Tiernan, please find me before it’s too late….
Chapter Seventeen
Having found the place where they’d spent half the night, Tiernan moved Red Crow in the same direction Ella had taken. Not knowing how far she had gone before separating from the horse, he kept an eagle eye on the surroundings—every spruce, every poplar, every juniper, and all the rocks and crags between and behind them—even as he came up with an alternate plan.
Two Lakota had said they recognized his power—Nathan, and before him, Bear Heart. Had they seen something in him that went beyond what he’d experienced? How could he stretch himself to find Ella before it was too late?
Too stressed to figure it all out, he decided to use what he knew he had in his psychic arsenal.
“Whoa, lad,” he murmured, bringing Red Crow to a stop. Patting the gelding’s neck, he hopped off and moved around so they were face-to-face. “I need you to show me where you took Ella,” he murmured.
A simple parlor trick, he could connect with the recent past experienced by his subject, the way he’d known Ella had been hit by a dart that first day.
Pulling the gelding’s head down, he touched him, forehead to forehead, then reached out with his mind, forcing an image of their night’s camp to the beast. After which, he replayed Ella mounting the horse bareback and their taking off down a trail away from him.
“C’mon, Red Crow, keep going…. ”
He mentally replayed the images like a loop, Ella leaving him over and over again, going down the same trail, him urging the horse to retrace his steps.
As if he suddenly realized what the human wanted of him, Red Crow snorted and bobbed his head, smacking Tiernan’s so that stars danced in his mind.
Then the stars faded….
The surroundings bobbed…distorted…trees and boulders of increasing size…jagged rocky peaks that creepily moved closer…
“Yes, that’s it, good lad!”
Having recognized the direction he needed to take, Tiernan patted the gelding and stepped into the saddle. Before he could seat himself, Red Crow was off.
Tiernan gave the roan his head.
The horse picked his way out of the forested area and onto a trail that took them upward—Tiernan assumed in the direction he’d taken Ella earlier.
Still connected with Red Crow, he filled the horse’s mind with images of Ella, hoping that would keep the beast going in the correct direction, one that would bring him to the woman herself. He looked around, saw the same scenery, those same peaks he had when he’d done that mind meld trick.
Up…up…up they went….
The higher they went, the more separated Tiernan felt from the reality of where they were. Drifting rudderless, he swore he could feel Ella, could almost hear her calling his name.
Perhaps she was…
He closed his eyes.
Ella? Are you there?
Suddenly feeling lost in a vacuum, Tiernan panicked and, his heart thumping, flashed open his eyes. Red Crow stopped as if waiting for directions. Where to go? Nothing but trees and brush and rock around.
And the mine.
Tiernan sat there for a moment, staring at the entrance, seeking the link with Ella that had been faint but was now lost. He had to find it again. Had to find her.
Closing his eyes, he freed his mind, sent it searching. He had no focus, no direction. He was testing something intangible. Trusting that others saw in him some truth he did not even know he possessed, he gave himself up to a hope he’d never before had.
He was seeking an indefinable connection that would bring Ella and him together in the most intimate way of all, only as those who loved each other could do.
He couldn’t lose her, not now. He had to fight for her in any way he could.
Ella, are you there?
No response. His pulse threaded unevenly as he tried again.
Ella, where are you?
Still nothing. Tiernan forced his mind to reach further than ever before….
And then he felt her.
Ella!
Find me, Tiernan, before it’s too late!
Where are you?
Open your mind and you’ll see….
Tiernan was more than willing to do as Ella asked. At least he hoped it was Ella. Hoped he hadn’t fabricated her voice because he needed to hear it. He wanted to open his mind as she asked, only he didn’t know how.
Dismounting, he fastened the reins around a bush branch and moved toward the mine entrance. At the mouth, he went inside and touched the tunnel walls. Then he closed his eyes and tried to get from the inanimate rock what he’d gotten from the very much alive Red Crow. He’d never tried this before, didn’t know if it would work, but he sensed Ella had been here.
Ella and someone else, someone intent on evil.
After taking a good look down the tunnel as far as the light went, he closed his eyes.
Rock cool against his palms, Tiernan concentrated on the tunnel itself, attempting to link himself to any lingering memory here—hoping it would give him a road map that could lead him to his woman. He moved slowly, through light into shadow and crossed over into the dark. He imagined Ella doing the same.
His inner vision was suddenly lit with a weird bluish glow.
Light from a cell phone?
Must be.
Ella! he called, mentally beseeching her to appear so that he could be certain.
He followed the light through a maze of tunnels, keeping track of every twist and turn of direction. Feeling the earth’s power like an invisible pull, he let it draw him into the deep reaches of the mine. Suddenly he paused at another split, unsure of which route to take.
Which way, Ella, which way?
An invisible hand drew him to the left. He entered cautiously, anticipation jackhammering through him. He felt her. She was close. Had to be. The glow shone around the cavern to a thready glint on the far wall. But as he moved to it, something made him stop and refocus downward.
She lay arched in a soft bow, her hands and feet behind her. Groggily, she opened her eyes and he bent down to release her. She shook her head.
