Beyond the Highland Myst

by Highlander 01-08

  * * * * *

  As Gwen topped the crest of the mountain, her eyes misted.

  The perimeter wall had been torn down, and the majestic stones of Ban Drochaid towered against the brilliant, cloudless blue sky.

  There she had made love with her Highland mate. There she had traveled back into the past. There she had become pregnant, according to her due date.

  She'd known that seeing the stones again would hurt, because a part of her was tempted to hole up in a laboratory and try to figure out the formulas that danced so far beyond her comprehension. The only thing that held her back was that Gwen knew—even as brilliant as she was—that she could devote the rest of her life to it, only to die a bitter old woman, never gaining the knowledge. She would not live her life like that, nor would she subject her children to it. The few times she'd pondered the symbols, she'd realized how far beyond her understanding they were. She might be a genius, but she just wasn't smart enough.

  Nor would she plead—if modern MacKeltars still lived—with them to break their oaths and send her back, and unleash a dark Druid upon the world. No, she would be the woman Drustan had loved, honorable, ethical, loving.

  Thus resolved, she accelerated past the stones and lifted her gaze to the castle. She sucked in a breath. Castle Keltar was even more beautiful than it had been in the sixteenth century. A sparkling, many-tiered fountain had been constructed on the front lawn. It was surrounded by a lush tumble of shrubbery and flowers and stone walkways. The facade had been renovated, probably many times over the centuries, and the front stairs were no longer stone but had been replaced with rosy marble. An elegant matching marble banister framed both sides. What had once been a huge wooden door was now double doors fashioned of burnished cherry trimmed with gold. Above the doors, a stained glass window detailing—her heart leaped—the MacKeltar plaid, shimmered brilliant purple in the sunlight.

  She parked before the steps and sat gazing at the door, wondering if that small bit of MacKeltar heritage meant the castle was still inhabited by descendants. Suddenly the door opened and a young child, blond curls tumbling about a delicate face, stepped out, peering at her curiously. Inside the rented Volvo, Gwen squinted against the bright sunlight at the lovely little girl, who was followed closely by a boy of similar age, and an older pair of twins.

  The eldest boy and girl took her breath away and eradicated any question in her mind about whether any descendants had survived.

  They most certainly had.

  Pure MacKeltar blood was apparent in both of the older children—in the rich dark manes, the unusual eyes and golden skin. The boy could have been Dageus's own son, with similar golden eyes.

  She dosed her eyes briefly, fighting tears, feeling both joyous and sad. They hadn't failed completely, but the visit was going to be excruciating, she realized, massaging her temples.

  "Hello," the little girl called, knocking on the car window. "Will you be getting out, or will you be sitting in there all day?"

  Gwen snorted lightly, the pain easing a bit. She opened her eyes and smiled. The little girl was absolutely darling, peering in expectantly. You're going to have two of those soon, a comforting voice reminded her.

  "Cara, get back from that car!" a blond woman who looked to be in her early thirties called, hurrying down the front steps.

  She was heavily pregnant, and Gwen instinctively touched her own abdomen. Turning off the ignition, she tucked her bangs behind her ear and opened the car door. She realized, as she stepped out, that she'd not thought this far ahead: She had no idea what excuse she would offer for dropping in on perfect strangers. She would have to play it by ear, claim to be taken with the castle, then beg a tour. She was grateful that the woman was pregnant because she was willing to bet she would invite her in to visit without asking too many questions. Gwen had recently discovered that pregnant women were a breed unto their own, with a tendency to forge an instantaneous, deep bond. A few days ago, she'd chatted for over an hour with a pregnant stranger in the ice cream aisle of the grocery, discussing baby clothes and tests and methods of birth and all kinds of things that would bore a nonpregnant person silly.

  "I take it these lovely ones are yours?" Gwen said, offering her friendliest smile.

  "Aye, my youngest are Cory and Cara," she said, gesturing toward them. Cara said hello again, and Cory smiled shyly. "And these"—she waved a hand at the dark-haired teenage twins—"are Christian and Colleen." They chimed hello together.

  "Plus I've two on the way in a few months," Maggie added. "As if it weren't obvious," she said dryly.

  "I'm pregnant with twins myself," Gwen confided.

