Through my fuzzy memories, both lifetimes muddled together like tangled weeds in a swamp of past and present. I remembered the forest around the old stone walls of Fire Stone Castle. Fire Stone the school—the place I had been lured to by Heather to fulfil my destiny. That forest had been dead, its life sapped out of it. Was that because of me, or was it the natural progression of time?
Shame Heather hadn’t been clear in either this life or the last what my destiny was, or who I even was.
Important. I must have been important for the Roman Empire to be sending an army to get me.
I needed to go with the army. I needed to see what they wanted from me.
My reasoning for darting through the stones lit like a fire within me. I’d stepped through time for a reason; to learn who I was and to stop Mae and her Tristram dying on those stones. Now I remembered who I was, it was time to get on with it.
I straightened as a startling thought formed. I needed to get away from the settlement. I needed to get away from Tristram so the past couldn’t pan out the way it had before.
I, Mae Adams needed to save him before he tried to save me.
Now I knew what to do.
I turned ready to run. I wouldn’t even go back. I’d just flee and give all my people a chance of survival.
“Don’t rush, Mae.” I chided myself. This was what I did. I saw something and I leapt for it. Like when the letter had arrived from my Aunt telling me to go to Fire Stone. I’d just jumped at the chance, accepted the ticket and off I’d gone. I’d been on that airplane before I’d even known what I was doing. I giggled out loud and the Beech tree waved its dried leaves at me like it was showing off its best jewels. This was all beyond insane. I was thinking of an airplane while standing in a forest in the middle of the Druid period in the first century BC. Somewhere some Druids were possibly rolling rocks to create Stonehenge, the greatest ring of standing stones in history, and here I was thinking of airplanes, giant flying machines which could stay in the sky for hours.
My head whirled a little, the trees spinning around me.
I needed to calm down. I needed to think.
I closed my eyes and rushed the golden energy down to the soles of my feet. What was coming for me? Who was coming for me? For her? For us?
I breathed through my nose as from one tree root to another I searched out, using the network of nature’s connections to feel around me. Eventually I sensed their heavy footsteps on the soil. They marched in time, their feet hitting the ground. It beat like a drum through my veins. Flashes of gold and red filled my head, scarlet material and the golden glint of chariots. At the tip of gold though was a dark point. A keen set of eyes, seeking me as much as I was seeking them.
Her. The Mage. The woman who had killed my best friend on the cursed stones. She wanted me. Needed me.
So then. I needed her. If I headed in their direction right now, I could stop them from ever getting near the settlement. Her people would be safe, Mae’s people… mine.
Snapping my eyes open, my choice made, I prepared to run again. Straight into the chest of a disgusting hairy-armed man.
“Lookie what we have here.”
I stiffened, trying not to breathe as their obnoxious smell swam into my head with a migraine inducing pungent intensity.
“Let go of me.” I squirmed as rough hands pinned my arms tight to my sides. A second man, swarthy and revolting stepped into my space, his face peering closely at mine.
“Looks like we’ve found a bounty.”
Shit and fuck and all things. Bollocks. I dragged through Mae’s memories, but they slipped and slid away from me. This hadn’t happened to her yet—I was living her life as it happened. This wasn’t some DVD I could rewind when I didn’t understand what was happening, or a book I could flick back a page or two.
“Let go of me.”
“Now, sweetie, you’re on our territory and you know what that means. Finders keepers, my sweet thing.” He laughed revealing disgusting teeth, and I held my breath so I wouldn’t inhale his breath. “We will have so much fun. Haven’t seen anything as pretty as you in a long time.”
I went to scream, although I knew it would be futile—but to make noise was better than to do nothing—when a long arm of the Beech tree swung towards the man and clocked him on the side of the head. He cursed loudly, rubbing at his hair and I quickly stole the opportunity to spring away.
He rounded closer, his face a furious mask. “You little witch.”
I grinned though. “Maybe. Who knows?”
The Beech tree swung again, and I skipped back out of its path. The other man, shorter, uglier even, if that were possible, made a grab for me, but beneath us the earth rolled and shifted until he tilted and landed on his knees.
The purple gem at my throat heated and I knew already who was there. Before my back pressed against his chest, I knew it.
“My Baduri.”
“My Liege.”
He turned and pressed his back against mine so he could circle us around, keeping me out of the reach of the two red-faced attackers.
Ignoring his protective stance, I dropped to the ground, and reached for the soil. The Beech was unrolling wondrous vibrant green leaves. It stung against my palm as it dragged power straight from me. It was okay: it hurt, my head whirled, but I knew it was okay. Somehow, I knew the tree and I were one of the same. He would take what he would need
