Grace Unchained

by Heather Walker

  “She had a charmed life,” the girl replied. “She had a loving family who adored her. She always talked about her childhood and how much she loved stories and make-believe. She said she always wanted to go into the stories and see dragons and witches and fairies and all that stuff. She never lost her charm.”

  Grace pulled the car into the garage. She yanked the emergency brake and faced the girl. “Go on inside and make yourself at home. I’ve got to go out for a while. I can’t tell you when I’ll be back, but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”

  “Thanks.”

  Grace stuck out her hand. “I’m Grace. What’s your name?”

  “Nora,” she replied. “Nora Patrick.”

  Grace smiled. “Nice to meet you, Nora. I’ll see you later.”

  Chapter 14

  Jamie glanced back over the dell. No sign of the doorway remained through which he passed from Grace’s world to here. What was she doing right now?

  He set off down the dell for the village. He had to move fast before the giants came back. He had no way of knowing how long he’d been gone. The giants might have already slaughtered the whole Clan while he was kissing Grace.

  He got to the village and made his way to Jock’s house. He lifted aside the straw mattress of Jock’s bed. Underneath, he found a wooden trapdoor embedded in the hard soil. He strained and sweated until he opened it. He went down the wooden ladder into Jock’s underground cellar. Jamie narrowed his eyes to catch a glimpse of anything in the gloom.

  He groped his way along high shelves piled with stuff. He found the racks of weapons and got down a powerful battle axe. It wasn’t the biggest, but it felt right in his hands. He collected a pair of dirks and a lance. He probably wouldn’t need them, but they couldn’t hurt.

  He left the cottage, closed the trapdoor, and set off up the brae into the mountains. He had one stop to make before he went deep into the craggy peaks in search of his relatives. He hiked up the narrow valleys until he found an overgrown road. He had to hack his way through with his saber, but pretty soon, he came upon an iron gate locked with a chain.

  He rattled the chain, and it crumbled to powder in his hands. How long had it been sitting here, unused? This gate was never locked in the past. The villagers must have locked it to stop anybody entering.

  Jamie pried the gate open and slipped through. He picked his way through mossy woods. He couldn’t see the road anymore. He couldn’t see anything. He didn’t recognize any landmarks.

  He almost conceded he was hopelessly lost when he spotted the old stone well. The windlass still stood over it, but the roof tumbled sideways and rotted on the ground next to the stone wall.

  Jamie paused to gaze down into the well. His reflection stared back at him from the silver ring far below, exactly the way he remembered it. He turned his back to it and looked down into a large hollow crowded to bursting with trees, vines, stumps, and ferns. His heart froze in his chest.

  The castle where he grew up used to occupy that hollow. Now that he found the well, he saw features he recognized. A low broken wall cut across to the left where the stable used to be. An iron block rusted in the open. That used to be Jamie’s father’s forge.

  Jamie dared not go near the place. What could have leveled such a huge castle to the ground? Some force beyond human comprehension destroyed this place and left it as food for the wood grubs.

  Now he understood why Jock had reacted the way he did to Jamie’s suggestion that he would bury Grace’s husband here. This land, the place Jamie held sacred in his heart all these hard months, lay silent as a grave. Not even the ghosts would haunt it anymore.

  Jamie straightened up. He had to find out what happened to this place. He couldn’t go back to Urlu and tell his brothers about this until he understood. He settled his weapons in their places and set off. He left the gate and made his way back to the valley.

  He found the main path leading upwards, and the sun evaporated the chill off his heart. He faced the future with his usual jaunty air, but he couldn’t forget. He would find Jock and pick his brain. He would give the old man no peace until he told Jamie the secret.

  He hiked all day. By the time the sun sloped behind the western peaks, he still hadn’t reached the wing. He sat down on a high rock to watch the sun go down. He forgot to bring any food from the village, but he cinched his belt a notch tighter and pushed his hunger out of his mind.

  He surveyed the valleys far and wide. Jock made the right decision bringing the people up here. Even if Piper couldn’t protect them with magic, at least Jock and his men would see the giants coming a long way off.

