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

  Tavish was already working, and Seumas gave Sasha’s hand a gentle caress before he let go and went off to join him. They loaded all manner of goods into the ship from all over the world: spices from India, tea from China, rugs from Persia… Captain Dowd worked for a wealthy man, indeed.

  Finally, all the cargo was loaded and it was time to cast off — and for Seumas and Tavish to go check on the lasses. He heard Sasha’s distress before he saw her, and when he did, her face was green.

  Kelsey tried to chase him off.

  “Seumas, why dinna ye and Tavish go talk tae the men o the ship? Ask them if they hae ever heard the story o Robert the Bruce’s sword and if they think it’s at Turnberry Castle?”

  Tavish moved to Kelsey’s side and held her close, making it look like affection when really Seumas knew it was protectiveness — and a determination not to let her separate herself from him and get in trouble here among men who didn’t often see lasses up close and so personal.

  So Seumas addressed her, but really he was talking to Tavish.

  “Go on and enjoy the sights, Kelsey. I ken the way o the sea, sae I can help Sasha with her grumbly stomach.”

  Kelsey looked to Sasha, who subtly nodded her head astern. Heh!

  Once Tavish and Kelsey had walked away and down into the hold leaving him relatively alone with Sasha, he made it his mission to distract her. Standing behind her with them both facing the bow as the ship got unsteadily underway, he leaned in close to her cheek and whispered, pointing.

  “Dae ye see off in the distance there?” He pointed off to the right where the cliffs opposite those they’d arrived on marked the opening of Port Patrick. “I did think I saw the jump o a porpoise.”

  He could see her conspiratorial smile as he looked down at her face over her shoulder, but she played along, straining to see into the water over by those cliffs.

  “Good, good. That’s the way. I hae always had motion sickness, ever since I was a child. My da taught me how tae fend it off, and ye dae hae the way o it. The trick is tae focus on something off in the distance, in the direction yer traveling.”

  It was pleasant standing behind her there. Her hair smelled like lilacs, but that wasna it. She just had an air about her that he found… comforting, like home. Well, and a bit exciting, too.

  “Oh, but I dae see porpoises jumping oot there. We’re closer now. Canna ye see them yet?”

  “I can see them!”

  Deirdre popped out of one of the crates piled up on deck. She laughed and climbed high up onto the bow, leaning forward so as to see them better.

  “They’re funny!”

  Seumas went to grab her and pull her away from the certain peril of falling in front of the bow into the water and being run over by the ship.

  Uncharacteristically, she ducked out of his grasp and was running back along the starboard side railing, stepping up on top of crates when she needed to in order to pass by, when the ship canted to starboard with the wind.

  And quick as that, she went over the side and landed in the water with a splash and a scream.

  “No!” Sasha yelled out as she ran over to the railing were Deirdre had gone over. Before Seumas realized what she was doing, she had climbed up on top of the same crate and dove off the side of the ship like one of the porpoises.

  He yelled out to everyone around.

  “The lassies went overboard!”

  “The lassies went overboard!”

  But no one paid him any mind. He grabbed the elbow closest to him and pulled the man attached around to face him.

  “We need tae turn aroond and go back for them, ye hear?”

  But the man’s eyes were focused on something behind Seumas, and then Captain Dowd’s voice boomed from there.

  “We wull dae now such thing. If ye feel the need tae go back for them, then jump ower the side like yer fool lassie did.”

  If he was going to catch up with them before it was too late, then there wasn’t time even to tell Tavish where he was going. Without a second thought, he was up on top of the crate and over the side himself, into the water with his own splash.

  Swimming steadily toward where he could see Sasha bobbing in the water with Deirdre in tow, he felt foolish now for pointing out the porpoises jumping in the water. How had he missed Deirdre stowing herself away on board? Well, he had been rather busy loading cargo.

  Sasha was making rather good progress toward the shore, and he had to veer to his left and triangulate so as not to miss her and be washed ashore too far down. She was aiming for the small beach where he and Alfred often swam as boys.

