Midnight's Master

by Donna Grant

Logan swam faster until he was even with her as she approached the light. It was blinding in its intensity, but somehow it didn’t bother Gwynn.

  She reached her hand into the light and turned something. There was a moment of silence, and then a loud bang that shook the cave. Logan grabbed hold of Gwynn as the water suddenly began to drain out of the cavern in a whoosh.

  He took the brunt of the fall as they landed on the smooth rock floor. Logan leaned up on his elbow and smoothed the hair out of Gwynn’s face. He breathed a sigh of relief when she opened her eyes and smiled.

  A deep rumbling began around them, and then on the wall opposite them the rocks crumbled away until moonlight streamed into the cavern.

  Logan rose to his feet and helped Gwynn stand. They both faced the door in silence. He could hear the crash of waves nearby, so Logan knew they were on the coast and not deep under the isle as he had feared.

  He glanced to his left and saw the waist-high pillar of rock that stood in the center of the cavern.

  “We did it,” Gwynn said and held out her hand with the Tablet.

  Logan looked at the rectangular leather-wrapped shape and smiled. “Nay, Gwynn. You did it.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Gary Austin stared at the wall of water in front of the hidden caves and seethed. Hatred boiled inside him. It festered. It raged.

  It devoured.

  “So, daughter,” he murmured. “You have betrayed me.”

  But she wouldn’t win this night. She wouldn’t best him. She’d made him look the fool by stealing the book and learning where the cave was, but in the end, he would be the one holding the prize.

  Declan had promised him immortality, and Gary wasn’t going to allow that to pass him by.

  As he walked among the rocks he looked for another hidden cave. If it hadn’t been for the water, Gary would never have known where Gwynn had entered. He doubted she would be exiting the same way. There had to be another way out.

  Gary slipped on a rock after a wave knocked into him and felt his ankle roll, as his foot slid between two small boulders. His cry of pain was drowned out by the crumbling of rock ahead of him.

  He forgot about the throbbing of his broken ankle as he pulled himself out from between the rocks and crawled on his belly, soaked by the waves.

  There was no way the rocks crumbling in such a fashion was natural. Gary grinned as he reached for the gun Declan had given him.

  * * *

  Gwynn stared at the oblong box in her hand. She had seen magic do many things, but she knew it had taken great magic in order to seal the Tablet beneath so much water, yet not a drop of said water had touched the Tablet until she had taken it from its resting place.

  “It’s no’ quite what I was expecting,” Logan said.

  Gwynn chuckled, trying hard to forget how cold she was. And wet. “What were you expecting?”

  “Well,” Logan said with a shrug, “a tablet. A large tablet of stone. No’ this,” he said as he pointed to it.

  Gwynn measured the weight with her hand. “It isn’t all that heavy. There is some weight to it, but nothing like a stone tablet should be.”

  “Is it the Tablet of Orn we found?”

  “Yes,” Gwynn said with a nod.

  Logan’s mouth twisted. “There is certainly a large amount of magic coming from it. Do you want to look at it now?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  Logan moved behind her and rested his hands over hers. “We’ll do it together.”

  Gwynn took a deep breath and nodded. “Together.”

  As one they folded back the soft leather, revealing a wooden box.

  “No’ what I was expecting,” Logan said again.

  Gwynn ran her hands over the intricately carved box. Every inch of it was covered in beautiful interconnecting knotwork. “It’s stunning. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

  “That it is.”

  She found a latch and flipped it. With a glance at Logan over her shoulder they lifted the lid of the box together. Inside, nestled between deep blue velvet, was a gold cylinder.

  The caps on either end of the cylinder were gently rounded. Strips of leather two fingers wide encircled the cylinder at the base of each cap. And in the middle was more gold.

  “Oh … my.”

  “Aye,” Logan whispered. “Look at the etchings in the gold.”

  Gwynn could look at nothing else. More Celtic knotwork lavishly covered the gold and even the leather. She couldn’t imagine how long it had taken someone to craft such brilliance and do it so wonderfully.

  “Is that a lock?” Logan asked. He turned the cylinder in the box, showing a hole that was definitely a lock.

