Chapter 23

Tunis, North Africa, two days later

Alisaunne could hear the mullahs call to evening prayer. She sat cross-legged on a mat on the roof of their house… hidden from view by both palm trees and the high exterior wall. Duncan had planned this hide-away well. The only thing it lacked… was holy ground.

"I don't believe in cowering," he'd taught her. "If a challenge comes… we meet it… head-on. Understand Alisaunne… the game is what the game is. We either play by the rules or we lose ourselves to it."

So far, Alisaunne had not had to enter the game.

"You will have to soon. But first," he'd laughed, "You have a lot to learn. You can fence… but there is so much more you have to learn… and so many more weapons on which you have to train."

After getting over the initial shock of learning about the game… and what she would have to do… she'd focused on learning. Duncan's skills amazed her. As good as Daivd Maillot had been… Duncan was better… and he knew many other forms of combat. Day after day… Alisaunne found herself the focus of the Highlander's teachings. Day after day, week after week, month after month, she'd struggled to get beyond the basics… and to be able to actually compete with him.

"Again…" he'd yelled at her, "your opponent will not back off. He'll take your head and that will be it!"

So she had focused. After the first year… she'd actually managed to draw blood from his arm in a sparring match. After the second… she'd managed to extend a fight from seconds to minutes. Every day he'd set tasks… roadwork… climbing… martial arts… and in the evenings… sword practice. Just when she'd get the hang of one weapon… he'd hand her another… and then another.

"You have to learn to use what is available… You have to learn to alter your attack for different styles. If you lose your weapon during a fight… and you can only get your hands on your opponent's… you must know how to wield it. Every sword is different!"

The only bright spot in all of this had been Ian. He'd remained with them… although often going out for errands which sometimes took days… or weeks. Ian's shock of white hair had been dyed black… dark contacts usually covered his blue eyes… and his skin had been darkened. Alisaunne still recalled running her hands over it in wonder so smooth was the color. Indeed, Duncan had suggested that all of them take the drugs that would temporarily darken their skin. His dark hair, and hers, had been no problem. He'd gotten her fitted for contacts also though. "Just in case!" he'd winked at her with a laugh.

But Alisaunne had seldom been out of the compound in the time that they had been here. Duncan kept her far too busy. Some days he taught her languages… some days history… some days philosophy.

"You must be able to blend in wherever you go. You need to speak like a native… and understand even dialects as if born to them."

"How long before I know everything?" she'd asked with exasperation one day.

He'd laughed, stroking the curly black beard he now sported. "You must always be learning. But it may take years before you know even enough to safely enter the game."

A year ago she'd bested Ian. Last month… she'd bested Duncan. His eyes had widened as her blade had stopped just short of his throat. He'd waited. Alisaunne had stepped back cautiously. Duncan had rubbed his neck and then saluted her with the broadsword he was using for this session.

"When you can defeat me on a regular basis… both of us using different weapons… then… you might be ready."

And in the shadows of the night… were the whispers she'd come to understand were Nestor.

"He cannot hurt you." Duncan had reassured her.

"But why does he live?"

"He doesn't… but some part of him yet remains… trapped in the one who killed him. He holds him… until we can find a way to defeat him entirely."

"Why do I hear him… feel his touch… smell him?"

Duncan had shaken his head. "I don't know… But you said he cut himself as well as you when he attacked you… perhaps something of him… some connection we don't understand was established. I truly don't know anything else to say."

Sometimes Duncan worked on a computer game. He'd shift drawings, writings, and photographs of objects around as if seeking an answer to something. Alisaunne recognized some of the items… but truly other than realizing she must have seen them at some point… they meant nothing to her.

The Highlander had seem disappointed at that… as if hoping that perhaps she might understand what Darius had placed on the disc.

Even now… Alisaunne had difficulty with the true story of how Duncan had known her Uncle Jacques de Pres… as a priest called Darius.

"A priest?" Alisaunne had been flabbergasted. But even more so when Duncan told her how old Darius had been and she recalled her jokes about two thousand year old men teaching history.

"He was a good man, Alisaunne. I don't know where he found you or why he remained a part of your life until he died… but he left clues for us to find you… in case something happened to him."

"Am I special?"

"Aye lass…" Ian had said to her with his trademark grin. "All of us are special… but you, I think, are even more so."

Duncan had merely shaken his head. Whatever he knew or didn't know about her being special… he kept to himself. He did admit that her being able to heal before having died her first death was unusual… but he claimed not to know what that might mean.

The call to prayer ended and Alisaunne opened her eyes. The shadows lengthened. In the west… the sun half-dipped below the horizon and the light of evening seemed to show with an almost red tinge… as though the world was dipped in blood.

"Here you are," Ian said stepping out onto the roof.

"Where else would I be this time of day." Alisaunne laughed. She grasped the hilt of the katana and carefully inserted it into her sash. Then she did the same with the wakizachi, or short sword, and finally the tanto… her knife. Duncan had gifted her with this set recently… "I had them especially forged for your weight, size and reach. The katana, you'll note is slightly smaller than normal. These will be the weapons you will most want to know… the ones you should always carry with you."

Alisaunne had understood by this… that he thought she was finally ready. Soon she would enter the game.

"Shall we?" she said to Ian as she assumed a stance next to him. She'd out-distanced his abilities in the last year and he recognized that fact. Although the elder of Duncan MacLeod's two students… Ian knew Alisaunne was the Highlander's true student… he was merely the hanger-on.

"Doesn't matter," Alisaunne would whisper to Ian in the night. "I love you. I will always love you."

Ian settled beside her and then as one… they drew weapons… Ian had also recently taken up using a katana rather than his old saber… as side-by-side they performed the ritual katas over and over by the light of the setting sun.

Watching them from the doorway, Duncan MacLeod felt he was watching a kind of religious ceremony. Both of these young people focused on the katas as if they were worshipping. He smiled. Too many of his students over the years had simply felt learning to use a sword was something one did and then they'd rushed off to join the game. Few had stayed long enough to truly become masters. Most had died early deaths. Richie had stayed… though Duncan knew that had been for friendship rather than learning. And his staying… had in the end… been disastrous. But these two… Ian had never truly had a teacher… and Alisaunne had had several very good ones during her mortal life. Now… Duncan felt neither one of them would be an easy target in the game… but he knew… the true test was yet to come.

Knowing how to wield a sword… and being able to take a head when necessary… were two different things. He disliked the idea of sending Alisaunne out to hunt… but he had to be certain she was ready. Nodding to himself, as if suddenly making up his mind, the Highlander smiled. He stepped up to Alisaunne's right as they finished one set of movements… and joined them in the next.

As the sun finally fell beneath the desert horizon and stars began to twinkle forth in the darkening sky… there they were… three immortals moving as one… in the choreographed katas that were the warm-ups of the battles yet to come.