by Jane Stain
“And leave your phone here, Emily. I want your complete attention.”
A few locals laughed at Vange’s joke.
But Emily looked around with panic on her face for a moment, clearly fearing that Siobhan was going to stop them.
Vange firmly planted her feet, grabbed her best friend’s arm, and all but dragged Emily out of Celt Camp.
This made more locals laugh, because of how small Vange was compared to Emily.
Encouraged by their laughter, Vange used her urgings at Emily to further make her case with these witnesses: Siobhan had no cause at all to stop the two of them from going for a walk.
“Come on, Emily. I haven’t seen you in two years. Dall can run this just fine without you, see? He’s got it all under control, and Peadar’s helping. Come on. And tell me all about your kids. Where are they, anyway? Mine are with my parents, back in the states.”
Emily stopped resisting. She started walking fast along with Vange, high-tailing it out of that scene.
“I hope you have a car here.”
“Yeah, Peadar and I rented one, but we can’t just leave the guys behind.”
“No no, we’ll just go there to talk. It’s the only place we can be sure no one is listening.”
Vange looked her friend over as the two of them rushed through the faire toward her car.
“Are you sure they haven’t put anything in your clothes or pouches that lets them spy on you? Any anyway, I don’t have my gate pass yet.”
“I’m on staff. I can get you back in. And no I’m not sure, but I have a pad and a pen, so we can pass notes like in fourth grade.”
“Wow Em, you made a joke.”
“Yes I did.”
“OK, we’ll pass notes in the car, but in the meantime let’s chit chat. So where are your kids? Mom tells me you have twin boys. We have two sets, by the way.”
Emily gave Vange a look that was happy and sad and pained, all at the same time. Then she took a deep breath and let it out.
“Congratulations on yours, although I see you know they’re cursed. Dall will be as happy as I am to hear your news.”
“Thanks. Emily, where are your children?”
“They’re in childcare here at the faire. I wanted to stay home in the trailer with them during faire and take them to see my parents during the week, but Siobhan can be very persuasive.”
“If you think they’re in any danger whatsoever, then let’s go get them right now.”
Emily tripped over a loose rock in the dirt road and swore.
“No, not danger per se, but they might be getting brainwashed.”
“My youngest are only three days old, Em. If this curse didn’t involve them, I never would have left them, not even with my parents.”
“Like I said, Siobhan can be very persuasive.”
“Yeah, I noticed. You barely acknowledged me when I showed up. After two years. I knew something was wrong, and then I saw her playing that flute…”
Vange gave Emily the short version of what had happened to her and Peadar after Emily’s phone had been stolen.
Emily gave Vange a frightened look again, and whispered in Vange’s ear.
“Is your rental car big enough for all six of us?”
“Yeah, here it is.”
They got in, started it, and turned on the air so they could leave the windows rolled up tight. They still didn’t dare talk, but they felt more private that way.
Emily got out a pen and a small spiral-bound notepad, and they passed these back and forth.
Emily wrote first.
“I know you want me to escape them. I don’t think I can. But let’s sneak away like this as much as we can while you’re here. I missed you soooo much.”
Vange hugged her oldest friend and then took up the pen and the pad of paper.
“No, driving away in this rental car and even flying you back to the States doesn’t address the curse. They have magic, Emily. They can find us wherever we go.”
Emily nodded. A few tears landed on the pad as she wrote.
“Yes, exactly. That’s why I don’t think we can escape them. I’ve used their magic, and I may have even made it easier for them to find us, by applying their magic to pictures of us all, and of Peadar’s brothers and sisters and cousins. :(”
Vange was curling her fingers for the pen. She wrote back.
“I don’t want to escape the druids. I want to make them loosen up on the curse.”
Emily gave Vange a look of hope and wrote furiously fast.
“That sounds so good, but how?”
“The way I got Aideen to send me back here: threaten them.”
Emily looked sad again.
“But hardly anyone in this time period would believe you if you told them there were druids, and if they did believe, they would think it was cool, not burn them at the stake.”
Even as Emily was writing that, Vange was shaking her head no and gesturing for Emily to hand the pen over.
“Emily, the druids need us. They can’t time travel themselves. They need women like us to bring their … servants back and forth.”
Emily stared at that for a long time, deep in thought. Finally, she started writing again.
“I don’t know why I never saw that. What’s not so obvious is how to use that to our advantage. A million possibilities are going through my mind. I’ll need to think about it.”
“I’ll give you until Sunday to think, Em. I hope you come up with something good, but no matter what, before faire is over on Monday we are going to do something about these druids and their curse.”
Emily was sobbing along with her tears now, but she nodded vigorously as she wiped her eyes with her leine sleeve.
“And it starts right now with Siobhan. I hate myself for letting that woman have such control over my family. Just when I gained financial independence from my parents, I went and let some bad boss gain control of my whole family.”
