Celtic Rose

by Campbell, Jill

  At the bottom of the hill Gabriel threw up four electrical balls and they stayed suspended in the air lighting up the area. The guys helped him get the tent up while the girls made something to eat. They tried to feed Six Toes and Lady some dried meat but they both turned their nose up at it. Lady flew off to hunt and Six Toes ran along with her. Kallisto realized there didn’t seem to be any animosity between those two. They stared at them, shocked, but kept making the dinner for the rest of group. After the tent was up they sat down to eat and along came Lady and Six Toes, each with a desert rat in their mouths. They went around behind the tent so they couldn’t see them, and for that they were grateful.

  The night was cold and they decided to go to bed. Even though Gabriel was cuddling up to Keira, as close as he could get anyway with Six Toes between them, he was still being the alpha wolf.

  “Hands where I can see them people. No hanky-panky in the tent.” Gabriel knew better, but he had to make the situation uncomfortable for everyone. He was muffling his laugh into the blanket. Keira was laughing quietly as well. Lady bristled her feathers and settled on her perch, tucking her head under her wing. Gabriel took one last look around the tent and stretched his arm out toward the electric balls. He closed his fist tightly and the balls flickered and faded out.

  Chapter 18

  Kallisto was floating along. She knew she was back in the past but didn’t know why she was floating. She was above a small town. It might’ve been the town she went to after being attacked by the Roman soldiers, but she couldn’t be sure from the angle.

  After a few moments she saw Gabriel come out of one of the houses. He turned back toward the door and a girl stepped through. She looked exactly like Keira except she was a brunette with red highlights. Except for the hair, or even with it, they could have passed for twins. Gabriel leaned forward and bent down slowly. The girl smiled brightly and leaned forward on tip toes as Gabriel kissed her tenderly. When they pulled apart Gabriel looked back through the door, smiling. A small child, a girl with hair the color of Gabriel’s, came bounding out the door and into Gabriel’s arms. She couldn’t have been more than five years old. He laughed loudly and swung her around before pulling her into an embrace. He kissed her head and sat her down. She stared up at him smiling reverently and grabbed the woman’s leg. Gabriel gave them both one last kiss and waved as he walked away. They waved back and walked back into the house.

  Kallisto wanted to know more about them but she was pulled along with Gabriel. He headed toward the castle. It had been the same town she went to the night she was attacked. That explained why Gabriel had been there, but not why he was in the tavern and not with them.

  As Gabriel walked up to the castle she realized it was the day of the wedding. Preparations were being made for the ceremony. Gabriel went to her room, where Ephiny was helping her prepare. She already had her dress on and Ephiny was fixing her hair. Gabriel gave her a gentle hug and kissed her head. She smiled brightly at him and grabbed his hand. He squeezed her hand and smiled brightly as well. He left the room and her floating body followed. Gabriel was met in the hall by another soldier. Words were exchanged but she couldn’t hear them. This was more like a dream than any of the others that she’d had. The only thing she could devise from the conversation was that Gabriel was very angry and the soldier was very scared. Gabriel pinched between his eyes and breathed deeply. He said something else and the soldier bowed and walked away. Gabriel stood there for another minute looking confused and upset, and then went back into her room.

  Gabriel walked over and whispered in her ear. She looked horror stricken when she looked at him. He patted her shoulder and smiled comfortingly. Kallisto really wanted to be able to hear what they were saying. It was very frustrating. Her dream self jumped up and started to yell. She started for the door but Gabriel grabbed her arm and spoke gently to her. He ran his fingers down her cheek wiping away the tears that had started. He spoke gently to her some more and she calmed down. He pulled her into an embrace and kissed the top of her head, then released her so she could sit back down to let Ephiny finish her hair. Gabriel kissed her forehead one last time and walked out the door.