  The sun shot its rays over the countryside. Jamie loved this land from his boyhood, but he never suspected it harbored so many hidden forces he would just as soon forget. He would never look at it the same way again.

  All these months, he traveled back here in his mind. He took refuge here from all his nightmares. He held this place as the one safe zone in all the world where ghouls and wraiths and devils could never get him.

  He was a naïve boy when Angus led him away from his home. He wanted to believe the curse followed them to Urlu and left Kinlochleven in peace. Now he knew otherwise. Some part of it lingered here. It did something, not to the village, but to his family lands. It wiped out all trace of his family after the brothers left.

  Carmen believed the curse worked retroactively. It worked all the way back in time to the moment when Jamie’s ancestor turned his back on paying the Phoenix Tribute. That’s what got the Urlus cast out in the first place.

  If Hazel’s spell hadn’t cursed the Camerons to begin with, Jamie and his brothers and his father would never have been living in Kinlochleven at all. They would have stayed in Urlu. Their very presence here was part of the curse.

  The sun sank out of sight. Jamie lay down on the rock and watched the sky turn different colors until the stars appeared. The wind dusted the peaks and chilled him, but he stayed where he was. He wanted to take this time to think things over. He would probably never get another chance like this.

  He closed his eyes and dreamed about Grace. Every road led back to her. The castle disappeared along with every trace of his old life, but that only bothered him because he was alone.

  If he went back to Urlu and told his brothers the castle was gone, none of them would care much. They wouldn’t care because they’d made new lives for themselves in Urlu. Each one had the woman of his heart. They didn’t need the past.

  Jamie was alone without Grace here by his side. If he won her and took her back to Urlu, he wouldn’t care about the castle, either. He could let it all go and be happy in his new life.

  She wasn’t here, though. She hadn’t given him her heart. She still dwelt with one foot in each world. For all he knew, she always would.

  How could he love a woman who belonged to another time? None of the other women went back and forth at will. So Hazel went back with Fergus, but she returned to Urlu and stayed there. Same with Carmen. Neither of them went back since. He shook those thoughts out of his mind. He hadn’t won Grace—not by a long way.

  He rolled over on his side. The rock bit into his hip, but he only curled into a ball to sleep. He’d spent too many nights in luxury back at Angus’s castle. He needed to harden up to face what was coming.

  A low rumble vibrated up through the rock into his very bones. He jolted upright, but when he scanned the landscape, he saw no sign of the giants. The night deepened, but the moon rose above the hills. It climbed huge and yellow over the landscape and filled the world with its light. Still he saw no giants.

  In front of his eyes, a massive flock of winged shapes burst out from behind a mountain. They exploded into the night sky squeaking and fluttering. They filled the sky and flapped across the moon on their way south. What were they?

  Jamie’s mind raced. They couldn’t be part of the curse. They came from the north and went south, opposite to the giants’ course. They flew over his head and disappeared int
o the night.

  He stood tense and watchful for hours, but he saw nothing more he considered strange. The night returned to its peaceful, silent self. He sat down on the rock, but he couldn’t relax into sleep. He’d never wished for Hazel and Fergus’s power before, but he would give anything to understand these forces closing in on him.

  He shivered. He was alone against all these magical mysteries. He couldn’t face them again without help. Not even Grace could help him against the giants.

  He thought the matter over all night long. One thing he knew. He couldn’t defeat the giants without magic. They’d started as four. Then they increased to fifteen. How many would it be the next time? All the demons released by the curse increased to overpowering proportions. Only the spell could defeat them.

  He rose long before dawn. The sooner he got on his way, the better for everybody. He trekked down the long dales into the trackless wilderness. He climbed another mountain until he came in sight of a curved ridge connecting it to another peak far away. It extended away from that summit and trailed off north like a bird’s wing.

  He let out a heavy sigh. He was here. He only regretted traveling so far away from the village. If Grace came through, she wouldn’t be able to find him until he returned. Well, that couldn’t be helped. He started forward. He didn’t find what he was looking for until sunset of the second day.

