Sacrifice

by Heather McCollum

  The little girl pouted. “I want to skate now.” With that, her little arms rose in the air. “Colder,” she demanded. A whistling sound of wind shrieked around the outside of the castle.

  Alicia gasped. “Sarah!” She ran over and scooped the child up.

  Kailin looked at William. “I am guessing that Matilda’s daughter has a dragonfly birthmark somewhere on her.”

  William nodded. “But she’s shown no sign of powers.”

  “Until now,” Anna said. “Sarah, did you make the blizzard yesterday?”

  The little girl’s lip protruded, and her eyes glittered with tears. Even at four years old, she knew she’d done something she shouldn’t. Bravely, she nodded.

  “One mystery solved,” Drustan murmured.

  “Stop making it so cold, Sarah,” Alicia scolded and set her back down.

  “But I want to skate,” Sarah insisted. “With Aunt Anna.”

  Anna gathered her skirts to squat down again. “You could hurt people and animals. The bunnies aren’t ready for winter yet. They must be freezing out there in the cold.”

  The girl’s lower lip quivered, and a tear swelled out of her eye to tumble down her cheek. “I don’t want to hurt the bunnies.”

  William rubbed his head like it ached. “Bundle her up and take her outside,” he said to Alicia. “Out in it, she’s less likely to make it unbearably cold. Then Matilda will have to talk with her.” He looked at his grandniece. “No more snow and ice, Sarah.”

  Another tear rolled down her cheek. “Aye, sir,” she whispered.

  A stomping of feet came from the entryway. “Brrr, it’s cold enough to freeze Scarlet Fever right out of someone,” said Winston Murdock as he strode briskly into the great hall. He stopped, realizing everyone was looking at him, and then continued on to where Sarah held Alicia’s hand. He chucked Sarah under her chin. “Where is your mother? She will certainly make it all better.”

  Anna cleared her throat. “Matilda is assisting at a birth in the village.”

  “Still?” Winston asked, his gaze moving around the small crowd. If he wondered why they were all standing with morose expressions, he didn’t ask. He turned back to Anna. “She’s been there all night. Perhaps we should offer her our help, now that you’re found and seemingly well?” he said, a question in the observation.

  “Yes,” Anna answered.

  “Right then, good, all is well,” he said, eyed Drustan’s frown and turned. “Shall we go find Lady Matilda?” His gaze fell on Kailin and Jackson, and he bobbed his head. “Pardon the intrusion.”

  “Dr. Winston Murdock,” Anna said. “This is Dr. Kailin Black and her husband Jackson Black from the United States. They are cousins to the Macleans.”

  His eyebrow rose. “Doctor of Medicine?”

  “Doctor of Archeology, Egyptian antiquities,” Kailin answered.

  “Fascinating,” Winston said and grabbed his chin like Anna had seen him do a thousand times at the hospital. Behind him, Sarah’s light sobs grew louder. He glanced back. “Heavens, what could be the problem to require such outpouring.”

  Sarah raised her red eyes to him. “I’m freezing bunnies.”

  Anna opened her mouth, ready to give some justification or explanation when the patter of rain began to hit them. Glancing upward, she could see a fog of cloud cover forming in the vaulted ceiling of the great hall. Good God!

  Winston peered upward. “Seems you have a leak, Laird.” His brows furrowed as he squinted.

  Anna watched Kailin shift away from Jackson and a small warm breeze blew through the room, scuttling the thin layer of clouds.

  “Perhaps a raspberry tart for the child,” Drustan said.

  “Alicia, take Sarah to the kitchens,” William said.

  Patricia stood with her hands clasped; fingers pointed up before her lips, eyes wide. “And be sure to tell Matilda about her daughter’s…talents for getting into trouble,” she said as Alicia whisked Sarah out of the room. Patricia leaned into Anna. “And here I thought you were an odd sort of child, always fixing animals and children around the neighborhood. At least you didn’t make it rain indoors.” The last came out in a tiny hiss of a whisper.

  Drustan studied her. “I would like to hear of your childhood.”

  “You should have someone check that out,” Winston said to William.

