Highland Tales Series Box Set

by Rory B. Byrne

  “You do not know the Bean Nighe.” It was a short statement that came from Cook. He squatted next to the fire, and I noticed the guys didn’t know anything about etiquette or underwear.

  I shifted, pulling away from the selkie. I knew if the rain healed her, she didn’t need me blocking the storm. She sighed and relaxed, absorbing more rainwater.

  Since the others were busy with the fire and Knife wasn’t going to kill me at that moment, I needed to have a serious discussion with Camden. I stood on bruised bare feet. The others used Airman Hillyard’s wool blankets to cover themselves as they huddled around the growing fire.

  As night fell over us, the cold rain made me shiver. I thought I looked like a rain-soaked skunk with my streaks of white hair mixed with the auburn that once covered my whole head.

  “I come from a place that isn’t like here,” I said.

  The others stopped talking. Even Evander listened to me.

  “I came through some kind of hole in the world.”

  “Are you pech?” Stone asked.

  I looked at him and shrugged. “I don’t know what that is, and I don’t know what selkies are, or who Nicneven is,” I said. “All I know is, I don’t belong here. I have people looking for me.”

  “Do they have a reward for your return?” Fire asked.

  Camden stared at me from a few feet away. He was a hard man to read. He was smarter than the others. I think he knew I wasn’t a witch or a Glaistig when I tried fooling them after they caught me. For some reason, he continued to let us live. I wondered if the cannibal thing was a way to keep us frightened.

  “We’re not getting a hunt tonight, Camden. We need to decide which of them we’re going to eat,” Cook said.

  Nope, they were definitely cannibals.

  “You can’t eat us,” I said. “My family is rich. They have millions of dollars.” Lying wasn’t beneath me if it saved my life.

  “What is dollar?” Stone asked.

  I pointed at him. “Gold, they have lots of gold—ow!”

  Someone threw a rock at my head. It hit me in the ear. I looked down at its golden brilliance in the firelight.

  “We have all the gold we need, witch.”

  I rubbed the new bruise on my head. “Ghillie Dhu told me about Nicneven. He told me about the Black Hand of Nicneven.”

  There was an audible hush surrounding me. The group went utterly silent. Only the sound of rain pattering on the ground followed my statement.

  “He said the Black Hand was coming,” I lied. Ghillie Dhu didn’t actually say that to me, but the Highlanders didn’t know that.

  Camden watched Knife with my dagger. The black blade glinted in the firelight. I wanted to get my hands on the dagger. I didn’t know the relationship with Camden and the rest of the warriors, or his willingness to allow Knife to have the only weapon between all seven men. I knew if I had the dagger, I could cut our ropes, and we’d make the best of getting away before the warriors hunted us down again and ate us.

  “I believe you,” Camden said. I didn’t feel relief in the acknowledgment. “Our people are scattered, the Coin-Sìth destroyed our clan, and we are heading south.” Camden smiled. “It is only by fortune you lead us in the same direction, young one.”

  “My name’s Harper Biel.”

  “It matters not.” Camden walked to the fire and hunkered down, warming his hands as the flames defied the falling rain. “Come morning,we will eat one of you. It matters not to me anymore. You are no witch. That blade is a simple tool, not the witch blade that pierced Nicneven.”

  He left me standing in the dark. I looked at Evander. The boy pulled up his knees and sat a few feet from the selkie. He watched the creature in the darkness as she continued to absorb the healing rain. I limped over the sharp stones and sat between him and the selkie. She was a naked female, and even if she wasn’t human, she deserved some privacy and respect.

  I sat quietly with him. We watched the group by the fire.

  “We need to get away,” I whispered.

  “The ropes are too tight,” Evander said. “The tether between you and me will tighten more after the rain. The braids in the hemp draw moisture, and when they dry, they become stronger.” He motioned with his chin at Knife. “That little blade of yours might cut through one rope. If you get your hands on it, you’re better off cutting your own throat, or mine, to save yourself since you refuse to kill the selkie.” He shook his head. “All I wanted was to reach Clan Slora.”

