He didn’t stop until he gained the mountaintops again, but when he looked back to check on her, she wasn’t there. He frowned. Now what had become of her? Did he take the game too far and harm her somehow? He never thought she would be as delicate as that.
He waited, but she didn’t reappear. He scanned the landscape, but he saw no sign of her. He better go back and find her. He turned his head and cocked his wings when a flaming red ball of fire streaked out of nowhere. He never even saw it coming.
She didn’t whizz past him the way he did, but she didn’t let the air wash bowl him over. She actually slammed into his shoulder going a mile a minute. The impact sent him sprawling, and she disappeared in an instant.
Fergus screamed in surprise. The vixen! How did she do that? How did she sneak up on him without him seeing her? By the time he righted himself and got his wings spread out to react, she was long gone. He couldn’t see her anywhere.
This time, he didn’t entertain any concerns about her safety. She was lurking somewhere out of sight. She was waiting to ambush him. His eyes flashed over the countryside, but everything lay peaceful and still on all sides. Where could she be hiding? A bright red dragon like her could hide in only so many places.
He turned in every direction, but the land and air rested smooth and silent all around him. He sensed her getting closer. Her mischievous intentions prickled his nerves, but he couldn’t see her. Just for a moment, he considered turning tail and running home to his brothers. He would never be safe from her until he cowered for cover behind thick stone walls.
He shook that thought out of his head. He couldn’t face his brothers or the Guard if he ran from his own wife. He started this, and he had to finish it, even if she won. He would show her who was a real dragon here.
He flew all the way up to the top of the sky so he could gain maximum momentum once she made her appearance. He didn’t know where she was, but she wouldn’t stay hidden long. Once she showed herself, he had to be ready to fly fast in a split second.
He hovered there in the clouds, but the moment he got into position, she exploded out of open space directly above him. He rounded on her with a startle shriek. She was cheating! She materialized out of thin air. She used her power to make herself invisible, only then to spring out on him when he least expected it.
She let out a piercing screech into his ears. He spun around to face her and snapped his fangs at her. She jerked back and smacked him across the shoulder with her tail. She whipped around and took off quicker than lightning, but he was ready. He gave chase, and the faster she flew, the faster he chased her.
He rocketed out of the sky. He couldn’t let her out of his sight, and he wouldn’t let her get away with surprising him again. He had to pay her back for tricking him. He zoomed closer and heard her cackling with glee. She pumped her wings to fly faster than thought, but he gained on her every moment until he came level with her shoulder.
He darted his head out and nipped her wing. She shrieked in hysterical delight and banked off to her left to flee. He matched her every move. He raced her high and low over the mountains, past lakes and castles and hamlets, out to the open sea. They played and fought and frolicked on the wind all day until the distant golden sunset touched the forests.
Hazel fluttered down the ground. Her cheeks flushed in happy delight, and her windblown hair stuck out from her head at odd angles. She threw her arms around Fergus when he landed in front of her. “That was wonderful! Let’s do it again tomorrow.”
He smiled and kissed her.
He tried to steer her into the darkening trees, but she stopped and pulled him back. “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged. “It’s naught. Come alaing. We’ll make a camp and go home in the mornin’.”
She jerked him by the arm. Her bright eyes drilled into his face, and the smile vanished off her face. “Something’s wrong. Did you see something? Tell me what it is.”
He sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “I’ll tell ye, but come and make camp first. Then I’ll tell ye. Night’s comin’. I dinnae wish tae be out in’t if I can help it.”
She stood stiff and still. She stared at him. He never could hide anything from her. She had her fun in the sky all day. Now he had to tell her.
He walked off into the woods and started collecting sticks to build a fire.
Chapter 32
Hazel sank to the ground by the fire. She watched Fergus feed sticks into the flames. He wouldn’t look at her. Whatever was bothering him must be serious. “It’s Ross, isn’t it?”
His head shot up. “How do ye ken aboot that?”
“He told me, too. I didn’t want to worry you, so I didn’t say anything. You were so happy thinking I was all finished with that, I didn’t want to spoil it. He came up to me in the passage under the mound and told me.”
“What did he tell ye?” he asked.
Hazel sighed. “Actually, he didn’t tell me much of anything. I tried to avoid him before. He made me sick just looking at him. I never wanted to talk to him, but when I saw him in the passage after the wedding, I went up to him. I asked him…. You won’t understand this, but what the heck. Here goes. I asked him if the quilt would be okay, if there was anything I could do to keep the mice away that I wasn’t already doing. He only said I would find it. He said I would find it on the other side. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that’s what he said.”
Fergus frowned. “Does it make sense to ye, lass?”
“Yeah. It does. There’s this…I don’t know how to explain it. There’s this other world. I go there in my dreams and sometimes in the dark of night when you’re asleep. I have to keep going back and forth between the worlds. I have to keep fighting the curse to maintain the balance between the worlds. I guess I’ll have to keep doing it all my life, but I don’t mind. It’s a peaceful world over there. I love it there. The whole project is a labor of love. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to worry about me, but it’s the way it is. I hope you understand.”
