Arianna bit her lip as I scanned the shoreline in search of my love. And then I saw him.
His broken body lay upon a jagged cluster of rocks some distance out, waves reaching up at him, tugging him as if they wanted to carry him away in their crystalline arms. I ran into the water, shouting his name, crying uncontrollably. But when I reached him, I knew ‘twas no use. Even as I clambered up onto the rocks where he lay and pulled him into my arms, begging him to wake up, to speak to me, I knew. He was as boneless as a rag doll, broken in so many places his poor body barely held its form. His face lay still and pale in the moonlight, blessedly unmarred. The blue of his lips, and his bloodless skin, the coolness of his cheek where I touched it, told a story too horrible to believe. I gathered his head to my breast, bowing over him, weeping as I’d never wept before.
“Oh, Duncan, no. Not now, not yet. You can’t leave me so soon! For the love of the Goddess, why? Why couldn’t I trust you with the truth?”
But I hadn’t, and now he was dead. Because of me, he was dead. I would never know his touch, his kiss again. Never look into his brown eyes. Never!
“Oh, why didn’t I tell him! He would not have died trying to save me if he’d known the truth of what I am!” I wailed my grief to the stars, ignoring the sloshing, splashing sounds Arianna made as she came out to where I was.
She stood waist-deep in the water, and gently she took my hand. “Come, love. Come away, now. You can do no more for Duncan here.”
Shaking my head, I clung to him. “I cannot,” I whispered. “I cannot leave him this way. Please....” The words were as broken as my heart, as my precious Duncan’s body. I was broken. I felt I could never rise from that cluster of deadly rocks, never drag myself to the shore, never so much as lift my head again. The very life seemed to have fled me. And I thought then ‘twould have been better if it truly had.
“The sea takes care of its own, Raven,” Arianna said softly. “His body belongs to the sea now. But you know his soul does not. You know that. Let him go, Raven.”
I shook my head and held him still closer, my face resting against his cool cheek. “I’ll never see him again,” I moaned. “Never again.”
“But you will.” She kept stroking me, my hair, my back. “He’ll live again, Raven, you know that, as well.” She spoke louder now, perhaps hoping the strength and command of her tone would reach me.
But nothing could reach the dark place where I lived now. “What does it matter? He’s lost to me.”
Arianna drew my face toward her, staring intently into my eyes from where she stood with the ocean waves lapping at her waist. “He died trying to save your life, Raven. When he lives again, he’ll be as we are. Immortal. His selfless act of love earned him the gift, don’t you see?”
Opening my eyes, lifting my head, I released a breath. “‘Tis true,” I whispered. “And never was any man more deserving. But don’t you see, Arianna? I’ll never know him. Never find him again.”
Arianna reached down to stroke Duncan’s wet hair away from his face. “But you will. ‘Tis the full moon, Raven, when our powers wax strongest. I–I couldn’t save him. There was no time to cast a spell of enough magnitude to overwhelm so many bent on destruction. But I slipped away, to the woods. I did all I could, Raven. I did all I could.”
And at last her pain made itself known to me. I’d been so immersed in my own.... I covered her hand with mine, where it rested upon Duncan’s face.
“I was actually growing to like the man,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.
“I know you’d have saved him if you could, my friend.”
She met my eyes, her own glistening. “More than your friend, Raven. Your sister. I am your sister.”
Sniffling, I nodded. “Yes, you are as a sister to me, closer even than that–”
“No. No, you aren’t hearing me. You truly are my sister, or were, a lifetime ago. And my sister you remain.”
I frowned, shocked and surprised. And yet it was as if she was telling me something I already knew.
“I was the eldest,” she said, “Practicing the Craft behind our mother’s back, in secret, with a group of witches from our village. You never even knew, then—”
“But–”
She pressed a finger to my lips. “No, just listen. ‘Twas many years ago, you know. I’ve waited a long while to tell you these things. So let me speak.” In silence I nodded, and Arianna went on. “I didn’t know what I was then. We were but girls, you and I, you a year younger, but always stronger.”
