Soul of a Highlander

by Melissa Mayhue

  “Yer right,” Sallie agreed. “I’m fair tired myself.”

  “Over there.” Mairi pointed toward an outcropping of scraggly trees growing between some large boulders. It would provide them a little protection from the cold wind.

  “We should no be wasting time,” Alycie cautioned. “We’ve need to hurry.” She looked from one to the other. “We dinna want to be caught out here at night.”

  “Dinna fash yerself, Alycie. We’ll be back inside the walls, warm and snug, long before nightfall.” Sallie dropped to the ground, huddling into the small space they’d found. “And look what I’ve got in my sack.” As the other two joined her she pulled a cloth bag from under her plaid, revealing cheese and bread.

  Mairi snuggled in next to her cousin, gratefully taking some of the food she offered. She watched silently until Alycie finished praying over the food she held.

  “How is it you know of this place, Alycie? It’s no as if you’d be out collecting witchwood berries yerself.” The question had popped into Mairi’s thoughts several times during their hike.

  “Many people consider my mother a healer. For as long as I can remember, she’s scoured the whole of this land for herbs and plants to make her potions. And always she dragged me along with her, regardless of what I might think about the practice.”

  Grizel Maxwell. That made sense.

  “And obviously you’ve no desire to follow yer mother’s footsteps and be a healer.” Sallie wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “Obviously.” The girl’s eyes widened. “I believe in the power of prayer, no the potions of a backward time.”

  The three sat quietly munching their welcome bounty for a few minutes until Sallie broke the silence.

  “I hope this whole journey is no a waste of effort.”

  “Why would you say that?” Mairi asked.

  “Because I’ve never tried an enchantment before.”

  Mairi shrugged. “Well, for what it’s worth, I dinna believe in them.”

  “Neither do I,” Alycie added. “But we’ve come this far and we’re no going home without yer berries.”

  “No, yer right, of course. It’s just that this is so important to me. I’d do almost anything to make Ran declare himself and his intentions.”

  “Why dinna you just talk to him? Tell him how you feel. Traipsing through the wilderness looking for berries to make some enchantment hardly seems the best way to me. You should talk to the man.” Mairi popped the last bite of her cheese into her mouth, dusting the crumbs from her skirt.

  “Talk to him?” Sallie shook her head in disgust and tossed the last of her roll to the ground. “Would you? I doubt it. I dinna see you as one to go bearing your soul to some man whose response you dinna trust. I’m no one to do it, either. I’ve my pride, you ken?”

  Mairi gave her cousin a quick hug. The girl was right. Who was she to be giving advice? After all, she certainly hadn’t run directly to Ramos to confront him with her feelings. In fact, she’d barely spoken to him, and not a single word of how she felt about him.

  And why? Because, as Sallie had so accurately surmised, she couldn’t bring herself to bear her soul to a man whose response she didn’t trust.

  Apparently pride was a fault all the MacKiernan women shared.

  “Anyway”—Sallie grinned and wrinkled her reddened nose—“there’s naught to do at the keep today but the cleaning from last evening’s feast. An adventure to find witchwood berries for the purpose of making a real love potion sounds more to my idea of fun than that.”

  Alycie rose, dropping her half-eaten roll to the ground. “Come on. We’ve sat about for long enough. Let’s be on our way.”

  “She drives us like sheep before the shepherd, does she no?” Sallie laughed as she pulled her wrap tightly about her head and followed after Alycie.

  Trailing behind up the hill, Mairi felt a prickle against her consciousness, hardly more than a feathery, searching touch. Stopping, she scanned the area below and all that she could see from where she stood.

  Nothing.

  “Dinna dawdle, Mairi, we’ve wasted enough time. Keep up with us,” Alycie called.

  After one last look, Mairi hurried to catch up with the other two women.

  The prickle was still there somewhere at the edge of her mind. It felt as if she could almost hear Ramos calling her name.

  Silly.

