Page 23 of Shaw

“Master Trabalar, a druid scholar familiar with the Pritani tribe of outcasts that enslaved Shaw,” Connal said. “My brother refuses tell me much, but I need learn what now possesses him, and what ’twill do if he loses control.”

Merrick had known the laird too long to be deceived by mere words. “You wish ken more of the darkness in him, only no’ so you may prepare your defenses. You’ve hundreds of mortals on the island. For them, you need learn how you may end Shaw if he’s swallowed by that thing.”

Connal nodded slowly. “If anything may end him.”

Chapter Six

Once he and Julianne had moved out of sight of the walking labyrinth Shaw changed direction, taking an old trail that led to the Stone Forest. He needed to put some distance between him and Connal, and especially Merrick. The king had almost seemed dazed by looking upon Julianne. This while Merrick remained hopelessly in love with Meg, the red-haired chambermaid who had moved across the island to get away from him. Thankfully Jamaran had seemed immune to Julianne’s charms, or jealousy might have compelled Shaw to snatch up his woman in his arms and run away with her.

She’s no’ my woman. I’ve no more right to claim her than Merrick. No matter how many times Shaw told himself that, he couldn’t stave off the constantly, gnawing need to remain close to his merrow lass.

The moment they came within sight of the cursed woods Julianne tugged her arm free of his and backed away several steps, but she wasn’t looking at him now. She stared without blinking at the silent, still forest.

“What happened here?” she asked, her voice as tight as her expression.

“A curse turned the woods to stone.” He didn’t want to tell her the sad tale behind it, as no one knew why the melia that had loved his sire had done this, only that they had sealed themselves inside the trees for eternity. “’Tis a spot I cannae set on fire with my touch.”

“I don’t like it. This is just so wrong I can’t even.” She wrapped her arms around herself as she surveyed the trees with their glittering leaves and glossy trunks. “Did you do this with your dark thing?”

“No, I should never. I’m no’ at fault for any misery on the island.” As she frowned at him he spread his arms wide. “Except my own, as you see before you.”

“Join the club.” Julianne used her sleeve to blot some sweat from her brow, and then took in and let out a long breath. “All right. Let’s try it here, outside the cursed area. I don’t want to go anywhere near those trees. There’s nothing here but grass and dirt.”

When he reached out to grasp her hands in his, Shaw saw the sun brought out the unusual colors of Julianne’s eyes. Indeed, the light made the blue starbursts sparkle like polished gems, and the outer brown irises take on a golden shimmer. Something about looking at her face reached deep inside him with velvety softness wrapped around hot steel. His mouth dried, and his heart fluttered in his chest as if he were but a young lad.

“You’ve the loveliest eyes,” he murmured, taking a step closer as he entwined his fingers with hers. “Close them now.”

“Why?” she countered. “I want to watch it happen this time.”

“Do as you wish, then.” He took a firmer hold of her, and pressed his thumb against the green stone of Lady Joana’s ring. “Think on your homeland, and imagine us there. I shall do the same.”

He did not believe she could take them to the future, yet as soon as the last word left his lips the ground around them began to sparkle with Fae magic. Although the melia had cursed themselves and their forest, beyond it the soil remained saturated with many years of their earlier enchantments. What perplexed him was how this mortal was able to awaken the ancient magic merely by attempting to use her boon.

“I’m thinking,” Julianne said, her lips thinning with annoyance. “Why isn’t anything happening? Can’t you trigger this thing however you did to come to my time? Wait, no, you were drowning. On second thought, don’t do that.”

“I reckon as you wear the ring, you must take us there, my lady,” Shaw said, and then the world blurred around them, and suddenly they stood on an unfamiliar shore looking out at a dark blue sea. After a moment he recognized the water as the same he’d landed in when the ring had brought him to her time, but the rest of the place looked very different. “And so you did.”

Julianne staggered as she looked out at the water.

“I did this.” She sounded as if she couldn’t believe it. “It’s really true. I’m a transponder thing.” She glanced at him. “Why didn’t we turn into sparkly blobs? Maybe it doesn’t work like the show.”

Movement caught his eye, and Shaw turned his head to see two dark-skinned tribesmen wearing only cloth wrapped around their hips stumble to a halt at the other end of the wide crescent of sand. Judging by the bounty of shellfish in the loosely-woven nets they carried, they had been gathering food from the shallows. One wore a wide collar of carved abalone shell; the other sported crude ear baubles fashioned from tiny mollusks. Both had braided their black hair, and decorated the cables with feathers, beads and quills.

“The lifeguard tower’s gone,” Julianne muttered, and then noticed the pair of men. “Whoa. Those two are not county employees.”

One of the men drew a stone dagger from a strap on his thigh and brandished it as he shouted something.

“Don’t,” she said as Shaw shifted to put himself in front of her. “He thinks because our skin is light-colored that we’re ghosts. We’re scaring the snot out of them just being here.”

A moment later they returned to the trail of the Stone Forest on Caladh, so abruptly that he nearly fell onto his hands and knees. Julianne swayed, her face pale, and leaned against him as she tried to steady herself. Putting his arms around her, Shaw urged her over to a low flat-topped rock to sit down. Over her skin a dark green light shimmered, and then vanished.

Someone enchanted her. Shaw eyed his marked hand, and saw his ink shimmer with a ghostly opaque whiteness, as if he’d been covered in frost. The spell doesnae affect me or the beast.

“What the heck was that?” Julianne whispered, holding her head with her hands. “How did I do that? How did I know what that man was saying?”

“I cannae tell you.” Pushing aside his own worries, he crouched down in front of her. “’Twas painful, using your boon?”

She hunched her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe, sort of? I’m freezing on the outside, but boiling on the inside. Like french-fried ice cream in reverse.”