Taran

by Jane Stain

  Patients were waiting for her at the end of the hall, where the light was. She just knew it. But try as she might, she could never run fast enough to get there before the hallway extended and she was once again in the darkness. The hallway kept getting longer and longer and longer...

  Wait. I’m dreaming, aren’t I. This is one of my frustration dreams.

  Knowing it was a frustration dream was most of the battle, really. Over the years, she had figured out how to defeat them. If she stopped whatever she had been trying to do, it would turn into a normal fun dream. Sure enough, the hallways came to life with other nurses, doctors, technicians, and even patients walking around.

  At the nursing station, Jessica saw Cecilia and Fran, some of her friends from back in college. They both smiled at her as if it was a big surprise that she was here with them.

  “Where have you been?” Cecilia cried.

  “Yeah,” said Fran, “and where have you been working?”

  Oh, it’s just a dream. Let’s have some fun with them.

  Twirling her hair as if she were about to say something embarrassing, Jessica looked up at the ceiling. “Well,” she looked at them out of the corner of her eye and was amused to see them primed for juicy gossip, “Actually, I’ve time traveled back to the 1400s and am living as the lady of a manor house and am married to a gorgeous Scottish Laird.” She looked at her friends again and was tickled pink at their reactions.

  Fran and Cecelia were awestruck— mostly because the scene had shifted away from the hospital and they were now inside Cresh Manor, balking at all the handmade details and the care that had been taken with every item in her home. Jessica was having great fun. However, she readily gave it up when Kelsey appeared and the scene became the damp but ornately carved stone corridors under Dunskey Castle.

  Jessica ran to Lauren’s longtime friend.

  “Lauren’s been kidnapped, Kelsey! Please tell me you can do something!”

  Kelsey grabbed Jessica’s upper arms and held on firmly but gently.

  “I can do something, and I am doing something by visiting you. I’ve just been to see Lauren. It’s not good. She’s in a dungeon cell, and they’re depriving her of water.”

  “How horrible!” Jessica said as she stared into Kelsey’s face. “Please go help her! What are you doing here talking to me?”

  Kelsey just looked at her with a piercing look in her eyes.

  Jessica hadn’t met Kelsey more than once briefly, so she didn’t know the woman’s facial expressions at all, yet... “I get the distinct impression you expect me to help Lauren.”

  Kelsey nodded!

  Jessica scoffed. “That’s ridiculous! How am I supposed to help her?”

  Taran woke up while the sky was still filled with stars. Needing to relieve himself, he walked a good distance away from where the other men were sleeping. He walked up the mountain, where he could have a view toward the castle where Lauren…

  Nay, dinna think o’ her.

  He was shaking himself off when he saw movement down in the canyon between the two mountains. He wiped his hands with some wet leaves and then moved around some boulders to get a better look down into the canyon. He gasped. There were men moving down there, and they were moving away from the battlefield.

  He ran to wake his brother.

  “Leif. Leif! Awake, man,” he yelled outside the low crevice under a large rock outcropping where Leif had lain down with Jessica the night before. Odd that she was na there now. Mayhap she had gone to relieve herself as well.

  Leif opened his eyes, feeling about for his bride but not finding her.

  Taran said in a hurry. “They’re retreating toward the castle. Methinks ‘tis Donald and his retinue!”

  That brought Leif wide awake. He signed for Taran to back off, and as soon as Taran moved, Leif jumped up. When he gathered up his plaid to arrange it for walking instead of sleeping, he found in its folds a large piece of vellum, marked with writing.

  He read it twice, uttering some choice words while he did. Sagging down, he put an arm against the rock outcropping. Resting his forehead on it for a moment, he handed the letter to Taran, who scanned it quickly the first time, then more slowly on the second read.

  My dearest Leif,

  By the time you read this, Kelsey will have summoned one of her colleagues, who will have spirited me away. Truly sorry I am to cause you worry, as I know this will.

