Chapter 2 - Revised

Chapter 2

Kyla slipped an eyelid open. Wet grass and the smell of rotting trees hit her. She opened her other eye and slowly sat up. Wincing in pain, she steadied herself with her hand, feeling mud seep through her fingers. Her head ached and her mouth stuck together from lack of moisture. Too dry to even lick her cracked and dried lips, a slight moan escaped her throat.

She was in a forest with a fire lit next to her. She lifted her hand to her head and her blood froze. She was in a forest, it took a moment for her brain to register the fact that she was not in her hotel room, under the covers. She was in the woods with a woolen blanket thrown over her. A clear stream flowed to her right.

Looking up through the umbrella of trees, Kyla saw the sun just peaking over the mountains and knew it was still early. She crawled on her hands and knees towards the stream, if she could just get a little water in her mouth she could think clearly.

Every movement brought on a new pain. She heard the pop of her knees as she crawled toward the water in her long gown, grunting. She finally made it to the icy stream and lowered her head. She drank heartily.

Her stomach cramped from the frozen water. Damn, she shouldn’t have drunk so fast on an empty stomach. She fell over laying her head on the hard, cold ground. Her right temple throbbed and the term brain freeze entered her mind.

The previous night was a blur to her. She remembered walking the streets and going in to the pub. What happened?

“Yer awake,” a voice came from in front of her and Kyla slowly lifted her head. The hangover she knew she would have hit her full force. She sat up to get a better view of the man who carried such a deep voice.

The sun hit her face and she squinted looking up at the tall stranger. She put her hand on her forehead, shading her eyes.

Kyla pulled her head back at the sight of him. His dark hair was tangled and long, running down his back, with drops of water shimmering off his large chest. He had clear blue eyes and a dark beard and mustache. She shivered at the sight of his bare chest. The icy air had her freezing and yet he stood there, half naked, with clouds of steam pouring off his body. His warm lungs exhaled puffs of smoke that wafted towards her and then disappeared. He wore a kilt, which he was wrapping around his waist. He let the remaining material fall to the ground easily as he reached for his shirt.

“Who are you?” Kyla asked sitting on her knees in awe of the giant before her. She bent over slightly pushing her arms into her stomach to ease the cramping.

The man chuckled slightly and turned his gaze on her. “Weel lass I told ye that last night. If ye hadn’t of had all that ale in ye, ye would have remembered.” He wrapped the remaining material from his kilt over his shoulder with ease. His eyes laughed but his mouth didn’t join the party.

“Refresh my memory,” she said weakly, closing her eyes to the sun. “Where have you taken me? Why have you taken me?”

“My name is Colin MacFarlane, and I’ve taken ye nowhere. Ye’ve put us behind, now we need to get going.” He walked over and helped her to her feet by grabbing her arm and easily lifting her off the ground.

Kyla felt a sharp pain run down her thighs, through her calves, as her legs buckled from under her. He caught her around the waist before she could fall to the ground.

“Something’s happened to me,” Kyla said, bewildered at her surroundings and the failure of her motor functions.

“I can see that,” he answered blandly. “Ye can explain it all to my brother. Right now we need to be on our way.”

“No, you don’t understand, something’s happened to me, I just don’t know what.” She shook her head back and forth, clearing her mind. It didn’t work. It only made her headache move from the back of her head to the front, stabbing into her temples.

“So ye’ve said. Has someone hurt ye lass? Are ye running from someone?” Colin let her sit back on the ground and kneeled down on one knee so that they were eye level. He pulled a jug from his bag and turned towards the stream to fill it.

“I…I’m not sure. What am I doing here?” she asked, looking around at the trees. Was she running from someone? One minute she was lying on the stone, the next in the middle of the forest.

She remembered the stone and then her breath caught in her throat. She was clutching the stone, and it turned into a tree. It hurt her head to think about it, so she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

“Ye’ll have time to think about it before ye see my brother. It’s not safe here.” Colin glanced around and tucked the wooden jug into his pack and threw it over his shoulder.

“Where is your brother?” Kyla leaned over, thinking she would be sick. She coughed bile out of her throat and swallowed instinctively, trying to ease the burn. She could use some more water, she thought. She leaned over and gulped from the clear stream again but slowly knowing just how cold it was. It helped the burning, but only momentarily.

