A Kelpie of Rowan

Chapter 64

He tilts his head. "Well? Did you reach him?"

"I did . . ."

Camden frowns. "What's wrong? What's my brother up to?"

"He says the Seelie lord took him, and he doesn't know where he is."

Camden scowls. "And you took the Seelie Lord's memories, so no one currently knows. Is there a chance you could see the memories and find out from them?"

Rowan frowns. "Theoretically, yes. I could combine the sight rune and the memory rune to see them, but there is a problem with trying that."

"Oh? What's the problem?"

Rowan wrings her hands together. "To view the memories, I would have to have the stone I bound them to. And I don't. I threw it into the forest for the Seelie Lord to take ages to find."

Camden slumps back into a chair. "So what could we do?"

"I don't- wait. I could ask the trees to lead me to him."

Camden raises an eyebrow. "Ask the trees? What?"

Rowan shrugs. "I have a gift with plants. It's worked before and it won't hurt to try."

He shrugs. "Very well. Come, we should get to the river so we can go find him."

Rowan stands and takes a step towards the door. Her legs crumple beneath her and she lets out a gasp. She tries to get back to her feet but her legs won't take her weight. She looks up at Camden, her brow creasing with worry.

"I don't think my body is going to let me go anywhere."

Camden slumps. "You need to recover your energy. Both physically and your magical energy."

Rowan tries to struggle to her feet again. "But what about Andrian? He might not have time!"

Camden raises an eyebrow. "Ro, we can control the time when we go through the passage. You will do more for him if you rest and regain your strength than if you go after him right now."

"But-"

"No. You need to rest. I want to go after my brother too, but you really need to have your energy back if we are going to have a chance of tracking him."

Rowan sighs and Canden helps her to her feet. He half-carries her to Andrian's room, her legs barely holding her up even with his help. Camden helps Rowan sit on the bed before he lets go of her arms. She sinks down onto the covers and begins to fiddle with the material. Camden reaches down to cover her hand with his own. He crouches to look her in the eye.

"Ro, we will find him. Once you have your strength back, we will go through the passage and I can get us there a minute after you went through, alright?"

Rowan nods. "It just doesn't feel right to be sitting here when we could go look for him."

"I know, but this is the best thing we can do for him. I'll be back with some food in a moment."

Rowan nods again. Camden stands and goes to leave the room, shutting the door behind him with a soft click. Rowan dumps her bag on the bed. Out comes the salt, her rune book, the bag with her runestones and runepen, some iron nails, and the lone runestone she had been using. Rowan pulls another runestone and her runepen from the bag just in case she needs them. She tucks them in the inside pocket of her bag and grabs her rune book.

It won't hurt to go over them again. She opens the bag of salt and presses the edge of the rune book's case against the salt until the opening forms. She slides the book out and cracks the cover open. The first page the book opens to is the one holding the guide rune. Rowan traces the symbol with one finger and turns the page. The next rune is the light rune, an eight with a star shape covering its middle. The door opens and Rowan looks up, flipping the book closed. Camden frowns when he enters and nods to the book, careful not to tip the bowl in his hands.

"What's that?"

"A book of runes. I thought it wouldn't hurt if I went over them again."

Camden sighs and holds out the bowl to Rowan. "Rest, Ro. And eat."

Rowan frowns down at the bowl. It's some kind of soup, but the meat inside is strange. It's white like chicken, but it falls apart when she pokes it.

"What is this?"

Camden shrugs. "A kelpie version of Cock-a-Leekie soup. It just uses fish instead of chicken. It tastes good."

Rowan shrugs and takes a bite. Camden is right, it does taste good. She scoops up a chunk of the fish and takes a bit. She looks up at Camden.

"Trout?"

He nods. "I'll leave you to eat in peace. When you're done or you need something, just give a shout. Either Cáel or I will come."

Rowan nods. Camden leaves the room and shuts the door behind him. Rowan listens to the sounds outside the house as she eats. The nearby birds are quite loud, their cries persistent. She looks down at her almost empty bowl. There is mainly broth left but the remaining bits of meat have come together to form a shape resembling a horse. Rowan sighs.
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Awww, she has to wait. That sucks. Will she be able to track him successfully? What do you think is going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.