Stone Heart (2 page)

"In ... in yon barn. The night was too dense with fog for me to safely find my way to the pond."

"You may consider your life saved by that fact, you oaf.

And in the future, dunna'
ever
hurt that little girl or her beast 9

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

again or you will answer to me. If she hungers, you will feed her the bread she needs. Do you understand?"

"Aye, MacGregor."

"Aye,
what
, you mindless coward?" He shook the man to make his point.

"I will not touch the girl or her beast. Not
ever
."

"
And
?"

"And I will see she does not want for food."

The baker trembled in terror at MacGregor's threat. The hulking brute was quite capable of delivering his promise.

Everyone knew he was not to be thwarted in
any
way.

"Good," Angus snapped. "Now, get out of my sight before I tie you in an old flour sack and throw
you
in a pond!"

Angus pushed the portly man into a nearby mud puddle.

He laughed as the man scrambled to his feet and found his way back to the safety of his cottage. When the door of the dwelling slammed behind the baker, Angus turned and strode to the barn. He jerked the door open and was met with the sound of a mewing, frightened kitten. It was, as the little girl said, tied in a sack and waiting for its watery fate.

He grabbed the sack, walked to his horse and mounted.

Within a short time, he was back where he'd left Elspeth. She looked up at him and smiled, obviously hearing the frightened animal crying. After dismounting, Angus untied the sack, pulled out the tiny gray bundle and handed it to its mistress.

It purred loud and strong at being delivered back into the arms of the one who kept it well.

"Thank you, MacGregor! Oh, thank you! I shall not forget what you have done. Not
ever
or
ever!"

10

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

"You know my name, lassie?"

"Aye.
Everyone
knows you. They say you are a brute and a bully, but I do not believe them. I think you are the most
bravest
man I have ever known. And I shall not forget what you have done. Not
ever
."

Angus was unaccustomed to such a declaration, and though childishly made, it was sincere. He was uncertain how to take it. She had unknowingly insulted while heaping praise.

The little girl pulled upon the hem of his jerkin. Angus bent down to see what she wanted and received a small kiss upon one of his unshaven cheeks. Then she cuddled her kitten tightly and ran off toward the village. At that exact moment the clouds seemed to fly away and the moon shone brightly.

He could see her golden curls glisten in its light as she ran.

For an instant, he smiled. Then the old hatred came back, and he cursed himself for being all kinds of a fool.
Why should I
care?
It only hurt to do so.

He quickly turned, mounted his horse and rode to his campsite. He should not have become involved in the matter.

The only things that concerned him were those that could increase his power or wealth. He had wasted good sleep over an incident which had gained him neither.

After arriving at his camp, he settled himself near the circle of stones that served as a fire pit. He tuned his senses to make sure no one was near then raised his hands and uttered the ancient spell of making. A bright blaze suddenly came alive in the pit. His magic would keep the fire burning all night and ensure a warm sleep. A deerskin served as a 11

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

blanket and would also help ward off the dew. Now that the clouds had blown away, the night promised to be cold.

He raised his hands to the blaze to warm them and felt a strange sensation. Another of his own kind was near. He threw off the covering and stood, gazing into the darkness.

"I know you are there. Show yourself," he commanded.

"What is your name, and what do you want?"

"Who I am does not matter. You already know why I am here," Maeve told him as she pushed the hood of her cloak back and walked toward the firelight.

"Ah, you are a member of the Order. Others have come and I have defeated them all. Why do you people keep troubling me?" He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the woman.

She saw the defiance in his stance and his gaze. She sensed that his magic was great. But not so great that he could not be defeated and punished. He had misused his power and had to be stopped.

"The ones who came before told me how strong you are, Angus MacGregor. Do not think, however, that you will send
me
away like a whipped pup, as you have all the rest. This time you
will
be punished. The only reason you have not been destroyed is because you have kept your powers secret from the village folk. They do not yet know that you have used magic against them for your own purpose."

Angus smiled. "I dunna' know of what you speak, old woman. Be quick about your business so that I may send you back to the Order as I did the others. The night grows cold and I am weary."

12

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

"You are a
liar
, MacGregor. You know exactly what I speak about. Do not play the buffoon with me. You may not know my name, but you do know that I am Sorceress of the Ancients. You also knew that I would eventually find you when the others I sent could not do as I bid them."

Angus dropped his careless facade and bellowed in anger,

"I dunna' care that you are the Sorceress! Your laws dunna'

apply to me, since I have never gained benefit from them.

The Order cast out my parents and left them to die among the village people. The Order left me to fend for myself among sheep-witted peasants who could no' find it in their miserly hearts to give succor or food to the child I was. And they have paid for it since."

"We did not know your parents would take you when we cast them out, lad. They had been ordered to leave you behind. When we found out you were missing, we sent emissaries to find where your mother and father had hidden you. By then, they had died in the disease-ridden countryside, and you were as wild as the wind. You had already learned how to fight, steal and bully those around you. No amount of diplomacy worked. We tried to help you, to bring you back into our midst. You
know
that."

"Bah!"
Angus shouted, rudely gesturing with the middle finger of his right hand. "Your
emissaries
cared nothing for me. They only came because they feared I would use my Druid powers and let the world know about the Order. I can only imagine the chaos that would befall all of you if your precious world were revealed to mankind. If it became known that an Order of Fairies, Druids and Goblins lived in the 13

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

nearby woods, the villagers might have soldiers sent to hunt you down like the weak prey you are. But my parents wanted to make contact with the villagers, try to make them understand
who
and
what
the Order is. They tried to let them know magical creatures existed nearby and meant them no harm."

