Chapter Six
It was like coming through a haze of pain. Her body felt different and not yet all there. Coming slowly aware, Beth laid there with her eyes closed listening to the men talk.
There was so much to think about and she felt overwhelmed with emotions. The pain had been forceful and the fetus had grown from that last quickening as if months passed in a day. Now a small swelling would be difficult to hide.
If she risked a quickening now would it be too dangerous? She whispered, "Why did it have to be this way?" She anguished without any hope or a happily ever after ending.
Holding her hands over face, she quietly began to cry. Connor sat beside her and asked, "Elizabeth what's wrong?" He said to her tenderly. "Are you in any pain?"
She looked at him through her tears and said quietly, "Yes, everywhere. I'm in pain everywhere." Now the hormones were pouring into her system with emotions she had never experienced.
He offered a comforting hand, "I will help you any way I can."
Beth carefully sat up and said, "I should have killed him in Paris when I had the chance."
Connor was puzzled at her words asking, "What is wrong with you?"
Frank added, "Beth you can't blame him because he didn't know this would happen to you."
She looked Frank in the eye and said, "Yes, that's true but YOU knew." She stood up feeling shaky but wanted to confront him. She accused McFadden, "You knew enough to order him to bring me to Scotland!"
Beth shook her head sadly saying, "You should have warned him."
McFadden returned her stare and said, "Yes that might be true I could have warned him." Then he quietly admitted, "I didn't want to."
She felt a smoldering anger that turned into a dull pain she said, "I do hate you. And I hold you responsible."
Connor stepped between the two asking, "Will one of you please tell me what this is about? What happened to you this morning? Why did you collapse before you could kill Korbin?"
Elizabeth looked at Connor to explain in simple terms, "We have this connection so when Duncan has a combat and wins the quickening affects me."
"I've never heard of this before," he remarked. He questioned further, "Is this a mental connection?"
"No," she said with a sigh, "it's bigger than that."
Going to the window, she closed her eyes and focused her mind very hard. Reaching out with her thoughts, she felt the distance between Duncan and herself.
Turning back to Connor and Frank she said, "We should go downstairs to the common room. I want to eat now and he will be here very soon."
Beth picked up her brown coat and put it on as she reached the door. Opening it, she did not pause as she made her way down the stairs.
"How can she know that?" Connor asked Frank as he watched her leave the room.
McFadden just tilted his head toward the door and replied, "Their connection is unique."
They followed Beth from the small bedroom to the day room below reserved for meals. A quiet group took a table in the back to wait for what was to come.
A tall man walked past the edge of the small town. He looked around quickly feeling something recognizable about it. Duncan walked down the street until the Inn came into view tucked beside a grove of trees.
Leaving the fuel container outside he felt there was more than one immortal inside. Being cautious, his hand went under his coat to touch the hilt of his sword.
Pushing the door open Duncan stepped inside until his eyes adjusted to the interior enough to see the dining area towards the back of the Inn. He could hear quiet conversations taking place and the smell of good food.
Staying on guard, he approached the common room with many pairs of eyes turning his way some out of curiosity and some with recognition.
Beth felt him coming but resolved not make a scene. However, when she looked into his face, she saw so much there; pain, relief, regret, sorrow and joy.
He walked over to the table, nodded to the group. She stood up and put her arms around his waist as he returned the embrace.
"Beth I'm so sorry," he began to tell her.
"I know you must have had no choice." She replied, "You can tell me about it later."
Frank McFadden stood up and asked Duncan, "Where is Deahna?"
Duncan looked at Frank as if he just noticed him. He took a minute to collect his thoughts and said, "She's gone Frank. It happened about an hour ago. From the look of it probably kidnapped."
Color drained from the Grand Immortal's face. He sank back into his chair. Then he asked, "Tell me everything from the day we parted."
Duncan nodded and looked next to Connor and gave him a weak smile. "Good to see you too, Connor. I wish it were in happier times." He managed to say without giving too much away.
