Forged in Dreams and Magick (Highland Legends #1)(89)
Surrounded by the commotion of a normal day, I wondered if I should tell Brigid her possible aunt status. I discarded the notion, deciding a quiet time would be better. Based on recent experience, her people expected their secrets to gain a proper amount of age anyway.
All of a sudden, the main door flew open, hitting the stone wall behind it with splintering force. I spun at the startling noise. Brigid shrieked, and I gasped as Gawain stood there covered in crimson blood.
Brigid ran toward him, but he held his arm up, pegging her with a commanding stare. She stopped, crossing her arms. “’Tis not my blood. Robert sent me.”
He looked squarely at me. “Isa, shroud the castle. The battle was a distraction. They’ve advanced in great numbers in our surroundin’ forest.”
“Won’t they see us disappear?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I doona know. It matters not at this point. Our men are a day’s ride away and in the thick of battle. Our enemies laid a well-planned trap.”
“What about Iain? He was to have joined you; he left a day ago.”
“If he came through that forest, they have him. I spent all mornin’ skirtin’ the perimeter to make it through to you.”
My hand flew to my mouth. The idea of the enemy capturing Iain skyrocketed my nausea.
Brigid tugged on my arm as I sat there dumbfounded. She said, “Gawain, go to the apothecary. Have him attend to your wounds.”
He nodded once and left, pulling shut the oak door with a thud.
“Not his blood, my arse,” she grumbled as she continued to tug at me. “Isobel. Come. The wall,” she implored.
Her focus was commendable. Three siblings pulled apart by their past, united in a heartbeat to protect their clan. They were right. We had no time to worry about any one of us; we needed to guarantee the safety of everyone. I jumped to my feet, and the two of us rushed to the study.
Brigid closed the door behind us, and I stepped to the far left side of the wall, glancing back at my friend through the streams of light. She nodded toward me in encouragement.
“Okay. Here goes everything.” I took a deep breath, willing positivity out, as I placed my hand on the shimmering surface of the wall.
Even in its fluid state, the cool membrane held firm in its upper-corner section. A power exchange occurred, flowing into and through me, surging back out again at our point of contact. An immediate reaction began: a low hum grew in volume; the lights flashed, then dimmed.
The floor swayed, and I swallowed hard. As I stood there with a hand on the key to our camouflage, the room spun like a cheap carnival ride. I tried to brace my feet wider but lost my balance. To avoid lifting my left hand from the wall and severing the connection, I took the only other option: I dropped my right hand onto the surface, landing it squarely on a cluster of lights.
“Isobel!” Brigid screamed.
By the time I whipped my head around to look at her, my friend had disappeared. Suddenly, a blinding flash of light surrounded me, and the world went dark.
*
Lying flat on the ground had become a familiar state of being each time I jumped through time without warning. A faint noise crackled in the distance, and a glow off to one side penetrated the darkness of wherever I’d landed. I sat up, propping my hands behind me in dirt. The box sat upon the pedestal housed in the room designed for it . . . in Velloc’s time.
I shot to my feet and threw my hands onto the box, desperate to return to the castle. The metal sat cold, completely inert. For the first time, no energy whatsoever transmitted from its surface.
Even with the resounding clue that something had changed, denial fueled an attempt to gather more power from the environment around me. I scrunched my face and took a deep breath, concentrating hard. But my effort came up empty. A growl of frustration rumbled from my throat.
The only other times the artifact had transported me with a one-sided connection had been with the wall’s power boost and with the sun’s radiant heat. There had to be a way to find more energy. I whirled around, frantic to get back, needing to make sure I’d gotten the clan to safety.
Flames danced in my sightline from the long fire pit. Perfect. I strode over to the blaze, rolling up the sleeves of my dress, and I held my hands out to the warmth. With focus born of my desperation, I drew in energy from the kinetic orange flames. More than heat infused into my body; a conduit for pure power had been opened. On a cellular level, every molecule in my body vibrated.
I looked up as I waited until I’d gathered enough, my urgency dancing the edge of madness. The ends of my hair fanned around my face from a strong wind behind me. A few members of Drust’s tribe walked by, casting silent, curious glances my way. Their expressions made me wonder if I glowed in the dark.
Without a word to any of the passersby, I returned to the box, placing my hands upon the top. I pressed them onto the cool metal, opening my mind wide, sending a prayer to my God and their god to send me back.
My plea fell on indifferent ears. Nothing happened. A relic so eager to wreak havoc with my life had suddenly forsaken me.
The heavy feeling of failure crushed the air from my lungs. In one accidental move, I’d abandoned those that needed me—the very ones I’d vowed to protect.
I stumbled from the suffocating enclosure, unable to breathe. I crumpled to the ground, burying my fisted hands into the folds of the scarlet gown Iain had asked me to wear the day he left—the dress I should’ve been wearing in his time, not Velloc’s.