Brian nodded encouragingly. “It’s okay, I really might have done the same thing. It’s not like anyone around here would miss it for a day or two.”
She nodded. “I looked, but I couldn’t find it in any of my books. And then I put it on my finger, just to look at it. And I… this is where it gets pretty crazy, Bri, but I was suddenly in Scotland.”
Brian sat back in his chair, a look of complete bewilderment on his face. Faith lifted her tear-stained face up to look at him, and he pressed his lips together in a firm line. “Go on. What happened next?”
She told him. Everything. Well, almost everything.
He took it remarkably well, really, though she couldn’t tell if he actually thought she was crazy and was just beingnice. When she finished talking, he sat back with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Well, I’ll tell you this, if it were me back there in Scotland, and my wife disappeared, I’d be doing everything possible to get that ring back. And if I could, I’d send it… forward in time again. Do you think he would have done that?”
Faith stared at him for a moment. God, why hadn’t she thought of that?
“I think he would. No, I know he would!” She felt the first faint spark of hope since she’d found herself back in her apartment. “I have to find the ring, Brian! God, where would it be? Do you think he sent it? Really?”
He smiled. “I don’t know, Faith, but he could have. And if he did, we’ll find it.”
“Thank you Brian.” She leaped out of her chair to hug him. “Thank you for listening, and for believing me.”
Bren rode hard for the caves where Mored had his new lair, farther north now than before. He assumed the others were following behind, but he didn’t take the time to look back. His heart was breaking into a thousand pieces, and if he didn’t find the Dragon Ring, he would never, ever have it whole again. He rode all day and through the night. On the dawn of the second day, the mountains he was looking for came into sight. On the other side of the tallest one was the cave, and Mored.
There was the sound of approaching hoof beats, and though Bren was looking straight ahead, he knew it was Drust who rode up to his side.
“I never told her I loved her, Drust.”
“I thought ye didna believe in it… love.”
“I have always believed in it. I was only afraid I’d never find it. It was easier to pretend it didna exist. Now I ken it does, and it is still not easier.”
“Then ye had best tell her, just as soon as ye see her again. Ye ken how woman are about those things. Ye can give them the whole world, all that ye have, and still they will want ye to say those words.”
The two brothers walked up the side of the mountain together, leaving men to guard at intervals along the way, but knowing they were the only ones who could walk into that cave and have any chance of walking out again. They made it to the entrance unhindered, which meant that Mored was expecting them, and that he wanted them to enter the cave. They stepped inside, and when nothing happened, they started down the dim and musty tunnel, Bren leading the way. He could feel Mored’s presence somewhere up ahead, like a place in his mind that was darker, colder than it should have been. He could sense him so clearly because they shared the same blood, had once been family. Mored was his own father’s cousin. And it was because of the depth of his betrayal that Bren would do nearly anything to see him dead.
Closer, closer, he was almost there. Desperate anger warred with the need to be cautious as Bren rounded another corner and the tunnel suddenly opened into a chamber. Mored was there, near the opposite wall, and several guards fanned out around him, though more for show than protection. Though it seemed they had Mored cornered, Bren knew better. There was dark magic at work all around them, and things were not as they seemed. So close. He was so close. Mored gave him a smug smile. He raised his hand up in front of his face, and Bren’s eyes locked onto what he had come for, what he would die for. The Dragon Ring hung on a golden chain around his neck, and was presently dangling temptingly from the tip of Mored’s finger.
“Is this what ye want, warrior? This little trinket? Come and get it then.” He held it up in his hand, taunting. “Ye thinkthis will bring yer wife back to ye? Ha! And why would she want to come back? Do ye not think she has already found another man where ever she is now? Even if ye sent the ring forward to her, it would still be her choice to come back. Are ye so certain of her decision? Why would she pine for ye, when she could have a man in the time she was raised in, with all the comforts she is used to… with all that she had before.”
Bren growled low in his throat, taking a step forward. Drust grabbed his arm, speaking to him in low tones. “No! He’s baiting ye. He wants ye to attack first. It’s a trap.”
Mored threw back his head and laughed. “She is a verra beautiful woman, yer Faith. I admit, I couldna help but have her myself once or twice, before I sent her home. She was…”
Bren broke free of Drust’s hold and lunged forward, his sword drawn, death in his eyes. But Drust had been ready, waiting. He moved like the wind, shoving Bren to the side before leaping for Mored’s throat. He grabbed the ring, tearing it from around his neck and throwing it back to where Bren was just regaining his feet, a look of hellish murder on his face. It was the last thing Drust saw before the ground opened up beneath him, and he was falling, down, down, faster… He looked up and his mouth drew into a satisfied smile. He had managed to pull Mored over the edge behind him. He tried to shout to his brother to leave him and run, but the fall stole his breath. Instead, he concentrated on transferring the thought between their minds. Then he hit the ground. The ground was of soft and spongy earth, and he was not badly hurt. He rolled to the side as Mored landed beside him. Drust launched to his feet. Down here in the bowels of the earth, in the lair of his enemy, he would have his revenge. And he didn’t care if he died to have it. It would be his.
Bren watched in horror as the two men disappeared into the yawning abyss that had so suddenly appeared where the floor of the cave had been. “Drust! Drust, no!”
Run, Bren! Get the ring! Get Faith! Do it for me.
Drust, nay. I willna leave ye here.
Leave me, brother. I will avenge us both, and should I survive, ye will see me again. Now take the ring and go! I dinna have a wish to die in vain.
Bren looked to where the dragon ring lay near his feet. He snatched it up in his left hand, his sword still gripped tightly in his right. He knew Drust should not have survived that fall, knew it. And he did not want to leave his brother to fight such a battle alone. It wasn’t until parts of the cave began to crumble around him and the floor threatened to fall out from where he stood that he turned and ran back to the entrance. He had to push aside several boulders that had fallen when the floor of the cave gave way, but at last he made it out, the daylight too bright for his eyes. The rest of his men were milling around, waiting uneasily for their return. Forhisreturn. Dead men lay near the entrance of the cave, some of them his own. There had been a battle. Someone galloped forward with his horse, and he thrust his sword into its sheath and leapt onto the stallion’s back, at the same time giving the signal to return to the castle. He had lost his brother, this day, for he held little hope that Drust would return. He clutched the ring tightly in his fist.
The men galloped at full speed into the bailey. Bren pulled his horse to a halt just before the keep. “Bring me the sorcerer!”
Eian appeared at the top of the stairs. Bren held the ring up in somber triumph, and Eian gave him a relieved smile. Then his eyes scanned the rest of the men, all dismounting and stumbling off to find a meal and their beds. His gaze came back to Bren, questioning. Bren pressed his lips in a hard line and shook his head, his face filled with grief. Eian drew in a deepbreath and closed his eyes for a moment. They had all known it, beforehand, that Drust wouldn’t be coming back, but their brother had still chosen to go and fight his demons. Had needed to go. He nodded to Bren.
“Here is Dirc.”