Hurry…find me…or it’ll be too late….
It cannot be. I am responsible for this.
No! she cried.
I love you. I should have—
And I love you, Tiernan. Fight for me!
The vision fading, Tiernan gasped and his eyes flew open. First he would have to find her. Nathan had been right. He’d just had some kind of out-of-body journey.
Before forgetting one minutiae of the vision, he ran back to the horse, calling Kate on his cell as he did so. Listening to her voice-mail message, he pulled a flashlight and a first-aid kit from the saddle bag. Attaching them to his belt, he left an S.O.S.—surely Kate would check her messages in time.
“Kate, I need backup and fast! I’m at the old mine on the reservation, the entrance the movie company is going to blow up. Ella is in there. I have to get to her!”
As he flipped the cell closed, he was already hurrying to the mine entrance and praying he wouldn’t be too late to save Ella.
Tick-tock.
How long did he have?
THOROUGHLY DEPLETED, ELLA lay there with the cold shutting down first her body, then her mind, praying with everything she had left that Tiernan could find her. He was so close, she could almost feel him.
If he didn’t find her soon, he would be too late. The cold beckoned sleep, and she was having a difficult time fighting to stay awake. Some part of her heard Tiernan calling her with renewed urgency, but rescue seemed so elusive….
Leonard—where was he? She hadn’t heard him hack away at the ore in the tunnel in a while. For all she knew, he could have walked right by her and left the mine. Or gotten lost in it.
Something in her wanted to laugh at the thought. How would Leonard Hawkins feel if he were to be forever trapped in the mine that gave him his money and power?
What irony that would be.
&nbs
p; Footsteps, faint at first, then louder, warned her someone drew near. She shook her head to clear it and bit the inside of her lip to wake herself.
“Ella!”
The sound of his voice rushed toward her along with a light so bright it at first hurt her eyes. Her chest opened, allowing her to breathe again, and she felt as if her heart were exposed.
“Tiernan!”
“I have you now,” he said, pulling the knife from the sheath at his waist and reaching over her to get at the rope binding her feet to her hands.
A sharp tug from him and suddenly she was half-freed, able to lower her legs. What she could still feel of them. Then he was cutting away the ties securing her wrists—she felt the rope fall away from them—and then he freed her feet.
Tiernan’s hands on her as he helped her into a sitting position had never felt so good. Somehow she threw her half-lifeless arms around his neck.
“I can’t believe you found me, Tiernan. I thought this was the end of me.”
“What makes you think it isn’t?”
The caustic question echoed from somewhere behind them. Even as Tiernan lifted her onto her feet, Ella glanced back to see Leonard coming down the tunnel toward them. He was still far enough away that they could escape…they had to after the way she and Tiernan had finally connected. They couldn’t lose each other now!
“We have to get out of here,” she choked out, her throat as dry as parchment.
Her limbs were still stiff and unmanageable, so Tiernan half carried her back the way he’d come. His very touch filled her with longing. And with hope that they would get out of this alive and together.
“You don’t think I’ll let you leave so easily,” came the warning from much closer behind them.
Ella glanced back but this time there was no light. Leonard had been wandering these tunnels for decades, so he could no doubt navigate them in the dark. He could be right behind them and they wouldn’t know it until it was too late.
“We have to get out now before he finds us.” Ella pushed herself to go faster. “He gets his power from being inside the mountain. He could be anywhere, do anything to us.”
When she shuddered against him, Tiernan held her tighter. “I can fight him. I must be able to fight him. I will not lose you.”
Ella knew he was thinking about the family curse and finally conceded there might be a reason to suggest that his worry was valid. Life was coming back into her limbs and they were functioning better, plus she was fully awake and feeling stronger. She had to find a way out of this…couldn’t give up now.
“Leonard is able to affect minds—people and animals both,” Ella said, thinking of the horses that had appeared to be sick. “But I’m not convinced that he can go beyond that, and I don’t believe Leonard can affect our minds the way he has others. He wasn’t able to sway Nathan the day my father was killed,” she remembered. “Maybe that’s because Nathan had power of his own. As do we.”
“You have the power.”
“You’re the one who figured out how to find me, Tiernan, so I’m not alone. It’s time that you admitted you’re not without power yourself.”
“Being psychic isn’t the same thing as being able to make things happen,” he argued. “And, by the way, my psychic powers tell me we have company.”
Tiernan spun around and aimed his flashlight. A few yards behind them, Leonard put a hand up to his face to protect his eyes, then tossed his lantern at Tiernan’s arm. Direct hit. Both lights went flying in opposite directions, and Ella could feel Leonard trying to force his will on Tiernan.
Fighting back her fear, Ella mentally sought the plane that remained just out of her reach. She hadn’t felt as if she could use her inherited powers on herself, but she had saved Marisala and she would do everything in her power to save the man she loved!
Tiernan’s body seemed to obey Leonard. He jerked like a marionette as he struggled against getting down on his knees, but he was fighting a losing battle.
Rather than beseeching Father for help, Ella opened her mind and let it race along a higher plane, one Father had taught her to reach so many years ago. A light wind began whirling around her body and the earth started trembling beneath her feet. Her calling up the elements in her mind felt easier—more natural—to her this time.
