“Stop who?” Dylan asked as he suddenly appeared behind her.
“Oh. The faeries. They’ll want their revenge,” Maggie said, surprised at being overheard and needing to think quickly to cover her thoughts.
“Why would that be your responsibility? Do you really believe in faeries?” Dylan was standing beside her now and once again, Maggie felt those familiar yearnings, tugging at her heartstrings.
“’Tis not my responsibility, of course. But I’d like to help though. If there were some way to put everyone at ease about what has happened, I’d like to do that.” Maggie meant what she said. She hated that what had started out as a day of fun and tradition had ended in fear and sadness and it was all Brielle’s fault.
“And the faeries?” Dylan wanted to know.
“Aye. I believe in faeries and witches, but I dinnae believe that the faeries were to blame for what happened today, though they willnae be happy that their trees were destroyed.”
“Do you think it was a passing storm, or do you believe something else was at work here?” Dylan questioned seriously.
“Yer full of questions, arenae ye? I’m afraid I dinnae ken why it happened, but I’d like to find out.”
“So would I. Maybe we could work together to figure it out.” Dylan appeared to be very sincere in his willingness to help. He was watching Maggie with his heavenly brown eyes and Maggie had to swallow deeply.
Maggie straightened up and looked away from him, before she gave away her true feelings. “Maybe we could.” She gathered all of her strength and walked away from him, melting into the crowd before he could follow.
Chapter 8
Dylan wasn’t familiar with witches and faeries, but he was not one to discount their existence, especially since Edna Campbell had made him a believer by allowing him to cross the bridge into another time. He had also seen Maggie’s handiwork yesterday, when she put a stop to the disaster that took place in the apple orchard. But what had caused it? It didn’t add up. It had been a beautiful sunny day and then, without warning, the trees around them were exploding—there was no other way to describe it—and fiery branches rained down on them. It was a frightening spectacle and one he would never forget. Something,or someone, had caused it to happen and he was going to get to the bottom of it. He was going to ask Alec to join him today on a ride out to the orchard, to see if he could find any clues. Too many strange goings on here at Breaghacraig were being left without explanation. His natural curiosity had gotten the better of him and he wouldn’t rest until he had the answers.
Dylan knocked on Alec’s door. “Alec, are you in there?”
“Aye,” came the reply. “Give me a minute.”
“I was wondering if you’d like to ride out with me to the apple orchard. I want to look for clues.” Dylan waited patiently. He could hear rustling on the other side of the door. He assumed he must have woken Alec. The door opened a crack and a sleepy-headed Alec peered out at him. “Do you sleep with that cap on?” Dylan questioned with a laugh.
“Of course I do. It keeps me head warm.” Maggie answered a little testily.
“Well, what do you think? Do you want to go with me?”
“Aye. I’d be happy to join ye. I’ll meet ye in the courtyard shortly.” Maggie stifled a yawn. “Could ye bring some food? I’m quite hungry.”
“Sure. I’ll go get some from the kitchen and I’ll have the stable boys bring our horses. See you in a bit.” Dylan turned away and headed downstairs, first to the stables to speak to the stable boys, and next across the courtyard to the kitchen.
As he approached, he could hear the sounds of women talking. He knew it was Jenna, Sophia and Mary, already hard at work preparing food for the day ahead. “Good morning, ladies,” Dylan said when he entered the kitchen.
“Good morning,” they responded.
“You’re up early,” Jenna said, dusting the table with flour. The three women began kneading dough as they looked expectantly to Dylan.
“I had a lot on my mind. Sophia, how’s Latharn? He took quite a blow to the head yesterday.”
“He feels much better this morning. He had a nasty headache last night, but it’s gone now. He’s going to take it easy for a day or two, whether he likes it or not.” Sophia spoke with a very determined expression on her face.
“He won’t like it, but I have no doubt he’ll follow orders.” Dylan chuckled and Sophia’s expression relaxed as she joined him. As a waitress in twenty first century San Francisco, Sophiahad a crush on Dylan and he had behaved very badly after their first date by not calling her. She had been extremely angry with him, but thank goodness all was forgiven and he was once again in her good graces. He could now appreciate her for the special woman that she was. Latharn was a lucky man.
“What can we get fer ye?” Mary asked. Dylan knew the cook had taken a liking to him since his arrival. She didn’t allow many people in her kitchen while she cooked, but she made an exception for him. “Come, love, sit down. Would ye like some bannocks?”
“That would be great. I was wondering if I could get them to go. I’m going riding this morning with Alec and he’s hungry, too.”
“Of course, of course.” Mary grabbed a sack from a nearby rack and began filling it with bannocks, fruit and a flask of cider. “Will that be enough for ye?”
“That should do the trick.” Dylan watched as Mary gave him an odd look. He realized she probably didn’t understand the modern expression. “Thank you, Mary. You are too good to me.” Dylan copied what he had seen the men of this time period do on many occasions and reached for Mary’s hand to place a kiss on her fingers.
Mary blushed. “Och. Yer a charmer, ye are.”
