by Claudy Conn
Even in the dim light I saw that while she was young, she was already quite lovely. Her beautiful caramel skin was flawless, and her almond shaped, dark eyes were fascinating. At the moment, her Elfin pointed ears twitched with her anger, and I tried to think of something to say to her that wouldn’t be hurtful when she wagged a finger at me and took a step forward.
“You are about to learn what happens when a Draoidheil Witch breaks our laws.”
I puzzled over this for a moment, as I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Arrest her!” Loli shouted.
“Arrest me?” I finally found my voice. “For what?”
“Don’t pretend ignorance. Did you think I wouldn’t see? You didn’t even bother to cloak yourself. You are a witch and have broken the Treaty!” she hissed at me.
The cottage front door was flung open with a force that sent it smashing into the wall. Devin was at my side in the flash of a moment. Even with the confusion and seriousness of my present situation, I found myself smiling, quite impressed with his speed and strength.
Before the two uniformed men could even touch me, he had them by their necks, smashing them into one another, knocking them out before he flung them to the ground.
Three men stepped out of the cottage. The eldest of the three, who was dressed in a dark suit, stepped towards us, and his voice held supreme irritation. “What is the meaning of this? Devin, have you lost your mind?”
“I should ask ye the same thing. After all our years of friendship, this is how ye treat me…and m’mate. Aye, this lovely young woman is m’mate, and aye, she is a witch, but nae a witch from The Land of the Draoidheil. She is the only one who can attain m’freedom and allow me to return to m’own world. The lass means ye nae harm.”
“Liar…look how she sparkles, Father,” Loli said to the suited man. I noted that the other two at his side were dressed in suits, but of the khaki military type with loads of medals.
“What have you to say to that, Devin?” her father asked, and gave me a long once over, definitely not of the sexual kind. He, in fact, took a step back when he was done. He had seen my glow, which meant the Elfin were supernaturals.
“I say look at her! Really look at her, Tomin! Do ye see sparkle or glow?” Devin snapped. I could see he was shocked at their behavior and had not expected any of this. “Draoidheil Witches sparkle! She doesna sparkle because m’lass is from m’home realm. She is a witch, but has nothing to do with Elfin or Draoidheil, and is nae subject to the Treaty. She has nae broken any of yer laws and only came at m’invitation.”
“She does glow,” Loli’s father said. “In fact, she glows unblemished by darkness. Many of the Draoidheil’s sparkle is infused with darkness.”
Loli became furious. “Look at her! She is a witch. We have no way of knowing where she came from and what her purpose is.”
“Take her.” Tomin had made up his mind. “We will sort this out while she is safely incarcerated.”
“Ye dinnae seriously think ye can wrench m’woman from me, do ye?” Devin said.
Evidently, this enraged Loli. She was wearing a pretty white silky looking top and a white flowery skirt. The skirt swished as she walked over to her father and touched his arm. “Father, don’t listen to him. He is infatuated with this witch. He will say anything to save her from punishment. She has him bewitched and it is not his fault, but at the moment, you can’t trust what he says.”
Devin stared at her for a long moment and then turned to Tomin. “Ye are doing our friendship…our trust, a great deal of harm because of a silly, jealous girl. Dinnae ye see that?”
Tomin turned to his daughter. “Is this true? Have you brought these charges up against this woman because of jealousy?”
“Yes.” Loli lowered her gaze and then up went her chin in defiance. “I suppose…in a way, I am. However, she is a witch and we can’t know for sure what her purpose is for being here, and we can’t know that Devin isn’t befuddled by a spell.” Loli stuck to her guns.
“Indeed, in that, you may be correct.” Tomin turned to the two soldiers who had recovered and had lumbered over and stood at attention.
Devin put out his arm, palm facing them. “Wait.” He turned to Loli and said, “Loli, I am a vampire with age. Ye know that I cannae be ‘spelled’ by a witch.” He turned to her father and said quietly, “Ye know that as well, Tomin.”
