Manzana - Many thanks for the review. Is Tessa in danger from Ares? Most certainly, but swords are not the only weapons (grin).
Neoinean - This was one of the reasons I wanted to write this story. There are a number of things in cannon that I think need to be worked out before Richie can face Ares. You know I've got other things in mind! And since once Richie meets Ares everything will be different I don't have to worry about paradox any more.
Ivy - I do take your point about the time travel thing. But as I said in the prologue, I never set out to write a story about the mechanics of time travel. I was far more interested in the relationships between the characters. I guess that does require you to suspend your disbelief a little – but if they can believe in Immortals, time travel isn't that big a reach.
Sarai - LOL. I can't promise to fix everything all at once! But you get Amanda in this chapter and the others are on their way!
Bemill - I aim to please! So, the other Mac and the other Richie will feature soon. Honest!
Tammi - Glad you like it. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.
As the little group made its way back along the quay, Duncan caught sight of a car parked at a jaunty angle beside the barge. The sleek black sports car was nothing like the solid, sensible sedans that Connor favoured when he was travelling, which could only mean one thing.
"Duncan, what's wrong?" Tessa looked at him in concern.
"Nothing, sweetheart." He lied
As they entered the barge Amanda was sitting on the sofa, wearing a deceptively simple red dress that accentuated every single one of her considerable assets.
"Amanda, sweetheart, it's always good to see you." Richie quipped as he greeted her with open arms.
"Its good to be seen, Richard," Amanda smiled back as she hugged him gently, mindful of his still healing wounds. "I've missed those baby blues of yours." She patted his cheek.
"My second greatest asset." Richie waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" Tessa cut in a bit tartly.
"Aw, c'mon Tess, all I've done for the last few days is rest. I'm dying of boredom."
"And you are still not well," Tessa crossed her arms. "I have made up the bed in the spare room. You will be more comfortable there."
"You're sending me to my room?" Richie grinned broadly as he leant over to give her an impulsive kiss on the cheek. "God Tess, I've missed you."
"I'm sorry," Tessa blushed slightly, aware of how ridiculous she was being. He was a hundred and five after all. She supposed he could do, as he liked. "But you really don't look well."
"Actually," Richie made a face. "What I'd really like is a shower. Its like I can still feel Ares crawling all over me."
Seeing Tessa about to protest, Duncan stepped in. Not withstanding the fact that the lad looked like he could barely stand up straight he could understand the need to wash Ares' touch away.
"How about a bath instead?" He negotiated.
"Want me to scrub your back?" Amanda purred.
Tessa glowered.
"Amanda," Duncan caught her arm and held her back as she went to follow Tessa and Richie to the bathroom. "What the hell are you playing at?"
His tone was brusque. He needed to make it clear that any idea that they might simply pick their relationship up where they had left off should be be put right out of her mind. He was with Tessa and that was an end to it.
He was prepared for her pout. For the way she sulked so prettily when things didn't go exactly her way. Her swift look of hurt took him by surprise, followed by the too bright smile she always used to hide her real feelings.
"Now Duncan is that any way to talk to a girl who is doing you a favour?" she asked in a brittle voice.
Not sure why she had taken his rejection so hard he nonetheless realised he had hurt her feelings and he hadn't meant to do that. He understood better than anyone, except perhaps Rebecca, how vulnerable she really was.
"I'm sorry."
He reached out and stroked her face in sincere apology. The softly spoken Russian a deliberate reference to their time spent travelling together with the Circus.
"That's all right Duncan," Her eyes twinkled mischievously as she replied in the same language. "I'm sure I can think of a way for you to make it up to me."
"Amanda." he rolled his eyes.
"Amanda is coming with me to the nunnery," Tessa's voice put in from the top of the stairs where she stood looking uncertainly from one to the other, trying to gauge the undercurrents of emotion flowing between them as they conversed in a language she couldn't understand. "Darius did not think I should be alone."
"I'm sure we'll find lots to talk about." Amanda smiled.
Duncan's heart sank.
