"I see I am not too late." The paint on Rufus' face could not conceal his roguish grin. "We must make haste lest the scattered rats gather their wits and their weapons."
Rufus tossed her a knife and Elise made short work of the rope binding her husband's wrists.
"Grab them! Damnation, hang him! Do not let them escape." Rogier's enraged shout was almost lost in the scuffle of men and horses.
Darien lowered Elise to one of the waiting horses, then hurriedly turned to face Beldar as he let out a roar and lunged forward.
Darien spun and twisted, his feet coming up and connecting with Beldar's chest. The other man fell backwards but then regained his feet with surprising agility, but not before Darien entangled him in the rope which hung beside the noose. Furiously, Beldar fought to free himself, grabbing the axe beside him.
"Darien!" Elise screamed in warning. Beldar swung the axe as Darien pulled the rope entangled around his feet. Beldar fell to his back. With a bellow, he swung the axe with uncontrolled fury, and Elise held her breath as almost in slow motion the smooth ash handle slipped from his hand and the deadly weapon hurled behind him through the air.
The axe cart wheeled once. . . twice, before finding a home. Beldar turned as if to retrieve the weapon, and stood transfixed.
On the top step of the scaffolding Rogier fell to his knees with a gurgle, then fell backwards, eyes looking sightlessly up at the heavens, the axe embedded in his breastbone. A trickle of red seeped from one corner of his mouth.
Beldar stood paralyzed, then slowly, turned to Darien. "You have killed him." He lunged once more for Darien, but Darien was astride his horse and already wheeling the animal away.
"Ride out!" Rufus shouted.
Mute with horror, all Elise saw was the wash of red.
Numbly, she grabbed the saddle front as the horse lunged forward.
With a call to his men, Rufus followed on their heels, aware they would soon be pursued.
And so it was Elise left the house of Rogier Lancaster for the last time.
Chapter Sixteen
They did not stop their headlong dash down the mountain until they reached a clearing on the outskirts of town.
Elise shuddered. The killing -- it was too much. She had wished Rogier dead a hundred times for the terrible things he had done, but to see him die in such a manner -- it was not a death she would have wished on anyone.
They stopped beside a small stream to allow the horses to drink.
"'Lise." Darien pulled her from the horse. She turned to him, feeling as if everything was in slow motion. "It will pass, the memory and the fear."
He guided her to a grassy area. "Rest a moment." His hand touched her head in a gentle caress, then he was gone. After several moments Elise turned to see Darien and Rufus standing at the edge of the woods, speaking in low tones with their heads together. The other riders had dispersed into the woods.
She stood, holding the ache in her side, knowing it was a small thing compared to all that had happened.
"Darien, Rufus, surely this is the end of it? We must tell the sheriff what happened. He must see Rogier was lying."
"How do we do that Elise?" Rufus asked grimly. "That bastard lies dead and he was our proof. Some will say he was murdered by a band of thieves, by our hand. It matters not, we're still outlaws as far as the law is concerned. I say we leave. It is too risky otherwise."
"It is Rogier's word against ours," she protested.
"He had the law in his pocket, Elise. Would that it was that simple."
"But what of the papers you have on Rogier?" She asked Darien.
"They seem to have been stolen."
"There is need only for me to leave," Darien said quietly to his brother. "You have not been implicated, nor is anyone's identity known who led this raid today."
Rufus exploded. "Do you mean to suggest I live a normal life while you leave? Damnation, if you go down, I shall share in it."
Elise was afraid they would be at each other's throat to prove their honor. "There's no time to waste on this," she snapped, looking at one and then the other. "There is something you both need to know." She took a deep breath. "I feel the time is near."
"What troubles you 'Lise?" Darien asked, placing an arm around her shoulders. "Do not let my brother's wild ravings bother you."
