*7*

Duncan had stayed away from both Robert Sutton and Amanda after that last sparring match that had ended so antagonistically. Duncan felt, instinctively, that Robert did not like him... was in fact jealous of him and his close relationship with Amanda. Right now... Amanda needed to concentrate on her young student. So Duncan had backed away.

Besides... the Highlander felt it necessary to spend time trying to find the immortal who was killing his friends. While he, personally, would not care if Robert Sutton were the next victim... Duncan knew that Amanda would care.

He sighed as he thought of her. Back and forth they'd gone for centuries. First one wanted more than the other could give... and then the roles were reversed. Sometimes he thought it was a lack of trust on both their parts that they were never able to make a final commitment to one another... that one or the other kept backing away... fearful of staying too long... of being too trusting.

The last time it had been Amanda who had run. Despite Duncan's wishes to the contrary... until they'd met up here... they really hadn't been together in years. And here... there was Robert Sutton.

The night he'd found her... and gone home with her... she'd talked his ear off about the boy. So Duncan had met him. Some part of the Highlander had wondered about and been suspicious of this young man. New immortals were very rare these days. But the young man's story had checked out. Still... Duncan worried about Robert's evident dislike of Duncan and the jealous look he'd given him when Amanda had teasingly kissed the Highlander the other night. Duncan had a feeling that it had been that kiss... more than the sparring match itself... that had upset the young man.

And still... Duncan had the oddest sensation about him... that he was not quite what he seemed. There were moments and movements and phrases Sutton used that for a moment made alarms go off in Duncan's mind... reminders of... who? Duncan shook his head. Obviously he was tired and getting way too suspicious. Right now he needed to concentrate on just whom else was around.

That Claudia's death had been accompanied by a quickening told Duncan that an immortal had to have been involved. But why would Claudia allow herself to be alone with an immortal? She had known better!

Duncan's pace slowed to a stop as he felt someone. Glancing around... almost expecting to see once more the phantom Grace Chandel... Duncan peered into the crowds milling along the street. Already the Highlander was preparing himself for battle...flexing and stretching... his fingers grasped the hilt of his katana within his coat. Then he saw her. His eyes widened. Still cautious... Duncan carefully approached the figure of Amber Kathleen Conroy.

"Fancy seeing you here," he remarked... his voice betraying his belief that this was not a coincidence.

"I was looking for you," she replied.

Duncan spread his feet apart in an even stance as he stood before her... his hands clasped in front of him... the wind blowing his coat behind him. "This is a little bit public... wouldn't you prefer someplace a little more out of the way."

Amber grinned. "Oh... it's not a fight I'm lookin' for, Duncan MacLeod... though I can oblige if you be wantin' one. Your friend Joseph asked me to talk to you."

Duncan shook off a laugh. His face sobered and his words sounded harsh in the wind. "Prove it! Do you think I will drop my guard on your say-so?"

Amber's brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. Gazing at him thoughtfully for a long moment... the young woman evidently made up her mind as to her next move. "I'm wantin' a drink and I think there's a pub on the corner. Join me or not... it matters not to me... but Joseph asked me to give you some information you might be wantin'."

Duncan watched as Amber pivoted and brushed past him on her way to the pub... a small dark and crowded alehouse. It was as safe as holy ground these days with so many mortals about. Then Duncan followed her. But he kept his fingers poised to grasp his katana at a moment's notice.

***

"Why didn't Joe come... or contact me himself?" Duncan gave the waiter a few bills as he set their drinks on the table. Amber had ordered Irish whiskey neat... Duncan had scotch.

Amber waited for the waiter to leave. "He's bein' watched by those people he works for...Seems they don't much care for him bein' friends with the likes of us. So he couldn't come himself. Besides..." Amber downed her drink, "he thought I might be able to help."

"Help? How?" Duncan fingered his drink... but did not take a sip... still watching her warily.

