Outside, she heard voices raised. When she glanced at the window she saw that the street outside was lit with torches. A mob had gathered.
“The finder is here,” Tamhas told her. “You cannot protect him now.”
Chloris didn’t respond, for her mind worked frantically. She barely cared about the pain she felt or her own fate, and when Tamhas held her tightly by one arm and pulled her to face the angry crowd outside, she thought only of how much she loved Lennox.
Gavin had staggered down the hall, where the front door was open. “Call the surgeon,” he shouted.
Men ran to his side.
Tamhas paused halfway down the hall, leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Reconsider, please. Save yourself.”
She shook her head.
Tamhas growled low in his throat, then grabbed her shoulder and forced her on.
All she could think of was sending a message, but she did not know what to do.
She had to warn Lennox, but how? That’s when she recalled the charm Jessie had given her. Hold it to your heart. He will know.
Would he? Would he sense her warning? It was her only chance.
Chloris fumbled for her pocket with her free hand, seeking the token.
When her fingers closed on it, she took it to her heart and willed Lennox to run.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When he felt the tug at his heart, Lennox stood bolt upright.
Staring at Jessie, he quizzed her. “The charm I gave you?”
“I gave it to Chloris when she took her leave.”
“You are a canny lass, sister.” Lennox was most impressed.
Jessie rose to her feet. She had been trying to comfort him while he waited for Chloris, but now her eyes lit. “You feel something? Is she ready to join us?”
Lennox concentrated on the emotions that reached him. It was much darker than that, more immense, and Lennox feared for her. “I sense she is calling to me, but also that she is in danger, grave danger.”
Jessie put her hand on his arm. “Hasten to her side. I will fetch Gregor. We will follow in case you need assistance.”
“Thank you.” He reached for his coat and pulled it on.
Jessie went out ahead of him.
Lennox ran down the stairs and out of the house.
Dusk was closing in. The skin on his back needled, the tension he felt building, his senses alert to the emotions that were spilling from Chloris now. Before he had reached the end of the street where they lodged, Jessie and Ramsay were on his heels.
As they approached the inn on the corner of the street the sound of raised voices inside reached them. Lennox sensed there was trouble afoot. He glanced in and saw a man gesticulating, pointing out the door. After they had passed by the inn a group of men emerged behind him and ran in the same direction.
“I do not like the look of this,” Ramsay commented.
“Neither do I,” Lennox replied. Chloris’s call grew more desperate.
He broke into a run.
When he turned the corner and saw what lay ahead, Lennox forced himself to halt and backed into the shadows, holding his hand up to stall those who followed. Ahead—outside the house they had located that very morning and identified as the Meldrum residence—a crowd had gathered. Several of the people had flaming torches held aloft. All around the gathering men held weapons—muskets, swords and bits of wood. At the center of the group he spied Keavey with Chloris. Behind them a man with a blood-soaked coat was being held up by two other men.
“Damn you, Tamhas Keavey,” Lennox muttered. Seeing the man who had forced them from their home brought about a cold hard rage in Lennox. He was here in Edinburgh, and he had raised a mob.
There were shouts for justice, calls for a burning.
“Witch hunters,” Jessie hissed, and she grabbed Lennox’s arm, tugging at him. “Look at them. I have seen their kind before.”
Lennox could only look at Chloris, his anger rising as he saw the way Keavey held her, dragging her along the ground like an animal.
“Hellfire,” Ramsay said. “Let’s away from here.”
“No, Gregor, not without Lennox and Chloris,” Jessie said. “My brother will need my assistance to fetch her.”
Lennox turned to them. “Ramsay, go to the stables and retrieve the carriage. Take Jessie with you and keep her safe. I will join you as soon as I have Chloris.”
“Lennox?” Jessie wore a frown and looked ready to argue.
“I need you to bring the carriage,” he insisted. “Be ready for us, for we will need to hasten from this place, for good. We will make our escape, never fear, but I need the carriage to do so. Go as fast as you can and bring the carriage to this place, but no farther than the inn we just passed. I will send a sign for you to approach.”
“A sign?” Ramsay asked with a dubious tone.
“You will know it when you see it.”
Ramsay glanced at Jessie, then nodded.
“Now go, and be fast about it.” Lennox rested a kiss on his sister’s head and then shooed her on her way.
“Good luck,” Ramsay said. “We will be ready for your sign.”
Lennox locked his gaze. “If I do not signal within the hour, fly from this place. Keep Jessie safe.”
Jessie stared at him. “Lennox, no.”
“Do as I say! Promise me!”
“I promise.” It was Ramsay who spoke. He nodded again and then grabbed Jessie by the arm and forced her to turn away.
Lennox could only be thankful his sister had such a determined protector.
Turning back to the scene ahead, he shut his eyes a moment in order to draw together every mote of power he had stoked for a time such as this. Then he stepped quickly along the street toward the gathering, his gaze on Chloris.
The simple blue gown she had on was torn, her hair loose.
He could only guess at what had occurred, but the nature of her position only made him more determined to pluck her from Keavey’s grasp. He had the ability, he was sure of that, but—as usual—he needed a plan. He was still walking in the shadows and he assessed how much time he had before they saw him. Not long enough to make a plan, but still he strode on.
