HIGHLAND GAMES, CENTRAL VIRGINIA
The Hotel - Present Day
Clarion pulled out a vial of brown liquid from his pack and drank down every last drop. It had a bitter, heady taste, and made him immediately want to spit it back out.
Struggling to keep it down, he crawled back on the bed. Laying his head against the pillows, he let his mind travel where his body could not… back to the past.
There were many ways he could see into the past and this was one of them. The piece of glass he had used before was tricky at best. He never knew what the blood would reveal to him. But this, the vial of liquid he stole from Morag before he left, helped him roam places he had never been and listen to conversations that were not his own.
He knew he should not be using more magic since he was still pretty spent from the one he used last night. But he wanted to check on the lass and her dog, to see that she was all right.
Closing his eyes, Clarion let his mind slide back behind the curtain of oblivion, and reopened his them in the past. He looked around the room he was now in and immediately remembered it from the other night. It was where the person who wanted to do harm to the lass, was hiding.
Lifting his chin, he inhaled deeply, smelling, wood-smoke and fresh rain. A sharp crack of lightening sounded outside and a roll of thunder, shook the castle. As he passed the table, he ran his fingers over the rough surface and felt the memories ingrained in the wood from the many people who had touched the same place he was touching now.
Images flashed, bombarding his mind at once.
He saw his brother sitting here, and felt his desire emanating from his body as he rested his hand on this spot, staring at the girl across the room. She was sitting in the chair by the hearth.
Another flash hit him of the girl as her face was pushed down on the wood as a man tried to pull her skirt up. He felt her fear and her anger, all churning inside of her before she hit her assailant with a metal cup. He lifted the cup up that was on the table and knew this had been the weapon she used. He also saw who her tormentor was and what his thoughts were at the time the cup touched his skin.
Clarion shuddered with revulsion.
The things that man wanted to do to her made his skin crawl.
Releasing the cup, he moved to the chair, near the hearth and ran the tips of his fingers over the smooth surface. More images flitted through his mind, but not as poignant as the ones attached to the table and the cup. She sat here, resting, many a night, pondering her fate.
A deep sadness closed in on him from her memories and he lifted his hand to quell the ache for her from unfurling within. He was not here for this, he reminded himself, but it was hard to banish the emotions she had felt.
Knowing his time here may be growing to a close, he walked purposefully across the hall and up the stairs. When he got to the landing, he stopped. Not because he didn’t know his destination but because he saw her sitting on the floor outside a door. She was weeping silently and immediately his heart went out to her as well as an overwhelming urge to go to her and try to give her what comfort he could. But it was not his place to do so…. he told himself, but still, he couldn’t help walking forward.
Squatting down, he got down eye level with her.
“Don’t cry,” he said even though he knew she could not see or hear him and sat down at her side.
Leaning back against the wall, with his body next to hers, he could even feel her warmth and smell her scent, a combination of wildflowers and rain, and it stirred something deep inside him.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but as her eyes drifted closed, he tentatively lifted his hand and stroked it down her hair, feeling the soft silky strands as they slipped from his fingertips.
There were many things that Clarion knew he should be doing with his time, but somehow none of them mattered as much to him at present as the lass by his side. She seemed so pitiful, even in sleep, and alone.
Not able to help himself, he leaned forward and placed the gentlest of kisses on her full lips.
A soft whimper escaped as he pulled away and he was tempted to kiss her once more, but he refrained. He had already done too much and could feel the potion moving from his body. “Till we meet again…” he whispered and then he vanished.