“I suppose I’ve just had more to do with them in the last few years,” he replied. “They’re always turning up where they’re not wanted, so the Clans call in the Gunns to deal with them.”
“Why do they call in the Gunns?” she asked. “Why not call in the British Army or some other authority?”
“Oh, they do,” he replied. “They call in the Redcoats if the Lewises really cause trouble, but that never solves the underlying problem.”
“What is the underlying problem?” Ree asked.
“The Lewises themselves are the underlying problem,” he replied. “Now, if ye’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to.”
Ree jumped to her feet. “Wait a minute. You said the Gunns know that spell, and Cora said you could help me get back to my own time. You could use the spell to send me back.”
He turned to face her, and this time, she didn’t like the look on his face at all. “Och, well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? This Ned of yers is a Lewis. That much is clear, and he sent ye here for a reason. Until we find out what that reason is, I cannae send ye back. What I really mean to say is I dinnae want to send ye back. Ye’ll help us find out what he wants and what he’s up to. Only then will I send you back.”
“Hey!” she cried. “You can’t do this!”
She might as well have been yelling into the wind. He walked out of the house without another word.
Chapter 4
Ree slumped onto the bed and stared into the flames. None of this made sense. How the hell could she have traveled back in time? It was impossible outside of movies. Was she dreaming? Had to be. But no dreams were ever this real. She rapped her knuckles on her prosthesis. A hollow sound rang out. Yep, couldn’t be a dream…
She let out a huff. So, she’d been tricked by Ned in the future to recite a spell that sent her winging back in time to the Scottish Highlands for some reason or other. Made perfect sense!
She looked around, her mind telling her that it was all very real. It was actually happening, and she had to just accept it. Getting back to her own time was the most important thing, not understanding the science behind time travel or realizing that string theory, quantum mechanics, and multiverses were all very, very real. And hey, magic spells were even real—who’d have thunk it! Wait until they hear about that!
Or even thinking about Ned.
Ned! She recalled his face. That brilliant smile that had lit up her whole world, the magical eyes that had accepted everything about her, his comforting presence close to her—that liar! That rat! He’d concocted that whole ruse about going for a walking meeting to get her to the pond. He did this to her on purpose—and for what?
She wanted to hate him, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t forget the look on his face when he saw her leg. She’d never showed her prosthesis to anybody, not even her closest friends. She was too ashamed of it. He gazed on it like it was the most natural thing in the world. He just didn’t care. It didn’t change his opinion of her in the slightest. How could she hate someone like that?
If he was right, then her whole view of herself was wrong. Missing a leg didn’t make her a disgusting freak at all. It was just another part of her. She replayed his words in her mind again and again. “I don’t pity you. I respect you, but I don’t respect you in spite of it. I respect you because of it.”
Why did she prize the opinion of a liar like him? How could a few words mean so much? How could he shatter her world like this? He’d sent her back in time. Why? Where did he learn that spell in the first place? Malcolm said only the Gunns knew the spell, and they hadn’t used it in centuries.
Something about this whole situation didn’t add up, and Malcolm was definitely hiding something. He wasn’t used to answering questions about himself, and he didn’t like it.
He’d tried to turn her against Ned, but his questioning and evasive nonanswers only solidified her connection to Ned. Malcolm, on the other hand, gave her the creeps. She’d told him everything she knew, while he had hid the truth. Ned hadn’t done that. He’d exposed himself by telling her sensitive information. He’d put her at ease when she showed him her leg. He’d given her some personal ammunition to use against him if she wanted. He’d put himself in her hands the same way she’d put herself in his.
While she sat there thinking about everything, Malcolm came back. Instead of pacing around, he sat down a little too close to her on the bed.
“I’ve been making some inquiries. I still haven’t found this Ned Lewis, but that means nothing. He could be using an alias, but I have an idea how to find him. Ye could go out to their camp and find him. Find the man who sent you back here.”
“Ned won’t be here,” she replied. “He’s back in my own time, where I came from.”
He shook his head. “Just go out there and look for him. See if he’s there. I’ll send an escort to protect you and bring you back. Once we find him, we can find out what he’s up to and why he sent you. The sooner ye go, the sooner we can send you home.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but he raised his hand.
Malcolm trailed his finger across her forehead to move a stray wisp of hair aside. His eyes bored into her soul from inches away, and he whispered, “Ree, we can’t stop these devils without you. We need you more than you needed us on that beach. We need you to find out where this Ned is and what he’s planning. No one can do this but you.”
“But I keep telling you,” Ree replied, “Ned isn’t here. He’s three hundred years in the future.”
He shook his head. His big hand covered hers, and he spoke so low she could barely hear him. “Don’t rob me of all hope, Ree. All our hopes rest on you.”
She swallowed hard and gathered her resolve to say something else when a deafening explosion shook the house. Ree jumped out of her skin, and Malcolm launched himself off the bed, lunged for the door, and tore it open.
Ree looked out the open door just as a second explosion went off not twenty feet away. Something struck the bare earth and sent a shower of sod and grass flying into the air. It spattered the house wall, and clods and stones peppered Ree in the face. People were screaming and running in all directions.
