Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters from Roar.
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Fergus was filling his mug to the brim, and overrunning
hers with the amber ale. She couldn't return the grin.
"What's the matter, Angrahad? This is a happy time.
Caitlin's giving the Prince a child!" he announced, raising his mug to
an
invisible toaster. "Blessed be!" he agreed, shoving Angrahad's mug
at her. "Drink to their health, and that Conor gets a boy." he
told her.
She shook her head, "I'd better not. It's not good
for the Sight." she stood up, and moved to an area by the fire not so
frequented by those getting drunk. She needed to think. Bad. Conor
was sitting there, his head down, staring at the fire.
"What's wrong? You should be rejoicing! Cat's having your baby!" she
told him, and he looked up at her.
"Oh, it's just you, Ana. That's what I'm afraid
of." he admitted it, and turned back to the fire.
"Just me? Well, you shouldn't be afraid. Caitlin
and the child will be fine."
He glanced quickly at her. "Did you see that in
one of your visions?" just then, he looked so much like a little child,
wanting
something so bad, getting excited when the prospect came up.
"Actually, I didn't see any thing." he was so easily
disappointed. "She's a strong woman." she was lying mostly. Caitlin hadn't
been strong ever since the babe had developed late into term. The child
was big!
"Is that good or bad, not seeing any thing?" he
wondered aloud. She was about to answer, when a woman came to the
bright ring of light the bonfire gave off. It was pitch black outside
the fire. "Prince Conor, it's time! Come acknowledge your
own."
Conor looked so worried, for a moment, then everything
went away, and was replaced by amazement. Angrahad was
happy for him. She smiled, though the smile seemed so fake to her.
"Good luck." she told him, and he grinned at her.
"I'm a father!" he yelled, and all the men and women
around made a little roaring type shout in response.
Angrahad was the only one left there not excited.
Birth brought death to someone. It was a balance. Somewhere, when
someone was born, someone else died. Most of the time, when a woman
tried to give birth to a child that big and was that
weak, she died. That couldn't happen to Caitlin. Angrahad had grown
too close to her, and Molly. They had been the only
friends she had since...a shudder ran down her spine, and she tried
to block the images that flew into her mind. She saw a
woman, hunched in a corner, one in the dark, screaming out in pain...why
did the images come, now? Was it just a flash back,
or would someone really experience it?
The time Conor was in the cave seemed to last a
lifetime over, and she was getting worried about it. What had happened,
for him to take so long?
His figure finally cleared the darkness, and she
saw him pause in the middle of the group huddled by the fire. "It's a..."
he
paused dramatically. The crowd around him leaned closer, and Fergus,
drunk at their head, shouted out, "A boy, it's a boy!"
Conor's grin spread from ear to ear. "It is a boy,
and a girl, too!" he announced proudly. Their cheering was louder then
than
any other Angrahad had ever heard. "Their names are Liam and Lavender."
Caitlin smiled as Conor came into the cave. It was
warm in here. The fire had been banked up to keep her warm as she
birthed. Like she had needed it. It was burning up in there, while
that had happened. Now, it was pleasantly warm. His face
was so anxious. The first thing he did was look for her. When he saw
her smiling face, he rushed over to her, and grabbed her
hand.
"You're all right?" he asked her, kissing her forehead,
which sweat had been sponged away from. She grinned. "Tired, aye.
But definitely all right." he was instantly relieved. She revealed
two bundles at her breast. "Your wee babes." she whispered,
and put a finger to her lips. "They're sleeping."
He was incredulous. "Two?!" she nodded, and he grinned.
"A lad and a lass." she told him. She smiled tenderly
down at them. "The boy is amazingly like you."
He trailed a finger gingerly across one's face.
"The boy?" he guessed. She shook her head, giggling. "That's the girl."
Embarrassed, he brought his hand to his mouth to
stem the laughter that was about to cover up his nervousness. He grinned
wide again, and told her, "I would offer to hold them, but I'm afraid
that I might either drop them or one would wake up."