“Back, in town,” he answered when she was done. “It’s a couple days away yet.”

“How can we be a couple days away?” All her senses were off. Kyla thought maybe he kidnapped her and she had been unconscious for awhile. It was the only thing that made any sense to her.

Colin looked at her with a tilt to his head and his dark brow cocked high. “We havena traveled at all lass. Ye didna give us a chance to. We had to make camp right where ye fell. My advice to ye is to stay away from the drink.”

Both Kyla’s brows shot up at that. “Wha...what are you talking about?” She stammered. Where was Edinburgh?

“Enough talk Colin, we need to go.” Another voice came from behind Colin and Kyla moved her head to the right to see a light haired man. He was filthy. His sandy blonde hair was clumped with dirt and his light green eyes were bloodshot. She realized Colin must have just bathed in the freezing stream.

Dirt covered his face and she made out a long, bumpy scar down one cheek. As if he came from a dream, Kyla slowly remembered him. She remembered the desperation in his voice and his words of killing her. With an opened-mouth stare, she felt her heart squeeze tightly into a knot. She didn’t like the man. The look he gave back to her was filled with distrust, proving the feeling was mutual.

“Is it all clear then Duncan?” Colin asked him.

“Aye, as far as I can tell,” he answered. He reached down and threw dirt onto the fire, hitting Kyla’s legs.

“Time to go lass,” Colin said cheerfully. He walked her over to two massive horses. His arm around her waist held her up. It felt as if pins and needles shot up her legs when she tried to put weight on them, so she leaned into her captor and let him lift her slightly off the ground with one arm.

Kyla didn’t remember being on a horse.

“I can’t walk,” she said, seeing only two horses and three passengers.

“I doona intend to make ye walk.” Colin lifted her with ease onto the back of the biggest horse she’s ever seen.

The animal shifted under her weight, and blew out tufts of blue smoke through his large nose. Colin grabbed his mane and steadied him by staring directly into his huge brown eyes, and spoke in a soothing voice. The horse seemed to understand his strange language that she could not, and stood still while Colin jumped up behind her. He wrapped his right arm around her waist shifting slightly until he was comfortable.

“You have to let me go, I have to get back.” Kyla said when he was settled with his thighs bound tightly around her back.

“I canna let ye go, not until ye see Alastair,” he whispered close to her ear.

“If it’s money you’re looking for, you won’t get any for me. My family has none.” Kyla hoped that would persuade them to let her go. She didn’t want to tell them she had no family. No one would come looking for her.

Colin didn’t answer her but she felt his chest move, bouncing in a chuckle. Just what did they intend on doing with her if it wasn’t for ransom? Damn her for drinking so much. She probably stumbled off, without realizing it, and these two snatched her, thinking they could get something out of it.

She rode on in silence, with her stomach twisted in knots. If she had been gone for days then why did she still feel intoxicated? The horse bounced and her behind already began to hurt. The man behind her was warm and real. She could feel his thigh muscles tightening and releasing around her as he rode with ease. He commanded the horse with one arm around her waist and the other holding the reigns loosely. Kyla settled back against him until she could figure things out.

She’d have to escape them somehow.

Throughout the day she tried with all her might to remember what happened. The name MacFarlane nagged at her subconscious. She stopped thinking about it when they entered a small glen. The mountains rose high on either side of them and Kyla lost all her bearings as she looked up to the huge rock walls that surrounded them. Icicles hung through crevices waiting for warmer temperatures until they could continue their journey down the cliff.

She’d been through these lands many times, yet nothing seemed familiar to her. They followed no roads, only a small path that had clearly been made by travelers before them.

They exited the dark canyon and Kyla looked up to the sky. It was a clear, brisk day but something didn’t seem right. It’s too quiet, she thought. She had yet to see an airplane above. She shut her eyes and breathed deeply. The answer was somewhere, she just needed to remember. She opened her eyes as a vision passed before her.

“Do you know a Heather MacFarlane?” she asked Colin, remembering the girl she had crashed into on the street. She pulled her chin up to see his face.