  Maggie's eyes flickered strangely. " 'Tis easier that way," she said. "You get them over with two at a time, and I always wanted a dozen or so. I'm Maggie MacKeltar and my husband should be out in a moment." She turned to the steps and shouted, "Christopher, do hurry, she's here!"

  "Coming, love," a deep baritone voice replied.

  Gwen frowned, puzzled, wondering what Maggie had meant by "she's here." Had they mistaken her for someone else? Perhaps they were expecting someone, she decided, maybe they were hiring a nanny or a maid and thought Gwen was that person.

  Cara tugged impatiently at Maggie's arm. "Mama, when are we going to show her—" Cara began.

  "Hush," Maggie said swiftly. "Run along with you and Cory. We'll be in shortly. Christian, you and Colleen go help Mrs. Melbourne lay the tea in the solar."

  "But, Mom—"

  "Do I have to repeat myself?"

  I'm going to have to clear up this case of mistaken identity, Gwen thought, watching the children go in. She didn't care for the thought of misleading Maggie MacKeltar. Then all thought fled her mind as Maggie's husband,

  Christopher, stepped out of the castle. Gwen sucked in a breath, feeling suddenly faint.

  "Aye, the resemblance is strong, isn't it now?" Maggie said softly, watching her.

  A dark lock of hair fell over Christopher's forehead, and he had the same extraordinary height and muscled body. His eyes were not silver, but a deep, peaceful gray. He looked so much like Drustan that it hurt to look at him.

  "Wh-what do you mean?" Gwen stammered, trying to compose herself.

  "I mean he looks like Drustan," Maggie replied.

  Gwen opened her mouth but nothing came out. Like Drustan? What did they know about her and Drustan?

  "Och, Gwen Cassidy," Christopher said with a thick Scots burr, "we've been waiting for you for some time now." Smiling, he slid his arm around Maggie's waist. They both stood there, beaming at her.

  Gwen blinked. "How do you know my name?" she asked weakly. "What do you know about Drustan? What's going on here?" she asked, her voice rising.

  Maggie kissed her husband's cheek, slipped from his embrace, and tucked her arm through Gwen's. "Come in, Gwen. We have much to tell you, but I think you might be needing to sit while you're hearing it."

  "Sit," Gwen repeated dumbly, her knees feeling weak. "Good. Sitting would be good."

  * * * * *

  But sitting didn't happen, because the moment Gwen entered the Greathall, she froze, gaping at the portrait that hung above the double staircase facing the entrance.

  It was her.

  Six feet of Gwen Cassidy, clad in a pale lavender gown, blond hair tumbling about her face, graced the wall at the landing between the two staircases. "Me," she managed to say, pointing. "That's me."

  Maggie laughed. "Aye. It was painted in the sixteenth century—"

  But Gwen didn't hear the rest. Her attention was caught and held by the family portraits covering nearly every inch of the walls in the Greathall. From ancient times to modern day, they stretched from chair rail to ceiling.

  Eager to see who Dageus had married, and what kind of children he'd fathered, she hurried past the modern paintings. Dimly, her mind registered that Maggie and Christopher were trailing behind her, now watching in silence.

  At the section displaying the sixteenth century, Gwen drew to a s
tunned halt. She stared for a moment, unable to believe what she saw, then smiled as tears misted her eyes. She fancied she could hear faint strains of Silvan's laughter in the air. And Nell, making some saucy response. The patter of children's feet on stone.

  The painting that held her captivated was eight feet tall. A full-length portrait, Nell was seated on the terrace, Silvan was standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders. Nell held twins in her arms. "Nell?" she finally said, turning to look at Maggie.

  "Aye. The lot of us descend directly from Silvan and Nell MacKeltar. He wed his housekeeper, so the records say. They had four children. We have twins an uncommon lot in this family."

  "He looks pretty old to be having kids to me," Colleen said, wrinkling her nose as she bounded back into the Greathall, followed by her siblings. "The tea's ready," she announced.

  Gwen's heart swelled. "He was sixty-two," she said softly. And Nell hadn't been a spring chicken either. Dear Nell had gotten her babies back after all, and it had been Silvan who'd given them to her.

  She moved to the next portrait, but two empty spaces followed. The wall was darker where portraits had once hung. "What was here?" she asked curiously. Had they taken down portraits of Drustan to give her?

