Promise of a Highlander

by Baker, Katy

  "You have to...stop him..." Ross gasped. "Vulnerable...outside the circle." His lungs burned and waves of dizziness made him stagger. He leaned heavily against the wall, sucking in great breaths. He tried to move but his strength had left him and his legs felt as weak as a newborn pup’s. He’d done what he could. It was up to Lia now.

  LIA LICKED HER LIPS, hefted the wooden pole and stood in front of Ross protectively. If the bastard wanted Ross, he'd have to get through her.

  "Back off," she hissed at the old man.

  The creature crouched a few paces away, mouth twisted in a sneer.

  "Or what?" he said. "Ye will give me a scolding? Tell me I'm to get to bed without my supper? Ye canna harm me. Ye are weak. A failure. I can see into the core of ye, Emilia Shaw. Ye let yer father down. Ye will let Ross down too."

  Lia felt the blood drain from her face. How did he know about her father?

  She lifted her chin, gripping the club tightly. "Ever heard the phrase 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me?' I know what you're up to and it won't work. I'm not afraid of you. You hold no power over me."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are ye sure?"

  He sprang at Lia. For somebody who looked so old, he moved shockingly fast. One moment he was on the other side of the hold, the next he was in her face, his fingers reaching for her neck, his teeth snapping.

  Lia screamed. Reflexively she swung the piece of wood. It connected with the Fae’s shoulder and the tip scraped along his upper arm. The creature’s reaction was not what Lia expected.

  With a howl, the Fae recoiled, clutching his arm. Where the club had scratched him his flesh was red and smoking.

  What the hell?

  "It burns!" the Fae hissed.

  The tip! Lia realized. The iron tip of one of the river stakes! It scratched his arm.

  Iron. Anathema to fairy creatures. Hadn’t she heard that somewhere?

  With a howl of fury, the Fae began scrambling across the hold towards the safety of his chalk circle. But Lia was quicker. She threw herself after him, got her hands around his waist and took them both crashing to the ground. The impact was hard enough to knock the wind out of her and send the club rolling out of her grasp.

  Something came slashing at her face and she rolled away just as a bronze blade sliced the air where her face had been. With a cry of fright she scrambled to her feet and backed off but the Fae leapt after her, a bronze dagger clutched in his fist. She put herself between the Fae and the chalk circle, determined to stop him from reaching it but she’d lost her weapon and the Fae’s dagger —where he’d gotten it from she had no idea—gleamed dangerously in the dim light.

  He grinned at her and lunged, moving faster than a striking snake. Lia had less than a heartbeat to register the blade slashing for her throat and even less time to move. Somehow she managed to jerk out of the way and instead of slicing her throat, the knife cut out a hank of her hair.

  Keeping her eyes on the creature, she backed off. Her foot brushed the edge of the chalk circle but she was careful not to step inside. But she was trapped. She had nowhere else to go.

  The Fae realized this too. A slow smile spread across his face. He took a step towards Lia, a cat stalking a mouse.

  Then his black eyes bulged in sudden shock as an iron-tipped stake burst from his chest. Ross stepped up behind him, ripped the iron spike out of the Fae's back and stabbed again, this time impaling the creature through the stomach. Releasing the stake, he grabbed Lia and thrust her behind him.

  Making a horrible wailing noise, the Fae clawed at the spike that impaled him but he seemed unable to grip it properly, as though its surface was slippery. Around the wound, his skin began to redden and the stink of burning flesh filled the hold.

  "Curse ye!" he spat at Ross. "Curse ye! Ye will come to regret this day."

  Then he made an odd gesture with his right hand and he evaporated into smoke. The chalk circle flared hotly and when the glare subsided the old man was gone. The iron-shod spike and the bronze dagger lay on the floor in a pool of blood.

  Lia stared, wide-eyed. "Is he gone?" she croaked. "Is it over?"

  Ross didn't answer. He remained staring at the spike as though it was a viper that might bite him.

  "Ross?" she asked again. “Is it over?”

  "Aye, lass," said another voice from behind her. "It is over."

  With a cry of alarm, Lia spun. A figure stepped out of the shadows, a small figure with a bun at the back of her head. A figure Lia recognized.