She grinned, and shook her head. "I don't think
you would. You are careful enough around me." That brought laughter. Also,
it brought the thought that he wouldn't have to share his bed with
her pregnant body any more. She would be comfortably slim
again, soon. He held his hands out, and she laid them ever so carefully
in his arms. She had him first hold the boy. Conor
gripped around the boy ever so softly, afraid he might break the fragile
life in his arms. He stared down at the perfect little face,
the wisp of blond hair atop his head. And the little blue green eyes
that after a bit of focusing, stared up at the big blob later
known as Da. He smiled tenderly. "Hello, Liam." he gave him that name,
one chosen almost immediately after Caitlin had
alerted him of her pregnancy. He carefully gave the lad back to his
mother, and picked up the little girl.
She was a little goddess, like her mother. Beautiful,
straight down to the curly blond hair, the green eyes, and her rosy little
cheeks. "And my little Lavender. I dare say you look like a little
Gwenevere, so you're Lavender Gwen." he glanced up at
Caitlin for approval. She nodded. "I'm sorry I woke them." he apologized.
She smiled.
"It's all right." she shooed him off, "The Sanctuary
is waiting to hear the news."
After he told them, Fergus handed him a mug of ale,
and tried to get him to drink with them. But, he didn't feel like getting
drunk, tonight. He wanted to be able to hold Caitlin while she slept
tonight, and if the babies needed any thing, he'd be eager
dad and help them for her. It was only later he would regret that decision.
Later that night, after the hut was tidied up, Conor
slipped out of his pants, and slid into the bed beside Caitlin. After he
had
pulled her close, she grinned, and asked a question, "Why are you still
wearing your shirt?"
"Well, I don't want to wear my pants in bed."
This bewildered her even more. "And why would you
do that?"
He shrugged. "I don't want to get up to get one
of the twins and have them see me undressed." That was funny. She giggled,
and he looked at her. "What?"
"You're so self conscious." she giggled even harder,
"Besides, your shirt doesn't cover everything up, it's a little too short.
Stops half way of what you want to cover."
He blushed and started tickling her. Giggling even
harder, she pulled his fingers away. "Don't! It still hurts!" this caused
him to
stop, and instead of tickling, he held her, and she closed her eyes
as he kissed her neck from behind.
"I can make it feel better." he whispered. A little
pout came from one of the tiny cradles at the foot of the bed. They sighed.
He got out of bed, and padded over to the cradles, picking up Liam.
He cradled Liam close to him, and the little lad grabbed a
finger, sucking on it. Conor smiled, and glanced up at Caitlin. She
smiled back.
"Is he hungry?" he asked, she shook her head. "He
just ate. He could hardly be hungry." she told him. Conor started gently
rocking the little boy, and shifted positions a few times before he
looked helplessly up at Caitlin. "How do I get him to go back
asleep?" he asked her. She started to get out of bed, when he shook
his head. "Stay there. I can do it."
Chuckling, she joined him, taking Liam from him.
She rested Liam's head against her shoulder. Then, she started singing
a
little lullaby. The melody was sweet, and slow, and soon the newborn
was closing his eyes, drifting asleep. Ever so carefully,
she laid Liam back in the cradle. "Go on back to bed, now." he whispered,
and steered her to their bed. He laid beside her,
and as soon as his arms went back around her, the other babe cried.
He put a hand on Caitlin's shoulder as if to tell her that he
would take care of this.
He got up, and picked Lavender up. Lavender got
the place of honor on his shoulder, and he began, much to Caitlin's
surprise, to sing. He tried to sing a lullaby that he had heard Molly
sing to herself. Caitlin smiled, and let the little melody lull her
to sleep, like it was doing for their little daughter in Conor's arms.
When Caitlin woke up, Conor was not in the bed,
like normal. She raised her head to look around, and saw him by the fire.
In his arms were their children. They were all asleep. She got up,
and crossed over to them. She touched his shoulder, and he
opened his eyes. "Good morning, love." she greeted. He smiled.
"Morning." she took Lavender, and grinned, "I heard
you singing last night. You sing well. I liked it."
He blushed to a deep crimson. "You heard that?"
