Awakening Her Soul to Destiny (27 page)

Refraining from knocking Macvorn from his horse, Jared barely restrained the urge to strangle him for fear of hindering the search for Kaitla. Even though he couldn’t stand the sight of the man, Macvorn was quite gifted and definitely more capable of locating the lass then Jared. Jaw clenched with hatred, he strained his words through tightly clenched teeth, “Ye canna blame me for tryin’, now can ye?” Jared reflected coldly at the smug Macvorn.

“
Hmpf! I suppose I can’t at that,” Macvorn replied honestly. They rode on in silence, each speculating in their own mind about what might lie ahead.

Interrupting the sound of the pouring rain and rumbling thunder with his shouts, “Why are ye so sure she’s gone to Ravon’s lands?” Jared asked the haughty figure beside him. The ground was growing soft, saturated from the steadily pounding rain. The horses’ cantor slowied to a steady plodding as each step suctioned into the muddy ground.

Eyeing Jared warily, Macvorn hesitated to reply. Too much conversation might somehow reveal to Jared the agreement between Ravon and Macvorn. Jared might not be able to read his mind, but he was no fool to be taken for granted.

“
I heard her oath across the wind. She swore she was going after Ravon,” Macvorn stated simply, choosing his words with care. He wondered how much Jared really knew. Jared might not be quite as gifted as himself, but the bond between him and the lass was amazing. What if Kaitla had somehow communicated to him across the land? His face etched in a scowl, Macvorn watched Jared even closer.

Suspicion growing in his mind, Jared’s eyes narrowed, “Why would the lass suddenly decide to go after Ravon, when it was me she supposedly envisioned?” he asked Macvorn through the rain, arching his brows in curiosity. Macvorn shifted uneasily in the saddle, Jared was coming dangerously close to reasoning out the situation. “Who can say why Kaitla does anything…the lass is probably bereft of her senses since ye hurt her so,” snorted Macvorn attempting to plunge Jared back into an abyss of guilt.

A small glimmer of hope began to creep into Jared’s heart as a thought suddenly occurred to him. If Kaitla had seen a vision of him in Elsbet’s arms, then why hadn’t she come after Elsbet or himself? Instead, she had chosen to go after Ravon…the one truly responsible for the deception. She knew the truth already! That had to be it! Her vision must’ve shown her the truth and not just the deception. Jared felt as though a weight had been lifted from his chest as his heart pounded with excitement. Kaitla could still be his; they could still have a life together. “I love ye my own,” he thought to himself, positive that somehow his thoughts would reach her no matter where she was.

Reading Jared’s mind, Macvorn strangled the reins with agitation. If Kaitla had looked again into the fire, she very well could’ve seen the truth of Elsbet and Jared. Stealing a glance at Jared’s beaming face, another disturbing thought occurred to Macvorn. If Kaitla knew the truth about the vision, how
much
of the truth did she know? Could she possibly have discerned Macvorn’s part in the deception? Did she know of his bargain with Ravon? Raising his chin in determination, Macvorn urged his horse to plod through the soggy ground even faster. If necessary, he’d force her to wed him in accordance with the marriage contract. She’d either wed him or be banished permanently from the realm! Setting his jaw firmly, he made up his mind to hold her to the contract. She’d learn to love him in time. After all, they would have hundreds of years together.

~*~

Appearing just outside the castle’s main wall, Etain and Laird Caymber quickly crouched in a nearby thicket of brush overgrown with vines. The pouring rain and blackened sky helped to shield the two, but the occasional flashes of lightening threatened to reveal their presence to Ravon’s circling sentries. At the heart of Clan Rheged’s lands, they would have no allies to help them if they were discovered lurking this close to the castle. The cold stone walls rose black and forbidding from the muddy ground, torch lit slits from the towers doing nothing to dispel the sense of evil surrounding the fortress. The roaring wind echoed through the twin towers, creating a low moan as though the castle was in constant pain.

Pulling his hooded cloak closer about his shoulders, Caymber leaned in close to Etain, “D’ye think ye can make yer way inside without being discovered?” he whispered with concern.

