“I have no idea,” I confessed shakily, getting to my feet.
“What the hell took you so damn long, Tristan?”
Spinning around, I faced the newly formed sinkhole, shell-shocked as I stared at the man standing at its edge. His curly tresses hung in his face as they always had, his frown cutting me more than even the sound of the stone had.
“Callaghan?” I whispered.
“Brother.” Cal’s voice made me feel like I was falling to pieces. He hadn’t aged a day, wearing the same clothes as the last time I saw him, the white shirt and brown breeches dirty and torn in places. New scars covered his face, though, giving him a sinister appearance, his glowering stare frightful and intense. He looked like some warrior of legend, perched on the lip of the cave with his feet planted firmly in the dirt, hands clenched into fists at his side.
He laughed, the sound of it a stark contrast from his appearance, and tossed his hair from his face, folding his arms. “Are ye at a loss for words, Tristan? I must confess, I never thought I’d see the day.”
He was teasing me, but it sounded so bitter it confused me. I was overjoyed to see him, but my brain could not comprehend what I was looking at. Behind me, my companions remained just as silent, everything in stark contrast to the commotion we’d witness a second before.
“How?” I finally croaked. “How are ye here? Are ye a spirit, come to torture me for my part in yer death?”
“Death?” He made a face, shaking his head. “I’m not dead, Tristan, ye dolt. I’m as alive as ye are.”
“Impossible.” Randall’s voice barely reached me, the dismay and wonder in his tone enough to snap me from the frozen state I was in.
Spinning around, I glared at him, barring my teeth. “Ye do not speak to him,” I growled. “Not after what ye did.”
“Tis fine.” Cal interrupted, drawing my attention to him. His burning stare fixed on Randall, an expression of distaste crossing his features. “Allow the man time to process as ye are. Thomas believed me deceased, too.”
“Everyone did,” I responded, stepping closer. “These past ten years I have lived with the guilt of yer passing on my shoulders, yet here ye are, telling me it was for naught.” A sting of anger toward him pricked me. “This whole time ye’ve been here, in the Otherworld? Why? How?”
His nose twitched, his expression becoming melancholy as he gazed into the hole behind him. Then, glancing at me, he released a sigh that took part of his angry stance with him. “Ten years,” he breathed. “That’s all it’s been for ye?”
Nodding, I watched as he squeezed his eyes shut, hands shaking once more. Grinding his teeth, he cursed, studying the three of us again.
There was murder in his gaze when he addressed Randall. “I have suffered here for nearly five hundred years,” he growled. “Paying for yer actions that night.”
I half expected him to leap from his position and tackle Randall to the ground, slaughtering him right there in front of us. Instead, he remained where he was, trembling with fury.
“Better you than me.”
Randall’s calm declaration was a slap in the face to me, but it was something else entirely to Cal. He froze, his eyes nearly popping from their sockets, gaping at him. I could almost see the hate boiling beneath his skin, his silence deafening.
Then, he laughed. It was loud and boisterous, the gleeful sound misplaced with his image. It wasn’t an ironic mirth he shared. He appeared genuinely entertained by the bastard, shaking his head as he inhaled, a grin gracing his features. It was the Callaghan I knew, appearing for the first time.
“Five hundred years,” I mused, interrupting his giggling fit. “How is it possible?”
“Time moves differently in the Otherworld.” It was Sam who answered, full of wonder. “Just like in Atlantis. Right?”
Callaghan brightened as he peered at her, true joy covering his features. “Aye, that’s right. Ye are Tristan’s wife, Samantha, no?” He waited, continuing to chuckle as he studied her. “I’ve heard a great many tales of ye, lass, from traveling spirits. It would seem ye are his match in every way I could have hoped.”
I couldn’t tear my attention from him. He was so . . . normal. But, the longer I stared, the more I noticed little changes. It wasn’t only the signs of whatever battles he’d partaken in. He was wiser, as if he could judge a man just from looking at him. He was stronger, too, his form more muscular. Even the way he spoke sounded slightly different, as if he carefully chose each word before it left his mouth.
