by Jane Stain
His touch was just like Deoord's, artistic rather than — well, rather than the way a man normally touches a woman. And Alasdair was an artist. He made the dragons on her chest breathe fire even more realistically than Deoord had, and she could see them flying around on her body when she bent to look.
She waited until he was done to tell him so.
"Are you sure I need to wear the dress? It will be such a shame to cover up your artwork."
He smiled in thanks.
"We need tae hide yer presence from Richard, and from John. Wear the dress. Withoot it, ye wull stand oot tae much. Remember, twa whole days hae passed in their time while ye were here six hours. Nae one else wull be woaded. The men wull be in those baggy Pictish shorts they wear, and the women in dresses. I wager they still wag their tongues aboot ye disappearing when ye put the helmet on, sae ye dinna want tae stand oot, nay."
She sighed.
"Yes, I agree, my best course of action is not to let John know I'm there at all. Because I'm afraid the moment I look in his eyes, he'll know what I know. I need to tell Breth first and give him a chance to tell the others. I need to wait at least that long before John knows I’m there, and really I'd rather not talk to him at all."
He looked reassuring.
"I hae a hunch I wull ken a lot if I can manage tae but touch John’s hand, sae aye, let us keep ye away from him until then. From yer memories, I ken the feel o John’s presence, and sae I can help in that regard, if ye listen tae me."
Jaelle laughed.
"All right. Can we go now?"
The world spun, and in a few moments Jaelle was facing Alasdair in the place in the woods where Breth had tripped over her. She watched the old professor's helmet fade away and felt her own disintegrate as well.
Chapter 26
Breth was incredulous. Drest was good on the field of battle, but he had absolutely no idea what he was doing when it came to clan politics. He was pressing the chieftains way too hard, making them do every little thing his way.
The mood of the camp was like a stormy night compared to the glorious day of the bonfire celebration. All the people had cross looks on their faces, and although each person he encountered nodded at him, they didn't exchange greetings the way they normally would.
It was no wonder. For some stupid reason, Gede, Chieftain Ru's little son, had wandered into the middle of the chieftains' meeting and asked one of the chieftains the way to broch nine. That was something none of the people, not even a little child, would do unless someone at least as important as a chieftain put them up to it. And who would do that?
Drest had been so unnecessarily angry about it though. He had nearly killed Ru over it. Things were getting out of control. If Breth hadn't stepped in and grabbed the boy and run with him, there was no telling what would have happened.
Even now, Breth didn't have any faith that things were going to turn out all right. He was headed toward the sacred grove, anxious to talk this over with Deoord and Ia and Boanne. They were wise. They would know what to do.
Breth was almost to the sacred grove when he saw…
"Jaelle!"
"Breth!"
He ran to her and she met him halfway, and the two of them clutched each other on the shady path to the sacred grove, almost at the very spot where Morna had mocked Jaelle with Brude and Leo, saying she should guard the carts.
But all thoughts of Morna fled his mind as he held Jaelle close to him and felt her holding on just as tight.
And then he saw that she was not alone. An old, old, old druid was with her. He had to be a Druid, because nobody else lived so long. The man was at least seventy. His gray hair was long and came over his shoulders, and his hands were more gnarled than any Breth had ever seen.
But Breth didn't care that the druid stood there, waiting to be acknowledged. He kissed Jaelle with all the longing he had stored up the whole night he had waited for her.
And the stranger didn't interrupt.
After not long enough at all, Jaelle pulled away and started speaking. He tried to kiss her again. Whatever she was trying to say could wait. But she spoke through that, so this must be important.
For the land's sake, it had better be.
It was.
"Breth! Listen! Drest is from my time. I used to be... betrothed to him, and he paid the Gaels to attack so that he could rescue you and the other clans. You cannot trust him. I was going to meet you in the woods, I was! But another druid from my time, not this one, stole the helmet from me. I only just met Alasdair here, and so it took him quite a while to convince me to trust him enough to let him... put me into a trance so he could copy helmets for us. I don't have the helmet, so I'm not able to leave here—"
At this, Breth whirled with all the command presence he had in him to face down the old druid.
"If Jaelle wants to leave here, then you will make it possible."
The old man smiled at him and then wrinkled his nose in amusement. He spoke with the oddest accent ever. If Breth didn't know such a thing were impossible, he would have sworn it was a combination of Pictish and Gaelic.
"She doesna want tae leave here. She wants tae stay and get marrit tae ye this verra day. I saw it in her mind."
What!
Seeing red, Breth lunged at the man, druid or not.
"In her mind! If you have violated her trust—"
Breth felt Jaelle's hands on his waist from the back, trying to pull him away from the old man.
"I gave him my consent, Breth. Leave him be, please! It was the only way I had to get back to you. He's here to help. And he wants our help stopping the Richard druid who stole my helmet from…"
Breth had backed off, and Jaelle turned to Alasdair.
"Just what is it Richard wants to do?"
