[Druids Bidding 02.0] RenFaire Druids: Dunskey Castle Prequels

by Jane Stain

  Vange caught on to the part of Emily’s plan she could guess, and joined in. “So where are you all from?”

  Brittany was drawn in now. “We’re from all different places, but we all go to State. We met there. Three of us are drama majors together, and Ashley and Cody wish they were.” She laughed.

  Ashley made a funny face at Brittany, and Cody reached behind Vange to push Brittany playfully.

  Emily laughed too, but this was great. State wasn’t in the town where her parents lived, but it was a lot closer than here. Close enough that a cab wouldn’t be too expensive. She said, “Heh, Vange and I are graduate students at your rival school, I’m afraid, although my undergrad major was drama, too.”

  She had them all in the palm of her hand, she could tell. Being the wife of the guild’s weapons master had its perks at the faire after all. She figured it was time to cash in on that. “So,” Emily said to them all, but looking mostly at Brittany, “tomorrow after faire, you want to take us into your town and show us some real clubs?”

  The other four looked to Brittany for her decision.

  Emily had seen that coming. She sat back and relaxed, giving Brittany a friendly smile that she hoped said, “No big deal, but wouldn’t it be funny and ironic, partying together even though we go to rival colleges?”

  Brittany smiled back in a way that said, “Heck yeah, it would.” Yay. Victory. Out loud, Brittany kept her cool and just said, “Sure.”

  Dall must have been listening in more than Emily expected, because while he kept his eyes on Siobhan, he spoke to Emily out of the corner of his mouth in Gaelic. “Arrange to hang out with them all day tomorrow so they stick with it, because Siobhan will expect us all to come party in her trailer, you ken?”

  “Aye,” Emily said to Dall in Gaelic, and then she addressed their new friends again, but as usual, she mostly smiled at Brittany. “This is Vange and my first time working this faire, or festival as you say here, so maybe tomorrow you can show us which shows are good here.”

  Brittany smiled really big and actually gasped. “Huh. Really?” Wow, she was star struck.

  The others were smiling really big and looking at Brittany like they hoped she’d say yes.

  Emily hugged Dall to let them know he was included in the deal, too. “Yes really.” She smiled her genuine friendship smile at everyone, but mostly at Brittany.

  Vange caught Emily’s eye and winked. Heh. Vange knew what was up. Yep, now Vange was giving Emily their secret ‘thumbs up’ sign. It was an odd little chortle rather than an actual thumb up. She looked like she was shivering.

  It was funny, and everyone at their table kind of laughed, enjoying it.

  That must have finally been enough for Siobhan, because she marched over with her hands on her hips like a high school teacher. That made everyone laugh even more, which made Siobhan huff, she was so spun up. “Does someone want to tell me what is so funny over here?”

  Brittany spoke up. “Sure. Vange just did this hilarious little wiggle thing. Show her, Vange.”

  Not waiting for Siobhan’s permission—which Vange didn’t need because she wasn’t the druids’ slave like Dall and this was not school but a festival, which was supposed to be fun—Vange got up on top of the table and showed the whole Scots guild her funny little wiggle.

  Everyone burst out laughing, and then they all gave Vange the Scots’ cheer.

  Siobhan made like she was giving in and laughed, but Emily could tell it was a forced laugh and that Siobhan was still mad. Sure enough, Siobhan gave Emily the evil eye.

  Emily wasn’t superstitious, but her time in the highlands among Dall’s family had taught her a few things. She made the sign against the evil eye with the hand that was around Dall’s shoulders.

  He felt it, and he hugged her close, which made her sigh. He would protect her.

  Siobhan wouldn’t be talking to them anytime soon, though. After the guild meeting, everyone went to Siobhan’s trailer for the usual Friday night revels. Dall and Emily beckoned their new friends to come along. No use rousing Siobhan’s suspicions by asking them to Dall and Emily’s trailer instead. Save their separation from the herd for tomorrow.