  Now that he saw she wasn’t in danger, he rather enjoyed watching her swim. She was strong and graceful. But then he saw that Deirdre wasn’t moving, and he redoubled his efforts, hoping for he knew not what.

  Sasha reached the beach before him, and she was fussing over poor Deirdre’s lifeless body, turning it this way and that and patting on its back. Aw, now she was kissing the dead girl.

  He swam as fast as he could, and the moment he reached the shore he ran for the stockpile of firewood he knew was there, piled up some tinder and dry leaves, and took his flint out of his sporran to spark the flame. As he worked, he called out to Sasha over his shoulder.

  “I’m verra sorry for the loss o Deirdre, Sasha. Howsoever, ye need tae take care o yerself, ye ken? Mourn what yer gaun'ae mourn until I get this fire gang, but then come ower an warm yerself. Yer alive, and ye need tae take care o yerself tae ensure ye stay that way, aye?”

  He was working on the fire and feeling sad that he couldn’t look back to console her when she said some nonsensical thing about how the little girl was going to be fine and was breathing now and wait just wait a minute and she would bring her over. Best to nip her delusion in the bud.

  “Weesht. I hae the fire gang now, but it will take a few minutes tae get warm enough tae dry yer clothes an warm ye up. We’re gaun'ae have tae take oor clothes off and wring them oot sae they dry faster. I’m doing sae now while the fire gets hot. Fair warning. Cover yer eyes if ye like.”

  As soon as he was done with the fire and working on getting his kilt off to wring it out, he looked over to see how she was faring and froze, incredulous.

  Just as she had said, Deirdre was up and walking over with her. They both had their heads bowed, and Sasha’s arm was around the little girl, hugging her to her side. They were shivering with the cold.

  He wrung the sea water out of his kilt and shirt as quickly as he could and put them back on, then turned with his back to them and to the fire, enjoying its warmth while he figured out what to say to her.

  She was clearly…

  She…

  She was using sorcery.

  Did he care? He was nominally Catholic, as was everyone in Castleton. The church said that sorcery was evil, but he had seen… No, he had heard tales of how… Well, never mind. The bottom line was he didn’t care if she was a sorceress or not, he was falling so deeply for her.

  He swallowed and cleared his throat, still looking the other way.

  “How are ye, Deirdre?”

  The little girl’s voice sounded harsh and choky, but she responded dutifully.

  “Cold.”

  He nodded.

  “Aye, the two o ye need tae remove yer clothing and wring oot all the moisture ye can and then put it back on and dry it ower the fire, like I am.”

  Sasha answered him, sparing the little girl the use of her sore voice.

  “Aye, that we are doing. I know ye hae never seen a person resuscitated before. I can tell it upset ye. I’m guessing ye think it’s … I dinna ken if ye believe me when I tell ye this, but it is na. ’Tis… medicine, where I come from. Ye could dae it if I showed ye how.” She was quiet for a few minutes while she and Deirdre finished putting their damp clothes back on. “Say something, sae I wull know how ye feel and what ye are thinking.”

  He took several deep breaths, still gazing at the trees on the far side of the fire from her, unsure he ev
er wanted to turn around and see the evidence of her sorcery.

  He didn’t blame her for not admitting it.

  “Deirdre, ye canna tell anyone what happened here, ye ken?”

  The little girl started to speak, but Sasha shushed her.

  “Weesht. Rest yer voice, dearie.” And then she spoke to Seumas. “I Dinna ken why she shouldna tell the tale o me saving her from drowning. Anyone else would hae done the same, aye?”

  “Aye,” the little girl croaked out before Seumas could put two thoughts together.

  Now he did turn around. If that was what the little girl thought, then it was brilliant. Ashamed at his relief in noticing the knife he had given Sasha was safely tucked in her belt and not at the bottom of the sea, he put a look of wonder on his face and crouched down so that he saw Deirdre eye to eye over the fire.

  “Is that what happened? Did Sasha save ye from drowning?”

  Deirdre nodded yes as she held her tiny arms out around the fire, almost like she was giving it a hug. She was still close to Sasha, and if they had dry clothes to change into, he was sure the two of them would be hugging each other for the fear of almost drowning.