  Christopher and Maggie exchanged an odd glance. "Just two portraits being touched up," Christopher said. "There's Nell and Silvan again," he said, pointing farther down the wall.

  Gwen eyed them a moment. "And Dageus? Where is Dageus?" she asked.

  Again, the couple exchanged glances. "He's a mystery," Maggie finally said. "He wandered off somewhere in 1521."

  "Is there no record of his death?"

  "No," Maggie replied tersely.

  How very odd, Gwen mused. But she would come back to that later, for now thoughts of Drustan consumed her. "Do you have any portraits of Drustan?"

  "Mom!" Colleen cried. "Come on, you're killing me! Let's get on with it!"

  Christopher and Maggie grinned. "Come, we have something more for you."

  "But I have so many questions," Gwen protested. "How do you—"

  "Later," Maggie said gently. "I think we need to show you this first, then you can ask whatever questions remain."

  Gwen opened her mouth, shut it again, and followed.

  * * * * *

  When Maggie stopped at the door to the tower, Gwen took a slow, deep breath to calm the racing of her heart. Had Drustan left something for her? Something she could give her children, from the father they would never know? When Maggie and Christopher exchanged a loving glance, she nearly wept with envy.

  Maggie had her MacKeltar; Gwen longed for some small token to remember hers by. A plaid with his scent, a portrait to show her babies, anything. She shivered, waiting.

  Maggie withdrew a key from her pocket, dangling on a frayed and threadbare ribbon.

  "There is a… legacy handed down over the centuries at Castle Keltar. It has been the source of many young lasses' romantic dreams"—she arched a brow at her eldest daughter—"and Colleen here has been the worst—"

  "Not true. I've heard you and Dad mooning over it tons of times, and then you both get that disgusting look in your eyes—"

  "Might I remind you, that disgusting look heralded the advent of your wee life," Christopher said dryly.

  "Eww." Colleen wrinkled her nose again.

  Maggie laughed and continued. "Sometimes I think the sheer love of it has blessed all who've ever lived within these walls. The tale was carefully told from generation to generation as they waited for the day to come. Well, the day has arrived, and now the rest is up to you." Smiling, she handed Gwen the key. "It's said you'll know what to do."

  "It's said you've done it before," Colleen added breathlessly.

  Perplexed, Gwen inserted the key with trembling hands. The lock was old and gritty with time, and it took her a few minutes to work the lock.

  As she opened the door, Christopher handed her a candle. "There's no electricity in there. The tower hasn't been opened in five centuries."

  Suspense growing, Gwen accepted the candle and gingerly stepped into the room, dimly aware that the entire MacKeltar clan was hot on her heels.

  It was too dark to see much, but the glow of the candle fell upon a pile of old fabric and the silvery flash of weapons.

  Drustan's daggers!

  Her heart lurched painfully.

  She bent over and fingered the fabric upon which they lay. Tears stung her eyes when she realized it was his plaid, and atop it lay a small pair of black leather trews that would probably be a perfect fit.

  He'd never forgotten that she'd wanted a pair.

  "That's not all," Colleen said impatiently. "That's the least of it. Look up!"

  "Colleen," Christopher said sternly. "In her own time, lass."

  Blinking back tears, Gwen glanced up, and as her eyes adjusted completely, she noticed a slab in the center of the circular room. Her heart slammed against her ribs, and she surged to her feet.

  "Oh, my God," she choked, stumbling toward the slab. It couldn't be. How could it be? She glanced frantically at Maggie, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.

  "He waits for you. He's waited five hundred years. It is said you know how to wake him."

  Gwen began to hyperventilate. Spots swarmed before her eyes and she nearly collapsed where she stood. For several moments she could do nothing more than stand there and stare in shock. Then she thrust the black trews she hadn't realized she was clutching at Maggie and scrambled up onto the slab.

  "Drustan," she cried, raining kisses on his slumbering face. "Oh, Drustan! My love…" Tears slipped down her cheeks.

  How had she awakened him? she wondered frantically, unable to believe that he was really there. She touched him with shaking hands, afraid he might just melt away, afraid she was dreaming.

  "I'm not dreaming, am I?" she whispered weakly.

  "No, lass, you're not dreaming," Christopher said, smiling.

