CHAPTER 55 - LADY MAIREAD
Istood looking down at the Bridge.
At the appointed time I had placed my thumb atop the obsidian river stone.
Nothing happened.Och nae.I pressed and prodded, panic rising.
“Lochinvar!” He looked verra confused, much like a lost boy, though he was as big and tall as a man. “Lochinvar, come here, right now, hold this.” He shuffled over. “Hurry! Put your thumb there.” He placed his thumb on the black rock, and it briefly turned tae liquid, as if twas quicksilver.
He said, “Och nae!” His thumb was pulled in, then pushed away. He withdrew his thumb and rubbed it.
“Did it hurt ye?”
“Nae, but twas surprisin’. What was it?”
“I daena ken.” The obsidian stone was solid once more. The whole event had taken only a moment.
I looked down at the Bridge. “Was that all it was tae do?”
Lochinvar shrugged. “What was it supposed tae do?”
I asked, “Ye dinna feel anything?”
He said, “Nae, Lady Mairead, what would it be?”
I looked back down intae the box. “I daena ken,something, like a pain or a headache or… naething?”
“I felt naething, except I am verra hungry.”
I pulled one of my favorite treats from my bag, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, and passed it tae him.
“I can eat it all?”
“Of course, eat up, ye need some weight on ye.”
He pulled the wrapper open and ate it in two bites, moaning in pleasure.“Bha e blasta!”
“I ken it was delicious, that is why I keep many of them in my bag when I travel.” I poked inside the box hoping it would do something,anything.
His eyes widened and he put out a hand.
I huffed and dug out a second peanut butter cup for him. “Ye daena get fed much?”
“Nae, there is never enough.”
“What am I going tae do with ye, ought I leave ye here?”
He shook his head, a smear of chocolate on his beard. “Nae! Ye must take me, I will do anythin’, daena make me stay.”
I sized him up. “Do ye ken how tae fight?”
“Aye, I fight all the time.”
“Were ye with Ormr and Domnall when they went on their raids?”
“Aye, I trained with the lairds, I fought, I am one of their best warriors.”
“How do I ken ye will be on the side of Magnus?”