Grinning, she nodded. "Aye. I liked it, too. You
should sing more often." they laid the children in their cradles, and started
getting dressed. He started to care for them when they woke up, but
she shook her head. "I'm a mother, now. I should take
care of them." when he started to protest, she grinned. "I'll be out
in a little while, and any ways, you have things you need to
do, as Prince."
So Conor walked out. He saw Anghrahad sitting with
Molly, talking, and Fergus asleep by the fire. He grinned, and nudged
Fergus with a foot. "Wake up, Fergus!" he told him, bending down.
Fergus woke up, and groaned. "And good morning to
you, too, Mr. Sunshine." Conor returned.
Fergus looked up. "Oh, it's just you, lad!" he chuckled,
"And how was your first night as a Da?"
Conor chuckled as well. "I think they planned something
against me. As soon as one went to sleep, the other woke up, and
so on, all night long, until they both were up. They fell asleep at
around dawn. Caitlin woke me up, this morning." Fergus
laughed.
"I don't think Molly ever slept at night. She'd
keep her ma and I up all night."
Molly heard that. "I did not." she countered.
Conor grinned, "That, I can't believe." he stood
up, and saw Caitlin coming out. He quickly went up to her, and wrapped
an
arm around her, to support her. Caitlin had made a sling to help carry
the twins in. Molly turned green with envy, seeing the
care that Conor was giving both his children and his wife. She still
loved him, and she found it hard not to.
Months passed by. The twins soon slept through a
whole night, much to the relief of their tired parents. That was also the
night that they slept a whole night, for the first time in a long time.
The little twins toddled around, learned to walk properly, and
soon they were speaking first words. Liam's first word was "Da." and
Lavender's was "soap." They turned a year old, and then
time sped by even faster. Before they knew it, they were four years
old. And in another battle.
Conor began the roaring, on this day. He started
to charge at the Romans with a full fury, Caitlin by his side. Today is
the
first day, you see, that the little twins would be left with someone
else. Conor slashes men down with his sword and Caitlin
would zero others down, and with a twang, she would shoot them down.
It would do poetry good, they were acting just as
heroes and heroines of proud countries should. Nothing new. They had
done this before. That day, it seemed like they lost not
a soul to their side. They beat back the Romans, and forced them to
a humiliating retreat.
But, the glory would not last that long.
They went home. At least, what they thought was
home.
If there ever was a more heart breaking sight, this
would be ten times that. Her heart in her mouth, Caitlin looked around.
At
first, it seemed that it was just deserted. Then, she saw things were
on fire, and men, women, and children were laying dead on
the ground. She winced as she saw all the cut throats, all the back
stabs, and the daggers to the stomachs. There was a king's
ransom in all the daggers left behind. Almost all of the women and
girl children had their dresses ripped to the waist. Caitlin
remembered with teary eyes what they had suffered. Every where you
looked, there was ruin, or death. Caitlin was the first to
scream out a, "No!" Conor couldn't move. The Sanctuary was supposed
to be safe. The Romans weren't supposed to know
where it was. They had camped away that night just so that they wouldn't
know where they were. The Sanctuary was the
haven where all the homeless would find their way to. And for the love
of the gods, this had been his home, where he had
begun to raise his....the children! Where were they? Sweet mother,
they couldn't be, dead, could they?
Caitlin must have just realized it, for she started
sobbing, rivers of tears running down her face. She collapsed into Conor's
arms, her legs just wouldn't hold her any more. "My babies...what've
they done with my babies?" she shrieked.
Conor stroked her hair back, and tried to keep back
the tears that threatened his own eyes. But, all the people were looking
to him for help. They were homeless, now. Even though the Sanctuary
was made of rock, the Romans now knew where they
were. They weren't safe in a place well known and where all the vegetation
around it was burnt to a crisp. Where so many had
died. He held Cat's hand, and together they walked around, looking
at the damage. They both knelt to close the eyelids of the
people whose eyes still stared blankly ahead in fear.
They went in every cave, to see all the damage there.
Their own cave had been burned out. Nothing but ashes were left
there. They had to move on.
Later in the day, as the sun was resting in the
hills, going down, they held a meeting by the old campfire. All the bodies
that
hadn't all ready been burnt in the other fires were heaped into it,
and the eyes watered at the stench of the burning bodies.
