Ciaran held her head against his shoulder and stroked it. "I don't know, honey. But it's all right now. It's gone."
Gone. But it could come back. It had once. Maybe next time it would stay.
Darkness, and the sudden cold.
The legends began crawling through Ciaran's mind. If Bas the Immortal was true, and the Stone of Destiny was true, and the Stone gave Bas power over the life and death of a world ... then...?
Maybe Bas was getting tired of the world and wanted to throw it away.
The rational stubbornness in man that says a thing is not because it's never been before helped Ciaran steady down. But he couldn't kid himself that there hadn't been darkness where no darkness had even been dreamed of before.
He shook his head and started to pull Mouse to her feet, and then his quick ears caught the sound of someone coming toward them, running. Several someones.
There was no place to hide. Ciaran got Mouse behind him and waited, half crouching.
It was the hunter, with the hermit loping like a stringy cat at his heels and a third man behind them both. They all looked a little crazy, and they didn't seem to be going to stop.
Ciaran said, "Hey!"