by Jane Stain
Taran didn’t see the lasses when he entered the tunnels, but he heard Jessica’s voice calling out Lauren’s name in a frightened tone.
"Lauren! Put me down!"
He didn't think, just sprang into action, shimmying through the tight twisted series of hallways that hid the tunnel from inside and into the dungeon.
Running down the hall toward the voices, he put his back up against the wall when he got to the third intersection and saw one of Donald's guards. Taran didn't have time to wait for the man to go relieve himself or something. So he rushed him. The encounter reassured Taran that Donald and his men still didn't know about the tunnel, because he caught the man by surprise and was able to knock him out before he was any the wiser.
Jessica’s voice had come from a place whose sound he remembered from playing hiding games down here with the other children the one time he visited in his youth. Before he even thought about it, he was running down this new corridor.
He slowed when he heard Donald's voice, and he stopped at the last intersection, crouching down so that when he peered around the corner, he wouldn’t be where anyone would be looking for a face to appear..
Donald was moving toward Lauren with his sword drawn.
A low growl escaped Taran's throat as he jumped up and charged toward Donald. But he felt a slam from behind and went down on the cold stone floor. He struggled with his attacker, but the man was unbelievably strong. Unnaturally strong. A druid must have magicked him.
At long last rolling onto his back and catching a glimpse of his attacker, who was holding him down easily, Taran gasped.
Sky smiled at him, a cruel superior smile, before looking over toward Donald. "Laird, I hae brought ye a gift.”
Chapter Nineteen
Taking advantage of Donald’s distraction, Lauren made sure to keep Jessica behind her while she looked over toward Sky's voice. She needed to see if the gift he had brought was dangerous. Her gaze flew over the two guards and the empty stone passageway to her right and landed on the man in flowing tie-dyed robes. Who had Taran in a headlock.
Her heart raced, and though she knew it was foolish, she screamed, “No!”
Sky’s eyes slithered up and down her trembling body while he dragged Taran over so that he was standing right next to her, holding her man helpless and saying to her breathlessly, “Oh yes.”
Taran’s face was still fierce with determination, but when his eyes met hers they softened for an instant, then pleaded with her for forgiveness.
She gave him her anguished face, to show him he needn’t worry about her love for him. But even though she could feel the ancient druid’s presence in her mind, she would not beg him to let her and Taran hear each other’s thoughts. She would never ask him for anything ever again. She was done communicating with Galdus.
Donald nodded at Sky in appreciation but turned his sickening smile on Lauren while he spoke to the man. "I thank ye for the gift. Howsoever, it must needs bide awhile. This lass has some aught I want, and I hae come tae believe the only way I wull get it is tae kill her."
Lauren’s mouth went dry at the threat, but she kept her head. She had one chance. Time enough for one action before Donald dropped his fake charm and attacked her with his sword, which would doubtless cause Galdus to try even harder to exert control over her...
She knew what the best course of action was. Fighting against Galdus with her newfound willpower born of remorse, Lauren drew him from his sheath. Readied him.
And she stabbed the dagger into Sky's side, making the hippie scream in pain.
And more to the point, making him release Taran.
Unarmed but far from defenseless, Taran wasted no time in rushing out of Sky's grasp to put himself between her and Donald.
But Sky pulled the blood-dripping dagger out of his side and turned on the Laird o’ the Isles. With a maniacal laugh that had to be coming from Galdus, he rushed the laird, slicing and dicing through the air like a ninja. Galdus was more than a match for Donald's skill, Lauren knew from experience having Galdus help her fight.
It was like a train wreck. Lauren felt herself transfixed, standing there watching Sky attack Donald.
But Taran had more sense. He grabbed both her hand and Jessica's and started running back the way he'd come in. The three of them ran through the tunnels toward the exit, Lauren lighting their way with a torch she had managed to grab from a wall sconce.
