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Caitlin

By Killian & Nessa

____****____

Killian slept fitfully. She was filled with disturbing dreams. Darkness, caves. Collars. Chains. Pick axes, and bullwhips. Sweet smell of bader root. Bader root. Killian smelled, in her sleep, the musty scent of the herb. used mainly for treating very bad pain, such as a broken limb. Is somebody hurt? Killian shifted in her slumber. No. It is also used to erase bad memories. All memories. It can be misused to make you forget all memories.

Killian awoke in a cold sweat. Caitlin. Caitlin is alive. Somewhere. I know it. She is alive.

Killian sat with herself for a few minutes. Nessa. I have to tell Nessa. She will know what to do. Aria, Klancy. Talk to them. They will help if they can.

Oh my Caitlin. You are alive. I knew you didn't go and die on me, you big tough jerk. Where are you. Come to me my love. Come to me.

*******

Nessa woke sitting straight up in bed. She felt anxiety; urgency; someone calling through her dreams. Killian! Without concern for the sensibilities of the lass, Nessa shot to the door, pulled it wide open and stood there as naked as the day she was born.

The glazed-over look was a clue that Killian wasn’t affected in the least by the sight of a red-haired, gray-eyed, six foot, naked Celt blinking back at her. Neither woman questioned what woke the Celt or how she knew that Killian was at her door.

Nessa could see that the lass was distressed and beyond the mere waking state. She already experienced the psychic strength of the young medium at a time when it was most needed. She thought that whatever it was that drove the lass to her door needed investigation. The Celt reached out and curled a large hand around Killian’s upper arm and pulled her inside the room. Nessa guided the still silent Killian to the large chair by the hearth. She waited until the lass was sitting, then went for a robe.

Nessa had the fire built and roaring with the room warming nicely before either of them spoke. She looked at the flame reflected in Killian’s fixed eyes. “Tell me what you see lass.”

Killian’s gaze shifted to meet Nessa’s. “A dark place, Nessa. It is small and dark. Someone is on a sleeping mat in a corner of the room… Gaia, oh sweet Gaia… It’s my Caitlin!” Killian stood as if to run. Nessa held her at the shoulders.

“Wait Lass! Where would you go in such a hurry?”

“She’s alive, Nessa. We have to find her. She is reaching for me!” Killian’s eyes filled with tears. They were shining now and clear. She dropped back down in the chair but continued to look up at Nessa with a plea for help that the warrior couldn’t deny.

Nessa kneeled down beside the seated woman to be close and at eye level. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Of course I’ll help you lass.” She lifted a curled finger and brushed tears from the face she loved with all her heart. “Talk to me now and tell me all you know. We have to get a direction… a picture of the surroundings… language… “ She stopped when she saw that look cross over the beautiful face again.

“Persia. She thinks she is in Persia for Gaia’s sake!” Killian winced and said, “They’re drugging her to keep her captive. She is losing hold of her thoughts. I’m losing her!” Killian shook her head then and said. “She’s gone Nessa.”

“It’s enough to get us started lass.” The Celt stood. She’d been to Persia. She thought it strange and barbaric. She looked down Killian. “Go pack up some things lass. We’ll be heading out for the closest port and the fastest clipper. I’ll ready Flame and Tuttle.” She watched Killian head for the door, stop and turn.

“Tell the Kindred Nessa. We don’t want them to worry.”

“I’ll tell them lass. Don’t be surprised if we are not alone on the trip.” Nessa smiled knowing full well that some of the Lodgers would want to help out.

____****____

Nessa stood motionless, staring at the closed door to her chambers. She just watched Killian go through that door on her way to prepare for the rescue of the love of her life. The Celt felt a tearing in her heart. Part of her hoped that she would never have to face this while another part wanted only the best in joy for the woman who would have her heart throughout time… Killian.

The warrior fought back the tears that would have their day… just not this day. She dressed quickly, pulling on her boots on the way to the door. She had to find Klancy and see if Shasa was in before she packed for the journey.

Taking the stairs in leaps, Nessa hit the landing on a run. She spied Klancy sitting by the big hearth in the lounge. She slowed to a near stop as she noticed that the Highlander had an unusual slump in her manner. She was staring at the fire, long legs stretched out before her.

Nessa approached as casually as she could. She stood quietly before the pensive warrior, waiting for her notice. She was rewarded with a half-hearted smile.

“Hey Ness, you lost?”

Nessa dropped to the chair beside Klancy. “No, not now but I might be if I don’t get your help.”

Klancy’s brow drew up in questioning. “What can I do for you friend?”

“It’s Caitlin. She’s in Persia. Killian sees her with the sight of a priestess, Klance. She is needing to be rescued…” Nessa took a breath.

“Hold up Ness” Klancy never questioned the validity of such things. It was one of the things Nessa appreciated about the Courtly One. “You have to cross an ocean to get to Persia.”

“I know Captain.”

Realization blossomed in the Highlander. A light came into her eyes. “The Clipper will take a couple of days to get readied. Better go pull the sailor out of whatever bed she’s in. We’ll need her.”

“Aye, aye Captain” Nessa said as she stood. “Perhaps we need a scribe for the recording of the journey. I’ll ask DJ.”

Nessa and Klancy left the lounge simultaneously. Nessa would ready the horses for the trip down the mountain to the port and Klancy would gather Kindred. Nessa noticed a familiar spring in the step of her friend. She guessed they all needed a bit of adventure.

The Celt struggled within herself to lighten her own heavy heart.

*******

The trip down the mountainside was uneventful. The Kindred were all pretty animated and in good spirits at the double prospects of new adventure and finding the near-legend, Caitlin. Aria was very happy for her best friend and knew she would have to keep a close eye out. Killy was changing and she was a very intense psychic.

The company of Kindred set sail aboard the Clitoris Clipper. She was a sleek and shiny vessel whose Captain had a pride in her that shined in the warrior’s manner. Klancy was at home on her ship. She and Shasa pored over navigation maps in her cabin. They marked the route to Persia in no time.

Nessa stabled Tuttle and Flame in the hold built for this. If there was a need for more horses they would secure them in Persia. Jan the fae was most helpful in soothing the beasts who were hardly at home on the water. She cast a bit of calming dust in their stalls and sang sweet songs to them.

The Kindred were quick to assume tasks on the Clipper. Some even had experience in sailing before and felt comfortable with what was at hand. Nessa wished she felt the same. For the first two days she spent her time at the side of the historian. Both women had their heads over the side heaving until there was nothing to heave and then heaving nothing. Killian and Aria brought water and comfort to the two sea-sick women.

The Seventh day out, stomachs and most everything else seemed to settle. Nessa spent much of her time in the company of the Captain and Shasa, discussing ways of dealing with possible scenario’s according to what Killian would be “seeing” next. These things happened on the edge of time and space. There was no determining much of anything until it happened. All agreed that battle readiness was essential.

The Celt spent the rest of her time busying her hands and mind with ropes and sails and anything else that would keep her from thinking about Killian. Nessa knew that Caitlin would reappear sometime. She knew because Killian knew. The lass never let go of hope.

Nessa cried at night when she was alone on her bunk. Jan and her beloved Shasa both gave her healing attention and helped to ease the ache in her heart by easing the ache in her sex. Shasa was sensitive to the Celt’s pain but knew also that talking about it now was not helpful.

Killian stood on the deck much of the time, just looking at the horizon. She was very excited and caught up in the reality of what was happening. When she closed her eyes she saw her beloved, drugged and bruised but somehow aware that she had gotten through to Killian. They exchanged thoughts but Killian was not yet clear on exactly where Caitlin was being held or why. She was sure she would know when they reached the shores of the faraway land. But for now, she was glad that she didn’t know. It might be too much for her with so much more time to wait.

____****____

Caitlin felt hope again. Killian found her! Her bruises were not as painful now that she had contact with her beloved. Her thoughts were less scattered, even with the effects of the bader root. The warrior felt like she could plan again. Life mattered now in a way that was worth the fighting she had to do to keep it.

Caitlin pulled herself up as far as she could manage. The heavy scraping of the chain that held her was testament to the difficulty her captors had in keeping her captive when she wasn’t drugged. They had to allow the bader root to wear off if she was to be at her fighting best. She was so often challenged by the most brutal of fighters. She had to be kept strong and healthy. They fed her from the far end of the cell by putting the tray on the floor and pushing it toward her with a long staff. The tiny darts soaked in the powerful tranquilizer were the only way they could ever have gotten close enough to get the stuff in her. Caitlin was a pit fighter of the highest merit. Keeping her fighting was lucrative indeed.

The double edged sword of the whole thing was that she just got stronger and more dangerous with fighting and winning. She already killed three contenders with a skillful blow to heart or head and it seemed that to give her too much drug was to provide the opposition with a weakened match.

Caitlin smiled to herself in this realization. Three long years of this and she was now presenting her masters with a real dilemma. They would lose her one way or another. She was determined. But she needed help. Someone would have to find and destroy all the bader root on the premises.

