Highland Tales Series Box Set

by Rory B. Byrne

  “You seriously believe that killing a police officer in the act of kidnapping will make your work here easier,” Simon said.

  It was Fraser who answered for Brian. The man stood at the edge of the portal, where the wall of dirt met the stone rune symbols in the gigantic circle on the ancient floor. Fraser rubbed the bristles on his chin.

  “So, let me understand your logic, Simon. You think kidnapping is forgivable, but the accidental death of a lonely copper can’t clear your conscience? What did you think we’re doing here?” Fraser lifted his hands to present the fairy ring. “You brought all of this. It’s all on you, Simon. Mr. MacIomhair hired my boys and me to make sure your mess got all ends tidy. Remember when I had to do it last time?”

  The reference to Phoebe made Simon blanch. He felt the tension in the limb again. The fist’s pressure increased.

  Fraser pointed to the camera over the door. “I had a conversation with Mr. MacIomhair regarding the missing data from the night that sweet scientist went missing eight years ago. Somehow, the corrupted recorder had no reason to lose its information.” He motioned to the three men sitting at the workstations along the wall. “I got guys here who swear that nothing inside the chamber affected the data link. It had to have happened later, after the incident in the cave.”

  Talking in the open, sharing Simon’s past with the other mercenaries, wasn’t what Simon wanted. He went looking for Brian to talk about the death of a police inspector. If ever the Police Service of Scotland had reason to knock on the door of Equinox Technologies, there was no better time. Instead, Brian grew closer to Fraser. The man had an army and charisma. Simon had intelligence and no real connection to Brian other than the fairy mound. He knew it was a lost cause.

  “We’re doing this because you have a key, and so far, you’re not sharing it with the rest of us. I’m under the impression that Mr. MacIomhair owns everything inside this place, including you, Simon.” Fraser had a cockiness that made him repulsive to Simon. He was a bully, probably had lived his whole life pushing people around. “I thought you had a stronger stomach.”

  Fraser stepped away from the stone runes. He went around the circle on the floor instead of through it. He joined Simon and Brian on the platform. Simon didn’t want the man near him, but leaving the chamber made him look like a coward.

  “See, I’ve had a conversation with Mr. MacIomhair. I think you’ve stalled opening that portal for eight years because you’re afraid of what’s on the other side.”

  “You should be afraid, too,” Simon said.

  “What? You think that mutant dog scares me?” Fraser asked. “Don’t you worry about that. As soon as the boys and I finish shoring up the tunnel here, we’re going to find out the limits of that monster.”

  “What are you intending?”

  “Mr. MacIomhair authorized us to see what weapons we need to penetrate its scales. We’ll start with small-caliber guns and work our way up through the arsenal.”

  The idea made Simon feel cold in his stomach.

  “But, I think the real reason you don’t want to open that portal again has to do with what you did to Phoebe Biel. See, I did some research on her and you, Simon. I know all about your little infatuation with her. See, you neglected to erase all the data on the recorder inside the chamber. I know how you spent your hours with her while she just wanted to do her job and go back to America again.

  “I think when we open that portal again, we’re going to find Phoebe Biel’s body where you hid it. I think you killed her when she rebuffed your affections.”

  The response wasn’t something Simon expected. It had to do with the wiring harness in his brain and answered with anger. When the right fist hammered the steel railing on the platform, it sounded like a gunshot. It left a massive dent in the fence.

  Fraser appeared not to be intimidated by the display of surprising strength with the artificial arm. He padded Simon’s left shoulder.

  “Look, Simon, we’re all going to play nice here. We, all of us, have some blood on our hands. I managed to clean up your mess last time. It turns out we’re here again, and this time we’ve got more blood on our hands. We’re in it together or not at all.”

  “It’s unfortunate about the inspector,” Brian said. Simon saw the flash of fear in his eyes after the arm reacted to Fraser’s comments about Phoebe. “But according to you, it’s in the blood of the Weatherspoons. Isn’t that right?”

