Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (53 page)

He pulled back his arm and punched Dallan
square
in the jaw, knocking him to the cold, damp ground.

The Weapons Master lay stunned a moment, and then curled up into a ball, his arms held protectively around his stomach. His body then began to jerk violently.

“No!” Lany was again at his side, communicator in hand. “Eaton!”

 
Dallan threw his head
back,
eyes closed tightly shut and began to choke.

“Eaton! Dallan, no, please!
” He knew the Scot was having some sort of seizure, and he also knew how helpless he was at the moment to help.

Oh Creator! Send Zara, please!
Send her now
,
I need help
! I can’t do this
alone, plea…

“Move away from him,
Mos
-go-fi -an.”

Lany threw himself from Dallan, who now lay on his back in the full throes of the seizure as Kwaku knelt by his side and pulled a small black case
out of his pants pocket. He fl
ipped it open and extracted a tiny metal rectangular object. Throwing his body over Dallan’s, he lifted the Scot’s head by the hair and pushed the metal object into the back of his neck. Th
ere was a slight fl
ash of blue lig
ht. Dallan’s body jerked one fi
nal time then suddenly went completely still.

L
any, on his knees, fell face fi
rst to the ground.

“Give your
danks
quickly,
Mos
-go-fi -an. We must get him to safety.”

Lany pushed himself up and stared blankly at Kwaku,
then
looked to the discarded case. “Nerve regul
ators are forbidden past the fi
rst time quadrant.”

“I know.”

Lany half-laughed, half sighed and shook his head. “Kwaku, there are times like now when I’m glad you hold absolutely no respect for the law.”

Kwaku nodded gravely. “So also is my wife.” He put his arms beneath Dallan’s limp form, and lifted him as if he
were a child. “Come,
Mos
-go-fi-
an. Zara must tend him. She should be
droo
wid de Maiden by now
and will be here at any moment
.”

 
Lany got to his feet and followed the Time Master only a few steps before stopping him. “Kwaku…”

He turned to
Lany,
Dallan cradled in his arms, and took in his expression. “Yes, Councilor.” He nodded his head slowly, his eyes narrowed to slits. “Brennan…” He turned back to Dallan as a father looks to an injured child. “We are almost out of time. Brennan, he must have touched de Maiden, done someding to confuse her heart, been wid her while she was in Flux.”

Lany’s eyes widened as he blanched. “That means…”

“De bonding is badly damaged. De Maiden and de Boyeee,” Kwaku closed his eyes and swallowed hard, “are now dying.”

* * *

John paced nervously. At least ten minutes had passed since Lany’s urgent cry for help, then nothing. Not a word. What could be happening with Dallan? Was he all right?

“Here, Lord John, drink this. ‘Twill make yer sto
mach more agreeable.” Angus off
ered him a bottle of thick pink liquid.

John stared at the bottle a moment and shook his head. “I’m worried, Angus. Something bad has happened. I know it.” He resumed pacing.

Angus eyed t
he bottle. “Ye canna let it aff
ect ye like this. Ye’ll be no help to the others when they gets here.” He opened it, took a healthy swig, grimaced as he shook himself and held the bottle out to John.

The Lord Councilor watched as Angus’s face contorted, looked at the bottle, then back to Angus. “What is that?”

Angus smiled. “I always
keeps
a supply on hand when I ken the heathen’s a-coming
fer
a visit. Thought we might be
need’n
extra, so I brought a bottle here.”

John took the bottle and peered at the contents. He took a cautious sniff and wrinkled his nose. “This is disgusting.”

“Aye, but so is the heathen. Sometimes a man has to pick the lesser o’ two evils.”

John was about to comme
nt, when the lights suddenly fl
ickered. “What was that?”

Angus shrugged. “’Tis an old building. The electrical sometimes goes
on and off when I run the microwave.”

Th
e lights fl
ickered again and what weapons lay about the back room of the shop, rattled.

“I don’t think it’s from the microwave, Angus. For one thing, it’s not on.” John stated.

Angus’s eyes grew wide. “Mother o’ God! What’s that De’il heathen trying to do, ruin me?”

John looked apprehensive
ly about. “What’s going on?” Th
e whole room
shook, sending vario
us pieces of weaponry to the fl
oor with a clatter.

“Ye mean to say ye’ve never seen the heathen’s a-
comins
and a-
goins
?”

“No!” John dodged a falling lance. “At least not from this end.”

“Well then, gets ready! Here he comes!” Angus dove behind a shield as a piercing yellow light sliced through the wall in front of them, tracing the long rows of swords, books a
nd other paraphernalia as it fl
owed from some unseen source.

Then John heard it. Music. “Zara?” He blanched as he realized that for Kwaku to risk using a door to get to the shop could only mean one thing.

No sooner had the thought struck him the outline made by the light peeled away to reveal a grassy knoll, a s
ky fi
lled with stars and a full moon. A cool breeze drifted through the room, lifting the hair from John’s forehead as he took in what lay before him.

Kwaku was just coming over the knoll, Lany close on
his heels, both men’s faces fi
lled with concern. But John hardly let that register. Another sight caught the Lord Councilor, one much more disturbing. “Oh no, no, please.” He raced from the room into the night.

Kwaku carried the unconscious form of Dallan, his large Scots body cradled like a child in the Time Master’s arms. “Go back
droo
de door, Lord Councilor. My wife cannot hold it for long.”

