"Aye, that's so," the man said curiously, his blue eyes fixed on her. "I'm Liam Grant, the castle stablemaster."
"This is Kay," Maggie said brightly. "I fished her out of the Loch last night."
Kay cleared her throat. "Kay Morris," she said, getting to her feet and moving over to extend a hand for Liam to shake. He took it with a slightly surprised expression, raising an eyebrow as though she'd done something unusual. Did women not shake hands? Sixteenth century, she remembered. This hallucination certainly was detailed. "I'm a vet — and I was a ranch hand for most of my childhood, too. What's the trouble?"
"What's a vet?" Liam said, glancing at Maggie with the same curious expression Darter had worn when he'd first met her. Was it her accent that was confusing them?
"A veterinarian," she said — then took a deep breath. Perhaps veterinary science hadn't been invented in the sixteenth century. Her hallucination certainly seemed to think it hadn't — and she'd decided, for the time being, to go along with whatever foolish game her mind was playing with her. At least there was a handsome man here, she thought with amusement. Was he single? That would make sense. It was certainly a nice way to pass the time… a handsome man with a sexy accent, and an interest in her life's work. Perfect. "An animal doctor," she summarized with a shrug. "My specialty is farm animals — cattle, horses, sheep and goats, that kind of thing."
"A healer," Maggie said approvingly, her eyes twinkling in her wrinkled old face. "Good. We could use a few more of us around."
"I mean, I don't have my gear or anything," she said reluctantly. "But I can give advice for sure."
"You're one of the time-lost women, aren't you?" Liam said thoughtfully, his eyes on her.
She couldn't help but laugh at that. "Lost is a good word. I've lost something, alright. Lost my mind."
"Don't be silly," Maggie snapped, and Kay felt a thrill of fear at the look of exasperation on her face. "I thought you were cleverer than that, Kay Morris. Lost your mind? You're as clear and sane as anyone. Don't hide from the truth. Get some backbone, girl."
Liam looked a little uncomfortable, and Kay fought a bizarre urge to laugh. She felt thoroughly chastened, though, and she bit her lip, trying to gather her thoughts. Maggie seemed deeply offended by the fact that she was considering all of this to be a hallucination. But what else was she meant to think? Was she truly expected to believe she'd been teleported back through time and space to medieval Scotland? That all of this was real — that if she dug into a history book back at home, she might find out that Liam Grant was a man who'd truly lived and died in the sixteenth century? That the cloak around her shoulders was real, the little cottage was real, the irascible old woman who was pinning her with a look that made her feel about four years old… was real?
Then that meant magic was real, and the goblin upstairs was real, and the ability to teleport people across time was real…. and as she considered that, she felt a wave of nausea rush over her. It couldn't be. It couldn't be real… and then she remembered the figures she'd dreamed about, the strange, glowing creatures composed mostly from starlight, the way they'd gathered around her, comforted her, made her feel so safe and so comfortable… the way it almost felt like they'd healed her. Could that have been real — not a dream, as she'd assumed, but a memory? Who were they? What power did they have, that they'd uprooted her life so completely?
"Anyway," she heard Liam say cautiously, and she shook herself, coming back to the cottage with a jolt. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kay Morris. What exactly is a ranch hand?"
She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Maybe talking about her life and her work would make her feel a little less crazy… a little less like the possibility that all of this was real was going to split her sanity right down the middle and leave her a gibbering madwoman. "My family bred horses and raised cattle," she explained, trying to keep herself together. "I helped out — oh, pretty much as soon as I was old enough to ride. And I kept helping my whole life. At least, until I went away to vet school."
"Fascinating," Liam said thoughtfully. "It's not traditionally woman's work — but then again, neither is fighting with a sword, and our Lady Anna can beat most of the men of the Watch with one hand tied behind her back."
