‘Ah,’ says Conmael. ‘As it happens, I can assist you. I would not meddle with time. Such charms are perilous indeed. But I can provide you with a different way to travel. The journey will be a great deal quicker. There are paths we may take, paths unfamiliar to humankind. It will be perfectly safe if you are with me. Provided your formidable guards can tell me where this council is to be held, I can ensure you arrive at the agreed hour. Both of you. Your guards as well, since I understand they are under orders to bring you there safely.’

Blackthorn looks surprised. I’m the same. ‘So you are releasing me from the promise?’ she asks. ‘Even though I haven’t held to it for seven years yet?’

‘I am releasing you, my friend. I trust you will use your abilities only for good. That you will aid those who need you. That you will walk forward in hope. Now, let us seize this opportunity to deal with Mathuin of Laois once and for all.’

‘I hardly know what to say.’ Blackthorn sounds tired to the bone. Great pair we’ll be, standing up in a council and all yawns. Been a long, long day. And it’s not finished yet. But Bonehead can’t help asking another question.

‘You know before. When she called you back with that sticks and stones game. Did that work a charm to bring you out, like she hoped? Or was it what you said, you were waiting and watching and you appeared because it was the right time? Because that choice was coming, that test?’ Hope I’m making some sense. Head’s throbbing a bit. A lie-down would be good.

Conmael gives me his nice smile again. ‘Both,’ he says. ‘Both together.’

‘It seems a lot, still,’ says Blackthorn, ‘in return for the small favour I did you.’

‘It may seem small to you,’ Conmael says. ‘To an outcast boy, alone in a strange world, what you offered was a matchless gift. You treated me not with the ridicule, suspicion, or downright fear I was accustomed to, but with acceptance. You listened. And you defended me. You saved a part of me that would otherwise have died. It gladdens me to see you on a path of light at last – a path where your talents may be used as they should be. You have a good companion to walk beside you in this world. You might consider me as another such. I walk between worlds. I will watch over you from both of them.’

There’ve been times when I didn’t trust Conmael an inch. Times when he annoyed the shit out of me. Comes to me now that he’s given Blackthorn her own matchless gift. In his tricky fey way, he’s given her back her life twice over.

Chapter Forty-seven: Blackthorn

47

~Blackthorn~