Part Two: The Dark Night of the Soul

Look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul.

from Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) by Don MacLean

Chapter 31

Tunis, March 2011, the next day

Morning had given way to the heat of midday before Alisaunne woke, stretching luxuriously in her bed. She was alone. It didn't matter, she felt truly satisfied for the first time in her life… as if she had pushed Ian… until at last he'd responded fully and completely… determined to satisfy her. "If this is what it's like to be an immortal and feel the power of the quickening… then I am truly blessed," she thought with a laugh. She felt his presence approaching… and smiled… waiting for him. She grabbed a pillow and fluffed it as she eyed the door.

Ian entered with a tray… a wide grin across his face. "Awake at last, sleepyhead?"

"Mmmmm…" Alisaunne said with a sigh. "Why did you let me sleep so late?"

Ian set the tray on their bed and climbed up beside her. On the tray were some fresh dates… some strong black coffee, and some cinnamon bread. Sitting up, Alisauune poured some of the strong drink and shuddered at its bitter taste.

"I felt you needed to sleep since you got so little the last two nights," Ian grinned at her teasingly.

"Oh… and you slept?"

Ian laughed… "A bit more than you." He shrugged.

Alisaunne nibbled on some dates… then she closed her eyes. "Where's Duncan… I don't really sense him."

"He didn't come back last night." Ian said soberly.

"What do you mean he didn't come back?" She sat up suddenly… attempting to recall just when he'd left. "He was here… we all three came back after the challenge… then…" She stopped.

"He left after we came upstairs," Ian offered simply.

"Left? Why?"

The boy shook his head and ran one hand through his black-dyed locks. "I guess he wanted to give us some privacy… We were really obvious about what we were planning on doing."

"Honestly!" Alisaunne sat back on their bed… her back against the headboard. "One would think he was some old grandmother. There are times he seems to be positively scandalized by us."

Ian's face reddened beneath his darkened skin. "Well… sometimes you are a bit more forward than most ladies of my youth… or his."

"I thought you liked me being a little forward," she teased.

"Aye lass, I do… but I think Duncan may have thought it might be better to take a walk for while."

"But he should have been back by now. I've never known him to stay away all night."

"Aye… but you've entered the game now Alisaunne. He'll be moving on soon. He's taught you all he can." Ian's clear blue eyes met hers and he smiled wanly. "We'll have to be deciding where we'll be heading soon… That is if you still want me with you?" There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Alisaunne smiled and leaned forward to kiss the end of his nose. "What do you think?" she said with a laugh. All thoughts of Duncan or breakfast faded from her mind as she nuzzled Ian's ear, biting his earlobe playfully.

Later… she'd climbed to the roof to work out. Swiftly and confidently she went through the warm-ups… pushing herself to be faster… more economical in her movements as Duncan had taught her she must be.

"You must dedicate a part of each day to this Alisaunne for the rest of your life… if you don't… you won't have a long life. The game is reaching an endpoint. The Gathering is here. Only the best will survive."

"You mean only the one?"

Duncan had nodded. "That's what I was taught."

"But you think now it might be different… that more than one might survive?" Her thoughts had been on Ian at the time… of what living without him might be like.

"I don't know. None of us do. Part of me hopes that it won't come to that… ever… but we have to prepare for it… as if it must."

Movement after movement… Alisaunne used her hands and her feet as weapons in her stylized routine.

"Your body must learn it so well… that it reacts without your thinking about what you need to do." Duncan had said.

So she moved… her eyes unfocused… her mind at rest… movement after movement. Finally satisfied, a fine film of sweat covering her body, cooling her skin in the noon breeze, she crossed to the edge of the building to drink some water.

It was from there that she first noticed the man in the Panama hat… hiding in the shadows of the building opposite their compound. After watching him for a few minutes, she motioned to Ian who had just come out on the roof. "Ian," Alisaunne called. When he came to stand beside her, she pointed. "Do you see him?"

"Aye, we likely picked up a Watcher yesterday. We'll need to lose him before we leave here."

"A Watcher?" She turned to him… confused.

"Mortals who keep tabs on many of us. Duncan told me about them… they don't interfere… but they give me the heebie-jeebies. That's why we had to get you out of Paris so fast… Did he not mention them to you?" Ian shrugged as if it were old news.

"Evidently not." Alisaunne watched the man while she continued to drink her water. He could not see her from where he was… but she could see him. The man just stood there… doing nothing… just reading a newspaper and occasionally glancing around. Alisaunne finished her water. "Should we do anything about him?"

"Only after Duncan gets back. As I said… Duncan told me they've watched our kind for centuries… but I gather he was hoping none would find us here. Perhaps that one was on Hassan… although I could have sworn no one could see the challenge."

Alisaunne turned with a laugh. "If Duncan comes back."

"He'll be back, lass. He left everything here. He wouldn't leave here without that old computer of his… that laptop… and a few other things."

"What if something happened to him?" Alisaunne suddenly asked… worried.

Ian's reply tried to make light of her fears. "He's a great warrior Alisaunne. He's defeated many an immortal. He'll not be an easy man to kill."

Alisaunne sighed. "I suppose… but I think I'll worry until he gets back." She kissed Ian's cheek lightly, then headed into the house for a shower.

Ian continued to gaze down at their Watcher. He was far more worried than he'd let on. Duncan would never have left here had he seen the man… That he had left… indicated to Ian that the Highlander had not noticed him. Or, and this was far more worrisome to the young Welshman, the Watcher or his friends had way-layed MacLeod somehow… and were now lying in wait for the two of them. Ian narrowed his glance and then turned abruptly to work out. Not if he could help it! The big problem, as far as he could figure, was to keep Alisaunne here and not let her go running off to find MacLeod. Ian had to trust that Duncan would be back. If it were at all possible… Duncan would be back.

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Paris

Henry Rawlins looked over Tom Wheeler's report with interest. "Hassan is no loss… we would only have used him as bait or in the preliminary test runs. But these three Wheeler is keeping an eye on interest me. Have we any ideas about who they are?"

"Not at present Mr. Rawlins." Avril Mischkov explained.

Rawlins sat back in his leather office chair and rocked back and forth slightly. A smirk crossed his face and he winked. "Who's missing that we still need to locate."

"MacLeod?"

Rawlins nodded with a knowing smile. "Get word to Wheeler to stay out of sight. He may have just earned bonus money if one of these is MacLeod."

"And the other two."

Rawlins closed the file and passed it to Mischkov. "Likely only bait and unimportant; possibly MacLeod's students. Once we get MacLeod, if it is him, then the boy and the young woman are negligible. Pass the word." With that… Rawlins returned to observing his monitor. He clicked the remote and watched them one by one… smiling with an eager sense of accomplishmnet. Soon… he'd have them all… or at least the all the ones he needed… and then the next phase of his grand scheme would begin.