She looked at both men in turn. "There is more you should know of the time when I arrived here." She hesitated, then plunged ahead. "I will be sent back to the other time. It is a feeling that has been with me since my arrival at Rogier's home. I dream at night. Mandine is there sometimes, guiding me. I don't belong in this place anymore. The short time it was my home, even then I did not belong, but there was no choice. My mother made Mandine promise I would stay until things were finished. I feel myself being pulled, a part of me is distancing myself from this time. It's something over which I have no control."
Rufus nodded. "I feel it, too. Elise is right." Rufus stepped back from them, booted feet firmly planted on the needle laden ground. "You must go with her," he added quietly.
Darien stared intently at the man who was his brother, the tension between them palpable. Elise marveled at their bond.
"When?" Darien asked her.
"I don't know for sure. The feeling is there, the restlessness. It is a familiar feeling." She studied the engraved gold ring, then lifted it to her lips.
Darien dropped a kiss on her head, the deep green of his eyes piercing her to her soul.
At that moment the sun broke through the clouds. Elise heard Mandine's voice in her ear as clear as if she stood beside her.
Time slowed, was of no consequence. As if there was no urgency to the moment, Elise looked down, removed her ring and stared at it in the center of her palm. The sun rose in the sky, touched the ring, blending with the pure gold band, and the circle glowed with an unearthly fire that did not burn.
In spite of the brilliance of the sun, a crack of thunder echoed far off, and Mandine's voice was around them, the very air reverberating with her words.
"When the circle is closed. . ."
Sweat covered Elise's forehead. "It is now!" she cried.
Without a word Rufus drew her close, placed a kiss on her forehead.
"I love you, Rufus," she cried softly, touching his cheeks, reading the understanding in his eyes. "Go find that dark-haired siren," she entreated softly.
Darien said not a word but embraced his brother strongly. Quickly, he withdrew a crumpled square of paper from his shirt pocket.
"It was uncertain if I would be able to give you this," he met his brother's eyes so like his own. "I entrust all that I own to you. May life treat you well."
Darien pulled Elise close to him.
"Do you trust me?" she asked.
"More than life."
With her eyes on Rufus, Elise lifted the vial around her neck, unstopping the cork and waving her arm through the air. Bringing the vial to her lips, she blew into it gently, causing a brilliantly sparkling dust to cover her and Darien, enveloping them like a cloak.
Tightly they gripped each other as the multicolored sparkles settled in their hair and on their clothes.
"God speed," Rufus murmured.
#
They clung together, not letting an inch of space anywhere between their bodies.
In a grayish white space they floated, cushioned, weightless and unencumbered by gravity, time or space. There were other beings, she sensed, yet saw nothing. Elise felt strangely at peace, accepting of what may come.
Elise felt the absence of her physical body, yet she was more alive then she'd been her entire life.
Her mind drifted as they were suspended between realities. She saw all of her time with Darien up to the age of fifteen and then the night she left his time. She knew his thoughts, and she knew the thoughts of everyone she had encountered in that time. Mandine's face was before her, letting her see her mother in happier times with her father. Elise felt a peace in her heart, across the breadth of
her soul. She thanked God she had found Darien and fallen in love with him all over again.
#
Elise stretched, then groaned, feeling a heavy weight pinning her down. Awkwardly, she tried to straighten her legs, but they were full of pins and needles. She stared up at the blue heavens with a sense of wonder and vague familiarity. She was lying on the ground. She looked to the left and then in a mild panic, to the right. Darien lay beside her, his eyes closed.
"Oh, thank you, thank you." She kissed Darien's cheeks, his neck, whatever she could reach. His legs were still over hers, holding her down. She looked up at the sky, saw a small plane flying overhead.
She was laughing and crying and if anyone had come along they would have thought her mad. Somehow, Mandine's magic had worked again. They were safe.
Darien stared straight up at the sky. "What the devil was that?" He sat upright. "I saw everything, knew every moment of my life." He turned to her. "I knew every expression of love you held for me, back when we were children and beyond." He heaved a great sigh. "I felt Rufus' love for me also."