"I can take a bath by myself you know," Richie pointed out, a trifle acerbically as both Duncan and Methos hovered in the in the small bathroom. "I've been doing it for a real long time."
"We're not stopping you," Methos pointed out, from his perch on the laundry basket. "You have to admit. Macleod, it's a sensible precaution."
"But Amanda?" Duncan pleaded from the doorway. "Couldn't you go with her?"
"And leave you alone here with Amanda? Really Macleod, how did you ever live this long?""
"Alright, then I'll call Connor."
"You can try. I'm sure his message service will pick up. Of course, you might have to wait a few decades."
"He's gone back to the future?" Duncan realised.
"This is a government funded project. They tend to get a bit nervous if someone doesn't show up for work every now and again. Besides we needed a few things. He'll be back soon," He looked over at Richie. "You're not making much progress."
"I'm waiting for some privacy," Richie scowled. "Do you really think Ares will go after Tessa on Holy Ground?"
"I don't know, but I think we have to be ready if he does."
"But Tessa's mortal. She's not part of the Game." Duncan protested.
"Its not that simple. Tessa's as much a part of this as any of us and Ares knows it."
"This is my fault," Richie blamed himself. "I should never have come back here. I've just put her in danger all over again."
"Hey," Methos chided. "The Prophecy was put in motion eons before you were even born. None of this is your fault."
"Oh God," Duncan's mouth went dry as the realisation struck. He'd been too busy before trying to absorb the broader implications of the Prophecy to notice the oblique reference but now it all made sense, "and from the spring of youth the brown warrior will raise him to his destiny in the brief light of summer and be his strength through all the seasons of his life."
"Exactly." Methos nodded.
"What?" Richie asked.
"Its Tessa," Duncan explained. Seeing Richie's look of confusion, he continued. "What does the name Tessa mean?"
"Um," Richie frowned in concentration. "Isn't it like a version of Theresa?"
"And one origin of Theresa comes from the Greek, theros."
"Summer?" Richie blinked. "The brief light of summer is Tessa?"
"So, you see," Methos shrugged. "She has to be protected. And right now Amanda's the only person available for the job."
"What about Rebecca?" Richie suggested. "She could look after Tess and keep Amanda in line."
"Rebecca?" Duncan straightened. "She's in France?"
"Richie we talked about this," Methos vetoed that idea. "The Prophecy doesn't like us altering its purpose. Ares changing things gives us the advantage. But if we try and alter things too much, we'll tip the balance of power in his favour. Rebecca won't thank you for that."
"You've spoken to her," Richie realised. "You know where she is."
"I wanted to be sure she was safe and well and not in any danger," Methos pointed out. "Now I want to try and keep it that way. And so should you."
"But .."
"Richard," Methos eyes narrowed. "Let it drop. Tessa will be quite safe with Amanda."
"You think so?" Duncan grimaced. "All that time cloistered together in a nunnery. They're bound to get on each others nerves."
"Oh, come on Macleod. It could be worse." Methos smirked.
"How?"
"They could actually get on."
"Alright," Duncan gently steered Richie into the bedroom and supported him with one arm as he pulled back the covers. "In you get."
"Thanks."
Richie sank down onto the soft mattress and closed his eyes gratefully. It seemed like bone in his body protested and every cut throbbed with pain. Getting his clothes off had been a long and tedious process and rather than soothing his aches the warm water just seemed to have woken everything up. Even so he managed a small smile as he felt Duncan tuck the bedclothes around him.
"Just like old times." He murmured without opening his eyes.
"We did this a lot huh?" Duncan smiled at him.
"I was kinda a trouble magnet when I was a kid. When I first met you and Tess I was living on the streets. I burnt my hand on this manifold. It was pretty bad. I probably would have died if you guys hadn't taken me in."
"You didn't have any family?"
"I moved around a lot, orphanages and foster homes and the like. It's hard to make connections when you never stay in one place very long."
