Lost in the Mist of Time

by Karen Michelle Nutt

  Kirwan saw from the side of his vision a man moving in behind him. It was now or never. “As ye wish, milord,” he said with such malice that Dougray’s skin prickled with impending dread. It happened so fast that there was nothing he could have done, nothing anyone could have done.

  Kirwan let Aislinn go. With a swift move, he intended to throw the knife at Dougray.

  “No!” Aislinn screamed as she grabbed his arm that held the weapon.

  Kirwan realized his opportunity to take out Dougray was over, but maybe this revenge was sweeter. He turned his malicious purpose toward her.

  She hadn’t expected him to change targets. His aim was not as accurate as he had wished, but it would serve its purpose. He thrust forward burying the weapon deep in her shoulder. Dougray at the same time sent his dagger flying straight into the man’s back, penetrating his black heart. Kirwan was dead and on his way to hell before he even hit the ground.

  Dougray hurried forward to Aislinn’s side, rolling her toward him. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with agony, but still she managed a small smile for him. “They didn’t capture you. You survived, Dougray. You survived.”

  “Why did ye do it, Aislinn? He was going after me.”

  “I couldn’t let him harm you.” She touched his rugged face, the face she had learned to love, drooping mustache and all. “You see I would die for you too.”

  “Nay, ye will not leave me. Do ye hear me, Aislinn?” She couldn’t answer him for she had already slipped into unconsciousness.

  Robert Burke had witnessed the event sorely realizing how he had misjudged this courageous woman. She had sacrificed herself. He knew of no one who possessed such unselfish bravery. She was indeed worthy to be called Scathach. He prayed that he would have the chance to tell her so.

  He knelt down beside Dougray to assess the damage that had been done. The dagger was deeply imbedded. She had a chance of bleeding to death before it could ever be removed. He glanced at Dougray’s grief-stricken face and knew that the man was already aware of the dilemma they faced. “I will have my physician look at her.” Robert didn’t wait for him to answer, but issued an order for his man to be brought forth at once.

  Chapter 76

  They had removed the knife successfully and thank God she had remained unconscious throughout the horrible ordeal. As expected she had lost a lot of blood and was already feverish. Her skin nearly burned Dougray’s hand as he placed the cool rags on her forehead. They did not pack up camp but remained, while he debated if it was wise to move her.

  Teige had survived Kirwan’s attack and had his head bandaged. The young man was racked with guilt for not protecting her. He would not leave Aislinn’s side. Declan was lying beside her, his small hand desperately clutching hers.

  Dougray closed his weary eyes. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was going to die.

  “The mist has closed in on us.” Murrough came into the tent, glancing at the still figure that had once been the vibrant woman he had grown to respect. He swallowed hard. “We will need to stay the night, milord. It would do no good to try and make our way back to Dunhaven when we are unable to make out more than a few feet in front of us. The men are quite uneasy of the mist.

  I am hearing whispering that they think it a bad omen. Ye might want to make an appearance to assure them that there is no reason to worry.”

  He sighed heavily, “Aye.” He covered his face with trembling hands as if to wipe away the anguish that was tearing at his soul.

  Murrough worried that the stress was wearing him thin. “Milord?” He looked up then with a nod. “I will be out shortly.”

  “I am sorry about milady.” Murrough didn’t know what else to say. Dougray’s father entered, pausing inside the flap of the tent. One look at Murrough’s somber face and he knew that Aislinn was not doing well. “I will sit with her,” he announced moving forward and placing a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Ye are needed elsewhere. I will call ye if there is any change.”

  The moment that Dougray stepped outside the tent, he knew. The mist was not like it should be. It was heavier, drier, like the one that had taken him to Aislinn’s time. He glanced back inside seeing her so still as if her life had already left her, but then he caught the slight movement of her chest rising and falling. As much as he wanted her at his side, he knew he had to give her back to her world. For only there she would have a fighting chance.

  He ran his hand through his dark hair. The decision had been made.

