Je Suis Prest - Homeward Bound
Frank pulled into the parking area and stopped. He went to the boot, opened it and handed Jamie the weapons, not knowing which were Murtagh's or his. He watched as Jamie and Murtagh sorted them out and belted, buckled and tucked every one of them into place then adjusted them so the weight and position were just so. It would not do for one of them to reach for a weapon and not have it right where it should be. He realized just how dangerous and volatile a time it was they were voluntarily going back to. For Jamie, with a price on his head, every day brought the possibility of arrest or even death at the hands of British Soldiers that hunted him, such as his own family relation, Captain Jonathon Wolverton Randall of his Majesty's Eight Dragoons. Both Murtagh and Jamie had referred to his highly esteemed family member as Black Jack Randall. Both had pronounced the name with hatred seeped in a person knowledge of the man. Both men had in fact, tried to run him personally, through with a sword when they each first encountered him thinking he was, in fact, this very same family relation. It had shocked him when Jamie told of how he had come to have those marks on his back. Made by, what all his research led him to believe was, an honorable man, the very man he acquired his own middle name from. The Captain was a family legend. It made him realize just how little of the actual person you learn about when you find a family name recorded. History doesn't always record the facts. You barely touch the surface of understanding the person, certainly never their soul. Jamie had opened his eyes to how very little one knows of the person that resides behind the name. Talk about your proverbial skeletons in the closet.
When Jamie and Murtagh go back through the stones there was no telling what would be waiting on the other side; they needed to be prepared for anything. It was right at that very moment that Frank realized how very much he admired Jamie. He reminded himself that Jamie was barely a man, only 22, and yet held the wisdom and leadership skills that matched and in some ways exceeded his very own. Jamie was almost 20 years his junior and Frank had extensive military training during the war; he held a Captain's rank and MI6 clearance as well as a Doctorate in Jacobite History. Jamie had tutors growing up he'd said, but only a year of formal education, briefly in France, yet he spoke and read four languages that he, himself, was personally aware of. Jamie had experienced so much loss and pain yet shouldered so much responsibility. Now with the added knowledge of what he knew of Bonnie Prince Charles and that fateful day at Culloden, he bore new responsibilities on top of it all. Jamie, as a Laird, would go back to take care of what was his, his family, the farm, the tenants, neighbors and friends. There was not a moments hesitation in his decision. So much honor invested in the choice. Many a man would cower under the weight of that decision, choose not go back, would think solely of their own safety rather than return and fight for the lives of others, armed with the knowledge that you would most likely fail or die trying.
"I do'na ken why we are no bringing the lass Jamie," Murtagh made one last attempt. "Frank, I'm sure would run this machine of his back and fetch her..." he stated rather than asked. The lass should be come'n, that's all he ken, know'n the way Jamie felt about her and all. It just felt wrong no have'n her with them, like a piece was miss'n. This lass completed his godson. Jamie had been wandering aimlessly, searching for something. Murtagh never ken what, but whatever it was, the lad had finally found it, that missing piece, in this sassenach. The look he received from Jamie made him stop talk'n. He finished adjusting his sword and dirk and walked away from the machine.
Frank understood Jamie's decision, where Murtagh did not. Jamie loved Claire enough to need to keep her safe. Her safety was paramount. If he could, Frank knew Jamie would return to Claire. Frank, a studier of history, also understood that Jamie would never be coming back. He believed Jamie knew that as well.
Claire, Frank thought. What of Claire? Jamie had given him no last minute instructions concerning her. How odd.
"Mrs. Graham said they would be here about an hour before dawn and sun should rise at 6 am. It's 4:30 am now so we have just enough time to climb to the stone circle and find a place to hide ourselves. Mrs. Graham said we can not let the others know we are here" Frank repeated. "They are a secret coven, none of the town folk know about them. The ladies would not want to risk being found out or recognized." According to Reverend Wakefield, most of the town knew of the coven, who was a part of it and though they would never admit it, they were proud of their local witches. Let the ladies have their little secret the Reverend had advised Frank.
