Seven Moons Back to the Highlands

by Deborah R Stigall

  Rubbing his face with both his hands, Emrys shook his head as he blew out his breath slowly. “He must have them all. A MacKay can’t live without his other half as long as she is alive and his heart knows this he canna help it. It’s in his breeding it’s a weakness or a strength depending upon your point of view.”

  “Where where has she gone to Emrys?” Yvonna listened closely to the bolted door to see if she could detect any movement whatsoever inside the room.

  Emrys slowly stood up, his bones popping in protest at his sitting so long in one position. He rubbed his back and grimaced in pain as he worked the kinks from his hips.

  “I believe she has gone to Blessed Brid’s protection. Where else would the pregnant mother of triplets hide? That is the only place where I am forbidden to look with the Mirrors of Time and no Druid will ever have any power there.

  Rachel chose wisely. My only hope is that while she is there, the Goddess will impart some wisdom to our Rachel so that she will find her way back to us when it is time for her sons to be born.”

  Emrys continued rubbing his back as he stared forlornly out the tiny slit of a window cut in the turret of the castle hall. “The Goddess will not allow Rachel to bare her children anywhere but here and Caelan will need to be present. I only hope that Caelan is still sane enough by than that he can convince Rachel to stay and that perhaps the Goddess will help her in that decision as well.”

  “Emrys ” Ian whispered as they all heard a bolt slide to the side and the heavy oaken door open.

  Yvonna’s hand flew to her mouth as she took in Caelan’s appearance. His eyes were red-rimmed and blood shot from tears and lack of sleep; his hair hung in matted braids from days of neglect. His face was covered with a scraggly beard and the lines around his eyes and mouth were long and drawn.

  “I ken hear all ye say the madness hasna made me deaf! But I canna sleep without her. I canna eat without her I canna BE WITHOUT HER!”

  Grabbing the tray of food, Caelan hurled it down the winding stairwell. Then, chest heaving, eyes wild with anguish, he grabbed the jug of ale from Yvonna’s hands and returned to the sanctuary of the Mirrors of Time, slamming the door behind him.

  Crossing his spindly arms over his chest, Ian’s eyebrows arched nearly to his hairline. “I told ye he wouldn’t eat anything.”

  )O(

  Caelan lay back down on his plaid in front of the Mirrors, pulling little Sam close to his side.

  “I canna believe she left us, Sam. I thought she loved us.”

  Sam stretched up and licked Caelan on the nose, then snuggled back down closer to the huge man’s chest. Sam didn’t mind the fact that Caelan hadn’t bathed in days. All he knew was that his mistress was gone and that his master was filled with pain.

  Caelan stared into the Mirror farthest to the right of the room. He felt sure if Rachel were to attempt to contact him that it would be that mirror in which she would appear. He still couldn’t believe she’d disappeared before his very eyes. His beautiful Rachel full, round and lovely with his sons inside of her gone in the breath of a moment. All because his clan had been unable to accept the magic flowing within her.

  The thought of the narrow-minded fear that had driven her away still made his blood boil. His fists clenched automatically as he replayed the great hall scene over and over in his exhausted mind.

  Rachel had been an outcast all of her life. Her parents hadn’t wanted her. Her ex-husband hadn’t wanted her. She’d never felt as though she’d fit in any place she’d ever been. He and Emrys had seen that while searching for her thru the planes of time.

  He’d sworn to her that she would be welcome in ancient Scotland. He’d sworn to her that things would be different here his clan would be like family he knew them they would welcome her with open arms. How could they not? His clan was used to the mystical and unusual they would grow to love Rachel as much as he.

  But he had let her down. How could he have been so wrong about his own people? He had to admit that even he had been shocked at the growing fierceness of her powers but he knew in his heart that Rachel would never bring evil into their midst.

  “She would ne’er have hurt them, Sam. She wouldha only helped them in ways that they couldna even have imagined.” Caelan sniffed as a tear ran down his nose, absentmindedly rubbing Sam’s ears as he talked.

