[Druids Bidding 02.0] RenFaire Druids: Dunskey Castle Prequels

by Jane Stain

  Ian and Murray and Siobhan all laughed at that. Emily looked at Dall, and he seemed interested. Her parents looked puzzled.

  Siobhan elbowed Murray, and he looked at Emily’s parents and sobered up. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. The faire is very good to its … professors. As a married couple now, Dall and Emily will live in a trailer rather than a tent, and all their needs will be provided, for them and their children.” He smiled at Emily’s parents.

  They gave him puzzled smiles.

  Murray looked at Dall then. “But it’s nice to have spending money, you know? To be able to have a car and see the town now and then, get out a little.”

  Fortunately, just then the limousine came.

  Dall and Emily rushed inside and waved at everyone until the doors and windows were all closed and they were on their way, alone.

  Emily turned to Dall.

  “What was Murray saying all that for? He knows about our antiques business.”

  “But very few other people can know, lass. They must think our money comes from some explainable source.”

  “Ah, yes. Ha. The druids think they have us under control, but we sure showed them. I’m almost as excited to continue the antiques business as I am to get you into that penthouse suite at the hotel.”

  Emily’s phone buzzed.

  7 Clans

  Siobhan ran out from between the trees with a big smile on her face and her arms held out for a hug.

  “Welcome home, Mrs. MacGregor.”

  It took Emily a moment to realize the druid was talking to her. That she, Emily, was now Mrs. MacGregor. When she finally did catch on, Emily felt a huge smile crack all over her face.

  “Morning, Siobhan.”

  Dall only released half of Emily so that the two women could hug. He fiercely kept her in a half embrace as he might if he was afraid she would disappear if he let go of her. He picked up the two heaviest suitcases with one arm, still clinging to her with the other.

  Enjoying that immensely, Emily managed to pick up the next heaviest bag with her one free arm, leaving Siobhan to get the last three items, which she did cheerfully and easily.

  They all made their way past the front gate of the faire, around the half-constructed fake English village street, and under the burlap wall into the center of the donut-shaped faire site, the backstage area.

  Siobhan put Emily’s bags down at the door of the large travel trailer the druids were letting the newlyweds use.

  “You remembered to keep your keys handy, right?” she asked them with a teasing grin on her face. “You have an hour to unpack, Emily, and then we have a staff meeting at the picnic tables. Oh, and make a list of any groceries you want and bring it to the meeting.” Siobhan smiled and ran off.

  Even though he had carried Emily inside the day before, just after their wedding, Dall scooped Emily into his arms now and did so again. Once they were inside, he kissed her soundly and reached out the door to drag her bags in.

  “Do you really need an hour to unpack?”

  Emily giggled in his arms.

  “Probably, but I can unpack later.”

  They found the time to list the groceries they wanted, but just barely.

  “Leave your phone in the trailer, lass,” Dall said after he spent all of thirty seconds repleating the nine yards of homespun plaid wool that made up his great kilt and had belted it back on.

  Emily stopped trying to stuff her phone in the pocket of a different pair of shorts and looked at her new husband. She made a face that was meant to say, “Why on Earth would I leave my phone here?”

  To Emily’s surprise, Dall opened his sporran and got out a tiny spiral notebook and a ball-point pen. She didn’t have much time to wonder where he’d gotten them. He opened up the notebook and wrote:

  “I do not think the druids know that all of the buttons on your Time Management app came unlocked after we said our ‘I do’s, lass.”

  Emily reached out her hand for the pen, and when Dall gave it to her, she wrote in the tiny notebook:

  “Surely they knew that would happen? I think they didn’t want us wandering away from your time without seeing them again first, and that was why they told me I would be stuck in your time if we got married there.”

  Dall held out his hand for the pen and then wrote:

  “I am the only professor who has married while in the service of this particular set of fair directors, you ken? I do not think they know.”

  Emily shrugged and put her phone on the nightstand before she ran into his half embrace and walked out to the picnic tables arm in arm with her husband.

  Emily and Dall were the last ones to arrive at the staff meeting. Siobhan and Ian smiled at them and gestured to two seats they had saved together. Emily looked around and tried to guess which other professors were time travelers like Dall. She suspected that the jousting professor was, Lews, as well as the woman who taught the costuming workshop and had to approve everyone’s period clothing, Marion. She very much wanted to speak to them and hoped she would get a chance, until she noticed that Lews was scowling at her. What was that about?

  Tea Dye Aiden was the only one standing, and he started talking as soon as she and Dall sat down.

  “Welcome, Mrs. MacGregor, as our first new staff person in two years, and our first new staff person ever by way of marriage.”

  Everyone except Lews clapped and smiled at her. Lews just sat there scowling.

  Trying her best to ignore him, Emily smiled back at everyone else and took a bow as best she could while sitting down. She felt Dall doing the same, beside her. When she looked at Dall, he gave her a know-it-all look that she found infuriating and endearing at the same time. She poked him in the ribs. It hurt her finger.

  Aiden continued.

  “This meeting has been called to discuss how best to introduce you as the new Mrs. MacGregor back in Dall’s own time, Emily. I expect that Dall has told you everything that transpired while you were there...”