  He traveled down the wing to a distant rock overlooking all the territory to the north. He would have rested there if he hadn’t known he was so close to his destination. He dropped off the rock into a hidden cavern underneath it.

  He sat down in the entrance to rest. He searched the forest floor below him, and a faint sound of high-pitched voices drifted to his ear. He was close. He got to his feet to go on when a tall old man stepped out of the trees. He wore a narrow band of deerskin around his waist and nothing more but a deerskin bag hung across his shoulder.

  The man’s beard waggled at Jamie, but he said nothing. Jamie sat still while the man settled himself cross-legged at the other side of the cave opening. The man took a piece of dried deer meat out of his bag and handed it to Jamie. Jamie chewed it and gazed down into the forest where the voices still played out of sight.

  The man took another piece of meat out of his bag and ate it in silence. They sat without saying anything until the man finished. “Jamie Cameron?”

  “How are ye, Piper?”

  “I’m weel.”

  “Did ye see those things on the wing last night after dark?” Jamie asked.

  “Aye.”

  “Do ye ken where they come from?”

  “They come from the mountain,” Piper replied.

  “They were headed south.”

  “Aye.”

  “Where were they goin’?” Jamie asked.

  “Tae the Isle o’ Mull, I reckon,” Piper replied.

  Jamie’s head whipped around to stare at the man. Of course! To the Isle of Mull. Why didn’t Jamie think of that? These forces attacked the McLeans, so of course those things were heading for Mull.

  Jamie struggled to get his thoughts in order. “Is all weel down the wing?”

  “Aye. All is weel.”

  “Jock said he would ask ye aboot tendin’ tae the giants. Has he spoken tae ye aboot that.”

  “Aye.”

  Jamie waited. “And what did ye say tae him aboot it?”

  “I said naught aboot it,” Piper replied.

  “Do ye ken the spell that’s brought this curse on the land?” Jamie asked. “Ye mun’ ken the giants come from a curse on the McLeans. They’re moving across the land in search o’ the woman that cast that spell.”

  “Aye.”

  “Can ye use yer power tae cast the spell? Can ye get rid o’ the giants wi’ yer magic?”

  “I cinnae get rid o’ the giants. Only the woman can get rid o’ ’em. Ye ken that, Jamie Cameron.”

  Jamie wilted. He already knew that. Piper wouldn’t help him, and he was no closer to finding the woman in question.

  He tried one more time. “Do ye ken the spell? Do ye ken the words and the water and the cards and all?”

  “Aye. I ken it.”

  “Then you could cast the spell,” Jamie pointed out. “I ha’e seen a witch weaker than ye cast it, and it worked. The next time the giants come, ye could use it to send ’em off.”

  Piper sat silent. He didn’t say a word. Jamie waited a long time, but the old man offered nothing.

  What could Jamie do with a man like this? He was worse than Ross and not half so powerful. What was he doing here, wasting his time with this glackit bampot?

  Chapter 15

  Grace entered the woods. She didn’t hesitate for an instant. She marched straight to the nearest shadow and stepped through it. She emerged from the doorway in the woods near the ford. She cast a quick look around and headed for the village.

  She found it exactly as it was before. Not a stick had been moved since she left it with Jamie… however many days ago. Nothing ever changed around here. This place existed in a time vacuum between the past and the future.

  She searched the houses, including Ganny’s house where she spent the night with Jamie. Even the pieces of kindling by the fire rested in the same places. He hadn’t stayed here. He must have gone straight up the mountain to his people without stopping.

  She spent two hours searching the village and even the territory beyond it heading up the valley toward the peaks. She found no trace of him or anyone else, and she didn’t know her way around well enough to go any further. She might end up so far away he would never find her.

  She waited around in a confused mixture of excitement and disappointment. She wanted to see him, to tell him what she knew. He never came, though. Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he wasn’t even thinking about her. Maybe he got caught in another fight against the giants. Maybe he was dead. Who could tell?