Amber pulled out a cell phone and punched in a number. Her face lit up as the call was answered. "Boss... I've a suspicious man here who needs to talk with you." Amber handed the Scot the phone... then she excused herself to wander over to the bar

"Joe?" Duncan was relieved when he heard the Watcher's voice. The Highlander listened to his friend... all the while watching Amber by the bar... joking with another patron as she waited for another drink.

She returned with a drink in her hand only after Duncan had turned her cell phone off and laid it on the table. "Am I welcome here, then?" she asked... the Irish lilt in her voice even more pronounced.

Duncan gestured for her to take a seat. He sipped at his scotch thoughtfully. "Joe says he thinks Kenny's involved somehow... Do you know him?"

Amber shook her head. "I don't really hang around us... Connor always said it was not a wise idea... not if we wanted to keep our heads." When Duncan nodded with a pensive gaze, Amber continued. "I think he always envied you that ability to be friends with so many... that sense of trust you have. He was always such a loner."

The glass in Duncan's hand made a circular motion as he set it down and leaned forward. "Tell me about you and Connor."

Amber grinned. "He got drunk a few times in my Da's pub. Did he ever tell you about that duel he had on the Common... with Kastigir as his second?" When Duncan chuckled, she continued. "Well it started in my Da's. I think that's when he first noticed me... and stayed close just in case."

"So what happened?"

"Oh... I was takin' the receipts to the bank one mornin' and was jumped by thieves! Blow to the head!" Amber hit the side of her head with a laugh. "They'd dragged me into in alley before they hit me... then left me there. When I woke up..." Amber shrugged, "I didn't really feel any different... Course I was mortified to go back to the bar to tell my Da I'd been robbed." She laughed a moment. "Connor happened to be there. I'll never forget the pained expression on his face when I walked in. I think he'd hoped I'd live a full life without the Game and immortality finding me."

"So he told you what you were and taught you to fight." Duncan concluded her tale as he finished his scotch.

"Aye... that's the long and the short of it."

Duncan leaned back in his chair... eyeing her soberly. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Were you lovers?"

A wistful expression passed over Amber's face as she gazed at Duncan and then down into her drink. "Connor said it wouldn't be right. He was my teacher and it was better that there was nothing more between us. He told me that it wasn't safe to take an immortal lover... That while it's a hard thing to love a mortal and watch them grow old and die... 'tis a far worse thing to have to take the head of someone you love... someone you trust." Amber slowly picked up her whiskey and downed it in a single gulp... re-setting the glass on the table with a gentle thump. "That's not to say he wasn't fond of me... that we didn't remain friends... but you know how he was..."

Duncan nodded. He did know how Connor had been. The man had been so afraid of having anyone love him... anyone care for him... that he'd built walls between himself and those that might have cared. He'd taught Duncan... but then pushed him away to learn on his own. Oh... he'd always greeted him warmly when their paths had crossed and taught him a few new moves... but other than a few drinking bouts over the years... and an adventure in common occasionally... Connor had traveled his own lonely road... and let Duncan travel his.

He was... as Amber Conroy was saying... a man afraid to let others care. Perhaps it had been that loneliness that had finally made him go first to the Watcher's Sanctuary... and then finally to force Duncan's unwilling hand in that final fight. The elder Highlander'd had few friends... and fewer loved ones. He'd been alone most of his life because it was how he'd wished it.

When he had let someone in... they'd died... horribly. Rachel's death had been the final straw. He'd raised her as a daughter... loved her briefly and then pushed her away... allowing her to remain only as a friend. But when she'd died... the last person on this earth he'd truly cared for... at least the last mortal... it had broken his heart.

Within his own heart... Duncan could feel Connor's sadness and despair. It had been creeping up some on him the past few years... ever since he'd defeated Kell after Connor's death. Kell had been haunting Connor's steps for almost five hundred years. He'd killed them all... one by one over the years... until Connor'd had no one in his life... no one he dared allow in. Amber likely lived only because he'd kept her at arm's length. Because... like Duncan... she was an immortal... a student of Connor MacLeod... the Highlander.

