by Jane Stain
She just disappeared then, as if she was a character in a video game and her player had logged out.
His dreams were unremarkable after that, boring and forgettable, but the next thing he knew, he heard Kelsey’s voice in his ear at barely a whisper, and it wasn’t a dream. She was also leaning her hand on his chest, shaking him a bit. He felt her breath in his ear, warm and intimate.
“Tavish, wake up. Tavish, wake up. Wake up, Tavish.”
He opened his eyes.
There she was, even sexier in reality than she’d been in his dream. The light he could see by was coming from her flashlight, which she had trained on the floor of the cave room as she knelt by his bedside. Her face was very close.
Before he remembered what had happened between them was just a dream, he reached out and pulled her to him and kissed her, putting all his need for her into it, all the longing he had felt over the past seven years.
She returned the kiss—and to his surprise, she did so without hesitation.
He deepened the kiss, inspired by the mood that had been set in his dream.
She returned the deepened kiss for a moment, but before he could pull her into the bed with him and make last night’s dream a reality, she pulled away slightly and took a deep breath, then spoke softly, her warm brown eyes entreating him even as she grabbed his arm and started pulling him up.
“We have to get out of here. Please get up.”
He gently took the hands that she’d put on his arm and waited for her to meet his eyes again.
“Wait. How did you find me?”
She gave him one last intense moment of intimacy from her eyes, and then she helped him get up out of the bed bowl while she answered him in her soft feminine voice.
“I was in this room yesterday while I was looking for the artifact while you distracted our friends…” She pressed her lips together and swallowed. “And then I recognized it when I saw you in your dream.”
Adrenaline surged through him on hearing that, and he recognized the fear he felt. But it gradually faded. He hadn’t told her, and he certainly didn’t want to fight her, nor run from her. All he really wanted to do was pull her into the bed with him, but now he had woken up enough to remember it wasn’t safe here. He let her help him out of bed.
She turned around and went over to a spot on the wall and messed with it until she opened one of those secret doors, then turned her head back toward him.
“Come on, before Brian the Druid catches up with us!”
He followed her through the secret door and into the stone corridor, then kept looking both ways down the corridor while she closed the secret door.
“No sign of him so far.”
She got up and motioned for him to follow her, and they ran up the corridor toward the exit, speaking in hushed voices between deep breaths.
“Good. I guess he got your sword?”
“He says my sword wasn’t on me when he found me.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure if we can trust him either.”
Tavish grabbed her hand as they ran and squeezed it. She squeezed back, so he tenderly kept hold of the small part of her he could have. Not knowing was killing him though.
“So. Do you remember the rest of the dream?”
They were getting close to the exit. They could finally see the guards up there, now that they’d rounded the final corner. New guards were on duty, not Dubh and Luthais. Looking at them, she switched to Gaelic.
“Aye, I dae remember the rest o whit did pass between us this past evening.”
He felt safe from Brian the Druid now, in sight of the guards, and he slowed the two of them down to a walk while they could still speak in hushed voices without being heard. And just to make sure there’d be no misunderstanding, he switched back to English.
He knew that when the guards saw the two of them holding hands in the corridor and pausing to speak privately, word would spread throughout Laird Malcomb’s Castle. It damn well better spread, because Seumas needed to know. He needed to keep his designs off her.
He brought them to a stop and turned her to face him and looked deep into her soft brown eyes.
“Something really does pass between us, Kel. It does to me. Do you feel it too, still?”
Her eyes never left his, and she nodded.
“I never stopped feeling it, Tavish.”
“Oh Kelsey, I never did either. And I want to crush you to my chest right now. I want to hold you so bad.”
She smiled at him then, a ‘tell me about it’ smile, and squeezed his hand again.
“I know. Me too. So much…”
She started drifting into him, and he almost let her. He almost said to heck with it—but he caught himself just in time and was glad, because that scenario didn’t play out very well for her, here in the old time.
He held her hand between them, stopping her, and then gave her an apologetic smile, doing his best to promise things in the future with his eyes.
“Yeah, listen. While we have this chance to talk, we need to make a plan for finding the artifact and getting back home.”
Slowly, she started nodding, and the pressure was off their hands from her falling into him. She righted herself, asking him a question with her eyes.
“Okay.”
Oh yeah, it was definitely on once they got back. He promised that with his eyes.
“I don’t think Brian the Druid will bother us if we have Seumas and Alfred along. And Alfred’s more likely to come along if you bring Eileen. So we’ll try to arrange more outings like the one we had last night. Let’s be on the lookout for opportunities to suggest them, okay?”
She looked down at the rock floor for just a moment, as if she were searching down there for the answer to his question. She was probably just flustered because of the dream. He knew he was. But then she answered him.
“Yeah, okay. Hey, do you think we’re still going to Ireland today? Or will Malcomb cancel the trip because of the raid last night?”
He took her hand again and started them walking up toward the exit and the guards. And then he made a last comment in English before he switched back to Gaelic for their audience.
“Good thinking, that’s something we can be talking about when we come out in front of the guards. Aye, we wull be gang tae Ireland, despite the raid. Laird Malcomb doesna allow the MacDonalds tae spoil our plans.”