  Emily didn’t hear the end of that sentence. She was reeling over hearing him discuss time travel right there out in the open like this. But Siobhan’s elbow nudged Emily back into the moment.

  Aiden was still talking.

  “So you see, we’ll need to send you back about two weeks after you left, and without Dog and the rest of those bikers, this time. You would have been married a week, in that case, most of it traveling back up to Kilchurn Castle from England…”

  Emily thought he knew everything for a moment, when he said England with just the same emphasis that she and Dall had while they were in the highlands. But then she remembered how the druids could eavesdrop on her by way of the Time Management app on her phone. She would have to be very careful, she realized all over again now, wishing there were some way she could negate that ability of theirs.

  But Aiden hadn’t paused in what he was saying.

  “...so we will send you back a week after your wedding. You’ll go a week from right now, next Monday morning. And your only mission will be to announce your marriage to everyone there.” He smiled as if that would be as easy as making a few phone calls.

  Emily knew darn well it would be dangerous, as was everything in the 1500s. She smiled too, though. She couldn’t wait to time travel again. She squeezed Dall’s hand, and he squeezed back. And then she had a thought.

  “I guess I’ll have to wear my English period clothing when I go back,” she said to Dall sadly. She already loved her MacGregor plaid outfits.

  Dall surprised her, though, speaking loudly enough for the whole meeting to hear.

  “Nay, lass. My mother did give you the plaid clothing you wore yesterday.” He smiled at her in a goofy way. “She has the full awareness of this clothing, and she would be sorely disappointed if you did not wear it, lass.”

  Emily gave her husband a baffled look.

  He smiled at her smugly.

  “I smuggled it back to Kilchurn Castle inside Dog’s pack, lass. Inside Mike’s as well. All of the men volun
teered space for your new Scots clothing. ‘Tis a shame they don’t remember.” He cowed a bit at a stern look from Aiden. “A needed shame, I ken. However, it was a bit expensive to get it back from them.”

  Now Emily was sorry she hadn’t unpacked. She suddenly needed to know for sure that all her Scottish clothes were indeed packed in her luggage.

  “May I be excused?” she asked Aiden, lovingly running her finger over Dall’s mother’s ring, now on her wedding finger.

  Aiden looked at her kindly.

  “You may, but remember, you must not discuss time travel with anyone who is not at this meeting, understand? No phone discussion, either.”

  “Yes…” Emily fumbled with how to address the man. “Sir.”

  Aiden nodded and went on to discuss some other business.

  Dall pulled Emily by her hand so that she was looking at him.

  “Are you right in your heart, lass?”

  Wanting to reassure her husband that he hadn’t married a ninny, Emily smiled back at him.

  “Right as rain.”

  And then Emily got up and almost ran back to their trailer, where she unpacked and took a deep breath of relief at finding everything was indeed there. She held the plaid skirts and embroidered shifts and the tailored bodice that fit perfectly up to her nose and breathed in deeply, imagining herself inside her mother-in-law’s house up on the highlands hill in what recently had been Menzies lands. She looked at the woman’s ring on her finger and felt the hug she’d been given on first meeting her, and she sighed with how much love was there.

  Emily’s luggage also contained all her favorite summer clothes, her toiletries, and a care package from her aunt with a note:

  “Your mom noticed that you ate all my candies and used all my handmade soap, Emily. Here is more. Give me mailing addresses for you, and I’ll send you some for every wedding anniversary, birthday, and Christmas.”

  After carefully locking the door and checking to make sure all the windows were securely fastened (the air conditioner was on) and the curtains closed, Emily stayed in the trailer by herself and used her phone to check her email and update her Facebook status to married. She included that picture Vange had taken of her and Dall’s first kiss. That seemed like yesterday, in a way, but then so much had happened since then. She got lost in the memories while she answered comments from old friends who were congratulating her and saying what a hottie she had caught.

  She was so wrapped up in that, she didn’t notice Dall had come home until he plopped down onto the bed next to her.

  “Ooh. You scared me.” Emily giggled, and they spent a while being newlyweds.

  Emily came up for air first.

  “So, anything I should know from the rest of the staff meeting?”

  Dall squeezed her.

  “Och no, lass. You did well to leave when you did. It was all very dull after that. So are you ready for your first lesson in the Gaelic?”

  She nodded yes, and they spent all five of the weekdays between workshop weekends getting her as versed in Gaelic as possible before their next trip to the 16th century. Dall wasn’t a bad teacher, and she was a willing and eager student, so it was a pleasant experience for them both. They didn’t have a computer or a TV, though, which might have made it a bit easier.

  For the most part, the two of them stayed in their trailer alone without interruptions. This was their honeymoon after all, such as it was. But they did have some visitors, and they did get out a bit.

  Murray came to Dall and Emily’s trailer Tuesday morning.

  “Have you two lovebirds thought about my invitation to hawk for my weapons booth?”

  Dall came up behind Emily and put his arms around her.

  She looked for Dall’s opinion on his face.

  He answered Murray for them.

  “Nay, we have been a wee bit busy.”

  They all laughed.