  “I believe so, yes.” Simon thought about the movement of the right arm again. It dislodged the side of the fist from the fresh indentation. It waited at his side again.

  “So, doesn’t that mean we’ll need to spill a lot more?” Fraser said.

  It was the callousness and indifference that bothered Simon more than the statement. He suspected something the others didn’t know about the opening of the portal. It came with patience and education.

  “I do not believe we need to make such drastic strokes, Mr. MacIomhair,” Simon said. He had to keep his chin up. Simon had to show the boss he still had a purpose. “I didn’t do anything to Phoebe Biel or her daughter, Harper. Their presence opened the portal.”

  “When my team completes the rest of the changes we need inside the chamber, you’re going to show Mr. MacIomhair and the rest of us just what you’ve been doing for the last eight years here, Simon. You can swing around that little robot arm all you want. But you’re not fooling anyone. Not anymore. Oh, and just so you know, your little girlfriend is out of here before we breach the portal again. Since she’s still blind to the operations, you can send her packing as early as tonight.”

  Fraser walked away. Simon had to strain to keep the hand from grabbing the guy. He stood with Brian on the platform. He saw the owner of the facility considering what had happened with the arm. Simon knew Brian’s forward-thinking meant he started thinking about military applications for Simon’s new robotic limb.

  “You can’t allow this man to control this,” Simon said. He saw Brian’s eyes flash from the arm to meet his gaze. “Cole will destroy our connection with the people on the other side of the portal, Brian.”

  “You genuinely believe there are fairies and unicorns and flying monkeys on the other side of that portal.”

  Simon shook his head. He let his intellectual brain get in the way of his mouth. “The unicorn comes from Mesopotamian history. Your flying monkeys come from L. Frank Baum’s imagination. I’m talking about the idea we have a chance to reconnect to the mythical beings of Scottish folklore. If I’m right about this, the portal allows us access to the other world where these things still exist. Do you want Cole’s men to go through and start shooting anything and everything they see as a threat? That’s going to cause more problems for you when you eventually take this public.

  “I respect you, Brian. I appreciate you did your best to keep this whole facility hidden from the public. You spent millions on maintaining its secrecy. But you’re about to let those mercenaries loose in a place that they have no business going into,” Simon said. “I think you got thirty guys here with bullets and bricks between their ears. They don’t care about you or what we’re doing here. If there’s money involved, they will do everything they can to keep it to themselves.”

  Simon saw Brian considering his limited options. It was something he should have deliberated before calling in the ATV cavalry. Simon knew he needed Brian on his side. He knew the best way to sway the man was to attack the only thing he cared about.

  “I think Fraser intends to cut me loose and cut you loose as soon as he can.”

  “He can’t do that. We have a contract.”

  “That contract, Brian, took place here on earth. Once you pass through that portal to Elphame, your ‘accidental’ death over there will have judges and solicitors scratching their heads for decades until they sort out the legality of the place. Once you give him and his men free reign over there, Cole will tak
e over, and you will get nothing.” Simon sighed. “You have known me for a long time. I’ve made mistakes, Brian. But I know I’m right on this. When they get the place secure and are ready to go through the portal, you will have no control over them in Elphame.”

  Simon left Brian standing near the dented railing on the platform who called after him again.

  “Can you open the portal?” he asked.

  Before the doors closed, Simon gave Brian what the man wanted. “Yes, I can open the portal.”

  Secrets of the Past

  Alice sighed, wincing with the movement. Somehow, beyond all she understood of blistering and searing flesh of the four types of severe burns, she had healed. Whatever Marcia had in the slop bucket that smelled like sewage and swamp, and whatever Marcia fed Alice in the teacup, it had healed her more than anything a burn center had in their arsenal. Marcia wasn’t grafting replacement flesh on Alice’s back from donor tissue. Alice survived, somehow, against everything.

