Seumas: A Time Travel Romance (Dunskey Castle Book 2) Read online

  But they all three cackled now. Aside from the fact that they were all men, it sounded just like the three witches laughing in that Shakespearean play Kelsey had dragged her to last year. And then wonder of wonders, all three were just gone, and their laughter finished echoing off the mountains and then was quiet.

  If she hesitated, she would lose her nerve. After looking all around one last time for Deirdre and not finding her anywhere inside the circle of fire, Sasha grabbed Seumas’s hand with her hand that had the Celtic University ring on it.

  “Ye said it didna burn me. My ring is why. ’Tis touching ye now. Let’s go, before they come back. This place has extra power for them. They willna be able tae keep us sae easily if we leave here.”

  He squeezed her hand.

  “What ye say has merit. Aye, let us go.”

  “If ye catch on fire, duck tae the ground and roll until it goes oot. Ready?”

  “Aye.”

  “Go!”

  They took off running through the flames.

  And they didn’t get burned.

  They kept on running, making for the cover of some nearby trees. Once they were inside the tree line, they stopped and panted for breath.

  Sasha made a point of letting go of Seumas’s hand.

  “What aboot Deirdre?”

  He looked all around.

  “Wull, one thing is for certain. If they come back and catch us, then we canna help her. Sae we need tae head for home and hope that she is doing the same. We canna take the time tae look for her. For all we ken, she is…”

  Tears sprang from Sasha’s eyes, but she fought them back. Brushing one away with the back of her hand, she nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  They ran deeper into the forest. The branches of all the trees hit her in the face as she ran by, but she paid them no mind. This was a different way than they had come, so she was unfamiliar with the terrain. Getting scratched up was a price to pay. Still, it seemed like a good idea to stay in the trees, to reduce the chance of their being found when the Druids came back.

  Even uphill, they ran.

  She stumbled over a rock and lost her balance. Felt herself falling and nearly fainted from embarrassment. But Seumas grabbed her arm and caught her before she even missed a step.

  They got to the top of the hill and were relieved to be going down.

  But there the three Druids were in front of them, waiting in dramatic poses. No sooner had they seen the three than the three all made gestures in their poses. It didn’t make sense. They were sworn to capture and sacrifice them, not entertain them with pantomimes.

  Sasha let out a ‘What the heck?’ chuckle, and she and Seumas shrugged at each other.

  Until the trees around her and Seumas began to move.

  The branches and roots moved toward her like the limbs of animals, and almost as fast. The wood crackled and popped, adding to the horror.

  Sasha yanked Seumas around to run back the way they had come, but the tree roots and branches closed them in on all sides. The two of them were inside a cage the size of a small bedroom, made of living trees. The branches and leaves were so dense that the sunlight barely came in, and even now, at midday, it was almost dark inside.

  Brian was laughing again, his mocking cackle. He gave them a very serious face, which she could only see in bits and pieces through the leaves.

  “Sae clever ye fancy yerself, with that ring given tae ye by yer masters. Now ye wull be cauld and trapped, while ye await yer deaths.”

  He cackled some more, and then the three disappeared again.

  Sasha sank down to the grassy ground.

  “Now I dinna ken how we’re gaun'ae escape.”

  Seumas took his sword off his back and started hacking at the nearest tree.

  “I dae.”

  He hacked and hacked at it.

  “What can I dae tae help?”

  He smiled at her between swings.

  “Juist stay back and give me plenty o room. Och, aye, there is aught ye can dae. Play some music on yer flute tae give me a tune tae chop tae.”

  They laughed, and she did get her flute out. She had mostly played the flute when she was a child, so all the songs she knew were silly. But one came to mind that seemed appropriate: ‘Whistle While You Work.’ She played it a couple times and then laughed, saying the words to him.

  It was wonderful watching him work, and even more so when he laughed. His laughter made his long red hair bounce and shake along with his kilt, which shuddered every time his sword hit the tree.

  And then she sobered up a little.

