by Jane Stain
Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and trailed down the backs of her arms.
She kept looking for the signal to re-connect as she walked toward the root cellar with the ladder that went up out the trap door. But the secret door at the end of that hallway was closed. It had never been closed before.
She had no idea how to open that door.
Panic rose in her chest. She hadn’t had a panic attack since she was thirteen.
There had to be a logical explanation for why these doors were closed and why all their stuff was missing—
Tavish.
Tavish must be playing a practical joke on her.
It wasn’t funny.
The anger she felt at him gave her the strength to turn around and retrace her steps back to the rope ladder. Only, it wasn’t there.
Panic tried to take hold of her again, and fortunately, her therapist’s advice for fighting panic twelve years ago came back to her. Slow, deep breaths. Think logically. Work on the trouble.
The deep breaths were the easiest part. She had them down. Thinking logically about all this, though? Maybe she’d better just skip to working on the trouble. But doing what?
Looking for a way out, that’s what.
Maybe the rope ladder was there and had just drifted outside of the cave a bit. Maybe if she went to the opening and felt around outside, she would find it.
She got to the cave opening — high up over the crashing waves — and held on to a rock which jutted out of the cave wall while she reached out and felt around.
Puzzled at what she felt, she nonetheless pulled it inside to have a look.
It wasn’t a rope ladder at all, but it was a rope. A single strand of rope that looked handmade.
She’d had enough, and she yelled up out of the cave mouth.
“Tavish! There’s no way I’m climbing up with just this stupid flimsy old rope! Throw down the rope ladder. Right now! Do you hear me? I said throw down the rope ladder right now.”
~*~
After yelling up the cliff for half an hour, Amber was seeing red. Tavish still hadn’t come.
And maybe he expected her to repel up the side of the cliff with only the handmade rope as a safeguard against falling down onto the rocks, but she didn’t feel up to that. She had barely made herself climb down the rope ladder. Climb up with just this rope? Nuh uh.
Tavish had told her on her first day that there was another entrance down a stairway that wasn’t in use now because they were trying to preserve it. She hadn’t seen that staircase in her wanderings today, but she had mostly been deeper than the first level, where a staircase would be. In most of the underground palace, the halls just slanted downward.
But in Kelsey’s whirlwind tour in their dream, there had been a staircase up. Amber turned around to go back down the cave again.
As soon as she did, she saw Tomas coming toward her — wearing a kilt like Tavish’s. A pleat-it-each-time-you-put-it-on ‘great kilt’ like the ones they had worn to the Renaissance Faire. He looked wonderfully familiar in it. And sexy.
She felt so confused in the moment that her tongue was tied, a rarity for Amber. Usually she talked way more than was good for her. But right now, Tavish was playing this trick on her, and she felt inadequate to climb up a rope, and Sulis had led her down here and then abandoned her, and now Tomas seemed to be playing along with this part of the joke.
How stupid could she be?
Somehow, Tomas had been the one person she thought she could trust, even more than Kelsey. But now he had proven otherwise by showing up in this kilt and being part of this stupid joke. She was angry and frustrated and sad and lonely.
Considering he’d been a zombie most of the time she’d seen him lately, Amber was surprised when Tomas had no qualms at all about how he felt.
He yelled at her, making her jump.
“What are you doing here in modern clothing?”
Finally settling on feeling defeated, Amber slumped down and sat on the cold stone cave floor.
“Tomas, I don’t know what game this is, but I’m not playing.”
Surprising her again, he took her by the arm and pulled her up, then tugged her down the hallway.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this, Amber. You don’t even know how serious this is, do you? Of course not. You just got here. Why did you have to do this? Sulis is so pissed, I think she might even… I don’t know what she’s going to do, but it’s not going to be good. Just let me get you out of here, okay?”
It had felt wonderful when he first took her arm, and it wasn’t half bad even now, with him tugging her along as if she were a child. He seemed oblivious to the effect it was having on her, however. Didn’t chemistry work both ways? If she was feeling chemistry, wasn’t he feeling it too?
She took a deep breath and let it out, surprised to find that she really didn’t need to. Her anxiety had disappeared as soon as he showed up — even though he had yelled at her.
Resigned to being tugged by the arm, Amber just followed along. At least Tomas seemed to know where he was going. She just stayed quiet, hoping he really would get her out of here.
But no such luck.
Tomas continued this weird game they were playing, although at least his yelling had gradually wound down, and now he was just talking.
“I’m going to take you to the travel spot. You need to stay there while I go get Tavish, okay?”
Just play along. Get the game over with.
“Okay.”
He took her back to that room where the table should have been with all their stuff, and planted her against the wall at a T intersection of the corridors.
“Okay, I’m going to get Tavish so he can take you home. Wait right here.”
He looked her in the eyes when he said to wait right here — and took her breath away.
She saw deep concern for her in his eyes.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll wait right here.”
She watched him run back toward the staircase, his kilt swishing in a pleasing way. And she did wait there. But while she was waiting, a strange song came to her ears. It was barely audible, but pleasing. Just when she was starting to wonder again what was going on and where everything had gone, the music changed.
