"Aye, something like that," Erin said. "Among other things. But it's not 'was' — it's 'is'," she said. Carissa looked up, curiosity piqued — but Erin had already turned her attention to the garden, and was instructing her where to place the seedlings, and she had to stow her curiosity away for another time.
In the end, they spent the whole afternoon in the garden. First, Erin took her through every seedling they were planting, explaining the way the plants grew, how much water and sun they needed, how long it would be until they were fully grown and ready for their leaves to be harvested when needed. She'd brought along a notebook, and did her best to keep notes whenever possible, but Erin was a hands-on kind of teacher, and more often than not she found herself with her hands submerged to the wrists in the thick, rich soil in the garden beds. She'd all but forgotten about the curious things Erin had been saying about the legend of Scathach by the time they headed inside to wash their hands and have a well-earned rest after the day's work. While they washed up, Erin quizzed her on the plants they'd been caring for, and though she didn't remember them all, the woman seemed pleased with the amount she'd been able to retain.
"You've got a good mind for this stuff," she said brightly. "And a good touch for the plants, too. That's important. Green fingers can't really be taught. That was Leah's problem," she added with a sigh, shaking her head. "Too rough with the plants, or too gentle, no matter how hard she tried to find the right balance. She's got a wonderful mind, though. She'll find her strength in other places."
"I don't doubt it," Carissa said, thinking of the sharp-eyed girl. "I knew girls like her in school. High achievers."
"I like that," Erin said with a smile. "Now, come and have a little rest before you ride back to the castle."
There was a platter of fruit buns on the huge table, and they helped themselves to a few as they sat and talked. It felt good to have been working with her hands, to have planted so many little seedlings, and she felt a sleepy sense of pride creep over her as they sat there. "I like gardening," she said thoughtfully. "Can't believe I never did much back home. I guess I didn't have much room for a garden living in the city…"
"I'd go mad without a garden to potter about in," Erin said with a smile. "You're more than welcome here any time you need some garden time. I'll always be able to think of something for you to do."
"You were telling me about Scathach," she said, the thought occurring to her as she nibbled on the delicious fruit bun. "The woman, not the horse."
"Oh, aye." Erin's eyes gleamed thoughtfully, and she leaned a little closer. "Now, you'll have to be mindful who you speak about Scathach around. Herbcraft is one thing, but these stories are quite another. Very easy to raise suspicion these days. That's my warning."
Carissa nodded solemnly, filing it away. She had no intention of being accused of witchcraft any time soon. Being burned at the stake wasn't exactly how she visualized her life unfolding.
"Scathach is a tall, imposing woman with long black hair and a handsome face," Erin said, her voice low. "As beautiful as she is fearsome. She wears fine armor and carries a longsword at her side, a blade that's said to have taken the lives of hundreds of men."
"She's a swordswoman?"
"Oh, aye, and more besides. They say she travels the length and breadth of the land with her magic. Some even say she moves through time itself the way regular people travel back and forth to town."
"Have you met her?"
"Just once," Erin said, her eyes gleaming, and a shiver ran down Carissa's spine at the look on her face. "A long time ago, in a dream, she came to me. It was after I lost my husband," she said softly, and Carissa blinked. Hugh had mentioned that his father was long gone, but Carissa hadn't wanted to pry about what had happened. "A widow with seven children to care for, one of them newborn… I was lost. Scathach gave me courage. She reminded me who I was, the power I had — she made me see I didn't need anyone but myself and my children. I'll always owe her a debt," Erin said simply. "And I hope to pass on what she taught me."
Carissa nodded. "To your daughters."
"And to you," she said with a smile. "Scathach may not have children, but she has students — it's said she built Castle Dunscaith as a headquarters from which to teach them. And it was the castle that brought you here to us, Carissa. You and Scathach are connected, as surely as she and I are." Erin smiled, rising from the table. "We'll talk more about her as we continue your training. But for now, you'd best be getting along home before it gets dark."