John skidded to a stop and turned. Zara knelt in the grass, head thrown back, arms lifted to the sky as she sang. He could see her body sway slightly, a sure sign she was tiring. He ran back through the door behind Lany.

Kwak
u quickly laid Dallan on the fl
oor then ran to his wife. “Beloved, come with me.” He took her uplifted hands, pulled her to her feet and ushered her through the door just in ti
me. Th
e knoll and night sky faded
slowly from sight, bringing back into existence the wall of the shop’s back room.

Zara, exhausted, needed Kwaku’s help just to kneel beside Dallan.

“Kawahnee…” Her voice was weak. “He is injured?”

Kwaku knelt beside his wife and wrappe
d his arms around her. “He suff
ered when de bond became damaged. De regulator should have caught it in time, but only you can be sure, pretty one. He has been unconsciou
s too long. Search his body, fi
nd de weakness.”

“The loss of his Maiden is the weakness. He cannot survive now without her. I can repair him physically, but not emotionally.”

 
Kwaku merely nodded, his face full of concern.

John pulled Lany aside. “What happened?”

Lany let go a weary sigh, his eyes still glued to Dallan. “Eaton, there wa
s nothing I could do! He was fi
ne, then boom, he fell into some sort of seizure.”

John stared at Dallan as Zara placed one hand on the Scot’s forehead, the other on one leg. She threw her head back eyes closed in concentration, and softly sang, Muiraran features still in place. Not once had they changed since the door closed. S
he was indeed tired. “Oh no. Th
e Maiden?”

Lany’s face suddenly changed to anger, his eyes narrowed to slits, his jaw tense. John had never seen him so angry. “Brennan.”

“No, no, tell me he…”

“He must have touched her, probably while she was sleeping and in Flux. It’s the only explanation. She and Dallan have too strong a bond for
anything else to aff
ect it. I don’t think Brennan even knows the damage he’s done.”

“Damage?”

Lany nodded his face still tense. “Eaton, we have to move fast. Kwaku said the Maiden experienced a mild form of what happened to Dallan. Her heart’s confused; it doesn’t know who to bond with. Brennan all but stole what Dallan had gained from her. Now that… that stupid, lousy…”

“Lany, calm down.”

He took a deep breath. “Brennan wouldn’t have touched her if he knew the harm it would cause.” He turned to John with an expression of rage and despair. “The next time she needs to feed, the next time her heart calls, Brennan could easily take her.”

John backed up a few steps and fell into the chair behind him.

“And if no one is able to answer the Call…” Lany closed his
eyes, his hands balling into fi
sts. “She’ll die.”

John sat
,
stu
nned at the words
. “What in the Creator’s name are we going to do?”

Angus hobbled forward to stand before the two Councilors, at last able to break away
from the sight of Zara. He off
ered them a sheepish look. “Might I make a suggestion?”

“What is it?” Lany asked.

The old Scot shuffled his feet around and pulled his lower lip between his teeth. “Weel, if the bond has only been weakened, not broken, then seems to
me ye only need something to fi
x the tear, to …
weel
, sew it together?”

 
John and Lany exchanged a quick look.

“Ye ken what fi
xes lover’s quarrels and all that. Ye must ha’ done it a thousand times yerselves.”

John began to smile. “Go on, Angus.”

“To fi
x the bond, why do they no seal it back up?”

 
Lany was still confused. “With what?”

Angus shrugged. “A kiss, o’ course.”

“Seal it with a kiss.” Lany’s mouth dropped into an amazed smile. He quickly looked to Kwaku and Zara.

The Time Master still knelt, a huge grin across his face, while his wife stared at Angus, her own face weary but smiling. “For dis, little bro-dar, you will be well rewarded.”

* * *

Shona opened her eyes slowly, her vision blurred. Where was she? Where was… was… she couldn’t seem to remember who might be there with her, or rather, who she wished was with her. How confusing.

She wearily sat up and took in her su
rroundings, cataloguing the fur
niture, wallpaper, pictures, curtains, everything her eyes took in. Her mind quickly sorted the information and brought forth the answer she wanted.

Shona was in her bedroom.

She looked at the clock near her bed. “Ten-thirty? How did I sleep so late?” She threw back the covers, went to get up and failed. “Oh,” she moaned and fell against her pillow, her whole body reacting as if hit by a truck. “What did I do?”

She tried to lift her head and failed at that as well. All she could do was lie there and moan. “What happened?” She tried again to rise, succeeded and sat quietly for a moment, building strength. Her eyes opened and closed as her whole body swayed.

“Mother?”

No answer.

Shona
looked toward the door. Maybe she was alone. “Mother?” Her voice was barely a croak. She shook her head. “Blast it all! Where is he? Why can I not feel him?”

Her unexpected tears were hot, stinging her face as they fell. Her brow furrowed in concentration. “Philip?” She shook her head. “No, de
fi
nitely not Philip.”
Though he seemed to
be
lodged in her brain as if cemented there.  The last person she would want stuck in her head. 
Her body trembled with frustration
at the thought
. “Where are you?”
Please…

“Shona?”

She half turned her head, recognition slow to come. “Kitty?”

“Oh my
gaaawsh
,
you look awful. What did you do, stay out all night?”

Shona looked up at h
er, tears still evident.  "
Kitty…
I feel like I must be hun
g over.
”