Methos just barely managed to catch the sleeping child as both she and the woman who had been holding her slid off the horse. Colleen managed to stay upright as the petite woman fell against her. She was thin, and extremely pale. Obviously ill, she struggled to stay awake. Collen's hand came away from her back, covered in blood. Methos handed her the child and took chare of the woman.
Katherine MacCleary, besides being ill, had a knife wound in her lower left side. She looked up at Methos as he laid her on the rough bed in Colleen's cottage. "Donald's...dead...Brought the...girl...He's coming...to kill her..."
"Who, Katie? Who's coming for the child? Why?"
"She's...one of you...says she...must die...called her a...'wildling'...protect her-please!"
Methos swallowed. Donald and Katherine MacCleary were his friends; Donald for almost two hundred years now. Eight years ago, the couple had taken in a foundling infant, a newborn discovered in the woods the night of Beltain. They had named the child Alynore, and raised her as their own daughter. Methos had warned Donald; Immortals didn't have happy family lives. Now it looked as if someone had taken advantage of MacCleary's vulnerability. But why go after a child that wasn't even in the Game yet?
Wildling. He'd learned-the hard way, of course-what kind of Immortal that was years ago. Which could only mean...
The feel of another Immortal struck him. Colleen shushed the suddenly restless child in her arms. From the far end of the room, she watched him with her big, blue eyes, pleading with him. He cursed under his breath as a horse came to a sudden halt outside.
He grabbed his sword and went to the door. On a large black stallion, Miguel Talrizzio glared down at him. Once, he might have considered Talrizzio a riding partner, an ally. Maybe in his younger, wilder days. Now the ruthless man was someone who wanted his head, and the child's besides. He'd kill Katherine and Colleen to acheive his objective, since both mortals would fight to their dying breath to protect the girl, and each other.
Methos would not allow that.
"Step aside, old man; I only want one thing," Talrizzio snarled, jumping down off the horse. Rain began to fall, as the storm that had been threatening all day finally broke.
Methos said nothing; he simply raised his sword in unspoken challenge. 'I can't believe this; Donald managed to get me in one last troublesome situation, even from the grave...' All thoughts ceased when Talrizzio swung.
Instinct, and thousands of years experiance, took over. Parry, parry, jab, dodge, parry, slash, slash, parry. He fell into a rythm, a dance of blades and blood; the same he'd been fighting for forty-five hundred years. He was so tired of it.
Talrizzio over-extended, allowing Methos to slam his hilt into the man's back. Talrizzio hit the ground. Methos kicked his saber away, and swung for the neck as the younger Immortal stuggled to his knees.
The Quickening came with all its force, pain, and joy. The evening sky exploded in thunder and lightning as the power joined with that of the storm. Methos found himself on his knees in the mud as the rain pounded down and thunder rumbled in the distance. He shakily made it to his feet, retrieved his sword from where he'd dropped it, and went back to the cottage, thinking it was a very good thing Colleen lived away from Cameron Manor.
A blanket lay over the remains of Katherine MacCleary, and Colleen was singing a lullaby to the small, fragile-looking child in her arms. Methos took the body outside. He put both on Talrizzio's horse and took her to the manor, a half-hour's ride away. The priest took over from there.
He returned to the herbalist's cottage the next morning. Alynore shyly hid behind Colleen as he rode up.
"Good mornin', David. Everythin's taken care of?" She asked as he tied his mount.
"Katherine's funereal is being handled." He paused, then looked into those devastating eyes. "I'm leaving, Colleen. I'll return in a year or so...If any others of my kind are nearby, they'll know last night's storm was a bit...unusual. They might come for me." He put his hand aginst her cheek. Her eyes looked into his, holding back tears. "I don't want you to get hurt," he whispered.
He didn't want the Immortal living a few miles to the north knowing he was there; the man had a reputation as a headhunter. He was also afraid it would attract attention to the girl. He knew without asking that Colleen was keeping her; she knew the risks and consequences of loving an Immortal. More than anything else, Colleen wanted to be a mother; but if she married him, she would never have children. Alynore was hers now.
Methos stayed that day, and that night. by morning, he was saddling his horse when he heard a faint noise at the door of the little barn, felt the Pre-Immortal buzz. He turned and looked at Alynore.
She looked up, her brown eyes wide. "Yer goin' away?" She asked in her quiet little voice.
He ruffled her hair, still sleep-tangled. "Just for awhile, elfling. When I come back, I'll take you and Colleen with me to...wherever it is I'll be going."
The girl smiled shyly; the first he'd seen since her arrival. He looked her over carefully, in case he didn't come back soon; blonde hair, brown eyes, ears that looked just slightly, almost, pointed. She had a very slim frame, giving her that fragile appearance. He knew, however, this child was quite a bit more than she seemed, though many, including herself, wouldn't realize that for a long time.
Methos swung up on his horse and rode away, not looking back. He and Colleen had said their farewells-never good-bye-last night.
Three years would pass before he returned.
Posted on Aug 28, 1999, 2:47 PM from IP address 144.246.117.210