Etain bit her lip, as she scanned the forbidding walls with doubtful eyes, “I dinna ken, my Laird.” Shaking her head doubtfully, she frowned at Laird Caymber, “Since Ravon is expecting Kaitla, perhaps, he willna’ sense my presence…Or it could go the other way, since he fears for his life, he may already sense we are here.”

“
Can ye tell if Kaitla is here yet?” Laird Caymber whispered worriedly. “If the lass is inside and in danger, I shallna’ waste time in stealth. I’ll break down the front door if I must!”

Inching close enough to reach the castle wall, Etain reached out and spread her hand upon the cold slimy stones. Bowing her head in concentration, she mentally searched the castle for Kaitla’s presence. Smiling briefly at Laird Caymber, she whispered reassuringly, “The lass is not within, I’m sure of it.”

Gathering her cloak around her, she held an outstretched hand to Laird Caymber, “Come with me, Laird. We’ll retreat into the woods and watch for the lass. When she appears, we’ll join her to destroy Ravon.”

Reaching for Etain’s hand, Laird Caymber suddenly froze. Mouth slightly open, a dazed look of bewilderment slowly spread across his face. Turning to look for his hand, Etain barely had time to utter the words, “What’s wrong?” As she watched in horror, Laird Caymber’s eyes slowly rolled back into his head as it fell cleanly from his shoulders and landed with a sickening thud at Etain’s feet. In what seemed like slow motion, the headless body slowly listed sideways then fell gushing to the ground beside the detached head. Falling to her knees beside the still body of the Laird, Etain peered through pelting rain mixed with blinding teardrops into the sneering face of her son, Laird Ravon.

Standing over Laird Caymber’s body, Ravon slowly squeezed the still warm heart he had cleanly rent from Caymber’s chest. Laughing as he watched the drops of blood dapple dark swirls in the mud, he paused to glance into Etain’s shocked face. “Why hello, Mother. I’m so glad ye’ve finally come for a visit…and I canna’ thank ye enough for the gift!” Shoving the bloody heart into her face, Ravon’s snarling laughter rumbled from his chest, “’An how did ye know that Caymber’s heart was just the thing ta’ bring me!”

Speechless from shock, Etain sat in a crumpled pile in the mud. All she could do was watch as Ravon instructed his guards to impale Caymber’s body on the spiked iron posts standing in front of the castle gate. The body on one post and the head on the other, the grisly scene was illuminated with each flash of lightening. Laird Caymber’s heart was slowly divided into pieces and passed out among the sentries to gorge upon their enemy; Ravon delicately licking the remaining blood from his fingers once the heart was completely gone. Turning to his dumbstruck mother, Ravon crouched on his heels in front of her; bringing his face to within inches of her own, “Ye should be quite proud of me, mother. After all, ye were always one ta’ tell me I shouldna’ cause suffering!” Sneering and winking with his one good eye, “The bastard never knew what hit him!” Ravon solemnly observed.

Covering her face with her hands, Etain tried to turn away from the revolting figure in front of her. Grasping her wrists with his powerful hands, Ravon slowly squeezed until he felt the fragile bones crush with a sickening snap. Biting her lip to keep from crying out, Etain’s face grew white as her stomach lurched with the pain and she nearly lost consciousness.

“
Why, Mother. Ye act as though ye’re not glad ta’ see yer darlin’ lad!” Ravon released her wrists to grab her face, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“
I wish I’d never looked into yer evil face…ye shouldha’ never been allowed to be born!” Etain weakly whispered through her bleeding lips, glaring into the evil depths of Ravon’s one gleaming eye.

“
And how could ye say such a thing t’me?” Shaking his head slowly as his grip on her jaw tightened, “I canna tell ye how much it pains me ta’ hear ye speak in such a way,” Ravon said with mock sadness. Releasing her face and grabbing a handful of the long silvery hair, Ravon slowly drug her to the nearby brazier beside the castle gate. Nearly unconscious from the pain of her broken wrists and the shock of her Laird’s death, Etain barely struggled as he dragged her body over rocks and across the muddy ground.

Brandishing a set of tongs toward the glowing coals of the brazier, Ravon pulled Etain’s body in front of him, forcing her to kneel. Nodding to the nearby guards, Ravon selected an egg-sized ember and held it glowing in front of Etain’s face. “Well, lads, never let it be said that I dinna try to keep my own mother happy.” Grinning maliciously at the watching guards, Ravon pushed the hot coal even closer to Etain’s face. “She wishes she’d never looked into m’charming face? Well now, she’ll not have to worry about ever seeing it again.”

