Dreamlander

by Samantha Liddell

  Chapter Twenty

  An unwelcome visitor from the past

  I found a secluded place to rest at the far back of the campsite, in between two sand dunes. The freshwater Sandwood Loch stretched out not far from where I sat. I was far enough away to be able to clear my head, refocus and be alone. I could still see all the scattered lights that were placed around the campsite, and hear the occasional voices from people who had obviously had one too many drinks.I felt confident in finding my way back safely.

  I sat on a nice lush bit of grass, lay onto my back and took in the sight of the night sky. I then started to think about what I had learnt that day about Caer Ibormeith and how it all fitted perfectly with my and Scott’s situation. Had I really chosen Scott by appearing to him in his dream? Did I pursue Scott within my dream? I felt even more confused than before I got here.

  I heard rustling coming up towards me from behind. “Scott please, just let me be, I need to be alone right now,” I said. Only it wasn’t Scott at all. It was dark so I couldn’t see his face, I had earlier turned my torch off and lay it down beside me when I had first sat down, I was trying to save the batteries.

  “Well, well, well, who do we have here?” I heard the voice say. It was definitely not Scott as it sounded nothing like him. This person was speaking in an Irish accent, not a Scottish one. I fumbled around for my torch, unable to locate it until a moment or two later. it; It had rolled under my leg. I grabbed it and turned it on and shone it straight onto the person’s face. And there it was, the face from my dreams looking straight back at me. It was the Emmet, the Irish hitchhiker from Cairns.

  “What is a young lass like yourself doing so far away from the campsite all alone? You must be asking for trouble. Well if it’s trouble you want, then its trouble you shall get,” he said slyly.

  “No, you are hugely mistaken,” I said, “I just wanted to be alone and have some time to think.”

  “Be that so lass, you are indeed very alone and from here nobody will hear your screams of pleasure.”

  His torch was on the ground now, it was shining right into my eyes and I was having trouble seeing what direction I needed to run away from him in. I tried to get up to run back to Scott at the campsite, but as I turned, and was halfway up onto my feet, I felt a cold hand grip my ankle and pull me back. I struggled to break free from his tight grip by kicking with all my strength. I needed more of that energy that crystal had given me earlier, I thought.

  He pulled me under him and slapped the side of my face with such force I blacked out for a second or two. When I came to, I could feel Emmet’s body weight pushing up against me and his hand unzipping his pants while his other hand was struggling to pull down mine. I yelled, “No, no, no, get off me you disgusting piece of filth.”

  I was using every bit of my strength to roll him off me but was not succeeding. He grabbed my hair and pulled it as if to show me he was in control now. I was unable to move. He was strong, his face was an inch away from mine and I could smell his breath, it stank of tobacco and larger.

  “Give up lass, just enjoy it, you know you want it,” he said.

  I spat in his face, “Never, you revolt me.”

  He looked shocked at first then laughed as he wiped my spit away and said, “Is that the best you can do? Sadly, it’s not good enough lass.”

  He pulled my hair even tighter. I was unable to move his body weight off me or turn my head. He was about to kiss me roughly, and he would have succeeded if it wasn’t for a familiar voice I heard coming from behind Emmet’s back.

  “I canane allow you to do this. Get off the lass right this minute.”

  Emmet turned around to see who was behind him. He leaned over and fumbled for his torch before picking it up, all the time still on top of me. He shone it right onto the person's face. I was able to lift my head now since Emmet had let go of his grip around my hair to pick up his torch, and to my surprise I saw Scott’s son. It was Brysen, and Bonnie standing there in shock behind him.

  Emmet laughed. “Or what, you will go running off to tell your mummy, little boy. You don’t scare me one little bit.”

  “Oh, don’t I now? Well, I will after this.”

  And with that, Brysen scrunched his fist up into a ball, pulled his arm back then swung at Emmet’s cheekbone with such force that he knocked him right back. He was knocked out for a good few minutes, just enough time for Brysen to push him off me.