Colin hesitated a moment before he spoke. “Nay, I havena heard her name before. I ken the clan well enough, I would’ve heard of her.” He shook his head at the statement and looked down at her.

With her head bouncing against his chest, she looked into light blue eyes. The sun glimmered through his hair, throwing off streaks of gold. His face was weathered and lined. Kyla wondered how old he was. She saw his dark brows furrow at her stare and she lowered her head once again feeling her face flush.

“Are you saying you own all this land?” She questioned him, realizing they had traveled almost a full day.

“Aye, the MacFarlane’s own it. My brother is Chief to the clan.” Colin answered.

“You own Edinburgh?” Kyla said in disbelief.

Colin chuckled, tightening his arm around her as they traveled over rocky ground. “I didna say that lass. We aren’t in Edinburgh.”

“That’s where I was. I was celebrating the New Year, in Edinburgh.”

“Ye had too much of the drink. Ye couldna have been in Edinburgh for the New Year. Ye would have never made it as far as ye did on foot, even if ye did have a horse, which I didna see,” he added. “And the English doona celebrate the New Year now, not until March. Who were ye celebrating with and why have ye no horse?”

“Not many people have horses anymore.” Kyla ignored the New Year comment. The man was mistaken or didn’t know much about the English. Maybe he had lived too long in the hills by himself and he was confused.

“Aye, ‘tis true lass. Most of the horses have been seized by the military. I’m surprised an Englishwomen would be without one though, especially one traveling alone.”

Kyla turned her head upwards slightly to see if he was kidding. His gaze stayed straight ahead as they continued their journey. She was convinced she was traveling with two crazy men, increasing her anxiety level.

As dusk approached, she felt Colin slow the horse down. Kyla had never been so relieved. Her body ached and she was starving. They walked the horses to a near-by stream and Kyla glanced around the clearing. They had traveled a full day and had not come across one person, not one car. She kept her concerns to herself when she saw Duncan glare at her as he walked off.

“We need to gather some wood, don’t leave this spot.” Colin said with his index finger pointed at her. He turned and left in the same direction as Duncan.

Surprised that her captors would abandon her, Kyla quickly crawled off into the forest, hoping for her escape. She crouched down with her stomach in her throat and waited a moment to see if they had found her missing. She heard voices coming from the trees, and jumped. Scared, she shuffled quickly back to her seat and saw the men return from the right, carrying armloads of firewood. Colin smiled, assuming that she had made no attempt to escape when she motioned him over to her.

“I’m awfully hungry,” she said, hoping his compassionate side would take over. Kyla also hoped she could take his attention away from the voices she distinctly heard coming from the left where she had tried to make her escape. It had to be help of some kind, she assumed.

“Doona fash yerself lass, we’ll find something to…” Colin stopped talking and put his hand roughly over Kyla’s mouth. She tried to scream but he pushed his hand harder into her teeth and bent his head to her ear.

“Get up and walk quietly behind that rock. If these thieves catch ye, God knows what will happen.” His eyes leveled on hers and Kyla knew he was telling the truth. She nodded and he removed his sticky hand from her mouth. She tasted sap and dirt on her lips but did as she was told.

She was only half way to the rock when she turned to see Colin and Duncan with their swords drawn, and four strangers in a full attack. They looked much dirtier than the two she was traveling with. She stood shocked at the scene in front of her.

It was as if she were watching a movie being played out only by the looks of the four men they were truly looking for blood. They swiftly moved their small little knives back and forth, dodging the large swords in the hands of Colin and Duncan. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on Colin. Dusk had turned to night and she could barely make out the figures as she watched in awe. Colin was much taller than any man there and was easy to spot as they danced in and out of the moonlight.

Colin’s brows were drawn together in concentration. He held his heavy sword with both hands, swinging it over his head with a grunt at each downward strike. He caught one of them in the knee and Kyla watched in horror as the man’s lower leg was cleanly removed from his body. The stranger fell to the ground, screaming only inches from her and Kyla screamed with him, watching his body spasm. She turned her head quickly, avoiding the man’s face as life left his gray glistening eyes and the last pints of blood drained from his body into a pool by her feet.

