Binding Vows (31 page)

She broke off when the sound of a horse grabbed her attention. “You!” Grainna snapped Matthew out of his catatonic state. “Look.”

Lancaster drew his sword and left the cottage.

Tara yelled to her husband,
Watch out!

Grainna moved quickly and struck the warnings from Tara’s head.

Her head snapped back. She tasted blood again.

The rope on Tara’s ankles restricted her movements. She cowered in the corner, rocking and singing—hiding her true intention. She let tears slip from her eyes in a look of desperation, which wasn’t difficult to do.

Grainna turned to the sphere and searched inside. Swirls of smoke billowed beneath glass.

Tara saw Duncan and Lancaster, sparring under the glistening glass.

****

Lancaster barged out of the small home.

Duncan waited, his back pressed to the cottage.

Sunlight reflected off Lancaster’s blade. Steel swooped down.

Duncan missed its weight by an inch. He somersaulted away, landed on his feet and leveled his weapon.

Matthew appeared as a warrior ready for battle.

His build, however, was no match for Duncan’s.

“You don’t want to do this, Matthew. She’s controlling your mind and actions.”

Lancaster said nothing. His eyes darted around, searching for a way to attack.

They both crouched and waited for the other to lunge.

“’Tis time for you to go home, Matthew.

Everyone is looking for you.” Duncan’s soothing words were an effort to snap the man out of his 269

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trance. The steel grip Grainna held on him proved too powerful. Duncan tried slipping into the man’s mind. But the witch kept him out.

Lancaster glanced away.

Duncan took advantage and moved forward.

Surprisingly, Matthew raised his sword and retaliated with much more strength than Duncan anticipated.

Still, Duncan had him panting with only a few minutes of sparring. He didn’t want to kill the man who had no ability to stop himself.

Duncan lifted a hand and pushed a wind through the tops of the trees. A large branch cracked under the force of air and dropped across Lancaster’s back.

He went to his knees.

Duncan pounced and brought the blunt end of his sword down.

Lancaster crumpled to the ground unconscious.

****

Grainna’s sudden movement forced Tara to slide up the wall and onto her feet. She swung her hands toward the witch. Sparks and flames flew from her fingertips.

Startled, Grainna stood back, brushing at the flames caught on her skirt.

Tara fumbled with the ropes binding her feet, desperate to get loose.

Grainna stood tall, no longer aggressing with her body. Instead she started to chant in a language all her own.

Just as she kicked the ropes around her ankles free, Tara felt the air leaving her lungs and couldn’t draw it back in. She clenched her throat trying to 270

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breathe. But no air came. She panicked. Tara screamed in her mind, pleading with Duncan to hurry.

Tara stood between Grainna and the door. In a swift movement, Grainna grabbed her from behind and placed the knife to her throat.

The knife didn’t scare her, but the lack of oxygen did. The room started to swirl and dim.

Duncan heard her cry and left Lancaster.

The walls shook with the weight of the door flying out. He stopped and took notice of the blade Grainna held at Tara’s neck.

Smiling, Grainna leered down at Tara. “One breath, my dear.”

Tara felt air return to her lungs, her vision cleared.

Duncan stood paralyzed at the door.

“Come no closer, Druid warrior, or you will watch her die.”

Tara’s eyes glossed over again, she could think of nothing but air.
I can’t breathe.

“Leave her, ’tis me you want. I took her from you. Your fight is with me.”

“I will have you both. Your family has caused me so much time in this retched body. Stealing the virgin’s right out from under me.” She spat at Duncan’s feet.

Tara was slipping out of consciousness. Her body started to fall.

“Not yet, my dear,” Grainna whispered in her ear. “He hasn’t suffered nearly enough.”

Tara managed one breath.

Duncan moved toward them.

“Uh, uh, uh.” Grainna pressed the blade into Tara’s flesh. Duncan froze. His jaw set in a deadly lock. Tara saw the scene through his eyes. His heart and body ached.

