Stone Heart (5 page)

She backed away, shaking her head in disbelief. There were no such things as enchantments and the magic creatures Aggie had told her about. Those stories she'd told were just fairy tales her deluded spinster aunt had dreamed up. They couldn't be true. They just
couldn't
.

The moment the words had been spoken, Angus' heart cried out for joy.
I am released!
Someone had come to find him. He thanked the Goddess and all creation for giving him a second chance. He would not waste it. And he would forever be a grateful slave to the one who had set him free.

As the stone fell away and he began to feel the weight of his own body again, his happiness knew no bounds. His sight began to return, and he could smell the green of the earth 36

Stone Heart

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and feel the cool breeze of the night. He would never again take such things for granted. And he would never again harbor such hatred in his heart that others would suffer for his discontent.

As the world cleared before him, he saw a woman standing in the clearing that had been his home. The last of the stone fell away. He stretched his arms toward the stars and spoke for the first time in three centuries. "Thank you, Goddess! I will pledge myself to your service.
Blessed Be!"

He leaped from the remains of the pedestal and landed before the woman. First, she stared at his chest, and then her gaze moved slowly up to his face. Before he could utter another word, she fainted.

* * * *

Shayla Gallagher read over the last of the documentation they had received. Her companion, Hugh, watched as she finished. Within the hour, their plane was due to land in Edinburgh, and they both had to know the entire story as it had been recorded. "This is entirely
unacceptable
, Hugh! This information should have been given to me much sooner."

"Aye, but we've had so many people entering information into the new database, none knew what the others had. All this has just been correlated." He waved a hand at the paperwork. "And no one would know about it now except someone broke into the records. When our archivists started piecing together why anyone would want to know where an old statue was ... Well, it took time, but everything started to fall into place. Still, it makes no sense. Without the proper 37

Stone Heart

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incantation, what good does having this knowledge do anyone?"

"That's what worries me. Perhaps they
do
have it. Why an outsider might have the means to break an enchantment, when one of our former Sorceress' didn't even bother to record it, is a mystery. She wrote down everything else about the damned punishment and the man himself."

They immediately stopped talking when a flight attendant came by to offer drinks. Hugh was amazed when Shayla ordered a neat
double
whiskey. Clearly, the Sorceress of the Ancients was disturbed and angry.

"I believe she never meant for this Druid to see the light of day again, Shayla. It's the only reason for not writing down the means to break the curse. The records have also been scattered in different areas of the library. Had you not ordered that all the written documentation be placed in one central database, the knowledge of this man's existence would forever be sitting on the library shelves, gathering so much dust."

"That's no excuse, Hugh. Unless someone found him, his three hundred years is up. Our chance to help is over. The poor bastard will remain in his current form forever. I'm responsible for what happens to
all
our people. That includes this MacGregor fellow. I should have ordered more thorough research done on all our past records. Perhaps there might have been some way to help him..." Her voice trailed away as she looked out the window.

Hugh sighed and lowered his voice to a whisper. "This isn't your fault, my love. There's no way you could have known 38

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some previous Sorceress would take such pains to hide information of this nature. Besides, what can be done?" He paused. "This man seems to have been quite a bastard. It's a wonder the Sorceress who cursed him didn't just pass a judgement of death."

"It would have been far better if she had. What kind of woman could think up such a thing?" Shayla took his hand in hers. "Not all of us who've succeeded to the office of Sorceress are cold-blooded, you know. The man was a cur and that's no doubt. But three
centuries!
Goddess only knows what he has been through."

"No one believes you have a cold heart," he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. "You're doing the best anyone can with thousands of years of information stored away in vaults, libraries and scribbled in ancient manuscripts."

She sighed. "The
least
we can do is move the statue into the Order. Perhaps something can still be done. Whatever happens with him is one matter, but I want to find the person responsible for hacking into our database. I want to know how it was done and why."

"Aye, those are points of concern. But imagine. The poor brute can hear everything that's going on around him, and he has been in that condition for hundreds of years," Hugh said as he shook his head. "I can't fathom it."

"Get some sleep, Hugh. I have some thinking to do, and I'll need you to be sharp when we get to Scotland."

"Aye, Shayla. If you don't mind me making a suggestion, you'd better get some rest yourself. This whole affair promises to be quite tasking."

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Shayla watched as he put his head back against the reclined seat. The sun shining through the window glittered off his thick white hair and made his shoulders seem even broader. He was quite a figure of a man even though he had passed fifty some time ago.

She sighed and unbound the long braid that normally kept her own silver tresses in place. They were both older than they used to be, but they shared a relationship that could only be described as
blazing
. Hugh made love like a man half his age and satisfied every desire she could possibly dream up. Since she trusted him implicitly, this wasn't the first time they had shared such an adventure. She was glad of his stalwart presence, because something about this particular matter was unnerving. No one should be able to get information about the Order so easily. She'd been told their computer system was impenetrable. If one industrious outsider could get into their database, so could others. Even though all information was being filed as though it was nothing more than collected works of legend, it was still dangerous for any outsider to see it. The only reason she'd set the damned database up in the first place was so that her staff could do their required research from any location in the world. It was safer to access the computer than to speak over the phone about magic artifacts or archeological digs that threatened to expose them.

To fight the outside world and its continual encroachment of their existence, state-of-the-art technology had been employed. And someone was going to pay dearly for breaking into that technology where they had no business.

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Stone Heart

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Chapter Three

Angus wasn't surprised that the woman fainted. Seeing him transform would shock the most stalwart soul into a state of unconsciousness. He carefully lowered her to the soft grass and knelt beside her.

