by Jane Stain
Unsure whether it was her idea or Galdus’s, she got the urge to take the sword down from the peg and test his powers. You know, just see if the plan to drain them was working.
She was reaching for Galdus when her husband covered her with his body, keeping her down.
"Someone’s coming up the stairs," he whispered in her ear. "I don't recognize their footfalls."
She had been struggling, but now she relaxed in Tal’s arms. He was trying to protect her. What had she been thinking?
The baby kicked.
There was her answer. She was allowing a baby to do her thinking for her. She knew better than that.
She whispered back.
"Wouldn’t the guard stop him from coming inside the broch?"
"Aye, unless the guard was killed.”
Deirdre started struggling against him again.
"Let me get Galdus then. He can protect us."
Tal backed away from her just enough that she could see his face.
"I would, except I think this may be part of the secret plan to try and rid you of Galdus."
Deirdre thought about that.
"There's no way anyone's taking Galdus while we’re in here with him, though. Should we go up to Breth and Jaelle’s room?"
Galdus glinted again in the moonlight, catching her eye again against her will.
She stared at him a moment, casting her thoughts at him.
"If you’re trying to tell me something, then just tell me."
Her oldest friend remained silent.
Good thing, she told herself. She wanted rid of Galdus. She wanted to stay with Tal. Oh, why did pregnancy have to be so debilitating? She couldn't sleep the way she wanted to, and now her heart was ruling instead of her head, making her break her resolve to no longer share thoughts with the old druid.
Tal put a finger over his own mouth this time.
Grateful for his consideration, she nodded and was quiet while he sat still in the lacy shadows of the moonlight filtering through the broch stones, listening.
When at last Tal did speak, he relaxed a bit first and no longer whispered.
"They turned around. They're going back down the stairs. They've given up."
Chapter 30
Nyla had chosen to stay with Talorac and Deirdre's clan. She spent as much time with her friend as she could, but she couldn’t stay up in the man-made broch for more than the time it took to prepare and eat a meal. She, Boann, and Ia now sat around their fire in the sacred grove.
She was pleading with Boann.
"Why can't we just use the ritual to get him away from her? He clearly means her no good. Surely her will counts for something."
Boann smiled sadly.
"'Tisn’t that we shouldn’t do this but rather that we cannot. He is a druid just like us, but older. Bringing him here to the sacred grove for ritual would be a disaster." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Do not forget he can hear our thoughts when we’re near him, maybe even all the way over here." The older woman looked intently at Nyla now, trying to communicate something with her eyes. "No, Deirdre's fate is not in our hands."
Staring into Boann’s worried face, Nyla understood.
Whoever was going to help Deirdre get away from Galdus would have to be someone Deirdre had never touched.
Chapter 31
Tal slammed his hammer onto the red hot metal against the forge again. And again. And again, making the small forge shack ring with the force of his blows. He looked at the ruined axe head he'd ostensibly been making, grit his teeth, as slammed his hammer into it again.
Boann said the baby could come anytime now, though she wasn't due for another half moon.
And what had Tal accomplished in freeing his wife from the bondage she suffered? Nothing. A full moon cycle and half of another had passed with Deirdre stranded up there in the broch away from watching Uen play with his cousins. She loved that, and separating her from it was breaking his heart. He wasn't going to stand idly by anymore and trust the very presence of his wife by his side to others.
No, Tal was going to take action.
After throwing down his hammer and quickly banking the fire, he slammed the forge room door shut on his way out, walking to fighter practice and storming up to the first man he saw who had gauntlets.
“Clyde," he said, pointing, "let me borrow those."
Clyde looked about uncertainly for only a moment before removing the gauntlets and handing them over.
"May Fortune favor you, Tal."
Giving Clyde only a grunt of thanks, Talorac stormed over toward the broch.
Word had gotten around with the reason for Deirdre's confinement, and everyone who crossed his path gave him a sympathetic look and a sad smile.
"May Fortune smile on you."
"For the land’s sake, I wish you success, Tal."
Jaelle's smile of sympathy nearly tore him apart.
"Be careful, Tal. Here..." she dug around in a pile of things near her feet and came up with the sack they used to carry the children's practice swords, which were currently out and in use. "Just grab the sword by the leather cord and drop it into the sack. Perhaps that will save your life."
Tal took the sack from her with a grateful look just as Uen crashed into his legs and hugged him tight.
"When can Mama come out? I learned so many new things and I want to show her."
Tal held Jaelle's gaze as he spoke to his son.
"If she hasn't come down by tomorrow, then you can go up and show her up there, even though it is a bedroom and not meant for playing."
Jaelle nodded with a sad look on her face that broke through the smile of reassurance she tried to give him.
And then he was at the broch door, through the entryway, and up the spiral staircase to the kitchen door. Hoping she was asleep and fearing she would be sitting in the kitchen drinking tea, fully aware of what he was trying to do, he pulled on the gauntlets. They fit. He wasn't sure what he would have done if they hadn't.
He opened the kitchen door.
