Pursuit (Through Time 1)

A moment later they were staring into the Lugh Orb as it worked to located Pestale. It didn’t take long to discover him in the castle Royce had seen. The Orb showed the Dark Prince on the bed with the three remaining girls, and they were still pleasuring him as well as themselves.

“Find the date … find the town,” Chance said in some disgust. “We doona need to look at the bastard defiling those young lasses. Despicable beast.”

“We need the Peckering!” Trevor said, and both he and Royce looked at Chance.

“Where is the Peckering, Chance?” Royce asked on a worried note. She had forgotten all about her dagger.

“In our room … under our mattress,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “She told me to hide her close, and that was …”

They smiled into each other’s eyes, and then Royce put up her hand and called softly, “Peckering!”

A moment later she was holding her Seelie Hallow. “Peckering, will you take us into the past—to Pestale?” Royce asked respectfully.

“If you can tell me the precise location and century, I can then search it out,” said the Peckering. “My princess must look into the past through me and find this information.”

Royce was astonished. “Through you—how?”

“Hold me high and recite the Royal Locator Spell. It will give you what you need to get to your villain.”

“I hadn’t realized I could do that for the past,” Royce said.

“You can’t without me,” answered the Peckering proudly.

Royce smiled and closed her eyes as she began saying the ancient Danu words, and then she excitedly opened her eyes to exclaim, “The town is Bragg, Scotland, and the time is the 1500s.” Royce looked at her Hallow. “Can you take us there?”

“All three wish to go?” the Peckering asked doubtfully. “It will not be a pleasant experience, my Princess.”

“Yes, we three wish to go, and it doesn’t matter—nothing about Pestale will be pleasant until he is dead,” returned Chance impatiently.

“Right then,” Royce said softly. “Off we go, Peckering.” She drew in a long gulp of air.

“So be it … but keep close to one another—don’t let go. This is going to be a rough ride,” the Peckering said grimly.

“Rough?” Royce asked.

“It never used to be, but since the Dark King tampered with time travel, the journey is a bumpy one,” said the Peckering. “Hold on.”

“Wait!” Chance called a halt, and Royce looked at him expectantly.

“Yer Death Sword, lass—keep it on ye.”

Royce smiled at him. “It is ever near.”

“Fine … but I mean to keep mine sheathed at m’back and ready.” So saying he put up his hand, and his sword appeared in his fist. He sheathed it and grinned. “Now … let’s go.”

“Trevor?” Royce looked to him and supposed his sword was also within his Fae range.

“Ready,” Trevor answered.

“Right then, Peckering … off we go,” Royce said softly.

“As you wish, my Princess …”

/>

And suddenly they were flung into what felt and looked like a black hole …

~ Thirteen ~