AT DAWN THE Skaraven arrived en masse at the McAra stronghold, and assembled outside the huge stables as their new mounts were brought out. Taran thankfully remembered to bring Althea a change of clothes from her carryall, but once she’d dressed Brennus came in with a stack of oddly-shaped iron plates.

“The storm will arrive within the hour.” He put the iron down on the bed and brought the biggest piece over to her. “I had Kanyth fashion these for you.”

As he loosened some straps attached to the sides and top of the plate she realized what it was. “You had him make armor for me?”

“You arenae immortal, Althea. A single blade thrust can end you.” He tried to put it over her and scowled as she sidestepped him. “Come here.”

“Stay there. Now, imagine a blade coming at me.” She picked up a smaller piece of the armor. “I touch it.” She froze the iron, and let it drop to the floor. It shattered like glass. “Any questions?”

Brennus tossed the chest plate onto the bed, and put on his chieftain glower. “I’ll have you taken back to Dun Mor and held there until we return with them.”

“Held there? You couldn’t even keep me in the eagalsloc.” She saw his frustration and went to him. “I know the map isn’t accurate enough, but I’ll remember the location of the barn when I’m there. Besides, the other women need to see a familiar face when we grab them, or they’ll freak out. You know I’m not helpless, and I can protect myself. Also, I have the awesome freezing power, which may come in handy. I’m going with you.”

Though the glower had left, he was clearly far from convinced. His brow furrowed, but he nodded.

“Then you go as my lady.” He pulled the leather lacing from the top of his tunic, and took off his clan ring, which he slid onto the lacing. “Mine to love, and to wed, as soon as we return to Dun Mor.”

Once he tied it around her neck, she caressed the gleaming black ring. “So you do want me to stay in the fourteenth century.”

“I want you with me.” He tipped up her chin. “I must remain here with my brethren.”

“Okay.” His reaction made her grin. “I decided to stay last night, while I was talking to Cade out in the hall, and no, I’m not going to tell you about that. We have helpless women to rescue, Chieftain. Come on.”

Once outside the castle Althea saw the approaching storm spreading like a dark cancer on the horizon. As the giants’ encampment lay due west, they’d be in very rough weather when they emerged from the lochan.

“Chieftain, there’s lightning in those clouds,” she heard Kanyth say to Brennus, and looked over to see the Weapons Master’s worried expression. “You’ll recall how much it likes me. Mayhap I should go ahead of the clan.”

The chieftain shook his head. “Ride at the rear, Ka.” He caught Althea’s gaze. “Kanyth’s power also draws lighting. ’Tis been striking him since boyhood.”

“I didn’t even know Kanyth had a power,” she pointed out. “We have a lot to talk about when we get back.”

“Oh, aye,” he said, and gave her temple a kiss.

They walked over to the stables, where the clan greeted them with smiles and nods. They’d already gone into battle-silent mode, Althea decided, which wasn’t a bad thing. A lot of chatter right now would be distracting.

“Fair morning, pretty lass,” Althea said and patted the nose of the mare that the McAra had hand-picked for her. Brennus helped her up into the small saddle, which felt stiff and unyielding but fit her bottom well enough. “Are you sure you can handle taking me and two horses through the water by yourself?”

“I’ll take your other arm, my lady,” Cadeyrn said. “Just to be safe.”

The McAra had come up with the solution to keeping the mounts from being spooked by the clan’s water-traveling, and now came to hand her the wide leather browband to attach to her mare’s bridle.

“Remember, my lady, fasten the band to the center stud on the cheekpieces before you enter the loch,” Maddock told her. “’Twill cover her eyes completely.”

She glanced over at the other Skaraven, who had tucked identical browbands in their belts. “My thanks, my lord.”

“Gods speed.” He turned to Brennus. “If the Skaraven dinnae return, Chieftain, the McAra shall take up your cause.”

Brennus clasped forearms with him. “Consult the druids if you do. They’ve the power you’ll need.”