Còig deug
As she walked hand-in-hand with Tavish down the gray rock-and-grass road to Port Patrick and Donnell’s ship over to Ireland, Kelsey’s mind was full of the possibility of confronting Brian the Druid in his dream tonight. She had been in Tavish’s dream twice. What if she thought of Brian instead tonight? Would that work? The idea reminded her of some of the Celtic legends she’d read for class.
Tavish squeezed her hand, sending a jolt of elation straight into her heart and out to the rest of her. She squeezed his hand back.
What should she say to Brian, about keeping Tavish captive?
How much anger should she show?
On the one hand, she couldn’t appear weak, or once she met the druid again outside of the dream world, he would walk all over her. On the other hand, the only strength she had was her training and her convictions—and Tavish’s sword arm. She knew that if she bluffed, Brian would call her on it.
She pointed to a vendor cart loaded with warm sausages.
“Och Tavish, will ye get us a few o those?”
She saw another cart loaded with apples.
“Ooh, and some o those as well?”
Seumas got himself some breakfast too, and the three of them were quiet for a while, munching on their food.
They reached the crest of a hill, and she looked down into a rocky port full of blue water and a couple dozen ships. Hundreds of men in kilts of all colors moved to and fro, loading and unloading carpets from Arabia, tea and herbs from China, cotton from India, and for all she knew, gems
from Africa. Wagons and carts and their teams of horses passed her on the road, as well.
“Which ship is Donnell’s?” she asked.
Tavish pointed, but he froze in place for a moment without saying anything.
Seumas pointed then, saying, “’Tis the one wi th green sail.”
She gasped.
“Can we sail wi all thon stuff pylit on the deck? Will we na sink?”
Seumas laughed.
“Nay, ’tis not even an overly large load, lass. Come, let us hurry. Donnell has that look aboot him.”
Tavish hung back a bit when Seumas started walking down the Hill. Aw, he wanted a moment alone. Giving him a joyful smile, Kelsey hung back with him. But he didn’t look happy, and he almost painfully moved around to the other side of her and took her other hand. What was wrong? She gave him a quizzical look.
His look was stoic as he held up his other hand, calmly whispering, “Brian the Druid must have my ring.”
Seumas looked back at them.
“Will ye quit nattering on and come doon here before we raise the captain’s ire?”
Tavish raised his chin at Seumas in acknowledgment and started the two of them walking again, briskly.
“Aye, Seumas, we come.”
Kelsey tried to control her breathing, but she was hyperventilating. They couldn’t get home without Tavish’s ring. Could she get Brian to give it back to them? What would he want in exchange?
She stopped walking, resisting the tug of his hand, but not letting go.
“Let’s not go on this trip, Tavish,” she whispered. “Let’s go talk to Brian and see if we can get your ring back.”
He squeezed her hand gently, but then started walking again, bringing her along in a way that brooked no resistance.
“We canna gae against Laird Malcomb’s command, Kelsey, and thare is na time tae beg aff this errand before Captain Donnell wishes tae leave. Nay, we must gae.”
Walking as fast as she could to keep up with him—and huffing a little because of it, darn her habit of skipping the gym—Kelsey tried to reason with Tavish under her breath in English.
“But Tavish, we aren’t going to stay here, so we don’t need to worry about following Malcomb’s commands. We just need to get the ring back and find that artifact—”
He switched to sotto voice English too as he marched her along.
“If we go against his orders and then we can’t find the ring or the artifact, then we’re screwed, Kelsey. He can lock us up for the rest of our lives or even put us to death if he wants to. There is no guarantee of ‘due process of law’ in the old time.” His voice softened, and she saw a tortured look on his face. “I’m so sorry I got you into this. It’s my fault. I should have never brought you here. But please—you have to follow my lead so I can keep you safe. Promise me you will.”
She sighed and quit resisting him, instead putting all her efforts into the long strides she needed to take to keep up with him.
“Yeah, okay, I will.”
Donnell greeted them and gave them seats together, and then the crew got the ship underway. They left the relatively calm blue waters of the rocky cove and went out into the green sea.
Seumas offered Tavish his forearm, and Tavish clasped it. The two of them sat there for a moment. Seumas looked from Tavish over at Kelsey and back again.
“I’ll be watching ye, MacGregor, and if ye don’t tak care o her, I will.”
Tavish nodded, and they let go of each other’s forearms and sat amicably near each other the rest of the way, chit chatting about the other guards in the lists and their families, the stool ball game last week, how many grouse Malcomb had let them take home after the last hunting trip, and finally speculating about what they might see for sale once they reached the Irish port.
It wasn’t a large ship. There was no below deck, nowhere to get any privacy. So Kelsey didn’t say much, just half listened to Tavish and Seumas and watched the men sail the ship, which was entertainment enough for the short voyage to Ireland.
In about two hours, they docked at Port Beannchar.
Capt. Donnell went out on the dock and loudly proclaimed to the goods that he had aboard his ship. Every so often someone would stop and talk with him about prices and quantities, until he had his first customer—a wealthy looking man. The captain brought the customer aboard and showed him the vellum they had to sell.
