“There’s a little inlet by a cottage that’s the best way to get to the burgh,” Darter explained — and Nancy’s eyes widened.
“Old Maggie’s cottage?”
“I don’t know the owner’s name,” Darter said, shrugging.
Nancy wanted to laugh. Trust old Maggie to be living as close as physically possible to the burgh. Does she know that that is where her cottage is, Nancy wondered. She wouldn’t put it past her. Maggie had all kinds of little secrets. She wondered what the old woman would make of Darter. Would she think it was a good idea, trusting the advice of a goblin, or would she call her a foolish girl? For some reason, Nancy couldn’t help thinking that Maggie would support this course of action. After all, Darter had proven himself… and it had been Maggie who’d said that the question of alliances and good and evil was a lot more complicated than simply what species a Fae belonged to.
She put these questions out of her head as they rode toward the bridge. They had to move quickly… if Grimtooth had scouts in the woods, as Malcolm suspected, they’d have already seen what was going on. Who knew how much more time they had? What if a horde of goblins came rushing out of the woods to try to stop them from what they were trying to do? Then they’d fight, she supposed… but there was fear in her chest. As they reached the beach and slid from the backs of their horses, she took a deep breath, looking around at the people around her. Anna was smiling at her — she was holding something out.
“This was going to be a present for later, but I feel like you need it now. Rode into town a few days back, got John to take a break from making all those crosses to hammer it out…”
It was beautiful. A short sword, just like the ones she’d been training with Anna how to use, made of sleek dark metal that — confirmed by the way Darter subtly moved away from her when she took it from Anna’s hand — must have been iron. Nancy took a deep breath, then threw her arms around Anna in a bone-crushing hug that made the woman laugh.
“Go on, go on! You’ve got a Loch to get to the bottom of…”
“Thank you, Anna,” she said sincerely, fighting the urge to cry. Then, surrounded by the armed men, she started putting on her scuba gear. The men were half watching her, half keeping their eyes on the woods… but the woods were quiet. The day itself was quiet. Too quiet, as far as Nancy was concerned… she felt self-conscious about the way she was putting her gear on, about how everyone was there to protect her.
“You ready?” Darter asked finally, his eyes glinting up at her. He was clearly itching to get back into the water — he was already ankle-deep in the water, the little waves lapping around his feet as he waited for her. But she just shook her head, pulling her mouthpiece out to speak.
“I’m going to jump off the end of the jetty, if that’s okay? I want to avoid getting too much sand in my gear.”
“Works for me,” Darter said brightly, hopping up onto the jetty then turning back to her. “See you down there!” And with that, he turned and sprinted down the jetty, dizzyingly fast, before executing a flawless dive at the end of it and plunging deep into the water. Nancy laughed, then gave the men around her one last look, and followed toward the edge of the jetty, her heart beating hard in her chest. This was it. This was her last ever dive. Just dive in the water, head for the floor of the Loch, search for the Burgh, close the door. That was it. That was all she needed to do. It was easy, wasn’t it? She had the light that attached to the shoulder of her drysuit, she had an emergency backup in a pocket, and she had the reassuring weight of the iron sword in her hand, just in case.
In case of what? she wondered, frowning.
At the end of the jetty, she turned back one more time to wave… but to her horror, she realized that the men weren’t looking. And for good reason. Their attention had been claimed by the dark shapes coming out of the woods. Nancy stood frozen, unable to decide what to do as the horde of goblins rushed toward the men on the beach… she could hear their high, chittering voices on the wind from here. Should she run back, help them fight? She had her sword, she had some rudimentary skill with it… but no.
No — this was why the men had come in the first place. To hold off any attackers — to make sure she could make it to the bottom of the lake. Sure enough, the men were starting forward with their swords, moving easily in the sunlight. This was what they’d spent their lives training to do, she realized, watching as they set about killing the goblins with strokes of their swords. And what Nancy had spent her life training to do was dive.
