“Adlin was once called a white wizard,” Marek said into her mind. “One who practiced magic but believes in the one God. Someday, there will be more like him as well as black wizards. Those who follow the old gods.”
She nodded in understanding, awestruck by what was happening.
Destiny and Leviathan had begun chanting too, both in their own language, and the forest stirred. Trees twisted and morphed as if lending their strength and spirit to what was coming. Large, sturdy stones appeared, forming a foundation before, layer by layer, walls rose high into the sky.
What formed wasn’t sweeping and regal by any means but tall and proud. A single rugged tower of a building with sporadic arrow-slit windows. When it was finished, and everyone stopped chanting, it didn’t appear brand new but weathered. As though it had withstood the highland winds for a generation or two.
“’Tis bloody perfect,” Adlin said softly, tilting his head in curiosity. “Though the windows arenae where I would have put them to fend off the enemy. ‘Twill mean building awkwardly spaced stairs.”
“You’ve enough windows to fend off attacks if need be,” Destiny revealed. “The other ones are positioned to fend off far greater enemies than those with bows and arrows.”
Adlin looked more closely before his eyes widened in surprise. “There’s a pattern to them, aye?”
“Yes,” Destiny confirmed. “When interlocked by ley-lines, they create a magical layer of protection against evil. They, along with Leviathan’s masonry, will make this building a truly safe harbor for those with good magic.” She looked at Marek. “Which means when inside and in the immediate vicinity outside, evil will not be able to surface within you.”
“Within ye?” Adlin exclaimed softly, eyeing Marek. “’Tis as bad as all that then?”
“Aye,” Marek managed, nodding absently because he was too busy staring at Chara.
Leviathan, as it happened, was staring at Destiny in much the same way.
Adlin had been so caught up in his new building he hadn’t noticed what else had taken place.
“Bloody hell, look at ye two!” He grinned at Destiny, who had returned to her normal visage. Beyond gorgeous, her lightly bronzed skin was almost luminescent, and her long wild crimson curls a stunning contrast to her bright almond-shaped turquoise eyes. “Most definitely Celt.” He cocked his head, considering her. “And if I amnae mistaken, Norse?”
Then his eyes swung to Chara in equal shock. “And just look at ye!”
Adlin paused a moment, taking her in before he glanced from the building to her and said something she didn’t see coming.
Chapter Seven
MAREK COULDN’T LOOK away from Chara if he tried. While she’d been exceptional in his dreams, something about seeing her in reality made her all that much more stunning.
“I’ve returned to normal,” she said softly, fingering her hair.
“Aye,” he managed. Gone was the lovely little brunette. In her place, a taller fine-boned, delicate angel, her skin so flawless, he swore it glowed faintly. Her white-blonde locks shimmered as if they too radiated light and her golden eyes almost seemed to sparkle they were so vivacious. Her coloring, as a whole, mimicked the magical beast she had once been. Even her willowy frame and gentle curves seemed to mimic the beastie she once was.
Or did they?
He looked more closely, suddenly sensing something about her he hadn’t before.
Something that had been hidden from him in the dream state then beneath the veil of Destiny's power.
“Ye’ve not just the magic of the unicorn who created some sort of portal in my new building,” Adlin said to Chara, seeing the same thing as Marek, “but dragon as well, aye?” His gaze swept over the lot of them. “Dragons all around by the looks of it.”
“Bloody hell.” Marek gazed at Chara with shock. “How did I never know?”
“Because she had a goddess hiding her even within dreams,” Leviathan said dryly. He folded his arms over his chest and eyed Destiny with distrust. Not about Chara apparently but in regards to the goddess herself. “So you're the offspring of a god and a dragon.” He narrowed his eyes. “And both Norse and Celt.”
Rather than respond to him, Destiny looked at Chara. “Now that you’ve returned to your natural state, it’s important you stay either within the building or the perimeter around it. Only the area our magic has influenced.”