She thought again of how her thoughts of Killian brought her right to the young Amazon. It was wonderful! Kil must have developed that ability by the grace of Artemis. Caitlin breathed in deeply.” Killian my Killian! I have missed you so much!! My love for you was never lost.” Tears stung the warrior’s eyes. She wept in gratitude. This misery was going to end and she would see her Killian again.

Caitlin didn’t know how her love was crossing the ocean or what help she had. She couldn’t have guessed what Killian had been through these three years. She couldn’t know that there was another who loved her as much she, herself. The pit fighter knew only that Killian was coming and light was entering her life once more.

____****____

Nessa was learning to move with the motion of the ship. She finally got her “sea legs” as Shasa said she would. There was a lull in the activity on the Clipper. It was mid day and a good wind was up. It seemed to be a good time for everyone to catch some sleep or work on projects left for later. The Celt leaned against the rail at the side of the clipper. Killian came to mind as Nessa knew she would at the first mental relaxation.

Nessa recalled her first acquaintance with Killian. The young lass was a fun-lover for sure. She did seem to get in trouble a lot in those days. Nessa thought of the sequence of events between then and now. Killian was feisty from the beginning. Nessa loved those small, quick gestures and mischievous expressions that were so charming. Yet it was the Celt who first recognized a woman in the lass when others were still thinking of her as a child.

She had a depth and a sadness that drew the Celt. They had some gentle chats at first but then they shared much more. That was when Nessa learned of Caitlin and soon realized that no amount of affection or punishment would sway the lass from her love of the missing warrior. Killian was steadfast in her heart and in her belief that Caitlin would one day return. Now that the warrior had indeed returned through Killian’s psychic passages, Nessa was forced to grieve the loss, once again, for something… for someone, she never really had.

The tall Irish Lord looked out on the horizon. She couldn’t seem to lift her shoulders quite straight. She stood nearly hunching as if to further protect her already broken heart.

******

Down in her cabin, Killian sifted through scrolls of herb lore. She knew it was bader root that restricted the mind and body of her lover. She was sure that Caitlin was in Persia. Now if she could get the specific location of where bader root grew in the arid land, she might be able to narrow the guesses as to their exact destination. Ah! She found the right scroll. The root was grown mainly near the coastal areas where an abundance of water could be found. The potent herb grew on the banks of the little streams and outlets that ran to the sea. It was a start.

Caitlin’s face appeared in Killian’s mind. Heart pounding joy hit her. The beautiful warrior was not dead! She was fighting the effects of a mind-numbing drug. She was bruised and chained in semi-darkness. She was sunken into a deep loneliness that had threatened to sap the strength from her heart… but she was alive! Killian’s own heart sang. Just then, the image of her beloved faded, replaced by a pair of grief-tortured gray eyes. Nessa.

Killian could feel the Celt aching. She knew this was hard for her friend, perhaps too hard. She wanted to say something, but what that might be evaded the lass. Words would never quite do between them. She so truly and dearly did love the fierce warrior, the fluid shaman, the steady walker between the worlds, the lover and the friend.

Killian headed topside. She reached the deck and spotted Nessa at the railing. Killian thought the Celt appeared smaller somehow. She walked close.
“Nessa, my Nessa” she whispered. She watched that strong, body-built-for-battle stiffen and slowly turn to face her. Their eyes met. Suddenly a call from the crow’s nest rang through them both. “Land Ahoy!”

Seven figures walked down the gangplank of the clipper. The sunrise cast a brilliant rose color against the sky. Klancy, DJ, Nessa, Shasa, Killian, Alison and Jan the fae stepped single file onto the pier of a village, whose name none of the group could pronounce, in the mysterious land of Persia. Klancy commissioned Lord Kit to stay in command of the Clipper along with the remaining Kindred. She wanted the ship to be ready for a fast departure when the time came.

DJ interpreted some of the written words posted around the small port and surmised that the name of the place was something that sounded like Samawa. After considerable signing and gesturing the party found a guide less than fluent in English but at least communication was manageable. The guide was a young boy of about 12 called Pushti. He was very useful in haggling with the horse trader when the party sought to buy the six horses they were sure to need. Pushti was curious as to why six horses were purchased instead of the five needed to carry these strange fighting women. After all, they had two horses with them already.

Shasa helped to resolve the issue with a skilled display of illusion. She pulled scarves and doves out of nowhere it seemed to the astonished boy. She was animated as only she could be in her slight-of-hand moves. When she finally pulled a gold coin out of Pushti’s own cap and presented it to him for his services, he decided that it didn’t matter how many horses the strangers had, they paid well and they were entertaining in the bargain.

Killian asked if there was an apothecary as she needed some medicines and herbs. Pushti shook his head and said they would have to travel several miles inland to the city of Mohammera. The latest psychic message she received from Caitlin was that the warrior was being used to fight. “Pit fighter” is what she said. Killian raised her brow as if the boy said something that struck a chord in her. “Mohammera! Isn’t that where they have those pit fights?”

“Oh yes missus.” Pushti nodded. “Mohammera is the only place in my country that puts on the pit shows” he confirmed.

The entire party seemed to let out a breath held in unified hope. This was better than they hoped for, just having landed here this morning. They would stock the saddle bags and be riding toward Mohammera to find the arena of pit fighting, and Caitlin.

The road to Mohammera was marked well. Nessa was a bit uncomfortable in a land so barren of trees. There were those strange looking things called palms but they hardly qualified in Nessa’s mind. Jan was feeling exactly the same. She thought that no faery would ever choose to live here and she said as much. In fact, she said so much, that Lady Alison pulled up beside the little fae, reached a beautifully muscled arm around that tiny waist and lifted her off the saddle where she sat. It was a surprised lass who landed straddling wide in front of the Gentle Warrior. Alison spent the largest part of the afternoon keeping that sweet faery mouth too busy to chatter.

Killian knew that Nessa was avoiding eye contact. She decided that the Celt needed to stay back for now. She hated that her beloved friend was in so much pain. Moreover, she hated that she was the instrument of emotional torture in Nessa’s heart. Tears welled up as she rode astride the rich black Friesian, a gift from the Irish warrior. She just let those tears well and fall. She did not deny her special love for the lord nor did she deny her own pain for the change their relationship had already begun to undergo. She sent a silent “thanks” to Artemis for Shasa and her ability to soothe Nessa with her own special attentions.

Klancy saw it all. She pulled up beside her tearful friend and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve grown up a great deal since Caitlin was lost Kil. She’ll be reuniting with the beautiful woman she always knew you really were. Caitlin is very lucky lass.” The stately manner of the warrior seemed somehow inconsistent with the softness of character she now displayed to her young friend. “And lass, Nessa is going to be just fine… in time.” She flashed a smile and dropped a wink at a grateful Killian before she turned her horse back to canter behind with DJ.

____****____

The City of Mohammera appeared to be many things to the visiting Lodgers. It was large and replete with colorful marketplaces and characters. Acrobats leaped and danced with astonishing dexterity to the music of a hypnotic sound. The music was created by a single man with some kind of reed or tube which he fed his breath to, while pressing and releasing little openings on the stem with his fingers. Baskets and sheer veils of every color hung at the sides of booths which lined the streets. Vendors called out prices and descriptions of exotic wares while haggling voices chattered all around the small party as they wound through the crowded streets.

Fascination with the strange wonder of this place would have distracted most who were new to it. Yet not one of the seven lost their sense of purpose. In fact, had they not been so intent on looking ahead, they may have been aware of the small figure, shadowing close behind.

DJ kept her focus on signs and posters and anything else that bore the strange symbols that made up the language. She was actually hoping for pictures. Anything that might display fighting figures. Klancy suggested that they hold off from getting another guide to avoid suspicion of their intent. Now the problem was to locate the pit and where the fighters were kept. Without interpretation, this presented a road-block. The slender historian did find a poster with a picture and some symbols but had no idea what it read.

The seven rescuers stood huddled together poring over the little poster as if concentration would bring it to life and they could learn Caitlin’s whereabouts. Killian knew what the place looked like from the inside because she saw it through Caitlin’s psychic imaging. But that did nothing to help them now. It was getting dark and they would have to find a place to stay soon.

Jan stood beside Alison her small hand inside that of the Gentle Warrior’s. She felt a presence before she saw it and shot a look with a message to Nessa. The Celt looked beyond and behind the faery just as they all picked up on the energy and turned to face a veiled figure standing a few paces away. The twilight cast an eerie shade onto the glittering veil, lending mystery to the silent intruder. Then she spoke. “So, you think that picture is going to talk to you? Or maybe you could use the help of somebody who knows what the Hades they are doing.”

“Aria!” Killian jumped into her friend’s ready embrace. The rest of the women just stood in surprised silence for a moment. Then, Nessa threw her hands up and rolled her eyes. All but Klancy breathed in relief. She spoke with a kind of irate dignity, “When I give an order for you or anyone to stay in protection of my ship, I have to trust that it will be done. Your disobedience is a clear usurping of my authority. You might be putting us all in further danger. Why didn’t you use that beautiful head dear lady?”