Duncan hesitated, not entirely sure that he should ask what he needed. It wasn't really his business after all. Richie was a man grown, well able to take care of his own affairs. Nonetheless, if Richie had died at nineteen somewhere out there the bastards that did that to him was alive and well. He was quite keen to change that.
"They hurt you." His voice grated slightly. The thin white scars on the back of the lad's legs had made him sick to his stomach.
Richie opened one eye and regarded him with fond affection.
"Chill Mac. Stop mentally sharpening your sword. It was a long time ago. I'm over it."
Duncan wondered whether to call him on the obvious lie. Instead he offered a little truth of his own.
"I wouldn't be."
Both eyes opened and regarded him steadily. Then Richie sighed.
"Alright, so I'm not. But you made up for a lot Mac. A whole dammed lot."
"After Tessa died .." He could hardly voice the thought. Many was the time he had lain awake nights watching Tessa sleep and torturing himself with the thoughts of what his life would be like when she was inevitable taken. He had always known that it would be hard. But to loose her so soon and in such a manner it would have been brutal. He was afraid that he would have been so consumed by his grief that he would not have been able to give the lad the attention he so obviously craved. And would have desperately needed in those first few years of Immortality. "Was I fair to you?"
"I didn't make things easy for you," Richie remembered ruefully, making himself more comfortable. "I was kinda mixed up back then."
"Dying has a tendency to do that to people."
"I guess," Richie's eyes drifted closed. But he kept talking. "Part of me felt bad that I had lived when Tessa was gone. The other part of me was so shit scared of being Immortal. Now all these dudes with swords were gonna come for me. I figured it was just a matter of time before someone whacked me."
"Yet, you survived." He hoped that meant he had at least taught the lad well.
"You'd just lost Tessa. You weren't about to lose me too. Plus when we trained hard it kept the nightmares away."
Duncan nodded. He'd seen when they were working on the barge how physical labour centred the lad. Noting the dark circles around his eyes, he realised that wasn't an option right now. Richie needed at least another daybefore he'd be back to full strength.And Lord knows the lad needed his rest. He reached out took his hand in a gentle grip.
"Go to sleep, Rich. I'll keep watch."
"Thanks, Dad." Richie murmured as sleep claimed him.
Duncan's heart skipped a beat. The lad didn't mean him of course. He was thinking of the other Macleod, the man who had raised him. But sitting here, watching him sleep, trusting implicitly that the Scot would keep watch, that didn't seem to matter.
This felt right.
"Sleep well my bonnie lad," he murmured. "Da will keep the nightmares at bay."
Lord knows he wasn't going to let anyone or anything else hurt this lad if it was in his power to avoid it.
"How is he?" Methos asked quietly, as he passed Duncan a tumbler full of whiskey and sprawled on the end of the bed with his beer.
"He was a little restless earlier. But he seems to be sleeping now."
"Good," Methos swirled his beer around in the bottle. "Maybe, he can finally shrug off some of the guilt he's being carrying all these years."
"I want to meet my Watcher," Duncan's tone was deadly "I want to meet the man who stood by and did nothing while my family were gunned down in the street."
"Macleod, it wasn't like that."
"Of course, it wasn't. He didn't just stand there. He filmed it."
"And if he'd shouted a warning or tried to rush him he'd just have provoked him into shooting sooner. Or maybe you would feel better if he had killed Rozca?"
"Of course not," Duncan denied hotly. Although in his heart of hearts he wasn't at all sure that wasn't exactly what he wanted. "But just to stand there and watch. Where's the honour in that?"
"Its what the Watchers do. They watch and they record."
"So, they can they hunt us?" Duncan growled.
"No, they don't interfere. Well not usually. They've been doing it for centuries."
"Centuries?" That got Duncan's attention. "I think I would have noticed." He was a warrior, trained to be aware of his surroundings. It seemed unthinkable that someone had managed to follow him around for centuries without his knowledge.
"Come on, Macleod. Who's going to notice another face in the crowd? You're trained to be alert to danger. These people are armed with notebooks and tape recorders, not AK-47s. I happen to know you've met your watchers on at least three occasions. But you never saw them as a threat because they weren't."
