Distracted By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (Highlander Forever Book 4)

by Rebecca Preston

  "One of the two lads who went missing the other night, I'd warrant," Maggie said in that curious tone that managed to be both dismissive and caring. "Daft young things, roaming the streets in the dead of night with wisps about. Not a death I'd have wished on them. Not at their age."

  "Not at any age," Donal said bleakly. "I've seen the skeletons of the cows that have been taken myself. It's truly an awful thing. Maggie, have you any advice for us, any guidance in how to proceed with these creatures?"

  "Well, first step is acknowledging you humans are the cause of all this," Maggie said brightly, tearing a bread roll in half with her surprisingly powerful old hands. "When the bog iron was lying deep in the swamp where it belonged, you'd not see hide nor hair of a wisp. But since it's been plundered more and more, the protection's lessened."

  Donal nodded, his features grim. "Aye, I'm responsible in good part for that. It's us who've made it well known around the village that iron is good protection from Unseelie Fae. It's become quite the valuable item which has driven demand up, of course, and sent more and more people bog diving."

  "Fill the bog back up with iron and you'll not have a problem anymore." Maggie shrugged. "They'll be driven out of their cozy new home and straight back through the Burgh to safety. That's all I can tell you. Though how you're going to manage that is anyone's guess. Rip the shoes off all the horses, perhaps."

  "Do they have any weaknesses, these Wisps?" Brendan wanted to know. "Anything we can exploit to take them down?"

  Maggie's eyes gleamed in the light as she pinned the Captain of the Guard with a beady-eyed gaze. "Same as any Faerie, Brendan Grant," she said softly. "Cold iron and fire."

  Chapter 33

  It was certainly a lunch to remember. Once they'd exhausted the discussion on wisps, Maggie set about telling them all stories about the other time-lost women and the antics they'd gotten up to when they'd first arrived in Scotland. Anna, Nancy and Elena weren't present, but Kay leaned forward, absolutely thrilled to hear so much about her new friends. She was so engrossed in Maggie's storytelling that she barely realized that half the afternoon had slipped by… until she looked around and saw with a start that the whole dining hall had emptied out except for the head table.

  "Storm's coming," Maggie said abruptly, pushing her chair back as she got to her feet. "I'd best get home before it strikes."

  Kay and Liam walked her out, and Kay couldn't help but blink in confusion when they reached the courtyard. The weather was as bright and sunny as it ever had been — what on Earth did Maggie mean by a storm? But still, the old woman hastened off down the land bridge when they parted ways at the gates, and Liam and Kay frowned at each other as they headed back into the castle.

  It was an hour later when the first rumble of thunder struck… and Kay, who'd been reading in her room, looked around at her window with alarm. Men were shouting in the courtyard, running back and forth as huge globs of rain struck the courtyard. She'd never seen a storm hit so suddenly… she hastened downstairs to see if she could help and was just in time to see the enormous wooden doors at the front of the castle being dragged shut. Already, the wind was howling around the castle's turrets, and she headed back upstairs to peer out of the window at the Loch, which was already turbulent, its waters whipped into peaks and troughs by the wind.

  How had Maggie known this was coming? Add it to the list of her bizarre powers, Kay supposed, heading back up to her room to draw the shutters. It seemed she was about to learn what Scotland was like in the wind and rain.

  And learn she did. The storm lasted almost a week, in the end, and a few days in she was honestly beginning to worry that the weather would never turn good again. The constant drumming of the rain on the roof became the constant background noise to her life… unable to go out, she found herself stuck inside reading ancient and rather confusing tomes about all the Faerie creatures that the scholars of the Sept had been studying. She'd have much rather been working with Shadow, but there was no question of riding in all this rain — she'd never risk her horse's health like that, even if she'd been willing to get soaked through to the skin.