Althea hadn’t ridden a horse since she’d sold her uncle’s farm, but the familiar rocking rhythm quickly came back to her. It also helped that the mare had an almost liquid gait, and legs long enough to keep up with Brennus and Cadeyrn’s bigger mounts.

They halted at the shore of the loch, with the clan forming a single line behind them. Althea fit the browband to her mare’s bridle and urged her into the shallows.

Brennus and Cadeyrn took hold of her as they transformed and submerged with all three horses. Althea held her breath and hung onto the reins. The mare tensed under her as bubbling light rose around them.

Streaming through the water on a horse felt much scarier than in Brennus’s arms, but a few seconds later the men surfaced and guided her and their horses out of the lochan.

Icy wind and needle-sharp rain pelted them as they rode out into the storm. Overhead white-hot veins streaked through the swollen clouds, followed by a rumbling boom of thunder.

Their mounts skittered until they removed the browbands, which helped calm the horses. One by one the clan came riding out of the water, shedding their transformations as they joined the chieftain.

Cadeyrn and Ruadri rode a few yards ahead, scanning the forest before they trotted back to Brennus.

“I sense no spell traps or wards,” the shaman said as he wiped the rain from his face. “’Tis some magic deep within the woods, but ’twould be from the farm.”

Cadeyrn pointed to the north side of the forest. “The far trail offers more protection. We should ride and take cover at a vantage point to scout them.”

The chieftain nodded, and signaled to the rest of the clan, who assembled into three long ranks. The archers among them also carried buckets attached to their saddles.

“What are those for?” Althea asked.

“A surprise for our wood friends,” Brennus replied quickly before taking up position in front.

The other men drew their swords and held them ready as they guided their mounts with one hand.

Riding into the dark forest put Althea’s nerves on edge, as if dozens of hidden eyes watched them. The frigid rain had also soaked through her clothes, chilling her to the bone. Yet she saw no sign of the giants, and hoped that they would hold onto the element of surprise. Now all she had to do was recognize the way.

Brennus shifted his horse in front of hers, and Ruadri came up to flank her with Cadeyrn. She turned her head to smile at the shaman, and saw one of the trees beside him sprout two eyes and a snarling mouth.

“Ru, watch out,” she shouted.

She wheeled her mare about, cutting of the shaman as she reached for the giant with her hands. Though the air temperature dropped, the giant sidestepped her. She urged her mare forward.

“Althea, no!” she heard Brennus shout.

A hard blow from behind knocked her to the ground, where she was dragged by her leg into the brush. She screamed as she saw all the trees lining the trail attack Brennus and the clan, but a huge wooden hand slammed into her jaw, and she blacked out.

* * *

“Maybe we could negotiate with them,” Rowan said as she peered out of the wooden slats. “I’ll offer to babysit the really batshit one, and out of extreme gratitude they’ll let us go back to the barn.”

Emeline sighed. “Rowan, please.”

“We’re never going back to the bloody barn,” Lily muttered.

Rowan silently agreed with her, not that she’d admit it out loud. No, she had to keep everyone’s spirits up, because in a few days they were either going to die of exposure, starvation, dehydration, or all three. Since Hendry had started leaving on his three or four day trips away from the farm, they had to depend on the guards or Murdina for rations. Since the uglies hated them, and the druidess had gone almost completely cuckoo’s nest, rations came very infrequently. At one point they’d had to eat snow for water.

Ochd sometimes brought them oatcakes, which he passed to Rowan when none of the other guards could see. He always said the same thing too: “Hide. Dinnae let Coig see.”

She shared everything with the other women, but Perrin barely touched hers and Emeline’s jaw was so sore she was having trouble chewing.

That was thanks to Coig, who had been the most inventive guard at Camp Seriously Crazy. Now and then, probably out of psycho boredom, he would come over to poke sticks in the cage to try to jab them. He was good at it. They all had big ugly bruises from his efforts. Lily had once grabbed the stick and jerked it out of his hand, but he’d just opened the cage, dragged her out and took it from her. Then he’d beaten her until the stick broke.