  He let the flap drop as he turned and moved his feet forward heading to the fires so that he could speak with his men.

  Dougray waited long into the night when all was quiet before he wrapped up Aislinn, cradling her against him as he carried her away from the camp and into the thickening mist.

  The white wolf was waiting, as though it had been expecting him. Strangely he was not afraid of the beast as it moved forward to sit down at his feet. Dougray gently placed Aislinn beside it. He somehow sensed that the wolf was not of flesh and blood, but rather a spirit that was there to protect her. If Dougray had any doubts before that he was doing the right thing, he didn’t question himself now. He sat with her for a long time and after a while she seemed to relax as she snuggled closer to the warmth of the wolf. He was about go, but she had reached out and clutched his arm.

  “Aislinn?” his voice was hoarse with raw emotion. “Don’t leave me,” she pleaded and her grip increased.

  “I have to, lass. It’s the only way. When the mist lifts, they will find ye here.”

  “I don’t want you to go. Please.”

  Her voice tore at him but he could not relent. He shook his head. “If ye stay, ye will die.”

  “Without you, I don’t want to live. Come with me. Bring Declan here and come with me.”

  He marveled, for even in her duress, she still thought of the boy. The bond had been forged deeper than he had ever thought possible. A mother and a son, he reassuringly smiled down at her for he found he could accept that. “Dougray?” Aislinn felt a dread like no other for she knew the answer before he spoke.

  He clasped his large hands over hers. “I can’t go with ye.”

  Aislinn didn’t want to sound selfish but she couldn’t help it. She was desperate. She loved this man who had captured her heart. “What of our future?”

  “Don’t make me choose. Ye are my love for now and for always, but do not ask me to be less of a man, for that is what I’d be if I turned my back on the people of Dunhaven. I have to make the preparations for Miriam and her son. I am the only one that can do that. I can grant knighthood to Tremain without question. Even if I am to be eliminated, Tremain may lay claim to Dunhaven for Oren.”

  Aislinn knew all this, but it still did not make it any easier to accept.

  Dougray leaned down pressing his lips against hers before he gently covered her mouth knowing he would never forget the velvet warmth of her. He then brushed a gentle kiss across her forehead. “Ye must go, Aislinn, where ye belong…” His voice was low and tormented as he spoke. “…but I beg of ye do not forget what we had.”

  He pressed something into the palm of her hand closing her fingers around it. He rose then quickly turning away from her, leaving her. She looked to see what he had given her. It was the Amber broach that had been in his family for generations, the one that was similar to the ring that he had placed on her finger when they had wedded. Through tear-stained eyes, she glanced up again. She could see his tall, dark figure disappearing into the mist. “Oh, Dougray, I’ll never forget.” The tears rolled down her cheeks like a stream of silver. Instinctively the wolf knew that she was in need of comfort and laid its head down on her chest.

  Chapter 77

  “She was found at the side of the road; obviously she had been stabbed and someone had tried to patch her up.” The nurse relayed all that she knew about Aislinn’s condition. Beverly looked at Connor wondering if he was following all this. Beverly had made the trip over, as soon as he had called h
er and told her of the situation.

  “Someone performed surgery?” Beverly wanted more answers. So did Connor, but he wasn’t so sure if they were going to get them. “It appears so.”

  Connor knew there was more. Something out of the ordinary happened here. His parents tried to explain their theory, but it was so ludicrous that he couldn’t even conceive it. Time travel. They had calmly told him at dinner the night Aislinn had disappeared. God, they had to have been in shock. That was the only explanation for the insane rationale they chose to accept.

  The nurse continued. “She may have been to a costume party for she was wearing a period piece, a lovely gown really.”

  “A gown?” Beverly again looked at Connor, who shrugged his shoulders. She waved for the two to follow her. They went into Aislinn’s room and she opened the closet door. “That’s the dress.” She pulled it out and handed it to Beverly.