  “I know them,” I whispered. “I mean, I don’t know them, but I met them. Alastair gave me that dirk.”

  “Chieftess Freya sent us to find Chief Laomann. The Coin-Sìth were in the north and moving out of the mountains.”

  “What is the Coin-Sìth,” I asked.

  “One is Cu-Sìth, many are Coin-Sìth,” Evander said. Talking together helped keep my mind from hunger, the pain, and the prospect of becoming the group’s breakfast. I felt the selkie curled against my side. Somehow, it felt I was the least threatening of the humans. I suspected it had to do with its sense of self, and it knew I didn’t mean any harm.

  “The beasts are impossible to kill. They can run faster than any, and they’re larger than the biggest kelpie.”

  “What’s a kelpie? Is that like her, a selkie?”

  Evander shook his head. He wiped a hand over his wet face. “Kelpies are black water beasts with long heads and, oh, it does not matter, Harper. We are doomed.”

  “What about your clan?” I asked. “Isn’t anyone coming for you?”

  “Chieftess Freya did not want me to seek help outside the clan. There is a broken bond between the clans. Clan Slora, my clan, and Clan MacMicking do not all believe the same about the Coin-Sìth or Nicneven.” He looked at me in the dark and rain. I saw something in his eyes that was a cross between attraction and admiration. “You come from a place outside Elphame?”

  “What’s Elphame?”

  “This is Elphame. We are here, now,” Evander said. He scooped up a handful of mud and dropped it again. “This place is Elphame.”

  “I come from earth; the place I crossed over is Scotland.”

  “I know of that place. It is the place of stories we learn as children. The time of the queen and how she pushed back all men who stood against her. She dispatched her greatest warriors. She sent the Black Hand. And all who came from Scotland were defeated and sent back.

  “We heard the stories of the pech and how they kept the gates for the queen. Once there were many passages through Elphame to Scotland.”

  “Do you know where the gates are?” I asked. There was hope. I didn’t know passages between Elphame and Scotland existed. But then again, I never knew Elphame existed before I fell through a hole in the world.

  “Those stories,” Evander said. He even found a smile for me in the misery. “They are thousands of winters old. They are the stories of our parents and their parents, and their parents.”

  “Yeah, okay, I get it. But I’m here, Evander. That means those gates are real.”

  “You are a witch. You said it yourself. You said you were Glaistig. It is hard to believe you when you fill the space between us with lies.”

  He had a point. “Is there more than Elphame?” I asked.

  “You mean other lands across the great waters?” Evander clarified.

  “I guess, yes.”

  “I know of stories of giants from the north, beyond the realm of the queen that take sailing ships to the other side of the great waters to lands far beyond the horizon.”

  “So, I’ll assume that Elphame is my Scotland. What do you call the ground and great waters where Elphame rests? I call that planet earth.”

  Evander looked at me like I had worms crawling out of my eyes.

  “Never mind,” I said

  The selkie clawed at me. I felt her grip on my shir
t. I faced her lying on her side. The viscosity of the slime that replenished her skin looked more fluid, less sticky. I saw the light in her giant round brown eyes that wasn’t there before. The rains helped heal her, but I feared it wasn’t going to save her life. We needed a miracle for that to happen.

  I reached over with my hands bound. I found her hand and held it. The slime coated my hand. She pressed her cheek against my wrist. The thick bristles on her face tickled my skin. I had a new friend. But I knew it wasn’t going to save any of us from the lost Highlanders.

  Cat of Indifference

  Tied to each other, sandwiched between Evander and the selkie, somehow, I found sleep. It was much better with the fur-lined hoodies over my head to keep the insects from crawling on my face. We had a buffer from some of the rain, with a narrow brush cropped against Evander. The selkie laid in the mud, soaking up the shower. Entrenched in a muddy gulley, we had some cover from the overnight rains.

