Page 100 of Laird of Twilight
“A living horde of treasure,” he said. “A subterranean chamber filled with gems, hidden in the earth.”
“Could it be—”
“It could,” he said. “Aye, it could indeed. Perhaps the treasure was never in a chest at all. Perhaps all along we were looking for a pocket mine filled with natural crystals and gems, but never knew it.”
“Grandda said the Fey have a portal to their world somewhere in these caves. If so, they would know this was here. So I do not understand how they could think it was stolen or went missing.”
“A mine like this can be scientifically explained without fairies,” he said. “What an exciting geological discovery. And we can find the perfect gem for your marriage ring.” He opened his hand to show her the gleam of amethyst, garnet, and what looked like a green emerald attached to a crust of stone.
She gasped at their raw beauty. “James—what if this place was hidden deliberately to keep anyone from finding it—including the fairies? It would take a powerful glamourie to do that, though.”
He frowned, and she expected him to point out logically that such things did not exist. Instead, he went back to the ramp down which they had fallen into the little jeweled cave, peered there, and turned. “It must have been the iron.”
“Iron?” She tilted her head.
“I thought I recognized iron ore among the rocks in the cairn that blocked the entrance. My grandmother mentions iron in her book. Iron prevents the fairies from crossing a threshold. Perhaps that MacArthur ancestor of yours placed that very deliberately, long ago.”
She realized what he meant. “Fairies cannot cross over cold iron. Oh, James!”
“Cannot cross over iron in its natural form, or cold-forged, shaped without heat, as well as the heated sort. Some of these stones are natural iron.”
“So they were unable to come in here. But they must have known it was here all the time. Why would they ask Donal MacArthur to find it?”
“If such things are possible,” he said, and his cautious tone said he would hold on to skepticism, “they would not be able to see this place with the iron there. According to my grandmother’s notes,” he added.
“The mine vanished from their sight.”
“Exactly.”
“The Fey have been angry about their missing treasure for hundreds of years. Could this be what they meant? And right here, where they could not see it?”
“Aye, if this fairy nonsense has anything to it.” A smile played at his lips.
She felt certain of it, exhilarated. “So this is the lost fairy treasure!”
James sighed, standing with his head bowed under the natural arch of the gem-studded ceiling. “I suppose anything is possible once we start talking about fairies. And marrying them,” he added.
“True.” She came toward him, wrapped her arms around him.
“Well then, if we are to give the fairies their treasure house and free you and your grandfather from their wicked spell,” he drawled, “we had best move all that iron away from the opening.”
She laughed, as did he, softly. The sound echoed in the little chamber like a harmony of bells. Then she went with him to begin to shove stones away from the little ramp.
* * *
An hour or more later, James wiped the back of his forearm along his brow and stood back to survey what they had done. The entrance to the little pocket mine was clear enough, and he had made sure to carry all the iron-bearing stones outside the cave, rolling them down the mountainside away from Coire-nan-Uriskin.
Elspeth waited by the outermost entrance, looking out. The rain had stopped, but mist clung to the slopes. Darkness was already gathering.
“We had best get back to the lochside inn, or they will be searching for us,” James said as he approached.
She sighed. “Do you think we have met the bargain?”
“If that wee cave is your fairy treasure, then it is available again, so aye. And you fell in love, so aye,” he murmured, setting his arm about her shoulders. “Your Grandda believes all that will protect you. And if not, I am here for you as well.”
She turned into his embrace. “So it is done.”
“Let the proof of it be our long and happy marriage.”