Mrs. Graham had also said that their ceremony would open the stones, call to the sun to bring the next season, yes, but they also would be unlocking the stones, to open them, allowing travel for those that heard the stones call. She said that might have been how Jamie and Murtagh had come through; druids might have opened the stones on the other side. They might have just been at the right place at the wrong time, so to speak.
Frank personally thought Master Raymond had something to do with all this. Deep down inside Frank thought the guy was just a little creepy. And very, very dodgy. And vague. The man never really answered any of Frank's direct questions; he was always so ambiguous with his responses. Once Frank had asked the man, as a bit of a test, if the sky were blue and the bloody man went on for half an hour about which color of blue Frank might be referring to...and started naming all the different colors and various shades. Was Frank, perhaps, speaking of an Egyptian or Cerulean blue that always seemed to be the color of a sky over water or maybe more of a Sapphire or Cobalt which always took ones breath away after a rain storm? Perhaps Frank had meant a Turquoise blue like the Starlings eggs or Azure, but that was really more the color of water rather than sky. Proof, Frank thought, that Raymond was indeed a bit of a strange beast. Raymond raised more questions than he ever answered, in Frank's humble opinion.
Frank really did not much care for the interest Raymond displayed in Claire either. He was always hovering about when she was little. Not that he had personally witnessed most of the visits, just things that Lambert had said in passing. When Claire and Lambert were in Peru, at a dig isolated high in the Andes at Machu Picchu, Master Raymond had arrived to help with Claire's adjustment to Henry and Julia's deaths, distracting her by starting her lessons, mostly in botany, Lambert had said. Why would the man make a trip to a destination, that by ship, canoe, pack mule, and hiking took almost a month of travel to reach, for a child he had never met, to help a friend he hardly knew? Then once again while living in the Jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico at the Chichen Itza site, Raymond had arrived and began to teach Claire French, of all things, as well as continued botany lessons. That one made little sense as well, the travel was less lengthy and less involved, true. Simply a ship to the Port of Progreso, just outside Merida and then pack mule to the actual site. Two weeks travel at the most. Yet the man started to teach her French. When was Claire going to need that? There were no current digs going on in France. Lambert was vague with his answers to his questions concerning Master Raymond. Frank felt like he was protecting Raymond for some reason. Lambert had never told him much specifically about Raymond either. How old was Master Raymond? Where was he was from? How did Lambert and Raymond first meet? Lambert never answered any of them, always dodged the question, gave vague replies or had to leave abruptly, to talk to one of the interns...
Frank had met Master Raymond, up until last night, only once, when he had spent that summer in Egypt on Lambert's dig site. Claire was about 8 and he had just turned 21 and working on his Masters. She was a wild, independent thing even at such a young age. She could hold her own in an adult conversation, she drank her coffee black and strong, took shots of whiskey and rolled and lit Lambert's cigarettes for him. She saw to the meals and laundry and was already helping to catalog finds. He would put money on a bet she had already had her first kiss as well; that very thought had made him jealous, much like the moment he realized Jamie had won Claire's heart. He sighed. He had thought she was beautiful even then, a little pervy, he knew, but that's how he felt; he never told anyone. Master Raymond had been almost cavalier with him; kept calling him Captain instead of Frank or Randall, making reference to a rank he would not hold for another 10 years, until Britain entered WW2. What was that all about? Raymond watched him like an elephant protecting its calf. No teeth or claws, but ever alert, flapping it's ears and kicking up dust in an effort to protect Claire. It's like the old man knew he was having impure thoughts about her. Like he had told himself, the guy was creepy.
He had been very jealous of the hold the man had over Claire's attention that summer. They would speak only in French, a language all to themselves, as no one else in camp understood a word of it except Bonjour. Yet here was Master Raymond, a chemist by trade, at a major dig in Egypt, spending time with young 8 year old girl, unrelated to him. He and Lambert running secretly around the camp like a couple of frat boys whispering and disappearing into the pyramid for hours at time. They moving things in and out of Lambert's tent when Claire was asleep. And then one morning Raymond was just gone. No explanation given. No sign of him, like he had never been there. The same had been true of his arrival. One morning, he just appeared in camp. Both wholly unconnected with any of the arriving or departing camel caravans and a stranger would need a caravan as a guide to find the dig site or Cairo.