  “Brysen, what on earth are you doing here?”

  “That’s not important now Letticia. Bonnie, go and find my father and bring him here. I will stay here with Letticia and this scumbag until you get back.”

  “Will do, I won’t be long,” Bonnie ensured us.

  I was starting to shake; I was going into shock. Brysen took his jacket off and put it around me. I thanked him. I must have fainted with shock after that as when I woke up, I saw Bonnie was now back along with Scott and a security officer that was hired for the weekend. He was handcuffing Emmet, who had regained consciousness. How ironic, I thought. He was in handcuffs in my dream too.

  Brysen and Bonnie went back to the campsite with the officer and Emmet to ensure he was dealt with properly, while Scott stayed with me until I was ready to go back.

  Scott sat with me, my head rested on his lap. I still wasn’t ready to get up and make my way back to our tent. He ran his fingers through my hair ever so gently.

  “Scott, did you know who that was?” I asked.

  “Yes, I recognised him straight away, he was that snake Emmet from Cairns in our dream,” Scott replied.

  “None of this still makes any sense,” I said.

  “Well we didn’t really make a very good first impression with Fletcher did we now. We ended up getting into an argument with each other and storming off before we could even ask one single question,” Scott said.

  “Yes, I’m sorry about that,” I replied.

  “I’m just as much sorry as you are, I just hope we can arrange another private meeting with him before we leave.”

  “So do I, I promise to keep my cool this time.”

  “I’m just glad Brysen got to you before Emmet had the chance to have his way with you, I would never have forgiven myself if Emmet had managed to get inside of you lass,” Scott angrily said.

  The thought of that started to make me feel dizzy and faint again. I had to close my eyes. I’m not sure how long my eyes were shut for, but I passed out once again and awoke to find myself in cradle-like position and being carried back to our tent in Scott’s arms.

  I came to in a panic, “What’s happening, where am I, put me down you disgusting piece of filth.” I soon realised it was Scott whose arms I was in and not those of Emmet.

  “It’s ok lass, it’s me, Scott, I’m taking you back to our tent so you can rest up for the night. I won’t be leaving your side, you are safe with me.”

  Scott had a headlight wrapped around his head so he could see where he was walking while both his hands were holding me. I’m not sure where he managed to find it from, but I had no strength to even ask. I just looked up at him and said quietly, “Thank you Scott.”

  “Aye, you just rest lass, I will get you back safely.”

  I did, in fact, enjoy every minute in Scott’s arms. For the first time in a very long time I actually genuinely felt safe and protected by somebody else. It was nice to let my guard down and allow somebody else to watch out for me other than myself.

  The motion that was rocking me back and forth while Scott navigated his way back had put me back to sleep. The next time I awoke was when Scott was carefully putting me down into bed. He placed me on the rollout mattress inside our tent. My eyes were only open for a minute or two, enough to see that Brysen and Bonnie were here too and a little campfire had been built to keep me warm. The warmth of it and the stunning glow of it sent me straight back off to sleep. I felt content and safe. As I drifted off, I heard Scott, Brysen, and Bonnie talking, but was not able to conclude what they were saying. Their
voices just sounded muffled as I fell asleep.

  “Will she be ok father?” Brysen asked, concerned.

  “Aye, that she will son, she’s just suffering from extreme exhaustion. She just needs to rest up and keep her fluids up. I will be here for her, I’m not leaving her side again,” Scott said.

  “Poor Letticia, that was extremely close,” Brysen said.

  “Aye that it was son. Thanks to you it didn’t end up differently. Which brings me to my next question, what on earth are you and Bonnie even doing here?” Scott asked as he filled up all three cups with tea that had been heating up over the campfire.

  “Well, we followed you and Letticia, we wanted to know what you two were up to. You were both acting very strange and we wanted to find out why.”

