by Unknown
“I had a feeling she knew,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I didn’t mean to prod, I just-“
“’Tis alright.” Alexander made a small smile as he fiddled with a tiny twig in his hands. “Maybe, ‘twas for the best. I ken now, I never loved her. I damn well ken she never loved me.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I get so mad that I wasted my one chance at becoming mortal with her. If only I met-.”
“If only you met…?”
Alexander turned to Kaelyn. He slowly raised his hand to the side of her face. Kaelyn held her breath in anticipation. Alexander’s hand dropped away. “If only I met someone that suited me.”
Kaelyn’s shoulders dropped. She knew he was going to have said her. Why couldn’t he just say it! “You still might,” Kaelyn said nonchalantly.
Alexander shrugged and nudged her knee again. “Come on. We should go if we want to make the hag’s hut by nightfall.”
“You know, you might not want to call her a hag in front of her. It might offend her.”
Alexander stuffed the leather pouch back into his saddle. “Why? That’s what she is.”
Kaelyn shook her head as a grin fell across her face, and caught sight of the wooded area across the road. “Hey, I’m going to go to the little girl’s room.”
“The what?” he asked turning around, as Kaelyn stepped onto the dirt road.
“The bathroom. I’ve got to pee!” she said laughing as she jogged across the way. “And don’t peek,” she said, yelling over her shoulder with a smile.
Alexander shook his head and directed his attention back to the saddle. The lass sure was something. And that’s why you’re never going to let her go, he thought.
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kaelyn righted her breeches and dusted them off, abruptly looking up when she heard a “snap”. “Hey,” she shouted with a laugh, “I said no peeking!”
“I couldna help myself,” a male voice rumbled by her ear. Warm breath floated across her neck as two large hands gripped her waist from behind. She looked down, spotting the ruby ring shimmer from the sun. Cain.
Kaelyn pulled out of his grip as Cain let go. She spun around. “I thought you said you’d leave us alone,” she said in a hushed whisper. She quickly glanced behind her to make sure Alexander wasn’t watching. The trees, thick with their green foliage, blocked his sight.
“What’s wrong?” he said with a smirk as his hands ran up her sides. “I’m only protecting my investment.”
“Leave me alone! And quit touching me!” Kaelyn said, swatting his hands away.
Cain tsked. “I think you’ve forgotten what liberties I can take…and that you can enjoy them.” Abruptly, Kaelyn’s body began to tingle and she let out a moan. She had to touch him. Her body craved him, even though she knew she loathed him.
Cain placed a palm on the back of her head and pulled her to him as his mouth covered hers in a hard, claiming kiss. Another moan escaped her and she wanted to slap herself. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him closer. He wasn’t close enough, even though there was no room between them.
Without warning, the tingling faded away and her entire being was repulsed once again at the sight of Cain. “Don’t ever do that again!” she said through clenched teeth.
Cain laughed. “I’ll see ye around,” he said, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Kaelyn wiped her mouth and hoped it wasn’t too red. She smoothed her hair, adjusted her tunic, and then let out a deep breath. “You can do this,” she muttered to herself.
When she emerged from the trees, she found Alexander on his horse ready to go. He had a hard expression and the jovial atmosphere from before had disappeared.
“You didn’t peek did you?” Kaelyn said jokingly.
“Get on your horse, Kaelyn.” Kaelyn was about to ask what happened, but from the look on his face, thought better of it.
Once atop her horse, Alexander’s jumped ahead. Something was definitely wrong. Kaelyn shook her head. He couldn’t have seen her with Cain. The vegetation was too thick. Besides, he would’ve barged in on Cain if he’d seen him. He still needed to catch him. That was the whole point in Alexander chasing Cain. No, he probably started thinking about Deirdre and her deception, again. She shouldn’t have brought up the subject. When they stopped again, she’d try to lighten his mood. She’d only have to think of a way.
* * * * *
They didn’t stop again. Dusk set in and Kaelyn’s rear end was beyond bruised. She was an avid rider, but she had never spent the entire day in a saddle, and one that wasn’t hers to boot!
