[Druids Bidding 02.0] RenFaire Druids: Dunskey Castle Prequels

by Jane Stain

  As the world went swirly, she was thinking great, now all these children are going to grow up believing in ghosts. Oh well. What can I do?

  This time, Emily and Ju-long did not return the same instant they left. Emily guessed that was because on this occasion, they hadn’t time traveled. They had merely teleported from one place to another (merely.).

  Even though they could time travel, they still couldn’t be in two different places at the same time. The upshot was that when they returned to the attic, a few minutes of time had passed since they left.

  Dall and Peadar had put on the Campbell kilts and strapped their claymores to their backs. They had crawled out of the chest fort and were preparing to lower the staircase hatch.

  “Dall.” Emily stage whispered from where she stood in the corner.

  At the sound of her saying his name, Dall turned with the precision of a fighter, a dancer, or an athlete. When he saw her standing there un-attacked and whole, he visibly relaxed. And then he smiled their contented cat smile.

  “We have to pick another spot.” Emily explained, again in a loud whisper.

  “Well enough, lass, and you made the trip and came back whole.” He smiled a different smile then, one that said, “I’m proud of you, Drusilla.”

  Beaming at that smile from him, Emily sat back down inside the chest fort and searched the map on her phone for another spot she thought was close enough that the house would hear Ju-long’s shot, but far enough that it would be uninhabited. “Ready?”

  Ju-long grunted a yes.

  Emily grabbed his hand again and pushed the ‘Go’ button.

  The world went swirly, and then they were sitting on a rug inside someone’s house. A family sat breakfasting at the table, a mom, a dad, three grown children, and a little toddler in his father’s lap.

  They all stared at Emily and Ju-long.

  Before they could start speculating aloud about ghosts, Emily said her ‘do over’ phrase.

  The two of them swirled back to the attic.

  This time, Dall was watching when Emily stood up. He had loosened his grip on the staircase hatch. He looked disappointed, but resolved. “I do not think this plan is going to work, Drusilla.”

  Ju-long squeezed Emily’s hand and dropped it. “Too many people, cannot arrive unseen.”

  “We could swirl out into the mountains and then walk closer.” For some reason, Emily wanted to stick to Ju-long’s plan.

  Peadar shook his head no. “Nay, the Campbells will be on watch for the Menzies, the same as we were when we lived here. Mayhap they even watch for us MacGregors. They will see you coming, if you approach from outside the settlement.”

  Dall put his hand on his grown son’s back. “Peadar does have the right of it, lass. It was a good plan when you were just to appear in hiding and sound the fire weapon, then appear back inside this house. However, the plan does fall apart now that you have the need to approach from afar. Nay. We must have a new plan.”

  Suddenly aware that they had left the relative safety of their chest fort for no good reason, Dall and Peadar moved back toward it with one accord.

  A large tabby cat ran into the fort ahead of Dall.

  Emily moved into the spot she’d been seated in earlier, and the cat made itself at home on her lap, purring. She idly pet it while she waited for the men to crawl into the fort.

  Ju-long holstered his weapon, sat down beside her, and petted the cat, too.

  Dall got some jerky out of his knapsack and started munching on it, and before long they all were eating from their provisions.

  Emily figured they had enough for a few days, including water in their water skins, so she wasn’t too discouraged. Just impatient. “So what’s the new plan, Dall?”

  Before Dall could answer, the attic staircase hatch went down with an Errrreak.

  All four of them jumped a bit, which was difficult while sitting on blankets, but they managed.

  Emily held her breath and noticed that the others held theirs as well.

  The cat struggled in Emily’s lap.

  She let it go.

  It ran out through the crawl space and started speaking to whoever had come up into the attic room. “Meow. Meow.”

  “Well hello, Mouser. And how are you today? Lonely up here all alone? Aye, that is me as well. We shall keep each other company, you and I…”

  Once Dall and Peadar got over their shock, they both called out in quiet voices, “Peigi. Peigi.”

