Books by Maggie Shayne (263 page)

“What of you, Elias?” he asked softly, and the men around us went silent at the power in his quiet voice. “Do
you
confess?”

“I’ve nothing to confess to, young man!”

“Nay? What of tryin’ to force your attentions upon an innocent woman and then plottin‘ her murder to cover your own sins?“

Elias lowered his head and shook it slowly. “These men know me, Duncan. They’ve known me for years, and can vouch for my character. No, they’ll not believe a come-lately preacher nor a Witch over one of their own.” And lifting his head, he faced Duncan again. “Confess, Duncan. ”Tis the only way to save yourself.“

“I’d confess gladly, if my doin’ so would save her.“

“Alas, her fate is already sealed, my friend. But for you, there remains some dim hope of salvation. Confess, son, beg forgiveness of God on your knees and—‘“

“Burn in hell, Stanton.”

“Duncan, no…” I whispered the words, but it was too late. He’d damned himself already. Because of me.

Elias shook his head sadly and turned toward me. And his eyes were cold there in the darkness, beneath the light of a full moon. Cold and menacing. I had to save Duncan. Somehow, he must not be dragged into the depths of this mess I’d brought upon myself.

“Please, Elias,” I whispered. “Duncan is innocent! He knows nothing of me or my ways! ”Twas all me. I bewitched him, just as you said. He doesn’t even know what he’s doing tonight. Spare him, for the love of God, spare him!“

Stanton looked upon me with utter hatred in his eyes. The men holding me were even now binding my hands behind me, and I saw they were about to do the same to Duncan. I searched the crowd for Arianna, praying to the Great Goddess that they hadn’t put their hands on her as well, and sighed in blessed relief when I still didn’t see her there. She must have slipped away. Please, I thought, please let her have slipped way.

“Disavow her, Duncan,” Elias said softly. “Save yourself.”

“Never!”

“Do as he asks, Duncan.” I tried to move forward, to get closer to him, but there were too many of them holding me. Even with my strength I had no chance of overpowering them. “Please, trust me. Do as he asks.”

Meeting my eyes, he only shook his head. “Not on pain of death, lass,“ he whispered. ”Nay, not if it meant my own soul, would I speak against you.“

“Don’t listen to him,” I pleaded. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

“Perhaps he’ll come back to himself,” Elias said, “when you lie dead and your spells are finally broken.”

Elias looked at the men who held me, gave a nod, and I was lifted. I cried out to Duncan as they carried me to the edge, pleaded with him, prayed he’d understand. “They cannot kill me! Do you hear me, Duncan? They cannot take my life! Save yourself, Duncan, I beg you!”

But already he was tearing free of his captors, lunging forward, struggling to reach me. The men standing at my head and at my feet swung me like a feed sack, and then simply let me go. Out, out into the vast emptiness of space and wind and moonlight I sailed, and Duncan raced toward the edge. I hung in space for only an instant, long enough to see the horror in his eyes, and to know what he would do.

“No!”
I screamed, and then I plummeted, and Duncan, my beloved Duncan, lunged out, reaching for me as if he could catch me somehow, and haul me back to safety. But he couldn’t. He must have known he couldn’t. And his reaching only resulted in him falling—he followed the course I took. The wind whistled past my ears, and my body tumbled and spun. I shouted my love for him but couldn’t hear my own words for the crash of the sea below, drawing nearer—ever nearer. And then there was an impact, incredible pain. The snap and cracking of my bones as my body hurled itself upon the rocks and into the cold, salty water.

And then the pain blinked out, along with the light of life.

“Raven…”

I sucked in a sudden, sharp gasp, so deep it nearly burst my lungs when life returned to me once more. I opened my eyes, blinked the water away, and stared up at Arianna. She sat on the ground near the shore, my head cradled in her lap, the seawater streaming from my hair and soaking her clothes. She held me like a child, stroking my hair, caressing my face. Tears dampened her own lily-white cheeks.

“Raven,” she whispered again. “Oh, sweet Raven, I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”

And it all came back to me.

“Duncan!”

“Hush, now.” She soothed, gentled me, but I struggled free of her comforting, struggled free and got to my feet.

“Where is he? Where is Duncan? Tell me!”

Arianna bit her lip as I scanned the shoreline in search of my love. And then I saw him.