There was so much sobbing and crying at the loss of loved ones, even
on the part of war hardened warriors, that between it
and the fire, you couldn't hear yourself speak. Conor stood on a pile
of their cloaks, shouting at the top of their lungs to get their
attention.
"I have something to say!" he waited, and the people
finally looked up at him. "There's been worse that's happened. Many
have died today, aye. This is the second time this has happened to
me. I know that the Sanctuary is supposed to be a place
where we can not have to fear loosing our home, where we go when it
does happen to us. But, the Sanctuary isn't just a place,
but an idea. We can find a new home, and it will be bigger, and better
than the old one. We won't be hiding, this time. We will
let them know where we are, fool hardy or not. I don't know about you,
but I believe that we can win. We can beat the
bastard Romans if we just get our strengths together. Out of the remains
of this, we can build a dream. One like never before.
And we will all get together, and avenge the dead. Avenge the land.
It's over. Even though we want to, though, we will not
blindly strike. We will have our revenge, after we've won. We'll use
this to be an inspiration, but not a cause. They want us to.
They did this to get us to go get them without preparing, without thinking.
We won't let them bend us to their will!"
While they were roaring approval, he and Cat slipped
away to their cave where they knew that the twins, Anghrahad, and
Molly had been. "I couldn't find their bodies." Conor told her, looking
around.
She agreed. "Either did I. Every where we looked,
I thought that I would see my little dear ones laying dead. Do you think
they could still be alive?" she kicked something, and it plunked to
the other side of the cave, making a metallic ring. It was a
cloak pin. Like the one that priestess of the Druids wore. Like Anghrahad's.
And there was, some where near it, Molly's ring. It
was clearly Molly's, for it even had her name engraved on it. "Look!"
she cried out, pointing to the items. He saw them, and
picked them up.
"They just have to be alive!"
Diana sighed, staring at the letter in her hand.
It was written in Latin, and was signed with the seal of the emperor. But,
it was
devastating. It read: "At this time we can not send any back up for
you in Eire. Rome isn't fairing well from its own struggles. All
the men we have right now fighting for us must be used wisely, for
the Roman empire threatens to fall. We're sorry for any
inconvenience this might cause."
She threw the letter to the floor, and stamped on
it. "Sorry for any inconvenience." she shouted at the wall, throwing herself
into a chair. She had given orders to kidnap the prince's children
and any one trying to prevent them. She had ordered the
destruction of the Sanctuary of theirs. And she knew that they would
come some time, and rise against them. And at this point,
it was likely that they would win. Longinus came in, and was shaking
his head.
"You've gotten yourself into more trouble than you
can handle. How do you think the prince would react if you stole his
beloved children away from him? And how do you think his men would
react when they marched to their home and found it in
ruin? You're acting blindly. As of now, there is only about five hundred
men to fight for you. That includes all of the guards, and
all of the slaves, even those in the dungeons that you stole from the
people of Eire. More than half of this place is full of them.
You know that. so, that leaves us with about two hundred men. Some
of which aren't going to live, or be able to fight. They're
wounded. Conor knows that. But he doesn't know that we are on such
a shortage. You're going to have to do something,
Diana."
She turned to him, and answered flatly, "I could,
but I could also not do anything."
Longinus looked sharply at her. It was unusual that
she would give up. She never had. It was something totally foreign to her.
"What's gotten into you?"
She shrugged.
Anghrahad held Lavender to her, and rocked her gently.
"Come now, little dear, it's all right. Your mommy and da will save
you. It's all right." she whispered. Molly, with Liam beside her, was
trying to hide a giggle. "What, wretch?" Anghrahad asked
her crossly.
"It's so easy to get these two calmed down. The
very same way you get Conor and Caitlin calmed down."
Ana shook her head, and pulled Lavender closer.
"Oh? If it's that easy, you make little Lavy calm down."
Molly grinned, and took Lavender from her. The novice
sat her beside her brother, and kissed her forehead. She sang the
lullaby sweetly, and almost at once, the girl stopped pouting.
