Page 6 of Within the Flames
Then again, it wouldn't be that easy to find him, or else they could have dealt with him already.
Their footsteps echoed around the room, the only sounds apart from the dripping water. Macey shivered. She didn't like this one bit.
"Are you sure this is the way to the lampads?" she whispered, not wanting to risk speaking any louder.
"Malan said to follow our noses," Jared pointed out.
"Are you?" she asked quickly.
Jared threw her a disapproving look and she lowered her head, feeling bad about doubting him.
"This place doesn't make me want to shift," Rónàn muttered.
"Me neither," she replied, thinking of the river above. Normally she'd love splashing about in any kind of water. Not so much here.
"It's not exactly great for me either," Cam added, slipping an arm around Macey and pulling her to him.
They walked in silence for a couple of yards, each lost in their own thoughts and concerns.
"Do you think Flint's okay?" Her voice shook as she spoke, but she didn't care. They all knew how she felt about him, she didn't need to hide it.
"I haven't had any messages from him," Cam said evenly.
"Does that work still?"
"I honestly don't know," Cam admitted. "I'm thinking maybe not. But it was his fire that was taken, not the rest of him."
Macey frowned, not sure she quite agreed with Cam's assessment. Her magic and shifting were all tied up in one neat little package, it seemed unlikely that Flint's was any different. It was probably best if she didn't say what she was thinking though, she didn't want to freak any of them out more than she had to.
They continued on through the strange tunnel, their eyes slowly getting used to the darkness, but not enough to see the uneven ground. Macey kept stumbling over rocks and so did the men. The ground was getting wetter and their feet were making squelching sounds that echoed through the tunnel.
They stayed quiet, all of them aware that they were in unfamiliar territory. Who knew what lived down there. Rats, certainly, but if there were lampads, then maybe some other mythical beings had made this their home as well. And those usually meant trouble.
"Wait, I hear something," Rónàn suddenly whispered. Macey stopped, but she couldn't hear anything besides the dripping of water and the heaviness of their breaths. On the other hand, her kelpie ears were good underwater, but on earth, they were just as good as those of humans.
"Whispers," Cam confirmed. "Far ahead. Let's be careful."
They continued, even slower than before. Macey still couldn't hear any voices, but Rónàn and Cam were obviously following their direction. Maybe there were some homeless people sleeping rough in these tunnels.
Flint's fire would have come in handy to give them some light, but of course, his absence was why they were here. She hoped he was alright. Seeing him so powerless had hurt something deep within her. She was going to make someone pay for it, whether it was the sidhe, the Mahoun or someone else. No one messed with her men.
Finally, after what felt like several minutes of stumbling through the dark, she heard the whispers. She stopped to listen, to try and understand what the voices were saying, but it didn't seem to be English.
"Can you hear them now?" Cam whispered and she nodded, before realising he probably couldn't see her.
"Yes," she whispered back. "Do you understand what they're saying?"
"No idea. I thought it would get clearer once we got closer, but whatever language they're speaking isn't one I'm familiar with."
Well, that excluded at least four or five languages. Cam talked in his sleep, and not always in a language Macey could understand. She only knew English and some Gaelic that Aunt Nessie had taught her, but both wraiths had travelled the world and were a lot better educated than Macey was. The Loch school only got you so far and there was no kelpie university. Her father hadn't allowed her to go to Ben Vair, the school for supernaturals that Amber had attended, which meant her education had been very much focussed on living underwater.
"What do we do now?" Jared asked, sniffing the air. "Do we surprise them? If it's the lampads, only Macey should talk to them, but I'm not sure I want her to go there on her own until we know what we're dealing with."
"Agreed," Rónàn grumbled, protectively putting a hand on Macey's shoulder. "After what happened to Flint, we stick together."
She could live with that. The more, the merrier, especially in dangerous situations like this one. Not that she actually knew if it was going to be dangerous, but in the past few weeks, she'd learned that life was a lot more dangerous than she'd ever imagined. Side effect of being one of the Wardens.
"Let's go then," she said, walking past the men and towards the voices. "It sounds like there's only two or three of them, so we should be able to deal with them, if they're hostile."