His presence left me with so many questions. The reaction of The Stone of Destiny to my being here frightened me, too, if I was honest. There had to be a mistake. I was no High King and I was most certainly not ready to accept Randall hadn’t killed my brother.
“What are ye doing here?” I demanded, halting his conversation with my wife and trying not to let my fears show as I addressed him. “Why resurface now, of all times?”
He frowned, whatever he’d started to say to Sam fading from his lips. We gazed at each other, his expression quickly saddening. When he spoke, he reminded me of a broken soul, pleading with its god for mercy.
“I need yer help,” he croaked. He moved as if to step away from the cave and come to me, but froze, staying where he was. It was as if he couldn’t leave the spot he stood in, panic covering his features for a split second as he riveted himself in place.
“Please, Tristan.” He wavered, sending an additional shock through me. “I want to go home.”
“What can I do?”
It mattered not to me, the task he required. Seeing his horrifying expression of fear and desperation, I’d have done whatever he needed, no matter the cost. My conscience cried to comfort him, to soothe the ache he must have felt for his entire banishment to the Otherworld.
A banishment I was responsible for.
“Avalon,” Cal whispered. “Deliver her. I will stand by yer side and together we will break the bonds that hold her hostage.” Tears gathered in his eyes and he paused, trying to get control of himself. “The gods of this world will release me afterword. Please, Brother.”
Anything but that, I thought to myself. There was no chance I’d bring Sam and the baby along to a war of that nature. As much as I immediately longed to do whatever he needed, I had to retain my duty to my spouse and our family. Cal’s freedom would have to wait, until I’d finished my plans with Randall and returned my family to safety.
“I’m not here to save Avalon,” I responded, pushing back the tendril of terror threatening to destroy me. “Not yet.”
“Ye’d leave me here?” His face fell, disbelief flooding him, and I felt as if I’d condemned him to this place all over again.
“I must do something else first,” I hurried to say. “My true purpose in coming here. Can ye wait to claim yer freedom a few days more?”
He huffed. “I know yer ‘true purpose’ well enough. The journey ye’re on is one and the same with Avalon’s needs. With my needs.” Hesitating, he regarded me, almost as if he were suspicious. “I will guide ye on yer path, so long as ye promise to aid me.”
The words stabbed at me. With a start, I realized he didn’t trust me to do as I said. Something had happened to him here, destroying his faith in me. The Cal I knew never would have second-guessed me, or believed I’d leave him in the place of his nightmares, simply because I couldn’t be bothered to offer my assistance.
Disbelief shone on my face as I regarded him. “I will do whatever is required of me to bring ye home, Cal,” I responded softly. “Ye have my word.”
He instantly relaxed, relief washing over him as he closed his eyes and raised his face toward the heavens. He basked in the light and then peered at me, smiling lightly. “I thank ye.”
“How touching,” Randall sneered, his voice grating against my nerves. “Can we get on with it, though? These ropes you’ve insisted I wear are cutting into me.”
Snorting, Cal’s attention focused on the villain, glowering. Before he could say
anything, though, Sam jerked on the rope she still held, hard enough that Randall fell to the earth.
Cursing, he struggled to get back up. “I’ll gut you for that, bitch,” he growled.
“By all accounts, ye’ll be dead before ye get the chance.” Cal drawled, a satisfied glimmer in his eyes as he watched Randall writhe.
“We’ll see.”
Randall’s mutter sent a shiver down my spine and I glanced at my wife, silently asking if she was well. At her confirmation, a small weight lifted off my chest.
My head was always cluttered with what seemed to be a million thoughts, but her safety and well-being was always at the foreground of it all.
Cal turned, as if he were listening to the earth behind him, and then clapped. “Time to go,” he announced decisively.
“We need an invitation,” Sam stated, hesitating. “Tristan was invited in by an ancestor, but Randall and I have no way to enter.”
“I’m taking ye.” Cal grinned, a shadow of his former self flashing across his features. “If ye are fine with that arrangement?”
