The Key to Her Past

by Dabney, Blanche

  “I don’t believe in curses.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, wincing as he remembered the wound in his side. “You travel back in time hundreds of years. You free me from bondage and step through a door to an island far from the mainland and you do not believe in curses. You are an odd one, Natalie MacCallister.”

  “And you are a stubborn fool, Wallace MacGregor so where does that leave us?”

  “Sailing home hopefully.”

  “Ships ahoy,” a voice called from outside the cabin.

  They both emerged to see the captain running about, tightening one rope and loosening another. From around the curve of the island five ships were approaching. “I thought you said nothing could catch you,” Wallace said, peering over the side.

  “I could not plan for the wind dropping. They have men to row, we do not.”

  “What if we row?” Natalie asked.

  “They have twenty men to each ship. We could not outrun them. What we need is…that. Starboard side.”

  They looked and rolling in along the sea was a thick fog, swallowing the ocean and the first corner of the island in the distance. “The only question is which will reach us first. If we can get into the fog before the ships get too close, we will lose them yet.”

  He turned the sail, urging the ship forward, muttering to himself. Natalie looked behind them. The ships were getting inexorably closer, the oars moving in unison. She ran to the front in time to see the fog swallow them up.

  The captain sighed, shifting the sail again. “Keep quiet,” he whispered. “It will be our only chance. If luck is on our side, we’ll see out the end of the day yet.”

  Natalie had no idea how long they sat in the fog. She was chilled to the bone within minutes, her clothes soaked, her hair sticking to her scalp. There was something eerie about the silence.

  Even the few waves that splashed against the side of the ship were deadened. Occasionally she would hear the sound of oars nearby and her heart would begin to race but then the noise would fade away and they would be alone once more.

  She found herself drawn to the very front of the ship. She sat there saying nothing, listening to the whispered conversation taking place between Wallace and the captain. They were somewhere in the fog but she could not see them, only hear their quiet voices as they conversed.

  Did they know she could hear them? She doubted it. She knew she should tell them but she had been warned to keep still lest the creaking of the boards bring keen eared armies of men down upon them.

  “Have you ever escaped through fog before?” Wallace was asking.

  “I have escaped far worse. They don’t call me the captain for nothing. I once escaped a house of ill repute with three coins still left in my purse. Can you match that?”

  “I have never entered a house of ill repute.”

  “Then you are missing out on a treat. Some of them can bend in ways that would make your head spin. Tell me something, my fine warrior. Have you ever known a woman?”

  “I have known a few.”

  “I mean, have you known a woman.”

  “I will not answer that.”

  Natalie stifled a giggle. The tough highland warrior sounded embarrassed for the first time since she’d met him.

  “That’s a no then,” the captain said. “Dinnae worry. I can quickly teach you the art of wooing. There is nothing to it.”

  “I do not need lessons.”

  “I think you do. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at yon lassie over there.”

  Wallace coughed loudly enough for the captain to shush him. “I have not been looking at her any way.”

  “You can fool her but you cannae fool me. It’s in your eyes whether you try to hide it or not. You should do something about it.”

  “I have no feelings for her.”

  “Suit yourself. I shall say no more about it other than to offer you this piece of advice. Dinnae leave it too late or you might just find yourself captain of a ship that has no port to call home.”

  She heard Wallace stalk off, leaving the captain alone to emerge from the fog a moment later, walking over to join her. “I wondered where you were,” he asked. “Doing all right?”

  “Cold but okay,” she replied. “Where are we?”

  “Floating in the middle of the water. I’m trying to move us closer to land but until the wind picks up it will be slow progress. What? You look like you’ve got something to say.”

  “I…I heard you talking to Wallace.”

  “Ah.”

  “About me.”

  “Aye, well, the thing is, I know I shouldn’t have pried but I am too old to keep my mouth shut.”

  “You think he has feelings for me?”

  “I know he does. Don’t you?”

  She frowned. “I don’t think so. I didn’t notice anything between us.”

  “You mean apart from how worried you were when the arrow hit him, or how your face was lit up brighter than a beacon when you emerged beside him from the cabin.”

  “I was just glad the wound was not too serious.”

  The captain shook his head. “What a pair you two are. It’s a wonder you’re even capable of speaking to each other when you’re so deluded.”

  “Look,” she snapped loudly enough for the captain to put a finger to his lips, “even if I was interested in him, it’s not going to happen.”

  “Why?”

  She was about to tell him she was from the future when she managed to stop herself. “He’s a MacGregor, I’m a MacCallister. It would never work.”

  “Clans come together all the time. It’s called progress.”

  She shook her head. “It would never work,” she said again.

  “Do you like him?”

  “Yes but that’s not the point.”

  “You like him, he likes you. What more is there to this?”

  “It’s not as simple as that. I could be madly in love with him, it wouldn’t change the fact we could not possibly be together.”