Jamie looked at Frank. Just standing there staring. Jamie turned to see what held the man's fascination. Nothing, except trees, brush and pitch black. It was like the man was in a trance, staring off into no where.
Murtagh approached. "What's the man staring at?" he asked.
"I do'na ken, but we best interrupt his thoughts and get move'n before the ladies arrive and find us, aye?"
Murtagh waved a hand in front of the man's face. No reaction. Nothing. Not even the blink of a eye. He grabbed hold of his shoulder and the man shrieked like a wee mouse. This was no soldier, that was the truth of it, he thought to himself.
"Come," Jamie said. "I think I remember the way. We need to be moving" and off he strode.
Murtagh turned and followed Jamie.
"They must be part Mountain Goat" Frank muttered under his breath as he stumbled for the hundredth time. "How the hell can they see where they are going in the pitch dark with absolutely no light from a torch, stars or moon?" Frank was quite sure he was going to fall and break his neck. Then what would those Bloody Scottish Bastards do when he was dead?" He would ask them if he ever caught up with them. He could not even see them anymore. How the hell did they know where they were going anyway? Could they smell the Bloody Stones?
Huffing and puffing, Frank finally found himself in what appeared to be the center of the stone circle. Neither Highlander was anywhere in sight. "Jamie?" Frank whispered and turned a full 360° circle looking for him. Nothing. "Murtagh?" He tried again. Nothing. Not a sound. No movement. Where the hell could they have gone? Suddenly there is a hand over his mouth and another on his shoulder. He tries to shout and struggle but he was held firmly in place.
"Shussh, and stop struggling ye wee grommel," Jamie whispered in his ear. "Someone else has been up here, recent too" and he relaxed his grip on Frank.
Frank turns, eye wide in fear. "How do you know someone is here?" he whispers back.
"Can ye no smell man?" Jamie replied. "Someone's been burning wee herbs and such. Can ye no smell the smoke?"
Frank gently sniffed the air. Nothing. He shook his head. He took a deeper breath. Still nothing, and shook his head No again.
"Tsssst" Jamie hissed. "Ye'll never been any kind of hunter. Are ye sure we have no missed the bana-bhuidseach?" witches
"No the ladies have no come yet. I have walked the outside of the circle. Someone has most certainly been here, Jamie. Recently too. I think there was more than one. One walked the outside of the circle, looks to have stopped at each of the stones. Then two circled the inside, burning whatever it was they were burning."
Frank jumped at the sound of Murtagh's voice. He had no idea he was here as well. "Now how can you possibly know that. It's too bloody dark to see the hand right in front of my face. There is no way in hell, you can see footprints on rocks" Frank said in a clear speaking voice. "You two are bloody making things up just to try and scare me. I won't fall for it, do you hear me? So just stop all this Tom-Foolery."
"Who's Tomas Foller?" Jamie inquired.
"What?" Frank said. "No, no, no. Tom-Foolery is an expression, not a who. Never mind. We need to find a place to safely hide. We can puzzle out who has been here while we wait."
"Over this way," Murtagh motioned as he walked away. "There is a cluster of trees and bushes. We won't be seen beneath all that and it affords us a good view of the stones.
Before they had even settled, the ladies started to arrive. All three men just watched silently. None of them had witnessed anything like it. There must have been 15 or 16 women. Frank had a difficult time counting them because they kept moving about. All had arrived in light, flowing gowns. Some were completely covered in the thin material, but three, younger, more youthful women wore a single shouldered gown, leaving one breast exposed. They had some sort of vine woven in a circle, a wreath that they wore on their heads like crowns. They each had a torch. Looked like a thick stick or branch that had something wrapped around the top, that was lit, on fire. He had not idea what flammable substance they had used to light the torches. He expected to smell petrol but did not. The women walked a dance, with set steps. If one was looking down from a tree, you could probably discern the pattern but from where Frank sat, he could not make it out. Nor did he understand one word in the songs or chants.
