Highlander Enchanted(77)
“Where do you go?” the master-at-arms gripped her arm. “You cannot think to enter battle!”
“I must find him!” she shouted above the wail of wind.
He studied her. “He controls this sorcery, does he not?”
Her mouth went dry. She considered lying to protect the seillie secret. Another crash of thunder dissuaded her.
“Yes,” she said. “But I can help him stop this!”
The knight appeared torn. She held her breath, awaiting his decision.
“I will assist, my lady,” he said finally. “Stay behind me.”
“He is there.” She pointed.
The master-at-arms released her and strode before her. He began to make a path, at times fighting and at other times, maneuvering around the warriors clogging the valley. She trailed him closely and guided him when needed by tapping his arm and pointing.
The fog began to turn black, and the funnel clouds to appear at shorter intervals. Aware of the massive storm creeping into the sky above her head, she began to witness the destruction it would leave. Men from the edges of the battle were thrown towards its center. Horses were next to be lifted and tossed, along with rocks and debris. The storm closed in around the valley and began to devour everyone in its path.
She pushed the master-at-arms, tears of fear on her face. Untouched by the tempest, she could not escape the sight of its destruction and violence as the world began to crash around her.
The men in their path were swept off their feet, and ocean water started to spill over the ridge into the valley.
Suddenly, the master-at-arms, was sucked into the air by the force of the winds.
“No!” she cried and held onto his cloak. She tripped over a dead warrior and fell, forced to witness her guide being swallowed by the storm. He disappeared into a funnel. Ocean water washed over everyone and everything in its path – but parted as it reached her and raced around her.
Isabel wiped her eyes clear of tears and continued. She refused to think of her brother being caught in the tempest or washed out to sea and forced herself to continue when she wanted nothing more than to drop to her knees and sob.
She had to find Cade.
The men before her were torn away from the ground beneath their feet by a combination of wind and seawater, whose rising levels threatened to block her view soon. She followed the pink lanterns, the trail of Cade’s magic.
At long last, when all was flung clear from her path, she glimpsed him before a wave of seawater blocked her sight. The water passed, and a passage opened for her to reach him.
Cade knelt with his head bowed, surrounded by the colorful lanterns of his magic, untouched by the storms.
“Cade!” she cried.
If he heard her above the wind, he did not move.
Isabel stumbled and staggered through the mud left when the ocean retreated to allow her passage. She splashed into a puddle and rose with effort. Breathless, she looked him over, not convinced he was alive. He was so still, drenched and bleeding.
“Cade!” she called again. “You must stop this!”
He shifted without lifting his head.
“Cade!”
“Yer dead.” His low voice was ragged.
“I am here!” she said and focused on traversing the last few obstacles to reach him. “Cade, you will kill us all!”
“Can … no’ … stop … it.”
A sob welled up inside her. “You must! My brother … your cousins and kin … you will slay them! You will slay me!”
“I am … weak. Can … no’ fight it.”
Her ankle twisted beneath her, and she fell once more. Fire shot through her, as burning and hot as when she had broken her shin falling from a horse. Trembling, Isabel swiped away tears and water from her face and rose. She limped forward. Reaching him at last, she dropped to her knees before him. “You can fight it. You must!” she said, voice cracking. “Your magic guided me here. It protected me so I could help you!”
“I am gone.”
Her heart broke at his hushed voice. Men, horses, boulders, wagons and she knew not what else were swirling around the valley, yanked into the violent storm.
“Please, Cade,” she pleaded.
He sagged without responding.
Isabel sucked in deep breaths, fighting her panic. “You are my husband, Cade, a man of great honor and bravery. I was wrong to want you dead, to seek you out for the purpose of harming you. You healed my brother’s madness and I am … distraught knowing this causes you such pain. I did not know. But I do now, and I am so sorry for the strife I caused you, for the secrets and lies and blame.” She stopped, unable to tell if her words were penetrating his madness.
During the last days before her father’s death, she had openly wept and pleaded with him at his bedside, trying to reach him, too, and make him understand how much she needed him, how much she loved him. She had failed to save him, and she was failing to save Cade. The tears started, and pain with no physical source thrummed within her.
“Please, Cade. I want a home with you, a beautiful keep on the ocean where we can see … the ocean from every window and a home and land for each member of your … our clan. We will have children, three boys and two girls, and they will drive you mad with their laughter and you will remember this day and how you fought the madness one last time. You will know … peace. I swear it!”