35. Questions but no Answers.

"Well, you are certainly full of surprises." said Eachann as he shook his head trying to straighten his thoughts.

"So I have been told." said Maria.

"But that is neither here nor there." she continued. "Now that we are all together again, you can take us to where Morag is being held. That could go a long way towards some dispensation on the part of your punishment."

"What was it that Bowen had said?" she asked. "That punishments for people who do harm to Seers are pretty harsh."

She looked at Bowen who was looking even more pale than before, when he first found out that Morag was a Seer.

"Come on." Bowen said turning his head towards Eachann. "Let’s try to get out of this with our heads intact. Tell them where we were going."

"Shut up!" said Eachann.

"No." said Bowen. "You tricked me by not telling me everything. I don’t think you deserve all that much loyalty. Now tell them."

"It wouldn’t do you any good." said Eachann to his two captors.

"You’d never get close enough to do anything." he continued.

"His place is very well fortified. He has his men as well as the best magical defences that money can buy."

"No magical defence is ever completely unbreakable." said Maria.

"You leave those problems to us." said Paul glowering at the two prisoners. "We just need you to take us to where they are and we can take it from there."

"You mean we can go after that?" said Bowen. "I think that is a fair trade."

Paul pushed the sword tip up against Bowen’s throat.

"No." said Paul. "I mean we won’t let them tear your limb from limb when we return safely with everyone."

"Good enough for me." said Bowen.

He turned back to Eachann.

"What about you?" he asked. "Seems fair to me."

Eachann just smiled and shook his head.

"It would be suicide for you to go."

Paul reached down, grabbed Eachann by his collar, and lifted him up so that they were face to face. He was able to do this without ever moving his sword from Bowen’s throat.

"Listen, you cowardly little weasel." said Paul.

Maria saw anger flash across Eachann’s face. She knew he was trying to rile Eachann up enough that he would take them to Wilmot just in the hopes they would fail.

"I promised Morag I would take her to see the lights in the sky in the northern lands one day." he continued. "and I aim to keep my promise. And no sniveling old man who is past his prime is going to stop me."

"I can still take you down." said Eachann in a horse whisper.

"Then why were you running to your owner?" he asked.

"He is not my owner!" cried Eachann.

"He paid you, didn’t he?" said Paul. "You and I both know that he considers everyone he pays to be in his employ. Did you really think you were never going to see him again? He would have held this over you for as long as you lived. You would have never been free."

Maria could see that Eachann was beginning to see the truth in what Paul was saying.

"He would always be able to get you to do anything he needed just by threatening to tell your part in this plot." said Maria. "But if you help us, you may be able to get out from under his thumb."

A strangled noise came from the direction of Bowen.

He was now a pale shade of green and looked as if he was going to be sick.

"Come on Eachann." said Bowen. "We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. But I would rather not be beholden to Wilmot. He scares me."

"Practically everything scares you." said Echann in a low whisper.

"But." he said out loud. "You may be right."

He was silent for a while, then seemed to have come to a decision.

"Fine." he finally said. "I’ll take you to where he probably is going. I can’t guarantee that he is going to be there, but I am certain that if he isn’t, someone there will know where he has gone."

Paul put him back onto the ground.

"Mind you." continued Eachann. "If he is there, I don’t much like your chances against him."

"You let us worry about that." said Maria. "You just get us there."

"Very well." he said.

Maria and Paul stepped back to let the others stand up.

They brushed the dirt and leaves off themselves and turned to their captors.

"Lead the way." said Maria.

Eachann turned back east and began to walk, followed by Bowen and Maria and Paul kept close behind with their swords at the ready.

They walked in silence for a most of the day, but Maria could see that Paul seemed to be a little bit puzzled.

After a bit, he spoke up.

"Eachann?" he called.

"Yes." came the answer.

"What does Wilmot want my sister for?" he asked. "There are plenty of Seers for hire if he needed that type of service. Why go through all this trouble?"

There was a short pause before Eachann answered.

"Remember when you were younger and the Seers counsel came to the house?" He asked.

"Yes." said Paul.

"I was not privee to what went on between the counsel and your parents, but I did know one thing." said Eachann.

"What was that?" asked Maria.

"They were sacred."

No one said anything for a bit.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Paul with a slight tremor in his voice.

"Because I know when someone is frightened." said Eachann. "They had seen or found out something that they feared. After the consultation, your father upped the number of the guards and security was different around Morag. Subtle but different."

He turned to look back at Paul.

"Even you noticed it Paayl." he said.

"What do you mean?" asked Paul.

"You commented that everyone seemed to care more for Morag than for you. You had felt a little neglected. It wasn’t, as you had thought, because everyone liked her more than you, it was just that they feared something else."

"So." he continued. "When I was contacted by Wilmot and told that he wanted to pay me an enormous sum of money in exchange for your sister, I knew that I had been right in assuming that there was more to Morag’s power than just the ability to discern the future. She has something he needs. And since Wilmot only cares about things that give him power, then I can only assume that he can build up his power through Morag."

"But what exactly does he want to do with her?" wondered Paul.

"You can always ask him yourself." said Eachann.

"We have arrived."