  It was torn and mud splattered in spots, but there was no denying that the gown was exquisite with its blue shades and gold trim. “A costume party?” “It was almost as if she had traveled from the past to get here, at least that was my first impression,” the nurse babbled.

  Beverly opened her mouth to say something, but she decided it was better just to keep her opinions to herself. Traveling in time? Please. What kind of hospital was this?

  “Beverly? Is that you?” Aislinn had heard her voice and tried to sit up, but was still too weak.

  “Hey sis.” Connor came to sit on the side of the bed, being careful not to knock the IV over.

  “I’m here too.” Beverly immediately went to sit down on the other side. She took her friend’s hand. “You had us all scared to death. We didn’t know what had happened to you. I called your hotel a million times before Connor finally got a hold of me.”

  Aislinn’s brows furrowed. Her memory was a little hazy but she knew distinctively that she had been gone for almost a year. Aislinn swallowed. “What day is it?”

  “Sunday.”

  “How long was I missing?”

  “Just a few days before you were brought here,” Beverly informed her. “You didn’t have any identification on you, and you were unconscious…. Well you’ve been here almost five days now.”

  Aislinn closed her eyes as though she had been given the worse news of her life. She shook her head. “It can’t be possible. I’ve been gone for a year.” Her eyes flew open then. “Where’s Dougray? I have to get back.” She again tried to rise and was now pulling at the IV. Connor firmly took hold of her hands, trying to calm her.

  “You’re going to hurt yourself. Come on, A.J., you have to lie still.” Connor looked imploringly at the nurse who immediately went to find the doctor.

  “I was with Dougray,” Aislinn sobbed.

  Connor’s expression bordered on contempt as he spoke, “Is he the one that stabbed you?”

  Aislinn shook her head. “No, of course not. It was Abbot Kirwan.” “Kirwan? An abbot, like a priest abbot?”

  “He was crazy. He was trying to kill Dougray and….” She saw the way her brother was staring at her, like she had lost her mind. She immediately closed her mouth. She glanced at Beverly, who wore the same concerned expression. Had it all been a dream? An elaborate nightmare…no not a nightmare, for there had been wonderful memories too. “I have only been gone days?”

  “That’s right.” Connor hoped she was starting to remember.

  Was that true? There was no reason why her brother would lie to her. “Was I in some kind of accident?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to find out, honey.” Beverly patted her hand. “You just relax and let us take care of things.” Just then the nurse had returned with the doctor. Beverly stood to the side, while he examined her. She had never seen Aislinn so vulnerable. What had happened to her out there?”

  The doctor finally finished his examination and Connor and Beverly followed him out of the room. “Well?” Connor waited for him to fill in the pieces that were missing.

  “The shoulder is healing, and with physical therapy she will eventually regain full use of her arm. She will make a full recovery, but….” “But?”

  “She seems to have been under a lot of stress. I want to monitor her for a few days more before I release her—just to make sure that she is all right.” “How was she able to wander around for days without anyone noticing her?”

  The doctor seemed ready to say something then clamped his mouth closed. Then he cleared his throat. “If you will excuse me, I must look in on my other patients.” With that, he dismissed them, quickly moving down the hall.

  Beverly met Connor’s gaze. “What the hell is going on here? Why do I get the distinct impression that the doctor doesn’t find A.J.’s wandering around alone in the wilderness with a stab wound as anything out of the ordinary?” “You get that impression too?” Connor sighed. It was maddening the way everyone was taking all this. His own parents even seemed to accept the fact as a common occurrence. “We need to bring A.J. home. Once she is out of here, she will be all right.”

  “I agree. Hey, who is this Dougray she was talking about?”

  Connor’s mouth formed a grim expression. “The blackguard is the one that kidnapped my sister.”

  “If foul play was involved, why haven’t the authorities been called in?” “My parents refused to even consider it. They wanted to speak to A.J. first to find out what had happened. I don’t…” He stopped. The stress of the last few days finally hit him full force. He ran his hand through his hair. “…I don’t understand any of this. Beverly. I feel like I am the only sane one here. That is why I urged you to come at once. Nothing is as it seems, and I was beginning to wonder if I was the one that was cracking up.”