Taran’s hand felt so good in Lauren’s, sending into her very core the reassurance that all would be right from now on. There was no more tension between them. They just needed to get back to Leif and everyone, back home.
“Not much farther,” said Taran, seeming to read her mind even though they had no chance of ever again hearing each other’s thoughts, now that Galdus was gone. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
Lauren was nearly jerked off her feet. Taran righted himself immediately, though. What could have caused him to stumble?
Lauren glanced over and saw that Jessica, unaccustomed to fieldwork and frankly more active this past year than she’d been in all the years Lauren had known her, had tripped over a guard who lay prone on the cold stone floor of the cave-like dungeon.
“Look where you’re going!” Lauren chided her friend with a wry grin.
“I guess so,” Jessica quipped. “After all, bodies on the floor are to be expected, when running through a dungeon.”
“Hush, lasses,” Taran scolded. But he was also laughing a bit.
After that their run grew easier for a time, but then Jessica moaned. “I hae a stich in me side. Pray slow!”
But Taran just scooped Jessica up in a fireman's carry, throwing her over his shoulder and then grabbing Lauren's hand again to keep running.
After a while they heard sounds of pursuit behind them, and Lauren did her best to run faster.
And then they rounded a corner and met up with Leif and the militia, who were tense at first sight but visibly relaxed when they saw it was them coming and not some of Donald's men. Several militiamen stepped toward them to use Lauren’s torch to light torches they had made.
Once she was back on her feet, Jessica ran into Leif's arms. The two embraced.
Taran pulled on Lauren's hand until she gently swung into him, and he helped her hold the torch above them while he grabbed her up in an embrace as well. It was heavenly. She clung to him, willing him to understand just how much… But by all he had done this past half hour, not to mention the warmth and ardor of his kiss, she could tell he did. Nothing needed to be said.
Leif and Taran then turned around to face their pursuers, both signaling, “Jessica, Lauren, go behind everyone, but stay with us so we can protect you."
Lauren saw the same relief she felt mirrored in her friend’s face. Safe and protected once more, they ran to the back of the militia, where Jared nodded and smiled at them before turning around, gesturing for them to stay right behind him, which they gladly did as the militia jogged forward.
It didn’t take long for their pursuers to catch up to the militia, a force to be reckoned with. The militia knew their way around, while these close quarters were still unfamiliar to Donald’s men. They were on their way in two minutes.
Lauren noticed bodies on the floor once they were all through, but the militia started jogging, and she rushed to keep up. They met more guards and dealt with everyone they met until they were at the top level of the dungeons near the stairs that went up into the castle proper.
All communications in the militia were silent warrior gestures, but Lauren and Jessica had played Charades with the men often and followed the conversation easily.
Leif did most of the communicating.
"We have the advantage down here. We know the lower tunnels well, and they weren't even aware of them. We'll go back down there. Lure the few guards who are left down here toward us…"
Lauren raised her eyebrows and smiled at Jessica, who did the same back.
It was a good plan.
So the militia turned aro
und and soon they were jogging back the other way, this time with Lauren and Jessica in front of them. They went down one more level into the area where Taran hadn't encountered any more guards because Donald didn't know the tunnel went all the way out. This last bit was hidden cleverly behind two turns of a corner that was very narrow, easy to miss if you didn't know it was there.
"Jared," Leif pointed, "go up and draw one of the guards down here."
Jared thumped his fist on his heart and ran back up the tunnels.
Without thinking about it, Lauren went over to Taran's side and clung to him while they waited. He clung back and pulled her into another embrace, resting his head on top of hers and cupping the back of her head gently with his hand as he rocked back-and-forth. And then he quickly pulled away and gently pushed her behind him when they heard footsteps running toward them in the hallway.
Holding all their torches, five of the militiaman ran toward Jared and the guard.
When the guard saw them, he turned around and ran the other way.
They let him go.
