Donna Grant: Forbidden Highlander

By the time Fallon arrived back to Camdyn and Hayden, he couldn’t see Larena. He prayed she was somewhere safe. Camdyn’s wall of earth, though, was crumbling around them.

“Larena,” he shouted. “To the cliffs. I’ll find you there.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but put his hand on Hayden and Camdyn and jumped them to the cave.

Fallon slumped against the cave wall, his body exhausted from the constant jumping with more than just himself. He straightened from the stones and started to leave when Lucan walked toward him.

“You need to rest.”

Fallon nodded. “I just have to find Larena. She doesn’t know the cliffs.”

“She used her power then?” Lucan asked.

“Aye. I told her to meet me on the cliffs. I have to find her.”

“Go then.”

Fallon closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he jumped again. As soon as he stood on the edge of the rock face near the castle, he fell to the ground and watched as the wyrran and Warriors ran to fill the castle and the village. They would destroy what had been rebuilt, but it could be fixed again. All that mattered was that everyone was safe.

He was surprised to find no evidence that Camdyn had broken the earth and used it as a wall. It was as if it hadn’t happened.

“Larena,” Fallon shouted.

There was no answer. He didn’t know where she was or if she had heard him tell her to meet him at the cliffs.

“Larena!”

With the wyrran screeching and the Warriors bellowing their fury, none of them could hear him. And at the moment, he wouldn’t have cared.

“Larena.”

“Here, Fallon. I’m here.”

Fallon looked around and felt a hand on his arm an instant before she came into view. “Thank God,” he said, and jerked her into his arms. “Are you badly injured?”

“I’m all right. Now.”

He pulled off his tunic and handed it to her so she wouldn’t arrive naked in the cave. As soon as she had it over her head, he jumped them.

“Thank the saints,” Cara said when she caught sight of them.

Fallon wasn’t ready to release Larena, but there were things he needed to see to. He pushed his god down and watched the black fade from his skin. The others had all transformed back into men as well.

“Is that everyone?” he asked.

“Aye,” Ramsey said. “We’re all here.”

“Galen filled me in,” Lucan said to Fallon. “What did they do when the wall of earth came down?”

Fallon ran a hand down his face and sank onto a stone. “It gave them only a moment’s pause. They’re in the castle and the village now.”

Logan groaned. “Those bastards will destroy everything we’ve built.”

“It can be rebuilt,” Fallon said. “I’ll keep rebuilding it to prove to Deirdre that she cannot stop us.”

Larena dropped to her knees in front of Ramsey, her eyes wide and her skin pale. “The Scroll? Where is it?”

Fallon’s heart missed a beat at her words. “You gave him the Scroll?”

Her stricken face turned to him. “I wanted to help.”

“I have it,” Ramsey told Larena, and pulled it from his tunic. “I wouldn’t have left it, or the fake, for them to find.”

“Thank you.”

Ramsey paused before he gave the Scroll to Larena. “Have you ever read the names?”

She shook her head. “Nay. Why?”

Ramsey glanced at Fallon, a wealth of meaning in that one look. “No reason.”

But Fallon knew better. Ramsey had seen something, and Fallon wanted to know what that was.

When the Scroll was once more in Larena’s ring, Fallon breathed a sigh of relief. “We escaped this time, but it might not work again. They’ll learn about the caves eventually.”

“Then we need to find somewhere else,” Sonya said.

Hayden growled. “I’m a Warrior, Fallon. I don’t like hiding.”

“Neither do I,” Fallon said, and got to his feet. His next words would have to be chosen wisely, or he could lose the group of men — and women — he had come to rely on. “Do you think I like running away from Deirdre? I’d rather fight to my death, but they weren’t here to kill, Hayden. They were here to capture us. Would you rather run away, or be back in Deirdre’s mountain?”

Hayden turned his head away and refused to speak, which was answer enough.

“What the hell are we going to do?” Lucan asked. “Deirdre has more wyrran than we could kill, and even if we did manage to kill all of them, she would just make more.”

Fallon watched as Lucan pulled Cara’s trembling form into his arms. Sonya sat beside Malcolm, who had been laid on the ground. The other Warriors waited for Fallon to respond, but it was Larena’s smoky-blue eyes that he sought.

She gave him a small nod of encouragement. Fallon swallowed and crossed his arms over his chest. Her strength and belief in him gave him the fortitude he needed.

“We’ve all vowed to fight against Deirdre. Tonight hasn’t changed my mind. I will stand against her until there is no breath left in my body.”

The others mumbled agreement.

“I doona know what Deirdre’s plan is next, but beyond a doubt, my next step is to get Quinn out of her clutches. I’m not going to wait another moment. I’m leaving in the morning. My fight to get Quinn back is my fight. I’m not asking any of you to come with me.”

“That’s a hell of a way to speak to us,” Galen said, his voice as cold as the north wind. “I came to you, to your brothers, to defeat Deirdre. That includes helping get Quinn free. So, I’m going with you whether you want me or not.”

One by one, the other Warriors stepped forward and pledged themselves to him. Fallon was overcome with emotion. He clenched his hands, afraid to speak.

“I always told you, brother,” Lucan said. “But you never listened. I would follow you into hell itself.”

“I’m afraid that’s just where we’re going, Lucan,” Fallon murmured.

Larena rose and came to stand in front of him. “You saved me from death with your blood. You brought me here to protect me from Deirdre. You gave me … hope. Is there any other place I would be but by your side?”

He didn’t know how she knew it was his blood in her veins, but it didn’t matter. “I cannot bring you near Deirdre. I would die if she imprisoned you.”

“But she won’t. Do you forget that I can be invisible? I’m your best advantage at getting into the mountain and finding Quinn to let him know we’ve come to rescue him.”

“She’s right,” Cara said. “As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right.”

Sonya blew out a breath and licked her lips. “The truth, Fallon, is that you’re going to need all of us. If someone is injured, you’ll need me to heal them.”

“Nay,” Lucan bellowed. “You and Cara aren’t going anywhere near that damned mountain. If one of us is injured, Fallon can jump them back to you. Besides, we cannot leave Malcolm by himself.”

“Lucan is right,” Fallon said before Cara or Sonya could argue. “I’m risking too much by bringing Larena and the other Warriors to Deirdre. But with every drop of Druid blood, especially the Demon’s Kiss around Cara’s neck,” he said, motioning to the vial that held the drough blood of Cara’s mother, “Deirdre’s power grows.”

“I can help,” Cara argued.

Fallon nodded. “And you will, but from the castle. We will be injured, and it will take both you and Sonya to aid us.”

Cara relented after Lucan whispered something in her ear. Fallon shifted his gaze to Sonya to see her defeated expression, but she nodded in understanding.

“Good.” He lowered himself to the rock and leaned against the wall behind him. He had never felt so tired or drained in his life.

A small, tender hand touched his face. Fallon turned toward the contact, needing to feel Larena’s skin against his.