Colin turned to Kyla to see why she was screaming as she turned her head back to him. A man approached him from behind with his little knife drawn. Kyla saw the blade shimmer in the dim light and screamed Colin’s name out of pure instinct. He turned just in time to plunge his sword into his attacker, causing him to slump forward with the force of the blade. Colin pulled it back and the man fell to the ground in a mass of blood.

Kyla shut her eyes as tight as she could. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and rocked herself, chanting to please let this end in a rhythmic prayer.

When the attackers were dead, Kyla sat back against the rock hard and quickly put her head between her knees gulping in air. Watching the thieves die in front of her played out in her head, causing her to shake uncontrollably from the shock.

Her leg throbbed. She thought she had scratched it on the rock. The pain was overwhelming as she fell over and put her face on ground, breathing heavily.

Colin came to her with a flask in his hand and sat down in a heap next to her. He lifted her head and set it gently onto his lap. “Drink lass, ‘twill help with the pain,” he said softly, but Kyla shook her head against his legs. She didn’t want to drink anymore. She needed her wits about her to figure this out.

He lifted her head anyway and poured the fluid into her mouth causing Kyla to cough and sputter. The liquid burned her throat, and for a moment she thought he was poisoning her, pouring acid into her mouth. She felt fire running down her throat and then it hit the pit of her empty belly. Still coughing, he managed to pour again as she sat up forcing it down. Within moments, her stomach was warm and she felt her cheeks flush. The pain in her leg did seem to ease up a bit and she wasn’t dying, she didn’t think.

“What is that stuff?” she asked, crinkling her nose and placing her hand on her warmed belly.

Colin laughed. “’Tis only whiskey lass, the clan makes it.” He took a big gulp himself and pulled out a linen shirt from his pack. Kyla watched him rip a large piece of cloth and laid her head back into his lap.

She was weak and hurting, her thoughts began to blur. The coppery scent of blood emanating off of Colin overwhelmed her. Her leg burned and she placed her hand on her calf to ease the pain of the scratch when she felt the warm oozing liquid fill her hand. Kyla shot up her hand and held it to the moonlight, seeing that it was filled with dark red blood.

“Oh my God,” she said loudly, realizing it wasn’t just a scratch but a full slice.

“Aye, I saw him get you when he fell. Ye saved my life.” He lifted half of his mouth. Colin tied the cloth around her leg, cutting off her circulation. Never even breaking a bone in her life, Kyla had never experienced a true injury before.

“I need a doctor. I need to get stitches,” she said quietly, as she felt the blood draining out of her body.

“’Tis just a scratch, ye’ll be alright if ye keep this tight. We should be to Loch Lomond on the morrow and we can have the healer look at it.”

A deep, heart wrenching fear overtook Kyla. “Colin, please just let me go. You don’t need to take me to your chief. I promise I won’t say anything when I get back. Something has happened to me, I’m…I’m scared.” Tears filled Kyla’s eyes. She was out of sorts, her senses lost. This wasn’t right.

Colin narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her, still holding her leg tightly. Blood was seeping through the cloth quickly and Kyla felt lightheaded but completely sober now after everything she had just witnessed.

“I can see yer scared lass. Doona fash, I wilna hurt ye and my brother, Alistair, wilna do so either. Where would back be?” His hair fell over his shoulders in a tangled mess. His clothes and face were splattered with blood. He was sweating from the battle he had just endured, even though it was one of the colder nights.

Kyla’s vision started to cloud over. Colin’s face became distorted in the moonlight and she felt herself falling as she tried to continue her plead for escape. “Just back to Edinburgh, I’ll just go back to my hotel,” she said, but didn’t hear his answer or see the strange look on his face when all went black.

Her leg throbbed all night, causing her to toss and turn on the hard ground. She felt Colin pull his blanket over her as she shook. Kyla went in and out of consciousness with fever. She dreamt of her mother cradling her in her arms. When she awoke as daybreak hit, she realized it was Colin that had her head in his lap, stroking her hair and murmuring words she didn’t understand.

He carefully lifted her up on to his horse after retying new cloth around her leg and jumped up behind her, pulling her back into his chest. Kyla was too tired and too feverish to fight them. She fell back against him and let his warmth seep into her cold, weary bones.

