Chapter 60
Northeastern France
Derrick had wandered downstairs after awakening. He'd stopped by Adam's and Ellie's door and listened momentarily to be certain of them. He could hear laughter... Adam's deep voice and Ellie's peals of glee. He'd grinned. They did seem happy. Relieved... he'd entered the kitchen and opened cabinets and drawers trying to find something to eat.
His hand still hurt. He'd probably need new ointment and a new bandage on it again today. He still couldn't fathom why he'd thought he might be like them. He'd been hurt a few times before... and of course he'd been in the hospital after the man in Seacouver had drugged and buried him... But at the moment that he'd stuck his hand into the fire... those things had not seemed real... only his curiosity about his own immortality... whether or not he was like Adam and Ellie... was real.
Obviously... unlike them... he was as Ellie had said... just a little boy. He was buttering some bread and spreading some jam when he heard the crash and Adam's curse.
"Bloody hell!"
Startled he kept very still... at once frightened and apprehensive. A few moments later a disheveled Ellie entered the kitchen wearing some sort of silk robe. "Oh... you're up," she grinned at him broadly, then sobered... her concern apparent, "Derrick? Are you all right?"
Derrick nodded and then with relief raced to place his arms about her. "I was afraid for you!"
"For me!" Ellie laughed and tousled his hair as she hugged him, "Whatever for."
"I heard him... I thought maybe..." Derrick looked up at her fearfully.
"Oh... no... he was on the phone to Phillip. Something's come up... He has to leave us for a while... But he'll be back. I was looking for something I could manage to fix him for breakfast... I don't really cook... you know." She laughed teasingly and glanced at the makings of his breakfast. "Hmmm... bread and jam sandwiches... sounds good to me." She slathered bread with butter and jam... made sandwiches and wrapped them in a towel... Then searched the icebox... triumphantly pulling out a beer. "Ta da!"
Derrick laughed, "Who drinks beer for breakfast?"
"I do when I'm in a hurry!" Adam entered at a rush grabbed the offered food and drink, and kissed Ellie, as he headed for the car. Over his shoulder he called back to Derrick, "Look after things Derrick... I won't be long!" He roared out of the driveway a moment later.
Ellie put her arm about Derrick, "Heigh ho.... heigh ho..."
"It's off to work he goes?" finished Derrick with a question.
"Something like that." She hugged him and stepped over the rough pebbles in her bare feet.
"Is it a bad man... an immortal?"
Ellie looked at him evenly. "Yes Derrick... it's the way we live. Don't envy us the lives we live. Long life is not something to be desired when it comes with such a heavy price."
"But you've lived history!"
"I've lived... I don't know about history..." she grinned. "Race you back inside... One, two, three, go!" And she was off. Derrick raced after her laughing. He had a million questions to ask her... but right now... he wanted to beat her back to that jam sandwich!
***
Methos was furious at himself! How could he have missed the signs... He'd seen the reports for the last twenty or so years... Why had he never put it together? If Nestor was out... then all their hopes and plans for a future where for naught unless they could kill him this time.
"I'm going with you!" Eleanor had said.
"No you're not!" he'd said to her as he began to pull clothes on quickly. "Someone has to stay with Derrick... You cannot expose him to this situation!"
She'd looked at him solemnly... knowing he was right and hating that it was so. "Come back to me!" she'd finally said as she'd pulled on that old robe of his from the closet. "Come back to me..." Then she'd raced down the stairs... unable to face letting him leave.
At least Derrick had been downstairs. His presence there had forced Eleanor into some sort of acceptance of the situation. She'd said nothing further and had even made sandwiches. Methos' stomach churned a bit at the thought of jam and bread... but he'd be grateful enough for them later... and for the beer.
At least he was as close if not closer to the convent than those coming from Paris... with luck... he'd make it in record time.
He'd realized Alisaunne was unusual when he'd first met her... but the thought that she'd been the "born immortal" child that the oldest of oral legends had promised would arrive to usher in the final Gathering... had simply not occurred to him. He'd heard those tales in the early days of his life... the first few hundred years... and then they'd faded with time... as the old ones had all died off.... many by his own hand. Where had Darius found her? Or was that another of the things the priest had just come to know over the years? Had he known what she was? Damn him for not sharing what he knew! But even as he thought the words... Methos knew Darius could not have told him these things any more than he could tell Darius of the things that he knew. They'd each had their secrets and their tasks to perform...
Methos was torn between needing to be there to help with Nestor and his unease at leaving Eleanor and Derrick behind. Part of him feared for them.
"There's a chapel in the house if you need it," he'd told her and she'd nodded in understanding. He prayed to all the powers that were and all the gods that had ever been that they wouldn't need it. But Nestor wouldn't wait... and if that monster should get to the girl... no holy ground anywhere would protect any of them.
Grasping the steering wheel tightly in his hands until his knuckles were white... Methos drove swiftly, mentally kicking himself for not having answered that cell phone last night... But what he and Eleanor had done had needed to be completed. It was now... his mind was clearer than it had been since Seacouver... and deep within him he felt her smile. She was with him... in spirit if not in reality. Her strength and her gifts were with him, as his were with her... Methos prayed that they would be enough.