Aria expected this and came prepared. “The question is, my dear Captain, why didn’t YOU use my beautiful head?”

“What?”

There is a way that certain warriors have of saying, what? The word is honed and has a point on it; it comes out of their mouths like a dagger coming out of it’s sheath. Aria felt it pierce her and make her sag. She swallowed and held her gaze on Klancy’s face. She forged ahead. “Klancy, in my life before I came to the Lodge, I was an assassin. I have traveled much and learned the names and languages of many countries… this one included. If you had bothered to ask me what skills I might bring to this expedition instead of leaving me to wonder and worry and waste my talents… I might not have to be standing here explaining why you need me. Now come along, I know an inn that will welcome strangers and we can plot all through the night.” She smiled at how she could see the truth of her words registering in the Highlander.

Klancy smiled back. There was just a trace sarcasm in her voice. “Ah yes. I agree that you are useful.” She raked her eyes over the gorgeous woman as she bowed low. “However, it might have occurred to you to speak up. Please try to pay attention to important details like that.” Klancy stood tall and said. “Lead the way.”

It was a sting but a small one. Aria accepted it with grace and a slight bow toward the stalwart warrior. She shot her Killian a glance as the rest of the women took turns embracing her. She saw a mixture of joy and sadness in those big brown eyes. She glanced at the Celt who had that same blend in her eyes. Aria felt for them both. But Shasa was now circling those sweet arms around her. That little slut pulled her in so tight she could feel their breasts mashing together. This was going to be an adventure she was going to remember.

____****____

Klancy sat quietly listening to Aria read from the poster DJ found. Apparently they did well to find these quarters for the night, since the next pit fight would not take place until the following afternoon. This gave them time to plan a strategy and get some rest. The courtly warrior stayed seated by the open window of the large quarters. She was actually glad that Aria showed up, even though she would have preferred to have known of her usefulness before they left the clipper.

The Captain knew that the ship was left in the best of hands. Lord Kit was ever watchful and resourceful in battle if that is what it came to. Jude was steady and well trained for any circumstance. Lou, Lorry, dagger, rach, sarah and savay, while not battle trained, were fierce in loyalty and brave of heart. Klancy relaxed and turned her focus on planning with this small but diverse liberation party.

Killian could sense the nearness of the woman who held the largest part of her hopes and dreams for the better part of three years and held her heart for six. That very heart was thudding now with anticipation. With the sudden movement from not having Caitlin to having Caitlin again, Killian’s entire reality shifted. Everything seemed fresh again. Life contained a vibrancy that she didn’t even realize she missed until it came back. Her only unhappiness was the heartache growing in silence inside her dear Nessa.

Nessa could see the new and beautiful aura surrounding Killian. There was a brightness in her eyes and a lightness in her step that the Celt would never have wanted to deny her. She wondered if she would be able to watch while those beautiful eyes looked adoringly at another. Could she sleep while another held her, made love to her? Nessa couldn’t help a certain rage at a fate that led her to love only to deny her full access. That rage smoldered, deepening the darkness already bountiful within her.

The painful tension between Killian and Nessa was hardly missed by the rest of the women on this quest. It was difficult to display either joy for the one or sorrow for the other. But plans were made now, and they were each committed to freeing the warrior, Caitlin or to die in the attempt. Whatever happened after that would be very nearly anti-climactic.

*******

Caitlin struggled to keep her hold on clear thought. The drug was hard to fight. She pulled herself to standing against the stone wall of the cell she had known as home for… how long? Chain clinked and scraped as she moved. She pulled in a breath and held it while she asked Nemesine for clarity. Ah, there. She felt for Killian along the psychic passages so unfamiliar and so tentative. She was here! Caitlin swallowed to keep the emotion from rising too far up and erasing Killian’s presence. She heard her own mind calling out to her love through the psychic tunnel. “Killian! The drug. Destroy it while I fight. Replace it, fool them.” She knew her lover heard and understood. She was slipping back to blackness quickly now. “Killian, I love you!” she managed before she slid down to the cold floor and drifted to emptiness.

Finding and replacing the powerful bader root was a part of the plan that would make all the difference in getting the captive warrior out. Caitlin was going to have to be conscious for the finale.

____****____

Shasa slipped quietly down the dark hallway toward the commode room. She thought these Persians were at least somewhat advanced to have the privy indoors. She stopped just short of a little open side room when she heard voices. Normally, the Celtic sailor kept the business of a stranger at a respectful distance, but these were not strangers. She held her silence there in the dark.

Shasa knew Nessa had that detection sense that most warriors had. She often wondered if it was born in them or if they had it built into them during early rearing. She wondered why this warrior wasn’t using it now. Who was with her, distracting her? Shasa heard a gasp. Killian. She recognized the voice but not the tone.

The sailor stepped forward in time to see Nessa grab the sobbing lass close. The tall woman was rough. She shook Killian from the shoulders, then drew her in tight. Their faces were close. Shasa knew that look in her warrior… it came from a feral part of the Irishwoman’s being. It was that haze that had a life of it’s own. Add inconsolable grief and the anger it entailed and get the hell out of the way.

Killian was clearly caught in her misery of caring for her friend and wanting only her Caitlin. Nessa glared into the eyes she fell into almost daily for over a year now. She let out a growling sound and slammed her mouth down onto Killian’s… hurting, taking, hungering for something unreachable. Killian could barely struggle under Nessa’s force. But she did moan in pain and protest.

Shasa stepped into view. It felt like stepping into a bottomless canyon. She had to risk it. “Nessa, NO!” She stayed still and watched Nessa pull her head up and away from the bruising kiss. Those gray eyes shot into the sailor. Shasa saw a wounded wild thing. “Ness, you can’t, you love her” she whispered.

Time and space hung frozen for what seemed forever to Shasa. But then Nessa’s face lost that granite hardness. She let go of Killian and stood back.
Blood smeared and trickled from Killian’s lip where the teeth of this animal ground into it. Nessa was horrified. “I… I… couldn’t stop. Killian I couldn’t.”

Killian just stood relieved. She pulled a scarf from her pocket and wiped her already swollen mouth before she turned without a look or a word to either sailor or warrior and walked back to the sleeping quarters. Dawn was breaking. Killian would deal with her feelings about this later. Right now, Nessa was vital to the success of their plan. The young Amazon cloaked her anger and pain with solid focus on the action they would soon be taking to release and retrieve the love of her life, Caitlin.

********

The silence of the early dawn was slowly replaced by a barking dog and the sound of cart wheels bumping down the rocky streets. Soon the air was humming with the activity of the new day. Alison, Jan and Aria headed for the compound just outside the pit arena. That was where the bader root was most likely kept. One well placed aim and a hefty push of breath through Alison’s blow pipe, brought an unsuspecting guard slumping to the ground and out of the world forever.

The little gypsy faery stared wide eyed at the dead man while Alison divested the corpse of it’s clothing. Uh… Gentle Warrior huh? Yeah… gentle and deadly. Jan was astonished. Aria saw and grabbed the little fae. “Listen my spritely friend, this is deadly business and the sides are clearly defined. It is not as civilized as the wild forest. You have to accept this now or go back.” She held the sweet face gently in her hands. “Understand?”

“Yes Lady” Jan caught the intense reality that Aria projected. The assassin dropped her hands from Jan’s face and helped Alison put the guard’s clothes on. “What about clothes for the other warriors?” Jan queried.

Alison adjusted the guards turban and answered softly. “They’ll have to do their own killing little one.” The warrior said this in a matter of fact manner. No callousness, just fact.

The three edged to a side entrance of the compound. They moved between structures, peeking through windows looking for a clue to the whereabouts of the herb they sought. They spotted a table filled with darts and vials and jars of herbs in one of the buildings. That was it!

Alison turned to the fae, handed her the bag of vials that contained the mixture of the dummy herb and said, “Your up little darling.” She reached down with both hands and took Jan by the waist, lifting her up and through the window. She let the sweetling down gently onto the floor of the hut, knowing that Jan needed no further instruction. Aria and Alison stood warily outside that window while the light footed faery exchanged the mixtures.

Alison wondered silently if Nessa, Klancy and Shasa had the horses outside the compound in readiness yet. She didn’t want to worry about the Celt but Nessa looked awful this morning when they checked their plan.

As Alison wondered about the Celt, Aria wondered about her Killian. Her young friend’s mouth seemed to have swollen overnight but she would not speak of it. Aria bristled inside but knew it was not the time for an outburst. Killian and DJ were probably at the arena by now, awaiting the appearance of the once lost, Caitlin.

