by Jane Stain
"There's one more thing you should know," Lauren signed to them. "If ye go intae the castle o’ the druids, I canna go with ye. I canna go anywhere near that place."
Taran turned to Leif.
“Let us leave her at Ualraig’s castle. We can get horses and more men there.”
Chapter 21
The others’ coughing woke Jessica and Katherine their second morning in the wooden wagon cage to see the castle of the druids in the far distance in the valley below them.
"Don't look so glum," Robert the 90s guy said to them, then sneezed.
“Bless you,” said almost everyone, even though they were sick too.
"Thanks. I mean yeah, once they have us in that castle it’ll be harder to escape, but who are we kidding? How are we going to escape anyway? At least we’ll be out of the wind and rain. There’ll probably be better food there, too."
Everyone else in the cage made appreciative noises.
Jessica met Katherine's eyes, asking a silent question: do we break the rule about not talking about the druids, or not?
Katherine was facing the front of the wagon where their captors sat on a high seat in front of their cage and could see in through the barred ceiling if they turned their heads. She subtly shook her head no, disguising the movement by scratching her scalp.
Jessica supposed that made sense. If these people knew what they were in for, no telling what they might do. They were sure to upset their captors, which would be bad. The two of them had already pointed out to each other that their only hope of escape lay in an unguarded moment, and those would be few and far between if their captors were on high alert.
Disguised with other movement such as scratching her nose and putting her hair behind her ear, Katherine put her hand over her eyes like she was watching something in the distance. After a moment of this, she looked at Jessica expectantly.
Watch in the distance? Did she mean watch for someone to rescue him?
Jessica did the watching the distance sign herself and then shrugged to indicate she wasn’t sure what was meant. She then raised her hands up as if she were going to catch a small child jumping into a pool and then looked at Katherine expectantly.
Katherine gave her a sad frown and shook her head no, then tried again. She watched in the distance and then swung her arms like she was walking and then pitched forward as if she had tripped. And then looked to Jessica expectantly.
Jessica smiled and nodded. She made the sign of her watch in the distance and then she pretended like she was sewing and pricked her finger.
Katherine smiled and nodded.
So the plan was to watch for their captors to make a mistake. And there was no telling what that mistake would be, so they really couldn't plan on what they would do once it happened. They just had to watch and be ready. How could she sign that to confirm?
Jessica made like she was a diver on the edge of the pool waiting for the gun that meant the race was going to start. Or maybe a cat waiting for a fish to come too close, since she was seated. And she just held that pose for a few moments and then looked at Katherine for her guess.
Smiling, Katherine touched her nose. In Charades, that meant you guessed correctly, ‘Right on the nose.’
Watching in a constant state of readiness was exhausting. They watched through the long haul down the Hill. Their captors were like horses who smelled the stable at home now, no longer stopping for meals but instead eating their hardtack in their seats, throwing a bunch of it behind them through the bars of the cage and not even checking to see if everyone got some.
But Robert was good. He made sure everybody got some.
"Pass these back to Jessica and Katherine," he told Amy.
An elderly woman with one of those hairdos you had to sit in curlers for, Amy, her name was, did one better and crawled to the back of the wagon with two pieces of jerky, handing Jessica and Katherine their share herself. When she got close, she whispered to them among her coughs.
"I've played a few games of charades myself over the years. You two are watching for the captors to make a mistake, aren't you."
Katherine nodded with a cautious look in her eye, instead of answering with a whisper. In fact, she stared Amy down.
Amy flinched and then nodded that she understood. And then she looked at Jessica and Katherine with such hope in her eyes that her meaning could not be mistaken.
‘Take me with you.’
Down in the bottom of the valley, trees hid the druid castle. One by one, the others all dropped off to sleep, in the front of the gently bouncing wooden cage.
Jessica and Katherine looked at each other when the first one lay down to rest., Both of them asking with their eyes, ‘Want to sleep while I watch?’
But pretty much simultaneously, their faces turned to sadness as they realized they both needed to stay awake. It wouldn't do to be asleep when their one chance for escape came. They had slept the night before and it was only late afternoon, so they’d be fine. So long as escape came before the castle. They hadn't discussed it, but Jessica had the feeling that once their captors got them inside the castle with the druids? The chances of escape were negligible.
Amy had taken a spot in the back of the wagon with them, and what could they do? Besides, she'd been nice to them, making sure their they got their food.
Jessica heard something.
She turned to see if Katherine heard it too.
At the same time, Katherine turned toward Jessica.
Hope grew in Katherine's face too, so Jessica hadn’t imagined the sound. Hoof beats. Coming closer, and not from the druid castle. Not from Cresh Manor, either. They were coming from behind them, the way they had come. Still, almost anybody should have objections to a bunch of people being hauled around in a cage wagon, right?
Jessica put a finger over her lips and made a motion like she was shaking somebody awake and looked at Katherine questioningly.
Katherine vigorously shook her head yes, looking to Amy to see if she got the message.