"Daddy went a-hunting
A-hunting in the wood
To get his baby bunting
Every thing that's good
He came across a fairy trail
And walked it for a while
So he could bring home fairy dust
And see his daughter smile"
Lavender smiled up at Molly. Molly turned to Anghrahad,
and grinned. "You're the more trained of us. You should know
how to get babes calmed. But, my dear Ana, haven't you ever heard Conor
sing it to the kids?" she widened the grin, "Or
Conor sing it to Caitlin? They have a thing about singing each other
to sleep." the grin turned evil. "He changed it just for her."
Anghrahad wanted to throw something at Molly, but
decided against it. "What's wrong with you, today?" she wondered
aloud.
Molly shrugged, and retorted, "There's always something
wrong with you. But you never explain."
Anghrahad's eyes flashed, and she moved to sit over
beside Lavender instead of near Molly. "You're just jealous of Caitlin,
and taking it out on everyone else."
Molly raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Took you long enough
to come to the conclusion every one else seems to know. And you
are supposed to be gifted with the Sight. I doubt it. So, what if I
am jealous?"
Anghrahad was about to answer, when Liam stood up,
and shouted at the top of his lungs, "No fight!" for a little boy, it was
pretty loud.
Molly turned to him. She took his hand. "Of course
we won't fight. We're just having a disagreement. Don't your Mommy
and Da ever have those?"
Liam shook his head. "No. Mommy loves Da. Da loves
Mommy." he stared at the two women. "Why not you two love each
other?"
Molly shrugged. "We just can't...agree. That's all."
she felt silly trying to explain things to a little four year old.
Lavender sat in Anghrahad's lap. "Ana, tell us a
story." she begged. She seemed to ignore the quarrel.
Anghrahad nodded. "I will, little princess." she
cleared her throat. "Once in a land not so far away..."
Caitlin's head rested on Conor's shoulder, and he
turned to ask her a question, finding her asleep. He sighed, and moved
her
head to his laps, taking off his cloak to lay over her. She was one
of the few women around the fire, one of the few left in their
little war band. Yet there were at least five hundred of them strong,
left. And just in the remains of the Sanctuary. He lifted his
head towards the stars. A few years back, he had thought that his family
had moved to the stars. That they were up there,
watching every thing he did. His fingers idly played with Caitlin's
hair, playing with her long locks and down across her cheeks.
She woke, and rose, taking him into her arms. Conor held her close
while she cried against his shoulder. Ordinarily, the men
were envious of so young a man having so passionate and beautiful a
wife, but now they pitied him. He had children that were
gone, just as they had family that was gone. But although it wasn't
new to any one, Conor had it happen twice.
While he held her, she sobbed herself to sleep again in his
arms. He sighed, and let her sleep. He felt close to tears, but knew
if he cried, nothing good would come of it. In his life time, he had
cried enough for ten tragedies over. But, something was odd
about the night. No one could sleep except Cat, whose sleep was plagued
with nightmares. He would soon find out what was
so strange about the night, soon enough.
Diana sighed, and stared at the incredulous faces
of the four she held in captivity. She couldn't stand it. They were so
happy
while she was so miserable. It's hard to admit when you're wrong. Especially
when you're wrong about trying to conquer a
whole island. But, that didn't have to be admitted, yet. She would
still fight to her death, all though it would not completely be
her fight. She wouldn't physically fight, but she would still be the
one either winning this final battle, or loosing it. This, she
decided, was the final battle. She wouldn't tell any one, but this
final battle wouldn't make much of a difference. If they lost, they
would just be killed, or what ever fate Conor had in mind. Or, if they
won, they would get the privilege of returning home to
Rome alive. If there was any thing left of it. There was rumor that
Rome wasn't even there any more. And the Emperor wasn't
talking in his letters like a real Emperor. At the back of her mind,
she wondered, herself, if Rome even existed any more.
"Yes I am letting you go free. When
ever your father, or mother, or whomever comes, you will be handed over
with out a
fight. No problem." she verified their queries.
Anghrahad and Molly, all though they were at the
point of hating each other completely, started hugging each other, and
the
two young ones, jubilant with joy, were nearly jumping up and down.
Sighing, she started to turn around. The night was falling,
so she wanted to go to sleep before she really regretted her decision.
