Page 7 of Proven By The Highlander (Highlander Forever #15)
CHAPTER 7
T hey made the rest of the ride in silence. Leanne was so preoccupied with everything that had been revealed that she barely reacted when the Keep came into view… but she forced herself to take an interest, worried that she might dissociate entirely if she didn’t make an effort. In another situation, she might have been thrilled to see what had come into view around the bend in the road. It was a castle, built of dark stone and seemingly jutting straight out of the Loch itself… though a closer look revealed that it was perched on what seemed to be an archipelago with a long land bridge, so that the castle seemed to be rising up out of the Loch.
She’d never been particularly interested in old buildings, though they did come up in her research from time to time… her fascination as a paleontologist had always been with animals, not with human constructions. But looking at the Keep now, she understood what it was that drew so many academics to the study of architecture and medieval buildings. It was a beautiful thing, and a formidable one. Just looking at it, the high walls, she felt a sense of the safety that its inhabitants must feel. Easily defended… a safe haven to hide in when the enemy was coming. She shivered a little as she remembered what Caelan had said about the Unseelie Fae that he was on guard against. If the Sidhe had such immense power that they could heal fatal medical conditions and transport people through time and space, then what kind of terrible deeds would their counterparts be capable of? She realized she was glad to be headed for the castle… glad at the idea that when night fell, she’d have that thick stone wall between herself and the enemy.
Carefully, she didn’t let herself think any further ahead than that night.
“This is as far as I’ll take you, lass.” Caelan had been growing restless as they neared the Keep, glancing over his shoulder again and again, his gray eyes scanning the castle restlessly.
She realized he was looking at the walls. Trying to make out the men who were on guard? Friends of his, presumably, if this was his home as he’d said it was… still, something about his uneasiness made her feel curious.
“You’re not going to come in and — tell them who I am?”
“They’ll know,” he said abruptly, shaking his head. “Tell the men on the gate what you told me, and they’ll see you through.”
She could see how hard he’d fought for the attempt at an easygoing smile he showed her now.
“They’ll set you up in a far more comfortable bed than what I offered you last night, that’s for certain.”
“What you offered last night saved my life, Caelan,” she said firmly, not wanting him to feel she wasn’t grateful for his aid. “I’d have frozen to death out there and never even known what had happened to me. Thank you.”
He looked up at her for a long moment, clearly surprised by her gratitude. “It’s my duty,” he said finally, straightening his back a little. “Protecting people from what’s out there.”
“And you do it well.” She slid down from the back of the horse, stumbling a little as her feet met the soft grass below. Caelan was smiling a little distractedly, that same odd shadow on his face that she’d noticed a few times. But before she could say anything else, he’d swung himself up onto the horse, offered her a little nod of farewell, and wheeled around to ride off. Leanne watched him go, fidgeting a little with the collar of the shirt he’d lent her, feeling oddly sad at their parting. She’d see him again, she told herself firmly. Once his watch was over, presumably he had lodgings at the castle — she’d have an opportunity to thank him properly, and ideally when she didn’t look like a half-drowned rat.
She picked her way across the quarter-mile long land bridge that remained between where Caelan had left her and the Keep itself, wishing that Caelan had had a spare pair of shoes as well as the spare shirt he’d given her. The geography of the place was curious, but she could see immediately why they’d chosen to build their castle on the archipelago — the land bridge that connected it to the mainland was long and narrow, and she felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought of an army trying to breach the Keep’s walls. They’d be forced to travel along this land bridge if they wanted to approach the main gates, and with a handful of men on the walls with bows, that would be a difficult prospect. She was so absorbed in those thoughts that she actually flinched in fear when she looked up at the top of the gates to see a group of men gathered, watching her with evident interest.
“They’re not going to shoot you,” she muttered to herself, straightening her back as she tried to walk a little more quickly along the land bridge. By the time she’d reached the gate, there were a couple of men waiting for her. They were in kilts like Caelan had been, she noticed, her eyes widening… and like Caelan, they were armed, though they had longbows instead of crossbows. Neither of them were holding their weapons, though, which made her feel a little less anxious about the confrontation. She supposed she wasn’t exactly a threat, bedraggled and alone as she was.
“Good morning, lass,” one of the men said, raising an eyebrow as he took in the sight of her.
The greeting was enough to settle her nerves. They weren’t going to shoot her, they just wanted to know what she was doing here.
“Hi,” she said, her voice feeling weaker than she was happy with. “Um — my name’s Leanne Orbach. I understand that I should… be here?”
The men exchanged glances. “Here at Castle Urquhart?”
He hadn’t mentioned the name of the castle, but she nodded with a little shrug. “If that’s this place? Sorry, I — I’m not from around here.” She could feel the hysterical laughter threatening to rise up in her again, and she pushed it down. “I got here very late last night.”
“On foot?” The guard nodded at her bare feet.
She grimaced. How was she supposed to tell them what had happened to her? It sounded so stupid when she said it out loud, like a fairy story… literally like a fairy story, in this case.
“Part of it. I was… I guess I woke up in the lake?”
The men were both looking at her thoughtfully, and there was no hint of surprise on their faces when she said that. Quite the opposite.
“I got ashore… something helped me get ashore, and then?—”
“It’s alright, lass.” The other guard stepped forward with a reassuring smile, though there was still a hint of reservation in his eyes. “We understand. Yours isn’t the first story like this we’ve heard, trust us.” He glanced up at the other guard. “Best to send word inside, I think.”
The other guard nodded, then turned and headed back into the castle through a small door that was set in the stone wall, besides the enormous gates. She watched him go, feeling oddly nervous, as though she was waiting on the results of a job interview. The remaining guard gave her a reassuring smile.
“Apologies, lass. We’d usually bring you straight in, but there were some complications with our last guest and we need to be cautious.” He tilted his head thoughtfully, and she could see his hand moving toward a weapon at his hip — it looked like a short blade, much like the one that Caelan had been carrying, sheathed in a decorated scabbard. She felt uneasy as he withdrew the weapon from its sheath, though nothing else in his demeanor suggested he wished her any harm. He held the dirk up and she looked at the iron blade, nonplussed. His attention was fixed on her face, and something clicked. Caelan had mentioned the weaknesses of the Unseelie Fae being iron and fire. The man was trying to see if she was one of them. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought. She definitely didn’t look like a powerful faerie, she knew that much… but then again, if they were powerful enough to need a whole castle of guardsmen to protect the local area from them, they were probably clever enough to disguise themselves, too.
“Do you want me to—” He was holding the blade toward her, and she reached out awkwardly, not wanting to appear to be trying to take it from him but wanting to prove that the iron didn’t frighten her.
The guard watched her intently as she drummed her fingers on the blade, feeling the cold metal beneath her fingertips, then nodded thoughtfully and restored it to the scabbard.
“Someone will be along soon,” was all he said.
She nodded, folding her arms across her chest as a cool wind blew across the ruffled waters of the Loch… and waited for whatever the next part of this ridiculous adventure was going to be.