“I know.” Chara never took her eyes off Marek. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner that I was half dragon. I didn’t even know myself until around the time your tats started appearing.”
“’Tis all right.” And it was. In fact, if he were to be honest, it was better than all right. He would always love her no matter what, but he could admit he liked that she was dragon. That they could share so much more together than they might have otherwise.
If that is, his dragon ever surfaced again.
“I hope it really is all right,” Chara replied to Marek, her heart in her eyes. “Because I truly am sorry.” Her pained gaze lingered on him a moment longer before, clearly caught off guard by what Adlin had said, she frowned at the wizard. “What do you mean my unicorn magic created some sort of portal in your building? I'm not a unicorn anymore.”
“I dinnae know.” Adlin pondered what they had created. “But it did.”
“You might not be a unicorn anymore, but that doesn't mean you don’t still possess some of its magic, Chara,” Destiny reminded, repeating the same thing she’d always said.
Honestly, though Chara knew she possessed magic, she figured it was of the witch variety when she was younger, then maybe dragon magic more recently.
“Yes, Adlin,” Destiny confirmed, turning her attention the wizard’s way. “Chara’s magic alongside yours helped create a portal that will grow stronger with time, eventually connecting to other portals throughout Scotland and even Ireland. A means to help things along, so to speak, as time goes on.” She looked from the building to Adlin. “Until then, might you give it a name?”
“’Twould be appropriate, aye?” Adlin eyed the building and thought about it. “Whilst tempted to give it a name that honors the dragon, goddess, and unicorn magic used to create it, I think ‘tis best to keep its title in line with the reason behind its creation. Mayhap even its location.” He narrowed his eyes. “Highland for where it sits here at the peak of Scotland.” He pondered it another moment. “And Defiance for what it will represent. Defiance against unrest over theological differences. Defiance against bloodshed over deities and hatred because of pride and ignorance.”
Adlin nodded slowly before he gave one final nod. “’Twill be called the Highland Defiance.”
“Aye,” Marek confirmed, smiling. “’Tis, in fact, what you named it, Adlin. What ‘twill be called even in my generation.”
“Wonderful!” Adlin grinned, then grew curious and cocked his head. “Which is when exactly?”
“About eight hundred and fifty years from now,” Marek enlightened. “Give or take.”
“Och.” Adlin’s grin never wavered. “’Tis good to know my lot’s still around that far into the future.” His grin blossomed into a smile. “But then I am immortal, so I will eventually meet them.” He gestured at Marek, smiling wider still. “And ye, for that matter!”
“That’s right,” Marek confirmed, leaving it at that. Best that Adlin not know details but live life as it came.
“Might we go inside?” Adlin gazed at ‘the Defiance’ as it would more commonly be referred to, created by he himself this very moment. “I would like to get a look at my Defiance.”
“As would we all,” Destiny agreed.
While tempted to pull Chara into his arms, Marek could tell by the tentative way she looked at him and blushed, that he shouldn’t rush things. Though they’d been intimate several times in dreams, she was still adjusting to being together in reality. Even her dragon felt hesitant and shy, as though only meeting him for the first time.
“Because technica
lly she is,” Chara said, following his thoughts quickly enough. “Much like your dragon, she was deeply repressed in the dream state and in reality.”
“Because of Destiny?” he surmised, understanding readily enough. “We were safer if our dragons didnae connect.”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “Anything to keep me off the Brotherhood’s radar.”
“There isnae much to it, aye?” Adlin said, pulling them from their telepathic conversation as they entered the Defiance. Though wide and spacious, it possessed no furnishings yet. A spiraling set of stairs hugged the wall going up to a landing far above that led to a single chamber.
“I will have to create a balustrade for those stairs straight away,” Adlin commented.
“I would not.” Leviathan shook his head. “It’s best the structure stay just as it is for now.”
“I agree.” Destiny shot the Ancient a look. “Not to say a railing for safety would’ve been a bad idea.”