  She shook her head and continued to climb. That’s what happened when she spent too much time thinking about the man. Either that or it was her guilty conscience at having gone on this little adventure without telling him. Of course, if she’d told him, he wouldn’t have allowed her to go.

  “See how close we are?” Alycie’s voice rang out as they reached the crest of the hill and started down the other side.

  Spread out below them was a meadow, the growth that would be a welcoming green in spring a pale brown now. A small stream cut through the middle of the meadow, trailing off into the forest on the other side.

  “Thank the Fates,” Sallie laughed. “Come on!” She lifted her skirts and started to run down the slick slope.

  “You’d best be careful or you’ll fall and hurt yerself!” Mairi called after her. As Sallie ran farther away, Mairi increased the pace of her descent as well.

  The wind in her face was exhilarating. She realized with a start, she hadn’t run since before she’d become obsessed with saving Sallie. Until then it had been a regular part of her weekly routine. It occurred to her now, with her breath coming in hard pants and her heart pounding, it was something she had missed.

  As they drew nearer the foot of the hill, both laughing, Mairi pulled even with Sallie. She reached out and caught her cousin’s hand without breaking her stride, tugging Sallie along with her.

  The momentum they gained racing down the last of the slope propelled them forward. They were well out onto the level surface, sliding toward the stream, before Mairi realized the burn in her chest wasn’t the result of her hurried scramble to catch up with Sallie.

  Clasping her free hand to her breast, she skidded to a stop, slipping on the slick brown meadow, bringing both her and Sallie down into a tangled heap.

  “Something’s wrong.” Mairi could hardly get the words of warning out as she gasped for breath, pulling herself up to her knees.

  A quick glance back showed Alycie still descending through the scrubby brush of the slope.

  “What?” Sallie laughed breathlessly, the hood of her cloak thrown back and straggles of red curls falling loose about her face. “What’s that yer saying?”

  “Something feels…” She let the words die as she looked across the stream toward the forest.

  There, emerging from the dense cover of the trees were nine mounted men, heading their direction.

  Mairi cast a desperate look to either side of where they sat.

  Caught in the open. Nowhere to run.

  “Look there.” She pointed toward the approaching riders.

  Sallie’s eyes widened. “Oh no. May the Fae save us,” she whispered.

  “Whatever it is they’re here for, I’m sure it’s no to save us,” Mairi answered, more to herself than her cousin, as Reynard Servans and his men moved steadily toward the women.

  Twenty

  We’re close behind them now.”

  Ramos prodded at the crushed leaves and grass with the toe of his boot before turning to climb back up onto his mount.

  “It appears they’re together.” Caden rose from the spot where he’d squatted, fingering a broken twig he’d picked up. “Looks like they ate here.”

  “And since the rain stopped, too. The bread there’s damp but not wet.” Ramos pulled at his reins, urging his horse toward the crest of hill. He could feel her, as he had since they’d left the castle. But he was very near her now. If he closed his eyes, he could almost see her, almost smell the sweet fragrance of her skin.

  “Aye. We’ll find them soon enough,” Caden agreed, swinging up onto his horse’s bac
k. “And when we do, I’ve a good mind to make them all sorry for this.”

  Ramos understood the feeling completely.

  “Though I’m no surprised by Sallie running off, I expected better of Cousin Mairi.” Andrew looked up at the snorting sound from Ramos. “No?”

  “Your cousin is a bit more spirited than you realize.”

  “Mayhaps. I suppose I’ll take yer word for that. But it’s beyond me how either of them could get Alycie to go along. She hates Sallie.”

  “She does no such thing!” Caden defended.

  “She does too. And yer more the fool not to see it,” Andrew insisted, bringing his horse alongside his brother. “Alycie’s afraid of the Fae magic. She’ll never be happy at Dun Ard.”

  “She’ll get used to it.”

  “Yer blind where the Maxwells are concerned, Caden. You refuse to see what’s in front of you. You and Mother both.”

