Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (72 page)

No sooner had he left, an old man in Highl
and dress shuffl
ed into the
room. “There ye are lassie. I’m Angus MacNab. I’ve been watching over ye for some time now. But never mind that, how d’ye feel?”

Shona sat confused for a moment. The man looked very familiar. “I think I am all right.”

Angus took the same seat Lany had used. “There’s a good lass. What ye
need now is some food and a good stiff … ah,
mayhaps
some tea would be better.” He pulled his lower lip into his mouth with his teeth a few times, and searched the room. “We’ll
get ye to the shop and fi
x ye right up.”

Dallan suddenly walked back into the room, out the kitchen door and disappeared into the adjoining garage. Shona’s heart and gaze followed him.
Dallan, what are you doing? What is going on?

A loud grating noise answered her. A moment later he reentered the kitchen, went straight to her, bent at the waist and cupped her face with a hand, acute concern etched across his features. His eyes then narrowed and he showed her what was in his other hand.

The tranquilizer gun Philip had used on her earlier. Shona shuddered involuntarily. “What are you going to do with that?”

 
Dallan kissed her gently, then stood to his full height and grinned almost boyishly. “Justice.” He left the room, both Shona and Angus wondering the same thing: exactly what sort of justice?

“No! You wouldn’t dare!” Julia’s voice brought Shona and Angus to complete attention. They exchanged a quick look before craning toward the opposite door.

A strange “
phnnt
” sound came from the other room immediately followed by a loud wail from Julia. “Why you dirty, stinking Highlander, how dare you shoot me there! You have no right! I didn’t hurt her! I only wanted to test a theory! I’ll see Philip kills you for
th
… this…and…I… I…” The sound
of Julia’s body hitting the fl
oor ended the
one way
conversation.

Dallan and the others reentered the kitchen, Dallan heading straight for Shona. He reached down, swept her up into his arms and kissed her tenderly on the nose. “Justice served.”

She looked into his eyes, wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head upon his shoulder. “Dallan,” she whispered, “What do we do now?”

Dallan glanced to his companions now assembled around them, the same look of relief on their faces. He gave them one of his own then rested his cheek against her forehead. “We do the only thing we can do at this point. We get married, lass.”

And with that, the company left Julia’s house to prepare the Weapons Master and his Maiden for the long awaited
Sutyne
, the Joining.

Man knows not love—such love as woman feels,

I
n him it is a vast devouring fl
ame—

Resistless fed—in its own strength consumed,

In woman’s heart it enters step by step,

Concealed, disowned, until its gentler ray

Breathes forth a light, illumining her world.

Man loves not for repose; he woos the flower

To wear it as the victor’s
trophied
crown;

Whilst woman, when she glories in her love,

More like the dove, in noiseless constancy,

Watches the nest of her aff
ection till

‘Tis she upon the tomb of him she loves.

Anonymous

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

After a short hour and a thankfully uneventful bus ride—Dallan held
himself
together for once—the company managed to get back to the relative safety of Angus’s shop. In the back room, a slightly
nauseated Dallan sat on the fl
oor with the Maiden in his lap, attempting to coax her into drinking one of Kwaku’s foul-tasting healing draughts while Lany and Angus watched.

Shona sniff
ed at the olive-drab liquid and made a face as she took the glass from Dallan. “What exactly is it?”

Dallan opened his mouth to speak then suddenly snapped it shut as he grimaced at the contents of the glass. “It is… green.”

Shona smiled. “You are sure this is good for me?”

Dallan nodded. “The heathen is mad, but he wilna poison ye.” He motioned for her to take a drink. She did, choked, and nearly fell out of his lap.

Dallan grabbed her and lightly patted her back. “Och, there’s a good lass,” he consoled and caught Kwaku as he entered the room with a mild glare. “Are ye sure she needs this?” he asked, indicating the glass with a toss of his head.

Kwaku smiled warmly. “Oh, yes, Boyeee.
Dough she was not harmed to de point of lawlessness, it is still best to
cleanse her of any poison dat may have remained in her body from her recent trauma.”

Shona lifted h
er head and got her fi
rst good look at the Time Master, Kwaku. “Thank you.”

Kwaku came and sat on the fl
oor in front of them. He watched the couple for a time, the Maiden watching him in return, before he began to chuckle knowingly.

Shona backed deeper into Dallan’s embrace.

“Dinna worry, lass,” D
allan whispered in her ear. “Th
ough I ken he’s
frightening to look at, he wilna harm ye.”

Shona, emboldened by the statement, left the safe con
fi
nes of Dallan’s arms and knelt before the Time Master. She studied him more closely and instinctively searched his heart.

Kwaku’s chuckling abruptly stopped.

Shona smiled. “You feel, um, nice.”

He nodded regally to her.

“And you… are not alone. Who is that? Who do I feel inside of you?”

 
Kwaku laughed heartily. “My wife, little one. Her heart is joined wid mine.”

“What is her name?”

Kwaku leaned forward to within inches of her face. “Tell me, my treasure. You tell me her name.”

Shona looked over her shoulder to Dallan. He put a possessive arm around her waist and pulled her back onto his lap. “Dinna be afraid,
M’eudain
.”

She gave her attention back to Kwaku and searched him again. “She is the wind.”

Kwaku’s warm smile had returned.

“She is peace. She is life for you.”

Kwaku’s smile was replaced with a deep, sincere nod.

“You cannot survive without her. She is everything, isn’t she?”

He nodded again.