  “Won’t this damage your sword?”

  He laughed some more.

  “That is naught tae fash aboot now, lass. Once we get home, I can hae another sword. Look.” He pointed at the tree where he’d been cutting, and she bent down to look. “Once this comes free, it wull likely fall toward us, sae stand ower there.”

  He gestured, and she went.

  But it didn’t happen that way.

  Instead of falling once he cut through it, the branch reattached itself and was as whole as if he’d never chopped into it at all.

  Seumas sighed and sat down on the ground, leaning against the tree he’d just been chopping.

  Sasha half expected the tree’s branches to reach out and throttle him for trying to do it harm, but it remained still. She joined him on the ground, and he put his arm around her and leaned her against him — and then gasped when her head touched his shoulder.

  She sprang away.

  “Oh! Your shoulder.”

  She looked down at him — and recognized the sight from the vision she’d had when she first met him. There he was, lying there stoically resisting the pain. Her tears came now, and she didn’t try to stop them

  “I wish I had some ice to put on you.”

  He reached up his hand, and when she took it, he pulled her down beside him on his other side.

  “I wull rest a bit, and then we wull dig oor way oot.”

  They spent the rest of the day trying to get out. When they dug, the roots of the trees moved into their way. When they climbed, the trees bent over so that there was a roof, impenetrable. They built a fire out of what scrap wood lay on the ground inside their cage and tried to burn the trees, but they expanded the cage out of the fire’s reach until there was no more scrap wood to burn. They had a close call when Sasha tried to break off a branch to burn and the tree reached out with its other branches and pushed her away.

  Nothing worked. Nothing had so far, anyway. Ever optimistic, they kept trying until after the sun went down. And then the cold came, and the only way they could escape that was to curl up together under her blanket and his arisade.

  ~*~

  Kelsey rolled her eyes once Sasha joined her in the dream.

  “I’ve seen many cool swords here, but none of them are the one —“

  Sasha grabbed her friend.

  “Brian the Druid has me and Seumas trapped in a cage made of trees. We’ve tried and tried to get out … and we don’t know where Deirdre is. And they’re going to sacrifice us, Kelsey, when the full moon comes in three days. This is where we are in relation to Torhousekie. Alfred knows how to get here.”

  Sasha Drew Kelsey a mind picture of their location as if she were zooming in on Google earth.

  Kelsey hugged her.

  “But how? Brian is locked up in the tower.”

  “No, he isn’t. That’s just an illusion.”

  “I’ll go into Alfred’s dream and tell him Brian has escaped and that Alfred needs to bring a dozen guards and rescue you, Sasha. Hang on.”

  Trì Deug (13)

  Seumas hadn’t meant to sleep. He cursed himself when he awoke in the morning, the very early light of the morning. Carefully so as not to disturb Sasha’s rest, he separated from her and crawled out from under their blankets to take a quick piss between the trees on the opposite side of their cage. He was crouching down to get back under the blanket when he heard som
ething crashing through the forest.

  He picked up his sword as quietly as he could and then stood guard over Sasha, whispering down to her while he tapped her with his booted toe.

  “Sasha. Sasha, something is coming, wake up.”

  When she started to speak, he whispered again.

  “Weesht. Something is coming.”

  It was probably an animal that was coming. It was too small to be a man. It was coming from the direction of Torhousekie, the direction they’d come from.

  Seumas planted himself firmly between its approach and Sasha.

  “Hopefully,” he whispered, “the trees wull keep whatever that is oot just as they keep us in. Pray for that, will ye Sasha? I wull dae the best I can tae keep it away from ye, but just in case it gets through and we both die, I need tae tell ye something.”

  “Me tae,” she said “there’s no one I would rather spend my last few moments with than ye, Seumas. Thank ye for standing in the way and taking the attack. Most o the men o my time would hide behind me and hope that the animal ate me up and was full afore it got tae them.”

  He laughed at that, a belly laugh that was far too loud for the quiet he was aiming for. Bah, the animal could smell them anyway, what was the use of being quiet? She was so funny.