  On top of living through a structure fire that should have killed her, Marcia dropped this massive secret on Alice. Humans weren’t the only self-proclaimed sentient creatures on the planet—or better yet, there was an entirely different planet where fairies lived under the laws of the fairy queen, who hated humans.

  “Tea, dear?” Marcia asked from the chair.

  The pech got up and poured another cup of what passed as hot water mixed with some herbal slurry. While it tasted like old gym socks dipped in gray water, it did the trick. Medicine wasn’t supposed to taste good anyways. Alice’s father used to tell her that as a child, whenever she got ill.

  “You know how long I’ve been here?” she asked.

  It was impossible to keep track of time without a clock or access to windows. Marcia’s bedroom had heavy blackout curtains, and the place had a perpetual white haze of cigarette smoke. Alice had drifted in and out of consciousness since her arrival at the old woman’s house. Marcia sat down again and lit another cigarette. She watched Alice sipping at the teacup, now able to hold it on her own, sitting up more, and putting pressure on strips of fabric coated in the black goop from the bucket. Sheets ruined, days gone by, Marcia didn’t seem to care that Alice took up space in her house or bed.

  “The fire happened four days ago. I believe you are mending well. You should start moving around more. The muscles exposed from the fire need flexing.”

  The statement made Alice consider what kind of physical appearance she presented now. Was she horribly disfigured? But did it really matter? Marcia saved her life. The pech lived over four thousand years and confided in Alice that she wasn’t human. That took a lot more to contemplate than just a mere fire and a lot of hair and flesh loss.

  Upon Marcia’s suggestion, Alice put down the teacup and used every ounce of strength and determination to turn herself, plant her feet on the warped floorboards, and sit up. It took minutes. Her head hurt. The skin on her back, thighs, and arms felt like strips of tanned leather. In the dim, smoky light, Alice saw blackened strips of skin on her naked calf. It was enough to make her understand that everything she had had before wasn’t coming back again.

  “I need to contact headquarters. I need to let them know I am alive.” Alice left out ‘well’ at the end of the statement. She settled for living, knowing that she’d never be well again.

  “I see you want to do that. I understand you feel the need to do that.” Marcia talked while smoke poured from her mouth and some from her nostrils. “Did you think about what would happen once you told everyone you were alive again?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Aye, lass,” Marcia said. “They claim you, take you away from here, and the gateway between here and Elphame, those men will open it without consequence.”

  Alice shook her head. Tendons in her neck grew taut with the movement. She felt half of her hair missing against her shoulder. “I don’t know what you expect me to do. You need my help. I want to help you, Marcia. But I’m one person. I don’t think I’m even a whole person anymore. You saved my life. I am truly grateful for that. But how can I help your people or stop Brian MacIomhair, Cole Fraser, and the rest of his men from opening the gate and going through to Elphame?”

  “It will not be easy. Nothing good and right is ever so easy, lass. But I know from experience, living on the edge of the gateways, we kept more creatures from Elphame from coming into your world than creatures from your world passing into Elphame.”

  “So, please, Marcia. Tell me what will you have me do?”

  Marcia took the time to answer the question. The days Alice spent inside the woman’s tiny house, lying on her bed, they didn’t share a lot of conversations. Alice realized that Marcia assumed her confession about the keeper of the gates, Elphame, and a pissed off Nicneven, queen of fairyland, was enough for Alice to go blindly into a mission that likely could get her and Marcia both killed. Yet, that was what Marcia intended. And perhaps saving Alice’s life, it was her responsibility to give back what she gained for a few days more.

  “I can get us into the compound. That part is easy. I need you to take something to Nicneven.”

  “Wait. What? You said she doesn’t exactly want humans in her lands, Marcia. Did I mishear you?”

  “I cannot pass into Elphame. My family gave up a passage between the worlds when we agreed to help the queen destroy the gates.” Marcia looked smaller, shrunken, shriveled with memories of her past. How long was it since she thought about her parents, her brother? What did she see as a young pech when humans stormed the gates?