  “Will you come inside, Murray?” Dall said, “And we can have a talk about it.”

  Once they had the burly man settled on their new cloth couch with a glass of water, he pitched his offer to them again.

  “Yes, the druids supply you with a home and food and health insurance—everything you need, but there will be additional things that you want: evenings away, to rent a car and go visit friends and family, to keep your data plan so you can keep in touch on Facebook… Your independence. I know you received wedding gifts, but they won’t last forever. You need some money coming in. Come work for me.”

  Murray was offering a good deal, and the MacGregors accepted.

  The two of them would do an extra demonstration with all the various weapons Murray sold right up next to his booth in the arena each fair day. They would stay afterward to answer questions from the audience. They would make $400 a week in spending money for one hour’s work each per weekend day. They scheduled it first thing after fair opening ceremonies, during the time Emily used to hawk for Simon.

  Dall and Emily went for a jog each evening, leaving her phone in the trailer. It was their only chance to talk candidly. Even if they ditched her phone outside somewhere, who knew how many bugs the druids had planted inside the trailer? On these jogs, Emily explained modern life to Dall, including debit cards. They agreed to deposit most of their money in Emily’s bank account.

  Emily called the DMV and her bank and everyone else she had business with and arranged for them to mail forms to add Dall as her husband and to change to her married name. They all agreed to use the hotel as the MacGregors’ temporary mailing address, and her parents’ address as their permanent mailing address.

  She checked her messages every morning while Dall was in the shower. There were always texts from her mom, which were mostly teasing but also a little worried. Emily did her best to sound cheerful in her responses, even though she herself was a little worried about being under the druids’ complete control.

  Ian delivered groceries Thursday morning.

  Dall clasped Ian’s forearm.

  “You ken this is easier than making me sandwiches, aye?”

  Ian laughed.

  “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

  Emily gave Ian what she hoped was a warm smile. He seemed like someone they should have as an ally.

  “Will you sit down and stay awhile?”

  “Sorry,” Ian said. “Normally I would, but I have more groceries to deliver.”

  “It is all right, man,” Dall said, clasping forearms with Ian once more.

  Ian seemed to enjoy this attention from Dall, because he said more when he hadn’t appeared to plan on it.

  “You and Emily should come out into the arena in the mornings and spar with us, if you can drag yourselves out of bed.” He smirked at them. “We start at sunrise, before it gets so hot out.”

  Dall looked at Emily to see if she wanted to accept Ian’s invitation.

  Emily nodded yes eagerly. That was a really good idea, and she was grateful to Ian for thinking of her, too.

  So Dall accepted for them.

  “We will see you at sunrise tomorrow.”

  They set Emily’s phone as an alarm and were up when it was still dark the next morning. Emily put on sneakers, shorts, and a T-shirt while Dall belted on his kilt and claymore and buttoned up his boots.

  When they got to the arena, it was only just getting light, but a dozen other staff members were already out there. Half of them sat in the gazebo drinking coffee, eating donuts, and chatting animatedly, including Siobhan and Tea Dye Aiden. The other half were inside the arena, sword sparring in pairs. Since they weren’t in period clothing, they wore white padded fencing jackets, and they were all using one-handed swords, mostly rapiers. Of those sparring, the only names Emily knew were Murray’s, Ian’s ... and Lews’s.

  Emily briefly noted that Murray knew how to use his weapons and made a mental note to explore that more later. Right now, her attention was on Lews.

  She knew it was rude to stare at the man, but she was unable to help herself. Judging by the wa
y he was dressed and his comparative mastery of his weapon, Lews was definitely a time traveler. However, he was from England rather than Scotland. That made sense. Most of the faire was about English history. Emily didn’t dare say anything about it, though. Not with all these people around. Despite what had happened at the staff meeting earlier that week, she and Dall had not been released from their promise not to discuss time travel with anyone but Siobhan.

  And something told Emily not to trust Ian quite that far.

  So as Dall walked her into the gazebo and found the two of them seats next to Siobhan, Emily just watched Lews spar with Ian and did her best not to stare. She tried to smile at Siobhan’s witticisms and to generally be friendly—while everyone out in the arena tried their best to disarm each other.

  After a time, someone sounded a bell and yelled out.

  “Time. Take five and then change partners.”

  All the combatants came into the gazebo and grabbed bottles of water from a cooler.

  Ian came up to them, smiling.

  “Glad you made it. The jackets and practice swords are over here. Now’s the time to get geared up so you can make the next bout.”

  Dall helped Emily into a padded fencing jacket, and she did the same for him. She chose her practice rapier, and then they wandered out into the arena with the rest of the people who wanted to spar. Ian and Dall partnered up right away.

  And then Lews was in front of Emily, giving her what looked like an attempt to smirk. But he was a bad actor.

  Emily could tell it was really a scowl.

  Lews spoke to her low enough that only she could hear.

  “Do come and show me why thou deservest to be on staff here.” And then he put on a better act and a sweet vocal tone, saying loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Emily. Pray, join me.” He added a sickly sweet smile.

  A glance at Dall showed Emily that he was occupied. She glanced at Aiden and Siobhan.

  They were half paying attention.