Chapter 69
Eastern France
Methos headed north. For some reason thoughts of Waterloo filled his mind. It was close. He could take Alisaunne and Ian there and then wait to hear from MacLeod. Surely they'd call. Methos tried once more to reach them and then groaned as he saw the low battery signal flash. "Look in the glove-box for the charger," he instructed Ian. He tossed the dead phone to Alisaunne, huddled between the two of them in the front seat.
"Nothing here Doc," Ian said as he shuffled through the papers and maps.
Methos tried to think when and where he'd last seen the charger. With a muttered curse he realized it was likely at the house. Even if MacLeod or Phillip were trying to call him... he'd not get the call. For the time being he was effectively cut off from everyone.
And, the sense he had from Eleanor... while still strangely calm... was rising in tension as if she knew something and was not sharing... trying to keep from bothering him. It was more unease than fear... so he concentrated on the road and on re-assuring the young woman beside him that despite appearances to the contrary he really did know what he was doing. On her other side, Ian Daffyd grinned from ear to ear at the mental hoops and explanations "the doctor" was going through to try and explain where they were going and why they were not going to the police. Damn! That boy was enjoying himself all too much at his expense.
Meanwhile... Methos was painfully aware that Alisaunne's hands were laced with Ian's and that in the few days she had been there... the girl had evidently formed a close attachment to the two hundred year old young man. This was not good... not good at all!
He had nearly reached the Belgium border when a sudden sense of fear erupted through him. Swiftly Methos swerved to the side of the road and closed his eyes... attempting to get a sense of what was wrong. He tried to follow the link back to Eleanor... to stand behind her and see over her shoulder... but she'd blocked him somehow... As if his knowing anything about what was going on there was a threat to his safety and what he had to do. Then he felt her with him. "We're fine... everything's fine. Do what you need to... come home soon." And then she was gone... closed off. He could not sense her at all.
"Are you all right, Dr. Pierson?" Alisaunne wanted to know. She briefly touched his arm. He smiled wanly.
"I'm fine... just..." he shrugged and met Ian's questioning gaze. The boy knew something had happened but had enough sense not to ask anything right now. "I'm going to need gas soon... and a telephone. Keep an eye out for a place to stop." Methos pulled once more onto the highway headed north. Eleanor was able to handle anything... anything but Nestor. She was Phillip's student after all... and the Greek had taught her well. But Methos knew he could not expose Derrick or her to the chance that Nestor would find them. If Nestor could track Alisaunne... Methos needed to make certain the girl was far away... and nowhere near any other immortals. But Methos felt as if he were being torn in two.
***
Eleanor sat on the edge of Derrick's bed and wiped the boy's forehead with a damp cloth. He was so pale lying there. She could still feel the slight tremors of his small body. Her fear at his collapse had alerted Methos. She'd felt him with her momentarily and had walled off her feelings to let him know all was fine. He needed to help MacLeod and Phillip. She'd sensed his own confusion that the two were not where he expected them to be and that he was tying to protect others. Eleanor had stayed out of it. He'd share with her later, she knew. Right now he needed to concentrate on what he was about. And thus the wall! It was almost a surprise to learn she could block him so effectively if she needed to. It gave her back a sense of privacy that she had not had since the initial bonding in Seacouver. They were still one... but they could also lead separate lives, without the other if they desired.
Eleanor glanced at the tall Cassandra hovering nearby. "What did you say to him?"
"What makes you think I said anything?"
"Cassandra... tell me!" Eleanor snapped at the woman and then shook her head. "I'm sorry... I'm not angry with you... I just need to know."
"I said nothing to him. Our disagreements are for our ears alone. I would not stoop so low as to use a child to get what I can get myself."
"And what is that?"
Cassandra paused. Then she laughed. "I think you know. I want Methos destroyed. I want to see him dead. I had hoped you might be an ally. But I am not your enemy. I am his."
Derrick moaned and shifted.
"Juice... he needs some juice... Stay with him!" Eleanor jumped up and raced down the stairs.
Behind her Cassandra watched the moaning boy. She leaned over him and touched his clammy forehead and felt the tremors. She could still sense his future about him. And Ellie was still very much a part of it. Nothing had changed. What had he meant about Cassandra not killing her? Or was that who he'd meant at all?
Cassandra stood sharply and glanced around. She could almost hear a whisper in the room speaking of the justice of her claim on Methos' life. Like a hundred small voices it seemed to fill the room. Her eyes fell on the sword case she had seen in New York. The one Phillip had taken with him when they'd left her alone in the hotel room with the boy.
Curiously she knelt beside the case and opened it... gasping slightly at the beauty that lay within. She pulled the sword out. It was larger than any sword she'd ever wielded and sharp as a razor. In the light it seemed to gleam whitely in her hands. "I am the justice of the people!" it murmured. "Use me and all will be made right!" Cassandra smiled and sat back as she ran her fingers along the blade... almost afraid that her touch would ruin its gleaming surface.
"You are beautiful!" she whispered. Looking up she gasped at Derrick who now stood over her... his eyes narrowed and his expression one that did not seem to belong on any child.
***
Finding the juice, Eleanor swiftly poured a glass and then raced back to Derrick's room. As she entered she noticed Cassandra was no longer there... nor could she feel her presence nearby. Derrick sat hunched on the bed.
"Derrick? Derrick honey... are you all right? Where's Cassandra?"
Derrick shrugged.
Eleanor reached out to touch his shoulder and then gasped at what she saw in his hands. She dropped the juice glass, hearing it shatter as it hit the hardwood floor. Eleanor moved backward.... losing her balance and falling sharply to the floor. She scrambled backwards away from this boy and from the nightmare in his hands. She screamed and kept screaming as she let the wall within her fall, so that all the terror within her reached outward to touch Methos and bring him home.
***
This time when the wave of sheer terror hit him along with Eleanor's cry for help, Methos nearly ran off the road. He turned sharply and applied the brakes so that the car did a one-eighty turn near a crossroads. Methos hunched over the steering wheel... trying to get a clear picture of what Eleanor had seen... but it was inconclusive... He only knew she was terrified.
"Change of plans," he snapped at the young people and started off once more... this time west... toward Eleanor... toward Derrick... toward whatever had happened to them.