  A dull thudding at the door jarred his mind back to the present, as he pulled his aching head up from the floor. “Be gone! Leave enough food for the wee dog and be done with it!”

  “For the sake of the bairns ye must pull yourself out of this!” Yvonna’s shrill voice came scolding thru the door as the heavy metal tray scraped the floor.

  “Your lady said she’d return to bare them. She said she’d send your sons back to ye to train as fine young warriors said she had seen it so now how are they to find a father fit to train them if he canna even stand upon his feet or sit upon the laird’s dais in the great hall when they return to their home?”

  “Get back to the kitchen, Yvonna! I trusted ye most of all!” Rolling to his feet, Caelan staggered to the door, his hands trembling from exhaustion. Throwing the door open, he pointed an accusing finger at Yvonna, as she stood clutching the upended serving tray to her body as though it were a shield.

  “I trusted ye to befriend my lady and help her fit in I trusted ye to ease her into life here. Of all here at the Keep, Yvonna you have always had a way with making everyone feel welcome and comfortable. You with your sparkling blue eyes and your smile and bubbling laugh that Fergus can ne’er shut up about I knew you would make m’Rachel feel as though she belonged. Why could ye not do that for your laird? Why do ye hate me so, Yvonna?”

  Caelan fell to his knees before her, his frustration and sleepless nights taking its toll. He whispered into his arms as he shook his head and stared blindly at the floor.

  “Why did she leave me, Yvonna?”

  “I think the lady thought she was doing what was best for ye and for the clan ” Yvonna reached down and gently stroked Caelan’s matted hair, her heart wrenching at the sight of his pain.

  “But ye must stay strong now for the bairns remember your sons!” Yvonna reached down and started pulling Caelan’s arm to try to get him to stand as she forced him to meet her gaze.

  She froze as Caelan’s cold gaze met hers and a sneer of disgust suddenly spread across his face.

  “If m’clan won’t accept a witch as my wife, what makes ye think they’ll accept three sons who’ll each be capable of magic as well? Since they’re mother was so strong in the mystical ways, do ye no think they’ll be at least half as strong as their mother as well?”

  Caelan shrugged off Yvonna’s hands, his voice cold and withdrawn. “If I canna have my entire family then I’ll have none at all.”

  Returning to the room holding the Mirrors, Caelan gently sat Sam outside the doorway, then closed and bolted the doorway shutting himself inside.

  Emrys glanced at Yvonna, pursed his lips, raised his eyebrows and then shook his head.

  “And so it begins ”

  Frowning, Yvonna glanced from the bolted door to Emrys and then back again. “What do ye mean? And so it begins ?”

  “Caelan’s madness.”

  Emrys started down the stairwell, Maizy and Sam slowly padding along behind him. “Until Rachel returns to bear the children and chooses to either stay with Caelan or to return to the Goddess Caelan will no longer be sane. I saw it once before with his great grandfather. The entire clan nearly died out. Hopefully, we’ll survive it this time as well.”

  )O(

  She mindlessly slid the silky leaf between her fingertips as she stared across the tops of the waving grasses. There were no seasons here. It was never too hot never too cold and whether it rained or shined depended upon the mood of the woman at the highest level of consciousness at the moment or the Goddess herself.

  Today the sky was the brightest azure blue with white clouds skimming across the tips of the bobbing grasses that swam be
fore her eyes. As she sat on the stone bench stroking her stomach, she could feel her sons tumbling and rolling and wondered how much longer her womb would be able to contain them.

  “Soon, ‘twill be time for ye to return and make your choice, Rachel.”

  A sense of calm immediately swept throughout Rachel’s entire being her intuitive signal that she was being graced with a visit from the Goddess Brid herself.

  Her gaze dropping to her feet or at least to where she thought her feet still were, Rachel bowed her head as she folded her hands over the top of her rounded belly.

  “I know I just don’t know how I’m going to be able to bring my babies into the world and then leave them and I don’t know how I’m going to face Caelan again after being gone I’m not sure he understood why I left.”

  “All Caelan understands is his pain and his loss. I have watched o’er him closely since ye came to me and he does not bode well.”