Coig also liked beating them—a lot. If Hendry left him behind and took the other, reasonably sane guards, by the third day he’d haul one of them out and chase them around, beating their legs, punching them in the face, or tossing them into something. If they didn’t try to get away he’d beat them unconscious. Either way, once he’d had his fun he’d put them back and later claim to the druids that they’d try to escape.

For some reason he never took Rowan out of the cage. She’d even offered to take Perrin’s place for one of his beatdowns, but Coig just ignored her.

Things had gone from bad to worse, but she knew they were never going to get better. If Rowan didn’t figure a way to get back to the barn, she was pretty sure Coig was going to kill them while they were not trying to escape.

Emeline sat up and looked over at the trail. “Someone’s coming.”

* * *

Althea came to as she was dragged across the muddy ground between the farmhouse and the barn. Ochd jerked her to her feet, and tied her arms behind a tall, burned oak trunk. She grimaced as the guard wrapped rough burlap around her hands before binding her wrists.

Wearing a sodden cloak and holding a gleaming scythe, Murdina walked up to her and held the curved blade under her nose. “Foolish wench. When we learned you’d betrayed us to those Skaraven bastarts, we removed the wards from the forest, and put them on the lochan.”

She could see the biggest of the guards now, trudging through the mud toward a huge wooden cage. Inside were the four other women, huddled together and looking much more battered than they had when she’d escaped. Her heart ached to see how gaunt Perrin had grown, and the bruises on Lily and Emeline. Rowan appeared to be in the best shape, but she had a wild look in her eyes as she stared back at Althea.

“Bring them to me, Dha,” Murdina called.

He opened one end of the cage and reached in. The women tried to avoid his hand by scattering to the back, but he tossed out Emeline and Perrin, and then locked in Rowan and Lily.

A hard slap made Althea stare at the crazy druidess, who a moment later caressed her throbbing cheek.

“Poor lass, you’ve had such an ordeal. Did those brutes rape you? Their masters never permitted them near any female unless they wore chains, or so Hendry said. I’ll help you get revenge on them.” She beckoned to Dha, who hauled Emeline and Perrin over to her, and shoved them to their knees. “I dinnae care for rain. Make it snow.”

Althea peered at her. “What?”

“You have the touch of ice. ’Tis one of the greatest powers known to druid kind. In time you shall have only to think it, and freeze anything you wish.” Murdina smiled gently. “You shall release it on the storm above us. All of it, just now, and make a blizzard so cold it shall freeze the Skaraven in their tracks. If you dinnae, Dha will crush these wench’s skulls together, until their brains mix.”

The guard seized Emeline and Perrin on either side of their faces, and pushed their heads together, making his huge hands into a vise.

* * *

“No,” Rowan shouted at Murdina as she jerked on the cage’s wooden slats, trying to loosen them enough for her to get an arm out and dislodge the locking bar.

“Ro, stop,” Lily said, trying to pull her back. “There’s nothing you can do for her now.”

“She’s too weak. They’ll kill her this time. Don’t just sit there, help me.”

When Lily shook her head Rowan launched herself at the slats, throwing her full weight into them. She bounced off and fell on her face. She shoved herself up and gripped the slats with her fingers. What was happening to Perrin? She couldn’t see anything through this damn cage.

The slats slowly moved apart under her hands.

Rowan snatched her hands away, and then reached between the slats, sliding her hand through easily. “What in God’s name?”

She thought fast, recalling everything the crazy druids had said about them. The five of them were supposed to be druidesses, capable of great power blah blah blah. She’d heard them bickering when Hendry came back from burning a druid settlement, and he’d told Murdina that the flame-haired wench had the touch of ice, and could freeze solid whatever she touched. She hadn’t thought of Althea having flame-colored hair because like the others she assumed she’d been killed trying to escape.

If Althea was able to freeze something by touching it…

Rowan put her hands on the slats again, and thought of making them twice as wide. This time they moved apart under her hands, creating a foot-wide gap.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked.