Sure enough, Deirdre was sitting there sipping tea, hand on her belly and fighting her discomfort to smile up at him in greeting.
And then she saw the gauntlets on his hands, and her face contorted in worry as she tried to get up. But she was having a terrible time of it. Her huge pregnant belly got caught under the table, and it also made it difficult for her to scoot her chair back.
"No, Tal. No, he'll kill you. I can bear being away from you, but I can't bear the thought of you dying so futilely. Please don't try it, Tal. Please, for me."
Not hesitating for even a second to go over and kiss her goodbye in case this was the end, Tal resolutely headed toward their bedroom.
"I do this because I love you, because I cannot bear the thought of not having done everything I could to secure your freedom so that you could stay with me."
Holding the sack out in front of him, he burst into the bedroom, stormed over to where the sword hung from its peg, and reached out toward the sword with his gauntleted hand.
Deirdre beat on the table with her hand, and then inspiration struck. She pushed up on the table until it fell over in front of her, freeing her pregnant belly from underneath. Standing up took her a full minute, rocking first one way and then the other toward the edge of her seat before she could fall out of it onto her feet. Holding her back so that the pain didn't make her cry out and distract Tal, she waddled over to the bedroom door.
What she saw there made her skin crawl.
Tal was rigid beside the peg on the wall, his gauntleted hand around the leather strap Galdus hung from.
She cried out and rushed across the room in her waddling way, horrified at how much time it was taking her.
Tal wasn't even breathing. Was he…
She reached out for Tal’s consciousness in her mind, but just like all the other times she had done so over the past few months, her reach was blocked.
She didn't dare reach for Galdus's mind. He would surely take
over.
So all she could do was reach for the sword itself, the idea being first to try and yank away from Tal’s grasp and free him from his paralysis.
As soon as she touched the sword, Galdus was in her mind. Why hadn't she thought to grab some of the bedding to put between her skin and the metal?
Galdus’s chuckle was more evil than ever.
"What wull it be, Deirdre? My continuing companionship, or the end o yer husband's life? Ye must decide now."
Tal convulsed the way she had heard people did when they had been hit by lightning.
Tears streamed down her face.
"Let him live, Galdus. Let him live. Of course I choose to let him live!"
Tal let go of the sword’s strap, leaving the sword in her hand.
Pausing only to look down to make sure Tal was indeed breathing — which he was — she left the bedroom, left the kitchen, and ran down the spiral steps before giving her plan time to form concretely in her mind, where Galdus could read it. Smiling at everyone as she passed through the bottom floor of the broch, she went outside and headed toward the forge shed.
She knew the fire was hot because she had heard Tal’s hammer ringing off the anvil all afternoon. Her resolve almost failed when she heard Uen running toward her.
"Mama! Mama! I want to show you something, Mama!"
Deirdre closed her eyes in relief when she heard Jaelle scoop him up.
"Not now, sweetie. Mom is busy. Let’s go watch the fighters."
Giving Jaelle the most grateful look she'd ever given anyone in her life, Deirdre opened the door to the forge and went in, holding Galdus out before her.
Chapter 32
Tal grunted and strained and cursed. His wife was in danger! Over and over he strained against the magical bonds that held him. What was Deirdre doing? He couldn’t bear the thought of her sacrificing herself so that he could live, not for a second.
And then the sword must have moved a sufficient distance away, because he was free, and he got up and ran down the spiral stone staircase between the two outer walls of the broch.
When he came into the main room on the bottom floor, everyone pointed to the main door.
"She went outside."
"She had her odd sword in front of her."
"Thanks!" He called out to them as he pushed his way through the inner door, the entryway, and the outer door.
Derelei was on guard outside. He pointed over at the forge shed, making dread rise up into Tal's throat.
"She's gone in there, Tal. Hurry."
Patting Derelei on the back in thanks quickly as he passed by, Tal ran over to the quiet forge shack. Oh how he now wished someone were in there keeping the forge busy so Deirdre couldn't get to it so easily. What would Galdus do to her?
Afraid but determined to go in, he pushed open the door.
Oh no.
Now Deirdre was paralyzed!
Poised with the sword held just over the glowing coals, she stood frozen. She looked like she'd been chiseled out of stone, a statue made in tribute to the arts of the forge.
But Tal knew otherwise. He knew she was trying her hardest to move but to no avail. He understood the agony she was in. However, his hearing had worked just fine when he was in his paralysis.
All too aware that Galdus heard every word, he spoke to his wife as he moved to free her.
"I'm here, Deirdre. You saved me from that awful paralysis. Now I'm here to save you. I'm here, Deirdre. You're not alone. I'm with you. I'm going to help you..."
Chapter 33
Galdus had taken his evil chuckle to new heights.
"You see? I told you he'd be here. How perfect. Now yours isn’t the only life at stake, is it? Oh, and the life of poor little unborn Megan hangs in the balance, as well."
Unable to even turn her head, let alone wave Tal away, Deirdre stood and cried while she did everything in her power to push the sword into the coals. If she could just place it there in the hot forge, the sword would unmake itself.
