Page 26 of Katie's Highlander (Highland Protector 3)
The hairs on the back of his neck slowly rose and a burning chill washed across his flesh. The air held a familiar sting to it, ’twas overcharged with active energy.
“No. Not now,” he whispered. “Dinna take me from her now.”
He’d felt this way several times before and he knew exactly what it meant. The first time had been seventeen years ago, it had been a great deal more violent and had landed him and his family in Brady, North Carolina. The most recent occurrences had been only a few years ago and only months apart. After Dwyn’s extensive guidance, Ramsay had been able to maintain a bit more control and survive jumping across the centuries a great deal better.
If the goddesses had decided to sift him back through time again—either to save a druid clan or ensure even more protection for the survival of the stone—he’d be trapped wherever they sent him until he’d satisfied whatever duty they’d seen fit to assign him.
“Sons a bitches, I shouldha ne’er veered from the path.” He scrubbed a hand across his face and rolled his shoulders against the eerie clamminess creeping across his skin.I know t’heed the warnings.
As soon as the feeling left him, he crouched in the darkness, listening, taking in every nuance of wherever the hell he’d landed. He’d learned early on to carefully assess his surroundings before embarking on whatever task the goddesses had assigned. His very survival depended on it.
Inside a structure. A small place…a cabin, maybe.He reached out and gingerly touched the floor. Cold compacted dirt instead of wood flooring.Ahh…I’ve landed in a croft.He slowly rose and patted himself down. Dirk and sword were still with him and so were the thick plates of heavy leather armor strapped across his chest.Good.
My spear.Where the hell was his spear? He’d had it in his hand. His eyes finally accustomed to the darkness, he found the door. The glint of steel stopped him before he reached for the latch. His spear. Leaned up against the doorframe. Waiting.
Ramsay blew out a heavy sigh as he hefted the familiar weapon in one hand. He had his spear. He had his duty, but he didna have Katie. And now that he’d been sent to whate’er century for whate’er amount a time the goddesses pleased, he’d no’ have the chance to convince the lass that their life together could be so well worth the risks and fears he’d seen flashin’ in the dear woman’s eyes.
“Ramsay!” Katie’s scream split the darkness—filled with such terror that Ramsay shot through the rotting door of the abandoned croft rather than wasting time to open it. He paused long enough to scan the small empty clearing before pushing into the woods. Her scream had come from straight ahead, deeper in the trees. He was certain of it.
“Katie!” he roared.
Spear readied, Ramsay listened, praying she’d call out to him again. This was no’ the woods behind Castle Danu nor the mountain on which it was built. These trees were ancient, huge and moss covered, pushing up through the loamy soil of a harsh and rugged land. This was definitely not North Carolina.
“Katie!” he shouted again.
“I’m down here. I fell.”
“I’m comin’ t’ye, lass. Hold tight.” Ramsay hurried toward Katie’s call, taking care to test suspicious expanses of the rough root-covered woodland floor with the haft of his spear.
“Over here and hurry up! It’s dark down here and I don’t know what else might be in here with me.”
Ramsay eased his way closer, spotting an even blacker portion of treeless forest floor within a circle of trees just up ahead. He’d seen such naturally formed traps before—nothing more than deep ravines washed out by heavy rains, then hidden by uprooted trees, rotting vegetation, and eons worth of leaf mold. But sometimes, depending on which century they’d landed, such naturally provided traps were put to use by hunters. But she didna sound hurt.
Thank the goddesses she didna fall into an armed boar trap.Sharpened spikes placed in the bottom of such hunting pits couldha killed her. Taking care, he made his way to the edge and peered over.
Katie’s pale face shone up at him, her fair skin nearly glowing in what little moonlight filtered down through the canopy of leaves overhead. Eyes wide and terrified, she held up both hands and lunged toward the soft muddy embankment crumbling beneath her feet. “Pull me out. Every time I try to climb up, all the dirt gives way.”
Relief flooded through him but it wasna time to relax just yet.Thanks be to the gods she isna hurt but—Not only did he have to get her out of the pit—but he had t’inform the lass that he wasna quite sure where in the span of history the goddesses had decided to drop them.
He took hold of his spear at the base of the blade and lowered the handle down toward Katie. “Can ye reach it, lass?”
“I think so.” Katie grunted as she lunged up toward the staff and managed to latch on with one hand. “It’s so muddy. I can’t get a foothold to climb up. Do you think you can drag me out?”
“Do I think I can drag ye out?” Ramsay repeated under his breath. Did the lass think him weak as a bairn? “Hold fast and see.” With one mighty yank of the spear, he pulled her up to the edge of the cave-in, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and heaved her the rest of the way out.
Spitting and sputtering, Katie floundered to her feet. She pulled at the neckline of her shirt, reached down inside, and scooped out handfuls of loamy dirt and debris. “Gross!” All of a sudden, with one hand still shoved down the front of her shirt, she froze, then turned and stared back down into the pit. “My phone. I was trying to call Adam when I fell.”
Ramsay shook his head and blew out a heavy sigh as he took her by the elbow and firmly led her to more solid ground. “Ye’ll find yer phone useless here. Leave it.”
“Do you know how expensive those are? All my contacts. All my photos. I’ve got all kinds of notes stored in that phone. Lower me back down in there so I can find it.” She tried to wriggle free of his hold. “Let go, Ramsay. As soon as I find it, you can pull me back out again.”
Ramsay jerked her farther away from the pit, pulled her up to higher ground, then resettled his grip on her slippery muddy arm. “I said leave it! ’Tis no’ worth the risk and willna serve ye in this time. We must get movin’. Take shelter to await the dawn and then figure out where and when we are—our survival depends on it, ye ken?”
Katie went still, scowling at him with such a narrow-eyed look ’twas small wonder he didna burst into flames. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Dinna veer from the path, d’ye remember those words? Look around ye, lass.” Ramsay slowly turned her. “Does this place look anything like the woods we rode through? Where is the path? The trees dinna even look the same.”
Katie glanced around, then hugged herself, and backed up a step all the while shaking her head as though trying to shake free of the entire situation. “I don’t like this. I was walking along and all of a sudden, I felt weird—kind of all tingly and dizzy. I figured it was the booze. The next thing I knew, I’d stumbled into that damn pit.” She ran a trembling hand across her forehead, then turned back and stared at him, eyes wide and full of fear. “What the hell is this, Ramsay? What did you do?”
