by Jane Stain
But then his eyes grew wide, and she looked where he was looking.
Eoin burst through the woods with Baltair and two extra horses, riding toward them.
The paralysis spell had drained the druid child, but she was still fierce with a weapon. She ran toward Nadia and Ciaran.
Before Tahra got close enough to attack, Eoin took Baltair’s hand, leaned down and grabbed Ciaran’s other hand, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
20
The four of them whirled into the dark night street at Celtic University. Eoin and Baltair were still on their horses, but Nadia and Ciaran arrived sitting on the ground. The paved street was cold in a way the dirt had not been.
Nadia waited a few moments for Ciaran to say something to his cousin, but when he didn't, she stepped in. "Thank you for coming to the rescue," he told Eoin sincerely, only swallowing once at how difficult it was to be indebted to him.
Ciaran still didn't say anything, and it was only then she remembered how severely he had been injured. Tears sprang to her eyes when she saw the blood oozing from his leg under his kilt. Her first-aid training kicked in, and she put both hands on the wound, pushing down to staunch the flow of blood.
Eoin dismounted, knelt beside Ciaran, and dug something out of his sporran, which he handed to Ciaran in the way one might hand aspirin to someone. "These are some of Meehall's pills," he told his cousin.
The light returned to Ciaran's eyes, and he took the pills and swallowed them dry.
Baltair was at his side now holding up a water skin for Ciaran to drink, which he did.
Nadia felt left out. "What did you give him?"
Eoin turned a serious face to her. "Is there a place we can store these horses where they won't be so obvious, and another place where he might spend the night and not be noticed?"
Amazed to see Ciaran’s wound closing and him getting up, Nadia helped him to his feet and stood, too. "We can stable them with the trail horses. Come, it's not far." She kept ahold of Ciaran’s hand and felt his grip grow stronger by the second.
He squeezed her hand, gently but with confidence. “Sarah’s man Meehall gave his brother a few o’ these pills before he ran off with his new wife tae Murray Castle. The druids made them, but ’tis glad I am for them anyway.” He still limped, but that flirtatious gleam was back in his eye, and his face no longer contorted with pain.
“’Tis glad I am to see you smile,” she told him breathlessly as they walked, peering into his face to assure herself he was really smiling at her and not still grimacing in pain. Incredible.
He was, and they gawked at each other the whole way to the stables, where Nadia took advantage of the men’s preoccupation with the horses to discreetly text Ellie.
“Are you home?”
“Nadia! Of course I’m home. You’re the one out having fun.”
“Quick, pull out the hide-a-bed. And clean yourself up. Baltair’s here!”
“Squee!”
Eoin addressed Nadia quietly as they walked through the open quad on their way to her and Ellie’s dorm. “Where’s the book?”
Ciaran clamped down on Nadia’s hand with his own, still being gentle but giving a clear warning. They could no longer hear each other’s thoughts, but that experience had brought them closer to each other than Nadia had ever felt with anyone, not even her parents.
She gave Ciaran’s hand one quick squeeze, to let him know she understood. The book’s loosened pages were scratching her skin beneath her bodice, but she was not to tell Eoin she had them.
Ciaran’s hold on her hand relaxed a bit, but it was still tense.
She answered Eoin truthfully, which she instinctively knew was necessary. “The book didn’t survive the fight.”
Ciaran’s hand totally relaxed in hers now, as he joined in on the explanation. “Aye, the halberd dissolved it in the course o’ decimating a dozen Cameron warriors who were after oor blood.”
Eoin grunted.
Before Nadia let them into her and Ellie’s dorm room, she said, "I warn you, Baltair, she's awfully eager to see you."
The man properly smiled at this news, but Eoin was grumpy again once they arrived in the dorm room, spoiling the fun of Ellie and Baltair's reunion. "You’re limping on purpose, Ciaran. Quit trying to get attention."
Ciaran shared an eye roll with Nadia over his cousin’s grumpiness, flopped onto the middle of the couch bed, and started snoring.
It had been a long day. Nadia decided to change the subject, asking Eoin, "How long do you think we need to stay before Tahra will have left the area and it’s safe to go back to 1706?"
"Overnight should do it, but in the morning, I’ll go alone and check to make sure."
Nadia forced herself to give him a smile. "I can never thank you enough."
To her surprise, he looked at her just as sincerely, and while he didn't smile, just his sincerity was so shocking that it rendered her speechless for a moment. "Nadia, 'tis I should be thanking you. At great risk to yourself, you went and spied on the Camerons for us. You didn't have to do that. Ciaran would have brought you home at the blink of your eye. You are a brave woman, worthy of him."
Dazed by Eoin’s unheard of praise, Nadia looked over to see if his cousin shared his opinion.
But Baltair and Ellie were seated side-by-side on her bed, heads together and having a whisper and laugh conversation that would not be interrupted for quite a while, she could tell.
Nadia and Eoin exchanged worried glances all morning, but by the time they got to Murray camp, Eoin was sure. “Aye, the pills are working, but ainly sae far. Ciaran's wound has mended, but the limp is na gang away. He canna fight like this.”
Eoin's wife ran out to meet him with their children, and other relatives in the clan came forward and gave the men hugs as well. A few gave Ellie and Nadia curious glances, but they were all welcoming.
Ellie spent most of her time with Baltair. There had been no question of leaving Ellie behind. She would not have stood for that. But now they had to go back to Celtic. They needed the reference materials there. Ellie had already told Baltair, but now Nadia had to break the news to Ciaran. It was good news though. He should take it well.
Nadia made herself put on a big smile when she went to go see Ciaran in the tent he shared with Baltair. "Sae who performs weddings in yer clan?" she asked him with a knowing smile that contained all the encouragement she could manage.
He did look pleased, but there was sadness in his face as well, and she couldn't blame him. Except for the last few days when he'd been playing the part of a cripple, all he had ever been was a warrior. He put on a happy face. "There be a kirk na far from here with a priest who can wed folk."
He had stood up when she came in. She went over, took him in her arms, and kissed him, making it very clear he was the only one for her.
Ellie hadn't wanted to return to Celtic so soon, but Nadia had insisted, saying they had a pressing translation only they could conduct, amid the stacks of ancient texts at the university. So here they were, dropped off in the dark alley of Celtic once more, with the men leaving immediately.
Ellie turned to Nadia and joked, “I know you wanted that promotion, but isn’t this taking it a little too far? I mean, you’re marrying Ciaran. The whole clan knows it. And Ciaran wants to stay in 1706. Even with a promotion, your job here wouldn’t be worth the commute.”
Nadia rewarded Ellie with the first smile she had seen on her friend all day.
“There’s the spirited woman I know,” Ellie told her friend. "So what are we going to tr—"
Nadia put her hand over Ellie's mouth and looked around as if there could be people listening from thin air.
Come to think of it, there probably could be. Who knew what druids were capable of doing with their magic? Ellie took a deep breath and nodded. “OK, I’ll keep quiet, but you need to tell me why we came back here. You aren’t the only one with a man who will miss her.”
Smiling apologetically, Nadia let go of Ellie a
nd got out a small pad of paper and a pencil, then scribbled on it furiously. "We need to keep this from the druids. Especially from Kelsey. She can't know. Tell me you agree. Write it down."
Really?
But the look on Nadia's face brooked no nonsense.
Ellie wrote on the pad, "I promise to keep this from all the druids, especially from Kelsey, at the cost of everything but anyone’s life or limb. Now tell me what we rushed away from our men to translate."
The story continues in Baltair – A Time Travel Romance, by Jane Stain.