His head hung down. He stared into the flames. “Aye. That’s aboot all he said tae me as weel. He said ye’d ha’e tae keep fightin’ it…. forever, I reckon. I hate tae think what it’ll do tae ye, lassie. I ainly wish I could carry yer burden a wee while, but it’s no tae be.”
She threw her arms around him. “It’s okay. I’ll be okay. I want to do it. It’s nice, and I’m happy to do it. Really, I am.”
He wrapped her in his big, warm arms. “Oh, lassie. What’ll I do wi’ ye?”
She nuzzled his neck. “It’s okay. I promise, it is.”
“What aboot the Burgees?” he asked. “What’ll ye do aboot them?”
“What Burgees?”
“The Burgees the King says are fightin’ our people as we speak. He says the Burgees got caught out ’ere and attacked Urlu. He says the Urlus are under siege from ’em e’en now, and we’ll be knee deep in battle when we get back there. They came through the hole from the witch, so they cinnae return tae her now that there are no more holes.”
She cocked her head at him. “Is that what’s bothering you? We don’t have to fight the Burgees. They aren’t there—not anymore, anyway. I got rid of ’em.”
“You did?”
“I told you that before,” she continued. “Don’t you remember? Besides, we’re going back to a time when the Burgees were never there in the first place. When we get back, Urlu will be at peace. No one will be dead or injured or turned to stone. The castle won’t be damaged. Everything will be fine.”
“How do ye ken that?”
“I know it because I made it that way,” she replied. “I sent us back. We’ll return to the same time and place where we were when we left.”
He stared at her in horror. “Lassie, no!”
“Why not? Why shouldn’t we? The Urlus never need to know the Loch Nagar witch almost destroyed the world by stealing the Stone of Scone. They never need to know we traveled back to America to defeat the guardian. They don’t need
to know any of it. We can leave them in blissful ignorance. They don’t need to know anything except that you and I are married and I became Urlu when we mated. That’s all they need to know, and I for one don’t intend to tell them anything else. It would take too long to explain it anyways.”
He blinked in wonder. She never saw him like this. He cradled his head in his hand. “I just dinnae ken…”
“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy about this. It means the Urlus never fought the Burgees. They’ll be just as peaceful and prosperous as when we left them.”
“I dinnae want tae lose ye. That’s all,” he replied. “I dinnae want tae forget all that’s happened—all the good and all the bad. Aye, and I e’en want tae remember Althea. I ne’er want tae forget how I fell in love wi’ ye, and how I nearly lost ye and won ye back again. I want tae treasure all those memories. I dinnae want tae return tae a time when they ne’er happened. I dinnae want tae be the mon I was afore I won ye, and ye tae return tae the woman ye were afore ye gained yer power. I hated that time, and I dinnae e’er want tae lose what we ha’e now.”
“We won’t lose it,” she told him. “We’ll never lose it. We’re there already, and we still remember everything. I love you and you love me. We’re not those people anymore. You’re the man you are now, and I’m the woman I am now. We’re married. We’re mated for all time, and I’m an Urlu, the same as you. Nothing has changed.”
A cloud darkened his face again. “What do ye mean, we’re there awready? How can we be?”
She waved her hand at the trees. “We’re in the woods outside Urlu. We can get to the castle any time we want to. It’s right over there. We could spend the night there if you wanted to.”
His jaw dropped. “What’re ye tryin’ tae do tae me, lassie?”
“I don’t understand you. I did this to make you happy. I thought this was what you wanted.”
He turned away and shook his head. He muttered under his breath, but she couldn’t understand the worlds.
She scooted over next to him and put her arms around him. “Don’t be angry at me. I never meant to do anything to give you trouble. I thought it would be better this way.”
He held her around the shoulders and rested his cheek on her hair. “Ne’er ye mind, lassie. It’s naught tae me where or when or how we are, as laing as ye’re ’ere wi’ me. If we can return tae that time and still remember all and care fer each other as afore, I’ll no gainsay ye. I’m right glad the lads ne’er had tae fight the Burgees. I just ne’er thought…. Aw, ne’er ye mind. It’s naught.”
She lay across his chest, and the firelight weighed down her eyelids. Flying at her utmost speed all day, zipping and zooming, leaping and diving cost a lot more energy than she expected. She sank into him and let sleep wash over her.
The rest of her life could wait while she enjoyed this delicious moment. She could almost give up soft beds in castles behind protective stone walls for the exquisite pleasure of sleeping out in the forest with him under the stars with nothing but a campfire to keep them company. She was in no hurry to rush off to the castle—not now that she broke in her wings in the free air.
She and Fergus dwelled in a hazy border zone between one world and the next. Nothing existed in that world but the two of them and their priceless love. No one could threaten it, and no one could take it away from them.
Fergus’s chest rose and fell under her ear. His now familiar body breathed its sublime essence into her cells. She tasted and smelled and lived through him and his loving embrace. She fell asleep there in his arms, and in her dreams, she returned to the cabin by the lake to continue working on her quilt.