  Ramos shut out the bickering of the two brothers to concentrate on that new little spot in his mind, the spot that was filled with Mairi.

  He didn’t understand how this awareness had become a part of him, but he’d been raised by the Fae and knew better than to expect a logical reason for the things their magic brought about. And he had no doubt this came about because of Faerie magic. But whether it was the result of his being her Guardian or some other type of magical bond, he had no idea.

  For now he wouldn’t question it. He’d only be grateful that, whatever it was, it allowed him to follow her. To find her.

  She was close. So close, he felt drawn to urgency. He prompted his horse to pick up the pace, needing desperately to see her with his own two eyes to relieve the baffling dread building in the pit of his stomach.

  Cresting the top of the hill, he spotted her, but the scene unfolding before him did nothing to alleviate his concern.

  She and Sallie huddled on the ground near a stream at this end of the meadow while nine men on horseback approached them at a slow steady gait from the woods on the far side.

  Not nine men. Seven men and two Fae.

  He knew from here. He recognized his father and Wyn riding in the lead.

  “Bloody hell,” he growled, kicking his horse to a gallop.

  “Can we make it back to the slope?” Sallie squeezed Mairi’s fingers.

  “Perhaps, but it would do us no good.” Mairi still held her free hand to her breast, the tingle continuing to burn there. “They may walk their animals now, but if we run, they’ll do the same.”

  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  How could she have allowed herself to do something as remarkably brainless as getting caught away from the castle like this? And by the very man she’d suspected from the beginning to be the cause of Sallie’s death.

  Not man, she corrected herself. Fae. As dangerous as he’d been at Dun Ard, he was far more so now. Now that he’d been publicly rejected. Now that she and Sallie were out here alone. Defenseless. She’d allowed herself the comfort of assuming she’d changed things. That Sallie was safe now. She’d been so very wrong.

  “Verra well. I’m no going to make it easy for them.” Sallie stood, tugging at Mairi’s hand. “We’ll defend ourselves.”

  “Right.” Mairi rose and wiped her hands down her skirt to brush the wet leaves away. “Right. Okay.” She could do this. After all, she’d trained with Jesse regularly. She could fight.

  But not nine men.

  The old familiar panic flooded her mind.

  There’s nothing I can do. I’m helpless. All’s lost.

  Mairi turned to her cousin and froze. The girl, a full head shorter than her, stood with her chin raised high, her weight shifting from one foot to the other, readying herself.

  Exactly as I would have nine years ago. Exactly as she would now.

  “We’ll no be fighting all of them. Only one at a time,” she murmured, bolstering her courage as the horsemen approaching them picked up speed.

  “Perhaps we’ll no have to fight them at all.” Sallie nudged Mairi’s arm, tilting her head back toward the slope they’d come down.

  Ramos!

  Mairi was so thankful to see him galloping toward her, she hardly noticed Caden and Andrew following closely behind, or Caden’s leaning over to grab Alycie as his betrothed ran out into the meadow. Some other time she’d admire her cousin’s strength in hauling the kicking woman onto his horse without ever allowing the animal to break its stride.

  For now only one thing mattered: Ramos was here and he was coming for her.

  With his body hunkered low over his horse’s neck and his long hair whipping out behind him, he looked like her own dark warrior.

  Within what felt like a heartbeat, his huge animal was there, bits of mud and leaves kicked up as Ramos jerked his mount to a stop.

  Looking up into the unfathomable depths of his eyes, Mairi reached up for the hand he held out to her and felt herself lifted to the saddle behind him. She swung one leg across the horse, letting her skirt ride high up her legs.

  “Hold tight, my sweet.”

  She’d already fastened herself to his back before the words were out of his mouth. Only then did she turn to see Sallie scrambling up behind her brother Andrew in much the same manner as she had.

  The thundering rumble of hooves hitting the ground garnered her attention even before Ramos’s shouted order.

  “Let go!”

  Mairi leaned away as Ramos drew his sword from the sheath he’d taken to wearing on his back as her cousins did. She had only seconds to resecure her hold before his horse lurched forward.