Still, she lingered, afraid — until she saw Malcolm turn over his shoulder, staring at her with confusion and fear in his eyes.
“Nancy! Go! We’ll hold them here!”
She nodded furiously, turning… but something was wrong. The men were swearing as the goblins raced past them, wading straight into the water. She realized with a giddy rush that the goblins weren’t there to kill the men on the shore… quite the contrary. They were heading into the water. They were trying to stop her from getting to the burgh. That was good news, she thought dizzily — that meant that what they were doing was the right move, that it was possible. For Grimtooth to send his soldiers out in the middle of the daytime, when they were at their weakest in the sunlight… this was a good sign. This meant they were doing something right, something that was threatening to Grimtooth’s cause.
But it also meant that Nancy had to move fast. Already, the goblins were halfway out to the end of the jetty, starting to swim rather than walk. The men were chasing them, laying about with their swords, trying to do as much damage to the creatures as they passed as they could, but there were too many of them. She knew she had to act now.
So finally, Nancy did what she’d been thinking about doing ever since she arrived here weeks ago. She took a deep breath, put her mask on, and dove straight from the edge of the jetty, deep into the cold, icy waters of Loch Ness.
Chapter 57
The minute the water closed around her, Nancy felt a kind of calm descend over her that she only ever felt when she was underwater. Immediately, all the stress and tension of the goblin attack was gone — not banished, but just in a separate chamber of her mind. She checked in with her breathing, practicing the techniques she’d honed of breathing as little as possible in order to preserve the air for as long as possible. Checked on the gauges that would tell her how much air she had left. Forty minutes. That was fine. That was more than enough time to get down there, find the burgh, seal it shut then head back up. She clicked on the little light on her shoulder, smiling as it sliced through the water.
It was murky down here — she remembered something about Loch Ness being thick with peat, which made the waters dark and hard to see through. Well, that was fine. She had a guide who knew where he was going. Where was Darter, anyway, she wondered as she began to swim forward, letting her body adjust to the water before pressing on any deeper. Sure enough, before too long she saw a familiar shape, flitting back and forth through the water. Darter, looking much more graceful and aquatic than he had on land. She could see the gills on his neck filtering the water and realized with a grin that there was webbing between his fingers and toes that gave him fins like hers to swim with. As he swam back and forth, waiting for her, she could see well and truly how he had earned his name — he flitted and darted back and forth like a fish, incredibly agile.
The problem with having a mask on, of course, was that it made communication impossible… she couldn’t warn him that there were goblins coming for them. Instead, she just made the gesture for ‘let’s go’. She was worried about her friends back on the beach, of course, but she also knew that they were well trained and armed with iron. They would do just fine against the hordes of goblins… and hey, the more they killed now, the fewer would be left to attack the castle once the burgh was sealed and the possibility of reinforcements was no longer available to the Redcap and his minions. Would Grimtooth himself come out to attack? She wasn’t sure, but she felt worry prickling at her gut regardless.
Darter’s eyes widened as she approached him. What was wrong? She turned in the water, looking behind her with her torch — and her heart sank as she saw what he was looking at. Goblins. At least half a dozen of them, swimming in the water… Bogans, she recognized them, less quick and agile in the water than Darter, but still threatening. She readied her sword, prepared to fight them off if she had to, but worried about the amount of air she had left… what if she wasted all her time up here, fighting off the goblins? She stabbed at the nearest goblin warningly with her sword — it seemed the power of iron was not lessened by the presence of water, and the goblin flailed away from her sword, clearly frightened.
But more were coming — lots more. She swam backwards, her eyes fixed on the goblins that were coming, frightened despite herself — there were so many. How was she supposed to fight them off? Darter was at her side, tugging at her sleeve — but she couldn’t dive quickly enough to outswim them, not without risking decompression sickness. She swam on a little, swishing her sword uselessly through the water, hoping the goblins would stay back… but their numbers were increasing, dark shapes flickering and flitting through the water.
