The vision came almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He wrapped his mount’s reins tightly around a gloved fist, frowning at the horizon as his horse pranced restlessly beneath him. Rory spoke at his elbow, a pace behind and trying to hold an equally antsy creature in check.
“He’s late.”
“Or we’re early,” Thom said, brows knitting. There was a bite in the air, either the chill of winter not yet gone or just beginning to settle in.
“He’s late,” Rory repeated, then went on to elaborate, “and the last time he was late, he showed up with three bullet holes with him.”
“He said he wouldn’t pull any stunts like that again,” Thom said. “His wife would kill him.”
“Yeah, well, we left Neve at home, didn’t we?”
Thom frowned. They had left her at home, and not without good reason. Marin was close to time and though Thom hadn’t wanted to leave her in the first place, some duties had to come first, and Cameron had expected him or J.T., and Jay couldn’t ride with a broken leg. Even Phelan would be a surprise, given how little the Wandering One left the safety of the wards and the comfort of home and family these days. Thom was more than half convinced that if he hadn’t brought Phelan along, Marin would’ve insisted on coming, too.
And the last thing I need is my pregnant wife at my back if a fight starts. He’d promised her two days. It’d already been a day and a half. They didn’t have much time to sit around waiting for Cameron if he was going to keep his promise.
They’d stay and wait, though. Marin would understand. Somehow, she always did. Always.
The hairs on his arms and the back of his neck started to rise. Thom straightened in his stirrups, standing to peer over his horse’s head out into the cold, misty distance. “Phelan?”
“I feel it too,” Phelan said, his voice strange. “I think that we need to find some cover, and fast.”
A huge, roaring shadow plunged out of the mists and abruptly, they were out of time.
Thom jerked awake with a quiet gasp, then blinked at the pair of men that lurked in his doorway. He squinted in the dim, making out Phelan’s familiar features and the less-familiar Thordin there, looking slightly guilty as they met his gaze.
“What is it?” Thom asked as he threw back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His eyes were gritty and he scrubbed the sleep-sand from them, wondering how long he’d been allowed to sleep. It felt like a lot more than two hours.
“I see that Marin got you to get some sleep after all,” Phelan said, brow furrowing. “I didn’t think she’d do it.”
“I’m learning not to argue too much with her when she’s right. What are you two up to? I know you’ve got to be up to something because you came looking for me instead of the other way around.”
Phelan cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Thordin’s been expressing some concerns.”
Thom arched a brow. “Concerns? Like what?” His gaze slid toward the big man, who met it for a moment before looking away.
“What kind of game is the bastard playing?” Thordin asked after a moment, studying the shed’s framing. “He’s in this for something.”
“Well, he certainly wants this patch of ground because of some kind of power nodes here,” Thom said, sinking back down onto the corner of his bunk and stretching. His bad leg was a little stiff and he could feel a bone-deep ache already starting. That didn’t bode well for the night and day to come. “Has it started to snow yet?”
“Two hours ago,” Thordin said. “And Cariocecus wanting the land doesn’t explain why he’s interested in you and your wife.”
Thom glanced at Phelan, who shrugged slightly. “I’ve tried to convince him that maybe it’s just our interpretation of what he’s said and done, but he doesn’t want to believe me.”
“It’d be too easy to just believe you,” Thordin retorted. “I’ve got this feeling straight down to my bones that there’s more going on here than we’ve realized.”
“There’s not any time to belabor that,” Thom said as he started yanking his boots back on. “We just have to make sure we’re ready to stand our ground against him. If we’re lucky, the wards will hold and we’ll be able to just shoot them all until they quit the field.”
Thordin shook his head. “That’s what I’m trying to get at. If he wants more than just the land, I’m not sure he’ll quit the field so easily—and he’ll try to find a way to draw out the ones he wants from behind the lines.”
“He’s trying to tell you to be careful,” Phelan said, watching as Thom finished with the boots and then pulled on a sweater. “This situation is probably a lot more dangerous than we’ve anticipated—and we’ve anticipated quite a bit of danger.”
Thom’s nose wrinkled. “Well, that’s just the ray of sunshine I need today, isn’t it?” He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “How are Jay and Cameron?”
“Their fevers broke overnight,” Phelan said. “But they’re not going to be able to fight tomorrow. It’d take a miracle, and I don’t think Jacqueline has a pair of that magnitude in her right now. I don’t think she’s even got one of that magnitude in her right now.”
Thom nodded slightly. He hadn’t expected either of them to be ready to fight this battle, anyway. But the next one… “And the Hecate? Felt or seen anything that indicates she’s around?”
Phelan shook his head. “Thank goodness, no. No sign. I’ve got no idea what the bastard did with her, but she’s nowhere around that I’ve been able to divine at this point.”
Thom’s lips twisted in a wry smile at Phelan’s choice of words. “Well, we’ll just have to hope our luck holds in that regard.”
“Aye,” Phelan agreed. “We will.”
