Authors: Susan Sizemore
Right, babe?”
Rowan knew exactly what Maddie’s encouraging look meant and her confidence in his ability to protect her filled him with jubilation. He wished for a moment that he had the magic to fly to her side and spirit her away, but magic was not going to save them this day. He knew spells for dealing with fairy armies but with other mortals he must use sharp steel, muscle and cunning. He noticed that Burke and Allen had arrived, swords in hand but he knew that even though the Murrays and Harboths would stand together, they were outnumbered.
It didn’t help that he was a prisoner himself with a man holding tight to each arm.
It didn’t help that there was many an unarmed woman and child scattered among the fighting men. His best hope right now was to get Maddie away from MacDonald and get her and his people behind the thick walls of his fortress. There they could easily withstand a siege. Getting his people out of MacDonald’s camp was very likely impossible. The shining look on Maddie’s face told him he could do the impossible.
For you, lass
, he thought.
I will.
First he tried talking. “Why are you doing this, my lord? What do you want with my wife?”
“I mean no dishonor to your wife, to you or your clan,” MacDonald replied. “I am your overlord, am I not?”
“You are. Or rather you were. I’ll not follow a man who takes my most precious possession from me.”
“We need not fight over a woman, Rowan,” the lord of the Isles responded.
He made an effort to look reassuring. He even let go of Maddie’s wrist but a guard clutched her by the upper arms before she could dash away. At a gesture from their lord, MacDonald’s men released Rowan. They continued to flank him however. Rowan didn’t bother to try to draw the long dagger on his belt but he rested his hand on its hilt.
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“Rest assured I don’t want her for my bed,” MacDonald went on. “She’ll be a honored guest at my stronghold on Skye. She’ll dwell among the women of my own family and receive all the honor due her rank.”
“And why will she be honored on the Isle of Skye when she should be with me?”
Rowan asked. He spoke quietly but with a great deal of menace. Though he remained very calm, he made no effort to hide his hatred. The time for shunning his emotions was past.
“Don’t fret for your woman, Murray,” MacDonald answered. “Taking hostages to ensure loyalty is done all the time. I felt that you and Harboth were a bit lukewarm in your enthusiasm for the coming fight with the Campbells. Having your lady as hostage will ensure your clans ride with me on Glasgow. Once you have a taste of booty and power, you’ll thank me for forcing you to the fighting.”
“And my lady will still be on Skye.”
“That she will, lad.”
“That is not acceptable, MacDonald.”
“It is my right.”
“You have no right to steal another man’s wife.”
“I hear that you are but handfasted. If you try to thwart me in this, she’ll be a MacDonald’s wife when the time comes. I know she comes by her skills through magic but she can teach my artisans all her clever ways. I’m no fool,” the lord of the Isles went on. “I see how the things she builds can bring power to the man who commands her skill. As your overlord those skills rightly belong to me.”
Rowan knew that though a great deal of water and a great many MacDonalds stood between him and the fortress where MacDonald planned to hold Maddie, he would get her back. He would swim the distance if he had to and strike every MacDonald down one by one if he must to set her free.
“She’s my wife, now and forever. I’ll kill any man who tries to lay claim to her.”
Maddie lifted her head and said proudly, “Rowan Murray is my husband, now and forever. I won’t have anyone else.”
“And I bless this holy union in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” Father Andrew called out loudly. “Their marriage is a lifetime one, blessed by the church.”
A high wind came up as the priest spoke. Instead of blowing his words away, it seemed to magnify them. The sky above darkened with thick, racing clouds and a mighty wave crashed onto the shore. The restless sea darkened to black. The foaming waves thrown up on the shingle spewed deep green and purple foam.
MacDonald laughed and raised his voice over the growing storm. “She’s still my prisoner. She’s still coming with me. Look around you lad and see that you cannot stop this. Your wife goes to Skye and you fight with me. That’s how it will be or I slaughter every woman and child who bears the name Murray. Your wife is mine whether you 186
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live or die. See reason and I’ll let you visit her after we win the Highlands. I’ll be a king, lad,” he cajoled. “And you and yours will share in the glory.”