A familiar sound echoed through the water, but Nancy for a moment couldn’t remember for the life of her where she could remember it from. It was almost like the cry of a whale, but lower, more resonant, almost rumbling in her bones. Darter yanked frantically on her arm, and she turned around — to see, to her shock and delight, the huge form of the Loch Ness Monster herself, illuminated by the torch on her shoulder. This time, there was no mistaking the creature — her huge gray form sailed by, heading for the goblins, which all scattered. She saw Nessie grab one in her huge jaws and swallow it whole before reaching out to snap out another one… still, as she watched, she realized why Nessie had had such trouble in capturing and eating all the goblins. They were so quick and moved so swiftly past her eyes — even here, it was clear that she was having trouble following all of them, like an old guard dog trying to follow multiple crafty robbers with her eyes.
Still, it felt good to have the creature on her side. Nancy wished she could shout her thanks to Nessie but settled for just pumping a fist in the air. But more goblins were coming… and to Nancy’s horror, they weren’t alone. There was a huge cloud of bubbles, suddenly, and she blinked in confusion as a huge shape emerged. For a dizzy moment, she could have sworn it was an oversized goblin, some kind of freakish giant man-sized goblin… but no. Soon enough, her torch revealed it was Malcolm himself. He’d yanked his armor off and was shirtless in the water, his sword in one hand and his lips pressed tightly together, bubbles escaping as he thrust his sword valiantly through the water, stabbing at the goblins. He turned to look at her over his shoulder, gesturing furiously for her to keep swimming — but she knew how deep they were, knew how much danger he was in. If he didn’t get to the surface in time, he’d drown… so, throwing caution to the wind, she swam up beside him and wrenched her mask off, shoving it into his mouth and letting him take a deep breath of the air there.
He stared at her wordlessly — neither of them could speak down here, she knew. So she just jerked her head toward the depths of the Loch, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. The meaning was clear — are you coming, or not?
Darter lead them, his figure cut out against the murky water ahead. They had to swim slowly, Nancy providing much of the propulsive power with her fins, Malcolm on guard with his sword, lashing out at the goblins that were still swerving and darting around them, but wary of the iron blades that they both wielded. Nancy had to admit — it was good to have him at her side. They figured out a rhythm for buddy-breathing with the mask soon enough, and though she knew it meant they’d have to move even faster than she’d thought, she knew that without him, she wouldn’t have been able to get this far. The Monster was with them, following along and snapping at the goblins with her huge jaws, but it was Malcolm’s iron blade that was really holding them at bay. Visibility was terrible — she quickly tugged out her spare torch and pressed it into his hand, allowing him to illuminate the goblins he was trying to fight. Still, it was hard to fight an enemy he could hardly see… she could see that he was sustaining wounds from their sharp claws as they darted in to harm him. He was their focus, not her — they seemed to be trying to take him out first. Well, that was good — if they were intelligent, they’d have figured out that it was the air tank and scuba equipment that was preserving their lives and targeted that instead. But Nancy was very, very grateful for their ignorance on the subject… it meant that she and Malcolm were all the safer.
As they dove deeper and deeper, it seemed that the majority of the Bogans couldn’t keep up — they were air-breathing creatures, it seemed, and needed to return to the surface to survive. How had they made the original voyage from the bottom of the Loch? Nancy wondered. They had reached it, now, the bottom — Darter signaled to her that they had to keep moving, but she could see that they’d reached the Loch’s floor. At least, the Loch’s floor in this shallow place. She knew it was a lot deeper elsewhere — she imagined that was where the Monster lived, deep in the depths of the water, but this was where the Burgh was. And a good thing, too — any deeper, and she wouldn’t have survived her original journey here. And then where would the people of the Sept and the village have been? Stuck with a bunch of goblins in their woods, that was where. She felt a burst of satisfaction each time the Monster or Malcolm put an end to a goblin’s life. Usually, she wouldn’t have been so bloodthirsty… but she remembered the threats that Grimtooth and his terrible band had made on her life, and the lives of the people she cared about. Anyone willing to throw their lot in with a leader like that deserved to be eaten by a Monster.
