadoodle.

I didn’t want to reveal that I knew they were surrounding me so, after massaging my joints for a few minutes, I took off again. I did as the demons wanted and ignored the barricaded street. I might have managed to continue moving as if nothing had changed, but my mind was flying through the potential outcomes. Things were not looking good.

My best bet was to take out whoever was doing the far-sensing, otherwise I’d be tracked to hell and beyond. Sticking to the shadows like before, I focused on drawing out a single thread. This time I wasn’t searching randomly, I was looking for a specific demon. I trained my mind on that thought: find the far-senser.

I felt the magic strain away from me as if it was being drawn by a magnet. It wasn’t hampered by buildings or stone or makeshift barricades; instead it stretched out and made a beeline for the east. A face flashed in my head: a male demon with sunken eyes and a dreamy expression which contradicted the frozen snarl on his lips. His mouth was pulled back to reveal sharp, yellowing teeth.

I sucked in a breath. He was directly in front of me, surrounded by a cluster of other Fomori. As the Gift slowly drained out from me, I memorised his face. The magic tugged at me, leading me towards him and I cursed under my breath as I fought to think of a way out. Then I lost control. The Gift surged and I tripped.

Whether it was a result of my stumble, or because it was hard to manage the three Gifts I held within my body, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. Either way, as the ground rushed up towards me, I lost my hold on the magic.

There was a hiss and I was abruptly enveloped in a dark, choking cloud. I couldn’t breathe. It filled my lungs and stung my eyes and, as the cloud smothered me, everything around me evaporated. My fingers clawed at the air as panic set in and I hit the ground with a thump. My legs kicked and writhed. Burning. It was burning everything.

It was only the tiny insistent voice inside my head which brought me back. You, it said, you are the one doing this. I forced my hands to still, curling them into tight fists. I rolled clear of the cloud, even as it started to dissipate. I lay on my back, panting, while the atmosphere cleared.

There wasn’t much point in being afraid of the demons surrounding me if I was going to lose control and do their job for them. That had been worse than the damned Veil, worse than ducking my head in the Clyde, worse than just about anything. My head spun but I struggled to my feet.

For the first time, I was fully cognisant of how dangerous the ability to steal and hold others’ Gifts could be. The black, choking cloud was my own creation and yet, when it swirled around me, I couldn’t think of anything else. It wiped away almost all coherent thought. The Lowlands, the danger Byron was in, the demon watching my progress ... they all slipped away as I panicked.

I paused. That was it; that was what I had to do. If I could send that cloud to cover the far-sensing bastard, I could momentarily mask my presence and use it to slip clear. Could I make myself to do such a thing to another living being? Even though I was in mortal danger, I wasn’t sure.

I checked my watch. Midday was approaching and time was not on my side. Finding cover for up to twelve hours seemed pointless when the entire horde was apparently already awake. I pulled up a mental image of May’s map. There was an open area facing the castle which would be the logical place for the demons’ ambush. In theory I should avoid it at all costs. The space was less than two miles from here and there had been no flicker of Byron’s presence when I’d far-sensed, so I had to work on the premise that he was still being held up on Arthur’s Seat. I didn’t have to go through the centre of the city to reach the small mountain.

The Fomori didn’t know that I had May or that I knew they didn’t keep their captives at the castle. Logically, the castle was where I would start searching for him. That was one of the reasons they were directing me to that spot; they expected me to try the castle first and they didn’t want to alert me to their ambush just outside it. I’d do what they wanted for now. In a manner of speaking.

I grinned. ‘Arthur any demons going to stop me?’ I said aloud. My voice echoed round the empty streets. No one answered. I took that as a no. I was going to do this.

I started by changing tactics. Instead of taking the route I’d originally intended, I veered off, not enough that the demons would notice but enough to get me where I needed to be more quickly. After about ten minutes, I flipped on my internal far-sensing switch once more. This time I was very careful not to lose control. I just needed the right moment.