The sickening sweet smell of burning flesh and singed hair filled the air. Both guards turned aside to retch as Ravon slowly burned out both of Etain’s eyes. Muttering a curse over her broken body as he spat into her face, he carelessly tossed her limp body face down into the mud.

Glancing with disgust at the shaken guards, Ravon gestured toward Etain with a jerk of his head, “Take
mother
to the guest room then get yer useless hides back here. Kaitla will be here soon, I feel it.”

Nodding at their evil Laird, the guards quickly gathered Etain’s unconscious body by the arms and disappeared into the dark recesses of the castle, the sound of her body being drug along the floor echoing through the halls.

~*~

Kneeling beside a nearby tree, Kaitla leaned her forehead against the rough damp bark for support. After several stalled attempts, she had finally succeeded in transporting herself to Ravon’s dark fortress. Reappearing at the edge of the woods to the front of the castle gate, Kaitla had collapsed in shock at the grisly scene awaiting her. The sight of her newly found father’s head perched open-mouthed upon a stake beside his headless body was more then her senses could bear.

Weak from vomiting, all she had the strength for now was leaning against the kindly tree and sobbing in despair. All her life she had wondered what her real father might be like. She’d spent numerous nights staring up at the ceiling in sleepless wonder, musing about her unknown parents and who they might have been…how they looked, how they spoke. The opportunity of finally meeting her long lost father had been something she’d been too afraid to even hope for…and now he was gone forever. In the precious few hours she’d spent with her father, the bonds of birth had been rekindled, quickly strengthening and binding her forever to the father she had never known. Now, she wished she had never found him. For then she would’ve been spared this soul-wrenching pain she felt at his sudden loss.

Finally realizing she must put aside her mourning for later, Kaitla slowly began gathering her wits about her. The hunger for revenge grew strong, as she gazed at the lifeless body of her father, limbs twisting at gross angles as it slowly turned upon the stake.

“
I can’t leave him there,” she mumbled to herself, sniffing and wiping tears from her swollen eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She instinctively knew what she must do. Setting her mind to her task, she raised her chin defiantly, fixing her father’s remains in a golden stare of concentration. Laird Caymber’s head and body slowly began to shimmer and fade from their stakes in the pouring rain. Finally disappearing completely, the body soon reappeared; stretched out upon a bed of cushiony moss right beside Kaitla. Head and body were once again intact and the lifeless form seemed to be a bit more at peace.

Gently reaching out to brush the grizzled cheek, Kaitla tearfully whispered, “I wish I could’ve known you longer, Father.” At the sound of her words, a subtle glow began to flicker and gradually grow larger in front of her. Watching the glow in amazement, Kaitla could barely make out the outline of her father’s form within the golden aura.

“
I’ll always be with ye, little Kaitla,” said the gentle voice of her father from within the golden cloud. “’Tis time for me ta’ finally join yer mother. I’ll think of ye often, lass, and miss ye. But I canna say I’m unhappy to finally be with the one I have always loved.”

“
But, we didn’t have any time together at all!” Kaitla whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The golden aura drew closer to Kaitla, as though trying to reach out and comfort her. “I know, child…and I do regret my part in throwing away what time we did have,” the gentle voice apologized. “But we shall be together again, when the time comes for ye to rise to the higher level. Just always remember that I love ye.” The aura was slowly growing dimmer as Laird Caymber uttered his final words to his daughter, “Marry Jared, lass…I was wrong about that as well. He loves ye and ye surely have m’blessing.”

As Kaitla watched, the aura slowly grew and dissipated into a dazzling cloud of golden dust completely covering the inert body of the Laird. As the wind circled through the secluded area, Laird Caymber’s body slowly disappeared, the tiny particles gently carried away by the wind.

Drawing in a deep shaky breath, Kaitla reached out to barely stroke the moss where her father’s body had rested. “Thank you…Father, I’ll miss you,” she whispered as she laid her cheek against the cushiony ground, wishing once again that she had never come to this realm and exposed her heart to such pain.