Martha set the lantern on a shelf loaded with weapons. She picked up a dirk and stuck it in her belt. Ivy surveyed the racks of weapons. “I would take an axe, but Lachlan said it’s too heavy for me.”
“Then take something else. Take something small, something ye feel comfortable with.”
Ivy’s head snapped up. One more time, she studied Martha like she’d never seen her before. This woman didn’t just pick up a weapon for the first time a few days ago. She knew more than she let on.
Ivy shook those thoughts out of her head. That was impossible. Martha spent the last several months cooking and cleaning and managing the Tower House before all this happened. She was a normal Highland lady—wasn’t she?
Ivy turned her attention back to the weapons racks, but before she could decide what to take, Christie came down the stairs. He looked around until he spotted the two women standing there. “Can I help ye two lassies with anything?”
“You can help me,” Ivy replied. “Lachlan said I should talk to you about finding a weapon light enough for me. He said you know how to choose a weapon that suits your build and strength. That axe I used last time was too heavy for me.”
“Did ye like the axe?” he asked.
“I liked it, but after a while, I couldn’t lift it. It would be nice if I could last longer before I got too tired.”
“Ye can always use the axe,” he replied. “There’re plenty of axes small enough and light enough for a lady.”
Ivy blushed. “If we’re talking about me using an axe in battle, I guess I’m not really a lady, am I?”
“You’re still a lady,” he replied. “Ye both are. You’d have to do a lot worse than that to stop being a lady, the pair of ye.” He turned to the rack and raised the lantern. He muttered to himself. “Now, let’s see here. Aye, here it is. I saw this here a few days ago, but I thought it might be too light for me. See how ye like it.”
He took something down and handed it to Ivy. She stared down at the weapon in her hand. She never thought of something that small as a battle axe. It looked something like a small kitchen hatchet, but with two blades, one on either side of the handle.
When she moved her hand, the axe moved with it as an extension of her arm. She couldn’t make up her mind if it was light or heavy. It whispered to her to throw that razor-sharp head at something. It taught her arm how to throw it.
“Well,” Christie exclaimed. “I can see that’s a fit. Anything else? Let’s see. How about something like this?”
He handed her a short sword—far shorter than she ever thought possible. It resembled a machete, only curved with a stubby, pointed tip. This weapon, too, seemed to grow out of her bones and flesh. It spoke to forgotten cravings in her soul, cravings for blood and gore and bone shattering under her blade.
She snapped out of her daydream to see Christie and Martha watching her. Ivy shook herself. “These will do.”
Chapter 16
A young woman stood on the pier and listened to the boats creak against the jetty. She let her eye rove out to sea where blue melted into blue. A ripple of water lapped around the piles underfoot. The slow thumping rhythm put her to sleep, and she relaxed into another day.
So much changed in the last few months, she barely recognized her own life. She didn’t understand it all, but she didn’t have to. Her old life slipped away and left her new one in its place. She didn’t have to question it. She only had to accept it.
The gentle slap of water under her feet vibrated up through the ancient posts and into her legs. They startled her alert when the rhythm changed and sped up. She shook the cobwebs out of her mind.
The water hissed, and the briny sea surged up. It didn’t exactly form a wave, and it didn’t foam. It breathed deeper and lapped higher against the pilings. It formed a crest, and still it rose. It rose all the way to the jetty boards, where something emerged from under its glassy surface.
At first, she didn’t recognize it. Something yellow parted the water. Then a head appeared. While she watched, a tall, fair, muscular man rose out of the water to stand on its surface before her. His long curly blonde hair and his kilt couldn’t make him look unmanly. No force under the sun could make him look less manly.
He glanced over the wharf where the trawlers unloaded their catch. Trucks pulled up to the jetties for loading. Forklifts shuttled pallets of fish crates into the trucks before the trucks rolled away into the city beyond.