Elise put her arm around him, hugging him tightly in understanding.
"The mountains are the same," he said.
"They are," she said. "They're just as beautiful now as when you knew them, back then," she added. "We can go to my home. It's not as elegant as yours --"
"Elise." His fingers pressed gently against her lips. "It does not matter. Do not be afraid to tell me that which you must. You saved my life. We are together as we are meant to be, whether in this time or the next. If you learned to live here, then so shall I." His smile mixed with tenderness and a certain sadness. "Save Rufus, there is nothing in that other life that I shall miss."
"I will miss him also. I've grown to love him as a brother, he's so much like you. I hope one special woman will realize his worth."
"He can sell our lands and go back to the sea. It is his true love. In that space in between times I saw documents which incriminate Rogier in murder. Mandine left them for Rufus to find. They were orders signed by Rogier and to be carried out by Beldar and the so-called 'Calico Indians.' On one of their terror campaigns, they were to hunt down and kill Declan McClair. It was to appear an accident. The papers were charred, as if they'd been pulled from the flames."
"Even Mandine didn't tell me he was my real father," Elise said. "It was the biggest relief to find out Rogier and I weren't related. Mandine sent me to the future to be with my real parents."
Darien pulled her to her feet and held her close to him, his mouth seeking hers. Elise felt free for the first time in her memory. Free to love the man who loved her, without fear, without any repercussions.
"I was never certain I would be free again to call you my own," he whispered, voice husky with emotion. "I was not afraid to die, but knowing you would be alone and at his mercy --"
"It's over." She tugged his hand. "Dark is beginning to fall and we have a bit of a walk."
"We shall have to start over, Elise. I am a man with only my name."
Elise smiled back at him and she wanted to dance and to laugh aloud. She lifted her skirts and showed him the veritable fortune in her stockings and then the bulkiness of her waistband where she'd sewn the diamonds.
"I have my own income, Darien -- and I have my mother's dowry. Mandine sewed little sachets and left them in my mother's sewing room. She made Mandine promise I would get it."
"And so you have," he said, bemused. "I imagine you have fresh material for your writing also."
"Oh yes, I do! And anyway," she said, laughing, "this is the century where fortunes can be made. I have great faith in your abilities to create your new empire."
#
"Mom!" The door slammed behind the slim, jean clad figure as Isabeau tore into the house.
Running into the kitchen, she picked up the note from the table. She read it quickly, then clutched it to her breast.
"Isabeau? Sweetheart, where are you?" Pierce called.
They had visited with Elise all week and then driven home to Hawk's Den. In the middle of the night Isabeau had a premonition that her mother was in trouble. When she couldn't reach Elise, the feeling solidified into real fear. Having learned to trust his wife's intuition, Pierce booked a flight to New York. When they arrived back at Elise's home in the Catskills, Isabeau jumped out of the car before he had time to bring it to a full stop.
He found his wife standing beside the antique wooden kitchen table. She swayed slightly, a blank look on her face. Looking up at him, she held up a sheet of notepaper.
"What is it?" Pierce asked urgently, pulling her close to his side.
"It's my mother," she said slowly, disbelief written on her face. "She's gone."
"Gone? But she didn't say anything about leaving --"
"She's gone to find my father."
"Your father -- where?" he asked.
"1846."
Isabeau ran up the stairs to the second floor.
"Mom? Are you here?"
Impatiently, she pushed her long blonde hair from her eyes, then hurriedly opened the bedroom door. Her mother's bed was empty. She hurried to the next bedroom and almost kept going. Her mother never stayed in the guestroom, she claimed the bed was too big. But something wasn't right… the door was ajar. She hesitated. Could there be an intruder? She should have waited for Pierce.
She stepped forward and pushed the door open with the toe of her sneaker.