The hills and valley’s seemed never ending. She could hear Duncan arguing with Colin about her care. She was too drained to care whether he wanted to kill her anymore or not. Kyla was afraid she might have died anyway and this was her punishment for not following her mother to church every Sunday.

She slept against his chest, ignoring the pain in her thighs from the horse and the throbbing of her leg. Falling into a feverish sleep, she dreamt of the stone. She dreamt of the colorful lights surrounding her and the spinning that tore her body apart. She felt the pain as she fell through the lighted tunnel. Feeling herself being ripped apart, Kyla continued to scream until she felt herself being shaken and the dream slowly drifted away, only leaving the excruciating pain behind.

“Yer dreaming lass,” Colin’s voice came from afar, pulling her back. She realized she was lying on the soft marshy ground with her head in his lap.

“Get me some ale Duncan,” he said harshly.

“Aye,” Duncan sighed as he pulled out the wooden bottle from their pack.

“’Tis alright, ‘twas just a dream Kyla,” Colin said soothingly. She had never heard him say her name before as she looked up at him.

“Why are you being so kind to me?” she asked him after sipping the ale slowly. She didn’t want her stomach to cramp once again.

“Yer wound is festering; ye’ve got the dreams of the sick. We are almost there the healer will ken what to do.”

The look on Colin’s face made her more fearful than the large gash in her leg. He was worried that they might not make it in time; she could see it in his eyes.

“Just let me die.” Kyla whispered. A tear fell from her eye and rolled into her ear. She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t care where she was. Kyla just wanted to find peace and death seemed to be the closest thing to that at the moment.

“Yer not going to die,” Colin said as he pushed her hair away from her eyes.

“Have ye gone daft man? She’s English, most likely a spy. Leave her be and let’s be on our way.” Duncan pleaded.

Colin lifted his head abruptly. “She’s coming with us Duncan. What’s the matter with ye man?” he asked. He looked to Duncan astonished at the thought of leaving her here.

Kyla felt herself being lifted into his arms and placed back up onto the horse. She was relieved when she felt his large body come up behind her. She laid her head against his chest and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next thing Kyla remembered was waking up on a straw bed that crunched when she moved.

The pain in her leg had eased somewhat, but Kyla knew she still had a fever. Things seemed unreal to her as she turned to look around the cold, dim room. Flickering candlelight and a fire revealed an unfurnished room made of mud. Almost barren, it held shelves made of stone. Wooden cups adorned the jagged, unfinished rock. A large fire pit sat in the center of the room. No furniture or decorations caught her eye. Only one wooden chair sat next to the straw bed.

She looked down to take stock of the damage.

Her dress had been lifted and some sort of mud was crusted over the cut. It was the same thing her mother would do when Kyla would come home with a cut or a scratch. It was comforting to her, almost as if her mother was alive and had come to take care of her. The fire pit cracked and popped throwing sparks of light up towards the mud ceiling, blackening the dirt. She felt its warmth although she simply could not stop shivering. She laid her head back down on the straw and slept.

When she awoke again, she heard shuffling inside the room. Kyla turned her head half expecting to see her mother. Instead, she saw a small woman moving quickly back and forth over a counter made of rock. Dressed in a long gray rag, that matched her straggly hair, and barefoot, the woman concentrated on the stone countertop with her back to Kyla. She seemed not to notice that Kyla had awakened.

The strong pungent odor in the air wafted towards her. She could smell lavender and mint and other strong odors she couldn’t identify.

The woman hummed an old Scottish tune that her mother used to sing. Her voice was clear and soothing. She methodically crushed some plants into a large wooden bowl using a stub of wood. It reminded Kyla of an old fashioned mortar and pestle.

As if she could feel Kyla’s eyes on her, she turned and her humming stopped.

“Weel, yer awake,” she came over to Kyla and put her icy hand against her forehead.

Kyla watched as she shook her head and clicked her tongue. Her eyes were violet in color, endless pools of purple that had Kyla hypnotized by their strangeness. Her darkened face was filled with deep lines of age.

Gnarled hands pulled back and her fingers curled under themselves. Riddled with arthritis, the woman massaged them together and looked down at her once able hands.