  The lightning over the Loch was beautiful, though. She took to sitting by her window, peering out over the windy, rainy Loch, barely able to see a hundred feet from shore because of all the fog and rain… the occasional flashes of lightning would draw her eye from her book and make her gasp with delight, and the low rumble of thunder always made her grin. She was fiercely grateful for the strong walls of the castle, though, and the sturdy roof over her head. For all that she was unhappy with their conduct with Maggie, she hoped the villagers were well taken care of during this awful weather.

  Another upside of the storm, despite the stir-craziness that began to set in a few days into it, was that she was spending a lot of time with Liam. His duties as stablemaster weren't especially complicated at the moment, what with everyone being stuck inside — no horses to bring in or to tack up, just basic care and feeding day and night and he was free the rest of the time. They spent long hours wandering the corridors of the castle, talking and laughing, sharing stories from their wildly different childhoods — Liam in particular had a lot of hilarious stories about Malcolm, the tanist, and for her part she often had him howling with laughter over the exploits she had gotten up to as a young ranch hand.

  And there were some unexpected upsides, too. Bedraggled messengers made their way to and from the castle on foot, checking in on the villagers at Laird Donal's request — after all, they were in the midst of a rather serious emergency. The castle was also in the habit of lending aid at times like this — not that there was much they could do about flooding and damages until the rain eased up. But from the word that got back from the village, things were surprisingly okay in the village.

  "It's all the rain," Liam told her as they sat together in the dining hall over a couple of cups of broth. It was another long, rainy afternoon, and they'd been entertaining themselves by playing I Spy, a game Liam had taken to with surprising enthusiasm. "The rain's stopping people going out at night… just like we told them to," he added, a scowl on his handsome face. "You'd think it wouldn't take the worst storm we've had in years to get people to take an interest in saving their own lives, but here we are."

  "What does that mean for the wisps, though?" Kay wanted to know. She'd been thinking of them out there in the swap, presumably getting soaked through by the rain… she'd even held out some hope that a few of them might drown, though she doubted it.

  "What do you mean, what does it mean for the wisps? Means they get wet," Liam chuckled. "Maybe the rain'll put out their nasty little lights for good."

  "Sure, but I mean in terms of their food supply," she said, lowering her voice a little — there were a few handfuls of scholars and guards around, listlessly passing the time while the rain poured down, and she didn't want to spread unease with the rather sobering content of their conversation. "They'll have had nothing to eat — no cows, no humans. As a general rule, hungry animals get desperate. They might get … I don't know, more vicious."

  "More vicious than they are already?" Liam sighed. "I hadn't thought of that."

  "I suppose my worry would be them spreading from the swap to the rest of the territory," she said with a sigh. "Hungry animals tend to extend their hunting range. So far, they've stuck to travelers who've strayed too close to the bog, and cattle being grazed on that side of town, right?"

  "Aye, now you mention it." Liam frowned. "You think they might start hunting further afield?"

  "It's possible." She sighed. "Just means we must do more brainstorming, figure out a way to get rid of them. Ideally before the rain eases up and people start traveling again…"

  "Aye. And in the meantime, I'll head into town and make sure they all make the connection between the lack of deaths and the lack of after-dark travel. Damn fools," he added, shaking his head as he finished his hot broth. "I'm still pretty cross with them for trying to attack old Maggie."

  "Wi
ll she be okay in all this rain?" Kay asked. She'd been worrying about the little old woman a little.

  But Liam only laughed. "Old Maggie? She's weathered worse than this storm, believe you me. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she had something to do with it."

  Kay's eyes widened. "Truly?"

  But Liam only shrugged, that twinkle in his eye that made her never quite sure whether he was joking around with her or telling her the truth. But somehow, sitting there by his side in the cozy dining hall as the rain drummed on the roof, she didn't mind one way or the other… so long as it was her that he was talking to.