"Let's get out of here." Duncan finally said as he finished his drink. Rising... he headed out the door... sensing rather than seeing her follow him. Once on the street... Duncan glanced about at the gathering gloom and motioned to her to walk with him towards Hyde Park. He wanted to know how good she was... and there was a way to find out.

***

Their swords clashed... sparking in the darkness as they circled around one another on the wooded path in Hyde Park. Duncan had drawn on her suddenly and lunged... glad to see she had already expected it... was prepared.

Even as they fought... thrust... slice... riposte... lunge... turn... back away... lunge again... Duncan had recognized Connor's teaching in the young woman's moves. The little tells that Connor had used in his fighting, glimmered in some of Amber's motions as though they were reminders to Duncan of just whose student she had been.

They'd kept it up for some time when Duncan allowed himself to suddenly seem to make a mistake and he executed the final move Connor had taught him. Amber's face blanched. Evidently... she knew it too. She was caught and with a sudden shifting of sword... her head and her body would part company.

Swallowing fearfully... she bravely met Duncan's dark gaze. "Was that how you killed Connor?" she asked.

Duncan gazed back into her blue eyes and read the sadness there. With a growl he'd pulled back, out of the move and turned away. Behind him he sensed her relief.

"All right... you really are who you say you are," he said to her. "So what do we do now?"

Amber sheathed her blade within her coat... still rubbing her neck... already healing from the barest scratch he'd given her there. "Joseph's not certain how this Kenny is doing it. He's there... then he's not there. It's almost as if he vanishes... becomes someone else... someone we cannot feel. Then he gets close... especially to your friends... gets them alone... gets them to drop their guard... and then kills them."

"And then walks away unseen!" Duncan flexed his katana... wanting to strike out at something... anything... thinking of Claudia's death. He'd been so close... a moment sooner and he'd have seen it all. As it was... he'd seen only the last of the quickening arcing out... but not at him... not at Duncan... at someone who was closer... but out of sight.

"Illusion!"

Duncan's head snapped up. He could swear he heard Connor.

"Heh... heh... heh... I once learned from the sorcerer Nakano... who had the gift of illusion! He offered it to me if I'd take his head. But I chose to have him as a teacher," Connor had once told him... centuries ago... before he'd known that Kane was still alive... and would come after him. Kane had absorbed that mystical power of the Ancient.

"He looked like me... He appeared in places he wasn't. He looked like those I trusted. He made me see things that weren't there. I couldn't even feel his power... to know it was him." Connor'd told him that tale one of the last times they had spoken.

"Did you get the power when you killed him?" Duncan had laughed... fully expecting Connor to suddenly vanish or become an eagle and fly away.

"No..." Connor had shaken his head. "Maybe I never needed it... or maybe... it didn't need me."

"Illusion!" Duncan murmured aloud to Amber.

"What?"

"Connor should have had Kane's power of illusion when he took his head... but he didn't. He never had it. What if it found another..." Duncan's voice trailed off as he considered the ramifications of what he was thinking. That if Kenny or some other immortal had been in the right place at the right time... he might have absorbed Kane's power somehow. No immortal ever got all of a quickening. Some of it always arced outward and spent itself in the lightning and the explosions... What if... that's what had happened? But if some immortal could appear as anyone... He could get close... he could make another trust him... drop her guard...

Swiftly hiding his katana within his coat, Duncan headed out of Hyde Park double-time.

"You've a thought then?" Amber followed.

"Amanda has a new student... a very young and very inexperienced student," he threw out over his shoulder. "One she's dropped her guard around."

Duncan waved down a taxi and climbed in followed by a sober and very determined Amber. "Lead on MacDuff!" she grinned.

Duncan chuckled at the garbled Shakespeare. "I'm not certain that applies here... But come on girl... I've got a feeling the only way to truly defeat this immortal... may be for there to be two of us present."