  Peigi stopped speaking to the cat, but she didn’t speak to her kin.

  Emily guessed that the woman—who was now older than Emily—was afraid to hope that kin had come to rescue her.

  Dall and Peadar were scrambling out of the crawl spaces, calling out to their kin loudly enough that she could hear, but softly enough that hopefully no one downstairs would.

  “Peigi.”

  “We are here to save you, Peigi.”

  And then Emily realized she needed to get out there too with her phone, if the rescue was going to be a success. She motioned to Ju-long to take the one crawlway out while she took the other.

  Ju-long nodded and started crawling out.

  Meanwhile, Dall and Peadar had gotten to Peigi and were soothing her while she cried softly, the bed half undone where she had been changing the linens. When they saw Emily and Ju-long emerging from the trunk fort, they motioned the two of them into a huddle.

  “Quickly, Emily,” said Dall. “Take us all back to the trailer.”

  Emily fiddled with her phone for half a minute, getting the settings just right and trying to make sure to take them to the trailer the minute they had left it. That wouldn’t work, though. She kept getting an error message.

  Oh yeah, Emily realized, she had already spent some of that time with her mom and with Vange. She patted the chocolate cake recipe in her pouch, smiling a bit.

  Finally, Emily remembered the app’s calendar function. Using it, the trip was simple. She just chose the trailer and then chose the next green window of time.

  “Ready?” She looked around. Everyone was touching her, with Peigi in the middle against her, still crying.

  Emily pushed the ‘Go’ button.

  The world went swirly.

  Backstage at the renaissance festival, the trailer that the druids were letting Dall and Emily use was just as they had left it. Their stew dishes were still in the drying rack in the kitchen. Their practice swords stood in the corner. Other than that, it was difficult to tell that anyone lived here. The truth was, most of the time they didn’t.

  Peigi gasped, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. “Huh. Where are we, Da?”

  Dall hugged his daughter. “We are far, far away from any Campbells, and forward 500 years in time, lass. You are safe.”

  “Oh, but Da, I do not want to be safe. I want to be with Alan.”

  Everyone looked at Peigi as if she had just grown a third arm.

  “Alan?” Peadar’s brow was wrinkled.

  Emily figured now wasn’t the time to tell her stepson that would give him wrinkles.

  “Yes, Alan. He’s a Campbell, but he loves me, and I love him.” Peigi stood there with her hands on her hips, as if she were waiting for the four of them to turn around and return her, this instant.

  All this trouble to rescue her, and she wanted to go right back where she’d been.

  Dall didn’t resign himself to his daughter’s decision to go back to a bad situation. “Lass, the Campbells who now live in our old house think of the MacGregors as servants not fit for marrying. I heard them say so with my own ears.”

  “Da, Alan does not think this way, and his is the opinion that matters.” Peigi pushed Dall’s shoulder, chiding him for his generalization.

  Emily looked into her husband’s face to see how he was affected by his daughter treating him as an equal, rather than with the respect due to an elder.

  Dall shrugged as if to say, “After all, we are the same age, so how can I be her elder?”
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  Peadar didn’t accept his sister’s decision easily, either. “There are other men, other good men, who you could fall for here in Da’s new time, Peig. Do not fash over this Alan. He cannot give you even the smallest bit of the life I have seen with Da and Emily in the few days since they did rescue me.”

  Emily met Dall’s eyes at that, and she saw the satisfaction he had in his son’s roundabout praise and gratitude.

  But Peigi felt differently.

  “Peadar, one day you will fall in love.” She held up her hand to stop him from complaining about her line of reasoning. “Love changes you, Peadar. Love has changed me. For example, none of what you all say matters to me. I want to go back to Alan, and if you do not allow me to, then it is you who are holding me captive.” She was speaking to her brother, but she looked at Dall then and raised her eyebrows as if to say, “See? I remember your warning, but you are mistaken on the situation.”