Before her conscience caught up with her doings in Eire.
Conscience-- something she had left behind in Rome. One couldn't have
a conscience when trying to promote your own will.
You just couldn't conquer a country mercilessly with a conscience.
But, Anghrahad stopped her, putting a hand on her
shoulder.
"Thank you, Diana. You are not as bad as they make
you out to be. Truly there's hope for you, yet." she told her.
Diana nodded, and left. It was odd. Why would these
people who had suffered so hard under her thank her for any thing?
Why couldn't she see any more?
As if on cue, Longinus saw her musings, and lifted
her chin. "What's your decision on the fate of this little fort? What shall
we
do, my queen? And what's on your mind, lately?"
She shrugged. "Fight til the death. The Romans will
not be known as people to retreat like children playing a little game.
We
are not cowards." she heaved yet another sigh. If sighs were money,
she would be a sincerely rich woman. "What's on my
mind? These people here forgive one another, and they are even thanking
and forgiving me. I don't remember the last time any
one actually thanked me for something. It's been so long since I was
treated like a normal person, I seem to have forgotten how
to be one."
Longinus nodded gravely. "It seems you finally see
the price of being a leader. Some times it costs you your sanity, some
times your personal life, sometimes your life, period. It all depends
on how much you let the position get to you. I see a woman
who's always struggled. Once the Queen of whores, now the Queen of
a tiny kingdom of slaves in Eire. What has it done for
you? What have you gotten out of being the driver instead of those
being driven by the whip?"
Diana didn't know how to react. Perhaps this rotting
Immortal was right. Maybe it was time to act like a normal person
again. But, maybe it wasn't.
Catlin woke up after dreaming the worst nightmare
she had dreamt, yet. Her heart still beat hard from running in the dream,
all though she couldn't recall what she was running from. For the longest
time she could remember, she had been running. From
one thing, to another. From a broken family, to enslavement, away from
enslavement, to...Conor. She opened her eyes, and
saw his brown eyes. Had he been watching her sleep the whole time?
"Good morning." she told him. He smiled.
"Morning, Cat." he took her hand, and was content
to just sit there a while longer.
She sat up, and leaned her head against his shoulder.
"How's everything, Conor?" she asked, trying to keep the topic from
straying to the previous day's occurrences.
He shrugged, and then yawned. "I didn't really get
much sleep."
Fergus, sitting beside him, grinned at Catlin. "Aye,
lass, he was up the whole time looking at you. Just staring at you, staring
at the stars, and singing under his breath."
Conor smiled secretively, and clasped Catlin's hand
a little tighter. "You see, Fergus's never heard any one sing before. He
wasn't even the one to first get the song going." he didn't care about
Fergus's mood for teasing. It would pass. Every thing
would pass. When he wakes up this time of the year next year, everything
will be wonderful. And he'll get to go away on a little
vacation type break. Maybe go sailing. Conor was imagining all the
places he'd go sail away to when Fergus broke his train of
thought.
"Conor, lad, get out of your day dreaming. I asked
if you knew where Molly and Anghrahad were."
Conor blinked, then sighed. "Ah, Fergus, no one
does. Molly and Ana were with Liam and Lavender when..." he couldn't
finish. Shutting his eyes to try to hide the abused Sanctuary from
his vision, he complained, "Fergus, they took my daughter!
And my son! How could they harm lives so little when it's me that they
want? Maybe for the good of the island I should just
turn myself in to them."
Fergus stared at him. "What did they do to the Conor
that I know and love as a son? Not only did they take my daughter,
they took Conor, and replaced him with a fake! Where's the lad that
I know was going to fight the Romans to their death or
his, which ever came first? Where's the lad that was doing a good job
of leading us against the oppressors? Where'd Conor
go?" he asked him, shaking his head. "Because you're certainly not
acting like the leader we all boast. You're definitely not
being our brave leader. You're being a coward. We can win. We can beat
them. You know it. You just want to give up, like a
coward. You just want to do it the easy way. With one battle, we can
do it. You know that. Just one more battle, Conor!"
Conor smiled. "Aye. We can do it. We will do it.
