Spell of the Highlander

Page 96

He shook his head. “Nay. But ’tis yet another reason to prevent the tithe.”
“No kidding. How creepy!”
“All the Unseelie Hallows are, as you say, ‘creepy,’ lass,” Cian said. “‘Tis their darkness, the chill of them.”
“Is it cold inside the mirror?” she asked, recalling how icy the blackness at the edge was.
He shrugged one powerful shoulder. “Aye, lass. At times I feel it more than others. ’Tis naught to fash yourself over.” Directing a concerned gaze toward the twins, he said, “Lucan managed to get his hands on three of the Dark Hallows. The thief stole the amulet and box, as well, along with my mirror. I doona ken if Lucan has been able to recover them yet. They may still be out there.”
“Och, Christ,” Drustan swore softly. “And in some unsuspecting fool’s hands!”
“Exactly,” Cian said.
“So what’s in this Dark Book?” Jessi asked. “What makes it so dangerous?”
“According to what the Draghar knew of it,” Dageus said, “it contains spells to open realms, spells to harness time, spells even to unmake worlds. Worse yet, in addition to every manner of Dark enchantment, allegedly therein are also the True Names of the most powerful of the Fae—the Seelie and Unseelie royalty.”
“I thought you said ’twas not easy to sort through all the memories the Draghar left in you,” Drustan said carefully, searching Dageus’s eyes.
Dageus said dryly, “‘Tis not. It’s like having thirteen thousand-chapter books in my head. In there somewhere is a memory of every last time one of them took a piss. I know of the Dark Book because they wanted me to hunt for it while I was hunting for other tomes in my efforts to escape them. ’Twas much in their minds.” His lips curved in a mocking smile. “‘Twas not I alone who sought my freedom; they wished greatly to escape me. Among other desires they had.”
“What about the True Names is so scary?” Jessi asked. How bizarre to think that Dageus had the memories of thirteen other people in his head. She wondered if it ever gave him a headache.
“He who knows a Tuatha Dé’s True Name,” Cian said from within the mirror, “can command that Fae, even unto its own destruction.”
“I thought the Faery were supposed to be immortal,” she protested.
“Mostly they are, lass,” Cian told her. “‘Tis rare for one to die, nigh impossible to slay one, but it can be done. The Fae possess unfathomable power. In the hands of the wrong man, the Dark Book could be used to harness that power. An unscrupulous man could unleash complete chaos, destroy not merely this world but countless others. Though the Dark Book is written in complex ciphers, and though ’tis rumored these ciphers actually change from opening to opening of the Book, Lucan broke several of the codes in the past when he obtained rubbings. It took him many long years, but he managed it. I’ve no doubt he can do so again.”
“Where do you think the Dark Book has been all this time?” Chloe asked Cian. “Hasn’t it been missing for thousands and thousands of years?”
“Aye. Lucan and I believed that a clan was either appointed or stumbled across it long ago and appointed themselves its guardian, much as the Keltar guard the lore,” Cian said, his gaze dark. “‘Twould seem that recently, something happened to these guardians, because the person Lucan spoke with told him the Book had surfaced for a brief time and been glimpsed by several people, all of them now dead. This person—who was also killed a few weeks before the mirror was stolen—had been able to obtain a rubbing of the cover and a few of the pages therein before it vanished again.”
“So, people have actually seen the Book recently!” Chloe exclaimed.
“Aye.”
“Do we know for sure it really was the Dark Book? The real thing?” Gwen asked.
Cian nodded. “I glimpsed the rubbings of the pages. Lucan was free with what he did in his study. I think in part because he hoped to incite my interest and elicit my aid, for I was always the better sorc—er . . . Druid.”
“And who ended up stuck in a mirror?” Dageus murmured.
Cian bristled, eyes narrowed, nostrils flared.
Dageus shrugged. “I was merely saying.”
Cian and Dageus glowered at each other. Then Cian snorted dismissively and continued. “The Book itself is supposedly so potent that continued exposure to it alters a man, and not for the better. Even the mere rubbings of the pages pulsed with Dark power. Those were no normal sheets of parchment. There is no doubt in my mind ’twas the real thing. There is also no doubt in my mind ’tis inevitable that Lucan will get his hands on it, and sooner rather than later. Obtaining the Dark Book has always been Lucan’s ultimate goal, and he will stop at nothing to attain it. I’ve watched his power and knowledge of Dark Magyck grow over the centuries. He adheres to no rules. He has no sense of honor. I ken the way his mind works. I am the only who can stop him.”