Silent Vows

They watched as Grainna sat up from her crouched position and walked to the only mirror in the room. Slowly her head rose, her gaze swept over her reflection.

A startled gasp came from the women. Grainna stood strong and tall, her hair jet black, her skin a creamy white, her body perfectly shaped. Her eyes pierced her own reflection with lashes that swept the flawless features of her face.

She was stunning. Any woman would find fault in her own appearance if they compared themselves to her.

“There is nothing we can do.” Myra opened her eyes. Her curse is broken. Oh, Todd.

“Cian, Simon, catch Tara when we let go.”

Amber’s shaky voice rang out. “We close our circle for this night, thank you for the Ancients’

sight.”

Once on the ground floor, they planned their next move.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Lizzy declared.

“Did you have a vision?”

She grunted. “No, just a gut instinct.”

“Yeah, I knew it, too.” Tara rubbed her backside.

The continual jolt to the floor, even with the men catching her couldn’t be helping her discomfort.

“What do we do now?”

“The Ancients said we are chosen to fight the war against evil.”

“She said the war was just beginning,” Simon reminded them.

“I didn’t like the sound of that myself.” Lizzy sat next to her son. “Is Grainna really so powerful? I mean, there are what...eleven of us, and only one of her. Our odds are better.”

“Two, she has that man with her.”

“Still, our numbers are greater.”

“But Todd is not Druid,” Myra pleaded. “He has no powers to wield.”

“Todd was a cop and a good one from what I could tell.” Lizzy shot her a reassuring grin.

“Grainna has regained her powers. The powers of every Druid she has killed over her many years. It is us who are outnumbered.” Lora’s empty stare tossed what hope they had gained out the window.

“We should call the men back.”

“I agree.”

“Nay!” Lora broke her blank look, demanded the attention of everyone in the room. “Our fight begins tomorrow. Whether we go to her or she comes to us, it begins. Running is not the answer.”

“Lora’s right.” Tara stood, started to pace. Her pregnant belly led the way. “We don’t want her here.

I say we turn in early so we’re fresh and focused in the morning. Lora? Let’s contact the men. Let them know what’s happened.”

Lora paused, creased her eyes and asked, “Are you okay?”

Tara rubbed her stomach. “I’m tired. Junior here hasn’t given me much rest this last week.”

“Let’s wrap this up then and get you to bed.”

Lizzy moved away from her son.

Lora took Tara’s hand, within minutes Tara was led to her room.

“Stay with her tonight,” Myra heard Lora tell Amber. “Her time is coming.”

Amber nodded, smiled at her mother, and then left the room.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Morning arrived and the fog lifted over the land, a hint of a Scotland spring slipping into summer was in the air. The horses breathed massive amounts of air as their lungs struggled against the pace their masters drove them to.

None of them had slept after the news that Grainna had regained her youth, her powers.

The world passed Todd by at an alarming speed.

Not the speed of his Mustang at eighty miles per hour, but a single horse galloping over the lush hills of a land he only knew existed on a map until months ago.

His thoughts, as he plunged toward God only knew what, were of Myra. She waited for his return from this feeble attempt at ridding the world of an evil he didn’t know about until Myra fell out of the sky. Now, beside his recent father-in-law and two brothers-in-law, he rode to a destiny he couldn’t help but think would be his end.

Never before in all his years on the force did he feel dread and uncertainty cover his soul, his heart.

Was that because with Myra he suddenly had something to live for? Or was it a premonition of what his fate was going to be? Were they destined to be a fleeting pass of souls amounting to nothing more then a few nights of passion?

He glanced at Duncan. His wife waited at home with a baby only days away from being born, his face set in a determined look of a man destined to fight.

Fin, always jovial and full of life, sat poised and stern on his horse. Occasionally he would glance to one side or the other and pass a grin. Cocky.

Careless.

Todd recognized the look. He sported one before he cared if he survived the battle. Then he would catch Fin when he didn’t think anyone noticed. That expression was altogether different.

Ian perhaps had the most weight on his back, the most to lose of all of them. A father, a husband, a Laird of an entire land, he might not have been the King of Scotland but the outcome of this battle weighed on him as if he were fighting for an entire country.

Todd was the low man on the totem pole and he knew it. He knew these men had him hand over fist when it came to fighting medieval style, but he rode alongside them, hoping, praying he would come out of this alive.

Ian held up his gloved hand. They halted their horses at his command.

Ian hopped off his mount, reached to the ground and picked up a handful of soil. Todd watched him toss the rock-encrusted dirt. Instead of landing several feet away, the dirt stopped midair, scattered in a vertical sheet, and dropped in a line on the ground at their feet.

A barrier, invisible and completely undetectable, separated them from where Grainna had built her fortress.

“What the hell?” Fin exclaimed.

Ian glanced at the sky where his falcon soared, beyond the obstacle Grainna had set. He called to the bird and brought him back.

“Now what?”

“What do they see?” Simon asked from outside the circle. “There is an invisible wall keeping them from going further.”

Lora sat in the circle with the women, hands clutched. Ian spoke to her.

They attempted to get into the mind and eyes of Grainna earlier in the morning, but her renewed power proved too great. Even Steel held more power than they expected. Their attempts with him proved futile.

“How the hell is this going to work?” Liz released her breath in disgust.

Cian signaled to Simon. “You need to attempt a connection. The Ancients told us we need to use all our powers to win.”

Simon shook his head. “They are so far away.

How can I?”