by Jane Stain
But her relief was short-lived.
Looking for Tomas, she saw that Lachlan had indeed knocked her love out with one of his evil spells. And the druid was holding up another dagger over Tomas’s heart, chanting an evil incantation.
Galdus didn’t waste any time.
“Get up, lass! Get up and go stab me intae his back from behind. He is na worth the wee bit o fashing I sense in ye at the thought o backstabbing anyone. He is na deserving o yer fashing, lass. Just dae it. Dae it now!”
Amber wasn’t a fighter by any stretch of the imagination. Oh sure, she dished out snark whenever she could find a receptacle for it. But those were words. The thought of a physical fight? Yeah, that usually had her crawling away to hide like the coward she knew she was.
But that was Tomas over there in peril.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins, giving her just the burst of energy she needed to jump up, run over, and stab the white-robed druid in the back before he plunged his dagger into Tomas’s heart.
As soon as Amber stabbed Lachlan, he too dissolved into a pile of ashes: white robes, garland of brambles, and all. Only this time it happened right before Amber’s eyes. It wasn’t a gradual thing. No. One second she was plunging Galdus into a man’s back, and the next second the man’s ashes were falling to the ground in a heap.
Amber didn’t care about that.
Eyes blurry with sudden tears and throat choked up with sobbing, she cast Galdus aside and threw herself to the ground next to Tomas, despairing that he would never wake up from Lachlan’s evil spell, now that the druid was gone.
In the firelight, Amber saw Tomas lying stock still on his back in his billowy sleeved linen shirt and his scratchy wool kilt on top of the green, green grass with his gorgeous face upward toward the gray Scottish sky. He looked so peaceful lying there among the gravestones — too peaceful.
Amber leaned over her love’s face, trying to feel any breath coming out of him.
She felt none.
Grabbing him by the shoulders, she shook him.
When that produced nothing, she dropped down and hugged him to her.
“Tomas? Tomas, wake up. The evil B witch is gone, and so is her minion. I’m here free and whole, and I love you, Tomas. I love you with all my heart. I always have.”
He didn’t stir.
She felt no heartbeat in his chest.
She waited there holding her breath, with her tears falling on his face.
Nothing happened.
Amber couldn’t blame the next impulse on Galdus, for she had cast him aside, and now that she wasn’t touching the dagger, her mind was free of its urgings.
Tenderly, lovingly, she kissed those lips that were cold with the promise of death, pouring into the kiss all the love she had.
~*~
Certain she was delusional, Amber felt Tomas respond to her kiss. Her desperate imagination had him holding her tight with his arms and turning his head so that their mouths locked together and dueling her tongue with his. She didn’t care if it was just her imagination. She was going to enjoy this last moment of warmth and joy and pleasure with the man she loved.
So she did. She held him close and soaked in the nearness of him one last time.
And then she knew she needed to let go of this dream and embrace reality. It wasn't healthy for her to stay in this fantasy for too long. With despair in her heart, she withdrew from Tomas.
But the fantasy clung.
She heard his voice, soft and caring and loving — the way she had been longing to hear it for seven years.
“Can’t you bear to look at me? I guess I can’t blame you after my idiocy with Sulis. But I want you to know that I love you, Amber. I've always loved you. Please tell me you came to rescue me because you love me too. Tell me we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. I'm so sorry I was deluded by Sulis. I was there the whole time inside my head, and once you showed up, I wanted to break free. But I couldn't fight my way out of it. You did that for me, Amber. You broke through the prison I was in, deep inside my own mind. I loved you even before, but the love I have for you now knows no bounds. I should have known it would be you who would save me from that prison. Will you ever forgive me? I know it must have hurt, you seeing me with her. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't forgive me, but I'm begging. Please forgive me, Amber.”
She must have been holding on to the fantasy in order for his voice to come to her so clearly and so realistically. But with a heavy sigh she opened her eyes.
And gasped.
He was right there, sitting on the grass. Her face must have shown her confusion and doubt.
Because he laughed.
“That is so not the look I expected to see on your face when I declared my undying love.”
She felt herself laughing, but inside she was still not willing to believe this was real.
“Any moment, I’ll wake up and this will have been the most wonderful dream ever — well, except for the part where we both almost got killed by crazed druids.”
It was at that point she realized this was real, because his face turned to a look of anguish.
“Amber I'm so sorry — just so, so sorry about everything… Leaving you when I found out about the MacGregor curse, and letting Sulis take control of me, and being so rude to you when you got here to Laird Malcomb’s castle, and—”
She grabbed him and shut him up with a kiss. She made it the best one she had ever given him. They made out for all they were worth.
~*~
When Amber woke up on a bed of grass in Tomas’s arms, he kissed her tenderly and then smiled in reluctance and gestured at the sun coming up over the church.
“We should be getting back.”
She scrunched up her nose at him.
“Yeah, we probably should.”
“Are you ready?”
“I guess so.”
He got up and pulled her up, then brushed the grass off her long skirts and turned around so she could brush the grass off his kilt.
“We'll have plenty more opportunities to do this.”
“You had better stick to that promise,” she said in a teasing way, because experience with men told her they didn’t like being scolded by their women.