Connor stood up to shake his hand firmly. He replied, "And to you Duncan. We have much to talk about."
Duncan took a seat at the table and everyone pulled their chair closer.
After a moment, he signaled to the serving girl. Everyone else had his or her meal so after she took his order Duncan started telling Frank about the past fourteen days.
His meal arrived so he talked between bites. They continued to eat while listening to his brief accounts of every day except that morning.
Feeling anxious Frank asked, "So that brings us to sunrise. Duncan what happened after you ran out of gas?"
Duncan looked at them and said quietly, "The rest needs to be told in private."
Standing up he took Beth's hand leading her out of the Inn. Frank and Connor followed anxious to hear the rest.
Connor stopped long enough to pay their check and then quickly caught up with Frank. His thoughts kept coming back to one question still not answered. What were all three hiding from him?
Once outside Duncan turned towards the grove of trees. Beth walked beside him and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
As they stepped past the trees into a clearing Duncan said, "This is where you were this morning." It was a statement not a question.
Beth nodded and asked, "You saw me?"
He stopped walking and turned to face her. He answered, "I saw you, felt your pain and knew what it cost you."
She asked him, "Do you know how much time we have left?"
"I hate to break this up," said Frank, "But Deahna may not have much time Duncan please tell me the rest."
He walked a few steps further as he talked with his arm around Beth and Frank beside him. Connor stayed close enough to hear all of it.
"I left Deahna in the car beside the road and I was going to buy the petrol here at this town. I didn't get very far when an immortal, probably sent by Egan, challenged me."
He looked over at Connor to emphasize a point. "She was very good and was determined to win. It was as if she had trained only for the purpose to defeat me. I didn't want to kill her but I knew if I let her go there would be no second chance."
He showed them the many cuts on his skin that were still visible.
Amongst the trees, they sat down on a bench in a garden beyond the Inn. It smelled so fresh from the morning rain. The flowers were beginning to open. The scene was the opposite of what Duncan was feeling.
He continued to narrate, "During the quickening the atmospheric lightening struck me many times. When it was over and I went back to the car, Deahna was gone. The window was broken and the mud around the area had several footprints that I couldn't account for and there were tire tracks leading back the way we had come."
"No this is all wrong!" Frank said standing up to pace the dirt path. His usual calm demeanor finally lost control. He shouted, "They should not get involved! Not now, not ever!"
Beth spoke up asking, "I don't know what Egan thinks he will accomplish by kidnapping Deahna but shouldn't we rescue her before they leave Scotland?"
"No," Frank said, "That might be what Egan wants. If I go to her then he will have me. I might be the bigger prize to him."
Duncan spoke up, "Beth is right for this reason," he pointed out, "Think of how much she knows Frank. How much will Deahna endure before she talks?"
Frank told him, "She would sooner die then betray you."
"How many times can she die Frank?" Beth asked him. "How many times will Egan kill her before he gets what he wants?"
Her words chilled everyone listening and her eyes caught Frank's and held them. She whispered, "I'm so sorry."
Connor looked at Duncan and asked him, "Can you tell us more about the woman who tried to kill you?"
Duncan took the ring from his pocket he handed it to his kinsman telling him, "This came from the hand of the woman I defeated."
Connor took the ring and felt his heart rip in half. The image of Deeva came to him with her smile and her touch. He looked at Duncan with a hurtful expression in his eyes asking, "How could you? Was there any way you could have spared her life?"
"I had no choice." Duncan answered sadly.
Connor insisted angrily, "I don't believe it." He shoved his clansman and prepared to fight him.
Duncan pushed back while talking some sense into his onetime mentor, "Think for a minute! How did she know our style of fighting? How much did you train her?"
Connor kept pushing back with his pain showing. Soon the truth hit home and his anger went in another direction while his mind reflected back to all the days when Deeva asked many questions about his previous students. She made it a game to pretend she was Duncan and to show her how they trained. It seemed innocent enough at the time.