  “Well, you could have just asked son, but thankfully you didn’t or you wouldn’t have made the treck out to here and saved Letticia from that snake Emmet. But for now, son, let’s just leave it at that. I will say this though, we are both here to get answers which we are yet to find, but as soon as we do, I will tell you all about it from the very beginning.”

  Brysen was happy with that and left it and didn’t pressure Scott to tell him anything else, for now anyway. He leaned over to Bonnie and embraced her in a hug. “Well, what a day we have had aye Bonnie. I tell you what, I am looking forward to my head hitting that pillow tonight, that was one big treck in today.”

  “That is was, but the views made up for it,” Bonnie replied. Brysen and Bonnie looked at Scott, he was starting to look weary himself. It had been an emotional and physical day for everybody involved.

  “Well we might hit the sack,” Brysen announced, as he took his last sip of tea. Brysen and Bonnie’s tent was pitched on the other side of the campsite.

  “Aye, that explains the other King that was on the booking sheet,” Scott said. Brysen looked confused. “Aye it's not important son, just have a good sleep and I will see you in the morning. And thank you again for what you did for Letticia. Hope your hand heals quickly,” Scott said. “Aye I’m tough, nothing I can’t handle.” Brysen cheekily said. “That’s my boy,” Scott said and gave Brysen a hug before they left.

  Scott climbed into the tent beside me. His roll out mattress was placed beside mine. He kept his headlight on so he could see me and double check I was fine before falling asleep himself. Before he did though he felt my forehead one last time to check my temperature. It felt normal, but before he knew it his hands were now running through my hair as he said a blessing.

  “Dream when the day is through,

  Dream that your dreams come true,

  Things are never as bad as they seem,

  So, dream, dream, dream,

  We all have our time machines,

  Some take us back,

  They’re called memories,

  Some take us forward,

  They’re called dreams.

  Oidhchemhath my moghraidh. (Goodnight my darling)

  And sweet dreams.”

  Scott now switched of his headlight and climbed inside his sleeping bag. He was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Have a little faith

  True to the Scottish weather, I awoke to the sound of raindrops landing hard onto the roof of the tent. I had yet to open my eyes; the sound of the rain was comforting to the ear, as was the cold sensation of patting I could feel upon my forehead.

  I opened just one eye first, to peak at what this strange sensation I was feeling could be, only to find Scott there with a cold wet cloth in his hand dabbing my forehead. I opened both eyes up now to be welcomed to a new day by a handsome Scottish man called Scott.

  “Good morning Sassenach, how did you sleep? I awoke first so I checked on you, and noticed you were running quite the temperature so tried to bring it down for you,” Scott said.

  “Thanks, Scott, Yeah I still don’t feel 100%, but more importantly did you just call me Sassenach? You haven’t called me that since I came out of my coma. You don’t know how much I have wanted you to call me that,” I said excitedly.

  “Letticia, you have always been my Sassenach and you always will be my Sassenach. I just needed time to adjust to this situation. I didn’t want to take advantage of you, I’m not that kind of guy. But after going to that workshop yesterday and learning about Caer Ibormeith, the Goddess of Dreams, I realised I just needed to have a bit of faith, a bit of confidence, and trust in myself and my life. Yes, this whole Caer Ibormeith is just a myth and you choose to believe it or not, and I decided I’m going to believe it Letticia.

  You are the swan that came to me in my dreams and captured my heart. Faith is belief without evidence. And I understand that is a hard concept for you to grasp Letticia as you are somebody who has always needed evidence, as you told me. I am now asking you to please just have a little faith this time. This is our story, this is how we met. You are my shapeshifting Sassenach.”

  I gave a little giggle, “Ohhhh I do like the sound of that,” I replied.

  It was raining heavily now and the cold air was busting to find a way inside the tent. I snuggled down further inside my sleeping bag to try and find any bit of warmth I could. Scott unzipped his sleeping bag completely and made it into one big blanket, putting one half of it over me and the other half over himself. I turned onto my side and Scott placed his hand upon my back as we both fell back to sleep. There wasn’t much more to do with the rain bucketing down outside.