She grinned, clearly caught in the charm Callaghan so often displayed toward the finer sex. “That will do just fine. Thank you.”
He softened, motioning her forward. “Come then, lass. Let me greet my sister-in-law properly.”
Towing Randall behind her, she approached Callaghan slowly, as if she didn’t quite trust him. The awkwardness of the situation broke instantaneously, though, and she chuckled, giving him one of her most dazzling smiles.
Pulling her into his embrace, Cal grasped her tightly, not letting go for several seconds.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Sam stepped away, her expression positively glowing. “You aren’t anything like I thought you’d be.”
Cal hooted, a huge, hearty sound, and agreed. Her presence appeared to please him in a way I’d not seen before. It was as if she lifted his shadows and filled him with light, the pain and suffering he’d worn melting as they stood together.
“Yes,” he joked. “I imagine Tristan downplayed my handsomeness and impeccable personality, so as to keep ye from falling in love with me.” He winked at me, grinning, and it was as if he had never left. “I always was one to steal a ladies heart.”
“Oh please.” Randall snorted. “You were just like any boy your age. Full of yourself and using any opportunity available to show off what little skills you did have. That was why I picked you for my plan. I suspected your combination of patriotism and stupidity would work well for me. And I was correct.”
For the first time, Cal was close enough to reach the man. He grabbed Randall by the collar of his shirt, dragging him close and lifting him as if he were nothing, their faces level. Cal’s features darkened as he glared into the visage of our enemy.
“Ye did this to me,” he growled. “Ye sent me to this place when ye very well understood the demon wanted ye.” He grunted. “Perhaps it could see yer murky soul and knew ye belonged in darkness and nowhere else.”
Danger flashed in his gaze as he continued to speak. “I’m aware of what ye have done to my family. Ye’ve maimed and tortured them, stolen from them, blackened their names, and taken that which is most dear. Do ye have any idea what it is like, to be trapped in a world that is not yer own, knowing the ones ye held most dear are suffering?” He shook his head. “I have been in my own personal hell for centuries because of ye, but it is yer actions against Tristan I refuse to give ye pardon for.
“Come, if ye must,” Cal continued, granting Randall the invitation he needed to enter the Otherworld. “But I will have my reckoning with ye if ye do.”
He dropped Randall, watching as the villain straightened, trading glares with him. “May I take the rope, Samantha?” The hate had gone from his words. “I’d like to lead my condemner for a bit. It seems it’d be relaxing, knowing he must do what I say for a change.”
She passed the object to him without objection.
Cal handled the line with a thoughtful stare and then tugged on it, dragging Randall into the mouth of the cave. “Very good. Let us begin.”
Slowly, I nodded, taking a step toward him. Glancing toward the trees, I could still see the fairy folk there, celebrating and waving as I made my way toward the entrance to the Otherworld.
“Ye’ve been given the magic sight.” Cal sounded impressed. “It will serve ye well here. I didn’t manage to claim that gift until much longer after my arrival.”
“Ye can see them?” I asked him warily, stopping in front of him.
He nodded, a wave of emotion washing over his features. “I’m happy to see ye, Tristan,” he said quietly, opening his arms.
Closing the distance between us, I hugged my brother for the first time in a decade. While I was unsure of what lay ahead, I knew for certain I was happy to see him. The contact made me want to weep for joy at his arrival. Guilt also flooded me, as I wondered if I could have saved him from whatever fate he’d met in the Dark Isles.
Clearing my throat, I pulled away, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Lead on,” I told him. “I am ready for this ordeal to be finished.”
“We will end it together.” He smiled, the expression hopeful and relieved. “Follow me.”
He began walking into the cave, the downward motion of the floor reminding me of the tree tunnel to the Otherworld and Atlantis. Here and there, I saw someone watching, figures disappearing into the shadows as we neared them, the whole space teeming with activity. The light from the world above filtered through the darkness, shining on the obscure earth until we were so far below, there was almost no light at all. The eyes glowed as they followed me then, magic lighting them in ways I didn’t understand.