“I am not certain of that, as we know very little about vampires here in Trinity…we have none, and therefore only have your word in this, and as Loli says, if you are spelled by this witch, you would not realize it. We will need time to investigate. She will come with us.”
Devin didn’t wait another moment. He picked me up cradle style and started to move vampire speed towards the footpath that would take us to the divider.
“No, Dev,” I told him. “I’m not going back and leaving you here to face these crazies. Not leaving…makes no sense to leave. I won’t be able to come back.”
As it turned out, neither of us had a choice about what we were going to do.
Waiting for us in the woods was a platoon of soldiers, and what they did next brought us down on our backs!
I saw it coming and wondered why they thought this would hold against Devin’s strength or my magic.
A gold net landed on top of us. They yanked it hard and quickly tied it with our feet tucked into the netting.
I looked at Devin and said, “Like, what are they doing?”
“This was devised to capture a Draoidheil Witch. ‘Tis a gold netting left to them by the Fae who restored their world. He gave each tribe…the Elfin, the Draoidheil, and The Land of the Tores, a magical weapon to keep each tribe at bay.”
“Does it work on you?” I asked.
“Nae, I dinnae feel m’strength sapped. What about ye?”
I opened some of the netting with a thought and laughed. “Nope. Should we leave? But let’s keep this as a ‘Get Out of Jail’ free card for when we need it.”
“Why?” He frowned.
A great deal of shouting and commotion was going on around us, so I said, “Shhh. Not now.”
All at once, a couple of soldiers dragged us by the long rope tied to the netting under our feet.
“Hey!” I objected. “Not so rough.”
“I will kill them,” Devin grumbled. “Are ye hurt, lass?”
“No, just annoyed,” I answered. “Let’s just let this play out and see where it goes. We can always leave.”
“Stop it!” Loli snapped. “No talking!” She turned to her father, who had come to oversee our capture. “Father…have them taken away and put in separate cells!”
“Loli,” he chided. “Such heat for someone who has long been our friend.” He sighed. “Devin, you must now allow us to detain you for trying to help this female escape. I understand you either care for her, or think you care for her…”
“Hold on,” I snapped. “I have never put a spell on Devin and would never want a mate in that way! So stop thinking he is bewitched and besides, he can’t be. As he told you, he is a vampire with the skill of age. Ain’t nobody spelling Devin MacLeod!”
Loli’s father actually smiled. “You are an unusual witch. I am inclined to believe you, and as I said, we will investigate and see where our inquiries take us.” He started to leave, turned and looked at Devin. “Tell me, old friend, as a witch, would she not have sympathies and allegiance to the Draoidheil Witches?”
“Nae, her allegiance, her sympathies, her love are for me. She dinnae even know they existed until now. She came without interfering in yer world…she came to free me, but the portal that opened for her, did nae open for me. I tried to tell ye this when ye arrived at m’cottage and accused me of treachery. M’mate, and her name is Bobbie Skye, has one goal, one goal only, to free me so that I may return to m’home,” Devin answered. “I have never betrayed ye, why would ye think I would do so now?”
“Ah, perhaps, as Loli has inferred, the Witches of Draoidheil have promise
d to help her free you in return for a favor,” Tomin said quietly. “Before I make up my mind in this matter, I must look into the reports my security department has and see what sort of activity has taken place in the last month. That should help me decide what the truth is.” He sighed. “When I am done, we shall satisfy all sides in this distressful matter. Caution, my friend, has always been the way I rule.”
* * * * *
The net, with us tightly against one another inside of it, was lifted by four big soldiers and deposited unceremoniously into the bed of a military truck. I objected again, “Hey, why so rough?”
Devin rolled us so I was on top of him, as he lay on the hard surface beneath me. I laughed and said, “What are you doing?”
“Don’t ye like to ride me, lass?”
I laughed. “It is one of the reasons I came to Trinity tonight.” At that moment, I saw a tall, good-looking Elfin male stride up to Loli, and I watched with interest.
