Charity trudged up the forested hill, growing more despondent with each step. They had been walking for hours since crossing the river. She kept an eye on both men, gauging their exhaustion. Both had been through an ordeal and even with her healing, neither was at a hundred percent. Not that either would admit it. Then again, she didn’t feel at top peak either.
Toren only slowed the pace when Col staggered though Charity had caught Toren listing a few times as well. He always caught himself and somehow rallied his strength. The dude was a machine.
She rolled her eyes, faulting the stubbornness of men regardless of what century they came from.
Speaking of…Charity wondered if Toren would really be able to send her back to her own time. He’d been through so much. What if he simply couldn’t summon the ability anymore? Or it took him weeks to regain his strength. She could be stuck here for months.
Would that really be so bad? She wondered, staring at his…oh what the hell, she’d been watching his ass for hours. Admit it. He had a very nice ass. Great thighs, good calves. A bit bow-legged. Wonder what he’d look like in a snug pair of jeans?
So if she was stuck here for a while at least she’d have a nice view. And who knows, maybe the big lug could actually grow to like her somewhat given time.
They just had to get away from Aldreth. Which, if the witch could sense Toren’s magic through the bands like he thought and could yank him right back. At any time. Why hadn’t she done it already? Or shown up to get him? If she found Toren now, with the spelled bands on, he still wouldn’t be a match for her. Not without being able to use his magic against her. And Edeen and Col, as an empath and shapeshifter, wouldn’t be able to fight against the magic of a witch of Aldreth’s strength either.
What was she waiting for?
Thinking it through, she pushed between two trees that grew in a sort of upward lean as their roots grasped the side of the slope. Something didn’t quite fit. It had been too easy so far. Their escape. Outrunning the guardsmen. The mercenaries would have to be bumbling idiots not to have seen their trail or catch up to them. Even she could track them and she had zero outdoor skills. There was nothing stopping Aldreth from just plucking Toren from them now. So why hadn’t she?
"Charity?"
Friggincrapola. Bluidy, bluidy hell. Everything clicked into place.
"Charity." Edeen shook her shoulder.
Her head snapped up. "The mercenaries aren’t trying to capture us. They’re merely shadowing us. Maybe even herding us. Aldreth intends to take you and Col prisoner as well. We have to get those bands off Toren. Now."
Edeen’s eyes narrowed as she studied her. “Ye and Toren, your essences really are in accord.” A dreamy look flitted across her features momentarily before tightening into determination. “He’s come to the same conclusion whilst ye slept, which is why we need to go." Grabbing her wrist, Edeen pulled her over the crest of the hill where the trees opened up onto an idyllic village below. Crops and pastures lay before them with long lines of short stone walls following pathways between them, leading around thatch-roofed cottages and joining to head up to a larger building that looked more like pictures of Viking longhouses than a Scottish keep.
As picturesque as the village appeared, something was off. Charity shaded her gaze with a steepled hand. Below, there was no movement. No sentries coming to greet or oppose them. There should be people in the fields, goats and sheep roaming about. The gates to the manor should not be sitting wide open. Well, at least she didn’t think they should be.
“I thought we were going to the Shadowrood.”
"Aye. We are." Toren's mouth settled into a hard line.
"The standing stones are not much farther,” Col said. “We stopped here to make certain Shaw stood by his duty and took our people to the gateway, aye?”
"He's taken the clan to Reolin Skene without us then." Col's shoulders slumped. "When he found out Aldreth had spelled ye to the bands…" He looked at Charity in apology. “I wish he would have given us more time.”
Frown lines creased Toren's forehead. "He did what needed to be done. 'Tis the course I would have plotted."
Charity backed away, horror squeezing her gut, Lenore’s voice echoing in her head.
"It was a romantic story. An entire clan, every individual gifted with some form of magic as long as they remained the protectors of man… And then all of them vanished. Poof. The village must have fallen to ruin because no one knows where it once was.
“Magic never has been the same in the world”.
"We must hurry. Reolin Skene is just on the other side of our village." Edeen started down the slope the way they had come. "Mayhap we are not too late."
Sharing a glance, Col and Toren followed after her.
Charity stood stock still.
She knew the outcome.
An entire clan, every individual gifted with some form of magic as long as they remained the protectors of man… And then all of them vanished…no one knows…
Either Shaw and the clan had already passed through, leaving the three remaining siblings on their own in the world. Or they would catch up and go into the Shadowrood with their clan.
All of them vanished.
The magic of the world is greatly lessened.
With the bands on or not, Aldreth would no longer be able to get to Toren in the Shadowrood.
But where would that leave her? Charity would be stuck in this time. Alone. With a whacked-out witch, seething that her own magic was no longer as strong without the clan of Limont in the world supporting it. Aldreth’s magic, everyone’s magic would be diminished to the point of barely there. Just like in her time where all magic wielders scraped by with what they could gather from the earth. On the up side, Aldreth would no longer have the magical means to wreak havoc upon mankind. That was a plus.
Before he entered the gateway, would there be time for Toren to send her back? Would he even be able to? In this time period, she had enough power on her own to lend him if he needed it, yet she was a healer. Only sorcerers had the necessary magic in them to open up a rift in time. Even Aldreth’s witchy powers couldn’t do that. Only Toren had the ability to get her home.
And then she'd never see him again.
She would never know if that connection they'd shared for even such a short time could be re-established.
He would never again look at her with wonder shining through his eyes. She wouldn't be around to see it.
Her heart thundered in her chest. Her breathing grew labored. Her breasts heaved against the material of her gown.
Toren had already started down. He turned back from lower on the hillside. He looked up at her, his expression different from any she'd yet seen him wear.
He stretched out his hand a little hesitant as though he was afraid she might not take it. His frown was uncertain. "Come?"
Charity didn't know what to do. She would soon be on her own here.
She stared at Toren.
He didn't know her.
He didn’t care for her, didn’t feel any connection.
But she knew him.
She knew him.
She'd traversed his inner core, knew what was important to him, felt the depth of his love and loyalty, how he was willing to sacrifice all for his clan and family.
This was the same man she'd recklessly traveled through time for. The need to save him had overshadowed even common sense and she knew she would do it all over again.
Save him.
How could she not?
She loved him.
A shiver rolled down her arms.
Her vision blurred behind tears.
She was in love with him. And he didn't even know her.
But if she gave him a chance, maybe he would. In time.
Charity reached out her hand…
…and a blast of contained lightning knocked them both off their feet.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Highland Sorcerer Page 23