Highlander Unraveled (Highland Bound Book 6) (12 page)

Logan

I opened my eyes, the pain in my skull a distant thud. I couldn’t hear the moans and sighs of my friends as they made love. Nor the rustle of the trees overhead. All around me was white, like thick clouds. As though I slept in a cloud. The ground was white. The sky was white. The very air was white.

I sat up, rubbing my temples, but the dull ache didn’t fade. Climbing to my feet, I turned in a circle as the white slowly faded and my surroundings became clear.

’Twas night.

I blinked. What in bloody hell? I’d never seen this place before.

I was inside a small, fenced-in enclosure. Short, oddly created buildings loomed at my back and several more beyond the one in front of me, which seemed to be somehow attached to this wooden fence—a poor excuse for a wall.

Was this a village of some sort?

Several lounge chairs littered a stone floor. The only things recognizable to me were the grass and the wood.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered, and whirled in a circle looking for them and not seeing them anywhere. “Ewan? Shona?”

No one answered.

“Moira? Rory?”

Still nothing.

Ballocks
… I cursed a hundred times when I realized what must have happened.

I’d time traveled, and they were not here with me. Did that mean they’d gone somewhere else, or had they stayed in the glen, in 1544? Lord, I hoped so. Saor needed someone he knew on his side, and I knew those four would protect him with their lives.

But what would happen to me? I wracked my brain for every little thing Emma had ever told me about her modern world.

Shite!

I was in way over my head. And I wasn’t going to stay here in this small space. There were two ways out of the fenced enclosure. A glass door leading into the building and a gate around the side.

Considering the glass doors most likely led inside someone’s dwelling, and it was the middle of the night, ’twas best if I went out the gate instead.

But taking one step, let alone the dozen or so to the gate, was a task my body seemed resistant, too. My balance was off, and I stumbled and fell with each step.

Nausea swept over me, and I hunched over, vomiting what little contents had rested in my belly.

Perhaps it would be best if I lay down and slept. At least for a few minutes. I’d not be able to find Emma, or even help her when I did, if I couldn’t walk without falling or retching.

And so, I laid on one of the oddly shaped lounge chairs. The item more supportive than I thought it would be. But considerably less comfortable than the ones at Castle Gealach.

I stared at the glass door, hoping no one would peek out and see me so close to their hovel, thinking me a thief.

Chapter Twelve

Logan

As soon as I closed my eyes, there was a loud thud from inside the dwelling. A jolt of energy surged through me, protective instincts on high alert.

I sat straight up, blinking and considering my immediate surroundings. Nothing was out of place, and no one came rushing. But who would? Hadn’t Emma said in this modern world it seemed that every man, woman and child had to care for themselves? No one, not until the very end, had come to her aid.

I bristled, just remembering the conversations we’d had regarding her life here. My nausea had abated somewhat. Besides, even if I had to hold the bile down, something in my gut told me I needed to go inside the hovel to see what was happening.

It could be that Fate had brought me straight to Emma.

Was it possible this was Shona and Moira’s place? There was no way I would know, and only one way to find out.

I crept toward the large glass doors, and tugged at the handle, but it didn’t budge initially, then, I was surprised to see that it slid silently to the side, like a secret door.

I slipped inside. Taking a moment to steady myself, and acclimate myself to the darkness. Thankfully, the dizziness and nausea had abated. The chamber where I stood was dark, but a light shined through from a room to the right. The walls were lined with wardrobes, and there was a table. It smelled strongly of food, and I suspected this must be a kitchen of some sort, nothing of the likes of which I’d ever seen. I tiptoed quietly toward the lit chamber, to see if someone was there. Looking for any sign of Emma or the people who inhabited this place. But the room was empty. Pictures lined the mantle over the hearth, images of Moira, Shona and others smiling back at me. I was in the right place, I hoped.

Scraping sounds coming from the ceiling had me stopping. Someone was moving around upstairs, but I didn’t hear any voices. Just movement.

I didn’t call out to alert them of my presence, but moved toward the lit room, in search of stairs. There were none, but a second opening led to what looked like the front entryway, and also the stairs. They were not circular however, but led straight up.