  Brid gently smoothed Rachel’s hair away from her face, her cool soothing touch pausing on Rachel’s cheek.

  “The MacKay line holds a special place in my heart, for theirs’ is a line capable of great passion and love capable of reincarnating thru many lifetimes some might even say they are some of the few mortals I have seen whose love could last an eternity whatever an eternity might be ” The Goddess pulled her fiery red tresses over one shoulder as she spoke. She worried with the end of a tiny braid as her deep green eyes gazed off into the distance.

  “His clan couldn’t accept me they feared me I didn’t fit in ” Rachel began to fidget on the bench as a sense of uneasiness took hold of her.

  “Rachel ye will be allowed to continue to take sanctuary here once your bairns are safely delivered on one condition only ye must be honest with Caelan and ye must be honest with yourself.”

  The Goddess stood and smoothed her flowing gown about her lithe and glorious form. As she slowly moved about the small clearing, it was as though a pulsating life force could be felt and the vines and flowers responded by bursting with color and new growth.

  “I left because ”

  “Rachel think before ye finish that sentence ” Brid’s voice was firm and it was as though time stood still.

  Rachel’s eyes grew wide as the Goddess cut her off in mid-sentence interrupting the excuse she’d repeated to herself over and over inside her own mind until she’d convinced herself that she’d done the honorable thing and not taken the coward’s way out.

  “I didn’t fit in back there and I’m afraid that Caelan’s going to die young and leave me all alone I’m terrified of medieval Scotland. I just want to go back to Kentucky.”

  Rachel dropped her face into her hands; her shoulders shaking as she silently started crying.

  “Shhhhh. That’s better child. Don’t cry. Truth is always better. Dry your tears, lass it’ll make the bairns have colic.”

  Brid smoothed Rachel’s hair with one hand as she gently waved to the sky with the other. At this signal from its mistress, the sun went down, the full moon rose and a soothing evening breeze began teasing the leaves in the trees.

  “Ye canna return to Kentucky. That part of your life is past.” Taking both of Rachel’s hands in hers, Brid gently pulled Rachel to her feet.

  “Walk with me, child. Breathe deeply. Ye must join your heart, mind and soul in this decision.” Brid gently guided Rachel thru the clearing, her voice as calming as the evening breeze.

  “Ye canna return to Kentucky. To do so would upset the balance of time and space for Caelan is of the past and you are of the future and your bairns were created while the two of you were joined together in the dream plane.”

  Brid’s reddish brows drew together over her fiercely green eyes as she gazed up into the brilliant white light of the full moon.

  “Ye have ne’er fit in or been wanted in all of your life and yet now that ye have the chance to be loved more than ye have e’er been loved in this existence ye shy away from it for fear that once ye embrace it and accept it fully it will only be ripped away from ye once again.”

  Stopping, the Goddess suddenly gripped Rachel by both her shoulders and stood staring her down, her regal nose mere inches from Rachel’s shocked face.

  “You’re no longer a child, Rachel. Your parents are dead and can no more torment ye by giving ye your fondest wishes and then yanking them away again just to see ye cry and tell ye that ye were not worthy. Ye were treated cruelly. But ‘tis now over.

  Which would ye rather have, lass? one wondrous moment? or an eternity of nothing? Ye must learn to embrace life and when this life is done ye will be given another. Ye have a soul that is immortal and capable of wondrous things.”

  Her thumb smoothing a tear from Rachel’s flaming cheek, Brid frowned, her reddish brows still knotted over her emerald eyes.

  “I’ve said too much forgive me, child.”

  Suddenly, they were standing in a bright airy room with gauze linens blowing in the moonlit breeze. A low inviting bed stood between the many rows of tall windows looking out over the shimmering waters of the lake below.

  “Rest now. Sleep the unburdened sleep of one who finally knows her heart and her fears and when ye awaken ye will know the answer ye seek.”

  Kissing Rachel lightly on the forehead, the Goddess led her to the bed and helped her ease her unbalanced pregnant body into the over-stuffed mattress and pillows.

