The Magic of Highland Dragons (30 page)

She nodded. “I looked, but I couldn’t find it in any of my books. And then I put it on my finger, just to look at it. And I… this is where it gets pretty crazy, Bri, but I was suddenly in Scotland.”

Brian sat back in his chair, a look of complete bewilderment on his face. Faith lifted her tear-stained face up to look at him, and he pressed his lips together in a firm line. “Go on. What happened next?”

She told him. Everything. Well, almost everything.

He took it remarkably well, really, though she couldn’t tell if he actually thought she was crazy and was just being nice. When she finished talking, he sat back with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Well, I’ll tell you this, if it were me back there in Scotland, and my wife disappeared, I’d be doing everything possible to get that ring back. And if I could, I’d send it… forward in time again. Do you think he would have done that?”

Faith stared at him for a moment. God, why hadn’t she thought of that?

“I think he would. No, I know he would!” She felt the first faint spark of hope since she’d found herself back in her apartment. “I have to find the ring, Brian! God, where would it be? Do you think he sent it? Really?”

He smiled. “I don’t know, Faith, but he could have. And if he did, we’ll find it.”

“Thank you Brian.” She leaped out of her chair to hug him. “Thank you for listening, and for believing me.”

Chapter 17
҈

Bren rode hard for the caves where Mored had his new lair, farther north now than before. He assumed the others were following behind, but he didn’t take the time to look back. His heart was breaking into a thousand pieces, and if he didn’t find the Dragon Ring, he would never, ever have it whole again. He rode all day and through the night. On the dawn of the second day, the mountains he was looking for came into sight. On the other side of the tallest one was the cave, and Mored.

There was the sound of approaching hoof beats, and though Bren was looking straight ahead, he knew it was Drust who rode up to his side.

“I never told her I loved her, Drust.”

“I thought ye didna believe in it… love.”

“I have always believed in it. I was only afraid I’d never find it. It was easier to pretend it didna exist. Now I ken it does, and it is still not any easier.”

“Then ye had best tell her, just as soon as ye see her again. Ye ken how woman are about those things. Ye can give them the whole world, all that ye have, and still they will want ye to say those words.”

The two brothers hiked up the side of the mountain together, leaving men at intervals along the way, but knowing they were the only ones who could walk into that cave and have any chance of walking out again. They made it to the entrance unhindered, which meant that Mored was expecting them, and that he wanted them to enter the cave, or they would have met with resistance by now. They stepped inside, ready for a sudden attack, but when nothing happened they started down the dim and musty tunnel, Bren leading the way. He could feel Mored’s presence somewhere up ahead, like a place in his mind that was much darker, colder than it should have been. He could sense him so clearly because they shared the same blood, had once been family: Mored was his own father’s cousin. And it was because of the depth of his betrayal that Bren would do nearly anything to see him dead.

Closer, closer, he was almost there. Desperate anger warred with the need to be cautious as Bren rounded another corner and the tunnel suddenly opened into a chamber. Mored was there, near the opposite wall, and several guards fanned out around him, though more for show than protection, for they had no magic of their own. Though it seemed they had Mored cornered, Bren knew better. There was dark magic at work all around them, and things were not as they seemed. So close. He was so close. Mored gave him a smug smile. He raised his hand up in front of his face, and Bren’s eyes locked onto what he had come for, what he would die for. The Dragon Ring hung on a golden chain around his neck, and was presently dangling temptingly from the tip of Mored’s finger.

“Is this what ye want, warrior? This little trinket? Come and get it then, I’ve nay use for it anymore.” He held it up in his hand, taunting. “Ye think this will bring yer wife back to ye? Ha! Only should she choose to come. And why would she want to come back? Do ye not think she has already found another man where ever she is now? Aye, she must have had one before she ever left, as lovely as she is. Even if ye sent the ring forward to her, it would still be her choice to come back. Are ye so certain of her decision? Why would she pine for ye, when she could have a man in the time she was raised in, with all the comforts she is used to… with all that she had before.”

Bren growled low in his throat, taking a step forward. Drust grabbed his arm, speaking to him in low tones. “No! He’s baiting ye. He wants ye to attack first. It’s a trap.”

Mored threw back his head and laughed. “She is a verra beautiful woman, yer Faith. I admit, I couldna help but have her myself once or twice, before I sent her home. She was…”

Bren broke free of Drust’s hold and lunged forward, his sword drawn, death in his eyes. But Drust had been ready, waiting, knowing what would happen. He moved like the wind, shoving Bren to the side before leaping for Mored’s throat. He grabbed the ring, tearing it from around his neck and throwing it back to where Bren was just regaining his feet, a look of hellish murder on his face. It was the last thing Drust saw before the ground opened up beneath him, and he was falling, down, down, faster… He looked up and his mouth drew into a satisfied smile. He had managed to pull Mored over the edge behind him. He tried to shout to his brother to leave him and run, but the fall stole his breath. Instead, he concentrated on transferring the thought between their minds. Then he hit the ground. The ground was of soft and spongy earth, and he was not badly hurt. He rolled to the side as Mored landed beside him. Drust launched to his feet. Down here in the bowels of the earth, in the lair of his enemy, he would have his revenge. And he didn’t care if he died to have it. It would be his, either way.

Bren watched in horror as the two men disappeared into the yawning abyss that had so suddenly appeared where the floor of the cave had been. “Drust! Drust, no!”

Run, Bren! Get the ring! Get Faith! Do it for me.

Drust, nay! I willna leave ye here.

Leave me, brother. I will avenge us both, and should I survive, ye will see me again. Now take the ring and go! I dinna have a wish to die in vain.