  It was Irene MacAskill.

  LIA STARED AT THE OLD woman, her brain trying to catch up with all that had happened. She backed away. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

  Irene smiled and there was a hint of sadness in it. "It is time for ye to make yer final choice. Come."

  The scene around Lia dissolved. The ship's hold melted away and Lia found herself standing on the windswept cliff top on the edge of Devil's Bridge. Ahead of her, two men were fighting, punching and kicking and grappling back and forth across the headland.

  With a gasp, she recognized Ross and the other looked so like him it could only be his twin brother, Ramsay.

  She rounded on Irene. "Why have you brought me here?"

  "We have stepped outside of time now, lass. Ye, me and Ross MacAuley. As it must be, we have returned to where it all began," Irene replied. "This is the event and subsequent choices that threw the balance out of kilter and sent a good man on a path to destruction. This is where it must end. Everything comes full circle."

  A sudden cry pulled Lia's gaze back to the combatants. Ross’s brother was tottering near the cliff edge. A look of utter dismay twisted Ross's face. His brother staggered, arms whirling. He lost his footing, and stumbled over the edge. Ross launched himself after his brother. He landed on his stomach with a thump, outstretched arms grabbing his brother's arm. Ramsay was left dangling over the cliff, only Ross's tenuous grip keeping him from plunging to his death.

  "Why are you showing me this?" Lia whispered in horror. Her heart ached for Ross. For Ramsay. She felt helpless. Useless.

  "Havenae I already told ye?" Irene replied. "It is time to make yer choice."

  She pointed along the coast and Lia saw that a crumbling archway had formed from a half-collapsed wall. The space beneath the arch shimmered like heat-haze. Through it she saw the ruins of an abbey covered in scaffolding, people in hard-hats and high-viz jackets scurrying around.

  "The building site," she breathed. "Home."

  Irene nodded. "If ye walk through that archway ye will return to the time ye left. To the life ye left."

  Lia tore her gaze away from the archway and looked again at Ross and his brother. "Help them," she said to Irene. "Stop this. Save Ramsay. Save Ross."

  "I canna," Irene replied. "I can only preserve the balance. These events have already happened. Nobody within the flow of time can change them."

  Lia glanced again at the archway. Home. It was so close she could almost touch it. Hadn't it been what she’d wanted ever since she came to this time? Maybe, but now she realized she wanted something else, something much more important.

  "Inside the flow of time?" she said, raising her head as Irene’s words suddenly penetrated. "Nobody inside the flow of time can stop it? But I stand outside the flow of time don't I?"

  Irene didn't answer. She just gazed steadily at Lia.

  Lia spun, turned her back on the archway, on her way home, and pelted across the ground, out onto Devil's Bridge. Wind whipped her hair and salt spray stung her eyes.

  "I canna hold ye!" Ross cried to his brother. "Forgive me!"

  His grip slipped but Lia threw herself onto her stomach beside him, stretched her arms and grabbed Ramsay’s wrist with both hands. Ross blinked at her in shock and surprise.

  “Lia?” he whispered. “How can this be? How can we both be here?”

  “Irene,” Lia replied. “She brought us both back here—and it can only be for one reason—to save yo
ur brother. Now pull!”

  Together she and Ross braced themselves and heaved. Together, inch by slow inch, they pulled Ramsay up. Together, they dragged him over the top and the three of them collapsed on their backs, exhausted.

  Ramsay was the first to stagger to his feet. Now that she got her first really good look at him she realized that although he resembled Ross closely, she could tell them apart. His hair was a shade darker, his eyes green instead of amber and his expression was more open, without the intensity that Ross's face always wore. He stood rigidly, staring at Irene who watched from her spot at the edge of the bluff.

  "This isnae right," Ramsay said hoarsely. "This isnae meant to be. I can feel it. I should be dead."

  Ross scrambled to his feet. He stared first at his brother and then at Lia. "Am I dreaming? Is any of this real?"

  "It's real," Irene replied, moving up to stand beside them. "It is all part of the balance. Ye were never meant to be destroyed by grief, Ross MacAuley. Fate had other things in store for ye. The balance will always try to right itself."