But he gave her a sincere look.
“I will.”
He threw his arm around her and started to walk her away from the almost-gruesome scene.
But on impulse, she went and snatched up the bag of Sulis and Lachlan’s things — and found a rag inside to grab up Galdus with, then threw him in the bag as well.
Tomas reached to take the bag from her, but she smiled her best ‘I can manage’ smile, so he threw his arm over her shoulders and started them down the road with the birds chirping to greet the new day.
Naoi Deug (19)
It took two hours to walk back to Laird Malcolm's castle. Amber was relieved to find that Tomas knew the way, so they had two hours in which to plan their future together. They would stay on at the dig with Tavish and Kelsey for a month so that Amber could get Kelsey on her feet with the cataloging and such, and then Amber and Tomas would be off to Australia to learn how to run the business side of the Renaissance Fairee. It was going to be an even better future than Amber had ever dreamed it could be.
When they got close to the castle along the cliff path from Port Patrick, they heard music playing and people talking and laughing. Amber looked over at Tomas with a question in her eyes. He looked back at her and shrugged.
To Amber's shock, the first person to greet them was Tomas and Tavish's mom, Emily. Wearing her Renaissance Fairee costume — which Amber now realized must have been made in 1540 — she ran out from the castle town to grab them both together in a big hug.
“I knew ye were all right. And afore ye ask, aye, everyone here is all right as wull. Kelsey and her friends had already left for the weaver shop afore Eileen’s house was ransacked—”
But even though Amber had come to Scotland to meet up with the woma
n’s son, she couldn’t wrap her mind around seeing her old guild-mistress from the faire again after seven years of being shunned by her. She stood off, pleased that Tomas stood off with her.
“Emily? What are ye doing here?”
Emily smiled at her in a knowing way, looking at Tomas's arm around her waist with a motherly gleam in her eye. It was an accepting look. In fact it was a little teasing.
“Why, I’m here for the big occasion. Tavish and Kelsey decided tae join in on Seumas & Sasha and Albert & Eileen's double wedding and make it a triple. And ‘tis na just me who’s here. Look.”
Amber looked over toward the music to see that tables had been set up outside between the castle and the cliff. A small outdoor chapel had also been set up nearby, and a monk was standing ready with a glass of wine in his hand, smiling and tapping his feet to the music.
Half of her and Tomas’s gang of friends from the fair sat around a table together, joking and laughing: Tavish and Kelsey, of course, and also Tavish and Tomas’s aunt and uncle Vange and Peadar with their sons, who were Tomas and Tavish’s cousins: Mike, Gabe, Jeff, and John—the John who hadn’t deserted his girlfriend like all the others had, but who had broken up with Jaelle six months ago, back in their own time.
Emily caught Amber’s eye and gave her and Tomas a mischievous grin. “Maybe the two of you would like to join in and get married too?”
That did it.
Amber was on the defensive again.
But she was guarding her heart.
Marrying Tomas was what she wanted more than anything in the world. Not daring to say anything and chase him away again, she just looked at him and tried her best to show in her eyes what she was feeling inside.
He raised his eyebrows at her.
“I'm game if ye are.”
How dare he be teasing in a time like this? She went to pull away from him.
But he must have caught on to what she was thinking, and she melted into him when he took her in his arms and hugged her tight.
“I'm serious. Seven years was a long enough time tae wait tae be with ye. I want tae stop waiting. I want the rest o oor lives tae start now — and what better time tae get marrit then when my whole family is already here?”
Wait, that wasn't fair. She playfully shoved him.
“Easy for ye tae say. Yer family is all here. But what aboot my family?”
He gave her a big smile and rocked back and forth with her in his arms, from foot to foot.
She sighed and relaxed into him. He knew her so well that he had seen right through her snark and realized she was saying yes.
Soft and rational though they were, his next words made her heart soar.
“We need tae make this legal, sae we’ll dae it all again back at home where both o oor families can attend.”
They stood there grinning at each other — him in a know-it-all way and her in a you-really-are-serious way — until she grabbed him and hugged him tight.
“I’m guessing I canna get oot o it that easily, eh?”
He held her close, getting several scandalized looks from the people passing by them on the path from Port Patrick.
In sotto voice, he said, “What's their problem?”
In kind, she said, “Ye know full wull the laws against public displays o affection. Tae them, we’re criminals.”
For some reason, this struck them as hilariously funny, and they broke out in laughter just as Tomas’s dad, Dall, came over and put his arm around Emily.
Dall gathered the two of them into his hug as well, smiling with the same gleam in his eye as Emily had shown them. It said he had known all along they would get back together — and it welcomed Amber into their family. Amber’s in-laws were going to be people she knew well. That should make everything a lot smoother.
Dall had caught most of what was going on with just a glance at Tomas's arm around Amber’s waist, but he was at a loss as to what they were laughing about.
“What's sae funny?”
Emily winked at Amber.
“Tomas and Amber are gaun'ae make it a quadruple wedding.”
Meanwhile, over at the tables, Tomas’s family were calling his and Amber’s names and making noises in a blatant attempt to get them to come join in on the revelry.