He recognized Mrs. Graham, very solemn she was; she obviously took this druid stuff seriously. He would remember when he thanked her for the groups help, not to tease her. He hoped this worked for Jamie and Murtagh's sake. Toward the end, and thank God because his legs were starting to cramp from crouching so long in one position, Mrs. Graham approached the large center stone, the one with the large crack, raised her arms and began to chant. The others formed two rows of a semi-circle behind her and repeated only some of the words. The ceremony ended when the sun rose over the hill. The women almost immediately walked away from the stones and down the hill, back to their cars and home. Very little conversation was going on amongst them. As the women walked away, Jamie stood up and quietly crept from their hiding spot. Murtagh and Frank followed.
"Do you hear that?" Raymond turned and asked Lambert with alarm in his voice.
"I hear nothing," Lambert replied. "Oh wait I hear Jamie and Murtagh conversing...is that what you mean?"
"No, my friend. You were right, this coven is strong. They have made a crack in my magic. The stones they are whispering. We need to stop them from touching the stone. I am not sure my magic will keep them here. The stones will let them pass, I am almost sure. We must do something my friend. It is imperative Madonna stays in this time. It is a mistake for them to go back to his time. The baby needs to be born here.
Lambert jumps to his feet and runs the distance to the stones, leaving Raymond still hidden in the brush.
"Do ye hear that Jamie? The bees are buzzing... just like the night we came." Murtagh commented as they slowly approached the center stone. They were cautious, almost guarded in their approach. Slowly stalking toward the stone, hands on their weapons, at the ready. Watching and looking like they thought perhaps the British Soldiers would come jumping out from behind the stone and attack them.
"No, Murtagh, I hear nothing but the breeze through the trees." The sun was full up now. It was easy to see in all directions.
Jamie turned to Frank, who was standing at the edge of the circle, having not stepped inside. "How do we do this, Frank?" he asked. "Does one touch it and then the other or do we need to touch it together?"
Frank shrugged his shoulders in response. "I have no idea," he said. "I don't hear any bees either. Maybe we should be asking Murtagh, since they seem to be talking to him" and Frank looked directly at Murtagh. "How did you manage it the first time? To come through before? You said you fell?"
"Aye," Murtagh replied. "I had hold of Jamie's arm. I was trying to pull ye up on the horse, remember?" he said looking at Jamie. "The horse fell and when I woke up I was over there in the brush... and he pointed and saw Lambert running up waving his arms.
At the sight of Murtagh, Lambert yelled "STOP!".
Jamie immediately looked passed Lambert for a glimpse of Claire, for surely that is why Lambert was here running up the hill to stop them. He did'na see her. He walked a couple of steps in Lambert's direction, looking passed the man, expecting his sassenach to magically appear running toward him. He actually held his arms out in anticipation. His heartbeat raced as he scanned down the slope of the hill and felt a sharp pain of sadness enter his heart when he realized Claire was no with him. She had not come. He lowered his gaze as he lowered his arms. No more Claire, he thought sadly. He could not be mad at her, he had no one to blame but himself. He had told her emphatically No and he stood firmly by that decision right up until this very moment. His heart wanted her by his side, always. But his heid ken the choice he had made was the right one, the only one for her. She belonged here. She was safe here. She would be in danger if she had gone back with him. He would not risk her safety, her life, just because he loved her with everything he had. Because he loved her so very much, he had to leave her here, even if it broke his own heart to do it.
Lambert was bent over, panting in front of Jamie. Murtagh walked over and placed a hand on the auld man's back. He had no idea who this man was, had never seen him before, but Jamie seemed to ken him and the auld man certainly ken Jamie. "There there, auld man, take it easy, get ye breath. We'll wait, ye ken."
"Claire?" Jamie asked. "Is she with ye, Lambert? Did she come?" Jamie asked.
"She isn't with you?" Lambert answered in shock and looked at the three men but saw no Claire. "Claire said she was going back with you, Jamie. To be with you. She would have the baby in your time, at Lallybroch, she told me. She assured me everything would be alright. That you would take care of her and the child. Love them both."
"Baby?" Exclaimed Jamie and definitely looked confused.
"Bairn?" Smiled Murtagh then turned to Jamie with a much sterner look and asked, "Ye've bedded the sassenach?"