Richard! I knew that druid was trouble. This explains much - my feeling of being watched, Gede running into the chieftain meeting. He does need to be stopped, but it will take actual evidence for me to survive accusing a druid.
Alasdair gestured for the two of them to follow him over to the sacred grove, and without waiting to see if they did, he went that way.
Breth didn't find it at all odd that a druid knew the way to the sacred grove, figuring he must sense the place.
Breth hugged Jaelle by her waist and followed.
"So do you trust this Alasdair?"
"Aye, I do. He was in my mind and could have done any number of things and he didn't, and he's a professor at the university my good friend Kelsey attended. She trusted him enough to send him to help me when I called out to her in my dreams as a prisoner at the Roman fort."
Hm. Breth would give Alasdair the benefit of the doubt. For now.
Chapter 27
Still giddy about the messed up situation with the boy, Richard watched the goings on from the bushes. Just one more incident would send Drest's popularity spiraling down and put Richard's plan into action. The stars would align soon, and he would not miss his one chance, no, he wouldn't.
Staring at the man, Richard cast illusion.
Richard didn't feel any change, but a quick look down verified that his limbs were now brown and small. His eyes even looked out at the world from a lower height.
Satisfied, he looked away from Drest over on the other side of his clump of trees to a clearing where other people had gathered and were talking. Good, there was a likely woman for his escapade, one who was too young to be married yet and who was not high up in her clan status.
Keely was a beauty — green eyes, rosy red lips, flaming red hair. This would be fun. Richard made his way over to her side as Drest, at first amused by the head bows.
"As you were. I just came over to visit."
Pointedly unsure he meant it, at first the people continued to pay him attention.
Tempted to just blast them all into oblivion, he nevertheless held his temper and made a show of gesturing benevolently for them to resume their conversations.
Finally, they did. He listened awhile, and ev
ery so often, he turned to Keely and asked her opinion on this or that, gradually showing appreciation at her answers. Still quite young, she was not yet confident in her charms as a woman. That was why he had chosen her, as with her, flattery would get him everywhere, he knew. Well, disguised as one so important as Drest, it would.
The others were deep into their discussions now. Good.
Time to make his move. He put a gleam in his eye and showed it to her.
"My, but you are beautiful."
Keely looked around just the slightest amount, but she kept her eyes mostly on Richard, well, on Drest. Good. She was interested.
When she spoke, her tone was flirtatious, if a bit worried.
"Where is Ragan? Aren't the two of you —"
Aw, how charming. She had ethics.
"No, she broke that off."
Her face turned to elation at that.
Casually and slowly, he turned and started strolling away from the gathering, not at all surprised when she rushed to his side.
"Tell me about your part in the defense against the Gael raid."
His hook was working itself deeper and deeper into her jaw. He could tell by the way she prattled on about how she wasn't a warrior but she had helped keep the children safe. She was earnest all the while, trying to sound impressive, bragging as best she could. Trying to impress him. Good.
They had walked far enough away that they wouldn't be heard, and he was confident no one would see them go into the bushes in the dark. He spotted a suitable location through there, a small clearing with a good covering of soft leaves and grass. He was going to enjoy this.
Chapter 28
Puzzled, Breth watched Keely beat on Drest's chest, crying and wailing.
"You said we would be together! How could you?"
Quite a few people were casting angry glances in Drest's direction, including Father. What a mess.
Breth went over to Father.
"What happened here? It can't be what it looks like, can it?"
Father's face was stormy.
"We made a mistake, that's what happened." Father lowered his voice. "There's a secret meeting tonight without Drest. Things are going to change."
Breth looked over to where Keely was now being consoled by her mother, Lavena, and if looks could kill, Lavena would have killed Drest three times over by now. Breth wanted to go to them, but he knew this was women's business. He'd better stay out of it.
"Father, you don't know the half of it." And Breth quietly told Father what Jaelle had told him about seeing the Gaels take money from Drest's men.
Meanwhile, Chieftain Uist was trying to counsel Drest.
"Drest, you have to keep it under control. This kind of thing may have been overlooked in your travels, but it's not going to fly here."
But Drest angrily turned on Uist, one of his staunchest supporters.
"I didn't have anything to do with that woman! Yes, I take my share of bedfellows from the clan women, but I wouldn't go with one so young."
Uist raised up his hands and backed away.
"Just trying to help, but obviously you don't want any help, so…"
Breth went back to the sacred grove, frantic to find Jaelle and breathing much easier when he found her, sitting with Deoord. The two of them had their heads together, deep in discussion. He hated to interrupt, but...
"Jaelle, Jaelle."
She smiled a radiant smile when she looked up and saw him.
"We're talking about Alasdair's ability to recreate magic items from memories. Deoord thinks maybe Kelsey will be able to do that in forty years or so!"
Looking over at the druid for confirmation and getting it -- interesting -- Breth walked over to Jaelle and gave her a hand up, took her in his arms for a long moment, and walked with her toward the secret meeting, which would be starting soon.
"That's wonderful. Listen, we have to go..."