____****____

Klancy, Nessa and Shasa had the eight horses tied to a hitching post just outside the compound. Shasa tied each set of reins in a Celtic sailor’s knot so that they could be released in one quick pull and have sacred meaning as well. Klancy gave the sailor a thumbs up for her cleverness. They smiled at one another then both looked at the silent Celt. She was pulling her sword and sheath from the brace where it was kept on Tuttle’s saddle. Beside it was another sword. Nessa pulled this one out too.

“How many swords can ye wield at one time my friend?” Klancy asked.

“It’s not for me. Killian wants it. It belongs to Caitlin.” Nessa’s answered without looking at her friends.

Klancy threw a glance at Shasa who looked back in silent agreement. They both knew the turmoil building in their friend. They would stay close to Nessa.

The three walked quickly to the side entrance of the compound where the faery waited. Jan blinked into full sight when she heard them coming. “How does she do that?” Shasa said to no one in particular. But the faery heard and sent a glittering wink to the sailor. Shasa stored the invitation for the long ocean trip home.

There was no one around the compound to speak of. Bored guards stood at the entrance to a single hut across the way. Cheers and hoots and roaring from the pit arena was heard loud and clear. The events were underway. The rescue party spread out between structures and waited. Suddenly those two guards stood at alert when two extremely tall and muscular men emerged from the tunnel entrance that led up from the fighting pit into the compound.

“They look dangerous.” Whispered Jan from her place beside Aria.

“Yes, they are dangerous… but dumb.” Aria winked down at the fae.

Aria hoped DJ and Killian were in place and safe in that cheering crowd. She knew, of course, that Killian would be more steady in this plan than any one of them. Her whole happiness was at stake. The assassin wished they didn’t have to wait until Caitlin was finished with the pit fight to make their move. But Killian felt that the effects of the bader root on her warrior prevented the clarity of thought it would take to give heads up through the psychic realm. Aria also figured that Killian wanted to be present to look straight at Caitlin to let the fighter know that they were there and in place.

The bader root was wearing off nicely. Caitlin felt that by the time she got to the pit, She would be ready to kill for these bastards and live one more day. An image of Killian, her beloved, appeared in that place where reality and hope entwined. Her heart gave a thump in her chest. “I am here. Look for me. The dart will come without the drug. Pretend.” That was all. Her Killian was HERE at last. Caitlin had no chance to respond before the heavy door to her cell scraped open.

Each of the hidden Kindred had her own inner responses to the figure that emerged, chained and shackled between the two burly goons. But none would differ on the fact that this was a powerful fighter. Chains attached to opposite sides of a waist shackle was held at the end and pulled tight by the goons, creating an opposing force that held the warrior between them. They began the walk to the pit.

Aria whispered, “Now that is dangerous.”

____****____

DJ led the way up the stone tiers that circled the fighting pit. The crowd was buzzing with the excitement of the up-coming fight between the Grecian Wild Warrior and the Hairless Hun. The historian heard side bets happening all around. From what she gathered the Wild Warrior was the favorite. She thought “She’s our favorite too, and we’re taking her.” She felt a fluttering in her stomach at the thought of just how rash and bold this whole endeavor was.

Killian wanted to sit far enough up to see the entire pit, yet not so far that she couldn’t see her warrior’s face when it appeared. Her heart was pounding hard enough to drive nails. Nearly three years passed since she saw that strong, beautiful face in any place but her dreams.

It had been so hard, so impossible at first, to carry on with her life. Killian often wondered if she really did carry on with it or if it was all just a pretense, getting through one day after another by inventing hope where there was none… to give her reason to live. Grief and the pain of not knowing whether Caitlin was dead or alive or what happened to the trader, twisted her perception of everything.

Killian’s memory of her last night with Caitlin was really the only thing that remained clear and unchanged. Life with Caitlin was everything Killian wanted and needed. Not even the option of living among her tribal sisters was appealing by comparison. They were traveling the mountain area’s hunting and gathering pelts for trading in the mountain villages. This was their way of life and one the young Amazon thrived in for nearly three years.

Caitlin had a habit of rising before the sun to check the parameters of their camp, leaving her beloved Killy sleeping in a precious bundle. She would often return with handfuls of pine nuts and berries to tempt the sleepy Amazon into waking.

Killian awoke alone. No sound of munching on pine nuts or the odor of sweet berries met her. She rose to an empty camp and an eerie feeling. She waited for a time not knowing which direction to go in search of Caitlin. But she knew that something was wrong. She wandered the parameters for hours, expanding her search in a spiral as she was taught by the Amazons. Then when she came upon Caitlin’s horse, Dancer, alone and dying in anguish on the forest floor, her mind seemed to cave in. It was all she could do to pick up the sword, dropped by the missing warrior and strike the beast loose from suffering.

Now as she sat there with DJ, staring down at that horrible looking pit where Caitlin had been forced to kill to survive, for so long, Killian wondered what changes must have occurred within her beloved warrior. She realized that her own changes were perceptible to those who spent time with her. How much more marked would they be to Caitlin who knew only a young, love stricken girl who needed the belt from time to time and who made love with volcanic heat.

Killian felt DJ’s warm touch on her arm. She watched as two half naked muscle men struggled to keep one lone figure suspended between them. The cheering crowd was on it’s feet and the two women Kindred rose with them. A thick mane of dark hair cascaded down the fighter’s shoulders. It was wild and covered half her face but Killian knew it was Caitlin. She was more muscular than Killian remembered but the carriage and the stance were Caitlin.

The goons tossed away the ends of chain they each held and scurried. But Caitlin stood still. She had done this more times than she could count. She shook her head to clear the hair from her eyes. Killian sucked in a breath. Caitlin was ragged, hard faced and as magnificent as Killian remembered.

Another roar from the crowd heralded the entrance of a man the size of a small whale. Killian didn’t want to think about what this mountain of a man could do. She understood that Caitlin would have to think about it very soon. She held her gaze on Caitlin’s eyes and focused her mind. The huge man was still raising his fists to the crowd and turning to see them. But Caitlin stood quiet and still. Suddenly she lifted her head. Eyes the color of the ocean on a bright day were staring right into Killian.

The moment of recognition was intense for Killian and Caitlin. Everything that ever held any meaning for either of them was wrapped up in that mutual gaze. Killian had to break it. She nodded as a signal, turned away with DJ and disappeared into the crowd. The two women threaded through the crowd and down the tiers. They had to get to the compound before this fight ended. Nessa and the other Kindred would be waiting.

____****____

The spaces between the huts in the compound were narrow. Killian and DJ made their way forward slowly. They didn’t know where they would meet up with the others, they couldn’t plan that. The two women had to get off those tiers and into the compound before the fight was over. They knew that as soon as Caitlin dispatched her opponent, she would be shot with a treated dart to subdue her enough to return her to the compound. But of course the dart would be treated with a different herb, one that would have no effect on the warrior. Caitlin would be faking a stupor until something obvious happened to alert her to the presence of help.

DJ wanted to find a position on a roof. Her bow and quiver of arrows slung neatly at her back, she motioned to her companion that she found a way up and would be departing for now. Killian watched the historian climb nimbly up the hut side and then disappear over the top. She resumed her own way quietly toward what looked like an entrance to the inner yard of the compound. Just then a hand shot out folding neatly around her mouth and jerked her back. One strong arm reached around her waist and twisted her till she stood staring into a pair of gray eyes. The sound of scraping steel met her ears as Nessa pulled the sword from it’s place in her belt and held it between them whispering, “Caitlin’s weapon lass… she’ll be needing it.”

Killian took the sword from Nessa. Her eyes stayed glued to the Celt’s for enough time to see that whatever happened between them that morning, was secondary to the task before them now. Nessa turned and motioned the way with a finger and a nod of the head. Together they scurried toward the entrance to the yard and together they stood just back from the entrance and waited.

The roaring of the crowd signaled the end of the fight in the pit. Every one of the Kindred kept an edgy silence in readiness. Alison pulled a vial from a pouch at her waist. She turned the small cork out and carefully dipped her darts into the solution that the faery brought back from the herb room. It was extract of bader root. She knew she would need to make these shots good. After the battle began she would have to put darts away. The fighting would be too close and Kindred might get in the way. She was as good with a sword as any of these lazy goons anyway.

The gates to the pit tunnel opened. The two burly guards held a drooping Caitlin between them as they half dragged the apparently drugged pit fighter toward the middle of the compound. As quick and silent as a breath, first one dart and then another hit their mark in the necks of those two goons. Caitlin felt the grip on her arms relax and release as each man fell to his knees. She lifted her hanging head high and stood tall. Guards were pouring out of their quarters.

Caitlin saw other women warriors now engaging the astonished guards. She saw what looked like a king’s courtesan twirling and kicking with amazing accuracy while an archer drew a bead from the roof and dropped an advancing man as he ran. She saw a small elfin-like creature gathering flitting and darting around a guard, confusing and frustrating him to distraction. Then she turned to see the woman she had held onto in her dreams for three years standing six paces in front of her.