Tara’s eyes swirled in a dizzying haze. Faces she 271

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didn’t recognize mixed with the colors of the room, floating in circles. The dark oblivion threatened to envelope her.

Amber’s voice slipped into the fog. “
On this day
and in this hour, call upon the sacred power.”

I’m hallucinating. I’m going to die.
Tara closed her eyes and hoped it would be painless.

Amber’s words whispered faintly in her head.

“
On this day and in this hour, call upon the sacred
power.”
Over and over Amber’s voice rang in her ears. Suddenly, Tara’s lungs filled with life giving oxygen.

Surprise sprung her eyes open. Another breath came. It wasn’t Grainna granting it.

Grainna continued to taunt Duncan. “I’ll see each of you dead and bleeding before I leave this land. One by one, I will eliminate every member of your family.”

The blade she held nicked Tara’s skin, warm trickling blood caressed her skin on its journey downward.

Duncan moved forward, face filled with wrath.

The blade cut deeper.

He halted.

Stand back!
Tara told him.

The faces she thought were a hallucination told her to listen.

Amber chanted.

Air filled her body again, and as thankful as she was for it, she did her best to conceal her feelings.

When the knife lifted away, enough to where she had a chance to survive, Tara let her legs go out from under her.

Now! Duncan, now!

Caught unaware, Grainna struggled to keep Tara on her feet.

Tara pushed at her with every ounce of strength 272

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she had.

Duncan flung his hand out.

The knife flew out of Grainna’s hands and skidded across the floor.

Duncan moved in, putting his body between Tara and Grainna’s. His eyes never left their enemy.

He brought his hand up again. This time a ball of flame hovered in his palm.

Grainna stood in defiance.

Tara felt Grainna’s hold on her weaken.

Grainna’s lips lifted in a sneer.

Tara’s eyes shifted between her husband and Grainna.

The flame diminished. Duncan’s hands moved and clung to his throat.

When he hit the floor with his knees, Tara knew he was struggling for air. “NO!”

Grainna’s wicked laughter filled the room.

Tara dropped next to Duncan.

Wonderful eyes which always gave her so much love glazed over with terror. The blood from her neck dripped on his chest.

Amber’s voice grew more insistent. “
On this day
and in this hour, call upon the sacred power.”

The vision of faces still hovered in the room.

“Hurry,”
they said. “
It is up to you to banish her. We
cannot do it a second time.”

Tara laid her hands on Duncan’s face. “On this day and in this hour, I call upon the sacred power.”

She kissed his lips. “Breathe, Duncan!” she yelled.

“Breathe, dammit.”

His head rolled back.

Grainna cackled.

“On this day and in this hour, I call upon the sacred power. Release the hold she has on thee, make it now that he can breathe.”

One staggering breath followed quickly by a second.

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Tara gasped. “Thank you!”

“No!” Grainna screamed. “How dare you?” She found her knife and came at them.

Tara turned to see her approach. She lifted her bloodied hand. “Stop.” She was shocked to see that Grainna did.

But it was brief, and Grainna came at them again.

Hand still raised, Tara started again. “On this day and in this hour, I ask the Ancients for more power.”

Grainna hit an invisible force which kept her in place. Stunned, she hit her hands against an unseen wall. Beside her, Tara felt Duncan move, gasping for each breath he pulled into his body. “Are you okay?”

she asked, keeping her eyes on Grainna.

“Aye,” he choked out.

Tara stood, shaking and took a step toward her enemy. “You were never meant to come back here, Grainna.”

Duncan stumbled to his feet.

“None of us want you here.”

The air in the cabin stirred. Velocity picked up.

Objects in the room flew helter-skelter, landing on the floor.

The air thinned. The world shifted.

“I’ll come back for you.”

“You’ll try.” Tara circled Grainna. Tara placed a hand to her neck to capture the blood from her wound. She spread her fingers out, her blood dripped to the floor.

With each step she took, one of the Ancient’s nodded and disappeared. Somehow, she knew exactly what she was meant to do.

