Midnight's Surrender: A Dark Warriors Holiday Novella (6 page)

Dale had gone quiet, his body almost vibrating he was so still. “A favorite of your aunt’s?”

“Yes. Does that mean anything?”

His dark eyes fastened on her intently. “Oh, aye, lass, it does. Do you no’ feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“The magic. It’s strong and verra old.”

Rennie looked around the empty pasture. “Magic? Here?”

“I thought there was a chance of something, and we’ve found it.”

“What magic?” she asked irritably. “I don’t feel anything.”

He took her hand and pulled her down the hill after him through the snow. “You will. It’s old magic, Rennie. I can no’ believe I didna feel it before. I might have had I no’ been so focused on your magic.”

She couldn’t help but preen at his words. He liked the feel of her magic. That was wonderful to hear, just as it had been deliciously sensual to listen to him describe what her magic felt like.

Rennie moved as fast as she could. She didn’t know this pasture as well as the others, but Dale navigated them around partially hidden stones in the snow.

“My heart is pounding with excitement. This is like an adventure,” she said with a laugh while she watched Dale jump over the fence.

He grinned and held her hand as she climbed up to the top of the fence before his hands spanned her waist and he set her down beside him before they started walking again. “An adventure? Lass, you need to get out more.”

“I know. Have you seen much of the world?”

“More than I’d like to thanks to the military. I’ll be happy never to see Afghanistan again.”

“Ah.” Rennie bit her lip at her stupidity. Here she was thinking it was some kind of hunt, and Dale had seen actual combat in the military and out of it after he had become a Warrior.

“No need to act as if you’re walking on eggshells. I killed for the government and I killed to stay alive. I have to live with that.”

“You act as if it doesn’t bother you.”

“It bothers me.”

When he halted next to a large rock protruding over four feet from the ground, she thought it was to tell her more of his time in the military. Instead, he smiled and took her hand.

“Are you ready to discover your past?”

“No,” she said and then busted out laughing. Dale’s answering grin made her laugh even more. When she recovered she said, “My most grand adventure besides leaving home for Scotland is whatever I experience through movies.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then you might want to prepare yourself, because I think we’ve found what it is Harriet wants.”

Rennie had no choice but to follow Dale when he kicked aside snow to reveal hidden steps that led into darkness. His hand never released hers, and she wasn’t sure if it was to help keep her steady or make sure she didn’t run away.

Running away was very tempting, she mused when the darkness fully covered her. All she could think about was booby traps, bugs, and something waiting for them that was better left alone.

“I can’t see a damn thing,” she whispered.

Dale’s chuckle bounced off the rocks to echo around them. “I can. Warrior, remember? Stay here.”

“Wait!” she cried, but Dale had already released her hand and disappeared.

Every sound was magnified in the darkness. She could hear something off to her right and realized it was Dale’s boots as he walked around.

The sound of rocks falling shattered the silence suddenly, causing her to duck and cover her head with her hands. A second later she made out a shape coming at her as her eyes adjusted.

“It’s just me,” Dale said.

Rennie let out a relieved breath and straightened. “I don’t like this place.”

“You will once you see it. Now, can you use your magic to create fire?”

“Yes, why?”

He put something long and heavy in her hands. “Light the torch, Rennie.”

She called to her magic, letting the feel of it consume her before she channeled it into fire. The sensations ran down the length of her arms, through her fingers, and then light flared brilliantly from the torch.

Rennie gasped when she saw the small chamber they stood in etched with Celtic carvings and knotwork—all of them holding magic.

Chapter Seven

Rennie was aghast at the perfection of each emblem carved into the stone. Some of the carvings were as small as her finger, and others as large as a person. They encompassed the walls and even the low-hanging ceiling.

Dale had to duck to stop from hitting his head on the smooth ceiling. He winked at her when she turned to him. “Now this is an adventure.”

“Who did these?”

“Your ancestors.”

She was awestruck, spellbound. “Why?”