  Winston picked a hot bun off a trencher that Helen had left and stroked butter along its side. He took a bite, chewed, swallowed, and then looked at Kailin. “Have you just arrived?”

  She exhaled with a small smile. “An hour ago.”

  Winston sat near her. “Then you traveled through the snow storm?” When she nodded Winston produced a dramatic shiver.

  “We were warm and delivered safely,” she said.

  “You should eat,” Drustan said into Anna’s ear, causing shivers as his warm breath fanned against her skin. Anna took a seat and half a bun, though her stomach was a jumble of tight knots. Patricia sat down at the end of the table and poured herself some tea as if everything was normal, even though normal had been obliterated, possibly forever.

  “I have found that everything about Scotland is more severe,” Winston said. He glanced toward Drustan but quickly moved to Anna. “It is much more civilized down in London. Although,” he drew out, his eyebrows raised high. “The rugged beauty in the land is breathtaking. And the history.” He shook his head. “So passionate.” He smiled at Kailin. “It’s as if I could hear ghosts yelling their battle cries when we rode through the mountain passes.” Patricia’s teacup rattled in its saucer.

  Winston looked down at his bun to spread more freshly churned butter as he continued in the stilted silence. “Certainly, if there were to be a battle of grand proportions, it should be done right here, framed by mountains and stones.” He took a bite and chewed while everyone stared, unmoving.

  ****

  “I need some time away from everyone’s insistent thoughts that I’m going to end the world,” Drustan said. “And if Winston continued to fondle his roll while contemplating how best to butter you up, I very possibly would have slipped and killed the man.”

  “So, we are picnicking to save the life of a renowned cardiologist,” Anna summed up.

  “And I would prefer to read my sister’s journals without everyone watching me read her journals,” he said with a glance at the cart trailing behind them. The picnic basket Helen put together sat on the two-wheeled cart along with a stack of Kailin’s journals and a folded wool blanket. The cart rolled and pitched over the slushy terrain. Its arms stuck out where they should have been attached to a mule, but instead they hovered in the air, propelled by Drustan’s magic.

  Anna shook her head. “I suppose it is less bizarre than having the books and basket float in the air.”

  Drustan turned to walk backward, the gentle breeze at his back. It blew the appealing curls that had escaped Anna’s braid back from her face. He watched her stride amongst the tall brown grasses that poked up through the melting snow. Even with the uneven ground she walked firmly, shoulders back.

  She tucked a beautifully errant strand behind her ear as she reached into the cart to grab a flask of wine. “Why are you watching me?”

  “I like to,” he said. “You are lovely in motion.”

  She uncorked the top. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been complimented so thoroughly, since as living creatures, we are always in motion.”

  “And you are always lovely.”

  “You are wooing me?” she asked and took a sip. A slight smile softened her mouth, yet her eyes were still guarded, as they’d been during Kailin’s argument.

  “I but speak the truth.” Her gaze softened slightly. Could he make her happy with simple words and spoken truths? No, something as precious as Anna’s happiness could never be won so easily. And he wanted her filled with joy more than…perhaps more than anything. Was that love? How would he know?

  He faced forward as she handed him the flask, her cool fingers grazing his hand
. At once, the cart pitched forward. He spun and caught the cart with his magic.

  “You make me feel powerful,” Anna said as they walked on. “One touch and everything you do falls apart.” Her face sobered. “Do you suppose that’s why Semiazaz doesn’t want me near you?”

  Just the name of the wizard soured the warming day. “I’m sure he has several reasons.” Drustan took several swallows of the sweet, cool wine before returning it to the cart.

  Semiazaz had apparently hidden many things from him. Drustan might never discover all the demon-leader’s strategies, but the more Drustan played through their conversations spanning years, the more he realized how maneuvering the wizard had been, much like what Kailin had said so bluntly at Kylkern.

  They left the relatively smooth moor to wind through the forest toward a spot Drustan frequented when he contemplated approaching Kylkern. He used his magic to lift the cart a foot off the ground so it could traverse the incline scattered with old knobby roots. Kailin held her skirt in one hand and climbed without complaint.