Vange agreed out loud.
“It happened to me, too. I know exactly how you feel.”
They hugged some more and cried together.
Vange and Emily were getting out of the rental car to walk back to the men they loved when Emily reached over and grabbed Vange’s arm and spoke out loud.
“Wait, Vange.”
“What is it?”
Emily started writing again.
“We need a united plan now. Siobhan has some powerful magic. If we just go wandering back into her circle of influence, we’ll probably succumb.”
Vange took the pad and wrote her own note.
“How big an area do we have to avoid?”
Emily wrote heavily, tearing the paper in places she was so emphatic.
“I don’t want to avoid her. I want to neutralize her—like you did by making a scene and yelling her name as you ran up to her. That was great, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Vange said out loud.
“Thanks for doing it.” Emily said back with a smile. And then she wrote, “Yeah, distractions neutralize her effect. I’ve been watching her for two years, and I’ve been lucid during times of upheaval…” Emily passed into thought.
“Upheaval? What happened?” Vange said.
“Huh?” Emily snapped out of her reverie and said, “Oh, you know, drunk customers getting too ‘friendly’ with clan women, parties getting too loud near older staff’s trailers, the usual.”
“Ha heh heh. I miss faire.” Vange laughed.
Emily smiled and nodded while she wrote some more to the story.
“We had a real fight break out between two staffers once though, during morning sparring. That Lews guy had attacked me before, but only Dall believed me. They sent him home to his time and haven’t brought him back.”
Vange held out her hand for the pen and pad and started writing fast as soon as she got them.
“So we just keep making scenes around Siobhan so she can’t send us all into la la land and make us forget that Peadar and I came here to bring you and
Dall to your senses?”
Emily shook her head no, apparently remembered she had another pen in one of her pouches, dug it out, and scribbled another set of quick lines.
“We can’t make big scenes, or other druids will get involved and it will get away from us.”
Emily looked at her intently.
Vange nodded yes to show that she understood and agreed.
Emily wrote some more.
“But yes, we make small scenes—either to distract Siobhan, or to distract those under her magically calming influence. And that gives me an idea on how we can beat them at their own game, Vange.”
“How?”
“By becoming more popular with the local faire actors than the druids are. As soon as we can get to town and use the Internet, we’ll set up a website with a forum…”
They wrote back and forth for another two pages and then decided they really did need to get back to Celt Camp and check to make sure their husbands were OK.
Vange was still apprehensive about getting back into the faire without a gate pass. Peadar had her ticket stub.
But when they got to the front gate, Emily just vouched for her with the guards and the ticket takers.
“Good morning. She’s with me.”
“OK, Emily.”
“Have a great faire day.”
“Say hi to Dall for us.”
Vange was impressed, but she elbowed her friend and teased her.
“Wow, there was no resistance at all. You really are on staff here, you bigshot.”
Emily seemed to be coming back to her senses, because she sort of joked back.
“Heh. I might as well enjoy the perks.”
Vange hugged her sideways as they walked.
“That’s the spirit.”
They were almost to the top of the hill above Celt Camp when Emily started walking even faster.
“I know what we’ll do right now.”
“What?”
“Ready for the second iteration of ‘Operation Five New Best Friends’?”
“Ha. Sure.”
“Good. First we make sure the guys are OK, and then we launch into it.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Very funny.”
“I thought so.”
“You would.”
Gosh it’s great to have you back, Em.
As they had planned, the two friends went around to the woodsy back of Celt Camp, rather than approach on the road where Siobhan could see them. No bagpipes were playing, so they knew something other than dancing was afoot.
Vange whispered when the two of them were a hundred feet away.
“All I can see is the tents from back here. I can’t see where anyone is or if they’re OK or what they’re doing. Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Yes.” Emily whispered back. “Look.”
“Cool.”
One of the white canvas tents had a back door.
As they crept forward through the trees, Vange looked for the reason for this and discovered an area where food waste had been dumped.
“Heh, let me guess. This is the kitchen tent.”
“Yep. Just smile at the kitchen workers while I find out what’s going on.”
“No problem.”
Vange and Emily crept on into the kitchen tent at Celt Camp. Inside were three young women with aprons on. They weren’t doing much of anything. There were also a dozen coolers, three large folding tables, a large camp stove, and standing shelves full of food and packaged drinks.
Emily put her finger over her lips.
Apparently oblivious to Siobhan’s manipulations, the other women giggled while they all had a whispered conversation.
“Hehe. Why are you sneaking around, Emily?”
“I wanted to know what Dall was really doing while I was gone,” Emily joked.
The three women reassured her.
“Pfft, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“No.”
“Not at all. He was running a long weapons demonstration until just a few minutes ago, and now he is sitting in state and hearing petitioners.”
Emily rolled her eyes.
“Oh, petitioners.”
They all laughed.
Emily turned to explain to Vange.