  “We’re going to need a key,” Gwynn said.

  Logan searched the cavern. “Where would it be?”

  “I never heard anything about a key, Logan. I didn’t even know the Tablet was a cylinder. The book didn’t mention that.”

  He moved around her and rubbed the back of his neck. “I recognize some writing mixed in with the knotwork. Maybe that is the Tablet.”

  “Or maybe there’s something inside it. Why else would there be a need for a key?”

  “I doona know. Right now, I’m more concerned with getting you warm and safe.”

  She smiled and put her arm around him. “I am safe. With you.”

  Just as she had wanted, warmth filled his eyes as he leaned down to place a kiss on her lips. “Have you no’ been through enough today?”

  “Ah, that would be a definite yes,” she said and closed the box. She then covered it with the leather and turned to Logan. She wanted to run her fingers through his wet hair and smooth it back from his face.

  “I said before that I feared my feelings for you. I do, I mean, I did. Well, I still do, but that’s because I’ve always run away when things got…” She shrugged.

  “Too complicated? When people got too close,” he offered.

  She looked into his eyes and nodded. “Yes. What my father did to me and my mother, and then losing my mother. I was so tired of feeling pain that I shut myself off from everything. Until you.”

  Gwynn waited for him to say something, and when he didn’t, she licked her lips and continued before she lost her nerve. “I did a lot of thinking today, and I don’t know what the future holds for me. Or us. But I do know that I want to be with you. For however long you will want me. I may get hurt in the end, but I’d rather have the memories with you than not to have you.”

  “Gwynn,” he said her name softly. “I’m still learning my way in this time, and I’m fighting Deirdre. I doona know what kind of relationship I can offer.”

  “I understand,” she said and rose to her feet to hide the tears that filled her eyes. She knew what Logan said was true, but it didn’t stop the hurt.

  “Gwynn—”

  “Come on,” she said. “We need to get to the meeting point before Declan or Deirdre finds us.”

  “Or me.”

  Gwynn stilled as she heard her father’s voice. She slowly turned to find him standing at the mouth of the cave.

  “What do you want?” she demanded.

  He laughed and jerked his chin to the box. “You know exactly what I want.”

  “And you think I’ll just hand it to you? The child who was always in the way? The child you didn’t want?”

  Logan grimaced as he heard the hurt and anger in Gwynn’s voice. He wanted to toss Gary into the water so Gwynn would never be troubled by him again, but Gwynn might not forgive Logan if he did.

  “If you want the box, you’ll have to go through me,” Logan said.

  Gary laughed derisively. “See this?” he said and lifted the gun. “I give you one guess as to what kind of bullets are loaded in it.”

  Logan narrowed his eyes and Gary laughed.

  “That’s right, bucko. X90s. They’ll bring you down with one shot. Now, if Gwynn doesn’t want to see you dead, she’ll hand over the box.”

  Gwynn stepped in f
ront of Logan, and he promptly moved around her. There was no way he would allow Gwynn to put herself between a bullet and him.

  “By the way,” Gary continued. “I don’t blame you for turning Gwynn down. Who would want someone so plain? Her mother, now there was a beauty.”

  Logan could feel Gwynn shaking from rage or hurt, he wasn’t sure which. And it didn’t matter. No parent should speak of their child in such a manner.

  “I’ll give you one more chance,” Logan said. “Drop the gun and leave.”

  “Or what?” Gary asked.

  “Or I’ll kill you.”

  Gary threw back his head and laughed. “The bullets, remember.”

  Logan pushed Gwynn behind and to the side of him so she could shield herself against the boulders. “I have one question. Do you think those bullets you’re so proud of can keep up with me?”

  Gary blinked, at a loss for words.

  Logan used his incredible speed to race around and behind Gary. With one slash to Gary’s hand, the gun dropped. Logan held his claws to Gary’s throat.

  “I asked you nicely to leave,” Logan said. “You didna. You threatened me, and you were hateful to your daughter. For that I should kill you.”

  “Gwynn won’t let you,” Gary said with a sneer.