“Getting out of here.” She looked over at Murdina and Dha, and then moved to the back of the cage. “Sit in the front so they don’t see me. Do it, Stover.”

As soon as Lily’s body blocked hers Rowan put her hands on the back of the cage and thought of the slats separating to a gap wide enough for her to crawl through. The cage shook, and wood splintered, but when she let go there was a Rowan-sized hole waiting for her.

Without another word she crawled out, running for the farmhouse, and the line of clothes Murdina had hung out to dry and never brought in. Taking down a snow-crusted blanket, she wrapped herself in it and covered her head.

The drifts around the farmhouse never melted, and she stayed close to them as she crept closer to where Dha had Perrin and Emeline. She stopped at the woodpile long enough to grab a big branch, which she tucked under the blanket. When she looked over again she could see Althea’s white face, and the red handprint blazing on her cheek. Then she heard what Murdina ordered her to do, and watched Dha trap Emeline and Perrin between his hands.

Spear, she thought, and felt the wood smooth and lengthen in her hand. When she glanced inside the blanket she saw the branch had changed into a smooth rod with a sharply pointed tip.

Rowan had become the darts champion at every watering hole she’d ever frequented. She just had to think of the spear like a really big dart.

She looked over at Althea, who spotted her in the same moment, but didn’t give her away by turning her head. All the other woman did was make a tiny nod before she closed her eyes.

Dr. Useless thought she was going to kill her? Rowan felt like doing it just so she wouldn’t be disappointed. The more she thought about it, however, the more it made sense. Kill the doc, no blizzard, and they’d be rescued by these Skaraven guys.

Only Dha would be pissed, and Perrin would die before the cavalry came. No, she had to stick to the original target.

Rowan moved to a spot where she had the best angle, and took out the spear. As Murdina moved closer to Althea, she hefted the giant-size dart and hurled it at the guard’s face.

The spear buried itself in Dha’s left eye, ramming through it into what Rowan hoped was his brain. He staggered backward, roaring with pain, and Perrin and Emeline fell into the mud.

“Great idea,” Althea said as Rowan rushed past her. “Mind if I steal it?”

“Isn’t that what you college nerds always do?” she snarled as she grabbed her sister, and helped her to her feet.

Without warning the temperature dropped from icy to Arctic.

A white shimmer moved through the rain, pulling the droplets together into long icicles. They grew larger as they came down, and then stopped short of impaling Murdina. Slowly they spun away from the druidess, collecting more rain as they grew thicker and longer. A bolt of lightning rammed down, striking a tree behind the farmhouse, and the flash of light made the icy spears glitter like some enormous, fragmented chandelier.

The crazy druidess turned around, looking at the floating ice as frost crept up her skirts and whitened cloak. She hurried up to Althea, who had frost-coated eyelashes and patches of ice sparkling on her face.

“Stop,” she shrieked. “’Tis too much. Do you wish to die?”

Snowflakes drifted down from Althea’s lips as they curved into a stiff smile. “To. Save. Him.” She dragged in a choppy breath. “Yes.”

Rowan held on grimly to her sister as she watched Althea’s eyes go white and opaque as they froze. The ice spears almost dropped to the ground, but then they stopped, flew up and hurled themselves at the trees behind the farmhouse.

“Come on,” she urged Perrin, who was sagging against her. “Let’s go.”

She didn’t get more than ten steps before Murdina appeared in front of her. She held her sister against her and balled up a fist, her arm trembling with the effort. When had she become so weak? She’d always been the strong one. She had to stop giving into this crap and stand up for herself and Perrin.

“You’re not taking her,” she told the druidess.

“Neither shall you.” Murdina’s eyes opened wide, and shimmered with a strange light.

Rowan couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and then she felt Perrin try to grab her. The light from the druidess’s eyes filled her head, reaching down into her chest and seizing her heart in a glittering grip.

The ground rushed up at her face, and everything went black.