I gripped the hilt of my sword, nerves on high alert and waiting for someone to leap out at me from behind any corner. Thank the saints I’d been fully dressed when I was in the glen. I’d not bothered to remove even my weapons on the off chance I time traveled. Ewan and Shona had never lived down the fact that they journeyed to modern day naked, landing in the middle of a square surrounded by people.

Opting for something subtler, I pulled my
sgian dubh
from my sock, gripping it in my right hand as I rounded the corner. A table by the main door was knocked askew, a vase that had been on top of it had fallen to the floor, shattering in a pile of crystal shards. I avoided the broken pieces, not wanting them to crunch under my boots, warning those above.

Overhead, I could still hear the scuffling sounds amid footsteps, as though someone were dragging something. I closed my eyes, listening harder to see if I could decipher better the size and shape of what was being dragged. A body?

Dear God, was I too late?

Please dinna be Emma.

I tested the strength of the odd, wool covered stairs with my foot. There would be creaks, which would alert whoever it was that I was coming. They could escape out the window.

I ground my teeth with frustration.

Ballocks.

I looked up, ascertaining that the occupied chamber was located in the front, left side room. I could go back outside and scale the wall, climbing in through the window.

They’d not be expecting that. I could take whoever it was by surprise.

I slipped back out through the kitchen and into the yard. Sticking close to the dwelling, I shifted toward the gate, prepared to step through, and then paused. The moon was still high, so most people would be asleep, but it was bright with torches that emitted a false-looking light, and I could be easily spotted if someone were awake.

I’d just have to be careful, and perhaps I’d climb through a window at the rear of the house rather than in the front. Less visible that way.

I looked up; the second story window was about ten feet in the air. The house was made of a stone of sorts, but most of them were flush, not too many handholds as though the mason had purposefully sanded down the stone. That was irritating. And mildly brilliant for fortification’s sake.

The window above did have a distinguished ledge. Once I had a grip on that, I could swing up, but how to get the window open? It was covered in a pane of glass.

I shook my head.

Ballocks.
Why was this so complicated?

I could easily enter the damn building by opening the door, but scaling it to enter an upper window seemed impossible.

There was no more time to waste. I burst back through the door without a concern for whether or not the person upstairs could hear me. I marched up the stairs and kicked open the door.

Lying on the bed was Emma, knocked unconscious, a bruise marring her pink flesh that I could see visibly in the moonlight. A man, tall and wiry stood over her. My gut twisted, heart wrenched, to see her like that.

As soon as he heard me, he jerked around, a ferocious scowl on his lean face. I knew who it was at once.

Steven.

Muscles taut, prepared to pounce on the bastard, I growled, “Get the hell away from my wife.”

Steven snickered. I stuck my
sgian dubh
back in my sock and drew out my sword. I wasn’t going to go small with this arsehole. He was going to feel the full force and length of my blade.

“I’m not asking ye twice.” My voice was low, full of menace.

Steven’s eyes were glued to my sword and he actually had the temerity to look concerned. But then, he grinned, and took a step away, reaching toward his back.

I lunged forward, slicing his arm—not too deep, just a warning slice. I was not waiting for him to bring out whatever weapon he’d use to protect himself. And besides, I thought he deserved death by a thousand cuts.

He yelped, though the wound I’d given him was superficial, and humane, compared to what I wanted to do.

“She was my wife first,” the man said, fury dripping from every word. His hands were fisted at his sides and it seemed that his anger had overcome any fear he might have had at my blade.

“I know who ye are.” I bared my teeth, letting him know it mattered not.

He cocked his head, surprised. “She told ye about me?”

“Dinna flatter yourself with thinking her words were kind. And be warned, I’ve been wanting to kill ye for a long time.”

This time when Steven reached for his pocket, he leapt back out of my way. Quicker, having learned his lesson. If it was a weapon, it wasn’t one I’d ever seen, nor could I decipher just how it was supposed to protect him and harm me. ’Twas a black box. I assumed if he were able to subdue me—which he couldn’t—he could simply bludgeon me with it.

“You’ll have to catch me first,” he said.

And then he was gone from the room, simply disappearing into thin air.

I took a step back. Then a step forward. Turned in a circle. How had he done that? A trick of the eyes?

