They all gasped in horror. Byron lunged for it while Aifric and William sprang forward. Dorienne appeared to be frozen in place.
‘You idiot!’ Malcolm screeched. ‘What have you done?’ He flung himself at me, slamming me down to the ground. Despite the painful crack of my spine on the stone, I kept my eyes on the Foinse.
They say that what goes up must come down – but the Foinse definitely wasn’t coming back down. In fact, it was gathering speed, rising up and up and up. As Malcolm drew back his fist and punched my face, I saw the Foinse reach the hole in the top of the mountain, wink once against the failing sunlight and disappear. Then my nose exploded in pain.
I felt Malcolm’s weight being dragged off me and the smack of more flesh on flesh. Blinking away tears, I struggled to my elbows, just as William Kincaid grabbed me and yanked to my feet.
‘You’ve doomed us all!’ he shouted. I got a strong whiff of garlic from last night’s stew. ‘You’re just like your father after all!’
I pulled back. Malcolm’s nose was streaming with blood, much like my own. Byron had his hand on Malcolm’s shirt as if he were afraid he was going to hit me again. Saved by Golden Boy. I supposed I should be thankful. I wiped away the blood with my sleeve and gazed at the angry faces. Aifric, in particular, appeared to be incandescent with rage.
‘It’s the source of all the magic,’ I said quietly. ‘It doesn’t need to be rescued by us. It can fix itself. When we get far enough away and the Kincaids can use their precognition again, they’ll be able to tell us that everything’s going to be fine. The Foinse’s free and so is the magic. No single Clan has to be in charge of it. You don’t need to worry about putting more safeguards in place to stop someone misusing it. All your problems are solved.’
My calm explanation didn’t appear to dampen the group’s ire. Only Byron looked at me speculatively. Everyone else wanted to murder me. That wasn’t much different to an hour ago; now they were just more open about it.
‘Don’t you know what we could have done with the Foinse? The good we might have achieved?’
Considering that none of us could use our gifts in its vicinity, the only ‘good’ it could have achieved would be for one Clan to hold it to ransom over the others. I wisely kept my thoughts to myself.
‘I want to go back to the Cruaich now,’ I said carefully, reaching down into myself. Unfortunately, even with the Foinse no longer close by, my teleportation still wasn’t working. Shite.
‘If we get back,’ William spat, ‘and the magic is still failing, I’m going to string you up by your nipples.’
I winced. That sounded painful. ‘Aw, and I thought you were my breast friend, Willie.’
Aifric exhaled. ‘She might be right, you know,’ he said, his anger disappearing as quickly as it had arrived. ‘She might have saved the magic for everyone.’ He clapped his hands once. ‘We won’t know until we get far enough away from wherever the Foinse is now. We need to move quickly so we can recapture it if need be.’
The fact that the benevolent Steward used the word ‘recapturing’ as if the Foinse was a Sidhe prisoner spoke volumes to me.
‘Then let’s go,’ William snapped. He jabbed me with his finger. ‘You stay in front of me. I want to know where you are and what you’re doing at all times.’
I swept a curtsey. ‘Of course, Chieftain,’ I said mockingly.
‘There’s no need for that,’ Byron interrupted. For a moment I thought he was scolding me but I realised he was addressing William. ‘She can be trusted.’
‘She’s given us no evidence of that yet,’ he ground out.
I put my hand on Byron’s arm. ‘It’s fine.’ I needed to get away from here as quickly as possible so I could teleport myself to safety. If that meant having William Kincaid at my back then that’s what I would do.
Aifric strode off, his pace brisk. He held his head high but I noted that his fists were still clenched tightly. No matter what he’d said, he was struggling to give me the benefit of the doubt. Without further ado, everyone fell into line, William bringing up the rear with me directly in front of him.
Byron was touchingly worried about what was happening and kept swinging his head back to check on me. Every time he did, I gave him a wide smile. I had few doubts that I’d done the right thing with the Foinse. What happened from here on in, however, was anyone’s guess.
We marched back to the bridge. Silence reigned, which suited me perfectly. I was aware of William Kincaid’s every breath and footfall. I wanted to know what he was going to do before he did it. I reckoned it was pretty obvious where the attack would come. They’d have to be pretty nimble, though. Even if the Kincaids teamed up with the Darrochs, when it came to heights I was better than the lot of them.
At some point Aifric and Byron swapped places so, by the time we reached the rope bridge, there was an interesting shift in order. I hung back as Byron crossed, then Dorienne and Diana, followed by Malcolm and Aifric. I could hear my heart thumping in my chest. Before William changed his mind about staying at my back, I leapt in front of him and virtually sprinted across, keeping every sense alert.
When I landed on solid ground, I was almost disappointed. Perhaps they’d realised that trying to take me out here would be a waste of time and would reveal their intentions. I gritted my teeth as William began his wobble across the bridge. Now I’d have to be on my guard more than ever.
‘The Cruaich,’ I whispered, earning a strange look from Aifric. I remained where I was but didn’t feel the slightest tug on my body. The teleportation still wasn’t working. These Gifts were sodding useless.
In a reverie as I tried to guess where the next danger spot would be, I almost missed it when William’s foot slipped. A second later he cried out, his hands frantically snatching at the ropes on either side of the bridge to stop himself from falling. Dorienne shrieked in alarm. William threw one leg up, hooking it over the bottom rope, while his hands clung onto to the two higher ones. He was sweating, though, and with moist palms, he couldn’t hold on for long if he didn’t haul himself upright. The precarious bridge was swinging dramatically from side to side. My eyes snapped to the muscles straining in William’s arms. Crapadoodle. He wasn’t going to make it.
I didn’t think. Instead I shot back along the rope bridge towards him, using my own body weight to counter the swing and give him more stability.
‘Hold on!’ I yelled, lunging for his hand.
I was too late. His fingers had already slipped into the air and he was hanging down, head first, with only one leg stopping him from falling into the chasm below. If I’d had any doubt whether this was a staged accident, his look of white-faced terror laid that thought to rest.
