by Sky Winters
“What is this?” he asked, his face growing very red. “You're a traitor! Guards!”
Suddenly, there were two men gripping her by the wrists. The dagger fell from her hands and clattered to the stone floor of the castle, and she was pulled forcefully out of the room.
“See to it that she doesn't receive any food tonight!” Lord Lachlan raved from behind her. “She has made a mockery of me! And to think that I almost had her as a wife. A woman like that will never be wifely material! To the dungeon with her!”
He could have been quoting her ex-husband, and the blood boiled inside of her. She turned her fiery green eyes toward the man, craning her neck to get one last look at Lord Lachlan before the guards banished her down into the dungeon.
Chapter 3
The dungeon was dark and dank, like something Sadie had seen in a movie about medieval times. She was tossed onto the floor hard, with only a few threads of hay to cushion the blow. She sat up, rubbing her scraped elbows, suddenly realizing that there was no way this was a joke. Somehow, she would have to start believing that it was real. Whether she liked it or not, this was really happening to her, and she was just going to have to deal with that.
“Oh, company. Thanks, gentlemen,” a man's low, playful voice rang out from the opposite corner of the dungeon. “You all right, love?”
The man rose and walked slowly toward her, as if doing his best not to scare away a wild animal.
“I've gone through worse,” she said, though the words felt hollow. She wasn't sure if it was true, but she didn't want the stranger to think she was soft. He was still half hidden in the shadows, and it wasn't until he moved into the torchlight that she could make out his features.
Her first thought was that he was stunning – this was the kind of man you only saw on television or in calendars made for women with too much time on their hands. He was bare-chested, his rippling muscles marked with fading blue war paint, in a design that was familiar, but from where she couldn't bring to mind. He was wearing a tartan kilt around his waist, revealing the muscular V-line leading to the forbidden area, barely concealed by the plaid cloth.
She let her eyes roam up to his face, which she wasn't able to make out until he came much closer. He had long, curling sandy blond hair, sweeping down his broad back in wisps. His eyes were gentle and friendly, though she had the feeling that it wouldn't take much to reveal an animalistic instinct lying just beneath the surface. In the dark, it was hard to make out their color, but she had a feeling they were light, maybe blue, or an ocean green.
He offered his wide hand to her, engulfing her pale hand as he lifted her to her feet to face him.
“First time in a dungeon?” he asked casually. His voice lilted with a teasing Scottish accent. She had heard them all her life and never thought much of them, but the way this man formed his words brought the words to life with a lilt that nearly drove her off the edge. She hadn't known any man whose lips could make words sound so powerfully sexy.
“You could say that,” she replied, letting her hand drop from the warmth of his. She suddenly shivered. It was cold in the dungeon.
“Here, take this,” the man said, turning away from her. He returned briefly to the corner where he had been lounging when she'd arrived and came back, holding a threadbare potato sack. “I’ve been using it to keep m'self warm, least I did when I first arrived. Used to the place now; the sorry old bugger is going to pay for this. Anyway, best you use it before you catch your death.”
He handed her the potato sack, cut at the seams into a makeshift blanket. She sat down in the corner of the room and shivered beneath it.
“Don't worry, lass. It'll be all right. My name's James. You look well smart; I'm sure we'll figure a way out of this together.”
His broad face brightened with a smile that made her heart thud in her chest. She'd never been paid any attention by a man of such impressive aesthetic beauty; there were none of that description in the small town where she grew up and lived out her life. She was sure he was an actor. A good one, but still, an actor nonetheless. Someone was joking with her, but it was someone a lot more sinister than her cousins. She would have to get herself out of this somehow. It was cruel to put her in such a small room with such an unbelievably attractive man. She sighed and leaned her head against the brick wall.
“My name's Sadie,” she said softly.
“Are you telling me you’re Lachlan's fiancée?” He looked at her in awe, as if she were a celebrity. “Why would he put you down here?”
“He tried to make an advance on me...I panicked and pulled a knife on him.”
James gave a loud burst of laughter and curled over, slapping his hands together. “Atta girl!” he exclaimed. “You're a feisty one then! Good for you, lass. I bet he didn't like that much.”
“I'm here, aren't I?”
“That you are,” James acknowledged. “Well, like I said, not to worry. A woman like you will surely be able to get herself out of anything.”
“I don't know about that,” she said, taking the necklace in her hands and fingering it. She sighed deeply. Even if this wasn't a joke, all she wanted was to go back home, where things were boring and predictable and safe. Whatever was happening to her now was going to make her lose her mind if she had to endure too many more surprises.
“Where did you get that necklace, lass?” His face was suddenly serious, and he was peering at it intently.
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you,” she sighed. “Unless you are just an actor. If you are, you should tell me now.”
