Page 18 of Highlander Redeemed
“A barrier,” Rowan said, with a bemused smile. “’Tis too small to be of much use, but we constructed it three days ago, and it still holds.”
“But we walked right through it,” Scotia said, looking behind her to see if she could tell where the barrier was. There was nothing to see.
“Aye, we can, because we have no ill intent.” Jeanette was kneeling next to the burn. Rowan knelt facing her. She pulled the snow-white ermine sack from where it hung at her belt, laid it on the ground between them, and pulled it open until it lay in a flat circle.
The Highland Targe lay on it, a heavy grey stone the size of a warrior’s fist, flattened on opposite sides so that it looked like a small, fat shield—a targe. Rowan turned the stone over, revealing the three swirls in a circle symbol that had been incised on itby some ancient Guardian forgotten by time. Rowan settled the stone in the center of the open sack, directly on top of the same swirls in a circle symbol that had been painted in a now-faded red dye on the amber-colored hide.
Jeanette rotated the sack until she seemed satisfied with the arrangement. Two of the three additional symbols painted on the sack around the central symbol were aligned with the two Guardians. A third, an arrow broken in two places, was arranged facing Scotia. Both Guardians sat back upon their heels and looked at Scotia expectantly.
“Have you actually tested the barrier with someone of ‘ill intent’?” she asked as she slowly approached the two women and the stone.
“Nay,” Rowan said, “but if you happen to anger someone enough to goad them into trying to harm you, you can lead them here and test it for us.”
“Very funny.” Scotia knelt down and sat back on her heels, facing the stone. The burn burbled happily opposite her, with Jeanette on her right and Rowan on her left.
“Tell us about thisknowing,” Rowan said.
“There is nothing to tell. I simplyknowthings that I have no way of knowing. I do not ken how or why I know these things.”
“How long has this been going on?” Rowan again.
Scotia had to think about that question. “I think ... I think it has been going on my whole life.” The two women said nothing. “I did not think ’twas anything unusual until today. I assumed it happened to everyone, but apparently it does not.”
“Other than today, are there specific times this has happened?” Jeanette asked.
Scotia’s first thought had her clenching her teeth, but her second thought she could share. “Remember how I went in after Ian when the great hall was afire? I knew he was in there, though I had not seen him go in, nor did anyone else seem to ken he was in there. I knew it. I knew he was in the kitchen. I knew that hewas very afraid, and could not get himself out. I do not know how I knew it, but I did. Just like I knew where Maisie was today, and just as I know ’tis allies, not the watch, who are arriving.”
“But you did not ken the curtain wall would fall, did you?” Rowan asked.
Scotia shook her head, remembering that day when Nicholas had come into their lives and everything had changed. She sighed. “Nay, I knew Conall was there waiting for me, but that was only because I heard his whistle when I went out for a walk. So how does this work?” She waved a hand at the Targe stone. “How do we tell if I am another Guardian?”
Both she and Rowan looked at Jeanette for guidance.
Jeanette shrugged. “Rowan and I were just taken by the power of the stone. We did not do anything to cause either of those events ... at least nothing that we are aware of.”
“Perhaps if she tries to use her gift with the stone?” Rowan asked. Her eyes narrowed and she cocked her head as she reached out and touched her symbol painted on the sack, an inverted V with three wavy lines under it. “I do not understand how any of this happens. I was first struck with my gift in the bailey, the night of Elspet’s last blessing, but wasn’t taken by the Targe until that night in Elspet’s chamber. Jeanette was led to the grotto by the deer with the bent antler and then found the stone in the pool there with her symbol”—Rowan pointed at the mirror painted on the part of the sack closest to Jeanette—“when she was overtaken with the power of the Targe.”
“There does not seem to be any similarity except that we were both overcome with the force of the power when we were claimed by it as Guardians. Have you felt such a force?” Jeanette asked.
Scotia shook her head slowly, then faster. “I would ken it if I had, would I not? I have not experienced anything like what I saw when Rowan was chosen. I would not forget such an event.”
“Nay, you would not,” Rowan said, and Jeanette silently agreed.
“So then what are we doing here? Just waiting for it to overtake me? That does not seem likely since it has never happened before,” Scotia said, disappointment making her words harsher than she meant for them to be.
“We are still learning, Scotia. Clearly we do not understand all of what the Highland Targe can do, or how to use it,” Rowan said, her voice was calm but tension showed in her rigid posture and furled brow.
“In truth, we ken little of how the Targe works, sister. Perhaps we should just see if you can use the Targe to direct yourknowingto something you wish to ken, like exactly where the English are now, or when they will arrive in Glen Lairig?”
“I have already told you where they are today. As for when they will arrive, your gift is better than my guess. Myknowingdoes not seem to deal with anything in the future as your visions do. In every case I can think of Iknewsomething that was happening at that moment, but that I could not see or hear.”
“Very well,” Jeanette said, “let us simply see if you can use the Targe to direct your gift and work from there.”
“But how will we determine if what Iknowis true?”
“’Tis a good question ...” Jeanette looked about. “Does your knowing work with objects?”
Scotia immediately thought of the dagger that had been used to kill her mother, and later Myles. She always seemed to know exactly where it was of late, needing only to think of it to find it. “Aye, with some objects, if I ken what the object is and think of it.”