They stood looking into one another for no more than a few seconds. But in that time an eternity of love, bliss, sorrow and grief rushed between them. Killian’s eyes filled with the sight of her beautiful warrior at last, then with practical coolness she lifted the sword she had been keeping since she found it on the forest floor the day she lost Caitlin and tossed it through the space between them.

Caitlin caught her sword by the hilt. She gazed upon it as if it were a long lost friend. It felt like a living thing in her hand. The guards were rushing in on her now as if they forgot who she was. Something snapped in the warrior. Sword in hand, and Killian by her side, Caitlin remembered fully who she was and moreover she remembered what happened. She threw back her beautiful head and bleated out a battle cry that stunned the advancing guards.

____****____

Caitlin caught her sword by the hilt. She gazed upon it as if it were a long lost friend. It felt like a living thing in her hand. The guards were rushing in on her now as if they forgot who she was. Something snapped in the warrior. Sword in hand, and Killian by her side, Caitlin remembered fully who she was and moreover she remembered what happened. She threw back her beautiful head and bleated out a battle cry that stunned the advancing guards.

Caitlin knew them all. Their mustached faces and black turbans were what she woke up to every day. She had her food shoved toward her from their safe distance. They drugged her for everything. They stripped her each week while she lay chained in a bader root stupor. They tossed water on her and called it a bath. They let her loose in an enclosed pen and stood neatly behind the fencing to watch as she took exercise, only to shoot the drug in her again when they needed to take her back to her cell. Each of these routines was riddled with insults from their filthy mouths.

Caitlin would escape, she would run fast and hard with these friends. But not before she wreaked the havoc her captors feared all along. The once peaceful trader was also a warrior. Coupling her battle skills with sudden fury for vengeance resulted in bloody mutilation and death.

The Kindred fought with skill. They may have come through victorious even without Caitlin’s titan rage at this enemy. They may have chosen to leave a few of the injured compound masters alive to tell the tale.

But the fact was, Caitlin was a tsunami in disguise. Grief and hatred rose up in her like lava, and none could run fast enough to escape her scalding fury. Her abilities to fight and kill had been unmatched in the pit for three years of captivity. They were unmatched now. The warrior wielded that sword in retribution until every enemy heart had it’s last beat. The compound was strewn with blood and lifeless bodies. She stood in the center of it all, staring down at an upturned face that had no body.

Suddenly, Caitlin felt a strong hand on her arm. She turned her head and met the gaze of a Druid. “We’ll need to be taking flight, Caitlin. There are horses and a waiting ship to bear us to our home.” Nessa spoke evenly.

The spell of shock was erased. Caitlin saw Killian running toward her She dropped her sword and opened her arms for the one who never lost faith. Their bodies seemed to blend in that embrace. All time, all tears and all sorrow was shrunken to nothing in this moment. This would have to be enough. The urgency to get out of Mohammera with the keenest speed gripped them all.

Klancy led the way to the horses. There was as yet, no sign of anything amiss from outside the compound. Caitlin mounted behind Killian on the black Friesian. All nine of the brave women rode through the back streets of Mohammera on a full gallop.

The sense of success was exhilarating for all but one in the party. Nessa could feel a dark weight dropping heavily within her. Shasa stayed close to her warrior knowing the Celts need. Klancy bore down in the lead. She felt they had been too long away from the Clitoris Clipper. Aria fought the urge to sing out a victory cry while sizing up this mystery of a warrior who had her Killy’s heart. DJ silently calculated distance and speed. She thought it would take half a day of steady riding to get to the Clipper. Alison brought up the rear, keeping a watch on the horizon behind the fleeing group. The sensitive young fae fought off images of gore and death. Lives lived and then *poof*… gone. Once again, the faery wondered how sacredness of being/Be-ing, could have slipped so easily from human awareness.

____****____

Nine figures astride eight horses moved with an easy lope against a purple evening in the desert. The sun was low. They all wanted to be at the ship by dark but it looked like that may not happen. Caitlin held her arms all the way around Killian, rocking in the saddle with her. She was aware of the tension somewhere deep in the girl. She thought everyone must be a bit shaken. She brought her face to the side of Killian’s and said. “They won’t get us. I’ll kill anyone who comes near you.”

Killian could have felt some comfort in those words, but the edge in her warrior’s voice disturbed her. She didn’t have time to think about it. Klancy held up a graceful hand in signal for a halt. The Captain leaned forward in her saddle and shaded her eyes from the setting sun. “Rider up ahead, coming toward us. Stand ready Kindred!” she ordered. She heard steel scraping against scabbards in unison. Then as the rider came closer, Klancy raised her brow in surprise. “Jude!”

Jude reigned in at a sliding stop in front of the astonished assembly. The regal looking warrior let her eyes graze over the group, stopping briefly on Caitlin, then back to Klancy. “Captain, there has been trouble. Just before dawn, it was dagger’s watch. We heard her whistle the attack alarm. We barely got up in time. Port bandits, I think. They were hoping to take us but Lord Kit led the battle on deck. Lou took out at least three of them and the rest of us held our own. We fought a bloody fight but lost not one.” Jude pulled in a breath, then continued. “Kit thought it best that we pull up anchor. We found an old pier where we can board Tuttle and Flame.” Klancy clapped a hand on Jude’s shoulder. “Well done warrior. Lead the way.”

Nessa thought it was a good tactic to move away from the expected route. They still didn’t know if they were being followed. Jude’s coming was timely and the clipper gone from port was even better. They would be further up the coast and the ensuing enemy would be averted. These thoughts helped the Celt to stay focused. She was managing to keep her eyes averted from the couple on the Friesian mare. The reality of Caitlin and Killian together was already slicing into her heart, she would not choose to see it if she didn’t have to.

Golden light gave way to silver as night eased down on the cantering band of Kindred. Their pace slowed enough to keep the horses from exhaustion but Klancy resisted the urge to call a halt. She thought they would rest once they were safe onboard. At last… the weary group crested one more rise and sucked in a collective breath of gratitude at the sight of the beautiful Clipper with her masts shimmering in the moonlight, waiting patiently like the lady she was.

Lord Kit had the gang plank lowered and secured to the pier as soon as she heard rach call out “Riders ahoy!” The riding Kindred leaped from their saddles once they reached the plank. All the horses but Tuttle and Flame were released to graze beyond the beach. A flurry of activity to raise the plank and pull up anchor followed as soon as the last of the Kindred boarded. They set sail toward home.

When the Clipper was well away from the shores of Persia, all but one of the entire company gathered around the woman they crossed half an ocean to rescue. There was plenty of back slapping and hugging. Tears of gratitude and relief spilled from more than one Kindred. Well wishes and congratulations went to Killian and Caitlin who stood arm in arm as part of this loving clan.

Caitlin was just a little overwhelmed by this reception. She thought Killian did well to surround herself with such family. They all seemed to really care about her happiness. Caitlin stood in silence while the attention went to Killian. She felt little hairs rise on the back of her neck. She sensed someone or something. It was as if a hurricane touched her, full of noise and random force. She turned her head and cast her eyes up to the helm where they met and locked onto Nessa the Celt.

____****____

Caitlin stood in silence while the attention went to Killian. She felt little hairs rise on the back of her neck. She sensed someone or something. It was as if a hurricane touched her, full of noise and random force. She turned her head and cast her eyes up to the helm where they met and locked onto Nessa the Celt.

For a tense moment Nessa merely looked at the handsome warrior standing with Killian in the crowd of Kindred. So this was Caitlin, strong and built like an athlete in the Grecian games. Nessa broke the gaze and turned to see Shasa standing beside her. She barely smiled into those green eyes and asked, “Glad to be heading off the shore of this strange land lass?”

“I’m glad the first part of this thing is over, but I’m not so sure I’m even ready for what’s next.” Shasa said seriously. She watched Nessa’s face. It took on a hardness that the sailor didn’t like at all. “Ness, you’re holding this stuff in. Let’s go to your cabin and have a hot Earl Grey.” She said with a lightness she didn’t feel. Shasa reached for Nessa’s hand but barely felt it before it was pulled away.

For all the days since this whole thing started, Nessa worked madly to avoid thoughts of Killian wrapped in intimacy with Caitlin. Now that the rescue was done, she could think of nothing else. Visions of Killian’s beautiful body pinned beneath Caitlin in a frenzy of hot throbbing passion, tortured the Celt. The dull ache that accompanied every move and every thought up to now became sharp. The Celtic lord forgot all she learned from Killian’s soft tutoring. All the self reflection, all the twisting of perception to see a better way, shattered inside her, forgotten.

Nessa looked down into Shasa’s sensitive eyes. There was love there but Nessa couldn’t see it. What she saw was a pretty lass who would scream and struggle, who would take the belt, who would crawl across the floor and present herself wide open if the Celt demanded it. Beautiful she was to the Celt, so beautiful. Nessa let her thoughts run riot. “You go on to my cabin, lass. I’ll be right along” Nessa was hungry for her.