Chapter 18
She rode home, deep in though. The idea that Scathach — this figure she had previously suspected was more of a myth than an actual person that Erin had met — had some personal interest in her was a little frightening if she was honest. She wasn't special, was she? She didn't have any powers, didn't have any exciting destiny … she was just a twenty-two-year-old struggling poet who'd been living paycheck to meager paycheck in New York and couldn't even keep a boyfriend as useless as Jim. Why would Scathach have taken an interest in her? From what Erin had said, it seemed most likely that it was Scathach's magic that had allowed her to come through time to this place… but why?
"I'm grateful," she murmured allowed, stroking Scath's neck.
The horse flicked an ear back toward her lazily as he ambled along the path to the castle. The sun was low in the sky, but sunset was still a good way away — she had plenty of time to make a relaxed journey back to the castle. She was already looking forward to seeing Hugh, to stealing away to her room with him after dinner and seeing how long they could hold off sleep… but for now, she was appreciating the time by herself.
"I'm glad I'm here, but I guess… I guess I don't understand why."
Maybe there didn't need to be a 'why', she decided as she saw the castle come into view up ahead. Maybe it was enough to just be here — to be somewhere she was happy. If she needed to, she'd spent the rest of her life looking for a way to pay it forward — to share some of the joy she'd found in this beautiful place with the people around her. And studying herbalism — maybe that was the way. Maybe if she paid close enough attention, she'd become so well-versed in herbs that she could become a healer, or something. A medicine woman for everyone in the castle and village. After all, she had a twenty-first century understanding of germs and diseases — she wasn't exactly an expert, but she didn't really have to be. What she'd picked up in high school still set her head and shoulders above the average medieval person, didn't it? In combination with everything she was learning about the medicinal qualities of plants from Erin… well, she had the potential to make herself very useful indeed.
With these thoughts in her mind, she barely noticed that she was already through the castle gate. She lead Scath into the stables and put him away after giving him a long and thorough brush as thanks for carrying her around. Promising to sneak him an apple later, she headed up to the castle for dinner, looking forward to telling Hugh about everything she'd learned from his mother that day.
The days turned into weeks as she adapted to her new home. It wasn't long before she'd settled into a pleasant routine. Nights she spent with Hugh — usually in her room, but occasionally down in the stables, sharing the tiny pallet bed in the tack room and giggling over how difficult it was for them both to fit. Every other day, she'd ride down to Erin's cottage to study herbalism, or occasionally to help out with tutoring the girls. Erin was determined for all of her children to know how to read and write, though that wasn't exactly as common a skill in these times as it was back home, and Carissa was more than happy to help out — though she didn't know any Gaelic at all, a language Erin was also teaching her girls.
"Once you've mastered herbs, we might look at teaching you a few words of Gaelic," Erin promised — but Leah, who had taken a shine to her, promised to teach her in secret.
A week into her course of study, Erin surprised her by putting the thick tome of herbs aside. They were sitting together by the fire, having spent the whole morning reading,
and Carissa was feeling a little sleepy — not helped, of course, by the fact that she'd been up nearly all night with Hugh. If Erin was aware of what was making her apprentice yawn, she didn't mention it — but there was a smile dancing in her eyes when she sat back and looked at her.
"I think we should talk about magic."
"I thought we were," Carissa said blankly, gesturing down at the book in her lap. "The healing properties –"
"Knowing the properties of herbs isn't magic," Erin said patiently. "Anyone with enough patience could learn all of this — and plenty do. Plenty of wise old women living in villages wouldn't know magic if it knocked on their doors — and they still do an admirable job of tending to their patients and healing the sick and injured. But magic… magic is something more than that."
"It is?" Carissa leaned forward, curious despite herself. She'd thought that magic was inherent in the herbs — this was surprising information.