His skin was darker, like sweet chocolate, and his hair fell in neat silver streaked lengths to his shoulders. He was a hunk, definitely older than Loli, but not by much.
I was amazed to see her lashes flutter.
I craned my neck to keep watching and Devin said, “What are ye doing?”
“Shhh,” I told him.
The hunk touched her shoulder gently and she moved not away, but closer to him. My witch hearing is excellent, and although they stood at least twenty feet away, I heard him say, “Loli, you are wrong in this. Devin is our friend and he told the truth. You know you are doing this because you feel…unhappy that he chose this female.”
“Who is this guy?” I whispered to Devin.
“I cannae quite see him, but he sounds like Topser,” Devin whispered back.
“Topser, do you think me that awful that you would suspect my motives?”
“I think you are that young—that angry, and I hold out hope that you will see for yourself and instead of continuing in this action, you will take another and accept my courtship,” he said.
Loli made a distressed sound and snapped, “And thinking this awful thing about me, you still wish to court me?”
“Of course, Loli, I know you. I am not bewitched. I see you with my eyes wide open and want you just as you are, but I know this behavior…it isn’t really you,” he said.
“Ha! You don’t know me at all and will be sadly disappointed if I allowed you to court me.” She snapped two fingers in the air. “I must go.”
The truck rumbled off and I couldn’t hear anymore, but I did see Loli turn away from him and run off in a huff.
“Okay, do I break out of this, or do ye?” Devin said.
“But being on you, with the truck moving and rumbling…” I pressed myself against his hard-on. “Is such fun.”
He laughed. “Coom on, lass, time for us to leave.”
“How can you break out?”
“This is gold netting…gold is soft and I have vampire muscle,” he said, and grinned.
I kissed his nose, his cheek, his mouth, and teased him with a little grinding.
“Och aye, lass, if that’s what ye want here and now, let’s break out and get in a good fuck before ye go home.” He chuckled.
“Tempting, but not leaving you. I want to clear us of the accusation if we can, then it is to your cottage where you will give me the notebooks so I can take them to Beyland.”
“Now, why would ye be doing that so soon?”
“Because he knows how to free you and will tell me how to do it if I get him all the notebooks. He says he doesn’t have to tell me how to free you, but he will, and I think he will because it would anger Allora, whom he despises.”
“Och aye, but ye are up to it all. Ye have seduced the Dark Warlock…is that it?”
I snorted. “I don’t think so. He, by the way, is still in love with my grandmother’s memory, but I am never fooled…he is wicked and even for her was unable to break free. Maybe if she lived…only time would have answered that, but she didn’t…because of Allora.” I went quiet then.
“Och aye, I understand, lass, but ye need to…”
“Yes,” I interrupted. “And if I must, I will only do so when I am convinced you will be safely tucked out of harm’s way. Bottom line, Devin—I’ll only escape if you come with me and you have a place to go to…do you?”
“Aye, when I first got here, I thought I was alone there in the woods. I had nae place out of the weather, so I climbed one of the rolling hills in the distance between The Land of the Draoidheil and the Elfin…what they call, the disputed territory. The Treaty calls for neither side to make use of that low mountain. I have a cave there that kept me comfortable for months. It will do.”
“Good, then when we escape, I’ll go get the notebooks for Beyland and portal back, you go vampire speed to your cave. Yes?”
“Aye, that is a plan that will work better, m’darlin’ love, if we escape now. Ye do know they mean to stick us in an Elfin prison cell, where it will be a slight more difficult to escape than it will be from an open truck.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I think, first, we need to let this play out and if we can, clear…er…” I chuckled, “my good name. If that isn’t possible, we move to plan B? Yes?”
“Aye then, m’own stubborn, Bobbie Skye.”
I snuggled his chin, but went into my head and concentrated. It was annoying being constrained in the netting, but I had, as did Devin, the ability to break out at will.
