Redeeming Vows (4 page)

Ian nodded. “Aye, I agree.”

“Elizabeth has come up with a suggestion, one I think we should all consider.”

Fin seldom came to her side in any discussion.

To hear him doing so now gave her heart a small jump.

“What is it?” Myra asked.

Liz glanced at each family member before she spoke. “We need to find a way to practice all our skills. Daily.”

“But—”

“Wait, hear me out,” she told Ian. “Grainna isn’t playing by the same rules we are. She’s practicing her powers, using them, mastering them. We’re hiding them. I know the position we’re in and the secrecy needed, but we need to do something to enhance our gifts to have a fair fight against her.”

“The Ancients did say it would take all of us to defeat her.”

Liz would never forget how the Ancient, Elise, daughter of Cameron, floated around the room, telling them of their destiny. The ghost-like woman, arrived on the eve of their face-to-face battle with Grainna and told them to band together to defeat the immortal witch. Elise also said that their battle had just begun. Now, so many months later, Liz felt the weight of those words. Grainna ruled Scotland, or attempted to now.

“How do you propose we practice under the eyes of my men? Men who are not Druid, who fear all magic?”

“You guys were able to come up with a silence spell to keep the servants from knowing when you came together in Lizzy’s room.” Todd, the only non-24

Redeeming Vows

Druid in the room spoke up, “Maybe you can come up with something similar, bigger.”

Myra clasped her husband’s hand. “I don’t know if we have the power it would take to do that.”

“You won’t know until you try.”

“Which is my point,” Lizzy expressed. “Practice makes perfect and all of that. Tara, outside of helping out the vegetable garden, have you used your active powers to do anything?”

“Not really. I removed the path to the cottage where Grainna took me.” Tara shivered. Duncan put his arm around his wife.

“Amber, have you attempted to read objects? I know reading people is easy for you, but what about things?” Liz asked.

Todd snorted. “You’ve watched too much CSI.”

“I’m not so sure, Todd. As a cop, did you ever hear of psychics helping an investigation? Missing kids?” Liz referred to the author of
Seventh Sense
.

“I’ve not tried, Lizzy. I could.” Amber’s enthusiasm matched her youth.

“How would reading objects help?”

“If we came across something that belonged to Grainna, maybe Amber could feel or learn something about the woman we don’t know, a weakness maybe.”

“Perhaps.”

The private conversation ceased with the arrival of a kitchen maid. The family switched topics so fast that if Liz hadn’t noticed Alice’s arrival, she would have thought Myra was a little crazy when she blurted out something about the pheasant she ate.

“It is delicious,” Tara chimed in.

“I’m still not completely convinced tomatoes aren’t poisonous.”

“We ate them all the time growing up, didn’t we, Lizzy.”

“Ah, yeah, all the time.”

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Catherine Bybee

Alice walked away from the table and through the back door to the kitchens.

“Did you see that?”

Fin cocked his head to the side. “What?”

“Everyone switched gears, just like that.” Liz snapped her fingers. “No one missed a beat when Alice came in. That is what needs to happen with our powers. They need to be a part of our existence, daily.”

Ian set his hands beside his plate. “I think ye’re right, lass. ’Tis time we find a way to work with all our gifts. Even I’ve noticed my aim off with my lightning strikes.”

A rumbling of laughter spread among the family.

“Thank God for small miracles.” Todd glanced at his father-in-law. “What? Myra warned me about your powers. You can imagine the nightmares I had thinking you were going to strike me down for…”

For deflowering his daughter before they were
married.
Liz mused.

Ian’s eyes narrowed.

“Never mind.”

With Todd’s abrupt end of his little speech, everyone laughed harder.

Except for Ian, who appeared to bore holes into Todd’s skull with a look. Although Todd and Myra were now married, it hadn’t happened soon enough for Ian’s liking. His eldest daughter was still his baby.

“Tomorrow I will take Elizabeth, Simon, Myra, and Todd to scout out a private location where we can practice.”

Briac fussed in Amber’s arms.

Tara dropped her napkin in her lap and pushed away from the table. “Let me take him.”

