Page 3 of The Ranger

“None.”

“Kwaku has also been watching, along with Zara.”

Markhel tensed but said nothing.

“Kwaku will accompany you.”

He looked up. “What?”

“And Zara. They need an assignment.”

“They will draw too much attention. Besides, they are not fully recovered from Kawku’s kidnapping.”

“They are fine, Ranger, and you will do as they say or suffer the consequences.”

“What of the Time Master?”

“He has other things to attend to after his last assignment and is having to retrace some of his own steps. Sighting the ex-Time Master Philip Brennan in Clear Creek was no small thing. We must find out if it is a simple case of crossing paths with him in time, or if something else is going on.”

Markhel nodded. What she said was true, and the best person to find out was Time Master, Dallan. “Understood. Now, what else do you wish to tell me?”

Sita grinned. She was not only the oldest and wisest Muiraran, but the shortest. She left her chair and stood before him. Even standing, he was still taller seated. She poked him in the chest with a finger. “I am going to teach you how to court a lady and Not. Get. Shot.”

He arched a single eyebrow at her. “And whom, may I ask, would be doing the shooting?”

“Her father, who else? Oh, and her grandfather.” She looked him in the eyes. “In order to woo and win this maiden, you’re going to have to win over her family, especially those two, or all could be lost.”

* * *

“Dallan what is it,what’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer his wife at first, instead setting off at a fast pace the minute they stepped through the time door she’d created at his command. They’d just paid a visit to the Duke of Stantham, better known as Duncan Cooke, to disclose to him what Cozette really was. Duncan and Cozette were their very first assignment and they traveled to the year 1858 to make sure Duncan met, bonded, and joined with Cozette Duprie. A kidnapped Muiraran who, like Shona, had been stolen as an infant, hidden in another time, and raised by adoptive human parents. But at this point, Dallan wasn’t so sure. Either he was having a case of what Shona called déjà vu or was repeating something he’d already done. But how was that even possible?

“Is there something wrong with Duncan?” she prodded.

He stopped and turned, the look on his face intense. “Did ye sense anything strange while we were there? Anything… familiar?”

She shook her head in confusion. “No, I… I don’t think so.”

He held up a hand, closed his eyes and took a calming breath. “Duncan said Cozette mentioned an Englishman was there when she and Sadie were in the outlaw caves. Cozette confirmed it when she came into the study. You hadn’t joined us yet, but the name she said she overheard was Brennan.” He looked at Shona as she gasped. “I’m going to speak to the heathen.”

She set after him again. “How would Cozette know anything about Philip Brennan?”

“That’s what I want to find out. How could that devil be there not only during our first assignment, but our last one?” He still couldn’t get over the fact Brennan was in Clear Creek in the year 1969. He and Shona didn’t run into him, but Pepper Kincaid and Thackary Cooke had. He picked up the pace.

She jogged after him. “Wait a minute, why does this all seem familiar?”

He stopped again, hands on hips. “I’m sorry,M’eudain.Perhaps it’s just me. But to hear Cozette and Duncan speak his name was like… like…”

“Seeing a ghost?”

“Aye. Maybe that’s why I feel so addled.”

“Yes, well, think of how I feel.”

He drew her into his arms. “Och, Flower, forgive me.” He drew away enough to look at her. “Are ye frightened?”

She shook her head. “No, I should be, but I’m not. We saw him die. At least, I think we did. Him showing up on the Cooke’s land in 1969 had to be a coincidence. He just happened to be there and stumbled across Pepper and Thackary. It’s the only thing that makes sense. But if Sadie and Cozette really did overhear Brennan speaking to one of the outlaws in 1858, then what was he doing there? Did he know about Cozette?”

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