Easy peasy, I told myself, but as to the rest, his hiding in a cave, me making it to the border wall to portal out…that had me worried!
“Listen to me, lass…go now, poof off in that purple smoke of yers and get the notebooks. Go to the far end of the barrier—they have nae idea how far it stretches, ye see…and get to Beyland. That is the wise way to go.”
“And leave you?” I was shocked.
“I can handle Tomin and Loli better with ye gone, I think, and if nae, I will escape. They wouldna harm me…”
“No, not yet. I think it will go better for us if I show them I am not one of the Draoidheil Witches. If I escape now…I won’t be able to return and be with you, and, Devin,” I smiled at him and rubbed my forehead against his chin, “that just won’t do.”
“Beyland will give ye the means to free me,” he said.
“I can’t take the chance that they will hide you away from me. You heard them, they think I am a spy—they think you are bewitched. We have to try and clear ourselves of the charges first. We have to at least try.”
“Och aye…I should have gone to the council at the onset, when ye first came through. I dinnae think. It never occurred to me they would see ye as a Draoidheil—ye are so different than those witches.”
“What happened? You weren’t at the border with us for hours?”
“They called for this meeting, ye see, and I knew something was wrong, so I stalled and the next thing I knew, Tomin was banging at m’door. I dinnae see this cooming at all.”
“We’ll get them to see the truth,” I said. “And in the meantime, mate…that is what you called me, your mate..?” I teased.
He chuckled. “Until I can coom home and make ye m’bride, aye, ye are.”
I snuggled into him, even though we were constrained by the netting. “Hmm, at least, right now, it isn’t half bad being pressed up so close to you like this. Not exactly what I had in mind when I crossed over earlier, but it will have to do for now.”
The truck came to a sudden hard halt and although Devin was beneath me and couldn’t look out to tell me where we were, I was able to peek over the sides of the truck and had a good idea. A prison. The building we had come to was a prison.
Three khaki-uniformed men put down the truck’s tailgate and nimbly jumped into the bed of the truck. They laughed to see our position, but took hold of the netting.
“Are they soldiers, Dev?” I asked, watching their stoic faces.
“Aye, when it cooms to border grievances, the Elfin soldiers are
called in,” he answered quietly.
We were lifted off the tailgate, which was designed so much like our army trucks, and I got a better look at the concrete building to my left. It did look impenetrable. Was I wrong to allow them to take us inside? No, I had magic at my disposal.
We were then carried, still in our netting, inside the building. It looked and smelled clean and we passed a few offices as they walked us down a long narrow hall and put us into a cell. They turned after dumping us on the floor and two of the soldiers took a guard’s stance on either side of the solid prison door.
“This ‘tisn’t the main part of the prison,” Devin said. “We are in a holding cell, which is, I suppose, because they mean to interrogate us soon.”
“Well,” I said. “At least we are together.”
He grinned. “Nae for long if Loli has her way.”
The door being solid seemed absurd to me, as the rest of the cell that ran along the hallway consisted of bars from ceiling to floor. I studied our surroundings and discovered a narrow window on the back solid concrete wall. We heard a door open and close down the hallway, and we shifted so we could see if anyone approached.
We were now side by side, partially sitting, but bent over and held in this ridiculous position by the netting, but quite able to see who stood on the other side of the bars.
A tall gorgeous female Elfin in a soft summer dress of blue, stood regarding us with a slight sneer. She looked familiar, and I strained my neck to study her.
She was comfortable with herself and self-assured. Her black hair was braided and wound around her lovely head. She was cool and in command as she nodded to the guards and told them, “At ease, gentlemen.” She stared at us for a long moment and marched off.
“Who was that?” I whispered.
“Loli’s elder sister, Rana. She is what we would call divorced in our realm, they call it ‘parted’ here. She is young, but very bitter about her divorce. He nae only cheated, but he did so with the Princess Witch of the Draoidheil. Her husband, an Elfin councilman, met the Princess Witch during Treaty negotiations…and they fell in love.”