Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (86 page)

Dallan raised a curious brow,
unwrapped Shona from his arms,
then
went up to Kwaku and grinned.

Kwaku stopped his chuckling and stood as if waiting. “Go ahead, Boyeee. I know what it is you long to do.”

“Nay, not like this. ‘Twould not be fair.”

“No? Den let me mak
e it fair.” Kwaku’s fi
st moved so fast no one saw it co
ming.  He knocked
Dallan to the fl
oor with a single move.

Dallan nodded, leapt to his f
eet and sprang at Kwaku, his fi
st connecting squarely with the
Azurti’s
jaw to send him into the wall.

Lany cringed. “
Oof
.”

Angus smiled broadly. “Aye, it’s grand, isn’t it?”

“Stop it, both of you.” John interjected. “Dallan, Kwaku. We still have a problem.”

Dallan had actua
lly picked Kwaku up from the fl
oor and held him high above his head. “Aye, John?” he replied.

“Yes.”

Dallan let Kwaku drop to his feet in a torrent of laughter. Power surged through both men, the light of their hearts shining out from within again.

Shona and Zara stood to one side, holding each other, their faces f
i
lled with odd concern. “Dallan,” Shona began her voice shaky. “Something is not right somewhere.”

“M’eudain?”
Dallan ran to her side. “What is it, Flower? What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, eyes frightened and pointed to where Brennan lay.

Dallan followed her gaze and stood suddenly straight. “Saints…”

Philip was on his knees, the corners of his mouth covered with foam and saliva, eyes glazed over and turned a h
ideous yellow, his hands and fi
ngers curled claw-like. His hair had gone dull, gray and wild, his skin slack and wrinkled. He snarled at Dallan like a trapped animal. “He will kill you! He will see you dead!”

Shona moved to Dallan who wrapped her in a protective embrace. “He canna harm ye, Flower. ‘Tis all right, dinna be afraid.”

“She was to be mine and you took her from me! He will kill you! He will kill all of you!” Philip continued to rave to anything and everything in the room, occasionally clawing and striking at the air.

Kwaku moved to Dallan. “You are de one responsible for him, Boyeee. I have given to you my office. You are de Time Master now. It is as Lissa said. Brennan’s life is in your hands, his fate lies on your tongue. Wh
at does your tongue have to off
er dis man?”

Da
llan’s piercing glare caught fi
rst Kwaku, then Brennan. “Justice.”

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,

Having the key to the Abyss and holding in his

Hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that

Ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan and

Bound him for a thousand years. He threw him

Into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over

Him, to keep him from deceiving the nations

Anymore until the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Revelation 20:1-3

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Dallan stabbed Brennan with a cold look, an evil hiss the ex-Time Master’s only response.

Shona drew deeper into her husband’s embrace, which made his anger at Brennan double. His jaw twitched with the knowledge of what Brennan had done, had been about to do, to his new bride. He stood to his full height and looked to John, eyes intense. “Ye ken I want to kill him.”

“Dallan,” John began. “As much as he deserves it, there are still certain legalities to look at. The Elde
rs will want to question him fi
rst and…”

“I’ve no taken any oaths, John. I’ll do it my way.”

“Eaton?” Lany’s wh
isper had an air of menacing fi
nality. “Let Dallan have him.”

John, his face stern, sought Kwaku, w
ho looked from Dallan to a pant
ing Brennan. “It is de
Boyeee’s
right to pass and carry out sentence. Brennan, he has killed, and worse he tried to take control of de Maiden, an act of murder in
itself. I agree with
Mos
-go-fi
-an. Give Brennan to de Boyeee.”

John threw Kwaku a know
ing look. “You passed your offi
ce to Dallan now on purpose, didn’t you? You could have waited until we returned to Genis Lee or Mishna. Why?”

Kwaku smiled. “Is it not obvious, Councilor? Brennan has his own destiny laid out for him, as does
de Boyeee. Let destiny be fulfi
lled. Let de Boyeee have what he needs. Brennan belongs to him.”

John looked back to Dallan and nodded. “So be it.”

Dallan stood straight and tall, his eyes brighter than before, and released Shona from his arms. His jaw danced as he slowly approached Brennan.

Brennan hissed again and fought to stand, but couldn’t get past a certain point before being forced to his knees again. He growled and snarled as Dallan approached. “You wish me dead, boy?
Go ahead
,
kill me
. Kill me and let me haunt you! If I can’t
have the Maiden with my
fl
esh, I shall take her from you with my soul!”

Dallan stopped several feet away, eyes narr
owed to slits. “Seems ye’ve mis
judged the situation again.”

Brennan’s eyes had grown in size, their yellow depths even more frightening than before, as the evil in his hea
rt consumed him. “Kill me, boy.
Kill me!”

Dallan raised a curious brow. “Yer certainly in an awful hurry to die.”

“Kill me!” Brennan hissed back.

Dallan searched Brennan’s heart with his own.

Brennan fell to the fl
oor screaming as he clutched at his chest protectively. “Stop! Get away! Kill me! Kill me!”

Dallan withdrew as an icy chill raced up his back. Brennan, now totally consumed by his own evil heart, was no longer human. If
he killed Brennan here and now
Brennan’s heart would not die. It would be set free. He backed away. “No. I wilna be the one to kill ye.”

“
Nooo
!” Brennan screamed at him, eyes wild. “Kill me! I hurt the Maiden! I nearly took her! Kill me!”

Dallan watched
him,
eyes narrowed to slits, then turned to the others. “I canna kill him.”