  Dall and Emily let Vange have their trailer and enjoyed another night at Mr. Simmons’ hotel. For the two of them, it had been months since they had seen this member of her parents’ clan of friends, so they were a little more talkative than usual when he came over to their table at the hotel’s breakfast cafe. He seemed to enjoy it, and Emily was glad.

  They drove Vange’s car to the festival, showed their gate passes to security, and made their way over to Murray’s weapons booth for their first day of work.

  They were three moves into an el duello sword fighting demonstration when Emily noticed their five new best friends in the audience. “Let’s make this really fun for them.” she said to Dall when she pointed them out.

  Dall ended their bout with an impressive disarm, they both bowed to the audience’s applause, and then he smiled and said, “We need some volunteers.”

  Almost everyone in the audience raised their hands.

  Emily went and got their five new best friends and brought them into the arena, and then she and Dall did with them what Dall had done with Emily the first day they met: gave them self-defense lessons with the long 16th-century daggers that might as well have been short swords.

  Their five new best friends had a blast. The audience bought lots of daggers and asked about lessons, which all seven of them in the Scots guild missed the Scottish stage dancing set for, and for which Dall and Emily were paid extra. They were pleased, Murray was pleased, the audience was pleased, and their new best friends loved them even more. Win, win, and win.

  “Well enough,” said Brittany to Emily really loudly, using her Scots accent as taught by the festival’s workshop, “shall we go now to see the players on the stage, lass? It was a request you had, you ken?”

  Wow, Brittany was good at that accent. Emily smiled at her and nodded.

  Dall threw his arm around Emily, and they followed their new best friends to watch their first stage show at this ‘ren fest’, as the locals called it.

  This festival site was woodsy, and to go along with that, many of the local festival workers dressed as dryads, wood sprites, fae, and fairies. It was fun to see them clasp hands and circle unsuspecting passersby. Once they had them trapped, they would chant, “You’ve been caught in a fairy ring. A fairy ring is a magical thing. In order to escape, you must kiss the one you’re with, and kiss him well. For it will be a long, cold winter.” Emily didn’t get to stop and watch any of the couples kiss, but she imagined it must have been amusing.

  Emily also saw the druid circle again, on the way to the stage show. At this site, the druids were in a ‘sacred grove’ of trees, rather than a circle of stones. They still wore their white robes and flower garland crowns, though, both the men and the women, and danced around in a circle. Emily wondered if that was just for show, or if they were really performing some sort of druid magic.

  The Green Man passed by them on this fake road through the fake English village in the woods. It was getting toward autumn now here, though, and so he was portrayed as turning a bit yellow around the edges. His character was a fun personification of summer.

  Emily also saw mongers pretending to sell all manner of ‘period’ things, from animals to farming implements. One particular monger gave her the willies. He pretended to be a barber surgeon selling tooth pulls. She shuddered, thinking he wouldn’t have such an amused look on his face if he had been faced with the real thing back at Kilchurn Castle.

  Finally, they got to the stage show. It was a good rendition of Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew,’ but Emily didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as she had Short Shakespeare’s performances. Still, it was good, and she clapped, ‘ooh’ed, ‘ah’ed and ‘oh’ed at appropriate times.

  Dall and Emily spent the whole day with their new friends. Vange finally joined them at lunch backstage
at the picnic tables, where the Scots guild meeting had been. She had a prominent part in the Scottish dance set at this site, and her shift as a boothie was during ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’

  Vange spoke in hushed tones, not to be overheard by any of the Scots guild leaders, whom she didn’t know were real magic-wielding druids. “So how are we going to get out of here with street clothes without being noticed? Because if they notice us, you know they’ll stop us. Don’t ask me why, but they will.”

  Emily grinned and whispered just loud enough for Vange and their friends to hear, “I left extra street clothes in the car, for you too. And a change for Dall, who as you know always wears his kilt, thank goodness.” Glad she had thought to leave her phone in the car as well, Emily raised her eyebrows three times quickly at her husband.

  Everyone at their table laughed.

