Dark Sword 05: Shadow Highlander (2 page)

Galen chuckled and shook his head as he tucked the map in the waist of his kilt. He had known Logan for years, and in those years, they had done much together.

“Come on, old man,” Logan teased. “I doona think the current will be too swift for you. You’re only two hundred and fifty. You can make it across.”

Logan was the youngest of the Warriors at one hundred and fifteen. The only one younger than Logan was the lone female Warrior, Larena, who happened to be the wife of Fallon MacLeod, their leader.

“Keep it up,
lad,
and I’ll make you regret your words,” Galen said with a grin.

Logan had been a Godsend to the Warriors. It was easy to become despondent and dreary when you had lost everything and eternity stretched out before you, but Logan always knew how to lighten people’s moods with a jest, a tease, or a grin. His smiles were infectious, and his banter notorious.

Galen was pleased Logan was with him on this trip. Logan pretended he was lighthearted and indifferent about his past, but Galen knew firsthand Logan was not a Warrior you wanted against you. Because deep down, Logan hid a streak of hostility and bitterness that burned within him.

Logan’s mouth tilted in a lopsided smile as he glanced back at the loch. “I tell you, Galen, I could use a hot meal. Eating at the castle has spoiled me.”

“You?” Galen shook his head sadly. He missed not just the delicious meals, but the companionship he had found at MacLeod Castle. “I was getting my own loaf of bread that I didn’t have to share with any of you. I’ve had none for days. I’m eager to return.”

“Then let’s find those Druids.”

Once again Galen felt the tickle on the back of his neck, as though they were being spied upon. “Time to get moving.”

“Aye,” Logan said, and fell into step beside him as they began their trek around the outer edge of the mountains rimming the loch. “We’d get there faster if we swam.”

“Maybe.”

“I could move the water for you so you wouldna have to get wet.”

Galen looked at Logan and saw his cocky grin. Because of their gods, each of them had a unique power. Logan could command oceans. Any body of liquid, big or small, was his to control.

Enhanced strength, speed, and senses completed the package for all Warriors.

In some ways it was a heady experience to be a Warrior, but knowing the evil that resided inside them, knowing how easily they could kill while surviving forever, made life hell.

“Nay,” Galen said. “We’d cause too much of a distraction if you moved the water. Besides, we run faster than horses. We’ll be on the other side of the loch in no time.”

Logan grunted and rubbed the back of his neck. “I want to know who is watching us.”

“I suspect we’ll find out soon enough. With the Druids nearby, it could be them.”

“Nearly all the way from MacLeod Castle? I doubt it.”

Galen’s gaze traced the hilly landscape, selecting the best route to take. “Whoever it is, they cannot hide from us forever. We’ll find who’s been spying, and then we’ll discover why.”

“I want that privilege,” Logan said between clenched teeth.

A tingle of worry began in Galen’s mind. Logan didn’t become heated unless Deirdre attacked them. To see the anger sizzle around him like a thick cloud was unusual. And disturbing.

There was no point in asking Logan about it, though. There was only one other person he could talk to about Logan and that was Hayden. Hayden and Logan had bonded as soon as they’d met, forging a friendship that went as deep as brotherhood.

Maybe Hayden knew something Galen didn’t. After all, Galen had assumed Hayden would be the one accompanying him since he had a hatred for
droughs
. And with Isla being a
drough,
although against her will, it would keep Isla alive that much longer if Hayden wasn’t around waiting to kill her.

Thinking about the black-headed Druid made Galen wonder what had happened since they had departed MacLeod Castle.

It seemed Logan’s mind was also on Hayden because he asked, “What you saw in Isla’s mind when you touched her, was it as bad as Hayden said?”

“Worse.” So much worse than anyone could have imagined. It had shocked even Galen, and he had seen many things since his god had been unleashed. “I saw horrors while in Deirdre’s dungeons, but what Deirdre did to Isla was unthinkable.”

Logan fell silent for several moments. “You haven’t asked why I came instead of Hayden.”

“I expected Hayden to accompany me, but I am happy to have you with me on this journey.”

Logan continued to face forward so that Galen could see only his profile. “Hayden would have run from Isla. I forced him to confront her.”

“Why? You know how much he hates
droughs
. He’s as likely to kill her as look at her.”

“You saw him when he brought her broken body into the castle. You saw how protective he was.”

“And then we discovered she was
drough
.”

Logan leaped over a fallen tree and shrugged. “From the moment Isla asked him to kill her and he didn’t, I knew that he had to stay at the castle. Isla needs him. And he needs her.”

Galen couldn’t fault Logan’s thinking, and Logan knew Hayden better than anyone. “Then maybe you should have remained behind to remind him of those things.”

There was a pregnant pause before Logan said, “I needed to get away.”

Galen was so taken aback by Logan’s words that for a moment he could only stare at his friend. Questions swam in Galen’s mind, but one look at Logan’s closed, hard expression and Galen knew he would get nothing more out of him for the moment.

As much as Galen wanted to know what motivated Logan, he knew better than to ask. If he did, Logan would feel free to pry into his own secrets. And Galen had many.

One of which could isolate him from other Warriors forever.

He had spent most of his life as a Warrior apart from others. There was much he had given up once he had realized the full extent of his powers to read other’s minds.

Without even intending to do so, he had found a home—and a family—at MacLeod Castle. He didn’t want
anything
to jeopardize that.

TWO

Tomorrow Reaghan planned to leave the only home she had ever known.

