The Rogue He Claimed

Chapter 52: Finn's Rescue Plan

The voice on the ridge did not speak again.

We waited in the hall with the doors barred and the fire built up, and the snow came down, and nothing came out of the dark. No howl. No voice. Just the wind moving around the stones.

At midnight Finn stood up.

"We cannot sit here," he said. "If that thing is at the cairn stones, it is between us and the cave. And the cave is where the map is. The cave is where the tunnel is. If it decides to come down into the glen, we have nowhere to go."

"Then what do you suggest?" Angus said.

"We go up to the stones and we find out what it is."

"That is not a plan. That is a way to get killed."

"Then we make it a plan." Finn went to the table and pulled the map of the glen toward him. "There are three ways up to the cairn stones. The main path from the pack house. The shepherd's path along the loch. And the old deer track that comes down from the north ridge." He put his finger on the map. "If we send wolves up all three, one of them will get through. And if one of them gets through, we will know what we are facing."

"And who goes up the deer track?" Angus said.

"I do. With Elara."

"No." Angus's voice was flat. "You are the Alpha's heir. You do not walk into the dark alone."

"I am not alone. I have Elara." Finn looked at me. "If that thing is calling her by name, it wants her. And if it wants her, it will not kill her before she gets there. That gives us time."

I looked at him.

"You are using me as bait," I said.

"I am using you as a shield. There is a difference."

The hall was quiet.

"Finn," Angus said. "If that thing takes her, it will take you too."

"I know."

"Then why?"

Finn looked at his father.

"Because if we do not go up there tonight, it will come down here tomorrow, and it will come through this hall and it will take whoever it wants. And there will be no cave, no tunnel, no map." He put his hand on the table. "I would rather meet it on the ridge than in this hall."

Angus looked at him for a long moment.

"Take Ewan and two warriors," he said. "And take Torin. He knows more about the old ones than any of us."

"I will go," Torin said from the door.

We went out into the snow at midnight.

The deer track came down from the north ridge and it was narrow and steep and the snow had drifted across it. We climbed in single file with Torin in front and Ewan behind and the two warriors at the back.

Halfway up, we found the first body.

It was a Council wolf, one of the six that had been on the ridge. It was lying on its side in the snow with its throat torn out and its eyes open.

Torin crouched beside it.

"There is no blood," he said. "The wound is clean. The snow around it is clean." He looked up. "Whatever killed it did not leave a trace."

"Then it is not a wolf," Ewan said.

"No. It is not a wolf."

We went on.

The top of the ridge was white and empty. The cairn stones stood in the middle of it, grey and patient, and the snow had not settled on them. It had melted away.

And in front of the tallest stone there was a man.

He was tall and thin and he was wearing a coat that was too big for him. His hair was long and white and his face was very old and very young at the same time. He was standing with his hands behind his back, and he was looking at me.

Elara, he said. His voice came from everywhere, the way it had in the cave. Daughter of Sorcha. I have been waiting for you.

"Who are you?" I said.

I am the thing behind the door. I am the debt. I am the hunger in the stone. His head tilted. I have had many names. Your mother called me the Old One.

"My mother," I said.

Your mother was the first to escape me. She was the first to look at me without fear. He took a step toward me. And now you are here, and you are not afraid either.

I was afraid. My hands were shaking and my wolf was rigid in my chest. But I did not run.

"What do you want?" I said.

I want what I have always wanted. He smiled. I want to be let out. The binding is broken. The door is open. I have been in the dark for a hundred and forty years and I want to see the sun.

"You killed eleven women," I said.

I did not kill them. They gave themselves. The fear in them fed me and the fear made them give. His eyes were pale and there was no bottom to them. Your mother did not fear me. And so she did not give. And so I could not take her.

"Then why are you here?" Finn said. "Why now?"

Because the binding is broken. He looked at Finn. And because there is a child in this glen who carries the blood of the old ones. He looked back at me. I want the child.

I felt the ground go out from under me.

"Ronan," I said.

He is in the cave of chains. He has been there since the wolves took him. He is frightened and he is alone and he is exactly what I need. The Old One smiled again. Bring him to me, Elara, and I will let this glen live. Refuse, and I will come down into the glen and I will take him anyway.

The cairn stones went dark.

And then he was gone.

I stood on the ridge in the snow with my breath coming hard and my heart hammering.

"Ronan is in the cave of chains," I said. "The cave of chains. That is the cave on the north ridge where Torin held him."

"Yes," Torin said.

"Then I am going to get him."

"Elara," Finn said.

"No." I turned to face him. "You heard what it said. It wants him. If I do not go and get him, it will come down into the glen and it will take him. And it will kill whoever gets in its way." I looked at him. "I am going to the cave of chains. Tonight. Alone."

"No," Finn said.

"Finn."

"I am not going to let you walk into a cave that a monster wants you to walk into." He caught my arms. "We will find another way."

"There is no other way."

"There is always another way." He looked at me, and his gold-brown eyes were desperate. "Let me go. Let me go into the cave and bring Ronan out. You stay here with Torin."

"No."

"Elara."

"You are the Alpha's heir. If you die in that cave, the pack falls apart." I put my hand on his face. "If I die in that cave, Ronan still has a chance. He knows the tunnel. He knows the map. He can run."

Finn stared at me.

Then he let go of my arms.

"Then we do it together," he said. "You go into the cave and I hold the entrance. If anything comes out of that cave that is not you or Ronan, I will kill it."

"Finn."

"That is not a discussion."

I looked at him. The snow was coming down and the cairn stones were dark and the whole glen was asleep below us.

"All right," I said.

We went down the ridge toward the cave of chains.