Bren looked to where the Dragon Ring lay near his feet. He snatched it up in his left hand, his sword still gripped tightly in his right. He knew Drust should not have survived that fall, knew it. But just maybe he did, and he did not want to leave his brother to fight such a battle alone. It wasn’t until parts of the cave began to crumble around him and the floor threatened to fall out from where he stood that he turned and ran back to the entrance. He had to push aside several boulders that had fallen when the floor of the cave gave way, but at last he made it out, the daylight too bright for his eyes. The rest of his men were milling around, waiting uneasily for their return. For
his
return. Dead men lay near the entrance of the cave, some of them his own. There had been a battle. Someone galloped forward with his horse, and he thrust his sword into its sheath and leapt onto the stallion’s back, at the same time giving the signal to return to the castle. He had lost his brother, this day, for he held little hope that Drust would return. He clutched the ring tightly in his fist.

The men galloped at full speed into the bailey. Bren pulled his horse to a halt just before the keep. “Bring me the sorcerer!”

Eian appeared at the top of the stairs. Bren held the ring up in somber triumph, and Eian gave him a relieved smile. Then his eyes scanned the rest of the men, all dismounting and stumbling off to find a meal and their beds. His gaze came back to Bren, questioning. Bren pressed his lips in a hard line and shook his head, his face filled with grief. Eian drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. They had all known it, beforehand, that Drust wouldn’t be coming back, but their brother had still chosen to go and fight his demons. Had needed to go. He nodded to Bren.

“Here is Dirc.”

They did not wait another moment. Dirc was already prepared and waiting, and they went directly to the circle of standing stones, where he had already cast the ring away once, in secret. Now it would be cast again, this time carrying Bren’s every hope with it.
Please, don’t let my brother have died in vain. Bring her home to me.
It was done, now he had only to wait.

“How long did it take the first time, between when ye cast the ring and she appeared?” Bren asked soberly.

Dirc gave him a sympathetic… no, a pitying look. “Nearly three months. But she wasn’t looking for it, then. She might be, now.”

Bren could only hope so. “How will she ken to look for it? She willna even ken we’ve sent it! She may never look…” The months ahead of waiting and not knowing… Bren wasn’t sure he could stand it. And Mored’s hate-laced words echoed in his mind. What if she chose to stay there? What if she didn’t choose
him
?

“She is a verra smart lass”, said Dirc. “She will think to look for the ring. She will trust that ye will bring her back.”

“But I dinna think I can survive without her, Dirc!” The anguish in his voice could have carried through the ages.

“Ah, lad, ye’ll break an old man’s heart, to see ye hurting so. Ye are strong, and I will wait with ye.”

***

They had looked in every storage room, opened every box that was labeled Scotland, England, Wales, or Britain, and the ring was not there. Faith snapped the lid back onto the last box and looked up at Brian, a sad smile of defeat on her face. “That’s that, then. It’s not here.”

He put an arm around her, gave her a brotherly hug. “Come on now, don’t give up yet. This is only the first place we’ve looked.”

She gave a hiccupping laugh. “The entire basement of the Smithsonian is only the first place we’ve looked? There is an entire planet out there, Brian! If it is anywhere else but here, I could spend the rest of my life trying to find it! That is assuming Bren got it back from Mored and sent it forward again. The odds are definitely not in my favor, here Bri.”

Brian rubbed his chin. “Don’t go getting hysterical on me now. We have to think. Where else could it turn up?”

Faith had a sudden thought, and her stomach did a slow roll. She stood up. “Brian, I didn’t look in the box I found it in the first time. The box I was going through in the cataloging room.”

A grin lit his face. “Well, let’s go!”

They ran down the hall, footsteps echoing like gunshots in the empty stone corridor. Thank God no one but a few interns and janitors were ever down here this time of night. Brain yanked open the door to the cataloging room, and Faith reached for the box, still on the table, still labeled
Scotland
. She put it down on the table. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and her hand shook so much that she couldn’t get the lid off. Brian, impatient, snatched it away from her and opened it. They both leaned over as one to look inside. There, amongst the dull brown colored pottery, was a little gleam of gold. Brian reached in and held up the dragon ring, smiling from ear to ear.

“This is it, I’d wager.”

Faith nodded, tears spilling down her face. “It is.”

He held it out to her. “Well, what are you waiting for? You need to put it on, right?”

She looked up at Brian. “Oh God, I’m so scared! I’ve never been so scared in my life!” She swallowed the hard lump in her throat and took the ring from him. “In case it works, I just… I want to thank you. Thank you so much, Bri. Not just anyone would have believed me, you know. And you helped me… thank you.” She reached out and hugged him, tight. “I hope you find everything you’re looking for in life, you deserve it.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out her keys, setting them on the table. If I… leave, you should go to my apartment and take whatever you want, because I won’t ever be coming back.”

She stepped back, and held the ring at the end of her finger, the same finger she had put it on the first time, just in case. She gave him a lopsided smile. “If this doesn’t work, I’m going to be standing here feeling like the biggest idiot that ever lived.”

He laughed. “I have a good feeling. Go ahead.”

She slipped the ring on her finger quickly before she could think too much about it. And the world went black.
Thank you God
, was her last thought before she came to again, face down in a clump of heather. She rolled over, and slowly sat up. It was night, but the moon was full this time, casting a light bright enough to see by. She looked around, and recognized the shapes of the hills, outlined against the sky. She had arrived in just the same place she had the first time. But… was this the right
time
? If it wasn’t… no, she couldn’t even think about that. It
had
to be the right time, because where else would the ring bring her but to Bren? There was only one way to find out. She stood up, nervously dusting the bits of heather from her clothes. Her heart was beating too fast, and butterflies swarmed in her stomach so that she could barely catch her breath, but she began to walk towards the direction of Creagmor, just as she had before. Only this time she knew that she was walking towards her destiny, and her quick pace was wrought from hope, not panic.