“I’ll meet you in Lizzy’s room after I feed him and put him down.”

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Redeeming Vows

“You’re tired, Tara. Maybe we should try a circle another night.”

“You just finished convincing everyone here that we needed to practice our powers more. We’ve held off our circle for too long. It’s time we flexed our magical muscles.”

Duncan snorted a quick laugh. Tara glanced at her husband and heat rose to her cheeks. Liz assumed Duncan’s magical muscle was of a sexual nature by the look on Tara’s face.

Liz could tell they were talking to each other in their heads, keeping everyone at the table guessing about their private joke. The sacred vows they’d shared when they were married connected their thoughts.

“You’re bad, Duncan,” Tara said.

Yep, definitely sexual.
Liz glanced at Fin, whose eyes monitored her every move.

****

The women hovered.

“Give us strength to help us see…” Lizzy led the chant, waited for the others to repeat her words.

“Where the hell Grainna is, oh, please.”

“Come on, Lizzy, do you really think the Ancients are going to appreciate your humor?”

Tara’s voice had Lizzy opening her eyes.

“I don’t care if they like it or not. We’re cleaning up their loophole. Grainna wouldn’t be here had they vanquished her completely instead of sending her into the future. Besides, I couldn’t come up with anything else that rhymed.”

The others repeated her words, even Amber who giggled when she used the word
hell
. Every once in a while Liz needed to remind herself how young Amber was. At thirteen, she was the same age as 27

Catherine Bybee

Simon, but the girl’s maturity matched the others in the circle. Liz supposed growing up in medieval Scotland did that to the women. Then again, Grainna, and the threat of death daily, made the children grow up in a hurry.

Liz sat, holding her sisters’ hands, all of them silent, concentrating.

Moments passed, minutes.

Nothing.

“This isn’t working,” Myra stated the obvious.

“I know,” Liz bit out, frustrated.

“Should we stop?”

“No,” Amber’s voice sounded distant, yet she sat there among them, holding hands, hovering above the ground.

Liz watched as Myra and Tara snapped their attention to the youngest. Her eyes closed, her grip firm. “In this day and in this hour, we call the Ancients for more power. Through the night and through the day, grant a plan to send Grainna away.”

Liz nodded toward Myra and Liz before closing her eyes to see if Amber’s chant would bring them any images.

Liz watched the dots twinkling behind her eyelids as the fire in the hearth cast images beyond her lids. The waves of fire felt fresh and clean like that of the ocean. The smell of salt water and rush of waves reminded her of home.

I need to concentrate. Dreaming of California
isn’t going to get rid of Grainna.

“Does anyone feel anything?” Tara asked.

“I see something,” Amber told them. “I don’t know what it is.”

“What does it look like?”

“Grass, thick grass. Moving in the wind, I think.”

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Redeeming Vows

Liz gritted her teeth. The highlands were filled with grasses blowing in the wind. “Anything else?”

“Blue. Sky, I think. I’m not sure.”

“Anyone else?”

“No, nothing. Myra?” Tara sighed.

“Nay.”

Liz opened her eyes and stared at the sisters, disappointment shown on their faces. The family would hope they’d come up with something for their troubles.

They hovered in a circle three feet off the ground.

“At least, this time, I don’t have to worry about going into labor when we hit the floor.” Tara’s words had them all laughing at the memory of her holding her nine-month belly every time they came together.

“Still, I sure would like to know what elevated us so we could use the reverse power to bring us down softly,” Myra said.

Liz glanced at the floor. “Are you ready?”

A chorus of voices agreed. They let go of their hands and fell to the floor.

“That was a waste of time.” Myra extinguished the candles and picked them up off the floor. “Maybe we should try something new.”

“We keep practicing. Daily.” Liz removed
Seventh Sense
from under her bed. “There’s something else we might want to try.”

Amber crawled up onto the bed and rolled onto her stomach. “Outside,” she said. “That’s a good idea.”

“I hadn’t suggested it…yet.” Amber’s ability to read people bordered on scary. “But, yeah. Mayfair talks about the connection with the elements all over this book. She believes that with the industrial revolution and the ability for people to live without ever going outdoors, witches and their powers diminished greatly.”