  He went down the stairs and headed for the main doors. He eventually took his place outside the doors of the wedding hall. He stood there angrily, checking every person that came up to go through the doors. That was the job Maulro was supposed to be doing. That was why he was so angry and why her dream self threw such a fit. Gabriel wasn’t going to be able to actually be present for the wedding because he was outside.

  The wedding must’ve started because no one else was coming in, and Gabriel seemed to get angrier and angrier. He turned back and looked at the doors longingly, but never moved from his assigned position.

  Kallisto noticed Gabriel jump and turn to run for the doors. Just as he reached them, they burst open and people piled out of them. He tried to fight through the crowd but it was a slow process. He could see the damage done and what was going on over the crowd. He looked at the balcony and a look of sheer ferocity showed on his face. He bore down and jumped with all of his might, and flew into the wall and grabbed on with all that he had. He climbed and climbed, but too slowly. As he jumped to the balcony and tried to go over two electric balls came flying into him. He flew across the room and landed in the middle of the floor. As he lay there dying, images flew through his mind and Kallisto was able to see them. There was a vision of her and Talus dead on the floor, of Kalan dying with her, of Ramina being hit with the ball, and he saw William dive out of the balcony, but the last vision lingered. It was a vision of the girl that looked so much like Keira and the little girl. Visions of their life together flowed through Kallisto’s mind as they went through Gabriel’s until finally it went dark.

  Everyone in the tent jolted awake and sat up at the exact same moment. They stared at Gabriel and Keira without a word. Keira looked down at the floor like she was ashamed of something. Gabriel’s eyes were too wide.

  “That’s just disturbing, Gabriel. How messed up are you that you would fall in love with your own great-great-whatever-great-granddaughter? That is so disgusting!” William spouted with a look of disgust on his face.

  “No, William, it’s not like that!” Keira yelled. “I am the girl from the vision; I just bleached my hair. I died after raising our daughter, and I’ve been brought back now to help with the curse. I can’t believe that you’d think Gabriel would be capable of something like that. If he ever met one of his children the only thing he could ever feel for them is that of a grandparent toward their grandchildren. You are the disturbed one, William, for even thinking something like that!” Keira finished.

  William looked down at the floor of the tent in shame. He received several head-slaps all at once from all directions. Ephiny, Talus, Ramina, Kalan, and Kallisto all had the same idea at once and William never saw it coming. They started laughing afterwards, even William who had a hold of his head. They found it rather funny.

  “I apologize, Keira, Gabriel. I should’ve known better,” William said, smiling. It was the first time in that life William had ever been civil to Gabriel. Everyone stared at William in shock. “What? Oh come on guys, I can be kind when I want to be. Besides, I thought Gabriel died on purpose. I didn’t have any idea that he had a family to think of. I would never have been this way toward him if I’d thought for even a second that he’d lost as much or more than any of us lost. I just thought he was miserable being the king’s lapdog, and death was his easy way out.” William looked at Gabriel then. “I’m sorry Gabe. You’ve lost more than any of us. I’d have been angry too if I had to leave a child behind.” William got up and walked over to Gabriel clapping him on the shoulder. The others sat there in shock.

  “Where did that come from anyway? We shouldn’t have been able to see any thoughts but our own then,” Kallisto asked.

  “It’s because of me. I see the past, and when I’m asleep I dream of the past of whoever I’m touching. You all picked up on it
because of our connection now,” she said guiltily. That’s why she looked so ashamed.

  “It’s alright, babe. You don’t have any control over it. You’re new to this life,” Gabriel said comfortingly.

  “Gabriel, there’s something else,” Keira said, looking down at the floor. “Our child is still alive, as are her children. She got older and then one day she transformed. The werewolf manifested itself in her and she never aged any more. She was married and had children of her own. I never thought she’d be a werewolf like you–I thought she’d grow up a little more than human, but that the transformation would never occur–but it did. She didn’t hurt anybody, but it made her worry that her children might become werewolves too. They were only a quarter werewolf, but we still weren’t sure. Our daughter is still out there somewhere, Gabriel. When this is all done I want to find her. I want to see our family.” Keira looked back up at Gabriel with pleading eyes. Gabriel nodded.