Glancing toward Sam, I didn’t think she could see any of it, her attention focused forward, her contemplations a mystery to me.
“I imagine ye’re wondering why Lia Fáil shouted for ye.” Cal sounded as if he were getting ready to announce the financial results of a special Order investigation into spending. He spoke over his shoulder as he continued on, strolling into the darkness before us without a care. When I didn’t respond, he stopped, peering at me with raised eyebrows. “Well, ye are, are ye not?”
I motioned in agreement, finding it hard to articulate my thoughts. I hadn’t expected to see anyone I knew in the Otherworld. His being here destroyed my cool demeanor and threw me to the theoretical dogs.
“Of course ye are.” Beaming, he returned to leading the way, joyful as he spoke. “Ye’re Éire’s High King, Tristan. The true one, anyway. It was our family that mated with the goddess and swore to protect all she had.”
Groaning to myself, I didn’t respond. I’d already guessed as much on my own, finding it in a small pool of explanations for the events I’d attended. Either I was king, there were no more good leaders in the world, or a witch was having a good laugh on my behalf. The thought of it made me feel tired, and I abruptly realized I’d stopped, leaning against the wall.
The group paused, waiting for me to collect myself, and I flushed at their concerned features.
“Do not faint,” Randall muttered. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Shut up,” Sam hissed, glaring at him. “He’s not going to faint. He needs a minute.”
Grinning weakly at her, I felt a surge of gratefulness for her being there. Sam was my rock, holding me steady when I thought I might float away.
Latching onto that reaffirmed realization, I took inhaled deeply and stood straight, moving to thread our fingers together. “Thank ye, love,” I whispered in her ear, kissing her lightly.
Randall made a noise of disgust, falling silent as Cal slapped him on his crown.
“I know it’s a lot.” Cal shrugged, his expression apologetic. “But, I have much I need to tell ye, and we must continue to move quickly, before they arrive.”
“Before who arrives?” We all asked together, with varying degrees of wariness.
Cal grimaced, giving us a stare that was nervous at best. “The Fomorii—C
hildren of Darkness.”
“Ye have to understand,” Cal explained, leading us further into the darkness. “The Otherworld is under siege. Having Black Knights in Avalon has changed everything. The fairy folk agreed The Order could use their sacred city, Avalon to protect their treasures, and the treasures of Éire’s gods. The deal has been broken by the arrival of the traitors, and war is at the front of the fae’s minds. That’s why yer arrival is so important and needed.”
He glanced at me. “They’ve been waiting for the king to return, to lead them against those who would harm them.”
The statement left a foul taste in my mouth. “Why me? Ye are an O’Rourke—why have ye not lead them?”
“I’m not part of the direct line.” His voice filled with reverence and awe as he continued to gaze at me, strengthening my uncomfortable awareness of my new position. “Ye have the blood of the goddess Éire in yer veins, Tristan. Ye are her direct descendant and the true king of Ireland.”
“Stop it.” I hadn’t meant for it to sound like an order, but the authority of the command plainly sounded. Flinching, I shook my head, touching his shoulder, stopping the group. “I am only yer brother, Cal. I’m sorry to say it, but there has to be a mistake. Leading an army of fae in a battle with the Black Knights is not what I came here to do.”
“I know it’s not,” he replied. “Ye’re here to kill Thomas.”
“I am. My dealings with him dictate I should travel to the Dark Isles and find the Red Javelin, not sail with ye to Avalon and go to war. I’m sorry.”
Callaghan smiled sadly, as if he knew something I did not. “This way,” he indicated. “We’ve reached the border.”
A vast ocean stretched as far as I could see, the black shore blending into the water. Following Cal into the surf, I watched as the liquid washed my boots, barely deep enough to touch my ankles.
“What is this place?” Sam asked, her grip tightening on my hand.
“This is the sea between worlds,” Cal answered. “Ye cannot travel among realms without sailing or swimming.”
Stolen Away_A Time Travel Romance Page 23