  Howsoever, someone needed to go and rescue Lauren. Before Kelsey came to me, she spoke with Lauren. She’s in a dungeon cell in the castle, not in Donald’s bedchamber as she was when Taran heard her before. Furthermore, Lauren suspects that Galdus was telling Taran lies about what was going on in the room. She was not enjoying Donald’s company, just trying to get on his good side to protect herself.

  Taran owes her a big apology for doubting her character.

  As for how I plan to get Lauren out, I’ve been listening to your plans to go in through the tunnel. I’m confident that we can leave through them, once I get Lauren out of her dungeon cell.

  If the tunnel exit is clear, then we shall make our way up over the mountain to Inverurie and will see you at home. Howsoever, if we see anyone when we look out the tunnel exit, then we will wait for you in the tunnel.

  Yours till death do us part,

  Jessica

  Shame enveloped Taran, at how he had allowed himself to doubt Lauren. At how he had been there and should have tried harder to rescue her. But wallowing was for fools and drunkards. He fought off the shame. It was useless to him. Instead, he allowed anger at that deceiving Galdus to flood through him, giving him the strength he would need to storm the castle and get vengeance against Donald for having his men grab her away from him.

  Their cursing had woken the men and drawn a crowd, but not so large a crowd as it might have been the morning before. They had left Inverurie with fifty men. Only twenty-nine remained able to fight. Six had been injured in the battle, and the rest were dead. Only eighteen of Ualraig’s thirty knights who had joined them remained hale and hearty.

  Taran bowed his head for a moment, saying a quick prayer for the dead and injured while he signaled for the gathered men to rouse anyone who still slept.

  Once they were all assembled, Leif told them, “The Isles forces are retreating.”

  The men wore expressions of skepticism, but Leif bade them look to Taran.

  “I did see it with my own eyes,” he told them. “In the dark o’ night, two score men flee tae Ualraig’s castle. The rest o’ the Isles dogs even now run for the hills toward their home in Islay.”

  A few had questions.

  “Why would they leave?”

  “For certies they canna be giving up sae easily?”

  Another few discreetly pointed at the letter Taran had handed back to Leif, whispering quietly among themselves.

  Leif ignored their whispers, holding up his hands for attention, which they quickly gave. Addressing Ualraig’s remaining knights, he said, “More importantly, Donald thinks tae use yer laird’s castle, as ‘tis closer. I say we give him what he deserves. What say ye?”

  “Aye!” yelled all the men, not just Ualraig’s knights.

  Leif raised his hands again, and this time he got silence right away. “We will recruit those we can from the local clans. Howsoever, let us na go near Alistair’s camp. I will na disobey his orders, but neither will I be dissuaded from taking back what is oors.”

  All the men nodded their understanding.

  Dawn was breaking when they reached the bloodied battlefield. Dead men lay everywhere by the hundreds, their faces aghast in defeat, their hands still clutching pikes and swords. Horses lay sprawled awkwardly as well. There were more dead from the Isles than from the local clans, perhaps three to their two.

  Taran looked this way and that to see if any wounded yet lay among the dead, but he saw only deathly white faces.

  Those who were alive had camped right here on the battlefield, and Leif called out to those
nearby as they passed, “We gae after Donald tae finish him! He has taken Ualraig’s castle! Send whom ye can spare tae join us!”

  The first camp he called to was the MacMurray clan’s, and they didna take much time at all to decide who would go home to watch their lands and who would join the militia.

  Next, a good half of Clan Irving’s camp fell into the group with a shout.

  “Gang forward!” yelled the Stirling clan when they heard the news.

  Clan Leslie swelled their numbers.

  And Clan Lovel.

  The Maule clan joined in, as well.

  The militia doubled its ranks, then tripled, and by the time they left the battlefield and headed up the first of two hills between them and the castle, the men were running.

  Chapter Seventeen

  When the militia was nearly to the top of the second hill, Leif signaled for a halt and signed for Taran to scout ahead and report back, indicating he would give Taran just enough time to steal his way to the trees and come back. If he didn’t return within that time, they would come looking for him.