  “We’ll see our family again, Keira. It may not be in this life, but we’ll see them again,” he said as he placed his hands on her cheeks. He bent to kiss her and the others jumped up and made for the outdoors. Six Toes and Lady went with them. Gabriel and Keira laughed, but stayed and completed their kiss.

  They cooked up some more of the food for breakfast while Lady and Six Toes hunted down their own. After breakfast, they loaded up the camp and started traveling again. Lady went back to check on Maulro and his men. They were already up and headed that way. They must’ve stopped and slept because they weren’t as close as they would’ve been if they came through the night, but they were closer than they should’ve been. They picked up the pace for a while to try to make up the distance.

  Lady scouted ahead again as they traveled. William and Gabriel were riding along, talking and laughing. If ever there was a time when Kallisto felt like she was in the twilight zone, that was the time. It was more like it used to be in their other lives; William and Gabriel were always picking on each other but it was all in good fun. There was so much more animosity between them than any other time. Kallisto had never understood it until the tent.

  As they were traveling along, Lady flew back swiftly. She landed on Kallisto’s arm and visions of a darkened horizon filled her head. “The sand storm is coming,” Keira and Kallisto said as one. Everyone stared at them in shock and stopped. They jumped off the camels and started getting everything set up for the storm. Everyone got inside, and Kallisto waited for Lady. She flew down quickly and Kallisto opened the tent so she could fly in. Kallisto looked over the back of the tent and saw the sand storm nearly on top of them. She froze, staring at the wonder of it. It was an amazing sight to have calm wind and see a wall of sand coming straight for her. She was grabbed and yanked into the tent just as the sand hit the back of the tent and started over it. When she looked to see who it was she found an angry Gabriel.

  “What are you doing? Do you want to die early?” he said angrily. She seemed to come to herself then.

  “I’m sorry Gabriel, I was just staring at the storm, and I don’t know what happened. It was like I was mesmerized.” Kallisto shook her head. Gabriel grabbed her face and looked into her eyes.

  “The green in your eyes is glowing. It hasn’t moved from where it is but it’s still glowing. The witch seems to have gotten a hold of you for a moment–she tries that sometimes. She wants to see if she can hurt you from a distance. If your eyes had been opened at my place when you were drained I’d bet they’d were glowing then too. We’ll just have to keep an eye on you.” Gabriel released her face and put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t worry about anything Kallisto. I’ll be here and as long as I’m alive I’ll protect you, even during her distance attacks.” He smiled for a second, his small smile, and started to shake. Kallisto saw tears form in his eyes and one tear flowed down his cheek a moment before the electricity went through her body. She screamed out and everything went dark.

  One moment everything was dark and the next she was traveling with the electricity. It didn’t just travel through her body; it traveled down a line attached to her spine and out of her body. Kallisto followed the line with the electricity. It didn’t take long until she saw Serena in a fire lit chamber. Her arms were raised and her eyes were glowing. The line traveled from Kallisto straight to Serena’s heart. Kallisto was traveling straight for her body with the electricity. She didn’t want to go in with the electricity so she tried very hard to stop, and did so just in front of Serena’s body, but the electricity kept going. Kallisto saw her try to shut down before they got there but it was too late. The electricity went straight to her heart. Kallisto heard her scream and the scream echoed in a masculine voice to her side. Kallisto looked in that direction and saw Merrick running toward Serena. In that second the connection was broken and Kallisto was sent flying backwards quicker than she’d come.

  She hit her body seconds later with a jolt. Her body jumped with the impact of it and as they merged her eyes opened and she jumped up, screaming. Kalan grabbed her quickly and held her, trying to calm her down. Kallisto saw Ephiny and Ramina holding William and Talus. They were still trying to get to Gabriel, who was sitting on the floor next to where she’d been. He was crying and Keira was holding on to him. Kalan must’ve been right on the other side of Kallisto for him to be able to grab a hold of her as quickly as he had. Her screaming slowed and quieted, but she was sobbing in her brother’s arms. Talus and William had stopped fighting after she screamed, and everyone was frozen in the positions they were in when she first screamed.