  Chapter 34

  Finally, the storm moved on. The first morning of clear skies, Kay awoke sharply before dawn, disoriented and uneasy before she realized what was wrong… it was the quiet of the rain having stopped. She'd gotten so used to the constant drumming of the rain on the roof that silence felt loud and strange to her. Still, it was a welcome relief for the people of the castle, many of whom were getting a bit stir-crazy. Kay headed down to breakfast and grinned at how many people were out in the courtyard, splashing around on the still-wet stone of the yard, savoring the opportunity to be outside for once… and even baking in a tiny little bit of sunshine as it peeped through the still-thick clouds that almost covered the sky.

  But it wasn't long before reports started rushing in. There was considerable damage all over the village and even the castle because of the storm… the gates needed repairs, as did the docks, and it seemed a number of roads around the village had been washed out and needed more men than the village had to spare to make repairs. So the Watch was mobilized, along with any spare men of the castle… and to her quiet dismay, Liam was among the volunteers. She considered volunteering herself — but then she realized that every other volunteer was male and decided against spending time in that kind of company.

  Besides, she was a little bit worried about leaving the castle. The conversation they'd had about the wisps stuck in her mind — the idea that they might be reaching out beyond their usual hunting patterns out of desperation was worrisome. The men of the Watch carried iron weapons with them when they left the castle, Liam included, and they made sure to be safe inside the walls well before dark, but she still bit her lip when she thought of them out there, working on roads and gates and whatever else had been damaged. What if the wisps had grown bold enough to hunt during the day? What if a guard was lured off while he was working in the late afternoon sunlight?

  What if it was Liam? What if she never got to tell him…. well, she could barely acknowledge to herself what it was she wanted to tell him. She blushed every time she thought about it, which was why she did her level best not to think of it whenever possible…. especially when he was around. But the truth was, she was falling for him. She was falling for him incredibly hard, embarrassingly hard… harder than she'd fallen for her college boyfriend, even, whom she'd swooned over during a particularly boring biology class they'd both been taking.

  Liam wasn't boring. He was exciting, and handsome, and funny, and rough… every time she thought she had him pegged, he'd surprise her with something, some story or some revelation about his past that made her see him in a slightly different light every time. His gentleness with horses, his quiet, stoic dedication to his family and to the men and women of the Sept… he was incredible. She was shocked, honestly, that nobody else had seen how gorgeous he was and jumped at the chance to court him. What was wrong with Scottish women?

  "I just don't see why he's single," she complained to Anna one day over lunch. She'd quickly confessed her feelings to Anna, desperate to have someone to talk to… and though she'd sworn the soldier to secrecy, she had a suspicion the woman had filled Elena and Nancy in as well. "He's just so… ugh."

  "Oh, a few women have tried to win him over," Anna said thoughtfully, clearly searching her recollections. "But he's a hard man to pin down. Married to the job, in a way."

  "I can relate to that," Kay said softly. Hadn't that been her number one priority in life back home? But now she was here… well, now she was here she was beginning to realize how wonderful male company could be. More wonderful still, though, if she could figure out whether the male in question liked her back… "God, this makes me feel stupid," she said irritably, ripping her bread roll in half and taking an irritably bite out of it as a way of venting her feelings. The crunch was almost satisfying enough to make her feel better. "Like some teenager."

  "You should talk to him," Anna suggested. "I'd be utterly shocked if he wasn't interested. He's spent an awful lot of time with you, after all."

  "Sure, but… I don't know if it's a good idea to progress things right now," she sighed, thinking back to how much trouble she'd had adjusting to this bizarre place. "I mean, I'm only barely hanging on to my damn sanity here, you know? Having a friend to talk to, that's great. You included," she added, drawing a pleased grin from Anna. "But having a boyfriend — or whatever the medieval Scottish equivalent is? I'm just not sure I could handle it."

  "Take your time, babe," Anna said softly, leaning over to squeeze her shoulder. "You've got all the time in the world. Just focus on you, and what you need to feel okay here… and all that stuff with Liam, it'll come when it's meant to."

  "You're right," she said, looking at Anna gratefully.

  The woman laughed. "I know I'm right. I'm a genius. I've also watched it happen to two other women before you, not to mention myself, so I'm kind of an expert at this point."