  The clang of his sword against the weapon held by one of Servan’s men reverberated through him and into her chest.

  Mairi tightened her hold around Ramos, pressing her face into his back, wishing she could close her ears as well as her eyes. The sounds of men yelling and a woman’s scream mingled indistinctly with the noise of swords and horses, creating a cacophony of battle.

  Her eyes flew open at a hissing sound near her ear. Her plaid flapped in the breeze where it had been sliced open. Worse, the strike that had damaged her woolen had obviously passed along the side of Ramos’s arm on its path to her. Blood oozed from a slit in his sleeve.

  The big man she remembered from her first night at Sithean Fardach—Graham, was it?—grinned evilly as he maneuvered his horse closer and swung his sword again.

  “Yer too slow, yer lordship,” he taunted as Ramos jerked the reins of his horse to maintain their distance, lifting his sword, bracing to take the impact of the hit.

  Graham was right. With her attached to him like some kind of a parasite, Ramos wouldn’t have a chance. He was already wounded.

  My fault. Just like his being stuck in this century. All my fault.

  She scanned the area, trying to decide her best course of action. Caden fought off two attackers, hampered by Alycie across his horse. Andrew already lay crumpled on the ground with Sallie hunkered over him. How long before Ramos would meet the same fate?

  There was really only one thing for her to do.

  Mairi let go the hold she had around Ramos and gripped the back of his saddle, waiting for her opportunity. When he brought the horse to a stop, lifting his sword to block another strike of Graham’s weapon, she swung her leg over the back end of the animal and slid to the ground. She bent her knees on landing, wobbling only a little before regaining her balance. Without a backward glance, she lifted her skirts and ran for all she was worth straight toward her injured cousin.

  What the bloody hell? Ramos jerked his head to look behind him.

  “Mairi!”

  Did she fall? Was she hurt?

  He’d been slow on that last return, the blade stinging against his arm as he thrust out to deflect it from Mairi.

  Surely she hadn’t been wounded. I’d know, wouldn’t I?

  Ramos attempted to turn his horse, fearing she’d be trampled—or worse.

  But his opponent had other ideas. The man swung at him again, the weapon grazing Ramos’s cheek in
spite of his last-minute dodge.

  Ramos twirled his horse, bringing him face-to-face with Graham.

  The big man’s grin spread as he lifted his sword again. “Perhaps I’ll have the lass for myself when I’ve done with you.”

  Rather than striking out with his blade and pulling away as he’d done before, as Graham anticipated he’d do now, Ramos darted in closer and smashed the hilt of his weapon against the side of Graham’s head.

  Graham’s eyes went blank as his arm dropped and he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

  “And perhaps not, you bloody bastard,” Ramos muttered, turning his horse, searching for Mairi. Whether the man on the ground was stone dead or merely knocked cold mattered not to Ramos. He had only one concern at the moment, and he would fight his way through all the demons of hell, if necessary, to get to her.

  “Mairi!”

  Up meadow, to the north of him, Caden fought off two attackers, Alycie draped unceremoniously across the saddle in front of him, her legs kicking wildly.

  Caden could take care of himself. Ramos had more pressing concerns.

  “Mairi!”

  There she is.

  A good hundred and twenty meters south of him, on the other side of the stream.

  No time for relief at finding her. Instinctively he assessed the situation, not liking at all what he saw.

  Andrew lay crumpled on the ground. Sallie kneeling over him. Mairi, her woolen gone, the tail of her wet skirt pulled up and tucked in her belt, facing off against two men who approached her on foot. With most of her hair loosened from its braid, falling around her shoulders, she reminded him of a fabled Amazon warrior protecting her young.

  He kicked his horse, urging him in that direction, his entire being focused on the golden goddess that was his destination.

  Mairi extended her arms palms up and wiggled her fingers, motioning her opponents to come on as she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. The first man sheathed his sword and rushed her.