Chloris lifted her head. When she saw him, she shook her head vehemently.
She’d been trying to warn him. Oh, how he loved her and her brave heart.
That’s when he saw the way.
Chanting his spell aloud, he stared at the fist she held to her chest.
With a startled cry she opened her palm and dropped the charm, which rolled across the street.
Lennox unleashed all the magic he had forced into it—and there was vitality aplenty. It had been done when he was an angry, thwarted young man, and the charm flared into life, flames as high as the rooftops soaring from it.
Screams issued from all around, the crowd shifting back quickly.
“She is a witch!” The fingers pointed at Chloris.
“I saw her throw the flame,” shouted another. “Hang her, burn her body!”
“It was I who threw the flame,” Lennox called, drawing their attention away from Chloris. “So it is me you will have to burn.”
“He is the Witch Master,” Tamhas Keavey informed them.
Several men charged at Lennox.
He darted away and changed direction, approaching the place where the charm blazed. “You want to see a witch burn?” he bellowed. “Then look and see!”
He lifted his arms, chanted the most ancient spell of all—that which created and sustained life—and stepped into the fire.
Screams issued from beyond and he heard Chloris’s voice amongst the melee.
He turned, dousing himself in the radiant flames, arms outstretched.
When they saw that he did not burn, several of the gathered crowd turned and fled. Others spread out and circled him.
Keavey berated those who ran.
Chloris stared at him with wide eyes.
Lennox turned on the spot and drew a circle in
the air with his fingertips. Pointing down at the ground he marked the place. The fire that surrounded him dropped to the ground, licked out across the mud track and then leaped high again in the circle he had drawn. He stood solid within the circle, staring through the flames.
As chaos erupted all around, he locked eyes with Chloris.
“Come to me,” he urged.
He nodded his head at her. “You will be safe.”
* * *
Chloris looked about, but it seemed that no one had heard him call to her, only she heard the words. They were too busy trying to breach the circle of flames that surrounded him. No matter what they did, they could not get to him. Neither muskets nor pistols nor hurled wood broke through and reached him.
Trembling, she prayed she was not dreaming this.
Forgotten by the others in the panic, Gavin had collapsed and been left on the ground near to the steps of the house. The number of people gathered there had diminished, many having fled in fear. Tamhas and others paced about as if trying to work out how to break through to Lennox.
She felt as if she truly had lost her mind, for even though she had seen his magic before, she was shocked and afraid. When he walked into the flames she thought she would never breathe again, for she thought she had lost him forever, that he had sacrificed himself to save her. Then she recalled what he’d said that afternoon, the magic he had shown her then was nothing compared to what he felt for her. When she saw the way he reigned over the fire, controlling it, she was breathless with anticipation and hope that he would be able to find a way out of this.
“It is an illusion,” Tamhas shouted, and darted over to one of the men who held a flaming torch aloft. Taking it from him, Tamhas hurled the torch in Lennox’s direction. When the torch hit the flaming circle, its own fire was extinguished and it dropped in a pile of ashes. Smoke plumed from the place where the ashes fell on the ground.
Was it an illusion? Chloris tried to make sense of it. The flames looked real enough, but they stayed in the circle he had created, wavering high like ribbons all around him. Would he be able to keep the spell going, and what would happen if he could not? They would seize him and string him up.
Lennox beckoned to her.
“Come, Chloris, you will be safe, the flames will not harm you.”
Could she do it? He had done it, but walking into the flames herself was another matter altogether, one that was far beyond her comprehension. She took a tentative step forward. He drew her to him with his gaze. The connection was so great, just as he had said, and he was leading her to him. Smoke rose all around her, and the smell of burned ground invaded her senses, frightening her.
“Come to me.”
Chloris swallowed down her doubts and her fear, and let his voice guide her.
“The woman, he summons her,” a voice cried out.
“Chloris, step away,” Tamhas shouted, and he tried to drag her back. “Don’t look at him, don’t let him bewitch you.”
Chloris shook him off.
Behind her she could hear shouts. Some issued warnings. Others called her a witch again. She was no witch, and if she was scorched to a cinder that fact would be revealed. She did not care. Even through the chaos it struck her that she was destined to be with them now, the Somerled people, and come what may it was where she wanted to be. Her legs were trembling under her and she could only take shallow breaths, but she forced herself onward.
As she grew closer, the heat from the flames convinced her it was real.
“Lennox,” she cried out, then turned sideways and shielded her face with her raised arm. As she did so, something altered. It was as if a gateway opened. She stepped through a gap in the flames and found herself inside the circle, unharmed.
Trembling with relief, she swayed unsteadily.
Lennox put out his hand. When she took it, the flames at her back shot high again, closing them in. Inside the circle he had made, the heat seemed only comforting, and she was not afraid. Lennox drew her in against him, holding her to him with one arm around her.
Another shot rang out, but it hit neither of them.
She looked up at him.
“Hold tight to me,” he whispered.
“Always.”
“Don’t be afraid.”
She had already walked through fire to him, and now he tells her not to be afraid?