Kaelyn wasn’t sure if they were in the village of Gunn, yet. Alexander had made sure to keep he and his horse out of earshot the entire way. Kaelyn no longer wanted to make him “happy”. If anything, she was ready for a fight.
Kaelyn brought her horse alongside his, since Alexander had to keep his stallion at a slow trot through the bustling village.
“Did I do something?” Kaelyn asked. Alexander ignored her. “Alexander?” she said through clenched teeth.
Without warning, he turned his horse down a side road and Kaelyn was left to follow once again. She made tight fists around the rein and stared daggers into his back.
After another few minutes, he stopped in front of a picturesque cottage with a dainty, white picket fence around the front of the house. The fence was only about a foot high and clearly looked like it was meant to keep visitors from walking through the plethora of flowers and shrubs covering the crowded yard. A small stone path, overgrown with delicate wildflowers, led from the road to the front door, which was a large piece of knotty wood, hanging by leather hinges.
Kaelyn pulled her horse next to Alexander’s. He was about to get down when she reached over and put her hand on his thigh, staying him. “What-is-wrong? I’m not getting down until you tell me!”
Alexander smiled a mean smile. “Ye want to ken what’s wrong!” he growled. “You’re worse than Deirdre.”
Kaelyn sucked in a breath. “What the hell was that supposed to mean!”
Alexander grabbed Kaelyn’s horse’s reins to steady the gelding. Both horses sensed the tension between their riders and begun to paw at the ground. He leaned forward until he was an inch away from her face. “You’re-a-liar. Ye think I would never find out?”
“What are you talking about!” she shouted.
“I saw ye with Cain!” he roared. “Ye couldn’t keep your hands off of him!”
Kaelyn opened her mouth and closed it. “You don’t understand.”
“Right. Because it looked like ye really wanted to get away. Maybe, that was after ye stuck your tongue down his throat!” Alexander yanked his fist down, which in turn, tugged the reins of Kaelyn’s horse, making the gelding rear up and stomp at the air. The horse’s two front hooves came crashing down on top of the small, white fence, pulverizing it.
“Look what you did!” Kaelyn cried.
“’Tis better than what ye did with your-“
“Who goes there?” a crotchety old woman’s voice said from within the cottage. Kaelyn glared at Alexander as he glowered back.
The cottage door unexpectedly swung open and an old hunched over lady came hobbling out with a walking stick for support. She might have had curves at one time in her life, but now, they all blended together. Her gray, frizzy hair hung past her shoulders and reminded Kaelyn of a photograph of Albert Einstein she once saw.
Her tiny, dark, beady eyes narrowed at the intruders. “Och! Look what ye done!” she screamed, recognizing the crushed pieces that once made up her fence. “How dare ye!” she shrieked, franticly waving her walking stick at them.
Kaelyn jumped down from her horse. This had to be the “old hag” with the bad disposition. Kaelyn held her hands out in front of her. “I’m so sorry. Really, we didn’t mean to. It’s just that the angry jackass I’m with,” she said scowling back at Alexander, “scared my horse. You see it was all an accident.”<
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“Aye,” Alexander grumbled, “an accident that ye wrapped your arms around your enemy.”
“You don’t understand!” she said in a hushed whisper back to Alexander. A disgusted look crossed his face. He jumped down from his horse and walked past Kaelyn, stopping at the edge of the cottage’s stone path. He pulled out a couple of gold guineas. “These should take care of the damages,” he said, holding the coins out to the old woman.
“Bah!” she yelled and whacked the coins out of his hand with her stick. The money went flying, landing in the thick flowers. “I dinna want yer wee monies!” she sneered. “I want ye to go away!”
Alexander was about to speak, and from the look on his face, it wouldn’t have been kind. Kaelyn brushed past him. She stopped in front of the old woman, hoping she wouldn’t get hit with the stave. The woman pulled back with the stick ready to whack it on Kaelyn’s head, but suddenly froze with the staff in mid air. Her wrinkled, pinched face stared at Kaelyn, and then the wrinkles began to smooth and her expression turned surprised.