She laid the stuffing over the rose-print sheet and spread the quilt top over it. She tied the two pieces together and pinned the edges. She worked on the quilt until the sun crossed behind the mountains. She started sewing the top and bottom together, but she stopped work before she finished so she could clean the house. She put her needle and thimble away and smoothed the unfinished quilt over the frame. Another two or three visits, and she would have it finished.
She examined the mouse hole in the kitchen. The mice had gnawed the hole wider in her absence. She had to do something about that. She found a hammer and nails and tacked a stout piece of wood over the hole. That should keep them out until she found a way to rid the place of them.
She crossed to the door to leave the cabin when she heard a strange noise. She looked through the window, but she didn’t see anything. She went through the kitchen to the back door where it opened into a lean-to against the back wall.
The noise got louder when she entered the lean-to. She rushed through it and threw open the rear door leading to the back yard. She raced outside to find the noise. Her blood screamed in her veins. She couldn’t let anything happen to this place, not after she worked so hard to restore the balance.
She ran around the corner of the cabin. She couldn’t mistake the noise now. She barreled around the log wall and skidded to a stop. Standing right in front of her crouched the biggest brown bear she ever laid eyes on.
It pawed and scratched and ripped at the foundation posts under the cabin. It dug into the soft soil and sent huge handfuls of dirt flying in all directions. It already rooted up an enormous hole, right where it would cause the most damage to the cabin’s structure.
The instant Hazel appeared, the bear reared back and locked its beady black eyes on her face. It let out an enraged roar, jumped up on its hind legs, and charged straight for her.
Chapter 33
Fergus woke up in the night and lay still to watch Hazel sleep. Her eyelids fluttered and her fingers and lips twitched, but she didn’t wake up. More than once, he considered waking her, but she said she was okay.
She said she liked it over there, so he had to trust her. Whatever happened over there was hers to deal with. Waking her up one night of her life wouldn’t change that, and he couldn’t wake her up every night to stop her going there.
The night bit colder. He slid out from under her and ventured into the forest to gather some more sticks for the fire. He lingered there to let the cool air refresh his tired eyes. Hazel wore him out today.
Maybe he should have taken her up on her offer to go back to the castle right away, but he didn’t want to lose a moment of their time alone together. They would get enough time at the castle in the coming years. He would stay out here with her as long as she wanted.
He headed back toward the fire. He didn’t like leaving her alone. He trekked back the way he came. His eyes strained in the dark for any sign of the faint firelight. More than once, he thought he saw it, only to have it wink out when he got near it.
He stumped in circles far too long in search of the camp site, but he couldn’t find it. What he mistook for the firelight turned out to be moonlight and star shine reflected off dewy leaves all around him. After more than an hour searching, he had to admit the truth to himself. He had no idea where he was or how to find his way back to Hazel.
All of a sudden, he caught sight of something golden gleaming in the forest’s dark heart. He headed for it. How could he miss that? It blazed through the darkness and flooded his spirit with relief. He hurried on his way. His heart exploded at the thought of getting back to Hazel.
The golden light glowed in the darkness. It filled the trees all around it with heavenly light. He stretched his heart toward it, to seize it and take it into himself. He rushed through the last black trees separating him from it when he realized it wasn’t the fire. A tall column of yellow light radiated into the woods all around him. He slowed his progress, but curiosity spurred him forward.
He skirted it and craned his neck to see what it was. Deep inside the column of shining brightness, he could just make out the shape of a tall, slender body with gently sloping shoulders and a slim waist. He crossed the last threshold and entered the halo of luminous glory when he stopped dead in his tracks. The source of the light turned around, and he found himself face to face with A
lthea.
His throat constricted to cut off his breath. The sticks fell out of his hand. He wanted to run for it, but he remained rooted to the spot. The ring of light around her faded to reveal the woman he knew only too well.
A faint smile played on her lips, and she took a step toward him. How did she get here after Hazel destroyed her at Loch Nagar? He didn’t need to know. Althea was here, alive and well, and her appearance stood his hair on end.
He tensed all over to fight her, but she only walked in a circle around him. He moved his head to catch sight of her when she came around his side to stand in front of him. She smiled the same benign smile, but he knew better than to let her deceive him. He waited for her to show her hand, but she only kept walking to make another circuit around him.
The second time she stopped in front of him, he frowned. “What’re ye doin’, Althea? How do ye come tae be ’ere after we left ye at Loch Nagar?”
She said nothing. Her silence disconcerted him more than anything. He would prefer she attack him outright than maintain this stubborn silence. What was she up to? She set off for another round. She strolled around behind his back and reappeared by his shoulder. She came to a standstill smiling up at him.
He opened his mouth to say something. That’s when he realized he couldn’t make a sound. He couldn’t move. Whatever she did, she froze him in place. His eyes darted around her gorgeous features. He couldn’t get his voice to work to call for help. He wanted to punch and kick and destroy her, but he couldn’t.
Was Hazel still asleep back at their camp—wherever that was? Did she have a clue what was going on? Ross said the danger haunting them was Hazel’s nightmare, that she was living a nightmare, and it wouldn’t end until she woke up. The wizard could only have been talking about Althea. Hazel would wake up and find Fergus either dead or spirited away by this accursed witch.
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