"You are the first human I have laid eyes upon in three hundred years. Little Elspeth's promise of friendship was forever true. She must have passed down the words to undo my enchantment. And, as she was a true friend, so shall I be to you, lady."

The sound of his thick brogue seemed unfamiliar to him. It had been so long since he had spoken. He stood and looked around, taking a deep breath as he did so. The night grew colder, but the air in his lungs seemed wonderful after so many years in his stone shell. Again he knelt by the woman and grabbed a fist of earth. He brought it to his nostrils and took in the pungent smell of it.
Everything
was new.

The woman moaned and he took one of her small hands in his. She was a pretty creature, though far too thin and pale.

He sensed illness within her. All of his kind were sensitive to physical maladies, and some were even able to cure certain sicknesses. But this woman was well on her way to death.

And that grieved him immensely. That his benefactor would come to him so ill, and that she would give her precious time to come and recite the enchantment that freed his body, was a gift from the Goddess herself. It was, as some were fond of saying, nothing short of a miracle.

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He considered the state of the woman before him. Her long tawny hair, captured by a circle of some kind of ruffled material, hung over her left shoulder, cascading in a straight, neatly bound line. He guessed her age to be well over twenty years, but she still looked very young. Perhaps times were not so harsh on men and women as when he last walked the land. Her eyes fluttered open. Even in the coming darkness, he saw the blue of them and smiled. Her eyes were like Elspeth's.

Karen sat bolt upright and tried to scoot away. Her chest was pounding and all she wanted was to get away from the huge man. His dark hair hung almost to his waist and he had a thick, dark beard to match. A black, long-sleeved leather shirt covered all but the front of his massive chest. Undone laces of the shirt emphasized bulky pectorals. Black leather pants and boots matched his thick hair. She could imagine his eyes were just as dark, though she couldn't see the exact color from where she was.

"Aggie, what in the name of God have you got me into?"

she whispered.

"Please, lady. Dunna' be frightened. I could never harm the one who set me free. I am forever your servant."

That deep voice. Did voices sound like that in dreams? This had to be a dream. It just
had
to be. "Wh-who are you?" she stammered.

Angus tilted his head in surprise. "You spoke the words undoing my spell. Do you no' know me then?" He backed away so she might feel more safe.

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"I came as a promise to a dead relative. She told me a wild tale about some man who'd been turned to stone by a Druid."

"Aye," he nodded. "I am Angus MacGregor and I was imprisoned by a Druid Sorceress three hundred years ago to the day. A child from my village knew my plight, and promised to befriend me in my helpless state. She and her kin did keep me company through many long, lonely years where I stood. Then someone moved me from my original place, and I was left in this spot where you found me. You are that child's kin?"

"I ... I don't know. I suppose so. According to my aunt, that story has been passed down from one generation to the next. But it was only a story. Until
now
," Karen murmured as she looked up at the mountainous figure before her.

"'Twas no pointless tale. I am real, lady. But your manner of speech is strange to me. Are you no' a countryman?"

"American," she said as she slowly scooted farther away.

Maybe she could make her way back to the car and forget any of this had ever happened. She could blame it on a bad prescription.

"Please. Dunna' be frightened." He moved closer. "'Tis natural you would be, but I will no' harm you." Angus held out his hand to her. He didn't know what an
American
was, but if she was an example, he was intrigued.

Karen's chest hurt in earnest now. She plunged her hand into her left pocket and brought out the small vial of pills that would stop the pain. She popped the lid off, took one pill, 43

Stone Heart

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then shrugged and took another one. The shock had almost been more than she was physically able to handle.

Angus watched. While he didn't know what it was the lass took, he knew enough to perceive that she was consuming a pain remedy. The last thing he wanted to do was cause further illness in the one who had saved him. He looked around and saw wood lying nearby. It took him only a few moments to gather enough for a fire. While he reveled in the feel of cold air, the night might well be too cold for a woman who was unwell.

"If you are ill, lady, I will take you to those who might help."

"No. No, I'll be fine in a few moments." Karen watched as he piled the wood for the fire. If she thought events so far were impossible, she was in for a bigger surprise. He moved his hand over the wood and a warm blaze sprang up. That was it! No matches. No lighter.
Nothing
.

"How did you do that?" She looked at him and felt her blood grow cold.

"I am Druid. The same as the one who imprisoned me. We are able to control elements such as fire. Did you no' know that part of the story?"

She remembered reading what Aggie had written about Druids. Another part of the incredible story that had been passed down over the years. It was all part of Aggie's fantasy world, although not so much a fantasy now. "I was informed you used to be a member of some Order of mythical creatures. That's where the Druids are supposed to come from."

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Angus nodded and watched as her expression changed from one of fear to absolute panic. He guessed that the woman had been told the story, but she had never believed it. He surmised that, like some of the ancestors who had come after Elspeth, she was only keeping a whimsical promise to carry on a strange and silly tradition.

She became more pale and he began to fear the woman would really fall upon Death's door. It would be poorly done of him to let her come to harm after her kin had kept their promise for these hundreds of years. He had not been entombed without learning some sense of honor and loyalty.

"Please, lady, come closer to the fire and worry no more.

No harm will befall you on my account. Nor will any other being harm you. This I promise, on my life." He moved away as he spoke.

For some minutes, Karen just sat on the ground and stared at the fire.
This wasn't happening
. There were no such things as Druids and entombed bodybuilding Scotsmen and Orders filled with Fairies, Pixies and who knew what else. But her aunt hadn't been crazy after all. Aggie hadn't extracted Karen's promise to come to Scotland because she was demented. She'd done this because everything she'd said was true. But how had Aggie known? What had made her believe some old family story was real?