  Ramina and Ephiny finally let Talus and William go and they ran over to Kallisto. The tent wasn’t huge so it only took a couple of steps. They grabbed ahold of her, still in Kalan’s arms. They were all hugging her in some way. They didn’t set the river to flow, but William did. Gabriel and Keira stayed back that time. Gabriel apparently didn’t feel like he deserved it and Keira stayed by him. After a few moments of the river flowing Kallisto came back to herself and looked at Gabriel. The others finally released her enough for her to move but none of them let go.

  “I know what you were doing, Gabriel. It scared me but I’m fine now. Please come to us...” Kallisto looked at Keira then, “you too Keira.” They stood there for a moment. Gabriel broke down even more but slowly he started forward. The others moved around her so that she was in front of them but they were still touching her. She wrapped her arms around Gabriel and Keira. The river flowed through them effortlessly and they stood there for a while absorbing the energy and comforting each other.

  Kallisto told everyone what she’d seen as she traveled with the electricity. Talus, William, Kalan, and Ramina were still angry with Gabriel for doing that to her, but they understood why he had to. It was the only way to break the connection between Serena and Kallisto. He’d wounded Serena badly. Normally electric straight through the heart would kill a person, but Kallisto bet it just incapacitated her for a while. The electricity didn’t go through Kallisto’s heart, but her whole body still felt tingly with it.

  The storm finally ended. Everyone was still on edge from the episode earlier, so as soon as it was safe they wanted out of the tent. Talus hadn’t left her side since Ramina let him go to her. William had been angry at Ephiny for holding on to him, but he got over it quickly. All it took was a kiss and he was back to himself. Gabriel apologized profusely and Kallisto kept telling him she understood. She knew it hurt something inside of him to have to hurt her like that, but it was a necessary evil that needed to be done for the greater good. If he hadn’t done it then Serena may have been able to take hold and make her hurt herself or even kill herself, and with that, she’d kill everyone. What Gabriel did needed be done and she wouldn’t let him feel guilty for it. No matter how her body tingled, no matter what the side effects of a jolt like that may be, she wouldn’t show her pain. She wouldn’t do anything that would cause the guilty, pained look to come to Gabriel’s face again.

  They loaded everything and started on their way again. Lady flew
behind them again to check on Maulro. Kallisto told her to stay away from the sand storm since she was pretty sure it was still out there, it was just past them. Since they had to stop because of the sand storm it meant Maulro and his men could get a lot closer before it hit them. Hopefully they could make up the distance while they were caught in the storm.

  Lady came back in a rush. She’d only been gone for about an hour, and went to Kallisto, quickly landing on her arm. She was breathing quickly and her heart was pounding very fast. Kallisto tried to calm her but she wouldn’t have it. She wanted Kallisto to see what she’d seen. The visions started flowing through Kallisto’s mind and she hadn’t even looked at Lady’s eyes. Maulro and his men were trying to come through the storm without stopping. Lady had flown to the back of the storm and upon seeing dark spots in the storm she wanted to investigate. Many of the men had already dropped but those who were left were following Maulro to their deaths.

  “Oh, dear lord in heaven! We have to go back and we have to go back now!” As Kallisto spoke she turned her camel, letting Lady fly, and started running back in the direction they came. The others turned and chased after her. Gabriel got to her first and grabbed her camel, pulling it to a stop.

  “What is going through your head, girl?” Gabriel yelled.

  “Maulro is trying to go through the sandstorm with his men, and several of them are already down. If we get to the others in time maybe we can save them!” Kallisto yelled back. She tried to get her camel to go again but Gabriel kept it still.