His broken body lay upon a jagged cluster of rocks some distance out, waves reaching up at him, tugging him as if they wanted to carry him away in their crystalline arms. I ran into the water, snouting his name, crying uncontrollably. But when I reached him, I knew ’twas no use. Even as I clambered up onto the rocks where he lay and pulled him into my arms, begging him to wake up, to speak to me, I knew. He was as boneless as a rag doll, broken in so many places his poor body barely held its form. His face lay still and pale in the moonlight, blessedly unmarred. The blue of his lips, and his bloodless skin, the coolness of his cheek where I touched it, told a story too horrible to believe. I gathered his head to my breast, bowing over him, weeping as I’d never wept before.

“Oh, Duncan, no. Not now, not yet. You can’t leave me so soon! For the love of the Goddess, why? Why couldn’t I trust you with the truth?”“

But I hadn’t, and now he was dead. Because of me, he was dead. I’d never know his touch, his kiss again. Never look into his brown eyes. Never…

“Oh, why didn’t I tell him! He’d not have died trying to save me if he’d known the truth of what I am!” I wailed my grief to the stars, ignoring the sloshing, splashing sounds Arianna made as she came out to where I was.

She stood waist-deep in the water, and gently she took my hand. “Come, love. Come away, now. You can do no more for Duncan here.”

Shaking my head, I clung to him. “I can’t,” I whispered. “I can’t leave him this way. Please…” The words were as broken as my heart, as my precious Duncan’s body.
I
was broken. I felt I could never rise from that cluster of deadly rocks, never drag myself to the shore, never so much as lift my head again. The very life seemed to have fled me. And I thought then ’twould have been better if it truly had.

“The sea takes care of its own, Raven,” Arianna said softly. “His body belongs to the sea now. But you know his soul does not. You know that. Let him go, Raven.”

I shook my head and held him still closer, my face resting against his cool cheek. “I’ll never see him again,” I moaned. “Never again…”

“But you will.” She kept stroking me, my hair, my back. “He’ll live again, Raven, you know that, as well.” She spoke louder now, perhaps hoping the strength and command of her tone would reach me.

But nothing could reach the dark place where I lived now. “What does it matter? He’s lost to me.”

Arianna drew my face toward her, staring intently into my eyes from where she stood with the ocean waves lapping at her waist. “He died trying to save your life, Raven. When he lives again… he’ll be as we are. Immortal. His selfless act of love earned him the gift, don’t you see?“

Opening my eyes, lifting my head, I released a breath. “Tis true,“ I whispered. ”And never was any man more deserving. But don’t
you
see, Arianna?
I’ll
never know him. Never find him again.“

Arianna reached down to stroke Duncan’s wet hair away from his face. “But you will. ”Tis the full moon, Raven, when our powers wax strongest. I… I couldn’t save him. There was no time to cast a spell of enough magnitude to overwhelm so many bent on destruction. But I slipped away, to the woods. I did all I could, Raven. I did all I could.“

And at last her pain made itself known to me. I’d been so immersed in my own… I covered her hand with mine, where it rested upon Duncan’s face.

“I was actually growing to… to like the man,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

“I know you’d have saved him if you could, my friend.”

She met my eyes, her own glistening. “More than your friend, Raven. Your sister. I am your sister.”

Sniffling, I nodded. “Yes, you are as a sister to me, closer even than that—“

“No. No, you aren’t hearing me. You truly are my sister, or were, a lifetime ago. And my sister you remain.”

I frowned, shocked and surprised. And yet it was as if she were telling me something I already knew.

“I was the eldest,” she said, “practicing the Craft behind our mother’s back, in secret, with a group of Witches from our village. You never even knew, then—”

“But—”

She pressed a finger to my lips. “No, just listen. ”Twas many years ago, you know. I’ve waited a long while to tell you these things. So let me speak.“ In silence I nodded, and Arianna went on. ”I didn’t know what I was then. We were but girls, you and I, you a year younger, but always stronger.“

“
I
? Stronger than you?”

She nodded. “The year was fifteen-ten. We lived in the village of Stonehaven, in the shadow of Castle Lachlan in the Highlands of Scotland.”

“Scotland…” I closed my eyes, lowering my face to Duncan’s once more. “Tis where Duncan comes from, you know.“

“Yes, I know.”

“I didn’t think I’d ever been there.”

“You were born there. Once.”

Sniffling, swiping away fresh tears, I nodded at her to go on.