Erin smiled. "When I first learned about herbs, I was impatient — a little like Leah, if I'm honest. I wanted to get to the real magic. But my powers are subtle — and most clearly manifested when they're paired with more mundane arts, like herbcraft. That remedy I sent you… do you remember?"
"Oh yes," she said, thinking back to the day her cold had turned around. "But — we went over the herbs that were in that."
"We did," Erin said softly — they'd spent an hour of their previous session going over the precise recipe Erin had used. "But there was an additional ingredient — one that not just anyone could have included. My magic enhances the power already inherent in the herbs, makes it stronger. It's subtle," she said with a smile. "And very difficult to detect unless you know what you're looking for — which is why I'm not too worried about the witch hunters. But I believe you have a similar power," she said thoughtfully.
"How do I use it?" Carissa had never thought of herself as possessing magical powers — she looked down at her hands, a little taken aback by the prospect.
"You don't," Erin said firmly. "At least, not yet. First you attain absolute mastery of the mundane side of things. We made sure you could cure just about any malady without resorting to magic at all. Then we can think about adding magic — but only when it's absolutely necessary," she said firmly. "You understand? It's not a toy."
"Of course." She was reminded of the way her father had taken her aside when she was small to teach her about the gun he kept in a locked safe in his office. A powerful thing made for protection — and not to be taken lightly. She could understand that magic had similar rules.
"That's why I worry about Leah," Erin said with a sigh, shaking her head. "She's so curious, so determined to become as powerful as she can… she wants to skip over the mundane. Paired with the amount of natural power she has… well, it's a recipe for disaster."
"You'll steer her right," Carissa said firmly, wanting to reassure her teacher. "With a teacher like you, she won't do anything stupid."
"I hope not." Erin sighed. "But I had a good teacher, too — didn't stop me making foolish choices as a young woman."
Carissa smiled, thinking of Jim — thinking of the long, tedious relationship she'd put herself through, thinking that there were no better options out there. "Maybe being a young woman means you have to make a certain amount of foolish choices," she suggested, shrugging her shoulder. "I certainly made my share."
"I hope you're not including my son among those," Erin said archly, raising a teasing eyebrow.
Carissa laughed. "Hugh is the best decision I've ever made," she said, and was gratified by the warmth of Erin's smile.
"Good." The woman cleared her throat, suddenly looking slightly awkward. "I don't want to pry," she said carefully. "The way you and Hugh spend your time together is absolutely none of my business. But — well, I've marked a few pages in that tome, that I think you may be interested in studying in your own time."
Carissa nodded, a little mystified. Erin insisted on lending her the book that night — she rode home with it tucked under her arm, a little frightened of losing the priceless tome. It was clearly an heirloom, full of notes and additions from many different women who'd added their own observations over the years… and when she got back to her room, she opened to the page Erin had mentioned, curious to see what it was the woman had been directing her toward. Her eyes widened, and she couldn't help but laugh aloud in the empty room. A series of drawings of various herbs, some of them familiar, some of them not — along with very detailed notes about the phases of the moon.
She'd been wondering about contraception — here were all her answers. She chuckled at how careful Erin had been not to seem judgmental. And she couldn't help but feel a warm glow in her chest. As awkward as Erin had clearly found the conversation, this instruction made it clear that she approved of the relationship between Carissa and Hugh. Carissa spent an hour studying the pages, and before the sun was completely out of the sky, set out on an herb-gathering mission. It seemed there was a tea that could be brewed that did something to the lining of the womb to make it inhospitable to new life. She had to admit, she was grateful for the instruction. As much as she enjoyed her time with Hugh, she was very worried about what it could mean to fall pregnant out of wedlock in these times.
The herbs were easy enough to find, and she secreted them in her dress, not wanting any prying eyes on what she was doing. It was easy enough to get some hot water from the kitchen, claiming she wanted it to wash her hair — then she headed up for her room and combined the herbs with the water according to the book's instructions, breathing deeply of the sweet, strange smell that came up from the tea. The idea was to drink a little every day for as long as you wanted to prevent pregnancy — as soon as you stopped drinking the tea, fertility would return. She braced herself before sipping it but was surprised to discover that it tasted very pleasant.