  He met Sasha’s eyes, and they were pleading with him to just accept this about her and go back to the way they had been — was it not even an hour ago?

  He couldn’t think of any earthly thing to say, and he didn’t trust his face to not reveal just how disturbed he was. So he did what he could to assure her that he wanted to go back to the way they had been. He walked around the fire to her side and took her hand in his and gently squeezed it. They stood there like that for an hour, making the kind of small talk Deirdre could repeat without causing alarm while they waited for their clothes to dry enough so that they wouldn’t catch their deaths of cold on the walk back to Eileen’s house in Castleton.

  Naoi (9)

  Once they were dry and the awkwardness of discussing CPR with a thirteenth century man had worn off, Sasha felt disappointed that they had to take Deirdre home and couldn’t just continue on foot to meet Kelsey and Tavish at Turnberry Castle.

  Anyway, Seumas said it was a two-day journey on foot and that she didn’t have the boots for it, never mind that they would have to carry too much with them to go now, as the September nights were cold. Standing by the fire, that had sounded silly, but now walking back along the coast she felt the chill, even midday. She also felt every craggy rock through the thin souls of her dress boots.

  Seumas carried Deirdre most of the way. The normally spry little girl was exhausted from her ordeal, and most of the time they could hear her snoring. This amused them and gave them a chance to talk. They spoke of everything except whether or not Sasha was a sorceress.

  Seumas walked easily by her side, occasionally brushing the back of her hand with his.

  “What dae ye fancy, at mealtime? Tell me the sort o feast ye most look forward tae?”

  She’d always found it awkward discussing food with men, but he looked so earnest and so curious that this time she didn’t mind.

  “My mama has a way o fixing chicken I dearly love. She rubs eggs ower it and then rolls it in breadcrumbs, puts some butter in the pan, and fries it.”

  He hefted the sleeping girl in his arms to a more comfortable carrying position as he walked.

  “Aye, that sounds good.”

  “What aboot ye?”

  He freed one of his hands long enough to pat his stomach, then quickly caught Deirdre up close to his chest again.

  “I fancy a good clam bake. What aboot games? Which games dae ye like tae play?”

  She enjoyed gazing into his earnest eyes and seeing how genuinely he wanted to know.

  “Dae ye mean ootside, or in the house after supper?”

  He laughed.

  “I did mean inside after supper, but ye have me curious. Dae ye yet play games ootside? And if sae, what are they?”

  “Aye, I love tae play this game we hae where we make three places we need tae run tae before we come home again. We hold a stick, and the enemy throws at us a ball. We hit it as far as we can with the stick, and while they’re running after the ball, we have tae run tae all three places and come home again.”

  He smiled warmly, nodding as he kicked a small stick up into the air and laughing when it landed in a tree and made several birds take flight.

  “I hae playit such a game. When we were children, we playit an easy one where we put the ball on a stool and hit it off. Now, I prefer a good game o save the castle, such as Aodh, Niall, and even little Sìle were playing when first ye saw them.”

  She found it surprisingly easy to talk with him.

  During the times when Deirdre was awake, Sasha took her little wooden flute out of the pouch she kept it in and played some of her favorite songs for the two of them, pleasantly surprised to find that it still sounded good after the dunking it had received today. She was a little afraid Seumas and Deirdre would ask her to play some songs that were popular now, but thankfully they didn’t. Whew.

  If not for the severity of what had happened to Deirdre, Sasha would’ve considered this walk along the coastline and past the harbor a party. The sound of the ocean had always made her happy, and it was even better here. There were no other sounds to detract from it. No planes nor helicopters overhead. No automobiles with their noise and their stink. Just the birds chirping in the trees and the waves crashing on the beach.

  And his voice.

  Each time she met Seumas’s eyes, she definitely wanted to celebrate the closeness she felt with him, as if they had known each other years instead of days. As if they were meant to be together.

  So it was with slow steps and heavy hearts that they at last arrived at the weaver shop. Eileen took one look at them and gasped, reaching her arms out for her daughter.