  In the end, she gave the business up. She had nothing to do and no reason to hang around. She headed back to the ford, but she lingered. She didn’t want to go back through without seeing him. She quaked in anticipation like some ninny teenager waiting for a date that doesn’t show up.

  That thought solidified her resolve. She looked around until she found a shadow. She took a step toward it when something splashed in the stream a few paces away. She glanced up. Ten wolves surrounded her. They didn’t bare their teeth or snarl. They only fixed their sharp eyes on her. Their gaze alone made her freeze in place.

  She scanned the pack as fast as she could. She didn’t see the big grey wolf anywhere. What if these weren’t the same wolves? What if these were real wolves, not the kind that could change into people? What would she do then?

  She remembered her Swiss Army knife, but she didn’t reach for it. If these creatures decided to attack, she couldn’t get the knife open fast enough to defend herself. What could she use?

  The minute that thought crossed her mind, a dark wolf stepped out of the line toward her. In an instant, he changed into a young man. She didn’t recognize him. His silky black hair framed his delicate features and deep dark eyes. It gave him a beautiful look, much finer and more captivating than any man she’d seen in this world.

  She gasped. “Are you…where’s Lachlan?”

  “Lachlan’s back at me auld home,” he replied. “He sent me tae gi’e ye a message—actually tae gi’e Jamie a message. Do ye ken where Jamie is?”

  “I don’t know where he is,” she told him. “I was just looking for him myself. Do you… are you…?”

  “I’m Christie,” he replied. “Christie McLean. Lachlan’s me aulder brother. He told me tae gi’e the message tae none but Jamie, or I’d gi’e it tae ye tae gi’e tae him.”

  “I don’t guess you’d better do that,” she told him. “I don’t know where he is or when I’ll see him again—or even if I’ll see him again.”

  He cocked his head to one side. He examined her with the same intense scrutiny he gave her as a wolf. “I ken yer friend Sadie.”<
br />
  Grace gasped again. “You do?”

  “Aye. I ken her very weel.”

  “I sure wish I could see her right now,” Grace murmured. “She would know what to do in a situation like this.”

  “Ye mun’ find Jamie,” he replied. “We both mun’.”

  “How are we going to do that?” she asked. “I think he must have gone up the mountain.”

  “Then we mun’ go up there, too,” he replied. “We mun’ find him so I can gi’e him Lachlan’s message.”

  “How will you find out where he went?”

  “We’ll track him,” Christie replied. “We’re wolves.”

  He started up the ford. Grace grabbed his arm. “No! You can’t go up there.”

  “Whye’er no?” Christie asked. “What other course is there?”

  “You can’t go up there,” she insisted. “The village people are camped up there. They’ll kill you if you go up there.”

  He snorted. “Ye’re daft.”

  “It’s true,” she replied. “They blame you for the giants attacking. They think you caused all this. They were going to send someone to hunt you down. Maybe they already did. I don’t know. Jamie—he tried to convince them. He tried to tell them you were trying to protect them, but they wouldn’t believe him. They’re after you. If you show up there, their guards will attack you. He doesn’t want you near them. He was going to go look for you to warn you, but he couldn’t leave the village unguarded in case the giants came back.”

  Christie frowned. “Did the giants come back?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Fifteen of them came back, and Jamie fought them off. He destroyed them.”

  Christie waited for her to say something else. “Ye mean he fought them as a dragon. He destroyed them as a dragon. He couldnae destroy ’em any other way.”

  Grace stared down at the ground and nodded.

  “Awright, lassie,” he replied. “Ye’ve gi’en me yer warnin’, and I’m grateful tae ye fer that. Now ye’ll ha’e tae help me, fer I ha’e gi’en Lachlan me word I’d pass his message to no other livin’ soul but Jamie. We can track him up the mountain. Ye can come wi’ us, and when we get near, ye’ll go alaing and find him. Ye can tell him we’re ’ere tae see him. Ye can send him out tae talk tae us, and I’ll gi’e him the message. Then we’ll hike alaing down the brae the way we came. The village people need ne’er ken we were there. Will that satisfy ye?”