The young woman stared at the man in shock. She never saw anyone like him. He appeared out of her fantasies, and she expected him to vaporize just as fast. He stepped onto the jetty and walked up to her. Her dazed brain registered there wasn’t a drop of water on him. His hair and shirt and socks and shoes were all perfectly dry.
He stopped right in front of her. Yes, he was looking straight at her. “What city is this?”
He spoke with a strange accent. She had to concentrate to understand him. “It’s called…”
“I mean,” he interrupted, “what year is it?”
She swallowed hard. For some reason, not even that question seemed out of the ordinary for him. Nothing could be out of the ordinary for him. “It’s…It’s 2018.”
He cocked his head, and his eyes flashed fire. “Two thousand!”
She nodded. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“I’m Lachlan McLean, Laird of the Isles, and I come from the Isle of Mull in Scotland. Maybe ye’ve never heard of it?”
She shook her head.
“And who, may I ask, do I have the honor of addressin’ on these shores?”
“I’m Nora. Nora Patrick, and I’m…well, I’m not Laird of anything.”
He smiled at her. His smile lit up his whole face so she never wanted to stop looking at him. “No, you’re no’ a Laird, and you’d no’ be half so bonny if ye were. Now if ye dinnae mind, I need your help to find something here.”
“What is it?”
A cloud passed over his face. He scanned his surroundings. “As a matter of fact, I dinnae ken what it is.”
She studied him. Now that he stood in front of her and talked to her like a real person, her surprise at his sudden appearance started to fade. “How…how did you get here?”
He glanced over his shoulder at the ocean. It lay serene and smooth all the way to the horizon. Only the fishermen shouting, the engines roaring, and the boats bumping against the wharf disturbed the scene.
“I came through a puddle,” he muttered. “You’ll no’ understand it. I dinnae understand it meself, but that’s it. That’s how I came here. I must find something here, and I dinnae ken what it is.”
She looked him up and down. “You should probably change your clothes. You don’t look right around here.”
He didn’t seem to hear her. He looked all around him in mild amusement. “This is a strange world, is it no’? Soulless, though. I wondered how she came to be the way she was, and now I ken. It robs ye of your soul. I feel that just looking on it.”
“Who’s she?” Nora asked. “Who are you talking about?”
“Never ye mind,” he replied. “It’s naught. Now we must go.”
“Go where?”
That shadow of doubt crossed his face. “I…I dinnae ken, but we cannae stay here. We’re too close to the sea.”
Before she could ask what he meant, he started walking. His kilt bounced against his knees when he walked. He held his head high, and his eye skipped all over the place to take in every detail.
Nora hurried to keep up with him. “Where are you going? If you don’t know what you’re looking for, how are you supposed to find it?”
“I’ll find it,” he replied. “It kens I’m here to find it. With a bit of luck, it’ll come to find me.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about, but you stick out like a sore thumb,” she told him. “You should come to my house. My…well, someone left some men’s clothes lying around, but I don’t think they’ll fit you. You’re way too tall.”
“You won’t understand it. Someone left this town. I don’t know where she went, but she left me her house. She said I could stay there as long as I liked, and now I sort of sense she’s not coming back.”
“I dinnae need to change me clothes,” he replied. “These’ll serve just fine.”
Nora blushed and looked away. Already people stared at him on the street. Either he didn’t notice, or he pretended not to notice.
She tried to steer his steps toward her own neighborhood, but he pretended not to notice that, too. He turned himself toward the most populous parts of town. Eventually, he worked himself into the heart of the financial district. Men and women in business suits swirled all around him on their way into their office buildings for the morning’s work.
Lachlan took in the whole scene with a gentle smile on his face. Nora saw this world from his point of view. He didn’t fit in here, but somehow, he remained above it all. It didn’t drag him down into it, nor did he change himself to accommodate it. Whatever else happened, it must accommodate him.
He came to the end of the financial district where the industrial warehouses turned to wharves again. When he saw the water, he turned around. “We must go back.”