“We all hate playing petitioners. It’s really hard coming up with stuff we haven’t said before. But you guys, it’s even worse when you’re up there hearing the petitions.”
“Ha hehehe. I’ll bet.”
Vange spoke up.
“So Emily, now we know how your man’s doing. What about mine?”
Emily looked to the others.
“Jessamin, where is Peadar?”
Jessamin peeked out through the tent flap.
“Sitting off to the side, watching and pretty much being ignored.”
“Go grab him,” Emily ordered, “and be discreet.”
Nodding, Jessamin slunk out of the tent. Less than a minute later, she came back with Peadar in tow.
With a wink, Emily playfully shoved him into Vange.
“Here he is. You two can cuddle out back.”
Catching on to Emily’s intent right away, Vange grabbed her man, took him out back, and made a show of making out with him while she quietly filled him in on her and Emily’s plans.
Peadar upped the ante, and for a while they weren’t putting on a show at all.
I guess I’ve forgiven him…
When Vange and Peadar got back into the kitchen tent, Dall was there in Emily’s place.
Vange nodded at Peadar, then Dall, and then back to the tent’s back door.
“Go on and catch up with your kinsman. Emily and I can watch over things here.”
Dall and Peadar clasped arms solidly, and then Peadar led his da outside.
“Aye, kinsman. Do let us walk and talk together, such as the womenfolk did, aye?”
Vange watched them go, and then she was surprised for a moment to find herself alone with Jessamin and the other two young women. She gave them a dramatic pose to get their attention and to break the ice.
“I’m Vange, by the way, Emily’s best friend since we were nine.”
They smiled at her dramatics.
“Hi. I’m Aga.”
“Bethany.”
“Jessamin.”
“Hi, great to meet you all. So Peadar and I are only in Australia for this one weekend, and we hoped that after faire tonight you all might show us how you have a good time in these parts, you know, out on the town.”
The three looked dubious.
“There’s a big night-show here on the faire site every night this weekend.”
“Yeah, the long weekend is when everyone from faraway comes, so it’s the biggest audience we have for the whole run of the faire.”
“People have been talking up these night shows for weeks.”
Of course they have. Score a point for those clever druids. Keeping everyone on the site works in their favor. This is going to be harder than I thought.
Oh hey, I know how to get Dall and Emily’s faire clan to come out with us.
“Oh well. We’ll just go out the four of us, then. Just thought I’d ask you, though. You all seem so nice and everything.”
A few seconds passed by, and then Jessamin piped up.
“By the four of you, do you mean you’ll be out with Dall and Emily?”
“Of course. Peadar is Dall’s kinsman in real life. Can’t you tell?”
All three woman nodded that yes, they could tell.
“They look like they could be twins.”
“Yeah, they’re at least cousins, right?”
Vange nodded.
“Yeah, at least.”
She could see the picture she had planted in their imaginations taking shape. A night out with their chiefs, Dall and Emily, would seem like a night out with celebrities to their faire clan.
Just as Vange had been counting on, the three of them came around, one by one.
&nb
sp; Jessamin was the first one to cave in and tell the other two she had changed her mind.
“You know what, I think I’d rather go out with Dall and Emily.”
The other two instantly agreed.
“Yeah, I was thinking that too.”
“The night shows are pretty much the same old thing, anyway. Let’s go have a break from the faire.”
I’m so smart. Hey, maybe being a mom does make you wiser.
“Great. So you three decide where we’ll go. Plan it all out, and come tell Dall and Emily at the end of the faire day. Peadar and I have an SUV big enough for the four of us plus you three.”
Jessamin, Aga, and Bethany all squealed in glee at that last part.
Vange crossed her arms and smiled as she watched the three of them eagerly start planning their night out.
Your excitement over that ought to be enough to distract Dall and Emily from anything Siobhan throws at them in an attempt to keep them here under her thumb tonight.
With Vange and Peadar’s help, Emily and Dall skillfully switched places in the kitchen tent all day long. When Emily was out there under Siobhan’s spell, then Dall was free to visit with his son, and if Dall was bewitched, then Emily was free to visit with Vange.
It worked like this through the clan’s midday meal and through one more hour each of petitions, Scottish dancing, and weapons demonstrations.
But then Siobhan must have figured out what was going on.
“Let us begin a new tradition.” the druid woman called out to the clan in a voice that was charged with undeniable charm.
Various clan members answered her.
“What shall that be?”
“Aye, and what would you have?”
Vange felt the urge to peek outside through the tent flap. She saw that Siobhan held the clan enthralled. They eagerly listened for the details of whatever scheme Siobhan had to keep them all there that night.
Even Emily was listening.
Darn.
Vange looked back inside the tent. Oh no. Even the three kitchen ladies were enthralled.
Good thing Dall and Peadar are out back where they can’t hear the druid witch.
Vange looked back outside.
Siobhan was on a roll.