“I? Stronger than you?”
She nodded. “The year was fifteen ten. We lived in the village of Stonehaven, in the shadow of Castle Lachlan in the Highlands of Scotland.”
“Scotland....” I closed my eyes, lowering my face to Duncan’s once more. “ ‘Tis where Duncan comes from, you know.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever been there.”
“You were born there. Once.”
Sniffling, swiping away fresh tears, I nodded at her to go on.
“We were forbidden, of course, to play in the forests and lochs, but we did so all the same. I went too far into the water one day. My stomach cramped inexplicably, and I couldn’t get back to shore.” She touched my face, smiling gently. “You came for me, though, held me afloat and fought to get me to shore. And then there were others, the sons of Laird Lachlan himself. They swam out to help. But by then you’d been struggling with me for more than an hour. You were exhausted. Of course, they didn’t realize it. They were concerned only with me, for I seemed to be the one in trouble. You never told them otherwise.” She swallowed hard, loudly. “And when they eased me from your arms and drew me safely toward the shore, I looked back...and you were gone. Just slipped beneath the blue waters of the loch, leaving them so still ‘twas as if you’d never been there.’’
Staring at her, I whispered, “I drowned.”
“You drowned trying to save my life. The life of an immortal High Witch who didn’t even know she was one at the time.” She sighed slowly, and a tear slid down her cheek. “The lads went back after you, of course. And I stood there on the shore, knowing you’d left me, praying ‘twas not too late to perform an incantation, so that I might know you again, one day. I called on all the powers of the Universe, Raven, and cast a potent spell. That when you lived again, ‘twould be within my lifetime, and that you would look the same, and your name would again be Raven.”
I tilted my head to the side, touched beyond measure at her words. “You did that for me?” I whispered.
“For me,” she replied. “That I would have the joy of finding you again someday.” She shook her head slowly. “Of course I had no idea then how long my lifetime would be. But the spell worked, Raven. I did find you, and you do look the same—older, yes, but just as you’d have looked before, if you’d had the chance to reach womanhood. And your name is Raven, just as it was then. And...and I love you, my sister.”
A great sob welled up in my throat, choking the words. “I thought I had no family left...but I do. I have my sister.”
She put her arms around me, held me tenderly for just a moment. Then stood back and stared hard into my eyes.
“I performed the same incantation tonight.”
I frowned, searching her face.
“For Duncan. Even as he plummeted from the rocks, I hid myself in the forest and conjured with everything in me.”
Now I looked at her, truly looked at her, though she blurred through my tears. And then I lowered my gaze to stare at Duncan’s lifeless face. God, how I ached for him already.
“‘Twas all I could think of to do,” she whispered. “He will live again, Raven. He will look the same. And his name will again be Duncan. You’ll find him again someday, I promise you.”
Blinking in disbelief, I muttered, “When?”
“I’ve no way of knowing that. Nor is he likely to remember you, Raven, just as you had no memory of me when we met on the Coast Ro
ad that day. I did all I could do. I only hope ‘twas enough to ease the grief I see in your eyes.”
Closing my eyes, I clutched her chilled hand in one of mine, and clung to my lost love with the other. “‘Twill be enough,” I promised. “It shall have to be. ‘Tis all I have.” Then I opened my eyes and met hers. “You’ve given me hope where I had none before. How will I ever thank you for this?”
She shook her head. “I only wish I could have done more.” Then she cleared her throat, lifted her chin. “Raven, we have to leave here. If you hope to live long enough to find this man of yours again, we have to go at once.”
I stroked Duncan’s face. “We should bury him.”
“Listen to me,” she said, and the urgency in her voice cut through the haze of mourning in my mind at last. “The witch-hunter Elias Stanton sent for arrived only a short while ago. I overheard some of the men talking about it. Saying the man was furious that Elias had taken action, instead of waiting for his arrival as he’d instructed. They said the man would be out here soon, that he insisted on seeing the spot from whence you were thrown.”
