Page 6 of The Ranger

2

After his meeting with Sita, Markhel walked the lonely streets of Clear Creek, keeping watch. How many times had he done this over the years he was assigned to the real town? How long had Kwaku known the town’s secrets? Did King Jaireth know them as well? Or was the ex-Time Master keeping secrets from the king?

He checked the saloon, the first floor was dark, but a lamp burned bright in the window of the second story. The Mulligans had arrived with the Van Cleets that very afternoon. Irene and Wilfred Dunnigan, along with Sarah and Doc Waller, were ecstatic to see them, and as soon as the newcomers began to get over the shock of their surroundings, the stories began.

He’d sat in a corner for a time, listening to Grandma and Irene regale the others of their recent assignment with Pepper Kincaid and Thackary Cooke. Wilfred and Doc got their turn, and Paddy and Cyrus asked lots of questions. Mary and Polly, their wives, still in a state of shock, said little.

Markhel crossed the street to the sheriff’s office and sat on a bench near the door. Cyrus and Polly were occupying their living quarters in the hotel, just as they would in the real Clear Creek. Paddy and Mary were in theirs over the saloon. Irene and Wilfred were once again living over the mercantile. And Doc and Grandma had their little, white-washed house up and across the street from the Dunnigans. There were eight of them, and soon there would be more. Amon Cotter and his mate Nettie were being brought to the replicated town. As were Newton Holmes and Arya. Amon and Arya were Muiraran, and it was time they came to live among their people. But who else would come? That was the question. Jefferson Cooke and Lorelei? They were already in the palace. Would they ask Melvale for a house to be built? Of course, his brother would oblige them if they wished.

He sat back and looked at the stars illuminating the sky. He hadn’t reached the age of joining when most Muiraran males did. Because he had three hearts instead of two, he could not. Melvale suffered the same condition, and it wasn’t until they fought each other during Dallan and Shona’s first assignment, that they were free of their own hearts’ prison. Now they both had two, as was normal, and he was the first to receive a Call, strange as it was.

He stood, walked down the boardwalk, and let his senses take in his surroundings. He’d lived by his senses up until now. Sight, smell, acute hearing, touch, taste. His inner heart stirred at the age of joining, but never woke. He did have to feed it, and the presence of a third heart had kept him alive. But now that it was gone, if he did not join and soon, he would not survive. He still wasn’t sure it was possible.

Maida Comfort was a child, no more than ten, when she Called. She sang as most children do. But he heard it from miles away, and his heart responded, and would have no other. Now his time was running out, and Dallan would have to take him to her now that she’d come of age. But would she have him? For her, years would have passed since she or her family last laid eyes on him. He tried not to think about it. He’d lose sleep, and he couldn’t afford to lose any more.

He was worried about Melvale, about Maida, and about the future of his people. They had enemies now. Like shadows they moved, silent, swift, and deadly. And there was an enemy from within.

Philip Brennan. The ex-Time Master was supposed to be dead. Time Master Dallan shoved him through a door in time to 1692 in the middle of the Glencoe massacre. He landed on Robert Campbell himself, and then the door closed. What happened after that? No one knew.

The most logical explanation was that Pepper Kincaid and Thackary Cooke, a bonding couple brought together by Dallan and Shona in 1969, were in the wrong place at the wrong time and had a run in with Brennan and his mate, Lissa. She could erase someone’s memories and replace them with new ones. If it was indeed Brennan and Lissa they met, then she only had enough time to erase the couple’s memory of Brennan and herself. Without replacing that memory with another, the young couple could only recall tiny fragments. A feeling, or sense of something that happened. How long their memories would be suppressed, no one knew. Lissa had been the most skilled Muiraran in the kingdom at memory alteration. Not even her sister Zara could compare. But then, she had her own unique talents and gifts.

He stood at the other end of town near the outline of a foundation for a small cottage across the street from Grandma and Doc’s place. He smiled. “Melvale, you can’t stop building, can you?” For all he knew his brother was building it for him. He would need to prepare something for his future mate but didn’t have time. Melvale, it seemed, was taking care of that for him.

He started the trek to the other end of town. There was nothing to guard the humans from in this place. They were well protected. But some habits were hard to break, and it made him more comfortable to patrol as he’d always done.

When he reached the end of town he walked to the church and went inside. Melvale had the pews put in days before the others arrived. Would Grandma and the others hold Sunday meetings here? Would Melvale’s Clear Creek only serve to make them homesick?

Hmmm, it was a good question. Another good question was how much did Grandma and the rest know of his time with Maida? They would have been there when he was taken to her. It was their past, but his future. They were ordered not to speak to him of it, and he knew better than to ask.

The other question was, how much of it was altered by the disruption in the timeline? He had no idea.

He sat in a pew and stared at the moonlight coming through the windows, illuminating some of the pews, leaving the rest in shadow. Loneliness crept into his heart, and he knew it was the beginning of the end. The emptiness would come, and there was little to be done about it. He’d have to ride it out. Just as he’d always done.

He didn’t know how much time he had left, nor did he know how he was to convince Maida of who and what he was. Her Uncle Colin knew, so did his wife, Belle, and that would help. But there would be opposition when it came to her family, and he wasn’t sure how to handle it. To them he was a brute, dangerous, untamed, and uncontrollable. And they were right, he was all those things. But he wouldn’t be to Maida. How could he? Yet, his heart fed off expelling brute force and serving up a helping of justice if things called for it. All his pent-up power had to go somewhere, and the question was, how was he to feed his inner heart while he was with her? She was human. He could flick her with a finger and send her across a room. He couldn’t do that with a Muiraran female. They were much stronger than humans.

This was the question on everyone’s mind and one of the reasons King Jaireth waited for Dallan and Shona to return from their last assignment. He hoped Time Master Dallan could help him. He’d accepted the fact he could die. But what of Maida? Would she, a human, also die even though she technically could not perform a Call. Yet did.

No one knew the answer to this. And it was beginning to scare him.

There was, however, another possibility, but only Zara would be able to give them an answer. She’d been too weak up until now to spend time with Maida and see if she did indeed have some Muiraran blood in her, even the faintest bit. If she did, that would explain the Call he’d received. This meant that Maida’s father had Muiraran blood, which meant his brothers could have it as well. Thus, the Comfort brothers’ offspring might have a touch. Zara Awahnee was the only one with enough heightened sensitivity to tell.

“What are you doing in here?” a gruff voice asked.

Markhel smiled. “Mrs. Dunnigan.” He turned on the pew and looked at her. “Do you need me?”

“No.” She marched up the aisle and plopped down beside him. “So? Are you praying?”

“I am not.” He faced forward. “I am thinking. This is a quiet place and is peaceful.”

“Of course, it’s a church,” she snapped. She crossed her arms in front of her and frowned. “Well, out with it. How worried are you?”

“We should not be speaking of this, and you know it.” He gave her the side-eye.

She rolled hers. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned.”

“Please, leave, before I am tempted to ask things I should not. You have seen what happens to me, as I have not been taken to the appointed time yet, I would rather not know.”

She heaved a sigh. “Suit yourself.” She stood and did the one thing that told him his time in Clear Creek was not going to be pleasant. She gave him a hug, her shoulders trembling with emotion.

---