  There was a rustling in the bushes near us. The selkie tensed at my back. I opened my eyes under the hood but remained still. Evander continued sleeping. I felt his slow even breaths lying near his end. There was a clump of grass near my head, and something hit my head over the hood. I waited to move because I wasn’t sure what was happening. It felt like something had fallen out of the bush and tapped against my head. Whatever it was didn’t move afterward, so it wasn’t something slimy and alive.

  Slowly, I moved my arms up to my head and let my fingers gently touch the ground. I felt the hard rosewood carved case of my dagger. Somehow, the dirk managed to leave Knife’s person and end up back in my hands. I felt my heart leaping in my throat. I lifted my head enough to look from the dirk in my grip to the brush near our heads.

  I saw the icy blue eyes with large vertical slits staring at me. The Cat Sìth sat quietly, washing its muzzle with a paw. It gave me a look that suggested boredom or amusement, definitely indifference. It was hard to tell with the cat. It blinked at me and slunk away silently in typical cat fashion.

  Without detail, without a plan, I pulled the blade from the sheath and cut away my bindings. The honed edge went through the hemp braids like a butter knife through cottage cheese.

  “Where did you get that?” Evander whispered.

  “A friend,” I said. “Help me carry her.”

  “You can’t take it. It will slow us down.”

  “I’m not leaving here without her. You can go, but she’s coming with me.” I saw the eyes pop open when I cut away the bindings from the selkie. I thought once she felt her arms and legs free, she’d jump to escape. Instead, she watched me put my finger to my lips. “Do you know where to go from here?”

  Evander didn’t answer immediately. We continued to lay still, ready to run, but we needed a direction. I looked at the seven men. I saw five sleeping, two still awake, tending the campfire. One had his back to us. I saw a few sleeping men with their faces toward us. It was impossible to know if their eyes were open in the dark.

  Jacket had my coat over his head to keep the raindrops away, and Boots had left my footwear lying next to him. He slept about four meters from us. I wanted those boots. I paid good money for those boots. And the thought of running on uneven muddy or rocky ground, I knew I’d have better luck with the boots.

  “I think if we go that way, it will lead us into MacQuoid territory.”

  “Okay, help me with her, I don’t think she can walk on her own.” I rolled and sat up. It needed to happen. If we were to make a break, I needed to know the Highlanders weren’t paying attention.

  I stooped, keeping close to the ground. I pulled on the selkie’s arms. She turned and came toward me. As I suspected, while the rain cooled her parched skin, she still needed help walking. Evander helped her stand and put his arm around her thin waist.

  “Where are you going?” he whispered.

  I crept closer to Boots with my arm extended and grabbed one boot. With the laces tied together, I knew I had to cut them to put on the footwear. I didn’t want to lose the laces, but I didn’t see a lot of choices. First, I had to get the boots away from the guy.

  When the heel scraped in the gravel, the colossal hand slammed on top of the boot. I wasn’t the best fighter. I never did anything remotely violent in my entire eighteen years, except when Broken Toe tried to mistreat me. But those were my boots. And when that hand dropped on the footwear, I leaped in the air and jumped onto his face and hand before snatching the hiking boots.

  “Run!”

  As I left the campsite, I knocked over another one of the guys. It was Broken Toe. I swung my fist, holding the boot laces, and clobbered him against the face.

  There was a long moment of unorganized, bewildered grunts and screams from the warriors. I ran after Evander, who was carrying the selkie. We had some distance between us and the camp. I knew the Highlanders would chase us, even if we had a little head start. I felt the burning and stinging from bare feet stomping on sharp rocks. As much as I wanted to stop and put on the boots, it wasn’t the place for that.

  “There,” Evander hissed. He ran forward into the dark.

  I trailed after him. He hefted the selkie over his shoulder again. I saw her big eyes in the dark, looking back at me. I ran after them. Evander had a lifetime of experience in Elphame. I had only had weeks. His feet had Paleolithic footwear with the skin and fur boots, while I had bare feet. I saw the Selkie staring at me.

  She raised her right hand off Evander and pointed one of her webbed claws behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. I saw the bobbing heads of angry Highlanders gaining on us. The distant campfire light silhouetted their shapes. They were large, moving fast, and in no time, they’d catch us. I ran into Evander and the selkie.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. He had stopped running forward.