“I’ve waited a long time for ye to come, lass,” she said breathlessly. “Come, come, please.” She motioned Kaelyn forward for her to follow her inside. Alexander stared angrily. He followed the path up to the door. The old hag quickly spun around after Kaelyn went inside the cottage. She held her arms wide. “Yer kind is no welcome in me home!” she barked out.
Kaelyn walked back to the door and came to stand next to the woman. She laid a gentle hand on her arm. “Can he come in please?” she asked softly. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here.” Kaelyn gave an earnest look at Alexander, past the woman’s shoulder.
The old hag wrinkled her nose at Alexander. She rubbed her nose with the back of her liver spotted hand. “Bah! Dinna touch nothin’!” she scoffed. She turned and entered the cottage, shuffling past Kaelyn, as she mumbled about unspeakable characters.
Alexander entered, gave Kaelyn a dirty look, and then walked a few feet over to the corner of the cottage. There, he leaned up against the wall crossing his arms over his chest, and stared out the window.
The hag slowly sunk in a wooden rocking chair by the adequate stone fireplace. She gave one last disgusted look toward Alexander and then turned back to Kaelyn. “Sit lassie. We ha’ much ta talk aboot.”
Kaelyn’s brow furrowed. She had just met this woman. How much could they have to talk about? She took a seat on a short, wooden stool at the table as she glanced around the room, which made up the entire cottage. The one room consisted of a fireplace, a bed off in one corner, the wooden table in the middle of the room, and a large, beat up trunk in another corner. The only window was the one Alexander brooded out of. The fire flickered light over the dimly lit, drafty room. The dancing light made the old woman’s eyes sparkle.
“So what do ye want ta ken?” the woman asked breaking the silence. She slowly began to rock back and forth in her chair. The creaking filled the quaint room.
Kaelyn glanced over to Alexander for guidance. He continued to ignore her. Kaelyn glanced back at the old hag who steadily rocked, looking like she didn’t care if Kaelyn answered her or not.
“There’s this riddle,” Kaelyn began. “I need to know what it means and where to go….”
Disappointment fell across the old woman’s face. “Are ye sure those are the questions ye want ta ask? And please, the name is Morna.”
“Um…Morna, I don’t know what else-.”
Morna casually waved her hand in the air dismissing the question. “What is the riddle, lass?”
Kaelyn rolled her eyes upward trying to remember.
“On the mountains of Skye,
Where three of three of three have died,
Where the fairies play and roam,
This is where you call true home,
The Sacred Door is no more,
But lived once in 1140 plus a score.”
Morna’s face pinched together and she pursed her lips. “Well, the first part should be easy enough. I’m surprised he didn’t figure it out,” she said gesturing toward Alexander with an expression of loathing. Alexander glared out the corner of his eye at her and then caught Kaelyn’s gaze, making him swiftly turn his attention back out the window.
Kaelyn wanted to strangle him and demand he trust her. She knew what that must have looked like when he saw she and Cain in an embrace. Why did Alexander have to be so stubborn! Kaelyn turned her attention back toward a now, smiling Morna. “I would be forever grateful if you could tell me what it meant.”
“Aye, ye would,” Morna said grinning. “Tell me, what is three plus three plus three?”
“Nine.”
“Aye. This is where those nine have died and lie in peace.”
“Who? Who are ‘those’? Is it a cemetery?” Kaelyn asked confused.
Morna’s expression grew distasteful again as she glared over at Alexander. “His brothers,” she spat. “‘Tis where they lie.”
Alexander might have looked like he stared intently out the window, but all of his attention focused on listening to what Kaelyn and Morna talked about. When he heard Morna say his brothers, he slowly lowered his arms, turning to look at the women.
“The other Immortals,” he muttered.
“There are nine more?” Kaelyn asked.