  “I know my fears, Brid but I still don’t know what to do I don’t know if I have the courage what if?” Rachel clenched the sheets to her breast, biting her lower lip as her violet eyes over-flowed with tears.

  “Hush now not another word ” Placing her palm to Rachel’s forehead, Brid silenced Rachel’s fretting and gently covered her face with her lavender scented finger tips.

  “Sleep now not to dream but to rest for ye know your heart ye know your fears ye know your past ye have shed your tears. When ye wake ye will make your choice if I have m’way we will all rejoice.”

  When the Goddess removed her hands, she smiled at Rachel’s even breathing and bent to pull the sheets up closer about Rachel’s body.

  “Let your mother rest, lads! Three weeks she will sleep and then ye shall see your father as well. Now be still with ye!”

  As soon as Brid spoke the words, the restless babes in Rachel’s womb ceased their incessant wrestling and poking for better position and their motions smoothed to what seemed to be a more agreeable, cooperative effort instead of the constant fighting for position.

  “Better but ye could give her a bit of rest. The three of ye are going to be history makers I didn’t have the heart to tell the lass that fact while she’s having such a time deciding to return to your father.”

  Moving away from the bed, Brid idly glanced about the room, darkening it to a soothing low blue light with a nod of her head. As she closed the door, she motioned to a passing moon sprite.

  “Elera, please see that Rachel’s sleep is undisturbed. When she awakens it will be time for the babes to come into the world.”

  Nodding her silvery head, Elera smiled as the hallway filled with moonbeams. “I’ll see to it, my Goddess.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Another blast of frigid air swept thru the great hall as though the fires blazing in the hearths were but sparks glistening amongst damp tinder. The clansmen sitting scattered about the long tables pulled their plaids closer about their bodies as they shook their heads in dismay.

  “The Keep is cursed I tell ye. When she left she took the life’s blood not only from the laird himself but from all the land around us.”

  Fergus wrapped his cold chapped hands around his tankard of steaming mulled wine as he stared down into the murky depths.

  “Mayhap when she returns to give the laird his bairns she’ll remove the curse give the life back to the land.”

  Ian threw more wood on the fire, taking care to dodge the popping coals as the green sapwood caught up in the roaring blaze.

  “The only way the Lady will remove the curse
from the land and bring life back to the keep is if she stays.” Yvonna placed a platter of bannocks on the table in front of the men as she spoke.

  “’Tis the laird’s sadness that brings the curse of darkness to this hall and the bite of bitterness to the air. ‘Tis no magic or conjuring that causes the frigid winds to blow. The winter solstice is nigh upon us and ‘tis always brutal this time of year. When the Lady Rachel returns to bring the bairns we must do our best to make her want to stay only then will warmth return to this place.”

  “Yvonna is right.”

  Fergus stood from the table, drawing his plaid closer about his shoulders as he walked over to the fire.

  “I will speak to all of the men and have them spread the word. We need to do our part to make the lass feel welcome. We failed our laird before whether it were from fear or from ignorance it doesna matter. We canna let it happen again.”

  A dull scraping sound from the stairwell at the end of the hall suddenly drew their attention. Turning, they each nearly gasped in unison as Caelan entered the hall.

  Weeks of only eating what Emrys and Yvonna absolutely forced down his throat had caused his weight to fall way, leaving his tall frame lanky and bent. His eyes were sunken in his face, making him seem years older and worn with despair. His once thick glossy mane was pulled back in a lifeless queue, making his features even more gaunt and grief stricken.

  Caelan pulled a ratty plaid about his thinning shoulders, his hands slightly shaking as he glanced around the room with a dull disinterested gaze.

  “Put more wood on the fire, Ian Can ye no get the chill from this room?”

  “Aye Caelan. I’ll get more wood I’ll get the chill out of this room Ye’ll see.”

  Ian rushed from the room heading for the outbuildings for more wood not having the heart to tell Caelan that he’d just finished stoking the fires in all four hearths not moments ago and that no matter how hot the fires burned the room would grow no warmer.