Kay liked the sound of this Anna. She'd bristled a little at the accusation that her life's work wasn't for women — but Liam had backtracked just in time that she wasn't too cross with him. Besides, she could forgive quite a lot of a man so handsome. They'd all settled in on the couches again, and Maggie was scrutinizing them both closely, clearly not especially thrilled to have so many people in her house. Kay was getting the sense that the old woman was fond of her solitude. But where was Kay supposed to go? Was there somewhere she could stay that wasn't this cottage?
"I guess it is," she shrugged. "I mean, I'm…" She hesitated, not sure how to handle this. "I'm from the future, I guess?"
That didn't seem to faze Liam at all. He just nodded. She could tell that Maggie was quietly pleased, too, now that she'd stopped claiming that she was insane. "So are the other women. They've all three got accents just like yours. The Sidhe again, Maggie?"
"Aye, that's them," Maggie said with a shrug. "Always sending us strays to take in. Then again, those strays do come in handy, don't they? Maybe Kay here was sent just for you, Liam." Her eyes twinkled.
Kay couldn't help but blush at the double entendre in her words. Had that been intentional? She thought briefly of what Darter had said about the other women who'd come back through time ending up married to members of the Grant family, and she felt her discomfort grow… though a part of her was secretly pleased by the prospect of a romantic entanglement with this handsome stranger…
She shook herself firmly, trying to keep her mind on the present moment. Her first priority was figuring out where the hell she was. Romance, daft idea that it was, could wait.
Chapter 10
"I mean, I can try to share what I know." She shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious about the way Liam was staring at her.
Did he think Maggie was suggesting that Kay had been sent there as a wife for him? She had scanned his hands quickly, noticed that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring… but was that even a habit in sixteenth century Scotland? She didn't know anything about any of this… had never studied much history beyond what they made her do in school, and even then she'd done the bare minimum required to pass and get on with vet school, impatient to learn what really mattered to her… now, surrounded by history, or at least a surprisingly accurate hallucination, she felt a little guilty about not reading more broadly about the world.
"Why don't you tell us what's happening with the herds?" Maggie suggested, pressing a cup of broth into Liam's hands.
Kay received one too — then Maggie settled into an armchair with the wrapped bundle in her lap that Liam had brought and a gleam in her eye. As she settled, she unfolded the cloth, revealing a plate that was stacked high with golden-brown pieces of what looked like shortbread. Even Kay, who'd never had much of a sweet tooth, found herself swayed by the smell that rose up from the shortbread — it must have still been warm, and she couldn't help her mouth watering a little. Maggie heaved a sigh — then extended the plate begrudgingly to the two of them.
"Go on then, I'll share. What kind of a host would I be if I kept all this to myself?"
"Very kind of you, Maggie," Liam said diplomatically.
She noticed he took a small piece for himself, and she did the same, a little worried about aggravating Maggie. The woman was incredibly kind, that was true… but there was something wily and unpredictable about her, too. Something that made Kay nervous, just a little. The shortbread was as delicious as it had smelled — she nibbled at it slowly, savoring the taste, resisting the urge to wolf it down in a single bite. When was the last time she'd eaten? she wondered. The broth Maggie had given her last night had felt very filling, but there couldn't have been much substance to it. She'd need more of a meal than that, sooner or later.
; "This is delicious. Just like my mom used to make," she said, smiling a little as she remembered her mother's cluttered kitchen, the delicious baked goods that would pour forth with alarming regularity from her mother's well-loved oven.
"The herds, the herds," Maggie said, waving a hand at Liam. "Tell us about the herds."
"Right," Liam said, frowning a little as he finished his piece of shortbread. "It's not good news, I'm afraid."
"What's going on?"
"I've been riding around discussing the matter with local herdsmen. It seems to be a common problem — not just limited to the farmers close to the bog, like it used to be. They just keep wandering that way."
"The bog? Wasn't that where Darter was last night?" Kay asked, thinking back to the slightly confusing things the little goblin had said when he'd come in. She wished she'd paid more attention — then again, she'd been a little distracted by the creature's ears and general non-human appearance.
"Aye, I had the lad scout the place out by night, see what he could see," Maggie explained around a mouthful of shortbread, which was disappearing at a prodigious rate.