For the gods. For our people. And in my heart, for little Lavy and Liam."
Catlin stared at the horses ears in front of her.
They had been traveling for days on end, only stopping to eat and sleep.
Conor hadn't told her why they moved, or where, just that they would
be there, soon. It had all ready been seven days. She
sighed, and turned to Conor. His eyes seemed distant, like he was thinking
on something. "A kiss for your thoughts." she
offered, smiling. He blinked, and turned to her.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to get Argyle to
join with us." he told her. This shocked her to bits.
"Argyle? The same Argyle that hates your guts? The
same one that had the daughter that married your brother?"
He nodded. "Aye. The same. The one who blames me
for not dying when his daughter did. He's the strongest tribesman in
the west, and we need his help." Conor's right hand fell to his sword.
It was instinct, she knew, for when he was either worried,
or unsure about something. That, or when there was danger. But, his
muscles, and hers, didn't tense. So, danger wasn't near.
For now.
"When will we be there?" she asked, reaching out
to brush a lock of hair out of his face.
"Probably tomorrow. Earlier, if we're lucky." he
shrugged, and held her hand. The horse slowed down, and hers, seeing the
other, did the same. He stared towards the sun. "It's about time to
eat. I guess it's time to stop." Fergus, riding beside him on his
other side, shouted to the other riders. He was otherwise silent, pondering
his own thoughts. Fergus hated Argyle even more
than Argyle hated him. For Argyle thought that Fergus had neglected
his duty to Derek when he didn't save them from their
death, Argyle's daughter along with them.
"What was Argyle's daughter's name, any ways?" Catlin
asked, and Fergus shrugged.
Conor rolled his eyes up for a moment, trying to
think of the answer. He furrowed his brows, and answered, "I don't really
remember it. Maybe it was A-something. Like Ara. Or Ana. Something.
Come to think of it, I never really knew her. I think
that she had red hair. Or maybe brown hair. Something like that."
Catlin smiled, "Kind of like Anghrahad." she offered.
Conor shook his head. "No, not like Anghrahad. At
least, not that I remember." They halted the horses, and Conor helped
Catlin dismount. She grinned, and leaned over, kissing his forehead.
"That's the kiss that I owe you for your thoughts."
Anghrahad pushed a lock of her auburn hair back behind
her ear. She sighed lightly, watching Molly and the twins sleep. She
smiled, and for a moment pretended that the two tiny bodies snuggled
up to Molly were her own children. The two that she had
never gotten to bear. Becoming a priestess had prevented her from marrying.
She hadn't really had any one special, that she
could remember. Nor could she remember ever having loved some one.
She couldn't remember her family, nor any thing
before going to the Druids and becoming a novice, then a priestess.
All she would remember would be a thought here, a flash
back there. Very confusing.
She stared down at the floor, and then looked back
up at the different furnishings in the room. They were in a prison, but
only by technicalities. They couldn't leave the room, but that was
about all of the similarities. The room was very nicely
furnished, with many luxuries that Ana couldn't ever remember having.
But, the room was oddly familiar, and when she did have
a flash back, she recognized this room as one of the many places that
they took place. It was so odd, she couldn't ever
remember being there, but...she couldn't really remember much. When
would she remember?
** The room was so bright. Flashes of light filled
the room. It was blinding her. She tried to cover her eyes, but it didn't
work. She just saw a woman, doubled over in pain. Who the woman was,
she would never know. At least, not at the moment.
The woman squeezed her eyes shut, and cried out, again. She knew that
the woman was having a child that would probably
die. She hated death. Every one she knew was dead to her...but who
did she know?
It changed to another place. The place was here,
and all she could see was the blinding lights. Occasionally, a woman would
bend over her, and slap her to silence her wails. What was wrong? Could
this be her that she was remembering? She
remembered hearing wails, from a baby. Then, she heard the baby's cries
cease. Some thing had killed the baby. She
remembered the salty tears that ran down her face...**
Anghrahad wiped tears away from her face, trying
to sort out the memories. She knew that these flash backs were
memories. But memories of who? What had happened to her?
This one should have more to it. If you happen to have the rest of it, please send it to me! I would be very grateful! :)
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