Free Kelpie Curse: A Feyland Urban Fantasy Tale (The Celtic Fey Book 2) by Roz Marshall

skin crawled as they walked through the forest to the faerie ring. Every now and again, he would glimpse red eyes in the bushes, and it may have been his imagination, but he was sure he could hear a hint of the wolf's rasping breath following behind, always behind.
    Corinne seemed to have picked up on the unsaid message in his words, and she carried her bow in her right hand, with an arrow loosely nocked and ready for use at a moment's notice.
    But she had not released his hand after he helped her up from the grass, and a part of him took comfort in the feel of her soft, warm skin. At the same time, though, his cautious nature worried what Cailleach would make of this, when she saw the images from her magic crystal. Was Corinne now in danger too?
    -::-
    Something was bothering Elphin, Corinne could tell. And if she was honest, she was a little bothered herself, checking over her shoulder every few steps to look for bogeymen in the bushes. Feyland definitely wasn't just the simple game she'd thought it was when she'd first donned the gaming gloves and headset.
    I should distract him. Stop us both worrying about something we can't even see. "Elphin, can I ask you something?"
    He raised his eyebrows questioningly.
    "I keep meaning to try and find a minstrel I saw at the Bright King's court the first day I came here. Urisk said that I'd find him on the faerie mountain, and that's where Col was supposed to be taking me, before he… Before…" She motioned with her bow back in the direction of the pool and bit her lip. "Do you know where it is? The mountain, I mean?"
    While she was talking, they'd reached the ring of white-spotted scarlet mushrooms. Elphin dropped her hand as she stepped into it, shaking his head emphatically. "You should not go to the mountain. It is not safe."
    "But— I saw him, in my dreams. He was in trouble. I wanted to help him."
    "If you come to harm on the mountain, you will help nobody."
    "Is he there? Do you know him?"
    He hesitated, not meeting her gaze. Then he squared his shoulders, as if making a decision. "You will find the minstrel at the court of the Bright King once each day. That is all I know."
    "Thank y—" She froze. Behind Elphin, a huge albino wolf was stalking towards them, hackles raised and lips curled back in a savage snarl.
    At the look on her face, Elphin whirled round, but before he could do anything, the wolf pounced, flying through the air with a bloodcurdling howl. It knocked Elphin to the ground and sunk its yellow fangs into his neck.
    An arrow was singing through the air before she had processed the thought, her arm reaching into the quiver for another before the first reached its target. But it had flown true, thumping into the wolf's brawny shoulder and making the beast release its victim with a yelp of surprise.
    Red eyes surveyed her balefully for a moment, a white crystal glinting unnervingly on its forehead. Nocking the next arrow, she swung the bow to aim.
    At this, the wolf obviously decided Elphin wasn't worth the risk, and limped off into the bushes, breaking into a jolting trot when her second arrow flew past its nose and struck the ground just ahead.
    Elphin lay on the grass, unmoving.
    Corinne rushed to his side, dreading what she might find. But as she bent over him, her vision crackled like a television that has lost its aerial and the scene around her turned to black and white, before disappearing altogether.

C HAPTER 19

    E LPHIN FELT LIKE an ogre had slammed into him. All the breath had been knocked from his lungs, and his throat ached where the wolf had tried to rip out his larynx. Through half-shut eyelashes, he saw Corinne stoop over him, a look of concern on her face that would have made his heart leap in his chest—if his chest had not felt like a concrete block sat on top of it.
    He felt decidedly unwell. And my eyesight is failing too. It seemed to him that Corinne flickered a couple of times, then disappeared.
    Screwing his eyes tight shut, he