  With a nod, Taran went off the path in order to conceal himself, climbed up the rest of the hill, and looked into the distance. He could see the gray stone towers of Ualraig's castle peeking up out of the trees. The towers were unmanned, and he didn’t see anyone about. Using the local vegetation and rocks keep himself hidden from the road, he proceeded to the tree line, watching and listening for signs of people but not seeing or hearing anyone.

  Taran had just turned around to use the road to return to the militia when he heard Sky’s voice behind him.

  "They hae yer friend in the dungeon, that Lauren. I wull show ye where she is. Maybe ye can free the lass."

  Taran was instantly suspicious and wary. The last time he saw Sky, he had been binding the man. Still, if he could show her right where Lauren was, that would be a help.

  Acting as if he was tired — which he in no way was, but the lasses had told him exercise wasn't as plentiful in the future where Sky was from, and Sky didna pay much attention to anyone but himself — Taran sat down on the ground and surreptitiously stacked two three rocks in a manner that would signal the militia he was traveling to the castle with someone he had met on the way. "Just a moment. Let me catch my breath." Taran took a couple gasping breaths the way Lauren usually did after climbing the hill to the manor house, just to look convincing.

  Apparently buying it, Sky stood there with his arms crossed, still moving his eyes with impatience. "She's yer friend, na mine. Take all the time ye will."

  But if Taran took too long, the militia would come up over the hill looking for him. He preferred that Sky not know they were coming. "Verra wull, ‘tis ready I am now. Lead the way."

  Sky ran on ahead with a laugh, turning to look over his shoulder and make sure Taran was following. They ran for a few minutes until the castle was within sight between the trees.

  Sky was leading Taran directly to the front gate. Did he think Taran was that slow in the head?

  They had come far enough now that it wouldn’t matter if Sky found out the militia was coming. They wouldn’t be on the path to the castle gate now, but rather on their way to the entrance to the tunnels. If guards came along this path from the castle gate to investigate now, it would just mean there were fewer men inside the castle for the militia to fight.

  Taran led Sky toward a nearby lookout hill. “I wull just signal Leif and the militia. I dinna think I wull be welcome at the front gate. Come with me."

  Sky broke and ran for the castle gate, probably to warn them.

  Taran stole through the brush and made his roundabout way to the tunnel entrance.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lauren came out of being startled and took a deep breath, then breathed easy, still staring at the face she saw through the barred window of her cell’s new door.

  "Jessica!"

  Lauren’s college roommate smiled in relief, no doubt at finally being recognized. This brought back so many memories, the strongest of which involved an antique car Lauren and the other 39 fourth-year engineering students had disassembled one drunken February night, down in a walled storage yard not far from the engineering building.

  She could still see every detail in her mind, as if it had just happened yesterday. Lauren and Jessica were filling her large rolling suitcase — which she of course had lined with a spare bed sheet in order to protect it — with hundreds of the car’s smaller parts. Well, Lauren was loading the parts into her suitcase by herself. But Jessica was keeping her company, standing up against the brick wall with her hands in her parka pockets, shivering as they talked.

  The engineering students were reassembling the car in their main lecture hall as a senior prank, and there was a constant flow of students coming down here to grab parts and then turning around and running them to the building. Without fail, every last one of them was startled when they saw Jessica there and then addressed her as if she were a stranger who had wandered in there by accident.

  “Can I help you find your way somewhere?”

  Also without fail, Lauren told every last one of them the same thing.

  “This is my roommate and best friend, Jessica. You’ve seen her a hundred times. She goes to all our parties, and she’s always at the bar with us.”

  There was a jangling noise outside the newly hung dungeon cell door, and Jessica’s face was turned downward so all Lauren could see was the top of her friend’s head. The jangling stopped for a moment, then started again, stopped, started, and kept repeating that pattern for nearly five minutes.

  Finally, the door flew open and Jessica rushed in, holding a ring of huge iron keys. "Surprise!" she said with a triumphant smile.