Shasa understood that Nessa was in a lust haze of violence and pain. The sailor knew Nessa could kill her with no more than a wish to see her die. The Celt had done it to others in that mysterious Druid style. Still, Shasa walked in that careless, straight-backed, unstoppable way of hers, directly to Nessa’s cabin. She decided to risk it. Besides, the danger thrilled her darkly.

Inside the small cabin, Shasa waited for her warrior for only a few minutes. She turned up the wick in the lantern that stood on the table, giving a soft glow to the room. She heard the door open behind her. But before she could turn she heard Nessa’s low growl. “Stay slut. Don’t move!”

Shasa’s back stiffened with the chill in her spine. Leather swished out of belt loops behind her. She swallowed down the urge to turn and drop-kick the big warrior. The last time she tried that, she ended up nursing her entire welted body for days. She simply said. “Yes milord.” Then, instead of the expected strike of the belt, she felt strong arms surround her and twist her entirely around to face the feral glare.

Nessa wanted to beat this fucking little bitch. She felt rage that the impudent slut did not resist her. “Yes milord?” she rasped, incredulous. She lifted a hand high to slap this little slut senseless. Shasa did not cower.

The tactic worked on Nessa like a light shining into the darkness of her being. Her pain, her terror, her shame, her weaknesses… all were illuminated by the brave love of her friend. Shasa was offering herself to the stricken warrior without reservation. Nessa stepped back, she dropped to the bed, put her head down and covered her face with her hands.

“She is gone, Shasa”

“Not gone… just different than before. She will always love you as I have always loved you.” Shasa stood close and pulled the hands from Nessa’s tear streaked face. She undressed before the gray eyed lord in silence. She helped the warrior out of leather and silk.

That night, Shasa held the weeping Celt in her arms, rocking with her in her misery, easing her toward healing. They made love in the glorious ways they always did. Love deepened between them. Nessa knew by morning that she would make it through another day.

____****____

Killian sat on the bed, breathing for what seemed like the first time in days. Her Caitlin was found. She was not only found, but rescued nearly intact. Nearly. Killian rubbed the back of her neck as she sensed the toll this captivity took on her warrior. The sage knew what to do, knew instinctively how to ease her long lost partners grief.

She laid out the belt. This was one of Caitlin’s belts that Killian had kept with her. She would not let anything go that was her warriors, for she always felt she would find her.

Killian played with the soft leather. Caitlin was not one to carry much gear, yet she felt having two belts was important. Killian smiled as she remembered the day she picked this belt out herself, in a bazaar not far from the Amazon lands they had left one moon prior.

“Caitlin, come feel this.” Killian was beside herself with enthusiasm for the new life she and Caitlin were leading. Killian had no memory of anything prior to the burning of her village. The Amazon lands were the only life she had ever known. The Bazaar was ten times the size of anything she had seen at an Amazon festival. Filled with rich hues, and assorted collectables.

Killian smoothed the soft leather in her hands. “Caitlin, have you ever felt something this soft in your life?” The young Amazon put the belt into Caitlin’s palm, whispering conspiratorially, “It is so sexy, Caitlin. Can we please get it?” She buried her head into the trader’s neck, and nuzzled there, embarrassed by her admission.

Caitlin had yet to deny her Killian anything. She hadn’t asked for much in their time together, but what she did request was always indulgently granted. Caitlin took the belt, and eyed the merchant who was hovering. She gave him a look, causing him to flinch, and then retreat, to the rear of his tent. She then focused everything on the burrowing Killian.

“Let’s see,” she purred into Killian’s ear, as she stroked her hair with her free hand. “I must say this is a fine piece of leather Killian.” She leaned in close to Killian; “I think I could find one or two uses for this. What do you think, lass?”

Killian’s knees nearly buckled as she felt the soft breath of her warrior. The tall trader’s sultry voice belied her stern external stance. Killian loved how she could do both at the same time. It intoxicated her.

“Yes”, Killian breathed huskily, “I think we can make use of it”.

~~~~
 

Killian looked at the belt again. She knew the touch would not be a soft one this day. Caitlin had been hurt inside. She was going to need something much different from Killian on this day, and perhaps indefinitely. The wrath with which her warrior had dispatched the pit guards showed the state this woman was in. Killian closed her eyes.

~~~~

The day started inside a curtain of thick fog. Cold, damp. No one in the camp could make out anyone around them. Had the enemy infiltrated their surroundings in the night, no one would have been the wiser. The only good news was that the enemy had to live in this cursed mist as well. The battle this day would be fought at close quarters. No one may know the outcome until long after the last person was left standing.

Killian brought Caitlin a cup of steaming cider. The trader had put up all of their pelts for safe keeping, just in case the enemy encampment broke through their lines. It was habit really that made Caitlin take special care of her pelts. She had honored the animals who had given their lives, and she would be damned to allow these insurgents to have their way with anything that belonged to her.

Caitlin looked up from her sharpening stone. The look in her eye made Killian flinch. She stood for a long heartbeat, staring into the eyes of smoldering rage. This was the third day of fighting, and Caitlin showed the wear. Killian knew what was needed after three winters of living with the warrior. She set down the cup and turned. Caitlin stood, slipping her sword into its scabbard, and followed Killian out of the encampment.

The barn wasn’t much more then a glorified hut. The animals that had inhabited the space had long been slaughtered as food for the small band of warriors.

Killian expertly lit the torch with the stones Caitlin made her keep on her person at all times. The lass winced at the memory of a severe spanking she had endured for leaving the stones behind in a past village. She clenched inside as she made her way to the bales of hay stacked neatly along the far wall.

The air was still cold, and each woman could see the other's breath circling in clouds around their heads.

Killian stopped and turned. The slap dropped her to the ground. Caitlin was on her yanking her up by the hair. She did not cry out. The second slap split her lip. This time she was knocked over a large bale.

Killian heard the knife slip out of the sheath. She felt the cool blade as it was laid against her cheek.

“Strip now, or I will slit them wear they hang.”

Killian was grateful the warrior remembered she had no change of clothing. She stripped as quickly as she ever had. As she bent to lay back across the prickly bale, Caitlin grabbed her by the hair, yanking her back hard.

The kiss was deep and claiming. Blood trickled from her spilt lip as Caitlin crushed her mouth onto Killian’s, seemingly needing to climb inside her skin, through her mouth. Killian simply allowed it, giving all she could to her hazed lover.

The warrior kept up the forceful kiss as she swept her cape off from her shoulders, draping it over the bale. She pulled Killian away from her and shoved her down onto the bale.

“I’ll not have you marked by anything but me, lass. Put your arms above your head and keep them there.” Killian did as she was told.

Caitlin kicked Killian’s legs apart. “Keep them there.” Killian didn’t have to answer; she simply obeyed.

The belt came swiftly. Killian barely heard it leaving her warriors britches before it was raining down on her, hard and fast.

The beating was punishing. Killian did her best to not cry out, but finally gave in, screaming into her hand, so as not to alert anyone of what was happening between them.

Caitlin dropped the belt and grabbed Killian up, claiming her mouth once again. The warrior shoved two fingers deep inside.

“Who do you belong to, lass?” She seethed into Killian’s ear.

“You, Caitlin. I belong to only you.”

“What will I do if somebody were to touch you?” The fucking grew more intense.

Killian swallowed. “You will kill them, Caitlin.”

“That’s right.” Caitlin raised her thumb, wiping some of the blood from Killian’s chin, and taking it into her mouth. The warrior shoved Killian back over the bales.

She didn’t bother to open her trousers. She simply rode Killian’s ass where she stood. The warrior was legendary for her orgasms, and she didn’t disappoint now. Again and again she rose and fell onto Killian, the lass taking everything she could give.

A powerful thumb kept up a pace on the Amazon’s clit, pulling Killian further then she had ever gone before.

Finally, when Killian was sure her legs would cease to hold her up, Caitlin gave her final cry of release. She stood up, pulling Killian gently to her.

“Thank you, Killian.”

This time the kiss was slow and soft.

“Get dressed. I need you to stay here and keep the children safe. You know that , lass.”

Killian nodded as she dressed. “I will do as you need Caitlin. You just come back to me. You hear?’

Caitlin broke her first smile of the fortnight.