Jamie nodded.
Murtagh raised an eyebrow in an unasked question concerning marriage...
Jamie shook his head no and opened his mouth to explain...
When Frank whispered sadly, "Claire's pregnant?"
Jamie, Murtagh and Lambert all turned and looked at Frank.
"Oh, right. Like no one here knows I have been in love with that woman my entire life. Since I met her in Egypt. You knew that Lambert" and Frank shot Lambert a look of knowing. "Jamie certainly knew I was... very... desirous... of Claire... the very night we met. Murtagh, alright, Murtagh might not have known" and Frank threw his hands up in disgust.
"Oh I ken. I just also ken how much she loves Jamie, and no you, so I did'na worry so much, is all." Murtagh explained.
"Pregnant?" Jamie looked questioningly at Frank. "What is pregnant, Frank?"
"She is with child, Jamie. Apparently yours" he said with yet still a note of sadness in his voice. "I mean, I'm happy for you... you and Claire..." and he just stopped. Stopped trying to explain. He let it go.
Jamie turned to Lambert. "How do you ken? That she is with child? My bairn... how do you ken?" Jamie asked.
"Women know these things, Jamie. Plus there are tests that can be done to confirm it." Lambert explained.
"Tests? Confirm? I don't understand these words, friend Lambert." Jamie inquired. "What are tests? What does that mean?"
"Doctors can take some blood from Claire and look at it. Her blood will tell them if she is pregnant or not. She was going to have that done at the hospital, just to confirm it." he said with a smile. "Confirm means... establish, affirm, certify, authenticate."
"Authenticate, aye I ken that word. Affirm as well." Jamie said. "Her belly is still flat, so the test will let us ken if she is with bairn before her belly starts to show us?" He turned and smiled at Murtagh. "Claire is with child, Murtagh. I'm to be a da, after all" and both men smiled and embraced, thumping each other hard on the back. "My Claire...my bairn..." Jamie whispered.
"Ye did no marry the lass, Jamie? No even hand-fast? Tssst!" Murtagh said as he clicked his tongue. "AND, ye were gon'na leave her ta boot? What were ye think'n?"
Murtagh turned to Frank. "Is there still time to fetch the lass?"
"NO!" Jamie turned to Frank, stated firmly and held up a hand to stop him. "Frank, stay where ye are. He then turned and placed his hand firmly on Murtagh's shoulder. "No, Murtagh, the woman I love, with the whole of my heart is carrying my bairn. She can'na pass through the stones. I won't risk them." He stopped for a moment and looked down at the ground, allowing a single tear to fall. He looked back up and continued, "I can'na stay. My calling is to go back and try to stop Culloden, save as much of Scotland as I am able... but you, a charaid, you... I will ask you to stay. To protect what is mine, until I can find a way to return to mo chridhe. You will do this for me, because I ask ye, aye?" and he looked directly at Murtagh, locking eyes.
"No, Jamie. My place is at ye side. Beside ye in battle. No sit'n watch over some woman that's no even ye wife and ye unborn bairn. Frank here can do that for ye. I am must go with ye. I promised Ellen, ye ken that."
"Aye, I ken your promise to my mam, Murtagh. To watch over and protect me always before she died. And ye have, faithfully, for twenty-two years now. I could'na ask for anyone better. Now I must ask ye ta do the same for me, to give me ye pledge to watch over mine. Because I must go, and we both ken, I probably will'na be come'n back. Watch over them, as ye would me," he said and gently squeezed and shook Murtagh shoulder in emphasis.
Murtagh straightened his back, squared his shoulders and looked Ellen's son straight in the eye, stated with strength and firmness, "Aye, Jamie. Ellen and Brian would be proud of the man ye've become. Except for bedding the lass with'oot marry'n her first. That ye mam and da are turn'n in their graves about."
Jamie turned and approached the stone, his hand extended. Just before he touched the stone, he whispered, "I love ye Mo Neighan Donn. Now and forever, ye are my heart. Name the lad after my da... and he placed his fingers against the cold stone.
No one noticed Raymond had entered the circle and was whispering enchantments.