“We were forbidden, of course, to play in the forests and lochs, but we did so all the same. I went too far into the water one day. My stomach cramped inexplicably, and I couldn’t get back to shore.” She touched my face, smiling gently. “You came for me, though, held me afloat and fought to get me to shore. And then there were others, the sons of Laird Lachlan himself. They swam out to help. But by then you’d been struggling with me for more than an hour. You were exhausted. Of course, they didn’t realize it. They were concerned only with me, for I seemed to be the one in trouble. You never told them otherwise.” She swallowed hard, loudly. “And when they eased me from your arms and drew me safely toward the shore, I looked back… and you were gone. Just slipped beneath the blue waters of the loch, leaving them so still ”twas as if you’d never been there.“

Staring at her, I whispered, “I drowned.”

“You drowned trying to save my life. The life of an immortal High Witch who didn’t even know she was one at the time.” She sighed slowly, and a tear slid down her cheek. “The lads went back after you, of course. And I stood there on the shore, knowing you’d left me, praying ”twas not too late to perform an incantation, so that I might know you again, one day. I called on all the powers of the Universe, Raven, and cast a potent spell. That when you lived again, ’twould be within my lifetime, and that you would look the same, and your name would again be Raven.”

I tilted my head to the side, touched beyond measure at her words. “You did that for me?” I whispered.

“For me,” she replied. “That I would have the joy of finding you again someday.” She shook her head slowly. “Of course I had no idea then how long my lifetime would be. But the spell worked, Raven. I did find you, and you do look the same—older, yes, but just as you’d have looked before, if you’d had the chance to reach womanhood. And your name is Raven, just as it was then. And… and I love you, my sister.”

A great sob welled up in my throat, choking the words. “I thought I had no family left… but I do. I have my sister.“

She put her arms around me, held me tenderly for just a moment. Then stood back and stared hard into my eyes.

“I performed the same incantation tonight.”

I frowned, searching her face.

“For Duncan. Even as he plummeted from the rocks, I hid myself in the forest and conjured with everything in me.”

Now I looked at her, truly looked at her, though she blurred through my tears. And then I lowered my gaze to stare at Duncan’s lifeless face. God, how I ached for him already.

’Twas all I could think of to do,“ she whispered. ”He will live again, Raven. He will look the same. And his name will again be Duncan. You’ll find him again someday, I promise you.“

Blinking in disbelief, I muttered, “When?”

“I’ve no way of knowing that. Nor is he likely to remember you, Raven, just as you had no memory of me when we met on the Coast Road that day. I did all I could do. I only hope ”twas enough to ease the grief I see in your eyes.“

Closing my eyes, I clutched her chilled hand in one of mine, and clung to my lost love with the other. ’Twill be enough,“ I promised. ”It shall have to be. “Tis all I have.” Then I opened my eyes and met hers. “You’ve given me hope where I had none before. How will I ever thank you for this?”

She shook her head. “I only wish I could have done more.” Then she cleared her throat, lifted her chin. “Raven, we have to leave here. If you hope to live long enough to find this man of yours again, we have to go at once.”

I stroked Duncan’s face. “We should bury him.”

“Listen to me,” she said, and the urgency in her voice cut through the haze of mourning in my mind at last. “The Witch-hunter Elias Stanton sent for arrived only a short while ago. I overheard some of the men talking about it. Saying the man was furious that Elias had taken action, instead of waiting for his arrival as he’d instructed. Saying the man would be out here soon, that he insisted on seeing the spot from whence you were thrown.”

My eyes widened, but I calmed myself quickly. “They can kill me as many times as they wish, Arianna. I’ve no fear of them.”

“You don’t understand. The Witch-hunter is an impostor, Raven. His name is Nathanial Dearborne and—”

“Nathanial Dearborne?” Now she had my attention. “The same arrogant priest who hanged my mother! I hope he does come. I’ll—”

“He’s no priest,” Arianna whispered. “He’s a High Witch. One of the Dark Ones, Raven. One of the oldest and most powerful I’ve encountered.”

“You know him?”

Grimly she nodded. ’Twas he who murdered the only man I ever loved, and used me to do it. I nearly killed him then, but he escaped me. But it isn’t me he’ll be challenging this time, Raven. It’s you he’s come for. You can’t best him in a fight and I can’t protect you every minute of the day and night. If you want to keep your heart intact, we’d best not be here when he arrives.“