Folkloric Lure: A Fun, Feisty and Fast-Paced Urban Fantasy (The Folkloric Series Book 2) by Karenza Grant

Author:Karenza Grant [Grant, Karenza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: L'Ours Books
Published: 2024-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

A collude was a collaboration between the will of a person and the force within a substance such as a herb. For more oomph, various minerals were used. Most potent of all was gold. That much I’d picked up during the hantaumo affair. Gold meant power, and Ras definitely had that if the black ward was anything to go by, but what else was he going to use the gold for? I poured cream into my coffee and took a sip, gazing around at the others at the table and Grampi near the kitchen.

“The time of year has to be significant.” Lucas slid his chair back and crossed an ankle over his leg.

“You don’t say,” Grampi snapped.

Grinding came from Lucas’s jaw.

I glared at Grampi. Would he just cut it out so we could get on with finding the project?

“Most definitely,” Roux said. “Midsummer and the sun are associated with gold, and the metal is most potent at this time of year, with the sun at its annual zenith.”

“So could Ras be planning something with the gold on midsummer’s day?” I asked.

“For maximum power, midsummer’s at midday would be ideal.” Roux frowned. “But the sun has masses of strength a week either side. There’s really not much difference.”

“So there’s a chance he could use the gold at any time,” Lucas added. “But bearing in mind it’s midsummer’s eve tomorrow, we need to get this sorted now.”

Roux tapped his fingers on the table. “Of course, the metal has an affinity with Abellion, the sun god, ruler of the Pyrenean pantheon.”

“He wouldn’t be behind this, would he?” I asked.

Grampi shook his head. “Not his style. Doesn’t often get involved with the human realm, and he’s so powerful, he wouldn’t need the gold.”

“And the bounds at the dolmen of Sem this morning?” Lucas asked Roux.

“The bounds are fine.” Roux straightened his cloak. “But the cracks are a little worse again. The small patch we saw when we were up there before the hantaumo attack is now a couple of feet wide and extending toward the dolmen. The locals are instinctively keeping away from the place.”

I could understand why. The atmosphere around the cracks in the cave on Monsieur Pons’s farm hadn’t been pleasant.

Lucas sat back and dragged his hand over his mouth. “I don’t like it. The bounds run through Rancie. We checked them when we visited the mine and didn’t see anything, but Ras had a potent glamour in operation. It fried our phones.”

“What would he want with the bounds?” Gabe asked, his eyebrows knotted.

Lucas drew in a breath through his nose. “I don’t know.”

I placed my cup down. “So we need to figure out what Ras has planned for the gold, then we need to get into Rancie and rescue the project.”

Grampi sprang up and paced about.

“To get through a black ward,” Roux said, “it would take a Collude of Exceptional Infiltration. But a number of its ingredients are extremely rare. We don’t have them in stock, although we might be able to gather them in, say… twelve hours at a push.

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