I dropped to my knees and checked beneath the bed. Opened up a set of doors but all that was in there were clothing type items.

“Where the bloody hell is he?”

The black box… It was a magical weapon of some sort.

“Logan… Is that you?”

Forget Steven, I whipped around to see Emma still prone on the bed.

“Oh, my love.” In two strides I was by her side, kneeling on the floor. I brushed the hair from her face feeling a knot on the side of her head. A bruise marred her cheek. “What did he do to ye?”

“I fell…” Her arms rose limply to stroke my face. “Is this another dream? Why do I still hurt? I don’t normally hurt in my dreams.”

“’Tis not a dream,” I whispered, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her lips. “I came for ye. We’re going to go home.”

Her hand moved softly against my body, flattening to my chest, a smile touched her mouth. “You came…”

“Aye. This place is madness.”

She laughed quietly. “Where is Saor?”

“He is safe, back at the castle, waiting for ye.”

Her eyes widened and she tried to sit up. “Where is Steven?” Panic filled her voice.

Should I tell her the man had simply disappeared into thin air? I had to; she’d been through hell and deserved to know.

“I dinna know.” I shook my head, still damned confused. “He pulled a black box from his pocket and next thing I know, he was gone.”

“A black box,” she murmured. “Mrs. MacDonald had a black box, too.”

“MacDonald?” I leapt to my feet. “Where is she? I’ll skin her alive.”

Emma sat up straighter, reaching for me. “No, no, Logan, she’s gone. Same black box.”

I knelt back by her side, cradling her body against mine. “I dinna understand. What is the black box?”

“I think it’s a device. A time traveling tool. There was a man, an elderly gentleman, that said he was Moira and Shona’s guardian. He told me there are time jumpers. That the Ayreshire lassies are in trouble.”

“Time jumpers?” I shook my head. This was a lot of information to take in and I wasn’t certain I understood all of it.

“Aye. We need to go. We need to get back to them. We have to protect them from whomever is coming for them.”

“Do ye have a black box?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“How do we get one?”

Emma tried to swing her legs over the side of the bed, and I helped her. She winced and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Och, love I wish I could take away your pain. Are there any herbals here? I could fetch ye some.”

“I need an aspirin,” she moaned. “My head hurts.”

“Aspirin? What’s that? Is that how we get a black box?”

She smiled and shook her head, then said, “Ouch,” pressing her hand to the side where the nasty knot was.

Ballocks, but I’d rip the black box from Steven’s hands and shred him to pieces the next time I laid my eyes on him. Bastard had slipped right through my fingers.

“It’s medicine,” she explained. “Modern medicine.”

“I’ll get it. Where is it?”

“Maybe in the bathroom?”

“There’s a room dedicated to baths? Why would there be medicine in there?” I held the back of my hand to her forehead. “Are ye feeling all right?”

She giggled. “Yes, I’ll be fine. Just a headache. Help me up.” Then she leaned against me, pressing her head to my chest. “I missed you, Logan. I know this world is crazy, and you don’t understand a lot of it, but I’m so grateful you came for me.”

“Och, my love, I couldn’t let ye languish. I had to find ye.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “Tell me where to go.”

She pointed toward the entrance to the chamber and I walked her back out into the corridor. “There.” She pointed toward a door in the center of the hallway.

We walked to another smaller chamber with a white marble-looking chair and a… “Is that a tub?”

It was small, only big enough to hold a bairn. And also made of white marble-like material.

“A sink.”

I grunted.

“That’s the tub.” She pointed behind her and I saw a large white tub built into the wall. “This is a toilet, like a chamber pot.”

I glanced at the odd chair.

I frowned, confused. “Who would wash where they shite?”

Emma laughed. “A good question.”

She flicked on a light and I jumped back.

“Holy Mother…”

Emma grinned. “They don’t use candles so much in the modern era. There’s a thing called electricity. An energy that powers many things.”

And then she confused me more by pulling a reflecting glass away from the wall and revealing a secret set of shelves with tiny, oddly colored bottles.

She opened one and dumped tiny red balls into her hand. Then she turned a nozzle and water shot from a tiny well-like tube.