The militia then advanced down the tunnel a ways, again with Lauren and Jessica behind them. They stayed within the part that was unfamiliar to Donald's men. They didn't have to wait long. Twenty men came to deal with the five they thought awaited them, and those men were dispatched quickly by the militia.
Keeping Lauren and Jessica with them but in the back, the militia swept through the dungeons, up the stairs, and throughout the castle. But they discovered that Donald had left and only a few men remained. Rather than kill the men who had surrendered, they told them to leave and not come back. They held the castle.
Lauren looked all over, but there was no sign of Sky and Galdus.
Chapter Twenty
Ualraig was nowhere to be found. They presumed him dead, but over the next few days, his wife and children came back from where they'd been hiding in the mountains, along with all the other wives and children.
Donald and his men had drunk most of the whiskey and eaten through most of the stores, but there was time yet before winter. They would be all right.
The militia went home to Inverurie, and Leif, Jessica, Taran, and Lauren went home to Cresh Manor.
Amena ran out to greet them, throwing herself around first Leif's leg and then Taran's as she cried and laughed at the same time with joy at her brothers being home.
Senga stood back wringing her hands, but first Leif went over and hugged her and then Taran did as well. She turned her sad eyes on them. "Sae Luag and Katherine perished in the battle?"
Leif turned puzzled eyes on Senga, shaking his head. “We dinna ken.”
But Lauren spoke up. "No, they went time traveling. I suspect Katherine took Luag home to our time."
Leif sighed. “Here’s hoping they return soon. The Druids hae na acted, and I suspect the worst is yet tae come. We need all the help we can get.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, even little Amena.
“Dinna fash,” Jessica told her husband. “Katherine does na ken she wants Luag with her, and sae she will dae all she can tae send him away. I would na be surprised if Luag popped back among us this verra instant.”
They all had a good laugh at that.
Lauren watched Taran saunter over to where his brother stood with his bride. She had a feeling she knew what he was going to say.
She was right.
"There will be battles with us always,” said Taran, “‘tis a fact o’ life. We canna cast living aside. We must take joy where we can find it, or be doomed tae constant sorrow. Sae, Laird Leif, can ye see yer way tae allowing Lauren and I tae hae Gammer's cottage? We will be needing a bit o’ privacy, at least for a year or sae."
This made the adults laugh. Amena just looked at them all with a question in her eyes, which none of them answered.
Leif smiled first at Taran and then over at Lauren, squeezing Jessica's hand. Jessica smiled at them both too, with a wink for Lauren.
"Aye," said Leif, "Ye can hae Gammer’s cottage, but not afore we go disturb Father Craig's supper again.”
Afterword
Don’t worry, Luag and Katherine do return to 1411 soon. Once back, they use their considerable powers of persuasion to help our friends stave off a continuing war fueled by the druids.
Luag’s time stuck in the modern world is just the first few chapters of Katherine and Luag’s romance story.
There is a link to their book on the next page. If Amazon throws you out of this book instead of taking you to the next page, you can return to this book by hitting the back arrow.
Also by Jane Stain
Tavish
Seumas
Tomas
Kilts at the Renaissance Faire
Time of the Celts
Time of the Picts
Time of the Druids
Leif
Taran
Luag
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As Cherise Kelley
Dog Aliens
My Dog Understands English!
High School Substitute Teacher’s Guide
About the Author
Jane Stain is a pen name. My real name is Cherise Kelley. I was born in 1963.
My mother put herself through nursing school when I was 10-13 years old. I helped her study for her exams, and my younger sister and I learned about tapeworms at the dinner table.
I have been married since 1994, but I dated two engineers before I met my husband.
I acted and sang from 1988 - 1992 at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. This is the very first renaissance fair. Founder Phyllis Patterson invented the idea.
Thank you for reading all this. If you have read this far, then you must have enjoyed something about Taran and Lauren’s story. I hope you will post a customer review on Taran’s Amazon page and tell other readers what that was. I will read it too, of course. :)
Jane