A missile came hurtling out of the sky and crashed into a house right in front of Ree’s eyes. The building burst into a catastrophic plume of stone, thatch, and wooden beams.
Ree drew back in horror and then crept closer to the door, though she hardly dared peek outside.
Cora appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Ree by the hand. “Come!” she cried. “Ye must take shelter with the others.”
“What’s happening?” Ree asked. “What’s going on?”
“The pirates are attacking,” Cora yelled over the din.
“Pirates!” Ree cried. “Where are they?”
“They’re bombarding us from their ship,” Cora replied. “Come. There’s no time to explain.” She hustled Ree outside and through the motley collection of houses.
More explosions rocked the village all around them. Cora and Ree joined a crowd of men, women, and children fleeing the village in mobs. Ree glanced back over her shoulder. For the first time since she’d entered this village, she noticed the sea laid out smooth and calm beyond the last row of houses. The village was perched on a hilltop overlooking a cove. A huge three-masted galleon sat in the middle of the inlet, puffs of smoke belching from its sides.
Ree didn’t wait around to see more. She ran for it along with everyone else. She didn’t want anything to do with any pirates. She tripped and stumbled over her long skirts, and Cora helped her up. “Hurry!”
“Where are we going?” Ree asked.
“We’re going somewhere we’ll be safe,” Cora breathed, “but we dinnae have much time. They’ll land their boats in a minute, and the whole village must evacuate before that happens. They’ll slaughter anyone left behind.”
Ree cast one more desperate glance over her shoulder, and her heart jumped into her throat. Three boats pushed off from the galleon and rowed
for shore. She rushed forward but was caught up within the stampeding villagers and couldn’t force her way through them. The fleeing horde ran over the opposite hill to another inlet set into the shore. Two more boats waited there. People piled into them, carrying whatever possessions they had grabbed on their way. The villagers overloaded the boats beyond the danger point before rowing away to a small sloop waiting in the channel. Ree was in the crowd of people waiting for the boats to unload and row back. Every moment dragged on, punctuated by Ree’s heart pounding. No way could everyone get on board the sloop in time. If the pirates came over that hill, they were done for.
How long would it take the pirates to get through the village and come after them? She didn’t want to think about it but couldn’t help herself. She looked back up the hill in the direction from which she came. No one was there, but they might just have a few minutes left to escape.
The boats took ages to unload. People yelled across the channel for them to hurry. One empty boat left the sloop and started the arduous trip back to shore. The other rocked and swayed with people still struggling to board the sloop.
As the first boat arrived on shore, the villagers punched and kicked each other in a desperate struggle to get on board. One woman fell into the water screaming. A man launched himself at the boat and dragged another man out, hurled him down on the beach, and delivered a hearty kick to his ribs. Then he picked up the woman and put her in the boat in the fallen man’s place.
Ree hung back. Much as she yearned to find a place in that boat and get out of here, she wouldn’t get into a fight with anybody over it. One person’s life wasn’t worth more than another.
The first boat shoved off, and the second boat started back just as a battle cry caused Ree to spin around. Twenty kilted Highlanders had charged over the hill and were barreling down on the hapless villagers. For some reason, she hadn’t expected the pirates to be Highlanders too. She’d imagined something out of Treasure Island when Cora first warned her about them. Instead, she found herself confronted with a bunch of bellowing, sword-wielding, kilted men running full tilt toward her only escape.
Despite everyone screaming for the second boat to hurry, the rowers stopped rowing. They didn’t want to come near the shore.
Villagers ran up and down the beach, but it was too late. The pirates thundered in and cut down any man that stood up to them. Women and children cowered behind the brave men who tried to hold off the marauders.
Ree shrank into a ball. She couldn’t look. When she dared peek out, she saw a swirl of plaid-covered bodies and swords flashing in the gray light before she covered her face again. When an arm slipped around her waist and lifted her off the ground, she tore her hands away from her eyes to find a big muscular character carrying her off in the direction of the village.
“Get off me! Let me go! You bastard! Let me go!” Ree kicked and screamed and tried to pry herself from his grip, but all her efforts failed.
The man paid no attention to her ranting and tightened his grip around her waist until it hurt. He carried her up the hill and back to the village.
Ree lost sight of the villagers on the shore, then had the idea to look for Malcolm. What happened to him? Of everyone in the village, he would be able to tackle these men. She screamed louder than ever. “Malcolm! Malcolm, help me!”
The pirate holding her entered the village, and all her hopes died. Two dozen men were rifling the houses and looting whatever they could find, then torching them. Flames woofed into the thatch of a house right next to her, the sound and smell sending Ree into a frenzy. She tried to wrench herself around to bite and scratch her captor but couldn’t reach him. He only hooked her over his shoulder and continued his trek to haul her down to the cove. He dumped her into one of the boats and crammed her down in the bilge, his meaty hand clamped on her shoulder to hold her in place.
