Her naked soles, matching the rest of her, crunched the twigs as she raced blindly toward the unseen owner.Ouch– the pain rasped her toes the same as needles. She froze when the fog cleared as if a painter brushed it away with a lone violent stroke.
“Nae!” Her mouth voiced the word, but no sound emitted, just as always.
It was hell on earth. Fire spired up into the clouds from a castle. In the distance, a bailey and keep stood engulfed with flames on the shores of a loch, the blaze sizzling as the rainlanded. Night’s darkness cloaked about her; the only light was from the raging inferno eating the castle like a dragon taking savage fiery bites. Whose ships were those in the placid waters behind the curtain walls? Her eyes squinted, then popped wide.
Northmen!
The waters may be placid, but it was a striking contrast to the warriors’ fighting, accompanied by the screams from women and children running for their lives as if golden-haired demons chased them into hell. Another cry tore the air, the same as the first – there, there was the Scotswoman she had initially heard. The lass had a regal air about her even in the hellish circumstance. She was giving orders to those surrounding outside the portcullis while trying to calm the wee swaddled bairn to her breast.
“My wee Douglin,” she vowed at the bairn, whose face was as red as the flames from crying frantically, “you will not perish.”
Keirah spotted a Northman approaching from the shadowy forest’s edge. Ivar. He raced toward the pair from behind; Keirah’s feet ran straight for them. At that angle the mother would never see them! It was no good, she couldn’t touch or save or yell at them! She raced faster…
“Behind you!” She mouthed the words frantically even if no sound emerged. “Lass! Look behind you…”
A scream she did hear tore her throat when she crashed back into her current time. Her wide gaze looked into Aonghus’s fearful expression while his one arm gripped her waist, with the other cradling her shoulders and scalp in the bed after their declarations earlier.
His tone was terrified as his look. “Cluaran, what took you?! Who must look behind?”
“A Scotswoman clutching a wee bairn.” Her words were layered with hysterical sobs. “The Northmen, they were laying siege to a castle upon a loch.”
Aonghus pulled her closer. Nae; her blood, along with raw nerves, coursed her veins. She must move! With a brush from her lips onto his, she spun from his embrace; her bare soles hit the icy floor with a sound splash.
What the hell was this?! Her eyes snapped toward the floor. Remnants. Remnants from the night-glance. A massive puddle reflected her silhouette back up at her in the firelight. The storm in the night-glance had unleashed the phenomenon. Ugh! She kicked the water furiously as a defiant cry echoed the chamber while she began to pace, as naked as she was in the glance. Trembling fingers brushed away her tears – the mother didn’t need hysterics, she needed help!
Her knight was of the same mind. “Cluaran, where was the terrain of this castle or the lass you beheld?”
“I do not know the terrain! Dammit! The Northmen’s ships were upon a shoreline, the same ships I saw in the night-glance sailing over land; but the lass…” She worried her lower lip, concentrating. “She was tall, very tall, hair same as a sunrise, and the bairn she clutched ’twas a wee fresh-born lad she called Douglin.”
“By all above,” Aonghus bellowed. He flew off the bed as if it were in flames and splashed through the water, not stopping as he grabbed his tunic, braies, and chausse while bolting for the door. “Keirah, dress with haste!” he called over his shoulder.
“Who are you seeking?!” she asked fervently. “Who was the lass?”
Crash!He threw the board to the ground, yelling over the sound: “To summon Callum and Alec, and to wake the king!”Throwing the timber bar aside, his tunic over his skull, he bolted out the door. He popped his head back in a split second to finish, “The lass, ’tis Deidre, Alec’s wife!”
Oh! Raging hell!
***
Dawn…–had to be almost upon them.
Aonghus held the solar’s door open for the one who claimed his heart and soul and future, Keirah.
And who do we have for the guards as the first line in defense outside here in the passageway? Sir Sean and…wait just a damn moment, is Sir James shooting a dark glare at Keirah? Here – glare at this, arsehole.Click.Door closed!
Keirah squeezed Aonghus’s hand before he turned toward the chamber.All present? Aye.The king looked exhausted, straight from the chapel praying – this news would only make it worse. His eyes darted between the three advisors, alongside Callum and Alec.
Alec. Deidre and the bairn, Douglin. How was he going to tell his wee brother both innocents were facing the enemy head on?
The Lord Chamberlain rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “Why have you called an assembly?” he questioned, fatigue giving his voice an edge.
Aonghus replied briskly, “My lady has held a night-glance.”
Callum leapt in first. “A night-glance? How? She lost her talent when you took her as your…”
“’Twas a ruse for the Northmen,” the Lord Chamberlain groused.
Look at that pent-up anger sparking in my elder brother’s gaze. He had deceived Callum; there would come a time the anger would flash the same as lightning.