What was he about to do? Forcing down her nervousness, she looped her arms around his neck and kept her eyes trained on his face.
Lennox lifted one arm in the air, pointing skyward, and chanted in that strange tongue of his. A moment later the sky overhead lit up and a dazzling flash of lightning struck close by. He chanted again, and once again lightning bolts flashed all around. Chloris could hear screams, and through the flames she saw the shadowy figures outside the circle running in all directions.
Lennox glanced back over his shoulder.
From behind them a mighty thundering of hooves sounded, and a carriage approached at great speed.
“Are you able to run?”
She nodded.
He grasped her hand in his and held it tightly.
With his free hand he pointed at the flaming circle. “Be gone!”
In a heartbeat the fire disappeared. Only smoke remained, but it shielded them, rising from the charred ground in a thick cloud.
Holding tight to her hand he urged her to run. As they approached the carriage the door was flung open. Lennox lifted her in.
Jessie was kneeling on the floor inside and she pulled Chloris close to where she huddled on the floor.
“Ramsay, strap yourself down, tightly,” Lennox shouted up to where the coachman sat, then he clambered in.
Before the door was even closed, the carriage shunted off at great speed. Chloris’s heart thundered in her chest, beating as hard and fast as the horses’ hooves that carried them away. Her entire body shivered, shock, relief and gratitude making her senses swim.
The carriage rocked violently and Jessie clung to her side. They were on their way. Chloris could scarcely believe it. She stared across at her lover in awe. Lennox had drawn back the curtain and watched from the carriage seat where he perched, whispering beneath his breath, his arm out to shield the two women in case something was thrown. His eyes had that sheen in them that showed her he was still working magic, and then she felt as if the carriage moved faster still.
The carriage rattled and jolted and Chloris wondered how it was able to stay upright. They were traveling so fast she sensed they were already beyond the city walls.
“Oh, my belly.” Jessie groaned.
Chloris wrapped the girl in her arms, holding tight to her.
Lennox turned to look at them, apparently satisfied they were on their way.
When he saw the way the two of them were huddled together, he shook his head and laughed. “We must find a way to cure you of this malady you have. No sister of mine should be afraid of anything.”
Jessie lifted a hand in acknowledgment then buried her face in the curve of Chloris’s neck.
“She cannot abide heights, and yet we are scarcely off the ground,” Lennox explained.
“I will learn,” Jessie mumbled.
Chloris felt for Jessie and hugged her tighter still.
She stared at Lennox in wonder. He was himself again.
Beyond him the curtain was still drawn back and everything appeared to shift fast outside, but he was still and solid and smiling at her.
He reached out his hand to her.
She rested her hand in his.
“I take it you were about to agree to come away with me anyway?”
Chloris laughed, and it let loose the tension she had held for so long. “Of course I was. I would have been back with you within the hour if Tamhas had not appeared and set panic loose in Edinburgh.”
Lennox leaned over and drew her fingers to his lips. Kissing her tenderly on the back of her hand, he smiled. There was mischief in his eyes. “I just wanted to be sure I hadn
’t rescued you against your will.”
She chuckled. “To be fair, you’ve done nothing to me against my will.”
Lennox arched an eyebrow at her.
Memories flashed through her mind, intimate memories of all the times they had shared together. Now there would be more memories, and anticipation filled her as she thought about the days ahead. She would have to familiarize herself with his strange ways, his powers and beliefs, but she would work hard at that, to find their middle ground. “What you did there, your magic, it was astonishing.”
His eyes twinkled. “My powers have been greatly fortified recently.”
Jessie lifted her head and laughed softly. “It is because he loves you.”
Chloris smiled. “And I love him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Lennox stared across the carriage at Chloris and felt a deep sense of contentment. She was finally his. It had taken some doing, but he had no regrets. He would have done whatever was needed to protect and win her.
Her tender beauty lit up his day. It had done, he now realized, since the moment he’d first seen her. He still recalled how dour his mood had been, as it often was back then, when she’d walked in to Somerled with the hawthorn blossom in her hair. The breath of spring she had carried was hers and hers alone. Thankfully he’d been there to welcome her, and thankfully he’d soon come to realize how ill-fated his plan to upset Tamhas Keavey had been. It was a mercy that they had finally left all of that behind.
Lennox would have been happier still if he had her beside him in the carriage, where he could hold her in his arms. However, because Jessie did not travel well Chloris had taken it upon herself to comfort Jessie and keep her from looking outside the carriage at the fast moving ground beneath the wheels. Chloris currently had Jessie tucked in against her, with Jessie’s head upon her shoulder, soothing her with one arm around Jessie’s back. Jessie dozed in reasonable contentment there.
At least the carriage was comfortable and well made, on a par with one built by his own craftsmen. Ramsay had insisted on spending a small fortune on it, as soon as they had the chance to offer for one at a staging post between Cupar and Edinburgh. It meant they could travel quicker without hiring a coachman and carriage at each town. He’d purchased a team of three horses, and Shadow led them. Shadow, who was used to his master’s magic, kept the other horses in line when Lennox put wings beneath their hooves.
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