It was singing, she realized. Soft, beautiful singing in a woman’s voice. She couldn’t understand the words, but the song called out to her nonetheless in feelings that her mind translated for her.
“Follow me. Follow me to beauty. Follow me to happiness. Follow me to the answer to all of your dreams.”
The song just hinted of this at first, but the longer she listened, the louder it got — and the more insistent. She found herself getting up and taking a few steps forward, the song was so compelling.
“The worries of your heart will be answered. An end to all your yearning is near. Come, taste the freedom.”
But it was more than just these promises. The song somehow made her see visions of green fields with butterflies fluttering above them, and glittering waterfalls with fairies dancing in the mist. Vaguely, she was aware that she was wandering through the underground castle, but she was going a way she hadn’t gone before. She didn’t worry about it. She was following the promise of the song, and it kept getting brighter and more hopeful by the minute.
“Come dance with your love up in the sunlight. Come out of these caves in this darkness into the glorious day.”
In the back of her mind, her logical reasoning protested that the sun had just set and it was night time now, but she ignored this still soft voice. Because the promise was so strong, so alluring.
“You can have everything you desire if you only follow. Come with me on a journey into the best places you’ll ever see.”
Already she was seeing things she’d never seen before. Oh, she passed through the grand throne room Kelsey had told her about, with the golden throne. It did look heavy. Vaguely, she wondered how Kelsey and Tavish and all the crew would ever get it out of there. And she passed
through several secret doors that hadn’t been open before — and again she wondered who had done the secret combination of movements of bricks to open them. She knew she hadn’t.
But it really didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except following the song that was going to bring her back to Tomas. It was going to join the two of them in all the ways that she was dreaming of. It was going to make them happy together for the rest of their lives.
Her feet moved faster now. She was running through the decorated stone corridors. She had put her phone in her pocket when she was looking for the rope ladder, but a twinkly fairy light guided her steps and didn’t let her trip.
Way back in the background of her mind, she noticed that the wall and floor carvings here weren’t so debris-filled as the ones she’d been clearing. The tiniest part of her mind wondered why that was — but the greater part dismissed it.
She could see the stairs now, the stairs Tavish and told her about, that she had been wondering about. There was nothing fancy about them, so why weren’t they being used? They didn’t appear to need preserving.
This also was dismissed. The song was full blast now. The source of the song was at the top of the stairs, waiting for her along with all the promises of the song — everything she ever wanted.
She ran up the stairs two at a time, impatient to get to where the promises waited. Bursting out into the cloudy light of a typical dreary Scottish day, she smiled and looked around for Tomas.
She didn’t see him, but the song told her where she would find him.
“Come over here to the edge of the cliff.”
She couldn’t get there fast enough. Even though it was difficult to run in her Doc Martens, she did run. Over the grass and stones. Across the path she had taken toward Port Patrick the night before. Right up to the edge of the cliff she ran, and stayed there, gazing at the waves as they dashed against the jagged sharp rocks far below.
“Are not the waves gallant?” asked the song which still hummed in her ear with a melodious beauty surpassed by nothing she ever imagined. “Are they not strong and beautiful, the way they dash with such purpose — and that magnificent sound?”
In Amber’s imagination, the song was now a beautiful fairy who had come to grant all of her secret wishes. So Amber nodded yes in response to the fairy’s question. For the waves were indeed majestic and noble, deserving a great strong purpose. It was nearly impossible to tear her gaze away from them.
When she had been there a minute or so, watching the waves, she began to yearn for them. To want them to embrace her. For their strength to carry her with their purpose.
At that point, the song changed again. It became even more beautiful, with lovely notes that carried on the wind and reminded her of the ocean, the way they drifted up and down so predictably and so comfortingly.
“The gallant waves wait to take you to your own personal paradise. All you need do is go to them. Now.”
Realizing this was her cue, that she was meant to do this and it would be the answer to all of her wishes, Amber raised her foot to step off the cliff.
Sia (6)
Before Amber fell off the cliff into the welcoming waves, a hand snatched her arm and pulled her back. Irritated, she turned, ready to chew the person out, whoever it was.
But it was Kelsey. Since lunch, she had changed into a floor-length plaid overdress in blues and browns with a bit of yellow. Under that was an extra floor-length skirt in plain brown. The big billowing sleeves of her linen blouse were light blue.
Her stricken brown eyes searched Amber, and when Kelsey spoke, it was in Gaelic.
“Whatever are ye doing, Amber, trying tae give us the vapors? How did ye get here, and why didn’t ye change clothes first?”
Even as she listened to Kelsey, Amber could still hear the song, but it was fading. Desperate to get what she wanted, Amber fought against Kelsey’s hold, fought to go over the cliff after all. She could still see the waves down there, waiting to welcome her. Just a few more inches, and she would join them.
But another hand took hold of her other arm and yanked her away from the cliff. Oddly, this second person stopped and fell, but Kelsey caught the second person.
This new person — also a woman, it turned out — spoke to Kelsey, also in Gaelic. What was up with these people and their costumes and their old-fashioned language? What kind of game was this?
“Naught much. She will be at oor wedding. Nevertheless, we need tae get her inside.”