Amy did. She was already shaking the others awake, quietly telling them "Shhh. Someone's coming. Shhhh. Pass it on."
Everyone was awake within moments and looking around.
Several sets of hoof beats were louder now, and very plainly coming from behind them.
Their captors heard it too. They whipped the horses into a frenzy of running and shrieking. And then something new happened. Their captors spoke to them. They had rough and cruel voices. Haughty and smug.
"Ye think rescue is coming, dae ye?"
"Sorry tae say, yer rescuers are comin ower late."
"In juist a moment we will pass intae the druid kingdom."
“Aye, and once we dae, yer rescuers willna be able tae follow."
“The druids hae magic, ye ken.”
"Methinks we just entered it."
"Aye, methinks ye hae the right o' it."
They quit whipping the horses, leaning back on the seat to laugh heartily.
Jessica wondered how long someone would have to be in captivity before they gloated over someone else suffering the same injustice.
Probably not long, the dark part of her mind told her. Memories of getting in trouble as a child came to mind. Almost every time someone got caught for something, they ratted out whoever else had been involved in it with them, wanting to spread the misery.
But the hoof beats were still coming. Jessica met Katherine's eyes again to see if she was hearing things.
She wasn't.
Katherine turned to look at the door on the back of the wagon.
It was most of the reason they were sitting in the back. If it managed to get open, they would get out before someone had the chance to close it.
The hoof beats were getting louder.
Jessica and Katherine smiled at each other, their hope was growing so.
Up in front, their captors weren’t so happy.
"Dae they still come?"
“Shut yer gob and crack that whip."
"But th
ey hae been running all oot for much longer a time than—"
"We dinna hae a care. The horses are expendable. Think o' yerself, man. Ye and me, we are gaun'ae die if these people are rescuit."
The other captor indeed whipped the horses, savagely.
But no matter how much the wagon sped up, the hoof beats behind them gained ground. Jessica strained her eyes around every bend in the trees, for now they were on the dirt road that led up to the druid castle. They were getting so close. There was not much time left at all.
And then there were hoof beats coming from in front of them too.
"Stand and deliver," boomed a deep loud voice Jessica didn't recognize, coming from in front of them.
The voice came from the leader of a dozen horsemen she also didn't recognize, all dressed in woolen leine of a similar weave and wearing manly leather shawls that covered most of their bodies. They didn't look any too friendly, but they were talking to the captors and not to the captives. Hopefully they weren’t slave traders. In any case, they had blocked the wagon and it came to a stop.
With a bunch of arrows pointed directly at them, their captors put their hands up.
"Open the cage," said the leader of the bowmen.
"Open it yerself," sneered one of the captors, and both of them laughed.
Just then, the hoof beats coming from behind rounded the last bend and three horsemen came.
“They have protectors!” shouted the captors.
But Jessica wasn’t paying them any mind.
“Leif!" she yelled out with more glee than she ever imagined she had in her.
"Very well," said the lead horseman, "we will open the cage ourselves. Leif?”
He rode up fiercely.
"Get back Jessica, Katherine. Ye as wull, Gammer."
The three of them scrambled to the front of the wagon with the rest.
Leif, Taran, and Luag made short work of the cage door with their swords. A few hits were all it took, and there was a gaping hole big enough for everyone to crawl out, which they did.
There were a commotion behind Jessica at the front of the wagon where her captors sat, but she didn’t turn to see what it was, because Leif all but threw her up on the front of his horse and then scrambled up behind her. She looked over and saw Taran and Luag doing the same with Amy and Katherine, while the archers were helping the other captives up onto their horses.
Soon, they were all galloping away.
Every moment, Jessica expected to hear those familiar voices, demanding they stay and explain what they knew about the outcome of the coming conflict. About the future. She turned and looked at the other captives behind them, all of them sick, and all of them from the future. What could it possibly mean?
As they kept galloping away, minute after minute, her fear of the druids catching them grew less and less, until finally she relaxed when they slowed and were just walking along. They were headed back the way they had come, not toward Cresh Manor. Finally, she decided Leif could spare enough attention to answer some of her questions.
And then she realized he was snuggled up behind her.
Save that thought for later, Jessica. Put it out of your mind for now.
"The men who took us said the druids’ magical barrier would keep ye out. We were sure we were doomed. How is it ye came?"
"Did ye hear yer captors when they caught sight o' us?"
"Aye, they were cursing ye for having come."
“Aye, but one key thing they said.”
“Oh?”
“Aye.”
“And what was that?”
“‘They hae protectors!’ Both o' them said it with the force o' a curse, ‘Protectors!’ And their eyes were staring at us as if we had walked doon from the moon. So I'm thinking they saw a magical aura aboot us. A magical aura brought aboot by me giving you my protection. It must hae let me in, this connection to ye, me and all who came with me."
In the middle of the night they stopped outside a large castle, where Jessica was given some willow bark tea. Lauren was there, jumping up and down with glee on her face. She ran up and hugged Jessica, then Katherine. Taran gave Amy to another rider so that Lauren could ride with him. Because Amy insisted on going with Katherine and Jessica, but all the other former captives had befriended those they rode with and wanted to stay at the castle with them.
