The Stumpwork Robe (The Chronicles of Eirie 1) by Prue Batten Page A

rocks lay whitewashed bones; the remains of a back that had been cracked and broken from where the curious living mortal had been dragged by the door into the ether beyond. The harsh snap and crack of her own frame as it landed on the boulders filled a head empty of everything but the need to struggle. ‘OH PLEASE, HELP!’
    Her toes hung over the edge of the tower as the door kept up its remorseless tugging, her free hand trailing desperate fingers on the doorframe, dragging splinters and dirt which filled her fingernails. She screamed again as an arm snaked around her chest and pressure pulled the other way. ‘LET GO,’ Liam shouted to the malevolence dragging Ana to a shattering death.
    ‘Never, no, never more!
    See what happens when you open the door!’ The reply echoed cruelly around the little building.
    Liam’s arm came up sharply and a shriek dropped from above followed by a spattering of sharp footsteps running across the old shingles of the tower roof. He pulled Ana’s body back hard against his chest, dragging her on her feet away from deathly space. As the footsteps and the yelling faded away, the bronze fingers fell open and released her. The door slammed shut and the hand was seen to give a lewd gesture to the pair before rolling itself into a bunched, inanimate doorknob.
    Ana sagged in the circle of his arms, her own curling over his as they wrapped tight around her. From behind, she felt his chin rest on her head and then...
    ‘Alright?’
    She nodded and was sure she felt a kiss through her tumbled hair, burning into her scalp. Her heartbeat rushed as she bent her head and rested her lips on the damp oilskin of his coat. The heady intimacy of the moment was not lost for a minute on either of them and a fulsome silence filled the damp space. Finally, Liam took her hand and pulled her towards the stairwell behind him. ‘They were dunters,’ he said over his shoulder as they made their descent. ‘Malicious beings whose sole purpose is to entice the curious and unwary to their deaths from the top of any peel tower.’ They reached the entrance to the ruins without Ana uttering a word. ‘Why were you here and where is your rowan crook?’ Liam turned to her and held her at arm’s length.
    Despite the shock, Ana sensed an edge to his voice as if she were wanted and cherished. Perhaps he... She replied hastily before a blush coloured her frightened cheeks too much. ‘I forgot it. I left camp in a hurry.’ She sat down on a pile of stones, legs folding and Liam sat down beside her.
    ‘Why?’ he asked.
    ‘Um... Adelina and Kholi...’ Ana burned as the blush finally seeped across her cheeks.
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Aine Liam, does it matter?' Suddenly she was angry. With herself, with him, with life. 'They were... making love. I saw them.’
    ‘Did you, by Aine! Did they see you?’ He laughed with apparent delight.
    Ana jumped up. ‘Don’t laugh. How could you? It was such an intimate moment and as laden with sex as anything could be.’ Humiliation, reaction, all touched her taper.
    ‘Ana, Ana.’ He grasped her shoulders. ‘It’s the most natural thing in the world for two people who are so attracted to do what they did. Don’t take on so.’
    ‘So easy for you to say. No doubt Faeran do it all the time, willy-nilly. I however, was embarrassed. Profoundly so. And because of their little love-nest I feel I shall have to leave and that goes a long way to spoiling all my plans. Aine I hate this world! Everywhere I turn, people I trust fail me. Pa, Mother, Peter. And now I can’t even trust my only two friends. This whole world is obscene.’ She pushed her hair away from a red face.
    ‘Have you finished?’ Liam raised his eyebrows.
    She growled at him, a rising crescendo, and stormed off towards camp.

 
    Chapter Thirteen
     
     
    Adelina and Kholi lay side by side, the drizzle making a shushing sound on the canopy of the pavilion.
    ‘Ana is very quiet.’ Kholi offered the few words into the