  "And I?" said Ramsay. "What about me?"

  Irene smiled sadly. "Ah, now that isnae so simple. Even I dinna have the power to restore a life that has already been lived. This time isnae yer time any longer."

  Ramsay stared at her for a moment. "I understand. I died. There isnae a place for me here anymore."

  "Wait! What?" Ross demanded. "That canna be! I—"

  "Peace, brother," Ramsay said, soothingly. "I feel the truth of her words. I feel something plucking at me, calling me back."

  "No!" Ross yelled, grabbing the front of his brother's tunic. "I canna lose ye again! I willnae!"

  His voice was hoarse, shaking with emotion. Lia's heart broke for him. She'd never heard so much pain in anyone's voice before. She wished there was something she could do.

  Then a thought came to her. Her heart thumped wildly at the implications. Would it work? Could she do it? If she did, she would never see home again. But hadn't she already made that choice when she turned her back on the arch to help Ross? Hadn't she already made that choice when she fell in love with him?

  "Wait," she said. "There might be a way."

  Irene raised an eyebrow. "Aye, my dear?"

  "Ramsay died in this time, so he is no longer part of this time-line, right?"

  Irene nodded. Her eyes shone, as though she guessed where Lia was going with this and approved. Buoyed by her enthusiasm, Lia continued.

  "But we know that this isn't the only time where people have been taken out of their time-line don't we? There are others—like mine. So why can't he take my place? Why can't he go to my time?"

  She heard a sharp intake of breath from Ross but her gaze was fixed on Irene. The old woman smiled.

  "Aye, I reckon that could be done. One from this time to swap with one from yers. It would keep the balance. In theory, at least. But ye, my dear, would be trapped here."

  Lia glanced at Ross. His eyes were shining as he gazed at her and she knew she'd made the right decision. "That's not a problem. I made my choice. I'm already home."

  Ross said not a word, he didn't have to. The smile that broke over his face was like the sun coming out on a gray day. He reached out and tangled his fingers through hers.

  Irene turned to Ramsay. "Is this agreeable to ye, Ramsay MacAuley?"

  Ramsay looked at his brother, at Lia, and then back to Irene. He smiled. "Aye, I reckon it is. I feel like I've woken after a long sleep. It’s time I got back to living a little."

  Ross released Lia and walked over to stand in front of his brother. The two men, so alike and yet so very different, faced each other.

  "Can ye forgive me, brother?" Ross said hoarsely.

  Ramsay smiled. "My, ye have changed," he replied. "The man I see before me now isnae the reckless youth I once knew. Aye, Ross, of course I forgive ye. How could I not? Ye are my brother."

  Ross drew a deep breath through his nose. "Fare ye well, Ramsay. I hear the time ye are going to is full of wonders."

  Ramsay laughed lightly. "Is that so? Then I look forward to exploring them."

  The two men embraced, holding each other tightly for a long moment. Then Ramsay stepped back, nodded to Lia and Irene, and walked off along Devil's Bridge towards the archway. At the threshold he paused for a moment, raised a hand in farewell, then walked through. He disappeared as suddenly as if he'd winked out of existence.

  Irene turned to look at Lia and Ross. Her eyes, as deep an onyx as those of the old man, regarded them. But where the old man’s were filled with malice, only wisdom and compassion shone from Irene's eyes.

  "Well done," she said softly. "Ye have achieved more than I ever dared hope. Alba owes ye a debt of thanks. As do I."

  Ross took Lia's hand and held it tightly. "That creature—the one that attacked us—is he dead?"

  Irene shook her head. "I canna say for sure. The Unseelie are long lived and difficult to kill. But he will be weakened beyond measure. I hope it will be many years before he can plague Alba again."

  "And this battle of yers?" Ross asked, an edge of anger in his voice. "This struggle between the Seelie and Unseelie? Is it over now? Will ye stop using mortal kind as yer chess pieces?"

  Irene smiled sadly. "It is never over. It just is. As surely as there must be winter for there to be summer, dark for there to be light, so there must always be struggle to keep the balance. Now ye must go. We have lingered outside of time long enough. We mustnae get trapped here."