  “Maybe we should start from the beginning. How did you meet this…Dougray character?”

  “I think we better sit down for this. It’s going to be a long story.”

  Beverly sat there quietly with calm indifference taking in everything that Connor knew up to the point of Aislinn’s disappearance. “Well?” he asked her when she still had not spoken a word. “You never thought this man was dangerous?”

  “God no. He seemed…well he was odd. He was dressed in the same…” “…clothing as Aislinn was found in?”

  “Yes, but that wasn’t it. He didn’t have a memory of simple everyday things that we take for granted, but I thought that it was because of his head injury.”

  “And yet you didn’t wish to call the authorities or have the man committed? He sounds like a complete loony tune.”

  “That’s not how it was at all. It seemed…I know this is an odd statement, but he seemed lucid enough.” He rubbed his face, so tired of everything that had been placed on his shoulders. “What am I saying? This man probably kidnapped my sister, brainwashed her, and I am here trying to defend him.” Beverly rested her hand on his arm. “Don’t do this to yourself. Aislinn is back and we should count ourselves fortunate.”

  “Beverly?” Francine’s voice rang forth with a warm welcome. She walked over to where the two were seated, Donagh not far behind. “It was so good of you to come.”

  “You don’t know how worried I have been, Mrs. Hennessy. A.J. is a dear friend.”

  “She is going to be all right,” Donagh assured her as his gaze found his son’s. It bothered him that Connor looked at him with unease. They shouldn’t have told him about the mist. He wasn’t ready to hear it, and now he looked at them, his own parents, as if he was considering having them committed.

  Francine glanced at her husband giving him a weak smile.

  Chapter 78

  Connor rang the doorbell for the fourth time. He knew Aislinn was in there and he was becoming increasingly worried as to why she wouldn’t answer the door. She had been back home now for six weeks and still no improvement. She wouldn’t write. She wouldn’t return anyone’s calls.

  “A.J., I know you’re in there. You might as well….” Just then the door flew open and Aislinn’s haunted eyes peered at him with
almost a look of contempt. She moved aside and let him enter.

  Her house was in utter disarray. It looked like she hadn’t cleaned since she had returned home. Empty containers were everywhere. Clothes scattered around, clean, dirty, all clumped together in piles. He glanced at his sister, who was still in her bathrobe even though it was two-thirty in the afternoon.

  She pulled the terrycloth material closer around her and lifted her chin in a defiant manner. “What?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing. Beverly says you haven’t been by the office in weeks.”

  “I’m not feeling well.” She walked over to the sofa and threw the pile of clothes on the floor and plopped herself down, folding her arms defensively against her chest.

  Connor had followed her. He stared at her for a long uncomfortable moment. “You don’t look ill.”

  “Well I am.” She couldn’t quite meet his gaze. “What? Stop staring at me.”

  He sat down next to her refusing to let her shut him out. “A.J., you have to move on.”

  She rubbed her temples wishing he would just leave her alone.

  “You have to. It’s not healthy for you to be locked up in here. You need to go back to work and….”

  “Stop it!” Her voice was a retching sob that silenced him completely. “Don’t tell me what to do, Connor. I know you don’t believe me. No one believes me, but I did go back in time. I lived a year with people that I learned to love as much as my own family.”

  “It didn’t happen. You know that it isn’t possible. You were hurt and not yourself. Face it, you are a woman with an incredible imagination, and it makes sense that you would be able to make up this fantastic tale.”

  “I didn’t make it up. I couldn’t possibly have done that and still feel the way I do. My heart’s broken, Connor. I am grieving for my husband. I’m grieving for a boy that depended upon me to care for him.” She looked at her brother with her tear-filled eyes. “I can still see Declan’s blue eyes imploring me to hold him and tell him a story. I see Dougray’s face, feel his hands caressing me, and I hear his voice in my dreams so clearly that I reach out for him.”