"Well, I've been missing my morning coffee," she murmured to herself, grinning broadly as she finished the cup. Her first ever homework assignment — and she had plenty of the herbal tea left over. She poured it into a jug and left it on her table, deciding to drink a cupful each morning before breakfast.
Hugh was very impressed with her amateur witchcraft when he came to visit that night — she had been torn about whether or not to tell him, not sure whether he'd find it strange that she was giving so much thought to the idea of having a baby. But she needn't have worried about spooking him.
"It's not permanent, is it?" he asked, frowning as he looked into the jug. "It won't make it impossible for you to –"
"Oh, no," she said quickly. "From what the notes say, it doesn't even make it impossible while I'm taking it… it lowers my fertility, doesn't get rid of it entirely. Life still finds a way sometimes," she added, grinning to herself. He didn't get the reference, of course, but she still found it funny.
"Well, that's good," he said — then hesitated. "Sorry. I don't want to make you feel –"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean — " He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "I know it's only been a few weeks, Carissa, but I've been thinking about you. About us, about the future."
She felt her heart pounding in her chest. This was the kind of conversation Jim had always run screaming from. It had taken weeks to get him to agree to even call himself her boyfriend. Was Hugh really saying what she thought he was saying?
"I want to marry you one day, Carissa Knox," he said simply, spreading his hands. "I know it's early, but it's true."
Chapter 19
Carissa bit her lip, a little taken aback by what Hugh had said — but he was already waving his hands, clearly worried about frightening her.
"Don't mistake me, Carissa, this isn't a proposal. I'd want a great deal more ceremony for that," he added, his eyes twinkling. "But I want you to know… this isn't just a fling, for me. I've never felt so strongly about someone before."
"Me neither," she admitted, her heart full of warmth as she looked at him.
A tentative smile cam
e across his face and she resisted the urge to throw herself into his arms, well aware that if she started kissing him they were inevitably going to get distracted… and she wanted to see this conversation all the way through.
"I care about you a lot, Hugh. I've been wondering… honestly, I've been wondering if part of the reason I came here wasn't… well, you."
"The reason?" He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"I mean — the doorway has been there for centuries, right? Thousands of people have probably visited it, seen it, even gone through it. The fact that when I went through it I came back here… well, something else must have been going on, right?" She took a deep breath, aware she was spilling a lot of information that she'd been intending to keep to herself — but Hugh had been honest with her, and she felt like returning the intimacy. "I think Scathach — if she's the one who's behind the doorway — wanted me to be here. And I think she wanted me to meet you."
He nodded thoughtfully. "So, my mother's been telling you about Scathach."
"Among other things," she said, flushing a little. "She actually lent me the book with the herbs in it…"
He chuckled, and she felt a wave of relief that he was amused, not annoyed, by his mother's slight interference in their affairs. "That's my mother, alright. Eminently practical. I suppose with seven children…"
"Indeed," Carissa said drily. "And I'd rather not get started on that kind of count just yet, if it's all the same to you." She hesitated, glancing at him across the space between them. "Which is not to say I wouldn't want children someday."
He smiled back at her, reaching out to take her hand in his. "Glad to hear it."
And then they rapidly grew distracted with each other. Later, lying in his arms in the afterglow of their lovemaking, Carissa found her mind straying back to the subject of fertility. The idea of having a child… it had always filled her with fear, back in the city. She could barely afford to keep a roof over her head and her fridge full of food — the idea of adding the expense and work of a child to the mixture had been out of the question. But here and now, in this beautiful place, with all her needs seen to and a caring, hardworking man by her side? She could see herself with a baby in her arms… and to her surprise, the thought filled her with joy.
Hold A Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (A Highlander Across Time Book 3) Page 11