“Always.”

~~~~

Killian broke free from her memory, coming back to the present. She looked up from the belt in her lap to see two piercing blue eyes boring down on her from the cabin doorway.

____****____

She was so beautiful, so changed and so the same all at once. Killian. For three long years, whenever Caitlin had a clear thought, it was always of Killian. The way she turned her head and looked up into her lover’s eyes, the way she giggled under her breath whenever her warrior tried to show off and botched it, the way she bent her strong body for the spanking she needed… Caitlin’s center tightened.

Caitlin spent a large part of the evening topside. The clan who called themselves Kindred Spirits and who risked their lives to save her, deserved some time to ask questions and to tell stories with her. The warrior knew she owed them more than they asked for. She spoke as best she could about her time in captivity. She listened and learned about the Lodge in the mountains where they found refuge and companionship.

She did not see the one they called Nessa, though her name was mentioned more than once. That one fought like a demon at the bloody battle in the compound. She killed for Caitlin’s escape. Yet when all was clear and safe aboard the Clipper, this Nessa gave her only a look that could freeze her blood and vanished. Caitlin listened to stories of the Celtic lord and more often than not, her Killian was woven into the tale.

Suspicion and rage burned hidden in Caitlin. Her Killian was whoring with the Celt while she strained against the mind-rotting bader root and fought pigs to live for three years. Reason lost a foothold in slippery jealousy. Caitlin’s mind had shut down in so many places, just for the sake of survival, she had no avenues of rational thought open to her. She said goodnight to the Kindred and made her way to the cabin and Killian.

Killian’s thoughts of that time long ago rattled her so that when she saw Caitlin standing in the doorway, she jumped. Caitlin was looking straight at her, her glance level and dark. The taller woman, ducked to get her whole body into the small cabin. She closed the door behind her and spoke. “Three years is a long time to go without a fuck. But then you wouldn’t know that would you Killian? You didn’t go that long.”

It was the way Caitlin said the awful combination of words that sent a tingly shock through Killian, a vibration that centered somewhere just beneath her heart. “Caitlin, what are you talking about?”

The warrior was in front of Killian in an instant. She back-handed the love of her life in a rage. The blow lifted the girl off her feet and backward. She fell onto the bed. Caitlin was on top of her, pressing her heavily to the bed, holding her wrists above her. “You and that Nessa!” she spat. “I’ll show you who you belong to.”

Killian realized immediately that Caitlin was ill, somehow affected by her horrid experience. It was as if she had no container for the blazing fury that must have built up in her over three years of torture. “I belong to you Caitlin. You are all that has mattered for these years. You don’t know how I ached and prayed and fought to keep you alive when others shook their heads in pity for a pathetic lass who lost her lover.” Killian sobbed. Her cheek was swelling where Caitlin struck her.

“Not good enough!” Caitlin screamed. She lost what little hold she had on control. She tore at Killian’s clothes, slapping and yelling as she ripped the fabric. “You’ll fucking wish you never laid eyes on that Celt!” She raised up and pulled the now naked Killian to her feet, only to throw her down on the floor. The Caitlin that Killian knew was gone, pressing to the edges of sanity.

Killian lay on the floor stunned. She saw the booted foot coming in time to move her head and took the vicious kick in her right shoulder. She tried to scramble to her feet but the space was to small. Caitlin knocked her down again. She felt blood streaming down her face where it broke open when she hit the floor the first time. She nearly passed out just as the door to the cabin splintered. She saw her friend, Nessa bursting in. She saw a wrath in the Celt that matched Caitlin’s. She saw Nessa fly at her lover and then she blacked out.

____****____

Nessa was already aware of something being very wrong, even before Aria came pounding on her door. The feeling hit her gut and lifted her up from a deep sleep. She was fully dressed when she opened the door to a frantic Aria. “Ness, hurry… she’s beating Killy… I can’t get the fucking door open!” Nessa needed nothing further. She bolted passed the Lady toward Killian’s cabin.

Captain Klancy heard the ruckus and emerged from her quarters ready for action. She dropped in behind the running Celt. Thoughts jostled inside her as she moved. She noticed something about Caitlin that was not quite alright. It was the unbridled fury in the woman. It had no boundaries. Even when the battle at the compound was clearly over and the enemy was helpless to stop them, Caitlin continued to slaughter the injured. Klancy hoped at the time, that Caitlin was simply overcome by a rage that would wane. She saved a small thought that it was possibly not temporary, but lived inside the warrior, as part of her.

Nessa reached the cabin door and flew into it without pause of motion. Tossing splintered wood off her arms and head she spied Killian on the floor. The blood on the lass’s head and face was telling enough. The Celtic warrior bared her teeth and snarled with deadly menace. She sprang at Caitlin, releasing the beast she normally held in check. But it was too easy. Caitlin was not a warrior who would ever allow another to pummel her as Nessa did without raising a hand to stop it.

Caitlin left herself open to every blow the Celt threw. Nessa grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pushed her hard against the wall where a pair of hanging swords clattered with the impact. When Klancy saw that Caitlin made no move for the swords, but stood battered and silent on the edge of the room like a broken animal, she yelled at Nessa, “Stand down warrior!”

Nessa’s fist stopped in the air, her eyes ablaze with hatred. She heard the command and held still in confusion. She tore her gaze from Caitlin and pinned it on Klancy. The desire to kill Caitlin was naked on her face. Klancy spoke evenly. “It is over, friend. Stop now. We were on time.” Nessa looked back at Caitlin. Killian’s lover was clearly defeated. The Celt returned to sane reality and took a breath. She and Klancy stood on either side of Caitlin, each grasping an arm. They all looked to the floor where Aria knelt over her best friend.

The beautiful assassin wiped the blood from Killian’s face. She turned to the doorway where Kindred had gathered to witness the action. “Please take Killy to my cabin. I will be able to care for her there” she said to no one in particular. Aria stood quietly while Alison and Kit gently carried her Killian from the wrecked room.

Aria turned then and looked at the now subdued Caitlin standing between Klancy and Nessa. What she saw was a fierce warrior who had already withstood more than most of the best ever could. Caitlin had shown herself to be murderous in her revenge… she was deadly. But instead of a reasonable fear, Aria felt an icy anger. Her hands clenched and unclenched fitfully.

Aria walked steadily up to face Caitlin. “She thought you were a dream and you became her nightmare.” Aria had an edge to her voice. Suddenly she drew a leg back behind her and swung it up to power kick Caitlin in the solar plexus. Both Klancy and Nessa stood passively for this. They brought the doubled up warrior back up to her feet to catch another smashing blow from Aria’s fist. Turning on a heel and without another word, Aria left the room to care for Killian.

Klancy and Nessa escorted the beaten warrior to the brig where they left her locked in and weeping like a child. They stood together in silence for a time, watching the expanse of water from the side of the Clipper. Both of them were stunned at this turn of events. Nessa finally spoke. “What could have happened to her, Klancy?”

“I don’t know but I am sure it is because of what she has been through. We cannot expect that she would suddenly just be the same woman that Killian knew three years ago.” Klancy shook her head.

“I don’t have an idea on what to do. This baffles me” Nessa said.

Then a small, soft voice reached Nessa saying, “But it is not beyond you, Druid.” Nessa turned to see jan the fae standing almost beside her. The faery was wrapped in a cloak, held together at the neck with a clasp of fine silver. She looked as if she belonged to the mists and the magic of the ancients.

Nessa peered closely. Jan was in trance. “Tell us what you can Lady. We are here to hear you.”

Luminescent glow came off the faery there on the deck of the Clipper under the bright full moon. She spoke with a voice that seemed to come from all around them. “The warrior, Caitlin has become lost and confused from nearly constant suppression of her awareness. Her reasoning is warped at times. She has had to survive in ways you could not know.”

“What can we do then? Is she beyond any help?”

“No, Druid. There is but one way. You are a walker between worlds. You can open the veil and take her through to the land of faery. There is where the magic of our people will serve her.”

“How Lady?”

“She will forget. She will go back to who she was before the roads in her mind grew over with drug bramble and stagnation.” Jan the fae blinked. “You know the way, brave walker, but you struggle with your own jealousy. You must deal with that first.” She turned and twinkled out of sight.

____****____

Easing quietly down the ladder to the brig was painful labor to Killian’s battered body. The rungs were so far apart, she had to stretch to reach them. But she waited the whole day to come to Caitlin. Aria was a wonderful nurse and a far better friend than any Killian ever had before, but she was stubborn about allowing Killian the freedom to see the one who hurt her Killy so badly. It seemed like forever before the beautiful Lady Aria relaxed her vigilance and went to sleep. Killian had to ease out of bed, get dressed in the dark and slip out like a little thief.

The dim lantern hanging over the cell, barely gave enough light for Killian to see the figure inside. But she heard the sound of weeping. “Caitlin?” She whispered. The figure quieted and moved from the other end of the cell, coming slowly into a shaded view. Killian stepped back a little. She wasn’t sure if this was the Caitlin she knew or the one who raged so viciously on her the night before. A hand that Killian knew at one time to be loving and strong; a hand always raised for her and never against her until the night before, reached out toward her through the bars of the cell.

Killian risked the touch of that hand after a moment. Her own tiny hand rested in Caitlin’s. She allowed the warrior to pull her close enough to press slightly against the bars of the cell; close enough to look again into each other’s faces. Each was shocked at the grotesque bruises and swelling on the face of the other. Killian stood motionless but Caitlin pulled away. “Killian, what have I done?”

