Darach Read Online Free Page B

wake.
    "Cariad?" Definitely a new voice, not one of those who had been with Sulien. This was the young voice of Kian's friend, resonant with false bravado. "Cariad?"
    "Nguh," was the most coherent response he could form. He pushed himself back up on his elbows, blinking into the dark. He tried to move more, but a new ward had been cast inexpertly around him to keep him still.
    "Don't push," the voice said, and the glow of blue, apparently as young as the sapphire in his dreams, haloed a young man, clearly only at his Fire birthday. He was blond, beautiful, and his eyes were the same stunning, unreal blue as the Fire he had so recently received and was currently struggling to control. "You can't move," the voice added hurriedly.
    Ceithin relaxed, giving the impression the magik cast actually held him still. He was intrigued by this strange development in his incarceration. How was it that Kian's friend had chanced his luck by coming to the Council prison? How had he managed to break through? Had the Council decided on a new strategy to try and break him, using this boy as some kind of trick?
    "What is this?" He waited for the younger man to move closer, watching him crouch low. Ceithin observed blue on the young man's shaking fingertips and determination on generous lips.
    "I'll ask the questions," his visitor countered without hesitation. "Are you a Cariad?"
    "Who are you?" Ceithin's throat, still not fully recovered from its injuries, tightened.
    The stranger ignored the question and snapped his finger so his Fire flared stronger, brighter. He edged closer, leaning in with what Ceithin assumed was the young man's most threatening expression. "Tell me about the Cariad."
    "The Cariad?" Ceithin coughed dramatically to hide his visceral reaction to the direct question. Not many of the New World, especially one so young, spoke of the Cariad with such issue or demand. "It's a story, a fairytale to scare small kids."
    "No." The stranger's voice was strong and determined. "The Cariad aren't a story. And you're going to help me to find them, because… you know."
    "I don't understand." Ceithin didn't know whether to admire the youngling or laugh at his avid determination to question him. Had he really thought this through? He clearly feared the Cariad, yet, at the same time, demanded their location so he could… do what? Try to steal something from the Cariad themselves? He tried to remember what Kian had said, something about how his friend would be utterly determined to follow him.
    "I know you're of the Cariad. It's why the Council has you here."
    Ceithin tested his bonds with an exaggerated huff of exertion. No sense in letting the other know that his puny, infant Fire had no power to hold any Cariad.
    " There are no Cariad . " Ceithin could be equally as stubborn. He cast a glance to either side of his visitor and judged the possibility of escape from the dim , murky , unl it part of the stone prison he was held in. There was no need for bars and locks in any Council jail. Each space for a soul was simply carved from the ancient mineral rock the City stood upon. The members of the Council were , in th e City , all- powerful and had the strongest of wards , bonding any prisoner to the stone and stopping them from leaving. G ranite reinforced by warding was impenetrable by all , apart from the three in the Council . Well, that ' s what they thought , anyway. Council members couldn ' t know , but there was no kind of ward strong enough to keep Ceithin , or indeed any Cariad, if they wanted to leave.
    If he hadn't been taken by surprise, betrayed, he wouldn't even be here. He'd have done what he came for and been back in the Valley with his family before anyone really missed him. In the convoluted history of his tribe, there existed no record of any Council Mage imprisoning a Cariad, and it was his shame he had been trapped. Damn Guardian and his lies and half truths.
    " There are Cariad. " Annwn , this youngling — Darach , he