Meanwhile, one of the crewmen had unpacked a writing desk for Kelsey to use. She sat poised with her quill in hand and the ship’s ledger open, reading the prior sums that had been done so that she would know where to put things. It was a pretty straightforward leisure, so she felt ready.
But the captain’s wealthy customer didn’t agree. His Irish Gaelic was more singsong than that of the Scots, but they understood each other fine—and so did she.
The customer came right over to Kelsey and made a mocking face at her.
“Och, playing at the sums, is the lass.”
Tavish got up from his seat next to her, but Captain Donnell gestured for him to sit back down. Tavish obeyed the order, but Kelsey could feel that he was ready to jump back up again at any moment.
When he spoke, the captain addressed his customer.
“Let us hae a wager. Ye can check her sums after we finish here. Gin she makes any mistake, then yer purchase is on the house.”
Talk about pressure. Kelsey swallowed and looked over at Tavish, who held up both of his hands palms down and move them apart slowly and smoothly. She nodded. He was right. She would be fine if she just took her time and was meticulous.
The customer threw back his head and laughed.
“A fine manner o salesmanship ye hae found. Ha! gin she be as guid at sums as ye think, then I will have bought more than I would hae otherwise. Fine an dandy, let us begin.”
The two of them walked around on the ship, discussing this pile of vellum and that pile of cow leather and how much Donnell wanted for each piece and what discount he would give for bulk and how many hides constituted bulk…
After what was probably five minutes but seemed like an hour, the customer stepped over to Kelsey and caught her eye, seeing if she was ready to take down his order. When she nodded, he began.
“I shall tak four dozen o these hides at 18 per but wi the bulk discount for four dozen. An I shall tak three dozen o these other hides at 19 per. Pack up for me 50 sheets o vellum—did ye say the vellum was 35 per? or 45 per?”
Once she had added that up and checked it three times and made Tavish surreptitiously check it three times at the same time, she at last showed it to the captain and his customer. They each took her quill and did the same sums three times before Donnell gave her a big smile and a nod.
“Verra good, my dear.” He turned to his customer.
But before Donnell could say anything, the customer was rattling off more things he would buy.
Kelsey added them all up and checked them three times and had Tavish check them three times.
The customer did his own calculations three times…
And this went on and on and on until the customer had bought everything on the ship. The crew carried it over to his ship and loaded it up for him, and then pretty much the same procedure was followed for all the merchants Donnell bought from. They had the ship emptied out and then filled up again in no time—and a large crowd of people cheered at the entertainment they had been given that day at the docks.
Before it was even time to eat the midday meal, they were finished—and Donnell’s purse was fatter than it had ever been, judging by how it bulged and how big he smiled. He blew a kiss to Kelsey and then made an announcement to everyone.
“Seumas and Tavish and Kelsey and I are going up to the toon, and we will send a meal for ye, crew.”
All the crewmen cheered.
Sia deug
Tavish did his best to enjoy the lively Irish musicians in the corner, as well as the meal Donnell generously bought them at a tavern, but he was impatient to be back
at the castle, getting his ring back. He knew Seumas and Alfred would go with him, and a few more of the guards. Brian wouldn’t stand a chance against half a dozen warriors. The druid’s underhanded methods had caught Tavish by surprise. That wouldn’t happen again.
Kelsey squeezed his hand under the table and put down her soup spoon.
“Dae ye no agree tavish, thon the underground is the most interestin part o Laird Malcomb’s castle?”
Everyone’s eyes were on him. He wiped the mutton grease off his mouth and made a face, looking to Seumas for support.
“Aw, the dungeons and docks are naught but a duty station where we dae an uncanny amount of fighting, eh Seumas?”
The large redheaded man clasped hands arm-wrestle style with Tavish on top of the table and gave him a smile so big it showed the wrinkles under his eyes.
“That be true enough of this night just past.” But then Seumas dropped Tavish’s hand and turned to Kelsey. “Aye, lass. And ‘tis a truth that all my life I hae heard o vast treasures lurking there in the underground beneath Laird Malcomb’s Castle.”
Kelsey dropped her soup spoon in the soup and sat up straight.
“I knew it. I can tell by the way the halls are sae decorated, with all those etchings.”
Captain Donnell’s face lit up with excitement, and he gestured with his piece of mutton.
“Aye, ’tis true, ’tis true. When I was but a lad, I did hae plans tae gae doon there and plunder all the treasure, ye ken.” He took a big bite and chewed it dramatically.
Everyone at the table laughed. But it was more the laugh of people who had also considered finding the treasure and keeping it for their own.
Tavish turned his head to Kelsey and gave her a look that he hoped she understood meant “What the heck are you doing? We don’t want all these people thinking about going down into the underground. And we don’t want Donnell asking to go with us. The fact that you can get into the secret doors is a secret, remember?”
She caressed his hand under the table. What did that mean? She smiled at Donnell.
“Seumas and Tavish and Alfred were kindly giving Eileen and I a tour o the underground last night when the MacDonalds sae rudely interrupted—”