“I think for you and any generation of MacBeths.”

Rennie whipped her head to him. “Me? I’m nobody.”

“Aye, but the important ones always think that.”

She made a sound at the back of her throat and started to argue when he held out his hand.

“Shall we see the rest?”

There was no way she was turning back now, no matter how hard her heart thumped. Dale’s fingers entwined with hers and she felt a current of something charged, something exhilarating rush along her skin.

He stepped close and wrapped his other hand around hers that was holding the torch. His body filled the area, enclosing her back against the wall. Rennie lifted her head, welcoming the kiss she knew was coming.

The kiss was savage in its claiming. And she embraced the raw, primal need that swept through her. The hard, rigid length of his arousal pressed into her stomach, reminding her of the sensual and decadent night she had spent in his arms.

Rennie took her free hand and pulled at his shirt, wanting to feel his skin. He tore his mouth away, his breathing harsh in the silence.

“Och, but I want you,” he said and ground against her.

“Not nearly as much as I want you. It scares me, this hunger I have. It’s all for you, and it’s like I can’t ever get enough.”

“Aye. I feel it as well.” He leaned his chin atop her head and simply held her. “I either take you now, Rennie, or we go deeper into the tunnel.”

“Don’t make me choose.”

“If you doona do something quick, I’ll no’ be responsible for the ripping of your clothes,” he said, a note of laughter in his voice.

It took every ounce of will for Rennie to drop her hands from both Dale and the torch, letting him know they needed to continue on. “I have this pressing need to know what it is Harriet wants,” she explained. “The more I know, the more I can be prepared.”

Dale faced the narrow opening and held the torch high. “Then let’s get to the bottom of this.”

Rennie quickly followed and reached for his hand. She felt safer with him, even if she had only known him less than a day. Dale glanced back at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

As they walked deeper into the earth, the ground continued to slope down. “How come my aunt never told me this was here?”

“Maybe she didna know,” Dale said.

Rennie didn’t believe that. “She knew every inch of this land. She knew. I just don’t understand why she didn’t tell me.”

“Maybe she wanted you to find it on your own.” He ducked as they exited the tunnel into a large cavern. “Maybe she was hoping you would find it.”

“It would’ve been easier had she just told me. That way I could have told Harriet to go to Hell and leave me alone.”

Rennie came out of the tunnel and could only stare once more. If the etchings in the anteroom were impressive, the ones gracing the walls of the cavern were breathtaking. Intricate knotwork designs made a continuous circle around the room, the design at least four feet tall.

But it was the writing that caught her attention. It, like the beautiful knotwork, went all the way around the cavern. “I don’t recognize the wording.”

“It’s Gaelic,” Dale said as he walked into the center where large stones had been used to construct a fire pit. He lowered the torch into it and flames shot upward.

Rennie stepped back as the fire lit the entire cavern, showing her the high ceiling above them. Then she realized what Dale had said. “Gaelic. You can read Gaelic?”

“I’m a Warrior, Rennie, I’m able to learn things quickly.”

“What does the writing say?”

“‘We’re waiting.’”

She looked at him, expecting him to continue. “And?”

“And what? That’s what it says over and over again.”

Rennie looked at the words, seeing the same symbols repeated until she came to a section where the lettering was smaller and more difficult to see. “What does this say?”

Dale walked to her and peered at the wording. “It says, ‘Find us and find the answers.’”

“Wow. That isn’t cryptic or anything.” She shivered, suddenly more cold than when she’d been in the snow.

“Look around you. This is where your ancestors gathered.”

For the first time, Rennie pulled her gaze from the walls and truly looked at the place. Around the fire in a perfect circle, placed exactly two feet apart were twelve stones that had been carved in a concave to make a seat.

“Your family has always been
mies
, have they no’?” Dale asked.

She nodded, still taking in everything. “Yes, always.”

“And Harriet’s?”