“They always hurt more in the cold.” She said wringing her hands together and shaking her head. Her face twisted in pain as she turned her attention back to Kyla.

Kyla nodded in sympathy. The sight of them made her hands ache. “Have I been rescued?” she asked, clearing her throat. Her voice was weak and didn’t sound like her own.

“I should say so lass. They told me they found ye in the middle of the woods, screaming. If the men hadna found ye, I’m sure ye would be dead by now,” she said calmly, as if they had actually saved her instead of abducted her.

“If they hadn’t of found me, I’d be home right now. They took me against my will,” Kyla whispered. Her throat barely had enough moisture to swallow, let alone talk.

The woman grabbed a wooden cup that sat by the bed on a table and wet Kyla’s lips with it. She leaned up to drink more, but the woman held the cup away.

“Ye canna drink so fast yet,” she set the cup back down and put her shaking fingers against Kyla’s cheek. “Such a bonny lass,” she said followed by a click of her tongue.

“Can you help me?” Kyla asked, licking her lips for moisture.

“I’m trying to help you. Yer leg is healing.” The woman pulled her fingers away and folded her hands together on her lap.

“Thank you, but I mean can you help me? Something has happened to me.” Kyla tried again. She lay her head back down, too weak to hold it up any longer.

The woman put her hand up to her chin and looked beyond Kyla with distance in her eyes. A circular mole on the side of her chin seemed to catch her thumb’s attention as she stroked it in concentration.

“I might be able to help you,” she finally said. She stood up and walked towards the counter, grabbing a large bowl. From a wooden pail she poured water into it and began to chant.

Strange words left her mouth. Kyla strained to listen, but couldn’t understand the language the woman was speaking in.

This woman is a witch, she thought when she watched her sprinkle some herbs into the bowl and carefully walked it back to the bed.

“Wait,” Kyla said when the woman went for Kyla’s hand.

“Aye?” she said with her gray brows drawn together.

“How is this going to help me?” Kyla asked in a dismal tone. From one bad situation into another, when will this nightmare end?

“I’m the healer here but sometimes I can see things. ‘Tis a gift passed down to me.” The woman thought nothing odd of holding an herb filled bowl of water and looked directly into Kyla’s eyes. “Give me yer hand child.”

“I don’t believe in gifts.” Kyla sighed.

“Hmmph, seems strange that ye doona believe what ye carry yerself.” The woman tilted her head to the right. “Ye can feel things, I see it in you.”

Kyla opened her mouth to argue then abruptly shut it. She could feel things. She could feel something was going to happen the night her mother died and then again the night of Hogmany, before she ended up here. The woman only smiled in an all knowing way.

“What is your name?” Kyla asked.

“Jeanette, though most of the people around here call me mad Jeanette. You may call me Jeanette.” She smiled a wide toothy grin. “And you are Kyla?” she asked while twirling the water around with her bent right index finger.

“Yes.”

She didn’t wait for permission as she grabbed Kyla’s hand and pulled her right index finger out. She wrapped her hand around Kyla’s and twirled the water in a circular motion with Kyla’s finger, waiting for something.

Kyla sighed loudly. She couldn’t believe her finger was actually in a bowl filled with water and herbs waiting to hear her future. She saw no beams of light, no sudden awareness of her future. She only felt cold, dirty water with her finger, and the warmth of the woman’s hand encircling hers. This is not what she meant when she asked the woman for help.

“Saint’s, child,” Jeanette said loudly.

“What? What do you see?” Kyla almost laughed at herself. She didn’t believe in this, she didn’t believe in any of this, but the woman’s reaction did make her curious.

“What in God’s name has happened to you?” She looked up with her violet eyes glowing.

Kyla’s own eyes widened slightly when she saw the change in color. “I told you, something’s happened to me,” she said, staring at Jeanette’s brightened eyes. “But I don’t know what.”

“I canna say myself. But yer right in what ye say. I’ve never seen anything like this before. ‘Tis as if ye are in two separate worlds.” The woman dropped Kyla’s hand as if it were on fire. She sat the bowl down onto the floor and rubbed her hands together almost as if she were rubbing Kyla off of them. She stood and began to pace nervously around the small room.