  Lauren went to hug her friend. "Kelsey got you in here without any of the guards knowing?"

  "Yep, but it was all done with her colleague’s druid magic, so I don't have a great idea how we’ll get out of the dungeon, but I figure we can use the tunnels the men are always talking about."

  Lauren was about to say she thought she knew where they needed to go in order to get out through the tunnels, but she didn’t get the chance.

  Because horror overtook her.

  Instead of going around Jessica’s shoulder in order to deliver the hug Lauren intended, Lauren’s right arm brought her hand down to draw the ancient jagged dagger out of its sheath!

  “What are you doing, Galdus?”

  Evil laughter was the only reply she got from the ancient evil druid.

  But Galdus raised Lauren’s other hand and used it to turn himself around so that her right hand held him like an ice pick. And his blade was pointing toward Jessica’s chest!

  Lauren could see her hand going toward Jessica's heart as if in slow motion, could tell it would be a fatal thrust.

  It all happened so fast that Jessica hadn't even registered yet that she was in danger. She was still smiling at Lauren and reaching out to hug her.

  “Run, Jessica!” Lauren squeezed out through her resistant lips.

  Her friend’s face ever so slowly changed from delight at seeing Lauren to horror at seeing Galdus come toward her. She dropped the keys and started to turn so she could run.

  But not fast enough.

  It took everything Lauren had — and if she hadn't been healed she knew she wouldn't have had it in her to stop Galdus from plunging into Jessica's chest. She couldn't stop the motion entirely. Her fist still swung out toward her friend. But Lauren was able to turn Galdus toward the wall.

  Instead of stabbing Jessica in the heart, Lauren socked her in the chest.

  The keys finished falling from Jessica’s hand and hit the cold stone floor with a clatter.

  The force Galdus had put into Lauren’s thrust drove Jessica backward into the stone wall, where she bumped her head and then bounced onto the floor.

  Even though she had managed to turn aside a fatal stab, Lauren was wracked with guilt about having hurt her.

  “Jessica!” Lauren c
ried out, “Jessica, I'm so sorry. Please know it was Galdus who did it, not me. Jessica?"

  Her friend wasn't responding. She lay motionless and unaware.

  Lauren tried to run to Jess and help her, but the fight wasn’t over. Lauren could feel Galdus gathering her arm for a downward thrust.

  But this time, Lauren stopped him. "No. I am na gaun'ae stab my friend. Ye can dae anything ye want tae me, but ye are na gaun'ae make me harm my friend any more than ye already hae. I wish I had never laid eyes on ye."

  Galdus’s evil chuckle sought to take over her mind, filling every nook and cranny with its jarring staccato noise even as the urge to plunge the dagger down into Jessica’s helpless form filled her arm, only relenting when he spoke. "Och, ye wull resist, but in the end, ye wull dae what I want ye tae. Ye ken ye wull."

  "Nay, I willna."

  Lauren fastened her eyes on the dagger. Concentrating on every motion she made, she forced her arm to lower the blade slowly. Forced her hands to turn it around in her grip. Forced herself to sheath the thing and let it go.

  She didn’t have time to breathe the heavy sigh of relief she wanted breathe, though. Instead, she prayed to God that Jessica was all right as she gently took her friend’s pulse. At first she didn’t feel anything, and despair so heavy she could barely breathe overtook her. But there it was. A faint heartbeat. And then another. Sighing that sigh of relief at last, she picked Jessica up in a fireman’s hold by throwing her friend’s arm over her shoulder and then standing. Fortunately, Jessica wasn't very heavy.

  She thought she knew the way out through the tunnels. She had a pretty good idea, and she knew at least she had to go this way —

  But as soon as Lauren stepped into the hallway with her burden, she found herself blocked by two of Donald's guards.

  Taran didn’t see the lasses when he entered the tunnels, but he heard Jessica’s voice calling out Lauren’s name in a frightened tone.

  "Lauren! Put me down!"