My eyes widened, but I calmed myself quickly. “They can kill me as many times as they wish, Arianna. I’ve no fear of them.”
“You don’t understand. The witch-hunter is an impostor, Raven. His name is Nathanial Dearborne and—”
“Nathanial Dearborne?” Now she had my attention. “The same arrogant priest who hanged my mother! I hope he does come. I’ll—”
“He’s no priest,” Arianna whispered. “He’s a High Witch. One of the Dark Ones, Raven. One of the oldest and most powerful I’ve encountered.”
“You know him?”
Grimly she nodded. “ ‘Twas he who murdered the only man I ever loved, and used me to do it. I nearly killed him then, but he escaped me. But it isn’t me he’ll be challenging this time, Raven. ‘Tis for you he’s come. You can’t best him in a fight and I can’t protect you every minute of the day and night. If you want to keep your heart intact, we’d best not be here when he arrives.”
Nathanial Dearborne, a dark High Witch. It made sense now. My mother’s note had told me that I’d know another only when I touched them—and that tingling sensation, the one I’d become so used to since Arianna had come into my life—was the same one I’d felt when that beast touched my hand as I hung in the stocks. I simply hadn’t made the connection before now.
“Duncan wouldn’t want you risking your life to bury his empty shell, love,” Arianna whispered. “Leave him to the sea, and come. He would want you to stay alive, to await his return. You know he would.”
I looked down at Duncan, lowering my head as tears rained from my face to his. "Yes. I suppose he would.” Bending low, I kissed his cheek. “I love you, Duncan Wallace. In this lifetime and the next, I will always love you. I vow it on my heart.”
And gently I eased his broken body from the rocks. Even as I did, an unusually large wave broke over us and swept him from my hands as it washed back out to sea. As if the sea were claiming him.
“Goodbye, my love,” I whispered, but my words were only whispers, my pain so great I could speak no louder. And yet, I thought he might hear me.
Arianna touched my shoulders, and together we turned and made our way back to shore.
* * *
Nathanial Dearborne ran all the way to the base of the cliffs where she was supposed to have been thrown, but there was no sign of the dark-haired wench.
Nor of his beloved Duncan.
He clenched his hand into a fist and shook it at the heavens. Again! She’d eluded him again.
And this time she’d taken young Duncan Wallace into death with her! A death from which she could return, and he could not.
“Damn her,” Nathanial whispered. And fury rose up to engulf him. Oh, Duncan would be back. Yes, he’d return. But when he did, he, too would be a High Witch. One of the Light Ones, and as such, Nathanial’s sworn enemy.
And if he knew Raven St. James, she would manage to find the lad again, even then.
Then he paused, narrowing his eyes. What if she did? And what if, when she did, she found him as well?
Yes. Oh, he would likely take the selfish bitch’s heart long before then. He would never stop trying to exact his vengeance. But if all else failed, he could use what he knew.
He could use Duncan.
If he could find the lad before she did.
But he would. He had to. He would find a way. And he wouldn’t rest until he’d exacted vengeance upon Raven St. James, until he’d cut out her heart and held it beating and bloody in the palm of his hand.
Chapter 11
Weak. Heavy. Languid. My body did not want to move, and I had no will to argue with it. Arianna gripped my forearm, tugging me along in her wake as we trekked into the woods. The village lay to the north, and the forest was but a thin strip of shelter between Sanctuary and the sea. And that might have been enough to protect us, if everyone in town truly believed me dead. They’d have no reason to suspect Arianna would have lingered in the vicinity for so long.
But there was someone who knew better–Nathanial Dearborne–and my gut told me he hadn’t traveled all the way from England only to accept defeat so easily. No, he would be searching for us. I felt it in my bones.
And still, I felt no desire to move. I only managed to continue sloughing along, dropping one foot ahead of the other, for Arianna’s sake. If I sank to the ground as I wished right to my soul to do, if I surrendered, she’d stay with me. I knew she would. And there would be yet another life lost because of me. More blood on my hands. Yet another one dead because of having loved me.