  Logan shifted his eyes and met Gwynn’s gaze. Her expression gave away nothing. She was angry now, but if Logan killed Gary, Gwynn would regret it later.

  So Logan tossed him aside. “Run.”

  Gary looked up at him from the ground. “I can’t. My ankle is broken.”

  Logan shrugged and grabbed Gwynn’s hand as he led her from the cave. “Then stay. I doona care.”

  They exited the cave, Gwynn as silent as the stones around them. They had gone but ten steps when a shot rang out, blowing shards of rock around Gwynn’s face.

  Logan whirled around, his god loosened and ready for battle. But before he could go back and finish off Gary, the rocks began to shift to block the opening as water once more filled the cavern.

  “The water willna listen to me,” Logan said.

  Gwynn put her hand on his arm. Logan turned his head to find her eyes glowing violet again.

  “Evil is not allowed inside. Only the Keeper and those with good in them are allowed in the sacred cave. And out.”

  She blinked and the glow was gone. Her gaze turned to Logan. “My father wasn’t a good man.”

  “But he was your father.”

  “Yes. He was.”

  After a moment, Gwynn turned away and Logan followed. He waved his arm over the water and watched the sea part. Just as they were about to step into the water, Gwynn gave a scream as she was yanked backward.

  Logan turned and found a strand of white hair around his throat. He clawed at the hair, hatred burning in his gut as he stared at Deirdre.

  “I told you I would get the artifact,” Deirdre said. “Now I will have a Druid to kill and steal her magic. How sweet of you to find her for me, Logan.”

  Logan struggled to breathe as Deirdre tightened her hair around his neck. “Bitch,” he ground out.

  “If you had any idea what I’ve been through I’m not sure you’d say that. I hear you’ve met Declan.” She rolled her eyes. “Fool actually thought I would share power with him.”

  Logan could care less. He glanced to his left to find Gwynn on the ground unconscious as Malcolm stood over her. Malcolm’s maroon eyes met his, and Logan knew, regardless of their friendship, he would kill him if Malcolm harmed her.

  “Now,” Deirdre said. “Where were we? You were giving me the artifact.”

  She motioned to the wyrran surrounding her to retrieve the box that had fallen from Gwynn’s arms. Logan silently urged Gwynn to wake, to use whatever magic she could to get away.

  Deirdre peeled back the flaps of thin leather and looked at the box. She glanced up at Logan. “I imagine you’re hating this. Picture how angry I was to learn the sword I had taken was stolen.”

  “My heart … bleeds,” Logan said as his air was cut off.

  There was a loud bellow Logan would recognize anywhere, and a heartbeat later a ball of fire was lobbed at the wyrran.

  Logan looked for Hayden and found him and Ramsey coming at Deirdre from opposite sides. There was a large whoosh as Broc dove from the sky, taking a wyrran with him before ripping him in half.

  Suddenly, Larena in all her iridescent glory was standing in front of Malcolm. Logan’s attention was diverted when the MacLeod brothers surrounded Deirdre.

  Quinn sliced off her hair, giving Logan the time he needed to dive to the ground while he clawed away the strands that remained. When he gained his feet, he found all the Warriors fighting.

  Logan rushed to Gwynn. Just before he reached her, an orange Warrior came at him. Logan sliced open his chest and knocked him aside.

  He saw Gwynn’s chest rising and falling as she breathed, saw her eyes flutter open. He took a step toward her and was rushed by the orange Warrior again.

  Gwynn opened her eyes to a battle around her. She looked at the ground, but the Tablet of Orn was gone. Then her eyes locked on a tall, beautiful woman with white hair that flowed to the ground. She used it as a weapon, slashing and impaling, grasping and choking.

  Gwynn didn’t need an introduction. She knew it was Deirdre who had attacked. And who had the Tablet.

  Despite the ache in her body and the chill that had settled in her bones, Gwynn got to her feet. She took a deep breath and called to her magic.

  It answered with a surge so powerful it nearly buckled her knees. Gwynn’s body swayed as her magic swirled through her, growing stronger and stronger until she couldn’t contain it.

  At the same time she lobbed a blast of magic from her hand, she called to the wind. The blast of the wind sent several wyrran tumbling into the water.