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Catherine Bybee

“It makes sense to me.”

“I’m not sure about the naked thing, though.”

“Ah, what naked thing?” Tara’s brow rose in question.

“Mayfair insists that on the holy days of witches, the solstice, etc. that witches in a coven come together, cast their circle and become one with nature.” She took a breath. “Naked.”

Amber giggled, hiding her innocent smile behind her hand. Myra also began to laugh. When Tara started in, it was all Liz could do to keep from laughing herself. “I’m serious. Not that I’m suggesting we run around in the buff. However, I don’t think we should dismiss anything we haven’t tried.”

“So you are suggesting it.”

“No, not really. I’m just saying…it’s something we haven’t tried.”

“Summer solstice is past.”

“I don’t want to freeze my butt off in winter.”

Briac’s cry bellowed from down the hall. Tara stood and walked to the door.

“At the very least we should try and cast a circle outdoors and attempt to find Grainna that way.”

“Agreed.” They nodded together as one before walking out the door.

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Redeeming Vows

The sun heated their ride as they made their way past the village and far away from prying eyes.

Fin glanced over toward Simon who rode his mount with ease. Every once in a while Simon would appear deep in thought, then a grin would spread over his features. Fin couldn’t help but wonder if Simon spoke with the horse he rode.
What does a
horse think?
He wanted to ask. Perhaps he could find a moment alone with the lad to find out.

With her dress hiked high, Elizabeth rode with confidence. He remembered her first attempts on a horse. Her concern for her son’s safety took precedence over her desire to ride properly. Now, her back stood rod straight, her eyes focused on her destination. Her breasts bounced with the gait of the animal between her thighs. Fin’s chest tightened with the memory of her breasts pressed against him.

Their one brief intimate encounter in the stable so many months ago etched into his memory as if it were a defining moment in his life. No, he thought.

It wasn’t anything more than a mistake. Yet somewhere in the back of his confused mind, he knew she thought about that kiss, that embrace, as much as he. Perhaps more.

Sensing his stare, Liz glanced over at him, lifted her chin, and sat straighter in her saddle. Fin couldn’t help but laugh. Her subtle dare and determination simply made him desire her more. He wondered if she knew that.

Then there was Todd, a complete surprise to all 31

Catherine Bybee

of the MacCoinnichs, Myra’s husband, savior, and when he sat down and thought about it, lover.

Thinking about his sister in terms of someone’s lover had his back teeth grinding. Yet on occasion, like at this very moment, Fin realized his sister was a beautiful and desirable woman. One day she would be a competent mother and mistress of her own home. What he didn’t see was the warrior he saw in Liz. But they were just that…warriors. Battle bound fighters for the good of all.

The sound of the waterfall redirected his focus and had him pulling ahead of the others. “We’re almost there,” he called and signaled for their band to follow him.

After diverting into the thick wood, Fin found the clearing and small shelter the family considered far enough off the route to anyone’s land, including their own. He slid from his horse and raised his hand to Simon. “Can you sense any other domestic animals?”

Simon closed his eyes and appeared to count.

“No, only ours.”

Fin took the reins of his horse and brought them to a low-lying bow of a tree.

“What are you doing?”

Fin narrowed his eyes at Simon. “We don’t want them bolting.”

Simon patted the neck of his horse. “They don’t want to leave. Do you, boy?” He lifted his chin to Fin.

“Don’t tie them. They want to graze over there in the tall grass under the trees. They won’t run away.”

Liz bit her lower lip. Fin had to give her credit when she kept her comments to herself. Simon’s ability to speak with the animals concerned her a great deal. Watching him morph into one would probably give her nightmares for months once it finally happened.

The men relieved the horses of their saddles 32

Redeeming Vows

while Liz and Myra finished opening up the small cabin’s shutters and door to air out the shelter. Once finished, they glanced at each other waiting for the first to speak.

“I guess I should start,” Myra said.

“You’ve practiced your power more than any of us,” Fin pointed out.