Concentrating on a softball-sized piece of loose rock in one corner of the tunnel, she imagined it moving…lifting…flying at Leonard and knocking him off balance.
Just that quickly, the rock hit him in reality.
His concentration broken, Leonard had no choice but to mentally release Tiernan, who went after him physically full force. The men’s bodies exploded back down the tunnel the way they’d just come. Her heart in her throat, Ella went for the discarded lantern, and turning the light on the men, took in an angry McKenna in action. His fists moved so fast, Leonard didn’t have time to duck. Tiernan hit him over and over, driving him farther back in the mine.
Realizing he might be forcing Leonard to a place of even more power, she cried, “No. No! Tiernan, let him be. Let’s get out of here now while we can!”
But Tiernan either didn’t hear her or was ignoring her. And Leonard was suddenly giving as good as he got. Now it was Tiernan who bashed into a tunnel wall, Leonard who went after him, pummeling his face bloody.
Rushing after them, Ella thought fast. How was she going to stop them? Stop Leonard from killing Tiernan and then her? After this, Leonard wasn’t simply going to trust their deaths to the mine—he would put an end to them for sure.
Fear and loathing whirling inside her, Ella felt her skirts flutter around her legs and then rise eerily around her. She felt as if she was electrically charged…her mind spinning out of control.
Before her, Tiernan caught on to Leonard and the men danced down the tunnel together, slipping and bouncing off walls and crashing to the floor and sliding farther away from her. Her gaze whipped beyond them to the mine shaft! Her chest tightened as she imagined Leonard tossing Tiernan down there like so much garbage.
The men separated and backed off and Ella could see that Leonard had a grip on Tiernan’s mind once more. While Tiernan thrashed and made unintelligible sounds, he couldn’t get control of his body, couldn’t get back to his feet. Suddenly his hands shot to his head and his yell of agony echoed down the tunnel, engulfing her.
Fearing Leonard was doing to Tiernan what he had done to Marisala, Ella acted without thinking. The rock beneath Leonard’s feet quaked, and a soughing wind shot down the tunnel, straight at him.
Leonard tried to summon his own power to fight her, but he wasn’t fast enough. The wind pushed-pushed-pushed at him. Tripping over his own feet, he stumbled farther into the reaches of the mine, toward the waiting arms of the shaft. Ella didn’t let up until he teetered on the precipice.
Leonard screamed as he lost his balance. Arms and legs flailing, he held himself in suspended animation above the opening for a moment.
Ella wouldn’t let go of the vision she’d conjured and, his face a mask of terror, Leonard finally caved and fell. Before her amazed eyes, Ella saw rocks of every shape and size follow. Chunks from all directions flew to the shaft and tumbled in, just as if a magnet had drawn them there.
The mountain that had obsessed him buried Leonard.
Ella gasped and mentally let go.
Now he would be one with it forever.
Chapter Eighteen
Leonard’s death scream echoed along the tunnel walls as Tiernan watched the wound in the rock floor close. An illusion? he wondered. He squeezed his eyes shut and took another look. No, the shaft really was gone and the threat with it.
“Leonard should be happy,” Tiernan said. “Now he’s part of the mountain.”
He looked to Ella who was shaking—whether from fear and stress or from sheer exhaustion, he couldn’t tell. Swiftly moving to her side, he slid his arms around her and held her close to his heart. A cry escaping her, she clung to him as if she couldn’t believe she was touching
him.
“We did it, Tiernan! We’re both still alive. You fought for me and you won! You broke the curse!”
He only hoped she was correct. “We both fought for each other. ’Twas you who saved my life.”
“Which only proves we’re meant to be together.”
“So it does…. ”
His words dissipated in her mouth, because he was kissing her as if his life depended on it. Or rather his happiness. They had bested the curse together, and they could have a future he’d never believed possible.
When he broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers, Ella asked, “What now? Who do we tell?
“Tell what?” Tiernan looked to the mine’s floor that was worn as smooth as if there never had been an open shaft. “I see nothing to tell.”
Ella moved to where Leonard had vanished. “I feel nothing. It’s as if he never existed. But the tribe has a right to know the truth. Otherwise, The People will still be looking to me as the one who brought evil back to the rez.”
Realizing she had a point, he took her hand and pulled her away from the death site, toward the outside and the light of day. He had the woman he loved for a moment, but the terror of McKenna history when it came to love still plagued him, and he wasn’t absolutely certain Ella was out of danger yet.
“Will the members of the tribe believe you if you give them the truth, then?”
“I can’t be sure. If only Marisala was in her right mind…”
“Perhaps Nathan can get the truth from her.”
“Nathan?”
“I faced him down when I was searching for you,” Tiernan told her. “Doing so convinced me he was not the one who took you. When he heard about Marisala…I felt everything he did. He loves the woman, Ella. He went after her to see that she was all right.”
He felt relief shudder through her.
“Then I will trust my cousin to believe me…and to find a way to convince The People. There’s also the gold here. The tribe has a right to know it exists. My father wanted Leonard to tell them about it.”
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