"All right, Duncan," said the man called Theodore. "Enough of this chit-chat. It's
time I had my share of the power!" I heard the sound of feet shuffling quickly in
one direction, as if to get out of the way of something, followed by a dull thud as
something landed in a bale of hay. There was a long, drawn-out scraping of
metal on metal, and I ducked, startled, as a shower of sparks came over the wall
and fell down around me. I suddenly had the distinct feeling that I was in danger,
but I wanted to know what was going on - so I finally stood all the way up and
looked over the wall.
My mouth dropped open at what I saw: two men engaged in a ferocious sword-
fight, and the one facing me was unmistakably Duncan MacLeod. He looked up
and saw me, and the man with his back to me, who I figured had to be Theodore,
turned to see what he was looking at. Theodore hesitated a split second too
long, and Duncan shoved him into the wall of hay that I was standing against.
The whole thing teetered and then collapsed, taking me with it to the floor and
pinning me down under a large stack of bales, which I quickly discovered were
too heavy to move. Theodore was sprawled on his belly in the hay, and when he
tried to rise, Duncan lunged forward and took his head.
I gasped and tried to scoot away from them, but the hay wouldn't let me move
an inch. I struggled to get the load to shift even slightly, but it wouldn't budge.
Who would have thought dried grass could be so heavy?
Suddenly the loft lit up like lightning had hit it - and I could have sworn for a
second that lightning had done just that. Then I shook my head. It was sunny
outside, not raining. But when I looked around and saw Duncan on his knees,
glowing with an aura of harsh blue light, I realized what the "lightning" had been:
a Quickening.
I'm asleep, I thought, shaking my head hard. I must be dreaming. There's no
way this could be real life…it's that movie I saw the other night. Another streak of
blue flashed by, barely missing me. I flinched as it singed one of the hay bales,
which started to glow with flame. There was a crack overhead, and I watched as
the last of the Quickening had its fun with Duncan, who slumped to the ground,
unconscious.
Silence fell in the loft once more, and I breathed a sigh of relief, until I noticed
that the hay that had been singed was now burning - and it was one of the bales
that had fallen over me.