  “We can’t go that way.”

  I saw the lower part of the valley. It was inky black and smooth. We weren’t quite into the lowest part of the Lowlands where the loch awaited us.

  “Come on,” I said. I grabbed the selkie because she’d slipped from Evander’s shoulder. I started running again. “Come on.”

  “You cannot take it near the water.” Evander followed us.

  I had my hand in the selkie’s grip. She either sensed or saw the water, and that’s when instinct took over. I was attached to her. I tried to slow down, but she gained momentum. Evander chased after me. I saw a white mask of fear on his face. The men further behind him saw the loch. I saw their bodies shifting in the dark; they blended with the grasses but continued to follow us.

  I felt the grip tighten on my hand. The slime worked as a lubricant, and I managed to slip free from her grasp. I started to move away from her, but the selkie headed faster toward the considerable body of water. We were a kilometer from the water, at least. Evander caught up to me and snatched the slimy hand.

  “You cannot go that way. You cannot follow it to the water.”

  “We can’t get away from them.”

  Running and discussing our options wasn’t something that worked for either of us. I needed to concentrate on the ground that I couldn’t see in the dark. Evander kept slowing down because he continued to glance behind us, watching for the progress of the warriors. I knew that if they caught us, it was our end.

  “I’m going after her,” I said.

  I slipped free of Evander’s grip. He hesitated before veering toward me and following. I saw the selkie, running a few meters ahead of us. She made a straight line to the water. I squeezed the dagger in my left hand. I had my boots in the same hand. I switched sides for the knife and continued to chase the selkie.

  “Keep going,” I said. “They’re slowing down.”

  “They’re afraid of the selkie near the water.” In the dark, Evander’s face glowed with fear.

  After all we went through, how bad could it be? I looked back over my shoulder in time to see Broke
n Toe gaining on me. He ignored Evander, even passed him. Evander realized he wasn’t the target and ran after Broken Toe.

  I heard the guy grunting as he ran. I expected a guy the size of a refrigerator wouldn’t have the stamina to chase after me for a long sprint, but now I ran for my life. Somehow, cuts on my feet were the least of my worries. I felt the air burning in my lungs. With the lack of food and water, my muscles twisted and cramped. I raced after the selkie.

  I felt Broken Toe hot on my trail. He was close enough for me to hear his labored wheezing. I didn’t want to look back because I knew I’d see him reaching those big hands after me.

  My feet slapped in the marsh. Closer to the loch, the ground went from rocky mud to muddy rocks, and finally sediment. I ran forward. The selkie had almost reached the shoreline. More to my left, I saw Evander following me. Then he veered away, running further up the beachhead. The rest of the men chased after Evander. That’s when I saw the ripples in the water. Something moved fast toward the shore just under the black surface. I saw more than one streak of torpedo-like currents heading to the coast. I wanted to warn Evander.

  But it was too late. The refrigerator ran into me, power-drove me right on my face into the muck, and I skidded to a stop. Before I could clear my head from the swamp, the guy jumped on my back. His giant hands found my head and pushed my face into the swamp water. When I gasped for air, all I got was a mouthful of mud. And collectively, in the gloom of night, everyone stopped moving when we heard the enormous splash in the water.

  That’s when he stopped pushing on my head. I managed to pull up my head enough to get a lungful of air. Broken Toe crouched on top of me. His hands on my shoulder and hood, he meant to smother me, drown me. But the splashing in the water made him hesitate. He bucked around me. He got off my back and started to haul me away from the shore of the loch.

  So many things happened at the same time. First, I saw Evander charging toward Broken Toe. But before he reached us, Knife, Camden, and Fire got to him. Evander was fighting valiantly, but I didn’t see the outcome. Instead, there was an intensely loud baying from the water. The loch water looked like black syrup. I was still a few meters from the shore, but close enough to see some kind of movement in the water. Broken Toe saw the action, too.