“Vikings well in their cups could travel these stairs without issue.” Leviathan perked a brow at her. “Might Scots not do the same?” He shrugged, obviously not overly concerned if they could or couldn’t. “It’s best that nothing hinder the ley-lines for now, so I kept the space between your windows free.” He gazed upward. “I also encased your main window with a chamber.”
“Ah, the main window!” Like a kid in a candy store, anticipation lit Adlin’s eyes, and he started up the stairs. “’Tis special indeed.”
When they followed, Marek kept Chara in front of him, ready to catch her if she went over. Yet just as she’d been in their dreams, she had an elegant grace about her. Strength and balance she had shown off on more than one occasion.
Which, naturally, brought his thoughts back to one of their dreams.
“Come on!” she had dared, flashing him a wide smile. He had been fifteen and she, thirteen. “Just take your time and keep your balance.”
Heart in his throat, he watched her balance on a branch high above their cave crevice. She looked back again and smiled gaily at him. “Surely a big strong dragon like you isn’t afraid?”
“Nay, not for me but for you and well you know it, Chara.” The branch was attached to a towering tree on a hill, so the drop was substantial. Not just that, but the fall into the pond beneath had to be just right, or she’d die on the rocks. “Come back.” He held out his hand. “You have no way of knowing if you’ll be protected by our dream. If you willnae die in reality.”
“I’m protected by you,” Chara reminded, her eyes twinkling. “Remember?” She tilted her head in question, getting the hang of flirting readily enough. “Like you said, I’m safest with you.” The corner of her mouth curled up. “So you better follow me and keep me safe. What are friends for after all?”
As of late, he’d begun noticing her in ways that had nothing to do with friendship. Her legs had grown longer and become shapelier. Her breasts fuller and rounded. She was beginning to blossom into womanhood, and his underused cock was well aware of it. Though his friends had already lost their virginity, he refused to be with anyone but Chara. Yet he feared the bloody waiting would be torture because he wouldn’t take her for a few years still.
“Come on,” she repeated, holding out her hand. “Let’s do this together.”
“Nay, ‘twill be too much weight on the branch.” He scowled at her, pleading yet again. “Just come back, Chara. We’ll try this when ye’re a wee bit older, aye?”
“Older?” She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t think so. We'll only weigh more then!”
Wasting no more time pleading with him, she leapt gracefully and dove.
“Bloody hell!” He tore off his tunic, raced onto the branch, and dove after her, praying the whole way down that she survived. That she didn't meet an awful death on unforgiving stone. Thankfully, she cleared the crevice, and he cut into the water beside her. She whooped with joy the minute they surfaced.
His heart slammed into his throat at the sight of her. At how much he really, truly loved her despite their young age. Had always loved her. From the second he met her to this very moment. Before he could say a word, though, and tell her just how strongly he felt, she homed in on his arm. “There are more words in your tattoo!”
“Are they still there?” Chara asked, pulling him back to the present and the Defiance. Having obviously just recalled the same dream, she glanced over her shoulder at him as they headed upstairs. “The four words after the first two that appeared?”
“They are,” he confirmed, remembering how frustrated he’d been with the tattooed message. More so, that she’d taken it to mean one thing and one thing only. As it were, “Our future,” was now followed by the words, “begins her eighteenth year.”
Convinced it was a message to be heeded, Chara had declared then and there they shouldn’t lie together until she was eighteen. Marek had tried to explain the words could mean all sorts of things, but unfortunately, she refused to hear it.
“It wasn’t that hard a wait,” she said into his mind, lying through her telepathic teeth.
“’Twas torture, and you know it,” he replied, having argued the meaning of the words enough over the next five years for her to know he damn well meant it. Because hell if he didn’t wait for her. And hell if twenty wasn't far too old for a lad to lie with a lass for the first time.
“Look at that!” Adlin exclaimed, his words carrying down the small arched hallway to a hexagonal-shaped chamber he’d entered at the top.
