“You know, the tales speak of the Seers’ offspring, too,” Cariocecus said, his tone half musing as he stared out at nothing, lost in thought. “I suppose I should have made those connections sooner, but understand that I wasn’t actually trying to kill either one of you. Just scare you half out of your minds so you would be cooperative with me.”
“Strange,” Thom said, eyes narrowing dangerously, “seems you did a bang-up job of almost killing us both.”
“I have a temper,” Cariocecus said with a slight shrug. “It got the better of me. For what it’s worth, I apologize for that incident.”
I snorted humorlessly and shook my head. “You were telling us about Seamus.”
“I was,” he agreed. “And then Wanderer brought up his offspring, which brings us to…your offspring.” He smiled. “That’s happening about eight months from now, isn’t it?”
I rocked back against my heels. Thom’s hand closed on my shoulder. How the hell does he know?
Phelan swung around to face both of us. “You’re sure?” he asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.
All I could do was nod, my heart going at three times its normal speed. How had Cariocecus known?
Thom’s fingers tightened almost painfully. “Breathe, Mar,” he whispered in my ear. “Just breathe.”
I sucked in a breath, realizing I hadn’t drawn one since Cariocecus had voiced his question. Phelan caught my face between his palms and stared me in he eye.
“How long have you known?” he whispered.
“Just since yesterday,” I whispered back, shaking my head and feeling tears begin to well up and ooze down my cheeks. “You had so much you were already worried about, Phelan, I didn’t want to tell you.”
“I knew it was a possibility,” he said. “You could have told me it was a sure thing.”
“I told her that I’d tell you,” Thom interjected. “It’s my baby, too, Phelan. I told her I wanted that honor.”
That burden, I thought, not a little bitterly. I’d feared Phelan’s reaction, especially in the wake of everything that had happened recently. He was unsettled enough by Neve’s pregnancy and the apparently very real possibility that the time table or a half-dozen prophecies had suddenly been pushed up much further than he’d ever been able to anticipate.
That was part of his task as the Taliesin, he’d told Thom and I. Anticipating what would happen when and trying to be at the right place at the right time to nurture those who needed it.
His presence among us now, though, had everything to do with Thom’s cousin and far less to do with chasing prophecies. The fact that everything seemed to swirl around to us, though—that was just a bonus for him, two birds killed with one stone.
Beyond Phelan, Cariocecus wore a puzzled expression. “You hadn’t told him.”
“No,” I said. “He has enough of a burden to bear without adding that to his load.” I drew myself a little straighter and gently disengaged Phelan’s hands from my face, wiped away my tears, then stepped sideways to meet Cariocecus’s eye. “You know too much, Shadow Man,” I whispered. “and we still have a lot of questions for you. You’re going to be on a tight leash—especially until I know everything I want to know.”
“Marin.” Thom’s fingers dug painfully into my shoulder and I glared at him.
“What?”
“Listen,” he said. “Just…listen.”
I shut up for a second and did as he’d asked. At first, all I could hear was the sound of the wind and our breathing. Then, I heard what he wanted me to.
Wolves.
“Oh hell,” I breathed.
“Hamrammr,” Cariocecus said simply. “Sounds as if I’m about to start paying my debt and playing my role.”
“Aye,” Thom said. “Sounds like. Figure out where they are and report to the gate when you know. I’ll be waiting there.” He took me by the hand, caught Phelan by the arm, and started ushering us back toward camp at a jog.
“What if I can’t figure it out until they’re almost on top of us?” Cariocecus asked our retreating backs.
“Improvise something,” Thom told him.
The three of us broke into a run.