  Gwynn turned and glimpsed a flash of silver to her left. She watched, mesmerized as Logan fought. He was … magnificent. His fury was a thing of majesty. He fought with dazzling artistry and elegance mixed with deadly purpose and danger too palpable to disregard.

  When the wind blasted around him, he sank his silver claws into the Warrior he’d been fighting and looked to the water. A huge watery arm rose out of the sea, the hand unfurling. Logan directed the hand at Deirdre, and Gwynn watched as the fist closed around her.

  Logan smiled, satisfaction filling him as Deirdre’s frantic screams filled the air while Gwynn’s wind slammed the wyrran into the cliffs, breaking every bone in their small bodies. With a toss, Logan threw Deirdre far out into the sea. The remaining wyrran and Warriors were quick to follow her. All but Malcolm.

  Malcolm faced them, his kilt torn and blood coating him from the battle. His eyes were on Larena, though it was apparent he would take on anyone.

  “Malcolm,” Larena said and took a step toward him.

  Fallon took hold of Larena’s arm and pulled her back.

  Malcolm bared his fangs at Fallon.

  “What has happened to you?” Broc demanded.

  Malcolm laughed, the sound as hollow as his eyes. “Deirdre found me. It seems I had a god inside me, but none of you bothered to tell me.”

  Fallon glanced at Ramsey. “You were no’ dealing with your injuries well, Malcolm. Larena thought it would be better if you didna know yet.”

  “When were you going to tell me?” Malcolm demanded.

  Larena shrugged. “I had hoped I never would. I thought you were safe at the castle.”

  “You were wrong!” Malcolm bellowed.

  “It doesna matter now,” Logan said. “You are a Warrior. It’s up to you to decide what side you will fight for.”

  Malcolm laughed again and took a step back. “My choice has already been made.”

  “That’s no’ a choice,” Quinn said. “You know what she did to us. You heard the stories.”

  Malcolm shrugged, his face indifferent. “What’s done is done.”

  “Did you kill Duncan?” Arran demanded.

  Malcolm looke
d at the Warrior and nodded. “I did. It is what Deirdre commanded.”

  “Nay, Malcolm,” Logan said. “Sometimes people make the wrong decisions. You can change your mind.”

  Malcolm knew what he had done, knew Logan had gone to Deirdre. Logan waited for Malcolm to tell the others, but the Warrior simply raised a blond brow.

  Logan blew out a deep breath and looked at the maroon Warrior before him. “I went to Deirdre, Malcolm. I wanted to be a Warrior. Her Warrior. It was a mistake, and one that cost me everything.”

  For long moments Malcolm held his gaze. Logan thought he had gotten through to him, but then Malcolm looked to Larena.

  “I’m no’ the man I once was. I’m the verra thing you’re fighting against.”

  Lightning struck behind them, causing all of them to turn around. When they turned back, Malcolm was gone.

  They stood in silence as the events of the day settled into their souls.

  “I want revenge on Malcolm for what he did to Duncan,” Arran said.

  Ramsey put a hand on Arran’s shoulder. “Do you recall how it was when your god was first unbound? We have no idea what Deirdre has done to Malcolm.”

  “You doona blame him for Duncan’s death?” Arran asked in disbelief.

  Hayden said, “Nay. I blame Deirdre.”

  Logan felt every eye turn to him then. The secret he had carried for so long was now out in the open. He felt lighter for having shared it, but the load had already been lifted after telling Gwynn.

  “I should have told you,” Logan said to Fallon. “All of you.”

  Fallon shrugged. “As you told Malcolm, we all make mistakes.”

  “I see the man who came to us and fought with us,” Lucan said. “That’s enough for me.”

  “For all of us,” Ramsey said.

  One by one they nodded. Logan looked down at Gwynn to hide the emotion that clogged his throat. She smiled, and he pulled her against his side.

  “Let’s go home,” he said.

  Hayden lifted the box Deirdre had dropped and smiled. “Home.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Declan stared at the empty cell where Saffron had been held for over two years. She had been his crowning glory. A Seer. They were the rarest of all Druids.