“Aye,” he grumbled. “Ye were half asleep when I told ye where I came from. There are thirteen of me, I mean Immortals. Nine of them have turned mortal, not counting Merrick, and have passed away. They lived their lives and now rest in peace on the top of the cliffs on the Isle of Skye.”
“Why there?” Kaelyn asked.
“’Tis where the sun rises over the cliffs every morn, without clouds or fog hiding it. The Immortals believed, that when they became mortal, they got back their souls and when they died, they wanted to make sure the heavens would open up over them and take pity on them, taking their souls to the beyond to live eternity in peace.”
Kaelyn made an “oh” with her mouth. She couldn’t believe that these hardened warriors had such a sentimental side. “Okay, so we go to this burial ground, then what?” Kaelyn asked looking back to Morna.
“Then ye go to where the fairies play, which is beneath the cliffs. “’Tis said they hide deep in the caverns. Ye can only enter on the low tide. The caverns fill up with the sea water when the tide comes in.”
“After we see the fairies, what’s next?” Kaelyn asked. She didn’t want to stop, for Morna was on a roll.
“Then ye ha’ ta ask the fairies. Only they ken where the door is ye seek.”
Kaelyn glanced over at Alexander and was surprised when he nodded at her. She turned back to Morna. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to us. We’ll leave you to your business now. Thanks again and sorry about your fence.”
Morna’s face frowned, remembering the damage. Kaelyn and Alexander made their way to the door. “I hope they talk ta ye,” Morna said in a singsong voice.
Kaelyn paused and sighed. She turned back around. “What do I have to do so the fairies talk to us?”
“Not ‘us’,” she said jabbing her stick out at Alexander. “He most likely willna even be able to see them. Ye. I ken all aboot ye Kaelyn,” she said in a crackly voice. “Now, ‘tis time ye ask me the questions that really matter.”
Kaelyn glanced at Alexander who had paused with his hand on the door. He became very interested now. Kaelyn looked back at Morna. “What questions?” she asked warily.
“Like, who ye really are.
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Alexander sat at a table by himself in the taproom of the inn where they were staying for the night. He swallowed a big gulp of ale and thunked his half empty mug on the table. He tightened his grip around the tankard. More than anything, he wanted to know what the hell Morna had told Kaelyn.
Before Morna had said one word, Alexander had been ordered to wait outside. She had said, “what I ha’ to say is no for yer ears.” And then, when Kaelyn had exited the
old hag’s cottage…the look on her face. It had looked like her world had come apart, what was left of it.
Alexander was still pissed about what he had seen in the woods with Kaelyn and Cain, but the more he brooded over it, the more he knew something wasn’t right. Kaelyn despised Cain, so why would she have her arms wrapped tightly around him and kiss him as though he was her lover? Perhaps she was a very good actress. He had known one devious lass that had already toyed with his heart, why wouldn’t there be more? Alexander cursed. He wanted to believe Kaelyn was sincere in everything she did. He wanted to have faith in her more than anything.
Alexander chugged the rest of his ale and slammed the tankard back down. He stared at it for a minute as he slowly turned the drink round and round on the bar top. He didn’t see the mug, but the hurt on Kaelyn’s face. Kaelyn had said she didn’t want to talk about it. She had asked him to simply “trust her”.
“Ah!” he growled as he abruptly rose. He had to get answers from her. How would he know if she was in trouble or not? Alexander ran a hand through his hair as he stomped from the tap room and up the creaky wood steps to their room, where Kaelyn waited.
He had left a tight-lipped Kaelyn when they arrived, so he could drink over two troubling matters bothering him. He had wanted to come to some decisions. The first matter, well, he’d get answers to those right now…and the second? Well, he had made up his mind on that one as well.
Kaelyn belonged to him. Only him.
* * * * *
Kaelyn sat on the lumpy, straw filled mattress, in the adequate chamber Alexander had bought for the night. She sat fully dressed in the dark room. The light from the only candle, cast foreboding shadows on the wall. From the bed, Kaelyn stared straight out the window into the starry sky. Her thoughts were numb, if that was possible. She had replayed in her mind what Morna had told her over and over, and now….