After an unbearably long time, Jessica and her friends and a few people from the castle arrived at Cresh Manor, mostly walking, but never stopping the horses.
The front door banged open and Amena ran up and grabbed her brothers in fierce hugs.
Leif hugged his sister good, and then he scooped Jessica up, carried her upstairs, and tenderly tucked her into bed. After drinking some willow bark tea brought up by Senga, she fell into sweet oblivion.
Chapter 22
Jessica awoke several times over the next week. The first few times she was wracked with fever, and Leif, Lauren, or Katherine was dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth and sent for more willow bark tea. The next few times it was because Senga had brought her food, and she found that she was ravenous, chowing down first broth and then hardier food with zeal.
And now this time, Jessica woke up and felt well.
Lauren was here to greet her this time, with the welcome sight of a wash basin and pitcher.
"How are you doing, sleeping beauty?"
Jessica stretched, threw the covers aside, got up, then washed and dressed herself.
"I feel like a million bucks. How long was I down?"
While they talked, Lauren produced Jessica’s hairbrush out of her bag and proceeded to brush out her hair, which was quite tangled. She then washed it — and dried it as best she could with a small woolen blanket.
"Eight days. I think you were just too exhausted to heal for the first three days, though."
Eight days.
"How is everything?"
"Amy got well two days ago, and no one else in the house is falling ill. A few of the townsfolk have, though. Ready to come downstairs?"
"Absolutely."
Jessica happily followed Lauren down the stairs, where everyone was at the table breaking their nightly fast. She meant to smile at Leif when their eyes met and then go to her place at the table, but as soon as he saw her walking down the stairs, he was up out of his seat and rushing over to her.
"Are ye wull? Fully wull?"
"Aye," was all she could think to say, faced with those oh so sincere blue eyes.
He pulled out her chair for her and beckoned her to sit, which she did.
"Senga, bring some food for Jessica please." And then those blue eyes were boring into hers again. "After ye hae eaten, I wish for ye tae come on a walk with me, if ye will."
"Aye," was again all she could manage to say.
She was hungry, or she would have just taken a few bites and said she was finished. As it was, the meal took an excruciatingly long time. Did he want to show her something? She hoped not. She hoped he wanted to talk to her about the same things she wanted to say to him.
At long last, she was full and got up.
He was at the front door immediately, opening it for her and gesturing for her to precede him out.
Amena came running toward them.
"Ooh, a walk! I want tae go!"
But thankfully, Senga held the little girl back, and at the same time both Jessica and Leif called out to the cook.
"Thank ye, Senga. What would we dae without ye?"
Laughing together at having the same sentiment at the same time, they started their walk, going not toward the village but up the same difficult trail she and Lauren and Katherine had taken when they fled. It was the only way they could be assured of being alone, Jessica knew, and her hopes grew in her heart.
He didn't start speaking right away, but his body language did. He was attentive, taking every opportunity to give her a hand up when she needed it — and sometimes when she didn't.
They had climbed quite a ways up when he stopped an
d turned both of them around to lean against the craggy mountain and watch the sunset over the valley of his town.
At last he spoke.
"Na much time has passed syne the last time we watched the sunset together, ye ken. Howsoever, sae much has happened. Sae verra much.”
“Aye,” she said, feeling delinquent for not saying more but unsure what direction this conversation was going. Unwilling to say more, she gazed out with pride at her handiwork once more, the cleaner streets. It made her smile with a sense of accomplishment she had never felt at PenUlt. These people needed her much more.
Still looking out at the valley and standing near but not touching her, he went on.
“I ken ye planned tae pass the winter here and then move on, Jessica. And I want tae ken if ye would consider staying on. With me.”
He turned to her as if his resolve not to cloud her judgement with touch had broken and he just couldn’t help looking her in the face to see what she was thinking. As he continued, his deep blue eyes gazed into her very soul, it seemed.
“I want verra much for ye tae stay and be my wife.”
Before she even knew it, she was kissing him. A tender kiss that tried to become passionate.
He broke it off, laughing nervously. Leif! Being nervous!
“Will ye then? Consider staying tae be my wife?”
“Aye!” she squealed before she rushed him again.
This time he kissed back, chuckling softly. And then he grabbed her hand and began their walk down, attentive as ever.
“I wull give ye all the time ye want, tae consider.”
She pulled on his hand to get his attention.
He stopped and turned to face her.
She allowed herself to get lost in his eyes, to show him just how in love she was.
“I dinna want time. I want tae be officially a part o' this toon sae that I can improve it e’en more. I feel more alive here than I hae anyplace else, more needed, more useful. I want tae bear and rear yer bairns. I want tae wake up beside ye each morrow and fall asleep beside ye each evening. And I want tae start now, this verra moment.”
Leif chuckled again and turned to look down toward the town’s small church, then back at her with his smoldering eyes drinking her in.
