The dark hood concealed its face, but it raised a slim finger and shook it at him.
He sprang forward, stretching his hands out to capture the creature, and it swirled like a cloud of smoke and shot up the chimney.
Chapter Twenty
Village of Falkrith
Dar’s Cottage
* * *
Elara woke with a start, disoriented, her eyes going wide seeing Dar’s hands reaching out to her as if ready to strangle her. She jerked upright with a sharp breath, her heart pounding as she scrambled backward off the bed. She barely landed on her feet, his hand grabbing her arm, stopping her from fleeing.
“Easy, Elara, it was not you I reached for,” he explained, his hand resting at her waist after releasing her arm.
The gentle weight of his hand slowed her thundering heartbeat. “If you weren’t reaching for me then…” She let the question hang there.
He glanced at the fire that burned low, embers glowing faintly, smoke curling lazily up the chimney. Nothing hovered there now. Nothing stirred.
She grew concerned when his jaw tightened and his eyes sparked with a hint of anger.
His hand slipped around her waist, drawing her closer. “The healer was here, hovering over you.”
A chill crept over her, prickling her skin. “You saw her?”
“Aye, I saw it just after I entered. It hovered above you, dark and looking as if it was about to devour you. When I moved, it turned and shook its finger at me.”
Her brow creased. “Why would she hover over me? I am not ill. I wonder if she was trying to tell me something. She certainly had a message for you—stay away.”
His own brow narrowed. “You don’t believe it meant you harm?”
“She is a healer. She wouldn’t inflict harm.”
“You don’t know that,” he argued. “If it is born of dark magic and has the power over death, then there is no telling how dangerous it might be.”
Elara shook her head. “I don’t agree. If she wanted to harm me, she could have easily done so by now, and she hasn’t. She only warns me and now you as well. She warns us to stay away, not find her, but why? Why if she can help does she stay hidden?”
“A good question and one we need to find the answer to.”
“Perhaps we will find it easier than I thought.”
“How so?” he asked.
“She has warned us to stay away. We can’t do that and since we can’t?—”
“It will visit us again,” Dar finished. “Unless this was her last warning.”
“Need I remind you that she—not it—is a healer and will bring harm to none?”
“Need I remind you she is born of dark magic and can do us great harm?” he countered.
“She healed Muir’s arm and she did not have to. There is more to her than we know, then anyone knows and I am very eager to meet her.”
“Not without me you won’t,” he ordered sternly.
She smiled softly. “I don’t believe that is a decision left to you.”
He went to argue and held his tongue. Whatever he saw had magical power and as strong and skilled a warrior as he was, he was not powerful enough to fight against magic, especially dark magic. It was the reason such magic was banished to Driochmor. One place Hunters didn’t go.