Page 13 of Desiring the Highland Laird
Chapter Five
“Callum! Ye bestcome quickly, lad!”
Callum halted his swing of the sword when his father shouted. Sweat glistened on his upper torso, his breath see-sawing in and out as he paused his training with his brother to turn. His father, Hamish, hurried toward him.
“What is it, Da?” Alarm went through him when he saw the fear etched on his da’s aged face.
He paused to catch his breath. “I cannae explain. Ye must come quickly.” He waved him to follow.
“Ye best go, brother,” Malcolm said, holding his sword against his side.
Callum dropped his weapon where he stood, then reached for his discarded tunic, pulling it on over his head. He followed his da from the courtyard through the castle gates. Hamish hurried ahead of him favoring his left leg. The limp had grown more pronounced over the last few years. An old war wound that never healed properly. Callum saw nothing ahead and wondered if his da had gone daft.
Finally, he halted, peering down at something on the ground. When Callum stopped next to him, he was shocked to see a woman lying unconscious in the grass. Her legs and feet were bare, her arms outstretched, and her face turned to one side.
Something shifted through him as he looked at her. He had seen her before…in a dream. A sense of familiarity was like a crashing wave through him.
But it couldn’t be. It didn’t seem possible the woman of his dreams was here in the flesh.
“’Tis a lassie,” Callum said, a bit dumbfounded.
“Aye. Ye noticed, did ye?”
“Where did she come from?”
Hamish’s eyes held a curious gleam. “Och, laddie, did ye no see the flash? The prophecy has come true.”
Callum had never believed in the prophecy and snorted derision. He tipped his head to the side as he looked at his da.
“Ye ken I dinnae believe that. ’Tis no but codswallop.”
Hamish frowned his annoyance. “I saw it with me own eyes. Like in the tale of the Shattering. While ye were practicing, the flash ripped the sky in two. I watched the lassie as she fell. I thought she was dead. I dinnae ken how she survived the fall. Look there.” He pointed to her hand.
“What is it?” Callum kneeled in the grass next to her to get a closer look.
Resting in her palm was a small stone, her flesh red and angry with the imprint of the curved marking. The jagged piece of stone rested against her hand, her fingers open and limp around it. It looked as though she had clutched it so tight, it left deep indentations on her palm as well as the imprint from the stone itself.
Her clothes were odd. The black garment she wore barely covered her arse. Her long legs were smooth and her feet bare. Her skin was the color of the moon. She had a shock of red-and-gold hair splayed out behind her. A fair lovely lass, to be sure.
But the stone was of the most interest to him.
“I think it’s the verra keystone we are to protect.”
As Callum looked closer, he saw the jagged edges. “But it’s no the whole stone.”
Hamish shook his head. “Doesna matter. It is the stone foretold to come to us.”
“But a piece of the stone?” He shook his head, still unconvinced. “Who is she? Where did she get it?”
“I dinnae ken,” Hamish said, sounding as perplexed as he felt. “Do ye believe the prophecy now, laddie?”
“I think the better question ishowdid she get it?” Malcolm said.
He joined them and stood next to his da, his fisted hands on his hips. He’d donned his tunic, which was damp from their workout. He gazed down at the lass with interest.
“A fair question, lad. ’Tis clear she time traveled here,” Hamish said. “By the looks of her garment, mayhap from the future.”
Callum looked up at his father. “The future? But how?”