  “Deirdre, Deirdre, ye had me worried sick, and now ye come home looking like a drowned rat.” She met Sasha’s eyes, and when Sasha nodded, Eileen became distraught and headed for home, holding her daughter like a baby and rocking her. Aodh and Niall followed, and Sasha scooped up and carried Sìle.

  When they got home, Eileen carried Deirdre into the bedroom and laid her down to rest, cooing and fussing over her, and speaking to Sasha and Seumas over her shoulder.

  “Ye wull excuse me if I dinna entertain ye, I’m sure.”

  “Aye,” they both told her.

  And then they spent a pleasant if tense afternoon playing games with Aodh, Niall, and Sìle and making a passing if messy supper.

  When Alfred arrived, he took one look at Eileen and Deirdre and nodded toward Seumas, who nodded back and got up to leave. While Alfred said his goodbyes to Eileen and gave her his sympathy for her daughter’s illness, Seumas stood close to Sasha holding her hand and giving her hope and a promise with his eyes, but saying nothing at all except good night.

  ~*~

  In her dream that night, Sasha found herself inside Turnberry Castle with Kelsey. It was magnificent with high vaulted ceilings.

  “I really think that Seumas and I should come join you. Four of us will be able to search much faster than two of you.”

  But Kelsey shook her head no with an odd smile on her face.

  “No, Seumas is right. You need to stay put and wait for us to get back. It’s too tough a journey and too risky with the cold. Besides, Eileen needs help now more than ever, with a sick daughter.”

  Her smile got bigger and she stood there waiting for Sasha to guess what she was smiling about. When Sasha shrugged, Kelsey held her hands out to the sides with her elbows bent.

  “And anyway, I can explore much faster than all four of us put together ever could in real life—in my dreams. All I have to do is touch someone, and then I’m able to get into their dream with them…”

  And that was that.

  Sasha gave up any chance of meeting Kelsey at Turnberry Castle. She hung around with Kelsey in their shared dream for a while and got a tour at least, and then said she might as well go back to her body and get some goo
d sleep.

  Really, she was just jealous that Kelsey got to be in that other castle. She didn’t really want to see too much of it in her dreams or she’d be too sorry she couldn’t go.

  ~*~

  Even though Kelsey had used Deirdre’s illness as a reason for Sasha to stay put, Sasha was relieved when the little girl was better by morning.

  She passed a normal day in the weaver shop, and then another the next day, and another the next.

  Frankly, she found day-to-day life in medieval times boring. At least for the working people it was. Her evenings were pleasant, playing games with Seumas and the children and talking and laughing with Alfred and Eileen. But the days. She felt like her head would explode with boredom if she had to spend one more whole day shredding flax plant into linen threads.

  And wasn’t there a castle right here that she might explore? Even better, wasn’t there a man here who had some answers, when all Kelsey had were hints and guesses?

  On the pretext of doing a little marketing, Sasha headed out at midday toward the castle. Brian the Druid knew things. She could tell. Maybe after being alone up there for a week, he would appreciate having company.

  She was almost to the castle gate when someone in the street grabbed her arm and roughly yanked her toward himself, breathing rotten alcohol breath down her throat.

  “Yer a big one, aren’t ye. Come shew us a little—ack!”

  Seumas grabbed the man and pushed him away down the street, where he tripped over his own feet from the momentum and fell down in a heap. Seumas stood there for a long moment staring the heap down, his chest heaving and his breath coming out ragged, his fists clenched and his arms bent.

  “While Tavish is away, Sasha is under my protection, ye ken?”

  The man stayed down in a heap and nodded.

  Seumas relaxed a bit but didn’t take his eyes off her attacker. He moved around Sasha until he could see both her and the heap at the same time, looking her over with concern in his eyes.

  “Are ye whole? Did he hurt ye?”

  Realizing she was hugging herself, she let her arms fall to her sides naturally and took stock.

  “Aye, I am whole. He didna get the chance tae hurt me, ye grabbed him sae fast.”