“Why do you have to keep away from the water?” she asked. “You came from there, so it can’t be a danger to you.”
He put his head on one side to think about it. “I suppose I must keep away of it because Aegir’s there.”
“Who’s Aegir?”
“Ye wouldnae understand.”
“I definitely won’t understand if you don’t explain it to me,” she shot back.
“Believe me, lassie,” he replied. “You’re better off no’ kenning anything about it. I wish I didnae ken anything about it, but it’s mine to deal to, and I must find it one way or the other.”
She stopped in her tracks. “So what you have to find has to do with this Aegir?”
His eyes flew open to stare at her. “Lassie! That’s it! That’s the answer.”
“What is?” she asked.
“Aegir. He’s here.”
Nora looked around. “Here? Where?”
“No here,” he snapped. “He’s no’ here, but the secret is here. It must be. That must be why I came through.”
Nora puffed out her cheeks. “I don’t understand a word you just said.”
He started walking again. This time, he didn’t study everything with a benign smile on his face. He fixed his ferocious eyes on some point ahead of him. He strode through the crowds, and his smoldering presence split them to make a passage for himself and Nora.
He checked his direction and turned away from the wharf. He glanced right and left and muttered to himself under his breath. “It must be here. I must find it.”
Nora caught up with him and laid a hand on his arm. She spun him around to face her. “Wait a minute. What are you looking for? Tell me now.”
“Kincaid says I have his power. That must be what brought me through to here. It all got mixed up in me mind, all about her and defeating Aegir and where she came from and the Clan and all. I didnae mean to come through, but now I’m here, the answer must be here. It must be.”
He started walking before she could stop him. She didn’t understand what was going on with him. She ought to just stop right here and let him walk out of her life forever. He must be some kind of nutcase to walk around in that costume.
Then she traced her memory back to the moment he emerged from the sea. She couldn’t comprehend how he appeared like that, without a drop of water on him. He stepped onto the jetty and started talking to her like he’d known her all his life.
She couldn’t walk away from him. She had to find out who and what he was. She had to help him find whatever it was he was looking for.
They came to a crosswalk. “Come this way,” Nora told him. “This is the way to my house. You can rest there.”
“I cannae rest,” he replied. “I dinnae need rest. I need to find it. Then I can go back. It may be too late even now.”
“Too late for what?”
“Too late to save the castle.”
Nora stared at him, but he didn’t notice her. His eyes saw something far away, something she would never understand, but she didn’t need to understand it. He understood it, and he knew a lot better than she did what he needed to find.
She ran after him. He cast his eye one direction and then the other. How he navigated this city on his own, she couldn’t figure out, but he managed it somehow. Some part of him knew where he needed to go.
All of a sudden, he stopped dead in his tracks. He raised his eyes to a tall hill standing high in front of him. Dense woods covered it all the way up to the sky. “This is it.”
“That?” Nora asked. “That’s Finlay Park.”
He set off across the street and along the concrete paths winding between the Rose Garden and the kids’ playground until he stopped in front of the fountain. “This is the place.”
Chapter 17
Ivy and Martha stood on the Tower House roof. The sun went down over the distant ocean. No one would ever know that smooth, placid sea harbored such malicious forces. Ivy sighed. “I wish Lachlan was here. He would know what to do.”
“He’s a leader,” Martha remarked, “but he hasnae the power to defeat these things. He would die here with us if he was here.”
Ivy didn’t reply. She no longer cared if Lachlan died here with her, so long as he was here. She missed his protective presence. Wishing wouldn’t bring him here, though, so she changed the subject. “Tell me about your family. Is your part of Scotland like this?”
“Ye mean an isle?” Martha asked. “No, I dinnae come from the Isles.”
“I meant your family. Tell me how you know the McLeans. You said they’re your cousins. Have you spent much time with them?”