He stopped fighting against Duncan, dropped his guard and said, "Oh God she used me."
He then admitted, "I did instruct her the way I trained you." His eyes began to tear up. "She must have been out of her mind to challenge you."
Duncan saw Connor's grief and told him, "I had guessed that much but now it's over. I think she was manipulated into fighting me thinking she was saving you."
Connor wanted to be alone to think about her. For a brief time she became very important to him. He walked away from them as the vision of her beauty washed over him the same way he had lost his heart with Heather and every woman he allowed himself to open up and to love again. He had wanted an immortal wife to be his.
Frank had been watching them and saw the plans within plans. Egan Lasco was playing with them almost as a child plays with puppets.
"Duncan," he said to get his attention. "We need to prepare for the Gathering."
He looked away from where Connor disappeared to face McFadden. "I don't think Connor should be left alone. Beth," he said turning to her asking, "Will you stay near him and make sure he comes back to the Inn."
"I will follow him," she promised. Giving Duncan a kiss, she told him, "In spite of everything I missed you."
Duncan smiled back and whispered in her ear, "I've missed every moment of you."
As they parted, each kept looking back just once more until the trees blocked their view. Even then, they could still feel each other as the distance widened and knew their bond was stronger now than ever.
Duncan thought about his son that still lived as he walked back to the Inn. Frank's thoughts focused on one thing. The Gathering of Immortals.
The Airstrip in Scotland
Deahna awakened in the trunk of the kidnapper's car. It was bumping along the road very quickly and she thought they would never stop.
When they had reached their destination, they got out and opened the trunk to take her out. A man with a gun watched her every move.
"That wasn't so bad was it Mrs. McFadden?" Gordon asked her.
As Deahna stood up and straightened her clothes she asked, "What do you want with me?"
"Egan wants you alive and that's all you need to know." Davis told her.
Walking her over to the small plane Gordon instructed her, "Make this a pleasant trip and you will be treated well."
"If you give us any trouble," said Davis, "We will tie you up and keep you strapped to the seat."
Deahna decided to play along and to keep quiet. She watched Davis sit back in the pilot seat and begin his preflight checklist.
Gordon helped Deahna into the back seat and sat down next to her in the cramped quarters. He offered her nothing for her comfort until she asked, "Can I get some water on this flight?"
Gordon dug around in a knapsack and took out a water bottle handing it to her without comment.
In less than half an hour's time, the plane's engine sputtered to life and Davis checked the gages in front of him. The other men standing as lookout got back into the car and drove away as the small plane taxied down the short runway of the private airstrip. Taking the shortest route straight back to Glasgow the plane stopped at Edinburgh before going on to England and ending their journey in France.
Jamestown-Back at the Inn
Following at a proper distance Beth observed Connor while allowing him the privacy and time to grieve.
She felt a strange kinship with him in just these last two days. Cradling her swollen stomach, she stopped walking when he did.
Sinking to the ground, Connor held his face in his large hands and cried. He wanted to ask Deeva "Why?" He wished he could have stopped her. After several minutes his grief subsided.
"What are the games these mortals do play?" He asked aloud.
Beth, thinking he was asking her a question, answered him, "Egan wants the immortals enslaved to him."
"But why," Connor said with sadness. "Doesn't he know the evil we fight?" He turned to Beth a short distance away. His eyes questioned her.
"I don't think he knows." Beth told him. "He's under the control of that demon." She wondered how she knew this and elaborated, "It wants to control all of us. Ahriman wants to be the last."
Connor looked at her thoughtfully and commented, "There is still more you're not telling me."
Standing up he went over to Beth and looked at her closely. It was then he noticed how she appeared swollen in the middle.
"What has happened to you?" He asked reaching out to touch her belly. He felt movement and a presence. "It can't be," he whispered.
Beth remained silent letting his train of thought work its way around to a single conclusion.
.