  “Why?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “You should stop looking for reasons not to be together and think about what life would be like if you were together. I have seen true love twice in my life and it is a rare thing indeed to find. You and him bluster and fluster all you like and spend your lives floating on the sea of loss if you wish. I have said my piece and I’ll say to you what I said to him, do not leave it too late.”

  Natalie noticed something in his eyes. “There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?”

  “Nothing,” the captain said, though he would not meet her eyes.

  “What is it?”

  He sighed. “Wallace is behind me. Come on out, you have the footsteps of a giant stamping about with lead boots.”

  Wallace emerged from the fog, looking so fiercely at Natalie, she had to turn away. It felt as if he’d just looked straight through her, as if she was naked in front of him, unable to hide anything.

  She told herself she had done nothing wrong. So what if the captain thought they should be together? It wouldn’t change the fact she was going home soon and he was going…wherever he was going.

  “I wish to speak to you alone,” Wallace said.

  “I can see when I’m not wanted.” The captain vanished into the fog.

  “About what he said,” Wallace continued. “I…I have something to say to you.”

  “Yes?”

  He paused for a moment, taking another step toward her. “Perhaps not all MacCallisters are bad.”

  “Is that it?”

  “No. I…”

  “Yes?”

  There was a crunch and then the boat shook violently from side to side. Natalie lost her balance, tipping over the side. She saw the water rushing up to meet her and she was certain she was falling into the depths, perhaps never to emerge.

  All of a sudden, Wallace grabbed hold of her, yanking her back into the boat.

  “What happened?” she asked,
trying to slow her breathing as she thought about how close she came to drowning. “You saved me.”

  Wallace still had hold of her in his arms. She looked up into his eyes. He leaned down toward her just as the boat shook again, a loud scraping sound echoing up from below the hull. The moment was gone as soon as it came. The boat ground to a halt.

  “Land ho,” the captain called out unnecessarily behind them.

  11

  “Have we made it?” Natalie asked, stepping down onto the stony shore. Above her the ship loomed, its mast lost in the fog. Wallace was climbing down the rope ladder, he stopped halfway down and looked about him as she felt suddenly as if they were being watched. “Are we safe?”

  “Hard to say,” he said. “In this fog, I can see little.” Jumping the rest of the way, he landed next to her. “Though I do not like it.”

  “Me neither,” she replied, her hand slipping into his. A scream reached them from somewhere further inland. Wallace automatically took a step in front of Natalie, shielding her while the captain made his way down to join them. “Can we sail somewhere else?”

  “Not until I fix the damage that rock caused,” the captain said, running his eye along the hull. “We are lucky the water is deep right up to the shore else we might have been halfway up the beach rather than standing here.”

  “And where is here?” Wallace asked. “This is not the mainland.”

  “You’re sure?” the captain asked. “What makes you so certain?”

  The scream sounded again, this time accompanied by drums. “That,” Wallace said. “I ken that sound. That’s the Frazer war cry.”

  At the same moment he spoke men emerged from the fog in front of them. They looked brutal, their faces covered with mud. All held wicked looking weapons. Natalie counted at least two dozen, all of them looking at her.

  “I am Wallace MacGregor,” Wallace said, squeezing her hand lightly. “And I did not come here seeking trouble.”

  “Trouble has found you nonetheless,” one of the men opposite said. “Take hold of them.”

  Wallace tried to fend them off but there were too many. After he’d sent the first two flying with his fists, the others piled in as a group, grabbing hold of him, and pinning his arms behind his back.

  More men grabbed hold of Natalie. She frantically looked around her for help that wasn’t coming. The captain was nowhere to be seen. Had he betrayed them?

  One of the men came forward from the others, sneering at them from under a Roman nose. “Send a pigeon to the laird,” he said. “We have two uninvited guests on our island.”

  A cheer went up and Natalie could only fight to free herself as she was dragged off the beach, Wallace close behind.

  A hood was thrown over her head and then she could see nothing but darkness.

  “Dinnae worry,” she heard Wallace whisper to her. “I will get us out of this.”

  “I’d like to see that,” one of the men shouted. “With your limbs bound, your eyes covered, and a sharp knife to your throat. Just how are you planning to get yourself free?”

  Wallace didn’t answer.

  Natalie felt herself stumbling regularly. Unable to see, she had no warning of rocks or dips in the land and soon she was being carried instead of walked. The fight faded from her as she tired and still they went on.

  She had no idea for how long but after an interminable time breathing in the musty bag that covered her face, she found she could move it by pushing her head back. It eased upward, sliding free after a final twist of her neck.

  She caught a glimpse of the path they were following before the bag was back on. The fog was lifting, not that it mattered anymore.

  They walked further until finally she was set on her feet and the bag was pulled from her head. She had time to see a wooden hut door as it was opened before she was shoved inside.

  “Get comfortable,” a voice called in as Wallace was tossed through after her. “You’ll be there for some time.”

  The door slammed shut and a heavy plank secured the other side. Wallace put his shoulder to it but it didn’t budge. He tried again, grunting with the effort. Dust fell from the ceiling but the door did not move.