"Mom," she said softly. Her mother, sleepily smiling at her from the big four poster bed, was cozily curled inside the arms of a big blond giant.
"Hi, honey." Elise sat up, pulling the covers with her. The shining length of her hair tumbled to the shoulders of the man lying beside her.
"Mom, I'm so glad to see you -- I haven't been able to reach you. That note --" Isabeau swallowed "-- that note you left --"
Elise held her hand out. "I know, darling, I know. I will explain. Um, give us just a moment."
Isabeau walked outside the room, nervously pacing the floor. Pierce came up the stairs and came to her, placing a supportive arm around her.
Before she could say anything, the door opened and she stared at the tall man beside her mother, uncertainty flitting across her expressive face.
"Darien," Elise said, "your daughter Isabeau."
A slow grin split his face.
Isabeau looked startled, glancing from the handsome giant to her mother.
"Isabeau," Darien said, his voice a husky caress. "Of course I would know you. Your mother said it would be as if I was looking in a mirror. At last I meet my daughter."
Isabeau walked forward into her father's embrace.
EPILOGUE
Darien hurried to the house as his daughter's car pulled into the driveway. Elise had not wanted him to accompany her to the doctor, but he'd worried the entire time he'd been home, digging fence post holes to keep himself busy.
Entering the house, he looked at his wife sitting in the kitchen chair, a dazed expression on her face.
"Tell me now," he said, the worry that had ridden him since the day he'd learned of her heart problems rising to the forefront.
"You won't believe it --" Isabeau's voice was a high pitch. Something his daughter did, he'd learned, when she was excited.
"We're going to have a baby," Elise blurted, staring at him, worry on her face. "Twins."
"Twins?" he waved his hand as his daughter and wife started to repeat what he'd just heard. "I heard, I am just --" He came to Elise, knelt beside her. "What will this do to your heart? Elise, I have been so careless --"
"It's okay," she soothed. "Really, it is. I had a full battery of tests. The doctors are stunned, but there is no sign I had a hole in my heart repaired two years ago."
"I'm going to share the news with Pierce," Isabeau said, giving her father and then her mother a kiss. She ran out the back door, intent on giving her husband their own news.
"Do that, darling," Elise watched her daughter leave, then lifted her smile
to Darien. "Don't look worried, everything is really all right. My heart is as good as anyone's."
Darien pulled her up into his arms.
"Darien?" She pulled back so she could see his face. "I never expected this -- really. I'm going to be forty years old. I'm kind of blown away by it."
"Now you sound like our daughter."
She laughed, tenderly touching his cheek. "How do you feel about it?"
"How do I explain?" He sat down, bringing her with him so she sat on his lap. "Never had I thought I would be so fortunate to love you again. A beautiful wife and daughter, a new business with our horses and now another child. Two. It is more than I ever expected or asked for."
"Oh, Darien, you said it so beautifully. We've been given a second chance."
Isabeau opened the kitchen door and put her head inside. "This is really strange, but there's riders coming across the back field." Her eyes met her father's. "Um -- one of them looks like you."
THE END
I hope you enjoyed Soulmates Through Time. Please take a moment and return to where you bought this copy and leave a review, which helps the author and other readers.
Thank you!
Treasure So Rare
Grace Brannigan
All Characters, places and events are fictitious and are not associated or inspired by any person living or dead. The author was not striving for historical accuracy as all places and events are purely fiction and not intended to be historically accurate and this is a romance with strong elements of fantasy.
About TREASURE SO RARE
Treasure So Rare is book 3 in the Women of Strength time travel series. Captain Erik Remington has been haunted for three years by a black haired sea witch. They spent seven glorious days and nights before she vanished as mysteriously as she appeared.
In 1847, when his ship is pulled into a strange vortex, he and his crew are sucked into middle ages England. Forced to assume another's identity by the sorcerer Mandrak, he travels to the home of the Lady Iliana.
Time Travel Romance Collection Page 52