"That could never be allowed, Angus. You must know that," the old woman insisted. "Your parents could have been put to death for their attempts to reveal their magic to the outside world. Instead, we tried to show compassion and let them live."

"You should have saved your compassion!" Angus growled.

"Instead of killing them outright, you banished them, and the verra' same villagers they tried to befriend let them starve.

My parents had no coin with which to buy food. Too weak to fight off the illness that ravages the countryside each winter, they died within hours of each other. I was but a young boy and had to dig the holes in which to bury them. Where was your precious Order
then
, Sorceress? Where were you when I fought for every scrap of food I could find?"

"Your parents should have left you behind as they were ordered..."

"What decent parent would leave their child, old woman?"

he interrupted. "I remember the day they were banished from the Order, though I was barely past my fifth year. I owe you, the Order and these cursed townspeople
nothing
. Nothing! Do you
hear?
You cast my parents out of the only home they had ever known. And the townspeople would not even acknowledge that they lay dying in a hovel. They were 14

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

without food or warm clothing.
None
of you ever cared a whit for the child my dead parents left behind. So I learned to care for myself and no one else. I learned how to
take
what would no' be offered to me."

"And to make the lives of everyone around you a misery?"

she asked. "Is this also what you learned, MacGregor?"

"Yes. All this I did learn. And I learned it so well that I now command the town and everyone in it. They fear me as they fear nothing else that exists. I take what I want and no one stands in my way. They are shown the same mercy they showed my parents and me. And as for the Order, they can rot. I care nothing for
any
of you!"

The old woman bowed her head and sighed. "Part of what you say is the truth, MacGregor. We should have been more persistent in our efforts to bring you back to the Order. It was poorly done of us to leave you among the abusive townsfolk.

But your hatred and the use of your magic to run this town makes you dangerous."

"These simple-minded fools dunna' know that I use magic.

Mostly I use these." He held up his two gargantuan fists and shook them. "They are what these ignorant peasants best understand. I only use magic to ruin a crop or two when someone will no' pay me what I ask, or give me clothing or livestock I want."

"And you think what you do is
just
and that the townsfolk do not make a connection between you and the loss of their livelihood?" she asked.

15

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

"What if they do? They still dunna' know that I am Druid or that the Order exists. Let them think me a black witch or demon. I care not."

"It is a wonder that you have not told them about us outright. Why have you not done so?"

Angus smiled. "They are ignorant and frightened by that which they dunna' understand. If I told them about the Order and they believed me, they would pack up in horror and move to distant places. They would no' tolerate knowing Trolls and Gnomes were living in the woodlands so near their homes.

And, if the people left, I could no' have the vengeance against them which is due me. It is better to let them think
I
am the most powerful being that ever besieged them. I may one day be powerful enough to come back to your Order and avenge my parents, as I have avenged them by terrorizing these simple fools."

He saw the Sorceress' eyes narrow and knew he had gone too far. Still, he did not fear her. If she had wanted him dead, her minions would have been sent to do the deed long ago instead of being sent to bring him back to the Order.

"I hold my temper no longer, Angus MacGregor. I am here to pass judgment. You misuse your powers in the world and would threaten the very Order from which you came. Your hatred has left nothing of your heart but a blackened abyss. I can find no redeeming quality in you. And the worst of it is, your parents had so much love in them that they wanted to share their magic with the world. Even though they knew such a thing was not allowed, they were willing to risk their very lives in their cause. As noble as their purpose may have 16

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

been, I cannot approve what they did. But I
can
admire their courage. You have shamed them and their efforts. They would have hated the man you have become and you are dangerous. So I must pass judgement upon you."

She raised her arms and began to speak in Gaelic. "
Clach,
clach
," she chanted. She summoned the ancient magic for transforming the man into stone.

Words as old as time wove a spell around the place where they stood. The fog, which had earlier disappeared, now reappeared and circled the campsite. Though it grew colder, the wind did not blow. No creature made a sound.

For the first time since he was a child, Angus knew fear.

He felt an iciness creep over him. It began at his feet and moved up his legs. He was unable to move or speak. Each second that elapsed seemed like an eternity as he grew more and more frigid. He thought he would freeze. Perhaps that was what the Sorceress intended to do. To kill him with the frosty air which penetrated the deepest part of his lungs.

Soon his sight dimmed and failed. He wanted to cry out in rage and horror. But that was a luxury denied to him. He could still hear the Sorceress' voice wielding her enchanted powers, but he could do nothing to stop her. His magic was not as strong as hers, and the spell had come upon him too suddenly.

"As it was with your parents, I do not have it in my heart to destroy you," she told him. "I acknowledge that part of what you have become is due to my negligence." She paused and regarded her handiwork. "You will exist as you are, able to hear all that occurs around you, but you will never be able 17

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

to see or respond. If, on the three-hundredth anniversary of this enchantment,
one
soul will come forward, and utter the exact same words used to bewitch you, then the spell will be broken. Perhaps in that time you will learn how evil hatred is.

Since you have not endeared yourself to a single being, I fully expect you will spend eternity as you are. A statue of stone.

Hideous in appearance, and devoid of any friendship or human contact."

The Sorceress turned and walked away. Her head hung and her shoulders slumped. It would have been less cruel to kill him outright. Unless the small presence she sensed would come to his aid, he would spend the rest of time in this entombed state. But the spell was cast and her job done. She made her way back to the forest from which she came.