  Dall turned to Emily and gestured for her to get out her phone. “We asked the wee phone app that the druids do use to travel us through time to take us to your greatest hour of need, Peigi.” He turned to Emily. “Show her the likeness you took of Peigi when she was a child, the one that brought us to her.”

  Emily searched for that picture, but she said, “Dall, we didn’t say that this time, remember? I just clicked on whatever destination came up first, to get us out of—”

  But Dall was fixated on the idea that they had been rescuing his daughter.

  This was a new side to him that Emily was learning: stubbornness. She supposed she liked it when it applied to protecting his family. Still, she didn’t think Peigi shared her admiration.

  As if it would prove anything, Dall pointed to Peigi’s picture on Emily’s phone. “You must have a need of being rescued, because the wee phone app sent us to you—”

  Peigi was smart, though.

  Gently and warmly taking her young father’s hand, she pleaded with him, appealing to his affection for her. “Da, I do have a need, but it is not of being rescued. It is of your prayers for me and Alan. We are running away tonight … tonight in our time—which you must bring me back to.”

  Peigi got a bit frantic when she said that, looking at all of them with the beginnings of despair in her eyes.

  “We will take you back,” Emily said, holding out her hand for her phone, which Dall gave back slowly with a frown on his face. “We will take you back in an hour or two. But first, tell us all that you know about your grandmother and your aunts, your uncles and your cousins. Are they well? Where are they? Oh, and where are you and Alan planning on going?”

  Before Peigi could answer, Siobhan opened the door without knocking and came right in.

  For a moment, Emily wondered how the druid knew they were inside, but then she remembered it was their app on her phone.

  “Ju-long, your assignment here is finished.” Siobhan’s tone was businesslike and no-nonsense. “You’ll see Dall and Emily on the weekend. Go on back to your tent now and prepare for the festival.”

  Ju-long bowed to everyone and went out the door.

  As she bowed back to him in courtesy, Emily watched the amulet he wore go out the door with him, wishing she had thought to ask him for it. He would only need it if he returned to his own time, near as she could tell. Vange could really use that thing.

  Siobhan turned to Emily and took her hand. She held it for a few seconds, looking off into nowhere, and then she got a determined look on her face. “I have something to tell you in private.” She looked at the bedroom door.

  “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of my family,” Emily said, gesturing to Dall and his children.

  “OK, it’s your privacy. Emily, you’re a few hours from being fertile if you stop time traveling this minute. I think you should.”

  That took all the wind out of Emily’s sails. There was nothing she wanted more than to have Dall’s children. She looked at her husband and tried to convey with her expression the longing she felt. She longed to bear him children, ached to carry them in her womb.

  Dall grabbed Emily and held her close, making all right with the world for a long moment. And then, still holding her, he turned to face Siobhan. “If Emily cannot use the wee phone app to travel, then how are Peadar and I to return Peigi to her Alan?”

  Siobhan rolled her eyes and reached out for Emily’s phone.

  Emily handed it to the druid.

  Siobhan brought up the Time Management app and held it out in front of Dall. “You’ve seen Emily operate this app dozens of times now. You mean to tell me you don’t feel like you could do it?” She was making a face that said he was an idiot if that was what he was telling her.

  Dall was trying to remain calm, and to the others he probably looked calm.

  But because of her drama training, Emily noticed that her husband’s breathing got heavy. And it was subtle, but he backed away ever so slightly from the phone, as if it would bite him. His hand went halfway up to his chest and then down again.

  Emily thought it likely Dall had started to cross himself but thought better of it.

  He swallowed a lump in his throat. “I do not understand the wee phone. It is fae work to me, what you call magic. I am fine with a sword, and I can help Emily with the language of my time. However, I am not the one who can make this … wee thing do as I wish.” He stood there calmly but warily, bent a little at the waist and with his legs apart, as if waiting for Siobhan or the phone to attack him.