  “I ken ye think I’m jesting. I wish I were. ‘Tis the reality where I come from. In many ways things are better. There are more opportunities for a lass — but there’s a sore lack of real men. I’m glad I knew ye Seumas.”

  He lowered his sword a bit though.

  “An animal would hae been here by now. Animals are fast. It’s taking sae long that I begin to hope…”

  “Hope for what?”

  “Deirdre!” he yelled. “Deirdre! We are ower here, Deirdre. Come tae the sound o my voice.” He kept calling out over and over again until sure enough, there she was — a ragged bleary-eyed little girl shivering with the cold — and holding out a strange large dagger.

  “He wants tae free ye,” she said. “He told me tae wait until the night had passed, because it wasna safe tae be oot by myself at night, but ’tis morning now, sae here I am.” She started to pass the dagger to them through the branches.

  And then the weirdest thing of all happened.

  The branches moved again, but this time they were moving away from the strange dagger. In no time at all, the trees had withdrawn around the dagger to make an opening through the wall of the cage, big enough for the two of them to get out.

  Seumas wasted no time in grabbing Sasha’s hand and pulling her up and out through the opening. She tried to reach back and grab the blanket, but he pulled her through.

  “I wull buy ye ten blankets once we make it back home. If we dinna stop verra often, we can be there by supper.”

  He then picked Deirdre up and hugged her to him, both to thank her and to warm her up. He himself was still pretty warm from cuddling with Sasha all night. The thought of that warmed him even more, and he had to stifle the memories, lest he become distracted and useless.

  They were going west toward home through a thick forest, and it was rocky and dangerous, with branches sticking out everywhere.

  He stopped and put Deirdre down, sighing and looking to the north.

  “We wull need tae go back oot intae the open sae we can make better time.”

  Sasha followed his gaze.

  “Willna they see us?”

  “Mayhap, but we wull make terrible time here in the trees. Far better tae hae a chance tae make it back tae safety before nightfall. We have na chance o that if we stay in the trees.”

  “Verra well.”

  She turned to the north with him, plainly dejected and afraid.

  But Deirdre called out to them, now several paces to the west.

  “He says we should go this way. He makes the trees move, ye ken.”

  Sasha looked just as mystified by this as he felt, but he took her hand and led her after the wee lass.

  Sure enough, wherever Deirdre held out the dagger, the trees parted. Even their roots moved aside so he and Sasha and Deirdre wouldn’t trip. What’s more, the roots dragged all the stones and twigs with them, making the path even safer than a road to tread.

  With the tree limbs drawing away into a tunnel in front of them, they walked all the way through the forest. And they kept going, on and on and on over hill and dale. Whenever there was a stream, they stopped for water. Whenever Sasha had to catch her breath — which was often — they stopped for a moment and put their hands on their knees. But mostly, they walked.

  The excitement wore off for Deirdre after the first few miles. After that, it was just determination that kept her going. But she clearly hadn’t slept and was drooping.

  Seumas scooped Deirdre up and carried her, and soon she was snoring. The little girl wasn’t very heavy. She barely caused him any pause.

  After a few hours, Sasha was the one drooping — not from lack of sleep, but from pain in her muscles. She tried to explain it to him, but he already understood that life just wasn’t very active in the time she came from.

  “I am sae sorry I hae tae keep stopping tae stretch,” she said between grunts at the pain. “Ye would think I’d be better at walking. My legs are sae long, everyone’s always teasing me aboot how I should be a runner. I play tennis every weekend, and I go for a walk every day during my lunchtime. I thought those were long walks until I came here.” She laughed her nervous laugh.

  Cradling Deirdre with one arm, he put his finger to Sasha’s lips.

  “Weesht. I ken ye are trying yer hardest, and that is all ye can dae.”

  He started them walking again, reminding himself every few steps to slow down for her.

  “I am sae grateful for yer spirit of adventure, Sasha. ‘Twas different when we were children, but now that we’re all grown, all the lasses here would rather stay inside the safety of the toon that venture oot this way.”