  He stepped back to try again but Natalie grabbed his arm. “Don’t bother. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

  “We must get free.”

  “I agree but breaking your shoulder is probably not the way to do it.”

  He turned and looked at her, scratching his forehead. “You do not appreciate the danger we are in. The Frazers don’t let anyone on Thistle Island. If we’re lucky they’ll torture us before execution.”

  “And if we’re unlucky?”

  “They’ll just set fire to this hut with us inside.”

  “Fantastic.” Natalie slumped down onto the floor, putting her head in her hands. “All I wanted was to find out a bit about the Middle Ages. I never asked for this.”

  “This is my time,” Wallace replied, kneeling next to her and placing a hand on her knee. “Danger lurks around every corner. No one can be trusted. Especially not a highlander.”

  “Are you saying I shouldn’t trust you?” she asked without looking up.

  “I am not a Frazer or a MacCallister. I am a MacGregor. We are an honest clan.”

  “Yeah, but you’d say that even if you were a liar.”

  “I am no liar.”

  She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Listen, do me a favor and just don’t talk to me for a while.”

  She glanced up, seeing him moving away, his hands running around the edge of the door, trying to bend the wood. She left him to it, sinking into her thoughts.

  How had it come to this? She had been writing a book about the MacGregors and idly dreaming about meeting them and this was how fate had chosen to fulfil her dream for her?

  She was trapped in a wooden hut on an island miles from anywhere, centuries from her home. Not only that but she was developing feelings for a highlander. If that wasn’t the most ridiculous part in all this, she didn’t know what was.

  She thought it must be the intensity of the situation, the fact they’d been stuck together for so long she was bound to develop some sense of connection with the man, even though there was definitely something he was hiding from her.

  “What aren’t you telling me,” she said, causing him to pause from his attempts to break the door down.

  “What?” he asked, barging into the door once again. “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s something you’re not telling me about all this. What is it?”

  He shook his head. “I have kept no secrets from you.”

  “You have. I know you have. What is it? Is it about what the captain said?”

  “I dinnae ken what you’re talking about.” He shoved the door again. In the distance drum beats began. “We are running out of time.”

  “Then I want to know. What the captain said. About wooing me. Was he wrong? We can talk about it if you want to.”

  “There is nothing to talk about.”

  “So he was wrong, was he? When he said you had feelings for me?”

  “Let’s get out of here first, then we’ll talk.”

  He took a step back and then charged for the door with all his strength. Just as his shoulder was about to connect the door opened and he flew out, crashing headlong into the person on the other side.

  He sprung to his feet a second later, grabbing hold of the figure and shoving them inside. “The dagger,” he said to Natalie, “Quick.”

  “Wait,” the figure hissed. “I am here to help you.” A hood was pulled back to reveal a woman in her fifties, gray streaks running through her dark brown hair. “You must hurry if you are to get away.”

  “Who are you?” Natalie asked, looking at the woman closely. “Why are you helping us?”

  The woman grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “You are the one who can join the clans together, save us all from the darkness. You must not fail.”

  She turned to Wallace.
“Not all Frazers are allied with the darkness. Some seek the light. Come, I will take you to your ship but we must hurry. They are lighting your funeral pyre even as we speak.”

  She put her hood back up, beckoning for them to follow. They struggled to keep up as she darted through long grass and between straggly brambles, passing down a steep hillside away from the sound of drums, the noise slowly fading away.

  Natalie was soon out of breath, finding herself falling far behind the other two. At last Wallace stopped, turning back to look at her.

  “Come on,” he said. “Hurry up if you value your life.”

  “I can’t do it,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m dying here.”

  “You will be if you stop,” he said, marching over to her and grabbing her around the waist, tossing her over his shoulder.

  She was too shocked to say anything as he took off running. It was all she could do to hold on, her limbs flailing as he sprinted after the hooded woman.

  He kept one hand around her hips, the other shoving branches aside as they made their way through a copse of trees and then out the other side.

  The last of the fog was drifting out to sea. Before them was the shoreline, the captain climbing the rope onto his ship as the tide began to pull it out onto the water.

  “About time,” he called out. “Another minute and I’ve have gone without you.” He frowned. “Scarlett, is that you?”

  The woman pulled back her hood. “It’s been a long time Colin.”

  “It’s Captain. The name’s Captain.”

  “The name you were given was Colin. I always liked that name. Now you two get onboard and get going.”

  “Thank you,” Natalie said, turning to face Scarlett. “For all your help.”

  “Your turn to help us all,” she replied. “Wallace, the barefoot man must not get the key if we are to stand a chance. You must unlock the door in the rock. Through it you will find the thing you need most in the world. God be with you both.”

  They climbed the rope ladder, leaving her on the shoreline. She waved up at them. “The beacons say the ships hunt you to the north. Circle south before you reach the mainland. As for you, Colin. If you survive, come visit sometime.”