  Peadar perked up. “Vange does know how to operate the wee phone.” He looked at everyone with such a hopeful smile that Emily couldn’t help but smile, too.

  Dall killed his buzz, though. “Aye, however, Vange be not here, and we cannot send Emily after her.” His body was still on alert, as if a fight was inevitable.

  Emily put a hand on Dall’s back in an attempt to really calm him. “Peigi, certainly it won’t hurt anything if you stay here for a day or two.” She caressed her husband’s back, feeling him respond, but not calm down.

  But Peigi made a sound that was half hysteria, half rage.

  Oh no. The woman thought they meant to keep her here.

  Emily waved her hands in front of Peigi’s eyes to get her attention. “Vange can get you right back to the moment you left your time, Peigi. Your Alan won’t even know you were gone. Please, trust us.”

  “Why must I—” Peigi started. She had relaxed a little and no longer looked panicked, but she was still plenty angry. Her chest heaved, and her jaw was locked.

  But Emily cut her off. “We need to let Vange sleep right now. She’s had an allergic reaction—”

  Still angry, Peigi put her hands on her hips and gave Emily a look that said, “A what?”

  “An attack of the cold?”

  Relaxing a little, Peigi nodded understanding.

  “And then tomorrow, Dall and I have already been someplace from 9 till 3, but Peadar can keep you company. I’ll ask Vange to come here for supper tomorrow. If she can’t then, she surely will the next evening.”

  At the news that Vange would be coming over, Peadar beamed a smile so bright, he was shining.

  Yeah, he had a thing for Vange. Big time.

  Ug. That still felt so weird to Emily.

  Dall smiled and put his arm around Emily. “Mayhap invite your parents to come over the next night. I will do what I can to bring some-ought they can sell, to make up for his business that may be failing.”

  Emily tried her best to smile back, but it was sinking in: the fact that she would be staying home while everyone else went gallivanting off into the time stream. Still, she was euphoric inside. She might be able to keep Dall around long enough that she could conceive his child before he left.

  Siobhan winked at Emily.

  The druid was thinking the same thing.

  “That suits me fine,” Siobhan said. “Your friend Vange can help. But you mustn’t tell anyone else, understand?”

  Yay. She could finally tell Vange.


  Dall was still holding Emily, and she could feel him tense up a bit. “We will be telling our children, warning them of the druid curse upon our family: that every fourth son must serve the druids. But aye, other than them, we will tell no one else.”

  Siobhan nodded some more on her way out.

  After Siobhan left the trailer, everyone breathed easier, even Peigi.

  “Aye, and now that be settled,” said Dall, “do tell us all about your uncles and your aunts, your cousins and your grandmother, Peigi. Be they well?”

  Peigi looked from her da to her brother. Apparently, their looks convinced her they really wondered about their kin, because she started to tell them all that had happened over the past ten years.

  While she talked, slowly at first and then more and more animatedly, Emily found herself wishing she could do something useful for Dall’s daughter: give her a medical exam and modern treatment for any conditions, or teach her the history of Scotland—and especially the highlands—so that she and her family could avoid heartache… But with the short amount of time they dared keep Peigi, Emily had to settle for telling her stepdaughter how to use the small magnifying glass to make fire—and giving it to her.

  Peigi was delighted with the gift and hugged Emily. Other than that, she took in all the modernity of the interior of the trailer with her eyes, but she didn’t move from the spot where she had landed between the trailer door and the kitchen while she filled them in on what she knew of the rest of their family.

  By 2 am, Peigi was drooping on her feet. She’d been talking for almost three hours, answering the men’s questions and going off on stories when she gave them answers.

  Emily led her stepdaughter into the pink bedroom that Vange used on the weekends during the festival and got out one of Vange’s larger sleep shirts. But she really won Peigi over when she showed her the bathroom and drew her a hot bath.

  Peigi stood there stunned while Emily showed her how to turn the water on and off and explained the shampoo and conditioner, let alone showed her how to operate the wall heater.