  The landscape around them suddenly dissolved and Lia found herself once again standing in the gloomy interior of the Fae ship. The chalk circle and the iron-tipped stake still lay on the floor but there was no sign of Irene.

  She and Ross shared a look. Had all of that really just happened? It already felt like a dream.

  Ross drew his sword, expression wary, and crossed to the stairs. But before he could set foot on the lowest step the sudden blaring of a horn sounded in the distance.

  Ross's expression shifted from grim determination to sudden hope. "I recognize that call!"

  He ran up the steps, Lia just behind him. They emerged on deck to find that Maggie and several of Ross's warriors had secured the ship. At the sound of their approach Maggie turned from her spot at the ship's railing and gave Lia an enquiring look. Her friend had several small cuts and scratches but looked whole enough.

  "Lia?" Maggie said. "What happened?"

  Before Lia could reply, the horn call came again. Ross ran to the ship's railing, curled his hands around the smooth wood and looked out, his face alight with hope. Now that the Fae had gone, the curtains of mist that had obscured the ship had dissipated and Lia got a good view of the battle raging on both banks of the river. The raiders, now cornered with no means of escape, fought ferociously and Dun Ringill's defenders were gradually being pushed back.

  But then she noticed something else. From the direction of Dun Ringill a line of warriors were galloping hard along the riverbank. Lia couldn’t make out their numbers but the sun glinted off freshly polished armor and weapons. A blue and red pennant snapped in the breeze.

  "The laird!" one of Ross's warriors shouted. "It's Laird MacAuley!!

  As they watched, the column of mounted warriors smashed into the lines of the raiders. The commanders shouted orders, desperately trying to rally their men, but it was no good. They were outnumbered and outmatched. Lia saw many go down in that first wave and after a few minutes of fierce fighting, the raiders began dropping their weapons, falling to their knees and throwing themselves on the laird's mercy.

  Lia pressed her eyes closed and breathed deeply. Relief washed through her so strongly that her legs went weak and for a moment she thought she might faint. Ross reached out to steady her.

  They'd done it. Oh God, it was finally over. Dun Ringill was safe. Ross was safe. She could scarcely believe it.

  She opened her eyes to find Ross staring down at her. He laid his hands on her shoulders.

  "Are ye well,
love?" he asked, concern shining in his eyes.

  She nodded. "Well? I'm better than I have been in ages. Oh God, Ross, we did it!"

  "Aye," he replied, grinning. "We did. Thanks to ye Dun Ringill is safe. Thanks to yer ingenuity my people still live. The MacAuleys have a debt to ye that can never be repaid."

  She shook her head. "There is no debt. Without a certain member of the MacAuley clan, I wouldn't have survived two days in this place." She tilted her head, met his gaze. "Without that certain member of the MacAuley clan, I would never have found my true place, which is right by his side."

  Emotion shone in his eyes as he studied her. God, he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Did he have any idea of how he took her breath away? Of how much she needed him?

  "Ross, I—"

  He put a finger to her lips to silence her. "Marry me."

  Lia started. "What?"

  "Marry me. Be my wife. Be by my side for the rest of our lives.”

  She couldn’t speak. Tears gathered, falling down her cheek. He gently reached out and brushed them away.

  "What say ye?"

  "I say yes," she croaked past the ball of emotion in her throat. "Of course I'll marry you, you idiot!"

  With a whoop of joy, Ross gathered her up and kissed her long enough and deep enough to make her dizzy. Around them Maggie and the rest of Ross's warriors broke out into raucous cheering.

  Chapter 20

  When he'd ridden out of Dun Ringill's gates this morning Ross had expected never to return. But here he was, marching at the head of his triumphant warriors, the woman who would be his wife striding by his side. Fate was a strange master indeed.

  So much had happened in the last few hours that he struggled to take it all in. The Fae that had plagued his family for generations was vanquished. Dun Ringill was saved. And his brother! His brother lived, albeit in a far distant time.

  He passed under Dun Ringill's gates and into the bailey. All the castle folk had turned out to greet them. A chorus of clapping and cheering greeted them, washing over the returning warriors like a wave. Ross led Lia up the steps to the Great Hall. A low murmuring came from within and as he neared the door, his courage faltered.