Everyone followed only for Chara to stop short when she reached the threshold. Her eyes widened on the window before she looked at Marek, baffled. “It’s the same exact shape, isn’t it?”
Shocked, he nodded and explained to everyone what, against all reasonable explanation, it resembled.
Chapter Eight
“YOUR MIND MUST have manifested it from hearing about this window over the years, Marek,” Leviathan theorized, eyeing the window. More specifically, the portal. “That’s why it resembles the shape of the cave ceiling crevice you and Chara dreamt about.”
Round with an X shape inside, much like a too-symmetrical cross on a pedestal, it looked rather like a large mystical keyhole.
“No, I don’t think so,” Chara said softly, going to the window, drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Touching it both warmed and chilled her all at once. She glanced from Destiny back to the window. “We’re sure my unicorn magic was in part responsible for this?”
“Yes.” Destiny joined her. “Are you okay, Chara? You look pale.”
“I’m okay.” She swallowed hard and met her friend’s eyes. “There’s just so much sadness and happiness on the other side of this. Not just for others but...me somehow.”
“I know.” Destiny rested her hand over Chara’s on the sill. “If I could tell you everything I know I would, but I can’t. You have to find the answers on your own, and they need to be at the right time for this to work.”
She nodded, understanding. Destiny had been saying something similar most of Chara’s life.
Sensing even more from the window, she bit the corner of her lip. “Though many portals will attach to this one, mine is the oldest of them all, isn’t it?” She glanced from Marek to Destiny. “The one we’ll have no choice but to follow in the end?”
“That’s right.” Destiny squeezed her hand. “Eventually.” She looked back and forth between them. “First, take this time to connect in reality so you’ll be ready when you go through it. So that you’re prepared no matter which way it leads you.”
Which way? So there was more than one direction? She didn’t bother asking Destiny to elaborate because she'd only remain evasive.
“Okay,” she whispered, emotional. Grateful, at least, that she and Marek had this time before things got too crazy. She looked his way, surprised yet again by how bashful she felt around him. He was her best friend, the love of her life, but for some reason, she felt like they were starting all over. As though in some small way, they were just meeting.
“Because you are,” Destiny said gently, following her thoughts. She looked between them. “You two might have a lifetime of dreams behind you, but that’s far different than reality. It’ll take time to acclimate to one another. Time for all your memories to truly become part of your waking conscience.”
“Yet I get the feeling we don’t have as much time as I’d like,” Chara murmured, wishing they could stay here longer.
“No, time is limited,” Leviathan answered for Destiny. He glanced at Marek’s sword as if he sensed something. “Though you have this opportunity to reconnect, your journey is not your own.” He looked from Destiny to the window warily. “There are allies and enemies alike on the other side of that. Friends and foes who will see your path end in a new beginning or be the end of all you know.”
“Well, that’s a bit dire.” Adlin frowned at him. “And must ye be so cryptic when ‘tis clear ye know a great deal more than ye say?”
“Yes.” Leviathan winked, showing the first signs of levity Chara had seen in the Viking thus far. “And now that I have aided in the creation of your Defiance, a building that will essentially become a piece of you in its own way, expect to become more cryptic yourself.” He gave Adlin a pointed look, unquestionably preparing him for all that was to come. “It’s the only way to say something without saying much at all.”
“Which I imagine happens plenty when dealing with time travelers?” Adlin surmised.
“Ja,” Leviathan confirmed.
“Interesting.” Adlin thought about that before he grinned. “I think mayhap there’s fun to be had in it too, though, aye?”
Marek chuckled. “If there’s one thing I know about you, Adlin, ‘tis that being cryptic will come quite naturally, and as a rule, I’d say you find amusement in it.”
“I suppose I might,” Adlin conceded, still grinning.
“It’s interesting that the stones at the Irish Stonehenge contributed to MacLomain traits before Adlin was born,” Chara commented in Marek’s mind, “where the qualities that went into creating this Defiance contribute to his personality after he was born.”
A Scot's Retribution (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era Book 5) Page 5