“I want no glory. I want my wife. I want you gone.”
“Those sound like wishes to me,” a light and lilting feminine voice said from behind him. Rowan spun around and the world kept spinning when he stopped. He saw one clear image in the twirling world, that of an inhumanly beautiful woman.
Tinkling laughter sounded at his startled movement. “I’m so glad to hear you wish for something, my dearling, darling Rowan love.”
She had always called him Rowan love. “Mother?” She was not his mother but he’d always respectfully called her that. “What are you doing here?”
Her smile was still as serene and lovely as the moonlight. “Come to grant your wishes of course.”
“We’ve come for what is ours,” another, deeper, angry voice interjected. “We’ve come to make war with mortals if we must.”
Then the world stopped spinning and an army of fair folk stood among the greatly outnumbered mortals on the shore. Their coldly beautiful faces shone though the day was wild and dark. Clouds and sea alike reflected off their gleaming silver armor and the swords of sharp crystal and obsidian in their elegant, long-fingered hands.
“Magic!” MacDonald shouted in alarm.
“Magic,” Maddie repeated as she looked around in amazement. She was so shocked at what she saw all around her that for a moment all she wanted to do was have a little lie down, pinch herself and know that it was all a dream.
She wasn’t dreaming.
There really were fairies. Not itty-bitty winged creatures from children’s books but glorious, Tolkienesque magical beings. What she saw, hundreds and hundreds of them—though she didn’t see how there was room to crowd mortal and immortal alike onto the shore—were the
Sidhe
the fair folk of Celtic legend. They looked anything but legendary. They looked—and were—very, very real. Some were tall and so lovely it hurt her eyes to look at them. Some were short and squat and grotesque with leathery skins. Some seemed to be made of stone or wood or moss or water or flowers. Some had wings, some tails, some both. There was nothing at all human about them though many were human-shaped. She saw a few of the big, dark-furred animals Rowan called Questing Beasts among them.
One of the fair folk spoke, though Maddie had no idea who it was. The sound came from everywhere and sounded as though moonlight had taken on a voice. It was a cold, wintery moon at that. “This land belongs to the Murrays and the Harboths. We protect them. We’ve come to deal with them. All who wear the plaid of Clan MacDonald are not wanted here. Be gone from this place.”
Without a word, almost without a sound, slack-featured and moving as though connected to puppet strings, the lord of the Isles and his men headed for their beached boats.
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Maddie realized that no one was watching her but Rowan. He held his arms open and she ran into his welcoming embrace. They kissed until they were breathless then Maddie panted, “There really are fairies!”
“Of course there are,” he answered. He kissed her again. “I thought you agreed to believe in magic.”
She knew now nothing that had happened that night at the White Lady’s had been a dream. Everything they’d said and done—and all the magic—had been real. Rowan really had risked his life to take the necklace off her. He really did love her, enough to die for her if he must. And she knew that she loved him enough to do the same. That was the real magic.
She owed the White Lady an apology.
And a thank you for bringing her together with Rowan Murray.
“Who are they?” she asked as Rowan slipped an arm around her waist. They turned to face the fairy host. “What are they doing here?”
It was Aidan who stepped forward to explain. “They need the silver hawk.” He had his arm protectively around the most beautiful creature Maddie had ever seen. “This is my mother,” he told Maddie. “She’s come to welcome you to the family.”
The fairy woman turned an enchanting smile on her. “I knew you’d make him happy when I brought you to him.”
“You brought her here?” Rowan didn’t know whether he was more angry or surprised. “Why?”
“I promised to bring you love once, lad. Don’t you remember?”
“I told you I didn’t want fairy love.”
A trace of annoyance entered her voice. “Well, she’s not of the fair folk, is she?”
Rowan couldn’t help but smile. He kissed Maddie’s freckled forehead. “No, Mother, she’s not. Thank you,” he added after a long, grudging pause.
Another fairy woman stepped forward. She was far taller than Rowan’s stepmother, dressed in armor rather than gossamer silks. She was dark-haired and deep-voiced, her silver eyes showed no expression. She spoke to Maddie. “Where is the silver hawk?”