He looked at her blankly. “A what?”
She laughed. “Come off it already.”
“Is that like a wizard? Mischief maker? Because I certainly am a mischief maker.”
He beamed proudly. “That's why I'm here.”
“Never mind,” she said, ignoring his dazzling smile.
“No, lass. Sorry to make light of your plight. Please, tell me what's on your mind. I'll listen.”
She studied him. His handsome face seemed sincere, and she sighed. What would it hurt to tell this man the truth? It was crazy and unbelievable, but so were so many things.
“Well, I think...It really does sound ridiculous, are you sure you won't laugh at me?”
He put his hand over his heart. “May the wisps take my soul if I'm lying.”
She raised her eyebrow and sighed deeply. “I don't know how I got here. It's like I'm in another time. This necklace you're asking about, I put it on while I was taking a tour of this castle...The one we're in, I mean. I was here, but in the future, when it's all dilapidated and old. People don't live here anymore. None of these bricks are new, none of the furniture...everything is old and used up. But after I put this necklace on, I felt like I was...I don't know. And then I woke up here and everything is new again. I think I went back into the past.”
James nodded solemnly, looking at her, then past her, as if lost in his own thoughts.
“I know there are things in the world that are unexplainable,” he said. “I'll help you figure out what's going on. But only if you'll do something for me in return.”
“What's that?” she asked, her heart thudding. She was sure she sounded like a lunatic. But James took it all in stride, and he seemed to accept what she was saying.
“Help me find a way out of this place. It might be easier with someone else on my side now. If we get out, I swear I will help you however I can.”
She looked into his clear eyes, her heard thudding hard in her throat. “Okay, James. I'll help you.”
A dimple pierced his cheek, and she suddenly believed him. Everything was going to be all right.
Chapter 4
When dinner was served, a single tray was pushed toward James before the door was closed loudly. Sadie's stomach rumbled, but she made no mention of her hunger.
“Hey, why doesn't the lass get any supper?” James asked, banging the bars loudly with his wooden spoon.
“Lord Lachlan's orders.
Now shut up and eat before we take your food away, too,” the guard replied.
“Well, that doesn't seem right,” James murmured to himself, turning away from the guards. “Here, lass, take mine. I already ate today.”
He pushed the plate toward her.
“No, please don't do that,” she said. She couldn't tell how long he had been down there, but it was surely longer than she had been.
“It's all right, I'm not exactly skin and bones,” he said, thumping one of his hard pectoral muscles with a macho grin.
“Oh jeez,” she said. “All right.”
“Good lass,” he said. “Now sit next to me, pretend to be begging me for food or something. And I'll be all cold like I'd never share with a woman like you, royal snob.”
“Begging you?” she asked, raising her eyebrow.
He grinned boyishly.
“You'd like that, wouldn't you?”
“That's beside the point,” he said. “We have to make them think we can't stand each other. It's all part of my plan.”
“How do you know I can’t stand you?” she teased. He laughed and winked at her.
She felt herself blushing and looked down at the ground.
“That's how,” he said. “Now quick, look like you're really hungry.”
“I am really hungry!”
“Great, you'll look the part then!”
She tried to repress her smile and did as he ordered. The guards walked past their cell, talking in low murmurs, glancing in at them. She took it as her cue to beg, and he took a bite of his dinner, a gloating grin on his face. When the guards were gone, he fed her a few bites until they returned and they resumed their little game.
“Why should we hate each other?” Sadie asked softly as she chewed.
“Well, if the guards think we're miserable together, they'll keep us together and laugh about it. We'll have time to plan, and I think...”
A guard passed and James said, “Bugger off!” loudly, taking another spoonful into his mouth and chewing pointedly. “Just because you're royalty doesn't mean I owe you the skin off me back!”
Even though he was joking, it stung a little to be spoken to like that, but as soon as the guards were out of earshot he gave her a wink that instantly made her feel better.
“Besides that, we can create a diversion. Get their attention, you know, so we can get out of here once and for all. Soon as I have the key, we're home free. Would you mind doing something a bit improper?”
“That depends,” she said, taking the big wooden spoon into her mouth. The spoon itself tasted old and moldy, but she tried to ignore it.
“I need you to flirt with the guards. The big one passing by in a bit, specifically. The best way to get away with something is to distract them. When their attention is elsewhere, as it surely will be if a lady such as yourself were to pay attention to one of them, little old me will be invisible. Once I get the keys, you'll see, I can get us out of here safely, no matter how many guards are out there. I just can't be stuck in here like a caged bear.” His features darkened, and he seemed lost in his own thoughts.