On top of the paralysis, Galdus spread a burning sensation into her hands.
"Oh, that would be so convenient for you, wouldn't it? Get rid of the companion who got you through your childhood now that you're grown. Aye, and don't return any of his favors. Don't pay him back for all the training he has given you, nor the magic he let you use."
What? She had only ever been a friend to Galdus. Alasdair had been the trainer. And Galdus had used his magic himself as he saw fit. If anything, he had used her as a method of conveyance. She hadn’t ever resented that, but now he was making it sound like...
"It isn't like that, Galdus. I just want to be free to live my life with my husband and my children, like everyone else."
The burning intensified, but she was unable to cry out, unable to let go.
Galdus burned her hands. The pain was excruciating.
"I always was too lenient with you. Alasdair’s to thank for that. I would've made you see what was what from moment one, but he said to take a friend approach, that you would be more compliant that way. Well, he was only right while you were yet a child. The moment you became an adult you were set on claiming your independence from us, ungrateful little git. But all those points are moot now, aren't they? As soon as he touches you, I'm going to burn him to death."
But then something happened.
Something not even Galdus had anticipated, judging by his next actions.
Megan not only broke her water but started to come out in earnest, blocked by nothing, thanks to the ancient women's practice of wearing no underclothes. Uen had already opened up Deirdre's birth canal, so there was very little resistance.
Her baby daughter Megan would be here very shortly.
Still paralyzed and unable to cry out to those outside for help, Deirdre screamed in agony inside her mind, where only Galdus could hear. Deirdre hadn't thought the agony could get any worse, but now it had.
“Let me move!” she begged Galdus in her mind. “Let me catch my daughter and make sure she can breathe!"
Galdus grunted in derision.
"If you think I care for that little git any more than I care for you, Uen, or Talorac, then you are sadly mistaken. Let the little git die. You deserve it as punishment for all your ungratefulness."
But wait.
What was that?
Was it?
Yes!
Deirdre could hear Megan's thoughts in her mind!
"I'm here, Mama. I’m here. Now Alasdair will come."
How? Had being so near to Galdus while she formed in the womb made Megan a druid, too?
Galdus cursed and raised the heat on Deirdre’s hands so much that she was certain she would die of incineration.
But then the door opened again, and with Alasdair's voice came an end to her paralysis.
Chapter 34
The door opened behind Tal just as he reached Deirdre’s side and took her in his arms.
She clung to him with such fierceness that he changed his mind about pulling away to talk to her and just held her there.
And then Deirdre was struggling to get loose, and Tal’s stomach turned to jelly. Was Galdus going to take her from him after all?
No, she gave him a quick if faint hand squeeze. But then her almost inaudible words sank in.
"Tal, Megan's here. She's dangling between my legs by her birth cord."
Poor exhausted Deirdre swooned in his arms then.
Tal lowered her carefully to the floor, casting about with a combination of utter befuddlement and resolution to save his daughter.
What should he do?
He needed to cut the birth cord. He got out his knife.
Wouldn’t she bleed?
He looked at the forge fire. He could cauterize the wound.
But that wasn't right. He'd never seen a babe with a cauterized belly.
His head descended into sheer panic, and his hand shook as he moved his wife’s skirt and caught sight of his baby girl for the first time.
&nbs
p; Like his son, Megan was perfect.
But she was turning blue even as he gazed at her.
Tal screamed.
Deirdre
Deirdre awoke from her swoon in a new state of despair. Alasdair had come just in time to quench Galdus’s burning flames, heal her burnt hands, and save Tal from the same inferno — only to be too late to catch Megan.
"My daughter!" Deirdre cried out to Alasdair in her mind with a picture of the baby dangling outside her womb. "Save my poor daughter!"
Alasdair's voice in her mind was infuriatingly soothing. Hadn't he heard what she said? Her daughter was dying!
"Dinna fash, Deirdre. Everything is fine —"
Dierdre's body was spent, but she had plenty of mental energy, and she used it all to yell at Alasdair.
"Nothing’s fine! Megan’s dying!"
An agonizing magical calmness overcame Deirdre, a calmness that would send her into sleep and rob her of her ability to plead for Megan. She had to fight it. She had to get free of it. She had to!
And then she heard Tal moan in relief and joy, and her agony ebbed, letting puzzlement flow in. And then joy.
"Thank you, Alasdair. Thank you so much for saving our daughter. If you ever need anything, anything, just say so and it's yours. I mean it."
Delirious from childbirth and trauma and fear, Deirdre couldn't put her finger on the reason Alasdair's answering chuckle disturbed her. Not until Alasdair spoke directly to her later, she couldn't. But once he did, everything was clear. What he said told her she would get to have her life with Talorac, Megan, Uen and any other children they had. She was getting everything she ever asked for, and she was grateful. Yes, she was oh so grateful. But she feared for others she barely knew, all because of what Alasdair said. It was such a simple request. So innocent. So easy.
Chapter 35
Alasdair left the forge room then, motioning for her and Tal and Megan to follow him outside.