  Kay laughed, feeling very fond of the pint-sized soldier. "Thanks, Anna. I think I'd have gone completely insane if it wasn't for you."

  Chapter 35

  The days wore on — the weather still cloudy and menacing, but thankfully not as stormy and windswept as their week of catastrophic weather had been. The guard was still out in force each day, making repairs — the docks were back in order, it seemed, with the harbormaster clearly relieved that the fishermen could continue their usual work, but there were still several roads around the village that had been seriously washed out by the rain and floods. She tried to keep herself from thinking about Liam too much. She'd see him at dinner and keep track of how the repairs were going, but for the rest of the time she tried to keep herself busy. There was plenty of work to pick up around the stables, for a start, and it was a comfort to do something so familiar, something that hadn't really changed since she'd returned from the future to this bizarre place.

  Bad news came in a few days after the storm had cleared, and it confirmed all of Kay's worst fears. Sure enough, it seemed the wisps had grown hungrier in the time of the storm, where they'd had no fresh victims to feed on… and that meant they were straying even further out from their home in the bog. News came in from a herdsman who'd been dozing next to his herd when lights had disturbed his sleep. Thinking quickly, he'd taken hold of an old iron pitchfork that he'd had lying around for a long while — he knew the old stories about faerie creatures being sensitive to iron, and he'd hoped that bringing the pitchfork with him might keep his herd safe. He'd crept up behind his herd and seen lights dancing around his prize bull, clearly trying to bother the creature into removing its blindfold.

  "What happened?" Kay asked, her heart in her throat, as Liam conveyed the tale that he'd been told that night.

  "Smart man," Liam said with a satisfied grimace. "Kept shutting his eyes to interrupt the hypnotic effect of the wisps' lights, and he was able to drive them off with his pitchfork."

  "Did he hurt one?" Kay leaned forward, keenly interested in this — she'd been desperate to get a look at a wisp, alive or dead, to see if they could glean any information about what weaknesses the creatures had. "Or get a good look, at least?"

  But Liam shook his head. "They're hard to hurt, from what the herdsman said. They shied away from the iron as though it was poison, which is in keeping with what Maggie said, but he 'couldn't do them any damage. And they took a few bites out of him and his cows, too."

  "What did the bites look like?"


  "Nasty." Liam shrugged. "Like big bug bites. The herdsman wasn't too concerned, said it was a lot better than losing an animal, but I think he was just putting a brave front on it. Everyone in the village is desperately worried. Now that the repairs are mostly sorted, Brendan's going to post some guards at night around the bigger herds, arm them with iron and hope that that keeps the wisps at bay."

  But that plan, it turned out, was destined to end in tragedy. It was a few days later when Kay got up to discover a somber mood in the castle, a sadness that lingered on the faces of the servants she ran into on her way down to breakfast. Frowning, she grabbed the first person she saw that she knew well enough to ask — Elena, whose face was drawn and pale and looked as though she hadn't been sleeping.

  "Elena? Did something happen last night?"

  "You haven't heard." The woman sighed, taking her by the arm and leading her to a table. "It's the wisps, I'm afraid. Bad news."

  "What's happened?" Her heart dropped into her feet. "More deaths?"

  "I'm afraid so." Elena heaved a deep sigh. "And it's one of our own this time."

  "What happened?"

  "It was last night," Elena sad heavily. "Brendan had posted guards to mind the herds with torches and iron, working in pairs to keep each other safe... but it seems that wasn't enough. One of a pair fell asleep, and the other, it seems, wandered off into the bog. Nobody knows where he is… but his partner found his iron dirk left on the ground."

  Kay shut her eyes, taking in the bad news. "That's awful. I'm so sorry, Elena."

  "Brendan blames himself, of course," Elena said heavily. "Thinks he could have done something to prevent it —"

  "He did everything he could," Kay said, a little shocked. "He had them in pairs, he armed them with iron and fire… the wisps are just getting stronger. Bolder. We have to do something," she said, shaking her head.