  “I would help you, but one touch and our picnic would meet a sorry fate,” he said.

  “I have no problem climbing. I just wish women’s clothing was less hindering.”

  “We will send for a woman’s bicycle costume,” Drustan said.

  “The bloomer suit?” Anna laughed.

  “I hear the suit is becoming popular in progressive cities,” he said, marveling at the deep, melodic sound of Anna’s laugh. It was beautiful in a husky, honest way, so very unlike the high twittering of the girls he’d heard giggling in town. “And I believe my sister, Kailin, has some men’s trousers that she wears when on expedition.”

  “I’d love to talk to her about her discoveries,” Anna said. “Mummies and sarcophagi.”

  “I have heard she is claustrophobic,” he said as they came to a stream that flowed with melting snow. It gurgled and surged over and around boulders.

  “Yet she explores tombs?”

  “Right now they are exploring the wide open plains in the States, but I’m sure she has some stories.” He halted the cart, settling it in a shaded patch that still held slush. “This is the spot.”

  Anna looked around. “It’s lovely here.” The colorful trees were still shedding their leaves. With each swirl of breeze a shower of red, orange, and yellow fluttered down.

  He stepped up to her. “There was a lot of ugliness discussed today, and I wanted to show you something of beauty.” He stared into her eyes, so clear and green.

  “All you have to do is tell them that you won’t aid Semiazaz in cutting the threads they talked of,” she said. “Tell them you won’t destroy the world.” She shook her head gently. “That they have nothing to fear from you. That you will do what is right.”

  Such earnest emotion sat in her face, the slight bending of her brows, how she rested her teeth momentarily on the pink flesh of her bottom lip. His hands cupped her shoulders gently. “My whole life, Anna, from the time I was a week old, I’ve been told that the right thing to do is to cut the temporal threads that make us slaves to time.” He needed her to understand. He turned to look out at the falling leaves. “Whenever I wanted my mother, whenever I wished to know my sisters, my father, Semiazaz would remind me that once we have power of time, all would be well. That together we would fix the wrongs of the past.”

  “The wrongs that Semiazaz and his demons caused,” Anna said.

  Drustan turned to face her. “Yes. He says he wishes for those wrongs to be righted as well.”

  Anna sat on a boulder near the stream, her hands fisted in her lap. “So his plan is to cut only certain threads. How does that even work? What type of power must one have to change something so fundamental to reality?”

  Drustan slid his hands into his trouser pockets. “There is an amulet that Drakkina possesses. The amulet’s mate is an orb of great power, which I believe Jackson Black now keeps.”

  “Kailin’s husband?”

  “Yes. If the demons defeat Drakkina and reclaim both items, their linked power will be enough to sever the ones we choose.”

  She shook her head and looked down. “The questions I have are multiplying.”

  Drustan walked over and bent before her. He pulled one of her fragile hands from her lap to hold. “I’ll answer all I can.”

  She looked at him. “I think Semiazaz is hiding things from you. And the thought of all those people, people who are long dead and resting wherever they rest, coming back just for you or those demons to kill them again…” She closed her eyes as if horrors played through her mind. She blinked open, her eyes slightly glassy with conviction. “The end does not justify the means. You cannot hurt all those people to bring back a few or to make your life something that it is not.”

  “Isn’t there someone you want back, someone you lost?” he asked.

  “My mother,” she said. “She had cancer several years ago, a kind that traveled within her bones. Her death was agonizing, and I miss her every day.”

  “I would bring her back for you,” he said, willing her to understand.

  She shook her head. “Read Kailin’s journals, Drustan. Hear her side of Semiazaz’s plan. Then you will know why I don’t want you to bring my mother back to me.”

  He looked down at the pebbles glinting in the sunlight where the snow had melted away. He felt the coolness of Anna’s hand touch his face, and he looked up. “You have so much power, Drustan. You have to be absolutely sure about what you do before you use it. Anything else would be careless and possibly barbaric and horrifying. All of which you are not.”

  He breathed, soaking in her words with her touch. “Then what am I?” His whole life he’d been told with insults, jeers, and hateful looks that he was cursed and evil. Until he’d met Anna, he’d resigned himself to playing his part and trying to make the best of a new life he could create.