She had hoped that the goblins had given up… but as the Bogans thinned out, it seemed that their places were taken just as quickly by the more nimble, athletic Glashtyns, aquatic by nature and much more difficult to avoid. Malcolm was doing his best, but Nancy could see that they had to find the Burgh quickly — he was already bleeding from a number of little claw wounds, and these Glashtyns had nasty sharp claws. They seemed to be targeting Darter, too, who was weakened by the withering of his arm and unable to fight back as well, though he gave it a good go, his teeth flashing in the low light as he struck and bit at the foes. Nancy took her mask off and shared it with Malcolm again, not wanting him to get dizzy with lack of oxygen — he was doing more vigorous work than her, and besides, he wasn’t as well-trained in measuring his breathing. She looked at her gauges, and her heart sank. Twenty minutes left — half of their air used. It was going to be tight, whatever happened — but she hoped they could find the burgh soon and head back up to the surface as soon as possible. The Monster was still with them, but it was having even more trouble with the aquatic Goblins, lashing out and snapping with its jaws even as the creatures dodged and weaved around it.
Nancy knew they had to move quickly. She looked to Darter, trying to impress upon him with her facial expression that they needed to get to the burgh, and he nodded, surging ahead through the water. She followed, physically pulling Malcolm along behind her, holding her breath as she offered him the mask again. God, she’d never thought that her emergency training at the bottom of the deep pool back in Raleigh would ever come in handy. It had always been something to learn just because you had to, not because you had any real belief that you’d use it in real life someday.
But here she was, swimming along the bottom of a Loch with a man in tow. Not just a man — a man she cared about, probably the first man she’d ever felt truly seriously about, romantically… and both his life and her own depended on her ability to keep her head in this crisis. Well, it’s a good thing I spent so much of my life training for this, she thought grimly, fixing her eyes on Darter. If this was to be her last dive ever — and part of her was beginning to suspect that that was going to be the case — then it may as well be a dramatic one.
There — up ahead. The little goblin had stopped swimming and was t
reading water in place in front of what looked like a huge pile of stones, piled haphazardly on the floor of the Loch. But as she shone her torch on it, squinting closely at it as Malcolm flailed about with his sword to dissuade the enemy goblins from attacking them, she could see that it wasn’t just an ordinary pile of rocks. There, among the rocks, was what looked like a huge stone door.
They’d done it. They’d reached the bottom of the Loch… and there before them stood the burgh itself. The gateway to the Sidhe, to the Faerie world… the Land of the Unaging.
And the gateway back to her home.
Chapter 58
Nancy stared at the burgh, taken aback by the size of it. Now that she looked around, she found the surroundings vaguely familiar — this was where she’d swum out, months ago after she’d encountered the Sidhe and they’d pulled her out of the dangerous situation she’d been in. Now, she was back down here… and she couldn’t help thinking about what she’d been considering for weeks. Should she simply swim through and try to appeal to the Sidhe to take her back home? Should she offer them whatever they wanted — favors, her firstborn, whatever it was — to get her back to Raleigh, back to her friends and her family and her old life? For a long moment, as she stared up at the stone door that led through to who knew where, she gave it serious consideration.
But then, she looked back over her shoulder. There was Malcolm, his sword in his hand, holding his breath and fighting for dear life to defend her from the creatures that were stabbing and darting at her, trying to kill her. He trusts me, she thought, staring at his face. He’d trusted her to come down here, to do what needed to be done, to save them all from the constant stream of goblins… and he’d trusted her enough to dive down her, far beyond the safety of the surface, with only her air tanks to keep him alive. If she went through to speak to the Sidhe, what would happen to Malcolm? He’d drown down here, alone, with only the knowledge that she’d betrayed him to keep him company in his final minutes of life. That tore her heart to pieces.
Stranded By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance-Highlander Forever Book 2 Page 35