  “Well that’s good,” Vange whispered, “but still, how are we going to get to the car without being stopped? You know Siobhan wants us all to stay on site. She’s almost a lunatic about that.”

  Emily was thinking that her friend had no idea how true her statement was.

  Dall spoke up in the sexiest hushed voice ever. “We will have to leave early, you ken. Before the staged guild meeting, and miss the ring-out parade.”

  “Speak of the devil, and he doth appear,” Cody whispered urgently.

  They all looked up to see Siobhan storming toward their table.

  The look in Siobhan’s eye said they were all in trouble. That wasn’t a surprise. After all, seven of them had missed the Scottish stage dance set.

  Dall and Emily had purposely chosen to sit at the picnic tables instead of in the dining room of their trailer, thinking the more public setting would keep Siobhan from making a scene. Apparently not. Emily figured the only thing for it was to leave the backstage area. Surely the druid wouldn’t make a scene in front of the festival’s paying customers.

  “Run.” Dall said.

  He must have been thinking along the same lines.

  There was a split second when everyone was in shock and didn’t quite believe what was happening, but when Dall abandoned his food and got up and left, they all followed suit. Dall steered Emily toward the arena, which made sense. That was where their next gig was.

  Emily looked behind them to see if Siobhan was running after them. Phew. She wasn’t. Their five new best friends were, though, and Vange.

  Murray was also at the arena, and he seemed to understand the situation as soon as he saw the eight of them running over. “Let’s reprise our show of the morning, shall we?”

  That was a great idea. It warmed up the crowd for the daily sword demonstration that all the performing guilds took part in. It sold more daggers for Murray. It kept Dall and Emily and their friends within sight and sound of the paying customers and thus safe from Siobhan’s scolding.

  It also kept Dall safe from Siobhan’s ordering, which was entirely the point, for Dall and Emily. They needed to get off the site and mark a destination closer to her parents, but Dall would have to obey if Siobhan or any of the druids outright ordered him to stay put. Dall and Emily couldn’t give any of the druids the opportunity to do that.

  So they gave Brittany, MacKenzie, Ashley, Cody, and Dylan another dagger lesson in self-defense, and they gathered an audience while they did so. Again this time, many customers in the audience bought daggers and asked about lessons for themselves. Once more, Dall and Emily offered to stay after the sword demonstration and give those lessons—for extra pay—and their friends stayed to watch.

  Emily was relieved to not see Aiden or any of the other druids around. Only Siobhan was on their case so far. After all, they had only missed a dance set and now they were missing a staged guild meeting.

  They wouldn’t miss anything outside the Scots guild until they actually missed the ring-out parade at the end of the festival day. And then Aiden would probably be upset with them, too. Best to get destinations they needed marked as soon as possible. And hope whatever orders the druids gave Dall left a loophole that allowed them to travel and see their friends and family.

  Siobhan was hopping mad, but she couldn’t make a scene during the all-guild sword demonstration. During which both Dall and Emily stayed out in the arena the entire time.

  Siobhan had to rush off to attend the staged guild meeting while the eight of them stayed after the demo for the paying customers’ dagger lessons.

  And then it was time for them to make their escape.

  Dall said to Brittany, “Lass, do you know that building where they serve gas at the main highway?”

  “Meet you there?” Brittany looked so excited her eyes might pop out.

  Dall threw his arm around Emily and said, “Aye, we will meet you there directly.”

  Emily kept her eye out for any druids while they walked toward the main gate. Every few seconds, her excitement and fear tried to get Emily to run, but Dall held her back. She knew walking was the way to go. It drew less attention. But her body kept trying to run anyway. Dall steered her the long way around the circle of festival streets. She was confused until she realized they avoided the druids’ sacred grove of trees that way.

  “Good thinking,” she said to him in Gaelic.

  He smiled their contented cat smile at her, and they strolled out the main gate as if they missed the ring-out parade every festival day.

  Cody and Ashley got in Dall and Emily’s backseat when they all met up at the gas station, and Vange got in Brittany’s junker with MacKenzie and Dylan.