  Gwen stared at Drustan, trying to recall exactly what had happened in the cave. She'd fallen down the ravine and landed squarely on top of him. She'd been fascinated, had touched him, shamelessly running her hands over his chest. Then she'd leaned back so the sun could fall on him, so she might get a better look at the devastating man.

  "The sun! You must help me get him outside," she said urgently. "I think sunlight has something to do with it!"

  It took their combined strength to carry the enchanted Highlander down the winding stairs, through the library, and put onto the cobbled terrace. They were huffing by the time they deposited her mighty warrior on the stones.

  Gwen stood for a moment, just gaping down at him. Drustan was here! All she had to do was figure out how to wake him! Dazed, she slipped astride him and placed her palms flush to his chest, exactly as she'd done in the cave. The sunshine was falling directly on his face and chest.

  But nothing happened.

  The symbols remained, etched clearly upon his chest. Back in the cave, they'd begun disappearing. Why?

  She narrowed her eyes and peered up at the sun. It was brilliant and clear, a cloudless day. She glanced at Maggie. "He didn't leave any instructions?" She needed him awake now.

  The MacKeltars shook their heads.

  "It was thought he feared someone might wake him before it was time," Maggie said. She cast Colleen a wry look. "Like my daughter who's been infatuated with him since she first peeked through the slit in the tower and saw him slumbering."

  Closing her eyes, Gwen thought hard. What was different? She opened them again slowly and gazed down at his chest. Everything was the same: the sun, the symbols, her hands…

  Blood. There had been blood smeared on the symbols from her cutting her hands up when she'd fallen through the rocks. Could it be that elemental? Human blood and sunshine? She knew nothing about spells, but blood figured prominently in myths and legends.

  "I need a knife," she cried.

  Colleen dashed into the castle and returned swiftly, clutching a small steak knife
.

  Mumbling a prayer beneath her breath, Gwen lightly ran the edge over her palm so drops of blood welled up. With trembling hands, she smeared it across the symbols on his chest, then sat back anxiously, waiting.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then one by one, the symbols began to fade…

  She sucked in her breath and glanced up at his face.

  "Good morrow, English," Drustan said lazily, opening his eyes, his silvery gaze tender. "I knew you could do it, love."

  Gwen's eyelids fluttered and she fainted.

  * * *

  Chapter 28

  When Gwen regained consciousness, she was lying on the bed in the Silver Chamber. Drustan was bending over her, gazing down with so much love in his eyes that she gasped and began crying.

  "Drustan," she whispered, clutching at him.

  "She's awakened, Maggie," Drustan said over his shoulder. "She's all right." Gwen heard the door shut as Maggie left, giving them privacy.

  She stared up into his silvery eyes wonderingly. He was looking at her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

  "How?" she managed to ask, cupping his face in her hands. She traced her fingers over every plane and angle, and he kissed them repeatedly as they passed his lips. "How?"

  "I love you, Gwen MacKeltar," he whispered, catching her hand and planting a kiss in the palm.

  Gwen laughed through her tears. "I love you too," she whispered back, flinging her arms around him and holding him tightly. "But I don't understand."

  In between dozens of kisses, quick sips, long leisurely ones, he told her.

  Told her how he'd watched her disappear as he'd lain on the ground, the battle raging all around. Told her how the arrow had been deflected by the metal disc on his leather bands and had been but a flesh wound. Told her how they'd discovered who the "enemy" was.

  "That old woman," Gwen murmured. "She said she'd hired the gypsies."

  "Aye, Besseta. She made a full confession." He kissed her again before continuing, sucking gently on her lower lip. "Besseta claimed she scryed in her yew sticks that a woman would bring about the death of her son. Since I was soon to wed, Besseta decided my betrothed must be the woman in her vision. She warned Nevin, but he laughed it off and made her promise not to harm me. To her ailing mind, bespelling me wasn't harming me, so she purchased the gypsy's services to enchant me so she might prevent the wedding. In the first reality, when Anya was killed by the Campbell, Besseta must have thought the threat had passed. I suspect, however, that sometime shortly after Anya's death, Besseta must have had her vision again, and realized that as long as I was alive and might yet wed, the danger would never pass. So she proceeded with her original plan to have me enchanted."