The small village went about its daily life, unaware, and uncaring, of the turmoil that ripped through one of their own. Reaghan didn’t want to leave. She was a part of the land, the village, and its people.

Yet how could she ignore the insistence of her own feelings?

It was true the Druids who had left the village over the years were never seen from again, but there was an exciting world out there. She yearned to see the world for herself and to experience it—all of it—but she also feared leaving.

She didn’t know what was out there. Though she did knew
who
was out there—Deirdre.

Not to mention that the only men left in their dwindling group just tottered about, barely able to stand on their own. Neither of them would be fit choices for a husband. Besides, they were already married.

Reaghan wanted … more of a life, more
in
her life than what she had. It wasn’t that she was unhappy with the Druids. In fact, she was very content. But the part of her that wanted and needed more wouldn’t be denied.

The ache, the need, to see and experience more had grown in the past six months to the point that she could no longer push it aside. It was as if her future were right in front of her and she had only to reach out and grab it.

Every time she had tried to talk to Mairi about it, however, the elder was quick to point out why the village needed Reaghan.

Mairi and the other elders meant well, but Reaghan had to make this decision on her own. It would likely tear her in two, but she had to leave. There was something out there for her to do; she just didn’t know what it was yet.

Then there was the parchment Reaghan had come upon in Mairi’s chest by accident. It had been so old the edges had crumbled when her fingers touched them. The words, though faded, had been in Gaelic—a language Reaghan had never read before, but somehow she had recognized the words. Had understood them.

That surprise faded to nothing when she read her name and discovered she wasn’t from Loch Awe but instead came from a group of Druids of Foinaven Mountain.

There was no mention of her parents. Nothing about why she had been sent to Loch Awe or what had happened to make her parents send her away. Had her parents died? Did she have other family?

Just those few sentences, so very few words in the parchment, but they created more questions.

There had been so many questions running through her mind. Her head had swum with suspicion and supposition. Mairi had been like a mother to her. She wanted to give the elder a chance to explain things.

As usual, Mairi had given evasive answers to her initial questions, and Reaghan sensed if she mentioned the parchment Mairi would lie. And Reaghan couldn’t handle that. For some reason Mairi and the other elders thought they had to lie to her about her past. But why? What was so awful?

Regardless of what it was, Reaghan wanted the truth.

But Mairi wouldn’t give her the truth. Not even a glimmer of it. No matter how many times Reaghan asked about her parents, Mairi would give the same response she had given for years—that they had found her and saved her from a fever.

That’s when she began to question everything the elders told her. They had been lying to her for years about where she came from. What else were they lying about?

Reaghan had put the parchment with her own things and begun to plan to find the Druids and the home where she belonged. It was as good a place as any to begin, and maybe it would halt the persistent feeling inside her that told her there was something for her to do.

On the morrow Reaghan would depart the safe haven she had known for ten years and strike out on her own into a world she didn’t know.

Tomorrow, everything would change. For better or worse. She was fearful but eager. Nervous but exhilarated. It was the start of a new life, one she intended to seize with both hands and make the most of. Whatever the outcome.

She had dreams she wanted to fulfill, like anyone else. But she didn’t want much. She wanted to be happy, to find a man with whom she could share her life and start a family. She wanted children to fill her days with laughter and memories.

Reaghan was brought out of her thoughts when someone bumped into her. She blinked and focused on the faces around her as they stood in the middle of their small village. Mairi shook her head in frustration as she began to speak of their need to hunt for food.

The pounding began at the base of Reaghan’s neck and worked its way up to her temples, increasing with each beat of her heart. She didn’t know why her head had begun to ache the past month as it had, and she feared there was no cure for it.

She put a hand to her forehead. The coolness against her skin gave some relief, but not nearly enough. Reaghan tried to hide her grimace of pain as she turned away, but Mairi’s brown eyes were sharp, despite her age.

“You’re hurting again, child. You need to rest.”

The soft, comforting hands that had helped heal Reaghan from the fever so long ago took hold of her arms now and guided her to her cottage.

Not that the structure could be called a cottage. The Druids had moved around Loch Awe for years until the young ones began to go away, leaving only the older Druids and a few others who didn’t want to abandon the beauty and safety of the loch. That’s when, hundreds of years ago, the Druids had decided to make a permanent village hidden away from the world by magic and blending into the surroundings.

Reaghan leaned her hand against the trunk of the giant oak that stood in the middle of her home. She looked up to see the branches of the noble tree as supports for the roof, which was covered with leaves and vines to shield them from the elements. Large, cut limbs were bound together with vines and used for the walls. The skillful use of the trees blended with the magic created an illusion that one could mistake the cottages for nothing more than the forest.

All the Druids used what nature supplied them with to craft their homes. Many travelers walked past their village and never saw it.

“Sit,” Mairi ordered, her voice brooking no argument.

Reaghan allowed the old woman to push her down into a chair. The throbbing of her head always began slowly, building with intensity. And each day when it came, it grew worse, lasted longer. Reaghan would be weak for hours afterward, her body not her own.

Something wasn’t right. Reaghan knew it in the marrow of her bones. But no matter who she asked or what she asked, no one had any answers. Maybe the headaches were connected to the long-ago fever Mairi had saved her from and no one wanted to tell her.

“I’ll be fine,” Reaghan said, and took the cool, wet cloth Mairi handed her. She put it to her forehead and sighed. Just speaking made her head pound worse. The ache was so terrible she couldn’t clamp her teeth together.