John caught the look in Dalla
n’s eyes and slowly nodded. “Th
en do what you have to do. Let your instinct and heart decide.” He turned and cut Lany off before he could speak. “Brennan would be more dangerous in death here,
in this place, than in life. Th
is is difficult, Lany. I’ve read of this happening only one other time in Muiraran history.”

“What’s happening?” Lany asked in frustrated confusion.

Kwaku nodded to himself. “Quiet,
Mos
-go-f
i
-an. Let de Boyeee search his own heart for de sentence dat will destroy de beast Brennan has become.”

Every one watched Dallan, who had walked away several feet and now stood with his eyes closed. Shona looked as though she wanted to go to him but remained where she was, her own heart telling her to stay.

Dallan began to whisper to himself. “I ken yer real. I ken ye can hear me, God. Ye’ve been with me all this time and I thank ye. But I ha’ to ask: What can I do to keep this evil thing from harming my wife or the others further? Is there no a way to be rid o’ him without setting what’s inside o’ him free?”

He was silent several moments, the air in the room deathly still, the only sound that of Brennan’s own labored breathing.

Brennan cackled wickedly. “You can’t kill me, boy. You still won’t win. As soon as you release me, I will kill you. And then I will take the Maiden.”

Dallan’s eyes sprang open. He slowly smiled and turned to face his enemy. “Nay, ye’ll bother me no more.”

“You can’t stop me! Kawahnee couldn’t stop me! No one will stop me! I have still won! There’s nothing you can do!”

“Aye, there is something I can do.”

Brennan spit at him. “What, you fool? What can you possibly do? If you kill me, you set me free! If you don’t, he will come for me. I sense my master even now! Either way you lose!”

“Nay. Yer wrong.” Dallan faced Shona. “Lass, come here.”

 
She glanced fearfully at Brennan and then obeyed, moving with caution.

“Dinna be afraid, Flower. I wilna let him harm ye.” Dallan spoke gently, putting himself between his wife and his enemy. Everyone watched as he kissed her then motioned for her to kneel at his feet, her back to Brennan. He closed his eyes in concentration and lifted his arms out to either side of his tall warrior’s frame.

“Living stars, is he doing what I think he’s doing?” Lany asked nervously.

John swallowed hard and turned to Kwaku. “He has no training, no instruction!”

Kwaku slowly smiled. “He has instinct, a warrior’s heart, and an ear now sensitive to de Creator’s voice. He can do it. It is in his blood.”

“He might bring the whole building down on top of us!” John exclaimed. “Help him. Guide him for the Creator’s sake!”

Kwaku looked the Councilor in the eye. “No.”

Dallan tilted his head back and began to whisper to himself, then looked at the wall in front of him and stood braced before Shona. “Shona,” he began his voice stern. “Send this
Sassenachh
devil where he belongs.” Shona, sitting back on her heels, glanced over her shoulder at Brennan, and then brought herself up, awaiting the true command to be given.

“NOOO!” Brennan wailed from behind her. “You can’t!”

Dallan ignored him. “Shona,” he began again. “
Cuir
seo
diabhal
Sassenach
caite
esan
biun
!
”

Shona’s back arched as her instinct took over, allowing Dallan full us
e of her heart. Her features fl
uxed and she began to sing, the room shaking from the
power as it began to build. Th
eir heart burst forth, its
light blinding, and shot straight for the wall before the Time Master where it stood poised for a brief second before beginning to draw an outline in the middle of it.

Dallan stood as before, head back, eyes closed in deep concentration as he mouthed the words that w
ent along with Shona’s song.
Th
e song of her Call.
The song of his home.

Everyone watched in rapt awe as the light seared its way into the wall and began to trace the outlines of mountains, hills and valleys. It dre
w rivers, streams, trees and fi
nally the outline of a village.

Glencoe.

Julia fell to the
fl
oor, her face frozen in wonderment. “He’s going to open a door.”

Kitty and Tomy held each other, both too bewildered to say anything.

Kwaku and Zara stood to one side, smiling with pride.

The song continued, the outline changing again as Dallan narrowed down the location he w
anted. A room began to form.
Th
e room of a small
cottage.

Dallan began to slowly move away from Shona toward Brennan as her song continued, the outline nearly complete, the light of their heart now tracing the forms of two people, one a child.

Lany smiled and took several steps forward, swallowing hard. He shook his head in awe. “Way to go, Dallan.”

John joined him. “He’s doing it. He’s really doing it.”

Dallan stopped several feet from Brennan and dropped his arms to his sides. His eyes sprang open and he stood, legs apart, one arm rising high into the air. He swept his arm as if tearing out a page and the outline he’d drawn peeled away from the wall, leaving in its wake the living room of his mother’s cottage in Glencoe.

A kilted Highlander stood and looked at Dallan in horror, a small boy held before hi
m with a dirk to his throat. Th
e boy saw Dallan and began to struggle. “Dallan!”

Dallan grabbed the writh
ing form of Brennan from the fl
oor, stood him up and punched him square in the gut. “Ye killed my grand
father!” He swung again, his fi
st shattering Brennan’s jaw. “Ye
killed my family!” One huge fi
st then struck Brennan in the face to send him sprawling. “Now let justice be served!” He grabbed Brennan by the collar, dragged him to time’s door and ste
pped through. Brennan in his fi
st, he walked right up to the man holding the boy and leaned into his face. “I curse ye, Robert Campbell. No good ‘twill ever come o’ any o’ this. Ye’ll be remembered as a dog.”