She looked up at him with nothing but love and devotion in her eyes. Maybe Alasdair was right and she meant to marry him?
She squeezed his waist.
"Sure, of course."
The bonfire had already been started. All the leaders sat around it with their wives and children as if this were informal, and there was a distinct lack of a rock platform for Drest to stand upon.
Breth brought Jaelle and made his way over to Tal, who wasn't normally at these things.
"I hope someone's keeping Drest busy so he doesn't wander over here."
Tal looked off toward the hill out of the broch valley, where torches had been mounted on pikes in a circle.
Breth followed his gaze. Sure enough, the younger warriors were having a tournament, with Drest as judge.
Chapter 29
Jaelle clung as close as she could to Breth's side throughout the chieftains' meeting at the bonfire, caressing his arm with her hand and his knee with her knee... doing everything in her power to show him her love short of bringing up marriage right here in front of everyone. That needed to be a private matter between the two of them, that decision.
She had told the chieftains all about John’s hiring the Gaels to attack so that he could rescue them, and the Picts were rethinking their commitment to John as Drest, their leader.
And then Richard showed up.
He appeared without warning, and Jaelle didn't have a chance to hide from him, but he winked at her in such a way that left little doubt he'd known she was here. He got into the center of the group.
She turned to Breth.
"Can he do that?"
Breth shrugged with one shoulder.
"Why not?"
She gave him an ‘Are you crazy?’ look.
He elaborated.
"Usually they all would come. All the druids in the area would present their unity of opinion. But druids come to these meetings all the time. They’re our counselors."
Jaelle wasn't the only one who noticed just one druid had come to the meeting. She saw some of the chieftains whispering to their wives about it.
But Richard had the majority of their attention, and he was obviously enjoying that fact, striking scholarly poses in that aggravatingly presumptive way he had while he waited for them to quiet down before .
"So now you know, with the help of Jaelle here, that Drest is really John from her time. I truly believe John is attempting to help you keep your homeland throughout the next few centuries. However, if you continue to follow his lead, he will become king here, and his children after him. This would in turn destroy the culture of the clans. We do not advise you to follow him."
There was a general hubbub, mostly agreeing with Richard, but one chieftain spoke up.
"Regardless where he comes from, Drest is our chieftain. We have all sworn loyalty to him. We cannot revolt against him, for that too would destroy the culture of the clans."
Jaelle leaned into Breth and gave him a squeeze. She was enjoying this. That comment had put Richard in his place. He couldn’t just waltz in here and single-handedly determine the way things were run, no more than John could.
Breth squeezed back, plainly enjoying the scene as well, and they reclined into each other's arms, hugging and caressing. After all, this was a discussion for planning chieftains, and Breth was only a battle chieftain. He didn’t have to pay close attention.
Breth's father held forth on how he had believed all along that the clans needed to be independent, and how now there was a druid to back him up.
Breth was kissing the side of Jaelle’s neck, and it was all she could do to keep her gasps from being so loud that others could hear them. It took all her concentration.
Another chieftain got up. She didn't know this one's name. He clearly knew leadership, because he was absolute about waiting for attention, and he got it, even from Richard, who sat down on a nearby log and made the pose of the thinker, overdramatic fool.
The chieftain spoke in melodic tones.
"It is good to have heard the opinion of one druid. I wish to put off any decision until t
here is unity of opinion from them."
Richard stood up in a hurry, rolling his eyes.
"Very well. Sit tight, and I will go round everyone up."
Smiling like a kid on a snow day, Breth took Jaelle’s hand and led her off into the trees, where they enjoyed each other as much as they could without doing things that really shouldn't be interrupted. But all too soon, Deoord was calling them back by name. Jaelle followed Beth back into the clearing and saw that indeed, all the Druids were standing in unity. Two dozen of them, at least.
One exceptional druid whose name she didn't know waited until all were settled before he spoke.
"We agree with Richard. We should not follow Drest. We also agree that casting him aside would destroy clan culture. Therefore, we believe Drest should submit to trial by combat.“
Breth squeezed her tight and she squeezed him.
“This is perfect!” she said, beaming. “He’ll be removed, and we won’t have to do anything.”
Breth beamed right back at her.
“We can get on with what we do want to do.”
He kissed her then, right in front of everyone.
She returned his kiss voraciously, even though they had just exchanged hundreds of kisses while waiting for the Druids. People around them clapped and cheered them on. Jaelle climbed into Breth’s lap so they could be closer, so she could show her love better.
That’s it. That’s all I want to do, love him. I’ve been so stupid.
She managed to pull her mouth away from his, and she nuzzled her mouth up to his ear.
"I want us to be married as soon as possible. Can these Druids do it now?"
At first, Breth stopped, in shock. But then he squeezed her tighter and nuzzled his own mouth down to her ear.
"Yes, are you ready?"
She nodded her head, but she wanted to speak and make sure he heard her.
"Yes, let's do this right now. I can't wait a minute longer!"
