Callum pressed his sword to the man’s chest. “Talk.”
“I told you,” the man cried out, looking to his companion. “We shouldn’t have gone after him. We were told not to interfere directly or we’d fail.”
“Shut up,” his older companion snapped. “What choice did we have? You want to go back and tell him it didn’t work? You know what he’ll do to us.”
“Last chance,” Callum said. “Talk. Who are you? Why have you been chasing me?”
The younger man looked up at the older one who just shrugged and said, “What does it matter now? You might as well tell him. We’re both dead anyway.”
“Talk!”
The younger man spoke fast, his eyes never moving from the tip of the sword. “Our employer needs you to marry Nessa like you’re supposed to. That’s all.”
“Why? What does it matter who I marry?”
“Because you’re supposed to marry her.”
“Says who.”
“Says history. If you marry Kerry you’ll have children and…”
“And what?”
The older man took over. “And Alexander MacKay loses everything.”
“Who’s Alexander MacKay?” Kerry asked.
The old man sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his hands. “We were hired to make sure Callum married Nessa. If he does, his wife hates him so much they never have children. The MacCleod line dies out and Alexander’s ancestors invade, taking their land.”
Kerry could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Why do I have to go through the doorway?”
“You weren’t supposed to have so much free will. You were supposed to go back and stop causing problems. You’re an outlying piece of datum, that’s what you are and you should go home before you cause any more trouble.”
“Watch it,” Callum snapped. “You’re talking about the woman I love.
“The younger man tried to stand but Callum held him fast with the sword.
“Keep talking,” Kerry said. “What happens if the MacKays invade?”
“Fast forward to our time and Alexander owns half of Scotland. That’s what’s supposed to happen.”
The older man leaned back against the doorway. “Then she goes and finds a portal to the past and it all goes wrong. You two get married, the MacCleods take over half the highlands and help Robert the Bruce bring peace in a couple of centuries. In return he gives you more estates and the MacKays get nothing. Our job was to fix history so she didn’t screw it up.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Our employer was shown a second copy of The Saga of Callum MacCleod. It tells of what happens when Callum marries Nessa instead of Kerry. I know it sounds like a fairytale but I have seen the book. Look, please. You have to marry Nessa. It’s the way history is meant to go.”
“So the MacKays can rule Scotland and the MacCleod line can die out?”
The older man looked scared. “Please, try to see it from our point of view. If we go back and tell him you’re staying with Kerry what will he do to us?”
“Why don’t you find out?” Callum dropped his sword, grabbing the two of them in his enormous arms and tossing them through the doorway. They vanished at once.
With an enormous grunt he shoved the lintel above the doorway. It creaked and began to shift. “Last chance,” he said to Kerry. “Are you going or staying?”
“What do you think?” she replied, helping him to push the doorway over. The stones collapsed into a heap, dust rising into the air as they turned to face each other. “It’s over,” Callum said. “No going home.”
“I am home,” she replied, her hands slipping into his as the dust began to slowly settle once more.
He smiled, leaning down to kiss her. She closed her eyes. A moment later their lips touched and any doubts she had about making the right choice vanished, never to be thought about again.
His arms slipped around her and their bodies pressed together, their embrace continuing. Kerry thought of nothing at all but the feel of him against her. They had come so far together. She had thought she’d lost him forever and the joy she felt at his kiss was nothing to the joy of knowing he had come back for her.
“I love you,” he said, pulling back long enough to stroke her hair, drinking in her image.
“I love you too,” she replied, pulling him back toward her. “Kiss me again.”
He did, many times. It was much later that they began their journey south together. They would never see MacIntyre hall again.