Ree gave up the fight. She could never get away from these men. She looked up at the man holding her down, and he glared back down at her. A scruffy red beard covered half his face, and glittering blue eyes pierced her to her core. He wore a red-and-green kilt belted around his waist. A swath of plaid covered a blue uniform jacket smudged with soot and what looked like bloodstains. He wore a sword on one hip and a long dirk stuck into his belt in front. The other men piling into the boat wore similar clothes. They all carried themselves with an imposing superiority Ree wouldn’t expect from common pirates. These men didn’t strike her as petty criminals. They reminded her more of Vikings who knew exactly what they were doing. They had acted in calculated strategies to inflict maximum damage on their enemies.
Ree’s heart sank when the boat pushed off. Nothing remained of the village that gave her shelter. Where were Malcolm and Cora now? Did the pirates kill them too, along with the rest of the villagers?
This situation had turned into much more of horrific a nightmare than she’d ever thought possible. Not only had she been transported back in time, but now she’d been taken captive by bloodthirsty villains. She didn’t even want to think about was waiting for her when they got her on board their ship.
The boat swished along the water as the pirates rowed out to the galleon. As they came to rest alongside the ship, Ree saw curly golden letters on the prow that read Prometheus. Her guard didn’t wait for her to climb out by herself. He circled her waist with his hands and lifted her up to the four men looking down from the ship. They dragged her over the side and dumped her onto the deck.
The galleon heaved and swayed as kilted legs surrounded her on all sides. She hardly dared look up at their faces. They nudged her with their feet and poked her with their fingers and said things in a strange language; then they all burst out laughing.
The man who’d captured her grabbed her by the arm and gave it a yank. “Stand up,” he said in a thick Scottish accent.
As he set her on her feet, all the pirates moved in at once. Someone touched her hair, and one of them squeezed her butt. She jumped and whipped around to confront him as more hands slithered in from all sides. They groped and pinched her, and a hand slid up under her skirts. She spun back the other way but couldn’t keep up with all of them at once. They would be on top of her in a second. Her heart raced. This couldn’t happen. She refused to accept it, but their faces told her the awful truth. They leered at her, their tongues darting between their gnashing teeth.
In a panic, Ree did her best to bat their hands away, but they only crowded closer. The harder she resisted, the more insistent they got. They squashed her between their bodies, and the powerful scent of men filled her brain. Their hands converged all over her. She screamed, and a hand clamped over her mouth to silence her. This was it. She was going down under this mob of ship rats.
All at once, a voice thundered across the deck. “Stop!”
Every man froze, and then the tide of chests and shoulders parted and a single man strode across the deck toward her. The pirates separated to make room for him, and he stopped in front of her, his eyes meeting hers.
Ree couldn’t believe what she was seeing as she gasped, “Ned!”
Chapter 5
The strange woman with the pretty face and boyish haircut rushed toward him and grabbed his hand. “Ned! Ned, it’s me, Ree. Oh, thank God you’re here!”
He frowned down at her. “That is no’ me name. I dinnae ken any Ned.”
A cloud crossed her face. “You’re…you have to be. I recognize you! Don’t you know me?”
He drew himself up and freed his hand from hers. “Me name’s not Ned. Me name’s Niall. Captain Niall Lewis, and I dinnae ken ye from Eve. Ye’re me prisoner for now, until I learn where ye come from and find the people to ransom you.”
“Ransom me?” she stammered.
“In the meantime, ye’ll make a nice addition to me cabin. When I’m finished with ye, the men can have ye.”
Captain Lewis snapped his fingers, and Gilias Luga, his friend and first mate, grabbed her arm. She twisted and jerked until her arm hurt, but she might ha
ve spared herself the effort. No one could make a dent in that iron fist. He marched her across the deck and up a flight of steps, then pushed her through a door.
Niall stood still on the deck, listening to her protests fade away. Whoever she was, she didn’t belong to that village. Rather, she looked like she must be some high-born lady gone astray. What were the Gunns doing with her way out on the Isle of Lewis? That she seemed to recognize him made him want to find out more about her before he discarded her to the lower deck. He didn’t often come across a lady as fine as she was, and she might provide some useful information on the Gunns’ activities.
He went aft and paced up and down the deck in thought for a long time. His blood tingled at the thought of her waiting in his cabin. He was going to enjoy this, and he doubly enjoyed prolonging the pleasure of breaking her so she would tell him all her secrets.
He watched the men returning from shore. They squabbled over their booty the way they always did, and he didn’t intervene. When everyone had returned, he gave orders to the helm to put out to sea. Only then did he go below.
He passed down a heaving gangway to the cabin door and listened. No sound came from within. He smiled to himself when he thought of her inside. Was she scared? Was she seething in righteous indignation at her treatment? At least she owed him a debt for saving her from the crew. Maybe she would be particularly accommodating in concession to that.
He opened the door and stepped inside. Rather than finding her in a puddle of tears or a spitting rage, he spotted her standing by the windows. She gazed aft at the wake swirling behind the ship without turning around when he entered and shut the door behind him.
He studied her from behind. She was a queer bird, whoever she was, and sparked his natural curiosity. She was no parlor trollop, as much as he might like her to be. Some depth of intensity lay buried under that mild exterior, and he set his mind to uncover it.
Pirates of the Angui (Cipher's Kiss Book 1): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 4