Dale walked to her and peered at the wording. “It says, ‘Find us and find the answers.’”
“Wow. That isn’t cryptic or anything.” She shivered, suddenly more cold than when she’d been in the snow.
“Look around you. This is where your ancestors gathered.”
For the first time, Rennie pulled her gaze from the walls and truly looked at the place. Around the fire in a perfect circle, placed exactly two feet apart were twelve stones that had been carved in a concave to make a seat.
“Your family has always been mies, have they no’?” Dale asked.
She nodded, still taking in everything. “Yes, always.”
“And Harriet’s?”
Rennie lowered herself onto one of the seats. “A few decided to remain mies, but most became droughs. My family didn’t make them leave because of some pact made between the families.”
“You doona know what that pact was?”
“No.” She rubbed her eyes as she tried to think of all the family history she had learned as a child and quickly dismissed as unimportant. “The more Harriet’s family left, the less it became significant, I guess. I don’t know. I wish I’d paid better attention to my aunt’s stories now.”
Dale continued to walk around the cavern. “This place is magical. Many spells were done here, but there is something else that I’m feeling.”
“What?”
He turned to face her. “You.”
That made her sit up straight. “Um … but you said you’ve always felt my magic.”
“Aye. It feels different here. Do you no’ feel different?”
“Disoriented. Shocked. Speechless. Take your pick.”
“Nay, lass. Concentrate on your magic.”
Rennie gave half a thought to her magic and felt a tidal wave of it rise within her. It frightened her so badly she jumped up and started to run out of the cavern. As she reached the narrow doorway, she slammed into an invisible force that knocked her on her back.
“Rennie!” Dale yelled and was at her side in a second.
“Damn, but you move fast,” she murmured as she shook off the effects of the fall. “What just happened?”
“I doona think they want you to leave.”
She sat up and looked at the doorway. “Are you telling me I can’t leave?”
Dale stood and easily walked from the cavern before he turned and walked back in. “Try again.”
She accepted his hand up and tentatively approached the doorway, but once again something pushed against her as she neared.
Rennie took a step back and the pressure instantly ceased. “I can’t leave.”
“I’m telling you, you were meant to find this place. It’s why your aunt left the land to you and no’ your mother.”
Rennie shook her head. “No. She left it to me because she knew my mother wouldn’t return.”
“Are you sure of that?” Dale asked as he cocked a brow.
She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I doona know. Perhaps your magic can tell you. What about the ancients?”
She stared at him, aghast. “How do you know of the ancients?”
“I was with droughs, remember?”
“The ancients don’t talk to the droughs.”
“Ah, but the droughs know of the ancients because before the Druids chose the evil path, they spoke with the ancients when they were still mies.”
Rennie once more sat on one of the seats. “I didn’t think of that.” Silence filled the void as they both stared into the flames of the fire. She couldn’t deny the strange feeling of her magic. “You were right,” she finally said. “My magic is stronger here. Why?”
“That I can no’ answer. The ancients can, however.”
Rennie knew she had no choice but to contact the ancients. She shifted her gaze to Dale who hadn’t moved from his spot near the door. “Will you stay with me?”
“If that is your wish, lass.”
She waited until he took a seat across the fire from her. Rennie removed her coat and took a deep breath before she slowly released it.
Then she called to her magic once more as she stared into the fire. It answered instantly, the power of it making her tremble. Deeper and deeper into her magic she went. This wouldn’t be the first time she had spoken to the ancients, but it had been a long time.
They had never told her anything before. In the past, they had all but refused to tell her why others got visions from touching her. Would she get answers now?
Did she want them?
Now that Dale was with her, it didn’t seem to matter. Then she recalled Harriet and her bid to buy Rennie’s land. Answers were definitely something Rennie needed, even if she didn’t like what she heard.
Her head cocked to the side when she heard the distant beat of drums. They grew louder and louder until they deafened her. Rising to meet them was the chanting of thousands of ancient Druids long dead.
“Thereeeeeee you are,” they said in unison. “What took you so long, Rennie?”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to find you.”
“You brought a Warrior. He fought for the side of evil with the drough Jason Wallace.”
“He’s chosen our side now.”
“That remains to be seen.”
“What is this place?”
“A holy place,” they said together. “We’ve been waiting for you to find it.”
“Why?”
“Your destiny, Rennieeeeeee.”
She began to grow frustrated with the lack of in-depth answers. “What destiny? I have to know more, please.”
“Your ancestors practiced magic here, anticipating a Druid who would come who could grant freedom to someone.”
“Freedom? Freedom from what?”
“The confines of a spell.”
Rennie immediately thought of Dale.
“Aye,” the ancients said. “You can free him from his god and make him mortal once more. That is your gift.”
“I could do it now?”
“It comes with a price.”
“What kind of price?”
“One your Warrior must pay.”
“Can you tell me more?”
“You will know what to do when the time comes.”
Rennie fisted her hands. “Why am I here, really? Why has my magic increased, and why can’t I leave?”
“You’ll be able to leave once you accept who you are.”
“I have!”
There was a beat of silence before the drums pounded louder. Then the ancients said, “You haven’t, child.”
“Why has my magic increased while here?”
“It’s your destiny. Embrace it!”
Chapter Eight
Rennie looked away from the flames as the ancients’ words echoed in her head. Her destiny. What, exactly, was her destiny?
She looked across the fire to see Dale with his hands clenched and his head down as if he were in tremendous pain. Rennie rushed to him.
“Dale? What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked as she kneeled beside him, smoothing her hands over his arms and chest, looking for some wound.
When his head lifted she found herself looking into Warrior eyes. They were a pale green from corner to corner. The stark contrast to his normally dark irises took her aback for a second. Then she placed her hand on his cheek.