  “I’ll call you so we can coordinate where we’re going, Em.” Vange called out as she climbed into Brittany’s front passenger seat.

  “You’ll be talking to Dall, ‘because I’m driving.” Emily shouted back.

  Dall said in Gaelic, “Is it a good idea to talk about our plans where they can hear us?”

  Emily answered in Gaelic, “I don’t see why we shouldn’t. There’s nothing they can realistically do to stop us from having fun with our friends, and they need to realize sooner or later that we are going to make friends.”

  “Aye, that’s true.” Dall jumped when Emily’s phone rang with the funny pop song she had set for Vange’s caller ID.

  Emily laughed, thinking about all the modern things her deprived 16th-Century husband was about to see for the first time.

  “They ask if we might change at your home,” Dall said, turning around to address Ashley, who sat in the back seat.

  “Oh. Uh,” she looked at Cody, who shrugged, “sure.”

  “Aye, she says that will do. Aye. Aye.” Dall searched the phone, obviously looking for a way to disconnect the call.

  Keeping her eyes on the road, Emily grabbed it from him and pushed the power button lightly, then gave it back. She turned on the radio, and three of them sang along to five-year-old pop songs while Dall watched the woods go by them at highway speeds.

  An hour later, Emily’s phone rang again.

  Dall answered again. “Aye? Good.” He must have been watching her last time, because this time he was able to disconnect the call. “They wish for you to take the next branch off the highway, lass, so that we can eat some supper.”

  “Good.” Cody yelled over the radio from the back seat. “Because I’m hungry. Where did they say we were going to eat?”

  “At the MacDonalds’,” Dall said thoughtfully. “I do not know why I am surprised to hear they have a place here.” Dall seemed to be looking up the mountain as they exited the freeway.

  “Heh, yeah,” said Ashley with a chuckle, “I know. McDonalds is everywhere, huh.”

  And then they were pulling into the driveway. Dall opened his mouth to say something that would probably sound foolish.

  Emily held a hand up to stop him as she followed Brittany into the drive-through. She pointed at the menu and said in Gaelic, “What looks good, Dall? We’ll be eating in the car.” Out loud to Cody and Ashley, she said, “Get whatever you want, our treat. We’re treating for this whole night. All
those extra lessons paid well, and you helped.”

  They all got full meals with shakes and fries and sandwiches and even apple pies for dessert.

  After they ate, Dall and Emily paid to fill both cars with gas, and then they sang their way another hour over to Cody and Ashley’s apartment complex. The other car stopped there to get the clothes Emily had brought for Vange, and Brittany promised to have everyone in her car back in two hours, all dressed to hit the club scene.

  Emily put her arms around Dall and gave him a kiss before anyone caught him staring at the huge apartment complex as if it were a space station or something. With a tender grin on her face, she had to hold his hand and drag him along behind Cody and Ashley to keep him from going over to check out the playground equipment.

  They hit the dance club at 11pm, when things were in full swing. The women were all in short summer dresses and strappy heels. Cody and Dylan both sported the all-in-black drama guy look. Dall stood out in his clean great kilt and a black tank top, but Emily thought he cut a fine figure, indeed. She wouldn’t hear of him wearing pants, not even period breaches.

  Poor Dall had resembled an overexcited dog the whole evening, though, first at seeing the women so scantily dressed, and then at seeing all the city lights.

  It was late enough that there wasn’t a line to get in, but early enough that everyone was still sober. The perfect time to arrive. Finally, they had their drinks and had found a table where half of them could sit while half of them danced.

  Emily watched Dall watching the dancers, especially during the one slow song that had come on so far. She let him watch all through the first slow dance. She had to wait through a dozen fast songs and nod and smile with everyone’s conversation after that, and then finally the DJ put on another slow song.

  Putting on her most practiced ‘come hither’ look and maintaining eye contact with her man, Emily stood, took his hand, and led him onto the dance floor.

  Dall didn’t disappoint her. He knew what she wanted.