Martha laughed out loud. “I suppose you’re asking if I ken they’re wolves and such like.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Ye didnae say it, and ye didnae have to say it,” Martha shot back. “It’s written all over your face. Aye, I ken they’re wolves. We used to play together as bairns.”
“Play together!” Ivy exclaimed.
“Aye,” Martha replied. “Ye didnae ken it, though ye have been pondering on it a wee while. We’re Atslief—all the Crockets are.”
“What’s Atslief?” Ivy asked.
Martha’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll show ye.”
She pushed herself off the parapet. With one great leap, she launched herself into the air. In the same instant, she changed into a hawk rocketing into the steel gray sky. The bird streaked out of sight into the cloud, and Ivy lost sight of it.
A few seconds of silence passed before the hawk came plummeting downward at terminal velocity. It folded its wings against its back and flew straight into the roof. At the last second before it crashed to its death, it changed again. A fountain of water splashed up where the bird struck. Churning water cascaded over the parapet and poured onto the ground far below.
The water plumed back up almost as high as the roof. When it hovered there in mid-air, it changed a third time and became a lithe young woman. Her brown hair sailed on the breeze when she jumped and landed on her feet in front of the castle.
Ivy stood dumbfounded at the sight. Martha was a shapeshifter. She could change into anything, but she didn’t look up at Ivy in triumph. She whipped around to stare southward toward the coast.
The sea lay still and quiet as far as the eye could see. Martha tensed to spring one more time. Every nerve tensed to the breaking point, and her senses trained on the distant darkness.
All of a sudden, she jumped again. She didn’t change this time. She soared into the air and landed next to Ivy. “I shouldnae done that.”
“What happened?” Ivy asked. “What did you hear?”
“The water,” Martha breathed. “It attracted Aegir’s attention. C
ome along. We must tell Christie.”
“Christie!” Ivy exclaimed. “What about Arch, or Colin? Aren’t they in charge, now that Lachlan’s gone?”
Martha rounded on her. “Which of them do you trust more?”
Ivy halted. Martha always hit the nail on the head. She trusted Christie more than any other man in this castle. Everybody did. He might be a lot younger and not nearly so burly and powerful, but something inside him dominated every situation. Anyone could see that under his soft-spoken exterior. It only took Lachlan disappearing to bring it out.
Martha didn’t wait for Ivy to reply. She took Ivy’s hand, and the two women ran downstairs. They found Arch and Christie in the dining room. They stood in conference with Clyde, Colin, and a few of their men. Kincaid gazed out the window at the ocean.
“Ye neednae worry for it now,” Kincaid muttered. “He cannae harm us.”
“Ye could have fooled me,” Arch growled over his shoulder. “One instant you’re telling us we cannae defeat him, and the next you’re telling us no’ to worry about it. Ye make no sense, mon, unless you’re telling us no’ to worry for we’ll all be dead in an hour. That I could believe.”
Christie laid his hand on his brother’s arm. “We neednae worry either way. We must face the day with what we have, so keep your mind on the game. We have twenty-five men to meet whatever comes.”
“Twenty-seven,” Martha interrupted. Everyone turned around to stare at her and Ivy. “The two of us makes twenty-seven, but that doesnae matter now, nor does your talk and planning and all. They’re coming, so stow it and tumble out to meet it.”
The men exchanged glances. No one moved until Christie roused himself. “Well, in that case, we had best get to it. Arch, ye take ten men to the roof. I dinnae ken where they’ll come from, but we best have something up there just in case. Martha, ye take the rest to the front. Ivy, you’re with me.”
Ivy glanced at Martha, but Martha already turned away. The men didn’t argue. The exchange took all the wind out of their sails. Even Arch left the room to follow Christie’s orders. The men snatched a moment’s murmured conversation before they all went on their way. Martha started to go, too, but Ivy stopped her. “Are you gonna be okay out there?”
Sea Queen (Phoenix Throne Book 6): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 12