Torment (Craving 2)

“Och aye, but ye are up to it all. Ye have seduced the Dark Warlock…is that it?”

I snorted. “I don’t think so. He, by the way, is still in love with my grandmother’s memory, but I am never fooled…he is wicked and even for her was unable to break free. Maybe if she lived…only time would have answered that, but she didn’t…because of Allora.” I went quiet then.

“Och aye, I understand, lass, but ye need to…”

“Yes,” I interrupted. “And if I must, I will only do so when I am convinced you will be safely tucked out of harm’s way. Bottom line, Devin—I’ll only escape if you come with me and you have a place to go to…do you?”

“Aye, when I first got here, I thought I was alone there in the woods. I had nae place out of the weather, so I climbed one of the rolling hills in the distance between The Land of the Draoidheil and the Elfin…what they call, the disputed territory. The Treaty calls for neither side to make use of that low mountain. I have a cave there that kept me comfortable for months. It will do.”

“Good, then when we escape, I’ll go get the notebooks for Beyland and portal back, you go vampire speed to your cave. Yes?”

“Aye, that is a plan that will work better, m’darlin’ love, if we escape now. Ye do know they mean to stick us in an Elfin prison cell, where it will be a slight more difficult to escape than it will be from an open truck.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I think, first, we need to let this play out and if we can, clear…er…” I chuckled, “my good name. If that isn’t possible, we move to plan B? Yes?”

“Aye then, m’own stubborn, Bobbie Skye.”

I snuggled his chin, but went into my head and concentrated. It was annoying being constrained in the netting, but I had, as did Devin, the ability to break out at will.

Easy peasy, I told myself, but as to the rest, his hiding in a cave, me making it to the border wall to portal out…that had me worried!

“Listen to me, lass…go now, poof off in that purple smoke of yers and get the notebooks. Go to the far end of the barrier—they have nae idea how far it stretches, ye see…and get to Beyland. That is the wise way to go.”

“And leave you?” I was shocked.

“I can handle Tomin and Loli better with ye gone, I think, and if nae, I will escape. They wouldna harm me…”

“No, not yet. I think it will go better for us if I show them I am not one of the Draoidheil Witches. If I escape now…I won’t be able to return and be with you, and, Devin,” I smiled at him and rubbed my forehead against his chin, “that just won’t do.”

“Beyland will give ye the means to free me,” he said.

“I can’t take the chance that they will hide you away from me. You heard them, they think I am a spy—they think you are bewitched. We have to try and clear ourselves of the charges first. We have to at least try.”

“Och aye…I should have gone to the council at the onset, when ye first came through. I dinnae think. It never occurred to me they would see ye as a Draoidheil—ye are so different than those witches.”

“What happened? You weren’t at the border with us for hours?”

“They called for this meeting, ye see, and I knew something was wrong, so I stalled and the next thing I knew, Tomin was banging at m’door. I dinnae see this cooming at all.”

“We’ll get them to see the truth,” I said. “And in the meantime, mate…that is what you called me, your mate..?” I teased.

He chuckled. “Until I can coom home and make ye m’bride, aye, ye are.”

I snuggled into him, even though we were constrained by the netting. “Hmm, at least, right now, it isn’t half bad being pressed up so close to you like this. Not exactly what I had in mind when I crossed over earlier, but it will have to do for now.”

The truck came to a sudden hard halt and although Devin was beneath me and couldn’t look out to tell me where we were, I was able to peek over the sides of the truck and had a good idea. A prison. The building we had come to was a prison.

Three khaki-uniformed men put down the truck’s tailgate and nimbly jumped into the bed of the truck. They laughed to see our position, but took hold of the netting.

“Are they soldiers, Dev?” I asked, watching their stoic faces.

“Aye, when it cooms to border grievances, the Elfin soldiers are

called in,” he answered quietly.

We were lifted off the tailgate, which was designed so much like our army trucks, and I got a better look at the concrete building to my left. It did look impenetrable. Was I wrong to allow them to take us inside? No, I had magic at my disposal.

We were then carried, still in our netting, inside the building. It looked and smelled clean and we passed a few offices as they walked us down a long narrow hall and put us into a cell. They turned after dumping us on the floor and two of the soldiers took a guard’s stance on either side of the solid prison door.