  What he didn’t say was that he never in his wildest dreams thought he would find a companion for adventure who might also be a wife.

  And there it was.

  Was he thinking about marrying this woman he had just met not a seven-day ago?

  Aye.

  But that was foolishness.

  She would go back to her time, and he was doubtless unsuited for her world. There was far too much he would be expected to know there. Fear loomed just on the edge of his thoughts. He didn’t want to admit it, but the prospect of going eight hundred years into the future terrified him. He was a man. He needed to stay where he felt strong and knowledgeable.

  And he would not ask her to stay here in this time with him. No. She was too soft. He was a guard who had to leave with ships and be on patrol in the caverns. He couldn’t always be with her to watch over her. And no one else would understand why she needed watching over.

  He chuckled a bit.

  “What’s sae funny?”

  “Tavish’s story about this being yer first time ever away from home and how it meant ye needed looking after.”

  She laughed her embarrassed laugh.

  “Sorry about that wee white lie. Now ye ken why we had tae tell it, aye?”

  He waited for her to get the jest, but she seemed not to.

  “But it wasna a lie, ye ken? Ye havena ever been sae far from home — even with gang tae Florida and Hawaii and the other warm places ye spoke aboot.”

  There it was, her beautiful smile.

  “Ye hae the right of it.”

  Talking on top of the unaccustomed walk was a strain for her, though, so he kept quiet awhile.

  Now that they walked on easy open grasses, he held Deirdre in one arm and Sasha’s hand with the other, letting himself daydream for a moment about what it would be like to go with her to her time and travel to those warm places. He let himself imagine warm sandy beaches and ocean water that wasn’t so cold it hurt to swim. She had said that in Hawaii the waves rolled in and you could ride them on boards. That sounded such a marvel.

  But look
at her. A simple walk home — and she was not going to make it. She was limping. Her feet must be bruised because of her beautiful but thinly soled boots.

  He stopped at the top of a small grassy hill where it was dry and he would see anyone coming.

  “Let us take a longish rest, aye? Have us a little meal.”

  Sasha closed her eyes and moaned in pleasure as she collapsed onto the grass and lay down.

  He set Deirdre down, and the wee lass hugged him. He hugged her back and then dug out the rest of his jerky and raisins. There were two handfuls each, washed down with the rest of the water in his skin. He wanted to be on their way again, but he saw that Sasha still needed rest.

  “Deirdre, could ye keep up with me for a while?”

  The lassie nodded

  “Aye, if ye need tae carry Sasha.”

  Sasha’s jaw dropped open and she looked at both of them with a wrinkled brow.

  “That’s ridiculous. I can walk, I just need tae rest a—”

  He scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. She weighed twice as much as Deirdre, but the weight was distributed evenly. And the feel of her against his shoulder — his uninjured shoulder — gave him a rush of energy so joyful that he wondered why he hadn’t done this earlier.

  They made better time this way, with him carrying Sasha and Deirdre walk-running alongside him. Both lasses had great attitudes. He couldn’t ask for better traveling companions.

  Unlike Sasha, Deirdre talked almost non-stop while she walked.

  “Sorry I slept sae long while ye carried me, but I didna sleep at all before this. I was tae busy listening tae the dagger tell me all the things he wantit me tae dae. He talkit tae me all night long, blethering aboot all sorts o things.” She patted the dagger, which she had secured through her belt expertly, much to Sasha’s chagrin.

  ~*~

  At long last, Uncle’s castle was in sight.

  He put Sasha down, and the three of them hurried the rest of the way home, holding hands.

  Howsoever, just as they reached the castle walls, it was as if the fires of Hell sprouted up from underground.

  Seumas held fast to Deirdre’s and Sasha’s hands and pulled them out of the middle of the fires before a ring could form around the three of them. At the same time, he hollered out to the guards on watch, whose backs he could see in a huddle, likely lighting their pipes, the fools.