“She is your love, your laughter. Zara! That is her name!”

Kwaku smiled tenderly, and she smiled tentatively back. “Very good, little one. Very, very good.” He turned quickly to Lany. “Fast, yes?”

Lany smiled and nodded knowingly, his eyes intent on the Maiden who sat, not having the slightest idea what she’d just done. She had read Kwaku’s heart in seconds, something a trained Muiraran would have to concentrate several minutes to do. If this keeps up, he thought, we’re all home free.

John entered the room, two large white bags in his hands. “Sorry it took so long, but hardly anything is open this late. Not much of a ceremonial dinner, but I’m afraid it can’t be helped.” He set the bags on the table, then knelt next to Kwaku and studied Shona. “How are you feeling? Any dizziness, nausea or headache?”

She shook her head and leaned into Dallan who wrapped his arms more tightly around her. “She’s verra tired, John. Mayhaps we should wait until morning?”

“The more time passes, the more tired she
’ll get. You must join tonight.
Prefe
rably…” John shot Kwaku a confi
rming look and Kwaku nodded. “Now.”

Shona looked from one man to the next. “Join?”

Dallan gently kissed the top of her head. “Aye, Flower. ‘
Tis a marriage o’ sorts.
Not in the traditional sense I’m told, but a marriage nonetheless.”

She tur
ned to look at him, her face fi
lled with confusion.

John stood. “We’ll give you a few minutes, Dallan. When you’re through, come to the fencing room. Zara will tend to Shona.”

Dallan nodded and watched as John and the others left the room then turned Shona so she could face him. “I ken how ye feel, lass. Ye’ve been through a lot lately, and I wouldna blame ye for doubting some o’ what ye’ve been told. I still canna believe it myself. If I
hadna
seen all the things that ha’ happened w
i’ my own eyes, I’d still be fi
ghting wi’ John about the truth. But the truth is staring me in the face right now.”

He
caressed her cheek with his fi
nger. “And I canna deny ye exist any longer, no more than ye can deny what ye are.
Yer no one o’ my kind.
Yer a Muiraran from the house o’ Shamaelon, a royal house, I’m told. And yer to join
wi
’ a man compatible wi’ yer heart, lass. Ye’ve got two in there, ye ken. One for you, and one for me.”

Shona looked to his chest and touched its center with her hand. “I still have it, then. I still have your heart.”

Dallan brought his face closer to hers and whispered, “Aye, Flower. I ken ye do. Ye’ve had it for a verra long time.”

Shona took and released one shaky breath. “I… I need to give it to you. It wants you badly. Sometimes I cannot control it. It is as if it has a mind of its own.”

Dallan’s eyes locked with the Maiden’s for several seconds. He swallowed before continuing, his emotions and heart open, getting ready. “Kwaku says we ha’ to go through ‘the Joining.’
Once it’s done, my heart and yours will be one, and it will live within both o’ us.
It needs us both to take care o’ it. Ye’ll still need to feed it.” He slowly brought his lips closer
to her own
. “Wi’ yer music.”

Shona let out a tiny gasp as he brought one of his hands behind her head, tangled h
is fi
ngers in her hair, loosening what was left of her braid, and tilted her head back. “And after the ceremony, we join in a more human manner.”

She raised a single brow at him.

“Dinna worry, Flower. ‘Tis needed if we’re to survive, the heathen says.”

 
Shona continued to stare up at him, her breath shaky. “I still do not quite understand it all. But I do know I am getting hungry again and my…
heart hurts. Too much for me to handle… too big…”

“Let me take it from ye,
M’eudain
,” he whispered as he began to lower his lips to hers.

“Uh, um…”

Dallan pulled
away slightly from Shona to fi
nd Lany nervously standing in the doorway, and leveled a pointed gaze at the unwanted interruption. “Aye?”

“Uh, sorry to bother. Kwaku needs you in the other room and Zara wants Shona.”

Dallan nodded to dismiss Lany and returned to the Maiden. “’Tis almost time, Flower. Ye understand now what is to happen? Ye understand why we need to do this?”

Her eyes began to fi
ll with tears. “I do not want to see you harmed in any way. Even if I did not want this, I would still do it to save you. You are all that matters to me now. It is as if my whole life has been a lie.”

“Then let me give back to ye what Brennan has stolen. I canna change the pain he has caused,
M’eudain
, but I can help ye mend. Ye need to heal, lass, just as I do.”

Shona looked at him a moment, her face locked in concern. “I can heal you. I can take it away. You miss your family, do you not?”

“Aye.”

“You miss your brother?”

“Aye, Flower. That I do.”

She stopped and cocked her head, a quizzical look on her face. “I know who you are.”

Dallan raised a curious but tender brow.

“I read parts of the book from the library. If I am correct, you were born sometime in the seventeenth century?”

He nodded. “Fourteenth of January, sixteen seventy-two to be exact.”

“You are from the MacDonald Clan of Glencoe. Your family was killed during the massacre of the same name. Your brother…” She shook her head. “I do not know what happened to him. I cannot feel him, yet he is not gone like the others.”

“He’s gone,
lass.
Like the rest o’ them.
Th
ey’re all gone and there’s
nothing to be done about it now. I’ve been a fool harboring the pain all this time, blaming the heathen for what may ha’ happened if I’d been there or not.
A man canna spend
his life chasing revenge. Because of my own black heart, I almost lost ye by not wanting to hear what my friends were trying to tell me about how special ye are. How badly ye need me. How much I would come to need you.”