Page 54 of Highlander Redeemed
“Is it so amusing that I have once more failed?”
“Nay, sister, you have not failed. Come, sit with us. Rowan and I will try to join with you through the Targe, for I am quite sure that you are meant to be a Guardian.”
“But the Highland Targe has not chosen me. How am I to join with the two of you if I am not chosen?” Scotia struggled to keep her voice steady and even, determined not to show any weakness, even though she wanted to break something, or battle someone.
“I think you are trying too hard, sister. Sit.” Jeanette motioned her back down to sit around the Targe stone with them once more. “Keep one hand upon the Story Stone and place the other on the Targe as I do. Do not try to do anything, but rather let us lead you, gently, easily, into the power of the Targe, and I am certain, this time, that you will be proved a Guardian.”
Scotia wanted to believe her with all her heart, but her heart had been bruised by too much loss, and she was loath to feel any more pain. Nonetheless she was not one to run away from a challenge, and in truth she had nothing more to lose. She sat so she could easily touch the Story Stone and the Targe stone, then looked at Rowan and Jeanette.
IT WAS NOTlong before Duncan’s suspicion was proved. Uilliam walked past Duncan’s hiding spot, then stopped and looked around, turning in a full circle as he pulled on his beard and muttered under his breath. Duncan grinned and waited for the black-haired bear of a man to scratch his head, pull his beard again, and scowl.
“Damned man,” Uilliam whispered as he turned back in the direction Duncan had been traveling and slowly walked that way, scanning all around him for a sign of Duncan’s passing. “Damned, damned man,” Uilliam said, a little louder this time. “Duncan, if you are about, make yourself known. Nicholas will have my hide for losing you if you do not.”
Duncan chuckled and stepped from behind the tree. “We cannot have that, now can we, Uilliam?”
“Nay. It would seem you have learned all I taught you and then some, especially of late,” the older man said.
Duncan realized his observation was true. “I have. Training Scotia has required me to stretch my own skills and invent newways of training her. She is a fiercely smart warrior, that one, and catches on very quickly.” Duncan couldn’t stop himself from looking over his shoulder back toward the meadow. “You are here to keep me from returning to the meadow, aye? ’Tis not necessary.”
Uilliam let his head bob in answer.
“I do not like feeling useless when the future of the clan hangs in the balance,” Duncan said. “There is far more I can do scouting for English than I can do standing by as things do or do not happen there.”
Uilliam bobbed his head again. “I ken exactly what you mean.” He looked about, and Duncan knew from long experience that he was taking stock of their surroundings. “Following you has reminded me of how useless a task that is, though you were surprisingly easy to track for a while,” he said. His eyes narrowed for a moment, then he strode off in a westerly direction.
Duncan almost had to run to catch up with Uilliam’s long strides. “I was distracted.”
“By Scotia.”
“Always by Scotia.”
“But more so of late.”
“Much more so of late.” Duncan sighed. “She used to irritate me. Now ... When I was training her it seemed she had changed, that she had turned into the woman she was always meant to be: strong, focused, gifted not just with herknowingbut as a warrior. Then yesterday, when she thought I had betrayed her trust, she was the same as she’d always been—impetuous, angry, thinking only of herself, not of the clan, not of what I taught her.”
“You ken you did not betray her, aye?”
“I do. She was not ready to go into battle. She showed us that clearly enough.”
“And now?” Uilliam stopped and scanned the forest again.
“I swore to myself I would have no more to do with her. Clearly I have not taught her what she needs to ken.”
“Are you sure about that, laddie?” He took off, adjusting his direction back to the west. “It seemed last night that she had learned what she needed to, the hard way.”
“Which had nothing to do with the lessons I tried to teach her,” Duncan said, keeping up with Uilliam better this time.
“Did it not? In the past she would not have thought about her actions. She certainly would not have taken responsibility for the trouble she brought to our dooryard. Never would she have apologized for her deeds. In all the days I have known that lassie, she has never apologized for anything.”
Duncan thought about the admissions Scotia had publicly made, and how even then he had come to her aid, how even after what she had done that day, the new trouble she had caused when she had left the glen, even then he could not stand by and watch her take responsibility for her mum’s death. She had much to be held accountable for, but that was not part of it, and the harm she was causing herself with it had pulled on every instinct he still had to keep her safe and happy.
“I cannot get her out of my thoughts for even a moment,” he said, with a heavy sigh.
Uilliam stopped, and when Duncan stopped next to him, clapped him on the back. “You have been smitten with the lassie for as long as I can remember.”
“’Tis different now.” Duncan caught himself drumming his fingers against his thighs and forced himself to stop.
“Aye. I have noticed that, too. Our Scotia has finally grown up.”