Kay had a feeling that neither herself nor Liam would be offered any more — she glanced up at the man, who was clearly thinking the same thing, his merry eyes twinkling at her with amusement. She found herself suppressing laughter. It was nice, sharing that moment with him.
"Wisps, he said."
"I was worried that would be the case," Liam said heavily. "They've been a nuisance for a long while, of course, always luring travelers… but we've lost many more animals in the recent months. Would there be any reason for that?"
"All kinds," Maggie said with a shrug. "Time passes, things happen… might be worth checking into what you humans have been up to in that bog."
"We humans?" Kay asked, curious about the way Maggie kept referring to their species. "As distinct from the cattle?"
"As distinct from the Fae, of course," Liam explained, giving her a curious look.
"The what?"
Liam's curiosity changed to dismay, and he glanced over at Maggie, who was still busying herself with the shortbread. "You haven't explained —"
"Oh, I've explained," Maggie said merrily. "But madam is more interested in pretending she's lost her mind than in actually learning where she is, so I decided it wasn't worth the trouble."
Kay felt stung by that, and she sat up straighter, frowning a little. "It's not that I don't believe you," she started, but then she heaved a sigh. "I think — I think I don't want to believe you. It's just…" There was the panic, lingering in the back of her mind, waiting to strike. "I think if I believe you I might… I might start losing my mind for real. It's easier…" She took a deep breath. "It's a lot easier to just… assume I've lost my mind already."
"I'm not interested in easy," Maggie said sharply. "Life's not easy. Something remarkable has happened to you, Kay Morris. Better start paying attention."
She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "Right. You're right, Maggie. I'm sorry. Please — tell me what the Fae are?"
Maggie shrugged, gesturing at Liam to speak — but Kay could tell from the look in her beady eyes that the apology had meant something.
The blond man hesitated before he spoke, clearly not feeling like much of an authority on the subject. "The Fae are — well, fairies. They live in another world, parallel to our own, and occasionally cross over to visit. Some of them do so to cause mischief, some of them do so to help us. Like Maggie."
Kay stared at him for a long moment. "Maggie… you come from the Faerie world?"
"She's almost got it." Maggie chuckled, her mouth still full of shortbread. "Give it a minute."
"You're not human," she said faintly. "You're… you're a Faerie."
Maggie cackled at that, a high, unearthly sound that — suddenly — showed her in a completely different light. Kay's heart was pounding, and her head felt light. "Now we're getting somewhere!" Maggie crowed.
And Kay fought awfully hard to stop herself from fainting.
Chapter 11
"My mother was a Gruagach," Maggie was explaining as Kay reeled with the revelation that her rescuer wasn't human. "A kindhearted old magic user who met my father when she was on this side of the Burgh — that's the gateway between our worlds — and decided to stay with him. He was human, bless him, a herdsman. Long gone now," she said meditatively. "At any rate, I'm at home on either side of the Burgh — but I like it here best."
Kay didn't know what to say, how to take that. Traveling through time and space was something — but to learn that magic and faeries were real as well? How on Earth was she supposed to take all of this in? What was she supposed to do — she could feel the urge to dismiss it all as a hallucination rising in her again, and she took a deep breath, trying to fight that, not wanting to make Maggie angry again. The woman was watching her closely… and finally, a kind of sympathy rose up in her eyes.
"I know it's difficult, dearie," she said gently. "But you'll have a terrible time of it if you try to deny that it's all truly happening."
"Okay," she said softly. "Faeries. Right. So — so — so faeries are hurting your cattle? Is that it?"
"We don't know," Liam said, shrugging. "The facts are a little confusing. A few animal have been lost — they wander away overnight, and we've found whole skeletons later, in the bog."
Kay shivered a little. "How much later? Have the animals rotted away, or —"
"Picked clean," Liam said bleakly. "Usually in a matter of days."
"What could be doing that?"