  Anna stared into his eyes, her little hand along his jaw. She leaned into him. “You are good, Drustan. Your heart holds kindness. Your intentions are honorable. You need to break away from Semiazaz and his whisperings.”

  His voice was low as he spoke his darkest fear. “What if I am nothing but those whisperings?”

  Her face moved closer to his. “You are so much more.”

  He breathed in her scent, felt her warmth, reveled in the sound of her words, the inflection of her voice. “Then wake me up inside, Anna. Save me from the monster I am becoming.”

  She stepped closer into the circle of his arms, and Drustan’s heart leapt. She didn’t despise him, even after everything she’d heard in the great hall. He caught her beautiful face in his open hands and marveled at the lovely blue flecks in her green eyes and the light sprinkling of freckles on her nose. Long lashes blinked up at him. “Anna, I swear I can’t imagine harming you.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “What Kailin said—”

  “Hasn’t happened,” she finished. “You can stop it from happening.”

  “I swear I will,” he said.

  Drustan leaned down, capturing her lips in a heated, desperate kiss, sealing his oath, willing it to be true and binding. His hands slid to span the gentle sway of her back, pulling her in to completely encircle her frame. She tasted of the sweet wine and warm promises and faith, faith in him. She slanted against his mouth, and he groaned low at the rush of sensation through his body. The edges separating them melted into one as they kissed beside the stream.

  Drustan lifted Anna, breaking the kiss. He leaned her back against the boulder where the sun shone down, washing her in golden glory. He let go of her for the briefest of seconds while he focused his magic on spreading the red woven blanket behind him on the forest floor.

  He leaned over, bracing his arms around her. Upon contact, the outside world vanished to him, his senses only that of a normal man. He exhaled in relief, his mind completely engrossed in Anna and his response to her nearness.

  She kissed him back with fervor. He stroked her arm and slid his f
ingers across her neckline. Anna’s pulse tapped like the rapid beat of a drum under his fingertips. Drustan captured her hand in his, threading their fingers and pulled her gently down to the blanket. Slowly he leaned her back and lay next to her, stroking the curls back from her face.

  She stared up at him with clear, open eyes. “I want to forget about demons and dark wizards. Forget about the end of the world, forget about worry and impossible outcomes.” She touched the side of his face, and he turned his nose to brush her palm. “At least for a little while.”

  He kissed the sensitive skin. “An easy wish to grant,” he murmured and moved to her parted lips. Hands ran along fabric edges, unbuttoning and sliding clothing out of the way until the softness of naked flesh came together. Drustan couldn’t stop touching her smooth skin. He stroked down the side of her breast to her hip, capturing that sexy curve as if claiming if for his own.

  He caressed lower, and Anna moaned as he touched her heat. “You make my blood race,” she murmured.

  Her face was flushed, and he kissed her fluttering eyelids, then let them open to stare into his own. “Anna,” he breathed and kissed her lips. “You make me more human than I’ve ever been. You make me something when I have always been nothing.”

  She shook her head, and he noticed a small tear at the corner of her eye, but then his body moved over hers, and her words were lost as they joined. Their heat and scent wove together until there seemed no start and no end of each other, but an entirely new being made of the two. Cushioned by the warm blanket over moss, with the bright rays of sunlight bathing them, Drustan poured all his want and devotion into loving Anna. And even without the cutting of a temporal thread, time seemed to stop. Without the constant battle to control his magic, Drustan focused only on the beautiful woman before him, losing the worry of the world. No demons or strategies or Armageddon, only Anna and touch and devotion and possibly…love.

  Chapter Fourteen

  11 May 1893

  I met again with Drakkina and am increasingly alarmed at what she sees in her scrying bowl, as it seems the final battle will occur soon. Almost all scenarios prophecized show us losing. Semiazaz and his twelve demons have control over my brother. If they influence him to triumph over our forces, I fear he will. Drustan does not know us, his sisters, our families. What would stop him from killing us when we stand in his way? I pray that his heart is not set against us, or I fear for all mankind.