  “We had orders from the court to raze the gates. Nicneven sent her messengers into Scotland to seek all Elphames for aid to destroy access. Some people, like my family and the other pech guarding the gates throughout Scotland, understood our duty. Others chose to side with humans, form some alliance to keep doorways open between the worlds. This fairy mound is one of those doorways. When I found this gateway, I used all I had to cover the passage. I spent a thousand years seeking each of the illegal doorways and covered them.”

  Alice got a glimpse of the countryside littered with fairy mounds. She had a mental image of little Marcia with a shade and a lot of patience heaping soil on a hole in the ground—or whatever it was under the fairy mounds.

  “You must understand, I took that oath, and I am still loyal to the queen. Do not think that I found passages unprotected. I dispatched many of my fellow fairy folk on this side of the gates. All in the name of Nicneven. I did my duty. I need someone to carry on my progress to the queen. She must know that we still hold allegiance to her, even from afar.”

  “What makes you think I can get an audience with Nicneven? I mean, I’m human, and I don’t know how to reach her, and you’re asking me to go into another world.”

  “You took an oath to protect people. I cannot think of any better way for you to help your people than to stop Nicneven from sending legions into Scotland to destroy everything.”

  “How do you know she’s still alive? I mean, no offense, she’s older than you, right?”

  “Aye, lass, but you are consuming the power of Nicneven. It is her strength that saved your life. She is the reason you still live. The tea, the bandages, and the medicine you drink and the salve I put on your burns are healing gifts from Nicneven. You are alive today because she still lives in Elphame.”

  It was an amazing and wondrous thing to consider. Alice owed her life to a creature pretending to be a human who had lived thousands of years to roam Scotland and bury illegal portals to the other world. Cop to cop, Alice owed Marcia everything.

  “So, for the sake of argument, I make it through the gate. How will I know how to find Nicneven? I mean, is her castle close to the gate?”

  “I do not know where Nicneven exists in Elphame. You will need to discover that for yourself. I will give you something to aid in your meeting with her. When her subjects see it, they will know you have the
queen’s favor.” Marcia puffed on the cigarette to the end up to her fingers. She pinched out the embers. “Also, it is in you now.”

  “In me?” Alice asked. “What’s in me?”

  “Elphame. It is part of you forever.”

  “Like a blood transfusion?”

  “Aye, lass,” Marcia said. “Exactly like that. Your blood is part of Elphame now. It is in your wounds and your belly.”

  “Well, I will never be able to thank you fully for saving me, Marcia.”

  “Aye, lass, you will. You go to the queen; you tell her that it is a few men and not all of humankind that wants to get into Elphame. She knows the work we accomplished here, closing the gates. She needs to know that we have not forgotten her on this side.”

  “What am I to take her?” Alice asked. It wasn’t something she considered possible, but after what she learned over the last few days, anything Marcia had to show her or say to her, Alice likely intended to believe it. After all, it occurred to her that she hadn’t eaten, drank, or used the bathroom in the last four days since the fire. That accounted for something more than miraculous.

  Marcia lit another cigarette as an answer. She puffed smoke and seeped out of her mouth after a long heavy drag on the filterless cancer stick.

  “When we are ready to go to the compound, I will give it to you. For now, we need to keep filling you with the delicious tea, dear.”

  The look on Alice’s face betrayed her. Marcia grunted with laughter from the rocking chair. The older woman watched Alice begin to stand up and take her first steps days following her supposed death. While she paced around the confined space slowly, Alice wanted more information about the fire.

  “Are the investigators looking for me and the others?”

  “Likely, dear,” Marcia said. “I have watched over you since the fire. I do not have a phone or world web thingy. Your technology burned up in the fire. I know you want to talk to your people, but remember what I said. If they find you, they will keep you from your purpose.”