“As if ye died and came back,” she mumbled, thinking intently.

“I may have.” Kyla thought that made more sense than any of the possibilities she had thought up.

“Tell me what happened.” Jeanette said as she pulled the wooden chair closer to the bed and sat in it. She leaned in closely and stared at Kyla intently. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Kyla pulled the night back. Parts of it were emerging in bits and pieces. But it was like a dream now that was fading fast. The more she thought about what happened, the quicker it seemed to dissipate into the fog of her mind. She still held fragments of dreams from her childhood, but that’s all they were…fragments. Was it reality she remembered or a slide from one of her dreams? She turned to Jeanette and decided she’d tell her as much as she remembered or what she thought was reality.

“I was in the castle in Edinburgh. I was crying for my mother. I lay my head on the stone and then this horrible pain started. I remember spinning - spinning and screaming. Lights surrounded me.” Kyla looked off distantly, feeling her head ache. She remembered the lights clearly enough and she thought the pain would stay embedded in her bones forever.

“And then I was in the forest.” Kyla said truthfully, shrugging at the improbable story.

“The stone ye say. What stone?” Jeanette asked her.

Her question brought Kyla out of her trance. She half expected the woman to laugh at her until she saw the seriousness in her eyes. Whatever she’d seen in the water caused her to believe what Kyla was saying.

“The Stone of Destiny,” she answered.

“Nay, ‘twas not the stone, the Stone of Scone lies in England. But I did see ye spinning and I saw yer mother watching over ye. I also saw strange fire surrounding you.” Jeanette said, grabbing her hand. Her expression showed sympathy for what Kyla had gone through, it also showed that she believed her.

“My Mother?”

“Aye, she hasna left ye like ye think. She watches over you. She watched over ye then, she was smiling at ye as you were spinning.”

Kyla was stunned by her words. She had prayed so many times to see her mother, for some sort of sign. Then the words hit her. “What do you mean the stone lays in England?” Kyla had heard the saying before. It was in the history books. Some of the Scots called the stone the “Stone of Scone”, where it had originally sat.

“Weel, being English yerself, ye’d ken that Kyla. The Stone of Scone has not been on Scottish soil for hundreds of years. No, it wasna the stone…”

“I’m not English. I mean I am English, but not by blood. Both of my parents were full Scottish, I was only raised there.” Kyla answered defensively. She was beginning to realize that these strange people did not like the English.

“Weel now, if that’s what ye say,” Jeanette gave her an appraising glance and then nodded. “Then that’s what ye say,” she said unconditionally. “Where’s yer clan? Why didna yer father help you?”

“My father is dead. He died while my mother was pregnant with me.” Kyla’s throat began to close up. She wanted to go home now. She didn’t want to be talking about such things with a stranger.

“Hmm, I didna see yer father around you. Are ye sure he is dead lass?”

Kyla felt the question hit her as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. Of course her father was dead. He wouldn’t have left her mother, and her mother wouldn’t have lied about it. But she did cry when Kyla tried to speak of him. She never would tell Kyla much about him. Had her mother lied? Ashamed that he had left during her pregnancy and told Kyla he was dead to spare her? The thought turned Kyla’s blood to ice, could her father actually still be alive somewhere? Of course not, her logical side told her. This woman is crazy. She’s reading this out of a bowl of water for God’s sake. Pull yourself together Kyla.

“I need to return to Edinburgh as quickly as possible.” Kyla said, ignoring what Jeanette had said about the stone. Clearly the woman was deranged.

“Ye need to speak to Alastair first, and ye canna go anywhere until yer leg has healed.” Jeanette stood and went to the bottom of the bed. She removed the mud and Kyla looked down, waiting to see the worse. She yelped with a jolt when the worse was nothing she imagined it to be.

“Hush child!” Jeanette said harshly looking to the door.

“Oh my God, what have you done to me? Get those bloody maggots off of my leg.” Kyla’s traitorous stomach turned on her again.

Jeanette jumped up quickly and grabbed another bowl. She came to her side, holding it under her chin, but there was nothing in Kyla’s stomach to come out. Her sore muscles clenched, causing her pain. She thought maybe she had broken a rib as each heave tore through her.