“Aye, howsoever for now, just put yer cloak aroond her.”
The other woman laughed. Laughed. At a time like this. Kelsey and her friend must still be playing Tavish and Tomas’s game. Great. For a moment, Amber regretted ever leaving the Mexican dig site. Her old friends were strange to her, and she felt more alone than ever. But…
Now that she was away from the cliff and these women were talking…
What was she doing here?
Oh yeah. There had been that song… It was gone now.
She stopped fighting against them and relaxed. Kelsey was her friend. She wasn’t going to hurt her. Why was she fighting against her? The idea of walking off the cliff now filled her with horror instead of… Why she been walking off the cliff, again?
Meanwhile, Kelsey’s friend had removed her cloak and was arranging it over Amber’s shoulders, where she fastened it with her brooch. She looked at Kelsey and grinned.
“We will take ye inside and find ye some aught tae wear, but in the meantime ye will be fine sae long as ye keep this cloak about ye.”
Amber looked at the woman. Also dressed in a long plaid dress and a bell-sleeved linen blouse, she was tall and red haired and smiling with joy.
“Ah, ye must be Sasha.”
Sasha nodded and smiled.
Amber studied her. She seemed to be a modern woman, but did she only understand Gaelic? Amber spoke to her in that language, which Tavish’s parents had taught her at the fair.
“Hae I seen ye afore? Because ye look familiar.”
Sasha laughed again.
“Wull if ye were a man and I wasna about tae be marrit — in the middle o planning my wedding ceremony right at this moment, as a matter o fact — I would tease ye and say some aught like ‘only in yer dreams.’” She gave Amber a weird significant look, giving her the impression she should know something but didn’t, and then shrugged and went on. “Howsoever, syne ye are na a man and I dinna feel like teasing ye, I shall just say nay, na really. ’Tis nice tae meet ye, Amber. I hae heard a little about ye and all yer other faire friends ower the years. I lived with Kelsey during her studies. Did she tell ye?”
Amber didn’t answer, because she couldn’t get enough breath.
She was coming out of a daze and had only just noticed the huge very solid stone-on-stone castle that loomed next to them. In no way shape or form had that been there three hours ago when she followed Sulis over the cliff. There had only been the old tower house, which was much smaller than this… fortress.
Sasha and Kelsey turned to follow Amber’s gaze at the castle, and then turned back to her.
Kelsey nodded.
“‘Tis magnificent, aye?”
Still struggling to get enough breath because of the anxiety that now gripped her again, Amber wrinkled her brow at Kelsey and managed to squeak out a question.
“Magnificent? More like impossible! Where the ‘check’ did it come from?”
But Kelsey and Sasha weren’t looking at Amber anymore. She followed the direction they were looking in.
Half a dozen kilted guards outfitted in leather armor, heavy handmade boots, and hundreds of pounds of weapons were headed their way. And Sasha and Kelsey were smiling at them.
The guards halted when they got to Amber and her friends. Their leader looked Amber over appreciatively but politely as he spoke to Kelsey.
“Wull now am I tae be supposing this is another o yer clanswomen come tae market, Kelsey?”
Kelsey smiled at him and put her arm through Amber�
��s arm.
“Aye, she is. Cormac, this is Amber. And afore ye ask, I dinna ken how long she will be staying. Amber, these are some o Laird Malcomb’s brawest castle guards.”
Amber tried to be polite and play along. She really did.
But this was all too much. What the heck?
First she almost stepped off the cliff — had seen the dashing waves beneath her with their foam coming up and known she was going to fall to her death — and now here was a whole castle that hadn’t been there before — and guards straight out of Braveheart. The only thing missing was the blue face paint. The rational part of her mind said she would have to ask Kelsey about that later.
But most of her struggled to say something, anything, that would make sense in the situation.
But her lungs constricted until she was gasping for air. Black spots appeared before her eyes, and the next thing she knew, she was collapsing.
~*~
Amber woke up in a bed. It was very comfortable, and the covers were heavy and luxurious — handmade quilts, going by the stitches she felt with her fingers. She pulled the covers up over her head to go back to sleep. For some reason, she was stressed out. Yeah, best to go back to sleep before she remembered why.
But no such luck.
Kelsey’s voice grabbed her attention and wouldn’t let go, and Kelsey’s hand pulled the covers down.
“Oh good, you’re okay. It’s safe to talk now. It’s just us women. You can trust Sasha. The guys are waiting outside. We’re all dying to know how you got here by yourself, and why didn’t you change clothes first?”
Huh? This must be another persistent dream. Maybe if she sat up, she’d wake up more and things would be less confusing. Instead, she pulled the covers back over her head again.
“This has got to be a nightmare. Just let me go back to sleep so I can wake up again and have all this be over.”
Kelsey pulled the covers down to Amber’s waist.
“I wish this were a dream, because then I could manipulate things the way I wanted them, but it’s not. We’re really here in the fourteenth century, and you’re really with us. I found some clothes you can change into, so that’s less of a problem. But Amber, how did you get here? The only way the rest of us are able to time travel is with Tavish’s ring. We’re super curious to know how you managed it.”