A chill of fear went through Maddie as the fairy spoke. She sensed the woman’s power and her anger. She had not been afraid of MacDonald, but this was someone she didn’t want to cross. “Huh?”
“You rode a silver hawk when you were called into this world,” the fairy said. “I claimed it as the price for letting such deep magic be performed. I intend to ride the silver hawk to your world. Give it to me.”
“Silver hawk?” Rowan asked. He looked at Maddie. “What does she mean?”
“I have no idea.”
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The fairy gestured impatiently. “You flew here. The necklace guided you. We gave it to you.”
Maddie touched her throat. “Gave it to me? It nearly killed me.”
The fairy nodded. “When you did not come to us at first as you should have, we sent strong magic to make you come to us.”
“But Rowan countered that magic,” Rowan’s stepmother said proudly. “I taught him well.”
“It was love that countered the magic,” Rowan spoke up. He tightened his hold on Maddie. “Mortal love.”
“Of course it was,” she answered. “What your father and I shared taught you the power of love, mortal or immortal.”
Rowan didn’t try to argue with her, not with the fairy queen glowering angrily at his wife. “If it is a silver hawk you want, then we will find it somehow.”
Maddie thought furiously while Rowan talked to the fairies. What the devil did they mean? Silver hawk? What hawk? She’d come here in an—“Airplane.” Maddie leaned her head on Rowan’s shoulder and laughed triumphantly. “I came here in an airplane. So much has happened that I actually forgot.”
“Airplane?” the fairy leader said. “Is it silver? Does it fly?”
“Actually, it’s mostly aluminum but it looks silvery.” She looked at the magical creature in confusion. “What do you want something as practical as an airplane for?”
“To fly to your time,” the woman answered. “For the magic to work, I must fly in something from your world. Give it to me,” she added darkly, and gestured at the fairy army she’d brought with her. “Or you will all die.”
Rowan looked furious at the fairy’s threat but Maddie laughed to ease the tension.
“Sure. No problem. It’s all yours. I don’t need an airplane. I don’t even know how to fly an airplane. Of course neither do you.”
“The magic will fly the silver hawk.”
Maddie thought about this for a moment but conceded the point easily enough. “I don’t doubt it. Of course you have to get it down off the mountain first.” She turned around, bringing Rowan with her, and pointed toward the highest of the nearby peaks.
“I think I can find the spot. If not, you have enough people to spread out and search the whole mountain.”
“We have hunted,” the fairy told her. “My people do not see well in the daylight world.”
“Then my people will find the silver hawk for you,” Rowan said. “Aidan can hunt in both sun and moon worlds.”
“That I can,” the lad said proudly. He bowed deeply to the fairy queen. “I’ll gladly direct both my people to the silver bird you seek.”
The fairy nodded. She even smiled. “Then it will be done. I thank you Rowan and Maddie Murray and will stand fairy godmother for all your children.”
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Maddie didn’t think this was a good time to mention to a would-be time traveling fairy queen that the last thing she wanted her future children to be involved with was magic. Actually, she just wanted to get on with the process of having those children. So she nodded graciously, and said, “Thank you.”
When he realized what the fairy wanted with this silver hawk, Rowan drew Maddie aside. With his arms around her—with his arms where he always wanted them to be, he said, “You could go with her. If you wish.”
He hated every word he said but they had to be spoken. He had to give her the choice.
“You could go back to this Toby Coltrane you left behind.”
Maddie blinked in surprise. “Who?”
“The one who looks like me.”
“I know who he is.” She’d all but forgotten Toby Coltrane. “What would I want with him?”
“He was the one you wanted.”
She brushed her hand across Rowan’s cheek. It seemed that when she’d wished for someone like Toby, she’d gotten someone better. “Why have the shadow when I can have the reality?”
“I’ve hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve put you in danger.”
She nodded. “I’ve been in danger.”
“Your world is a better place than mine.”
“In many ways, yes.”
“You’ll likely be in danger again if you stay with me.”
“The Highlands are a barbaric place,” she agreed.
She sounded far too calm, as phlegmatically matter-of-fact as he usually did in fact.