"What about now?"
"Joe's a good man and your friend. You read the eulogy at his funeral."
"Is he Watching us now?"
"Right now he's off in New York investigating a sighting of your double. Since you almost never leave the barge, never mind Paris, since you met Tessa, they've drafted in some rookie from research to take notes. Namely me. Its complicated but it means I can keep track of what they know about us."
"You're a Watcher?"
"Well, I was. Or rather Adam Pierson was."
"You called yourself Adam?" Duncan almost choked on his drink. "Don't you think that was a little obvious?"
"Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight."
"Does Ares have a Watcher?"
"Ares is one of the few Ancient Immortals left who knows what the Watchers are and how to avoid them. They don't even know he exists."
Duncan scrubbed at his face. "I'm beginning to understand why you drink so much beer."
"One of mankind's better inventions." Methos agreed as he toasted him with his bottle.
"If you disregard liver failure and heart disease."
"A body cannot live without salt. Yet in excess it is a deadly poison," Methos shook his head. "Everything has its price."
"Even love?"
"Especially love," Methos glanced fondly at the sleeping blonde Immortal. "That doesn't mean it isn't worth it."
Tessa tried to concentrate on the sketch of the marble statute, which she hoped to integrate into the commission for M Dumas. But her heart wasn't in it. She missed Duncan and hated not knowing what was happening. She was worried about Richie and resented the necessity to hide in seclusion like some damsel in distress. The sisters had been very kind, although the ease with which Amanda had slipped into the religious life made her feel slightly gauche.
Amanda.
She knew she was being unreasonable, a man whose life spanned four centuries had to have some past after all. She had always known that there had been other women in his life. She just hadn't expected to meet any of them. Especially not one who had had lifetimes to practice her feminine allures and whose beauty would never by dimmed by the passage of time.
She shook her head sharply.
She had nothing to be jealous of. Duncan had had his time with Amanda and moved on. He had chosen to be with her now and nothing in the last twelve years had ever given her the slightest cause to doubt Duncan's fidelity.
"So, this is where you are hiding."
The cool masculine tones cut into her thoughts without warning, causing her to look up sharply, with a gasp of surprise. Seeing the glint of satisfaction in Ares eyes at her discomfort, she drew herself up and forced a note of contempt into her voice.
"It is not hiding. I simply refuse to play your Game."
"You think you can escape your destiny?" Ares shook his head. "Poor little Tessa. Trying to be the brave modern woman, yet scurrying to the safety of the cloister like a medieval maiden when her men folk command."
"You know nothing of me." Tessa retorted, her eyes flashing. "This was my choice."
"I know you better than you know yourself," Ares scoffed. "You play at being an artist, using Macleod's money to protect you from the realities of life. You long for children but you are not strong enough to leave him. To the world you are a couple, but in your heart you know that the things he has told you about his past wouldn't even fill one lifetime, never mind four centuries."
"I know that he loves me."
"You still believe that?" Ares laughed mockingly. "I thought so too at one time. I imagined your death would devastate him, since he loved you so deeply. But I was wrong.It didn't take him long to find someone else."
"Then I am glad for him," Tessa declared stoutly. "If you knew anything of love, you would understand this."
"Before you were even a month in your grave?" Ares scoffed. "You should have seen your darling beloved, rutting around in the dirt like an animal. That's how much your precious memory meant to him. You think you are the love of his life, but you are merely a passing distraction, until he can be with the one he truly desires."
Ares positively glowedin satisfaction as he saw something in Tessa's expression faltered as he hit the raw nerve
"Now, do not feel badly my dear, how can you possibly hope to compete with a woman whom he has loved for centuries?"
"I do not believe you. It is all a lie." Tessa railed.
"Oh, you don't have to take my word for it. You can ask any of them. Richie was best man at their wedding. Methos gave away the bride. Connor conducted the ceremony. Everyone says that Duncan and Amanda are made for each other."
"Wedding?" Tessa's mouth went dry. "Amanda is his wife?"