I would not let that happen. So I moved. But I felt numb and dead inside. Truly, had it not been for Arianna, I’d have simply remained in the icy cold sea until Dearborne came for me. Not because of a desire to die, but because I had no desire not to. No reason to cling to my life. No will to fight for it.
I loved Duncan, and he’d been murdered, and my heart bled so profusely it seemed I could feel my life force draining away, bit by bit. Every breath drawn without him seemed to come a little harder. Every heartbeat cost more effort. Even lifting my head became too much work, so that I slogged through the forest without looking up. Head hanging, hair in my face, wet dress dragging through the brush. My only link to life, that small, strong hand gripping my arm. A lifeline. An undeniable force dragging me slowly forward, and maybe, inch by inch, out of the black swamp of deadly grief into which I had fallen. It sucked at me like quicksand, that grief. Pulled me under, choked me. But Arianna never let go. She refused to let it win.
And eventually, I surfaced enough to blink in the darkness and ask in a voice without life, “Where are we?”
She turned her head sharply, her steps ceasing all at once. But she did not remark on my finally having spoken. “Deep in the forest, heading south,” she explained. “We got past the settlement, and we’re well into the mainland by now.”
It seemed it took my brain a long moment to process her words. They fell on my ears like meaningless noise and gradually worked through the machinery of my mind and made sense. “Already?” I asked her, not really caring, but vaguely aware of how disoriented I was.
“We’ve been walking for hours,” she said, her eyes intense, probing mine. “It’s nearly dawn, Raven.”
Nearly dawn? How strange. How very wrong that the sun would rise again now that Duncan was gone. It made no sense, somehow.
“Dearborne’s following. We must keep moving.” And she started forward again, tugging me into motion.
My legs hurt, and I glanced down to see that my dress was ripped to ribbons now. I could see bloodstains here and there. Obviously I’d walked like a blind person, through brush and brambles, never moving them aside, scratching my flesh and never feeling the sting. I felt it now. It began slowly, as my brain registered what my eyes were seeing, and told me that my legs should hurt. Then the pain grew sharper, hotter. I lifted my hand to my cheek when that, too, began
to pulse, and I discovered a long scratch there.
‘Twould heal soon enough. ‘Twas one of the powers we both possessed, the rapid regeneration of any wounds we might suffer. Already, even the faintest bruise caused by my fall from the cliffs would have vanished. These new injuries would, as well. ‘Twas one of the things we all had in common.
Our other powers were not so easily identified. For they differed from witch to witch, just as they did in ordinary mortal ones. Some were gifted at divination, some at reading the stars. Some were psychic, some in touch with the spirit realm. Some could manipulate the weather, while others could communicate with animals. In immortal High Witches the area of power became magnified, and, Arianna had explained, other magical gifts began to appear, and to grow. She’d told me that some of the very old ones had even mastered shape-shifting, though I doubted the validity of that tall tale.
My own powers were those of healing, always had been. But the longer I remained in this new form, this stronger, more sensitive, immortal form, the more I realized that my healing magic was only one of my abilities.
There were more. Many more. Some, I’d discovered aboard the Sea Witch during my crossing. The acute hearing, the enhanced eyesight, and night vision. The ability to scent things, and people. And every spell I had cast since coming here had been incredibly potent, bringing immediate, incredible results. The fertility ritual I’d done for Aunt Eleanor’s old cow had produce a successful mating the very next day, and twin calves, big and healthy. When I’d worked a charm to increase our flock of laying hens, the results had required a larger shed be built for them all! When I wanted a sunny day for Aunt Eleanor, or rain for our vegetable patch, it happened almost as soon as the thought appeared in my mind. And a prickling sense in the back of my neck usually warned me when danger was near.
‘Twas there now.
“He’s near,” I said.
Arianna stopped walking, turned to scan the woods. “I know. I feel him, too. But I don’t think he’ll make a move when I’m with you, Raven. He knows I—”
Eternity: Immortal Witches Book 1 (The Immortal Witches) Page 16