Grainna chanted and beat against the invisible wall. “Light the ring.” Tara placed a hand on 274

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Duncan’s arm.

A flick of Duncan’s wrist, and Grainna was surrounded by a ring of fire.

“The Ancients banned you once before,” Tara said. “You haven’t the power to do it again.” Grainna’s hand slipped through the magical force which held her in place. A triumphant smile spread over her face. Heat surged from Tara’s hands. She raised them.

Grainna stopped, motionless in her place.

“Forces of good will overpower the forces of evil.

Take my advice, Grainna, change your ways.” Tara held Grainna’s blood red eyes fixed on hers. “You’ve been banned from this time and place. You’ve been banned from the Druid race. No more threats from you to me. I send you now across the sea. If the Ancients will it so, I bid it now that you must go.”

Fire surged toward the ceiling, circling and lifting, engulfing Grainna.

Tara stood with her hands extended and her eyes closed. The force of the wind blew her hair back.

Duncan stood at her side and watched in awe.

A swirling vortex opened above the flames. Pitch black, the current pulled Grainna away. Her scream went with her through it and beyond, sucking the flames with her. The fiery cyclone shut the vortex as quickly as it opened, but with a defining silence.

Everything went still.

Emptied, Tara stumbled back. Duncan’s arms kept her from falling.

When her eyes opened, he was all she saw. They held to each other, assuring themselves the other was whole.

“’Tis over,” he said.

She couldn’t get close enough to him. She held him hard and refused to let go. “I thought I was 275

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going to lose you.”

He pulled back and kissed her bruised and battered lips. “Never,” he said when he moved away.

He kissed her again, long and deep. When she winced, he released her lips.

“How did you know how to banish her?”

Puzzled, Tara shook her head. “The Ancients.

Didn’t you see them?”

“Here? You saw them here?”

She nodded. “You mean you didn’t see them?”

Duncan surveyed the damaged room. “Nay, my love, I didn’t see them. No one has seen them outside of dreams.”

“Then they must have really wanted her gone, because they were here, guiding me.”

“Then it is finished.”

“For today.” Her hand went to her neck where blood still trickled.
For today.
She released a long sigh, stepped back and looked at the burned mark on the floor, then up at her husband. “Take us home.

Our baby is hungry.” She passed a hand over her stomach and smiled.

Outside the cottage, Duncan gathered the horses, tossed Lancaster’s still unconscious body on the back of his mount and watched after his wife who stood staring at the building that had been her prison.

It was only wood and stone, but the cottage held the essence of Grainna.

Her undying evil.

Tara raised her hands again. Branches around the building blew in, leaves covering the ground rose up and encompassed the dwelling. Vines grew at a rapid rate, twisting and turning until no sign of the cottage beneath could be seen. Within minutes the cottage was camouflaged by the underbrush. Anyone passing would only see overgrown forest and not think to stop.

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Duncan helped Tara upon her horse and slowly made their way out of the forest.

She rode in silence on the way back to the Keep.

He let her have the solitude of her thoughts. His own plagued him while he reviewed everything that had happened.

When she started to laugh, he couldn’t have been more surprised.

“What do you find so entertaining?”

“Did you see her face? God that was rich. ‘I’ll be back!’” She mocked Grainna’s words. “Hah! And I thought I watched too much TV.”

“She may be back. We have no way of knowing she won’t.” Duncan’s words sobered her slightly.

“We’ll be ready if she does. Now we know what she’s capable of, she won’t be able to use the same tricks twice.”

She sent her husband the most endearing look.

“I’ve found my gift, Duncan.” Tara rested her hand over her growing child. “Grainna had better learn not to mess with Mother Nature!”

To prove her point Tara lifted her hands, the woods they traveled through parted, clearing a path for easier travel and gave them a clear view of the meadow beyond.

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Tara’s hands wrestled with each other, neither of them won. Their squeezing and twisting wouldn’t stop. If she had to wait much longer, her fingers would most certainly be raw.

Duncan, tried his best to calm her, but it was useless.