Sadie's mind wandered back to the castle tour, where she had seen a painting of a group of men fighting against three unbelievably large bears. She thought the artist had a love of exaggeration, but the unlikely possibility that it actually happened would probably have resulted in the group of men being massacred. James' voice broke through her thoughts and she forgot about the painting.
“Can you do that, lass, or is it against your upbringing?” he said the last part as a tease, but she could tell that he would have respected her had it been the case.
“Sometimes you just have to flirt with a terrible man to get yourself out of a dungeon,” she said with a shrug.
James laughed and gave her an approving nod. “It's all part of war, I'm afraid. And getting that man's mind on his trousers will be just the thing we need. We should wait until nightfall though. It's just the one lad for guard duty and it will make our jobs easier. No one will be watching him, and I can pretend to be asleep.”
“All right, James.”
James gave her a comforting smile, and she wondered if he liked the way his name rolled off of her lips as much as she liked everything that brushed his.
They finished their meal, and he leaned back against the cold stone wall. “I expect my blanket back by nightfall!” he exclaimed loudly. “I didn't know I was bunked with such a wench.”
She was ready this time. “You call this a blanket, you rat? It's just a tattered bag. Get over yourself.”
They heard the guards cackling to themselves further down the corridor and smiled at each other. Now all they had to do was wait around for nightfall.
Chapter 5
Although it was fun to pretend they hated each other, it left Sadie feeling guilty. She had never spoken unkindly to anyone before, so she wasn't sure she would be any good at it. In the time they had alone, she told this to James and he grinned.
“Do you have someone in your life you can't stand?”
“Actually I do,” she said, and told him all about her ex-husband and what he had done to her.
James' face grew dark as he listened. “You deserve better than that,” he said decidedly. “But I have an idea. And maybe this will help you feel better – just say to me what you wish you could say to him. Don't be afraid to hurt me, I'll just laugh about it. And maybe you'll be able to put it behind you, eh lass?”
“Are you sure?” Sadie asked. “I have a lot of angry thoughts about that little maggot.”
“All the better!” he exclaimed. “Give me your worst!”
He seemed eager enough, and delighted by the idea. It was hard to let him down. She wouldn't want to know what his bright face looked like when it had fallen into darkness. She was sure he was capable of fierceness.
“If you're sure. It might be weird at first. But all right, let's try that.”
Sadie didn't know she could enjoy thinking up so many insults, and the mock, wounded faces he gave her were hysterical. She had to hold in her laughter for fear of the guards catching on. Once, she even slipped up, and she had to cover it up by pretending that she was sobbing.
“Oh, I wish I never met you! Or Lord Lachlan, or anybody! Won't somebody get me out of here?!”
James nodded his approval, an impressed expression on his face. She grinned, laughing quietly to herself as a guard's voice echoed down the hall.
“Nobody here who's going to help you, wench. Now quiet down!”
James and Sadie vibrated with inaudible laughter, hiding their faces into the walls. If she knew the dungeon could be this fun, she would have pulled the knife on Lord Lachlan sooner.
***
Finally, night began to fall and the amount of shuffling through the corridors decreased. The voices stopped shouting, and the constant clanking became a soft shuffling and the gentle metal rattle of keys clamoring against each other. James gave her the signal, and she moved to the front of the cell, close to the bars where the guards would sit during the night time hours to keep an eye on things. Sadie and James were the two main prisoners, so instead of staying outside the cells of a drunkard or a raving madwoman, shouting slurs against the crown and Lord Lachlan, claiming they were cursing her and all deserved to die, the guard would surely perch there between his rounds.
James leaned against the wall, his head slumped down into his chest. He let it drop and breathed gently. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn his act was the real thing, and that somewhere he was off in his own head, perhaps dreaming about the future as she was dreaming of the past. She took the chance to study him in the torch light. Her eyes had adjusted to the dimness of the dungeon, and now he was illuminated to her enough that she could gaze upon him properly.
He was just as handsome as her first impression of him, and she allowed her gaze to secretly roam the gentle slopes of his muscles and the war paint that was beginning to peel off his torso. She longed to touch it, to help him
peel and scrub it off of himself, or at the least to have its texture under her fingertips, her palms against his warm chest. She tried not to think too much about that and simply shivered. He had taken his potato sack blanket back by force, though she knew he was acting. When she had asked him again why it would be helpful for the guards to think she hated him, he gave a soft laugh.
“Everyone hates me around here. It wouldn't be proper for us to be getting along. Do you think the guard would want his stallion in a Highlander lover? I'm here because I'm exactly the kind of man Lord Lachlan can't stand. I uphold my beliefs and protect my kind. I cause trouble in his kingdom. He captured me and kept me here so he can execute me himself just before or right after he married you. Apparently that's the only way he'd be able to get his rocks off on his wedding night.”