“They are ridden ye of the sickness lass.” Jeanette said, bewildered at her reaction.

The wooden door flew open and Kyla watched as Colin came storming in. He had changed into clean clothes, wearing tan pants now and a beige shirt. His dark hair was still tangled and braided down one side, but Kyla couldn’t miss his kind blue eyes as he looked at the two with fear.

“What’s happened?” he asked Jeanette.

“She’s feverish that’s all, she’ll live Colin.”

Kyla watched as he let out a ragged breath. He glanced back to her now and nodded. He went to leave when Jeanette stopped him.

“The lass says she’s been taken against her will, Colin.” Jeanette said quietly, stopping him mid step.

“Has she now?” Colin turned his heel and looked at Kyla raising his dark brow and the side of his mouth with it. “Ye might remember the state ye were in when we found you.”

“I remember. I also remember that I didn’t have half my leg missing when you found me.”

“Aye, but worse things could have happened to ye lass. Ye doona realize the dangers in the forest.”

“I remember you murdering people. I remember you taking lives and thinking nothing of it.” Kyla said coldly.

Colin turned to Jeanette with a look of anguish. “Leave us Aunt,” he said, surprising Kyla. She had no idea that Jeanette was Colin’s aunt.

“I’ll leave ye be. The lass is also Scottish Colin, I thought ye should know.” She walked out the door, shutting it softly behind her.

“Yer not Scottish,” he said as he took the vacant chair next to the bed.

“I never said I was English, you just assumed so.” Kyla pushed her chin up but felt her bottom lip quiver.

“Ye never said ye weren’t,” he answered quickly. “’T’would be a good tale to get ye out of trouble.”

“Why would I be in trouble for being English?” Kyla asked, feeling a tear run down the side of her face. If only she could rejoin the world of the sane.

Colin looked astonished at her question. He looked over her head for a moment and then took a deep breath crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Kyla, I didna intend to take ye against yer will. You were alone and you were scared. The forest is filled with danger. I would be no man at all if I would have left ye there and ye weren’t coming peacefully with me.” He smiled at this, remembering how he had to physically lift her off the ground yet she still wanted to go off by herself. She was strong minded but her fragile body had failed her long before her leg had been injured. She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her.

“If the King was placed as he should have been, all would be well. God knows what will happen to us now and we must be careful with spies about. If the British have sent ye to spy on us, ye best tell me now. I can get ye out of here and safe before this goes too far. I owe you for my life” Colin took her cold small hand into his. He didn’t believe her to be a spy as Duncan did.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Kyla cried feeling disoriented. Maybe it was the fever making her hear things. Maybe it was the maggots still eating away at her flesh that had her head spinning.

She had heard of no King, no war against Scotland.

Colin sighed heavily. He placed his hand on her forehead and drew it back quickly. “Ye’ve still got the sickness.” He stood and walked to the end of the bed.

Reaching over to the bowl of mud, he pulled it onto his lap and began to reapply the paste to her open leg. When he was done, he pulled the blanket up over her body and tucked it gently under her chin. He was silent as he thought about the right words to say.

Colin could see she was lost and confused, her fever was growing. Her golden eyes had dulled and her already pale complexion had turned pasty.

He remembered the look of horror on her face when he returned to her in the forest, covered in blood, with four dead strangers bleeding out onto the ground.

“Yer wrong lass, I do think of it when a life is taken by my hand. I see their eyes every time I close my own. ‘Tis something I must live with and surely must pay for. But it isna something I take lightly. ‘Twas either their lives or ours, do ye understand what I’m saying to you?” he asked, lowering his head.

Maybe he wasn’t the heartless murderer she thought him to be, she admitted silently. She did remember the thieves trying to kill the two. Kyla only nodded her head, still trying to figure this out.

“Rest now, ye will need yer answers for Alastair. Ye better have them straight when he comes to call on you, try to remember how ye got here Kyla.” His voice rose at his request.

At that he stood, leaving her dumbfounded. He began to leave and turned once again towards her shaking his head. Kyla assumed he was as baffled by her as she was by him.

She turned her head toward the mud wall and pulled the blanket over her face to hide the tears that were flowing freely. She didn’t have any answers to give to his brother, only questions.