  I had gone back to sleep for only an hour or so when I awoke to a loud commotion happening outside. I turned to Scott to ask him what was happening, but I was greeted with an empty camp mattress. I then heard Scott’s voice yelling at somebody outside.

  “The nerve of you to show your disgraceful mug of a face here.”

  I looked outside to see Scott and Emmet standing in the pouring rain having an altercation. Scott stood a fair few feet taller than Emmett, and I could see Emmett was intimidated by Scott’s overpowering presence.

  “How dare you lay you dirty hands upon my Letticia,” Scott yelled.

  “Well she was asking for it, being out there all on her own, I just gave her what she wanted. Now let me pass I’m just going to pack up my stuff. I have been kicked out of this stupid convention,” Emmet mumbled.

  “Oh, I will let you pass just after I do this.” Scott proceeded to do as Brysen had the night before. He scrunched up his fist and pulled his arm back and was ready to give Emmett a well-deserved punch in the face until I stopped him and took hold of his arm that was in motion, stopping it from going any further.

  I yelled, “Stop Scott, he’s not worth it, let him go.”

  Scott looked at the desperation in my eyes. “Please,” I begged. Scott withdrew from the punch and let Emmett pass and be on his way. Scott and I watched the sad case of a man walk away in the rain alone. Scott put his dripping wet arm around my body and said, “Sassenach, you are soaked to the bone. You are not well, we need to get you dry.”

  I looked up at Scott and said, “It’s nice to have my very own Claire on hand. You do make a very good healer.” Scott laughed and said, amongst a whole lot of other things he said with a wink, “Now Obey your healer and get into the tent and get dry.”

  “Yes, master whatever you say master,” I replied. I was on a roll this morning. I’d been called Sassenach and given a wink from Scott. Maybe all I had needed this whole time was a bit of faith, just as Scott had told me to have.

  I took off my wet clothes and got changed into some dry clothes I had in my backpack. As I was pulling my clothes out my journal fell out also. I hadn’t written in it since yesterday morning. I decided now was a good time, with the rain pouring down and Scott outside attending to some loose tent pegs. I was over half way through my journal with all my entries. I opened it up to the next clear page and proceeded to jot down all that had happened in the last 24 hours.

  As I was writing, a photo of Polly and Leah slipped out and onto my knee. I picked it u
p and looked long and hard at it, as if by some magical spell they would jump out of the photo and give me a big hug. Stranger things have happened, I thought. I was really starting to miss my girls. We had no phone reception out here so I decided I would call them the moment I got back in range.

  Scott reappeared dripping wet. I threw him a towel to dry himself off with. He then took off his shirt. At that moment I realised I had not yet seen any part of Scott’s naked body in real life and I very much liked what I saw.

  “Aye Sassenach, you already have a temperature, don’t go getting yourself even hotter.”

  “Well, don’t take your shirt off in front of me then,” I teased as I threw my pillow at him.

  “You will pay for that,” Scott said.

  “Oh yeah, how so?” I asked.

  “By doing this.” Scott leaned in towards me to give me a kiss. As he did so I realised also that I had never actually kissed Scott in real life, only in my dreams. And I wasn’t about to either, as at that very moment we heard a man at the tent door saying, “Knock knock, it’s only me, Fletcher.”

  Scott looked at me and said, “It’s Fletcher?”

  “I know I heard him too,” I replied

  We were both slightly embarrassed with our actions last night and didn’t know what Fletcher was even doing here.

  “Aye, we will be right with you. I’m just getting changed into some dry clothes,” Scott said.

  “Aye, no problem,” Fletcher said.

  Once Scott was fully dressed he opened the tent door to be greeted with Fletcher, who was standing under an umbrella. “I have come to check on you both after our little episode last night,” Fletcher said.