Dall smiled and gestured toward the party.
“Shall we?”
Amber beamed her biggest smile at him and grabbed Tomas’s hand.
“Aye!”
They hadn’t gone far when Kelsey ran out to join them, flapping her hands like the nervous wreck she obviously was, having known this was going to be her wedding day twelve hours longer than Amber had. She crashed into Amber and hugged her, then hugged Tomas too.
“Ye live! Thank all that’s holy! What happened?”
Clutching the bag of druid stuff to her side, Amber squinted at Kelsey as she dug through the bag with one hand, looking for Galdus.
“To make a long story short, Lachlan kidnapped me, Tomas followed him, and I turned Sulis and Lachlan into ash with this dagger —”
Kelsey gasped and lunged into Amber, closing the bag tight around her hand and stopping her search. When she spoke, it was to Dall and Emily as she grabbed Amber’s hand and started dragging her toward the castle.
“We hae some aught urgent tae dae. Dinna begin the wedding withoot us.”
Amber walked along quietly until they were out of earshot from everyone.
“What is it, Kelsey?”
“You can’t keep that dagger. Someone else has an earlier claim to it, and I believe she’ll know how to keep it safe — and secret.”
At this, Amber felt rebellious. She hadn’t given a thought to keeping the dagger until now, when someone was telling her she had to give it up. Suddenly, she wanted to insist on keeping it. It was special. It spoke in her mind!
Kelsey squeezed her hand and spoke softly.
“I know it’s a special dagger, and you’re probably getting really fond of it, but it’s dangerous and distracting, and it will be much safer back here in the past, where no one knows where it is. There are those who will guess that you might have it and come after you. And if they find you with the dagger… Look, just trust me, okay? You’re better off not keeping it.” She took the bag off Amber’s shoulder and put it on her own shoulder. “You can go back to the party. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
Amber was caught between the urge to be outraged that Kelsey had grabbed the bag off her shoulder and her common sense telling her that Kelsey was right and she should run far away from any druids wanting to come after her looking for the dagger.
“Uh, no. I’ll stay with you, thank you very much.”
As she followed Kelsey and the druid bag up the spiral stairs she had climbed with Tomas only a few days ago, Amber wondered who this person was that Kelsey was so sure would be careful to guard the secret of the dagger. Was it Laird Malcolm? He was a very responsible person of course, being the laird of a castle. Or maybe it would be the laird's wife. She wouldn't be nearly as busy as Laird Malcolm, not having to run a castle. What did the lady of a castle do, anyway? Amber had seen very little of Lady Malcolm.
She and Kelsey had finished climbing the stairs and were going down the stone hallway covered in tapestries toward the… nursery?
An older lady came out to greet them. Oh, maybe she was the one. Amber studied her.
The older lady smiled.
"Kelsey! Tae what dae I owe this pleasure on yer happiest o days?"
Kelsey smiled back.
"Hello, Isabel. This is my clanswoman Amber, who will also be getting marrit today. How about that? Might we borrow Deirdre? 'Tis the custom where we coome from tae hae a young lass carry flowers in the wedding ceremony, and she would be perfect."
Isabel turned around toward where Eileen's children were playing what looked like a game of King of the Hill.
"Deirdre! Come on ower, sweeting." She turned back to Kelsey and Amber. "What a lovely tradition. I would coome doon and watch,
but these monkeys are much better off up here, and sae ye are as wull, ye ken?"
The children heard that and started making monkey noises and movements.
Kelsey laughed, and Amber joined in.
“Where on Earth did they ever see a monkey?”
Isabel looked at Amber as if she were daft.
“In the traveling menageries, o course. There hae been two coome round here since they were old enough tae remember — ah, perhaps yer clan lands are away from the sea, then, eh? I forget how much more o life we see here in a port town.”
Soon, they had taken Deirdre back down the spiral staircase and through the bottom of the castle and out the door, where they had a brief time alone before they got to the wedding party.
Kelsey stopped and turned Deirdre round and fished Galdus out of the bag still inside the rag and covertly gave him to the little girl.
"Deirdre, Galdus is yers tae keep."
The excitement in the six-year-old’s face was palpable, and Kelsey had to put her hand over Dierdre’s mouth to keep her from screaming out in joy and excitement.
"He's yers tae keep, but ye must keep him in secret. Ye must na show him tae anybody, nor even let anybody see him. Ye ken?"
Deirdre nodded, and Kelsey helped her hide Galdus under her clothes before the three of them walked back to the wedding party tables and joined their friends.
But that little Deirdre was so clever. As soon as they sat down, she had something to say.
"How am I gaun'ae be a flower lass if I dinna hae any flowers tae bring?"
Kelsey gave Amber an amazed look and then turned to Sasha.
"Will ye help Deirdre pick some flowers tae carry during the wedding ceremony?"
Deirdre got up and ran over to Sasha, who held out her arms and then hugged the little girl, and the two of them ran off together where some flowers were growing near the cliffs.
The actual wedding ceremony was over in a whirl of activity before Amber could quite get a hold of what was going on, and when they were feasting afterwards, it was all fun and laughs because the pressure was off and they could just enjoy themselves and their friends’ company.