"We have a few theories," Liam said with a frown. "What I'm worried about is that it seems the cows are being drawn into the bog. Every herdsman reports that he must keep a close eye on his herds, or they'll wander toward the bog. It makes no sense. There's no grass there, nothing for the cattle to graze on… they'd usually move away from wet ground, too."
"It's the wisps," Maggie said frankly. Her shortbread finished, she seemed to have decided to rejoin the conversation. Kay was grateful — she was worried she'd alienated the old woman, but she seemed cheerful enough now.
"That would explain what's luring them into the bog, I suppose," Liam said thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair a little as he considered this. "But what's stripping them to the bone like that?"
"Wisps again. They're not just bright lights, you know," Maggie said, sounding amused. "They've got bodies, aye… and teeth and claws, too. Like most Unseelie Fae, they've a taste for blood like you wouldn't believe. Or did you think that travelers lured off the road by the lights of the wisp just wound up finding the road again?"
Kay couldn't help but shiver at the dispassionate tone in Maggie's voice. For all the woman's kindness, there was something frighteningly cold in her, too. Something that was clearly unnerving Liam a little, too — she caught the sidelong look he gave her and nodded mutely.
"So," Kay said, wanting to understand. "Wisps are… creatures, from the other side of this burgh thing, this gateway between the worlds. Yes? And so are you, Maggie, and so is Darter?"
"That's right," Maggie said, a note of approval in her voice. "But we're from different sides of the political spectrum. The Seelie Fae are — well, I don't want to call us the good guys, as your fellow time-lost women have so bluntly put it, but we're certainly more sympathetic to human morality than our fellows, the Unseelie."
"Unseelie Fae are dangerous," Liam explained in a low voice, his usually bright expression muted. "The Sept of Clan Grant is dedicated to keeping humans safe from them."
"Right," Kay said faintly, not wanting to go down what seemed like a whole new path of enquiry just yet. "So the Wisps — they're bad faeries, basically. Can they talk? Like you and Darter?"
"Good question," Maggie said approvingly, giving Liam a meaningful look as she leaned forward. "They don't speak the way we do, no. But they can communicate with each other, and they're clever enough to lure people off the paths and to work together."
"Okay. S
o we're dealing with — basically the image I'm getting is carnivorous fireflies?" she said hesitantly. "They're insect-like creatures about the size of a rat, they can fly, they have some kind of glowing light that draws people and cattle toward it somehow… and they presumably have sharp teeth and claws, if they're capable of demolishing a whole cow in a matter of days."
"That's about the size of it, yes. Good assessment," Maggie said approvingly. "It's amazing what your mind can do when you stop distracting it with silly ideas like everything around you being a dream."
"What are they doing in the bog?" Liam wanted to know, leaning forward. "I mean, I've heard stories of men being lured off the road by wisps before, everyone has — but it's never happened around here. They certainly haven't been present in such large numbers, either."
"They're breeding, I'd imagine," Kay said with a shrug. "If they're insect-like, if they're getting a steady food supply — which it sounds like they are, if they're skeletonizing whole cows so regularly — it's very likely that a lot of that energy is going into breeding. Presumably they're in the bog because those are the best conditions for them to reproduce in."
Maggie's eyes were twinkling. "She's a clever one, this Kay. I'd hold onto her if I were you, Liam."
Chapter 12
"But why now?" Kay said thoughtfully, trying to keep her mind from straying down that particular path, even as she saw a blush rise to Liam's cheeks. "The cattle aren't new to the area, I'm assuming. But the wisps are. Did they come through the — the portal, or whatever, and settle into the bog to breed?"
"And why haven't they done it before?" Maggie prompted. But her attention seemed to be on Liam, who was frowning, looking between the women in front of him, clearly at a loss. Kay had the feeling she was missing something here.
"I don't know why now. Nothing's changed… it's not as though anyone goes into the bog for any reason. Other than gathering iron, of course, but surely the iron would stop the wisps from wanting to be there, not… draw them in."
Distracted By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (Highlander Forever Book 4) Page 4