Rennie lowered herself onto one of the seats. “A few decided to remain
mies
, but most became
droughs
. My family didn’t make them leave because of some pact made between the families.”

“You doona know what that pact was?”

“No.” She rubbed her eyes as she tried to think of all the family history she had learned as a child and quickly dismissed as unimportant. “The more Harriet’s family left, the less it became significant, I guess. I don’t know. I wish I’d paid better attention to my aunt’s stories now.”

Dale continued to walk around the cavern. “This place is magical. Many spells were done here, but there is something else that I’m feeling.”

“What?”

He turned to face her. “You.”

That made her sit up straight. “Um … but you said you’ve always felt my magic.”

“Aye. It feels different here. Do you no’ feel different?”

“Disoriented. Shocked. Speechless. Take your pick.”

“Nay, lass. Concentrate on your magic.”

Rennie gave half a thought to her magic and felt a tidal wave of it rise within her. It frightened her so badly she jumped up and started to run out of the cavern. As she reached the narrow doorway, she slammed into an invisible force that knocked her on her back.

“Rennie!” Dale yelled and was at her side in a second.

“Damn, but you move fast,” she murmured as she shook off the effects of the fall. “What just happened?”

“I doona think they want you to leave.”

She sat up and looked at the doorway. “Are you telling me I can’t leave?”

Dale stood and easily walked from the cavern before he turned and walked back in. “Try again.”

She accepted his hand up and tentatively approached the doorway, but once again something pushed against her as she neared.

Rennie took a step back and the pressure instantly ceased. “I can’t leave.”

“I’m telling you, you were meant to find this place. It’s why your aunt left the land to you and no’ your mother.”

Rennie shook her head. “No. She left it to me because she knew my mother wouldn’t return.”

“Are you sure of that?” Dale asked as he cocked a brow.

She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I doona know. Perhaps your magic can tell you. What about the ancients?”

She stared at him, aghast. “How do you know of the ancients?”

“I was with
droughs
, remember?”

“The ancients don’t talk to the
droughs
.”

“Ah, but the
droughs
know of the ancients because before the Druids chose the evil path, they spoke with the ancients when they were still
mies
.”

Rennie once more sat on one of the seats. “I didn’t think of that.” Silence filled the void as they both stared into the flames of the fire. She couldn’t deny the strange feeling of her magic. “You were right,” she finally said. “My magic is stronger here. Why?”

“That I can no’ answer. The ancients can, however.”

Rennie knew she had no choice but to contact the ancients. She shifted her gaze to Dale who hadn’t moved from his spot near the door. “Will you stay with me?”

“If that is your wish, lass.”

She waited until he took a seat across the fire from her. Rennie removed her coat and took a deep breath before she slowly released it.

Then she called to her magic once more as she stared into the fire. It answered instantly, the power of it making her tremble. Deeper and deeper into her magic she went. This wouldn’t be the first time she had spoken to the ancients, but it had been a long time.

They had never told her anything before. In the past, they had all but refused to tell her why others got visions from touching her. Would she get answers now?

Did she want them?

Now that Dale was with her, it didn’t seem to matter. Then she recalled Harriet and her bid to buy Rennie’s land. Answers were definitely something Rennie needed, even if she didn’t like what she heard.

Her head cocked to the side when she heard the distant beat of drums. They grew louder and louder until they deafened her. Rising to meet them was the chanting of thousands of ancient Druids long dead.

“Thereeeeeee you are,”
they said in unison.
“What took you so long, Rennie?”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to find you.”

“You brought a Warrior. He fought for the side of evil with the
drough
Jason Wallace.”

“He’s chosen our side now.”

“That remains to be seen.”

“What is this place?”

“A holy place,”
they said together.
“We’ve been waiting for you to find it.”

“Why?”

“Your destiny, Rennieeeeeee.”

She began to grow frustrated with the lack of in-depth answers. “What destiny? I have to know more, please.”

“Your ancestors practiced magic here, anticipating a Druid who would come who could grant freedom to someone.”