Page 53 of Fiendish Delights
‘Did you get it?’ Miriam asked Gordon hopefully.
A tiny smile crossed his face. ‘I did.’
‘Thank you,’ Hugo said briskly. ‘If you’ll kindly give us your sketch, we’ll let you return to the party.’
Gordon’s eyes fixed on a point over Hugo’s shoulder. ‘I can give it to you,’ he mumbled, ‘but it won’t do you any good. It’s old magic, complicated old magic. There are only two other sorcerers who can reproduce that rune to do what you presumably need it to do. Neither of them are in this country.’
‘How very convenient,’ Hugo muttered. He raised his head. ‘In that case I would like to hire your services to reproduce the rune for us so we can use it to unlock what we’re looking for.’
Gordon looked directly at Hugo for the first time. ‘Not every treasure should be found,’ he said quietly. ‘Whoever placed this rune made it complex for a reason. They did not want anyone to unlock its mysteries. Some things are better laid to rest.’
Hugo’s voice took on an edge. ‘Advice that we should listen to more often, but in this case we need to find the treasure in question. It’s imperative that the rune is reproduced in the right location.’
Gordon was already shaking his head, refusal written all over his face. I cleared my throat. ‘You say that you’re the only sorcerer in this country who can manage that rune.’
‘I’m not boasting.’ His voice quavered only slightly.
‘I don’t believe you are.’ I drew in a breath. ‘But what about fiends? Could a fiend replicate that rune to unlock whatever is hidden?’
Gordon’s skin, already pale, turned pure white. ‘A fiend? You can’t mean…’
We all stared at him. Gordon glanced from one of us to the next, registering the truth in our eyes. ‘Yes,’ he said finally. His shoulders dropped in defeat. ‘A fiend that’s old enough and powerful enough could manipulate that sort of magic.’
Zashtum was gone, but given Mud McAlpine’s dire wordsand the vamp attack we could expect at least one other fiend on the trail of the treasure. We had to get to it and secure it before that happened.
‘We need you, Gordon,’ I told him.
He swallowed hard. ‘Alright.’ His voice was little more than a whisper. ‘Alright.’
Chapter
Seventeen
We waited another day before returning to Wales. Despite our desire to finally uncover Mud McAlpine’s mythical treasure, searching on New Year’s Day was never an option. It was a public holiday; friends and families would be out enjoying the fresh air, and relatives of those buried in the graveyard would be taking advantage of the holiday to pay their respects. It made sense to wait until normal routine was restored. Hopefully Hugo’s fans would also have decided that he wasn’t returning and left the area too.
Given the state of Hester and Otis, it was a good thing there was a delay. Hester had decided to take a dive into a punch-bowl during the party and, when some of the guests had complained, Otis had gone in after her. I was certain his plan had been to haul her out but it didn’t quite work out that way. I didn’t know how much alcoholic punch he’d swallowed accidentally, or how much Hester had drunk deliberately, but they both spent most of New Year’s Day moaning loudly and clutching their heads. And they both now had a faint purple tinge to their skin.
In theory, the silver lining was that they still felt ill the next day as we travelled south and the rest of us were spared their usual bickering. In practice, I wished it were otherwise. The atmosphere in the Jeep, which contained Hugo, Gordon, Slim and me, was uncomfortable to say the least. The conversation was monosyllabic. Hugo and Gordon sat ramrod straight, refusing to look at each other. Slim wouldn’t meet my eye and the air crackled with tension.
By the time we crossed the border into England, with a long way still to go until we reached Wales, I could stand it no longer. ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with R,’ I said.
Hugo, his hands on the wheel, rolled his eyes. ‘Road.’
I grinned. ‘Your turn.’
‘I spy with my little eye,’ he said, albeit reluctantly, ‘something beginning with C.’
Slim leaned forward. ‘Cows.’
‘No.’
‘Clowns.’
‘Do you see any clowns, Slim?’
I snapped my fingers. ‘Clouds.’ Hugo nodded. ‘My turn again!’ I straightened up. ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with U, T, F, N, R.’
Nobody said anything. I waited for a beat then filled in the blanks. ‘Unbearable tension for no reason. So what gives?’