But Caitlin knew well that answer. She suddenly wanted the mind-numbing bader root to take her away from that agonizing truth. She felt like she was diving into some dark space where she could hide. Killian saw the change and began her own inner searching for something to soothe the unease that crept up into her.

Caitlin did not look at Killian. Her eyes were distant and shrouded, as if their focus had turned entirely inward. “Caitlin” Killian caught a sob in her throat. “Don’t leave me again!”  But the warrior was not there. Her beautiful body remained seemingly empty and slumped at the back edge of the cell. Sadness washed over Killian. She felt a loss, new and cutting. But she jumped at a sound just beside her. It was Jan the fae.

Deep, soft eyes smiled at Killian. “All is not lost, Psychic. Your warrior will return to you, after some time spent in my land. There, Caitlin will find herself again and be free of the sounds of battles and the burden of days and nights piled upon each other endlessly, without hope.” Jan could feel Killian’s unspoken doubt. “You know Nessa is a walker between the worlds. You were there together on a mission once before.”

Killian did remember. They went to return the Sacred Stone to the Mother of the Oaks. Nessa was wounded and could not move from her bed. She somehow lifted her spirit from her body and traveled with Killian to the Faery realm. Killian’s memory was clear:

Killian sat astride the big warhorse as if she was alone. But she knew she was riding with Nessa. Tuttle knew too. The Kindred who came with them rode in silence through the forest. There was something so awesome about this place. Tuttle stopped at the guarding maple that stood just outside the ring of oaks. She closed her eyes and heard the whispering tree. She didn't know she could hear trees... or maybe it was just this one. But it was as clear as any chime she ever heard. "Leave the horse and friends, child, enter alone. You and the shaman spirit are the only walkers between the worlds in this forest." Killian dismounted. She turned to Klancy as if to tell her but Klancy only nodded a silent understanding and said. "We'll be waiting here for ye lass."

Killian stepped forward into the circle of oaks. She turned once to see a rising mist hiding Klancy's form from her sight. When she turned back she took in a breath and held it. Nessa stood before her smiling. Small people... even smaller than her, were tittering all around. They looked so free and pleasant. Nessa smiled down at her. "Ye did it lass. Ye passed through the veil as if ye had been doing it all your life." A large hand reached for hers but swiped right through it. "Oh, I'm not all here." Killian could have appreciated the humor if she didn't know that Nessa's beloved body lay poisoned and near death.

Killian brightened. The magic of that land was just what they needed. She looked at Jan. “How will we get to the entrance… Nessa…” She swallowed. “Nessa hates Caitlin.”

“No Psychic. You must talk to her. She will come around by the time we reach the shore. She already knows the inner battle she must fight.”

Killian took a deep breath and flashed her eyes back to Caitlin’s rocking and vacant body. “Caitlin, my love. We are not finished… do you hear? We are not finished!” The woman who could open the veil and find the avenue to the land of the Faery. Climbed the ladder out of the brig with a new sense of purpose. She walked straight and steady to Nessa’s cabin.

____****____

Nessa opened the door to gaze down on the battered face of the woman she loved more than life. She winced at the awful swelling around Killian’s eye. Opening the door, she gave the bruised lass wide entrance into her small cabin. Killian had not spoken to her since that early morning in Persia when the Celt got rough with her and kissed her in a wild haze of desperation. Why would she want to see her now? Nessa braced herself for an onslaught of angry accusations. Instead, she watched while Killian dropped into the one chair in the room, put her hands up to cover her face, and broke into heaving sobs.

The Celt knew Killian well. She knew, for instance, that this was not a lass who cried that easily. She had been very strong through this whole thing. She had purpose and focus. Nessa guessed that now that the rescue was done and the one they rescued was not what any of them expected, that perhaps Killian suffered some anti climactic disappointment to say the least. Perhaps Nessa, too was a disappointment to the lass. Nessa had been pondering on her friendship with Killian since her last encounter with the Faery. Her own jealousy of the woman Killian always loved and whom Nessa knew Killian always loved, prevented her from being the best friend she could be to the lass.

Killian quieted after a few minutes. Nessa moved to her side with a handkerchief and held it down to the lass. Killian took the linen and looked up at the Celt. Nessa was held unmoving, by those grieving dark eyes. The lass said “I know you hate me now Nessa, but I need to ask one last thing of you.” Nessa was stricken mute. Killian continued. “I am sure you won’t want to help me now but I appeal to the shaman… the spiritual healer in you. Caitlin would never hurt me like this, Nessa. She was so twisted and broken by what those beasts did to her, she didn’t even know what she was doing.”

Killian heard herself and realized that she was saying something that many women who are beaten by the ones who claim to love them say. It sounded like she was attempting to excuse Caitlin’s behavior. She did, in fact, feel desperate. She rose from the chair looking into Nessa’s grey eyes. “I suppose you want nothing to do with either of us now. But I want you to know that when Caitlin saw me this morning, her mind collapsed. She is sitting in that brig, rocking back and forth and staring into nothing like a lunatic. Please think about helping me… us. If you don’t, I will go by myself to the Mother of the Oaks. But I love you and I need you and your help.”

Killian gifted the Celt with a smile of melancholy warmth and turned for the door. Nessa forced her stunned mind into motion. “Wait now, lass… I’ll not have ye going into that forest without me. I know how you love Caitlin and I know you couldn’t love her if she commonly abused you. She lived through more than either of us could know, I am not surprised that she lost herself. Of course I’ll help ye, lass. Did you say you love me?” Nessa stepped close. “Is that what I heard, Killian? You don’t hate me for hurting ye back there in Persia?”

It was Killian’s turn to be surprised. “Hate you? Nessa, no. I have to have you in my life. You are my best friend. That won’t change… don’t you know that?”

Nessa swallowed back the tears that threatened to expose her softness. She reached for Killian and pulled the sweet sore body to her. They stood wrapped together in a union of friendship built over time and love. Each of them felt the solid love between them. Finally, Nessa pulled away and said, “You best go prepare for the journey back up the mountain, lass. We’ll be pulling into port soon and Caitlin will have to be in the land of the fae before the next sunset.” She felt like her broken heart was pumping again. She understood that she couldn’t bear to lose her friend under any circumstances. She was determined to behave herself… for Killian.

Within a few days, the Clitoris Clipper pulled into port. The Kindred crew stepped to the shore of their beloved homeland. The feeling was bittersweet. They left to rescue the legendary Caitlin and even though successful, the Caitlin they brought back was less than a legendary figure, slumping and subdued in blank silence. The journey was yet to be over. On the road to the Lodge, Klancy and Nessa talked about the upcoming trek to the sacred forest with Jan the fae while Killian stood watch over her soul-wounded warrior and Aria stood watch over Killian.

____****____

A party of five broke off from the Kindred who were on the trail to the Lodge. The journey was all but over for most of the travelers. They would be home before dark, each savoring a well cooked meal and a longed for bed. The five who headed for the forest had no idea when they would be home. For them, a new mission had formulated with the realization that Caitlin still needed saving on a level where no sword could do the job.

Nessa knew she had to be the one to ask favor from the Mother of the Oaks. As Druid and as Walker Between the Worlds, it was she alone who could bring any outsider through the veil. Jan, of course, was the only member of the party who could stay in the realm of the Faery for any period of time. She would watch out for Caitlin while the realm forces dealt with the warrior’s near broken mind. She would know when Caitlin was ready to return to her own world. Killian would not stay behind for any reason and Aria would not leave Killian.

Aria was still furious that Killian attempted to sneak away from her to visit the brig and the one who beat her. She was standing outside the brig when Killian emerged. The scolding Aria gave was tempered by understanding the depth of love Killian had for this insane warrior. She would not allow such an event to happen again. She had a dagger and knew just how to slice a jugular from ten feet away. She was well acquainted with danger. She spent much of her time teasing and taunting it, and more of that time… being it.

Killian rode beside Aria, watching the broad shoulders of her warrior sway with the motion of her mount. There was an unfamiliar slump in those shoulders. She prayed to Artemis that this venture into the mystic was the remedy to restore her lost warrior’s being. She longed to look upon a whole Caitlin once more.

The psychic force that ruled much of who Killian was, kept her well informed of what was happening in the hearts and minds of her friends. She knew that Aria had no faith in this attempt at curing Caitlin of the soul malady that rendered her murderous. Aria would kill Caitlin the instant she showed one sign of aggression. Killian also understood that Nessa was doing this for her and that while the Celt was a Druid, she was also a warrior in love. Caitlin’s restoration would mean loss of all hope for a lover relationship between Nessa and Killian. She thought that she and Jan were the only ones who really had belief in what they were doing.

Nessa held Jan on the saddle in front of her. The Celt tried to disregard the warmth and softness of the faery in this closeness. The fae had a lavender scent to her hair, a favorite of Nessa’s. The Halfling turned as far as she could to look in Nessa’s eyes. She was as aware of the heat between them but thought this might be something to pursue at another time. “And may I ask milord, have you handled the feelings of hatred you have for Caitlin?” The question felt like it dropped from the sky.

“Uh… well, I never did really hate… I mean…” Nessa was unprepared… something she disliked to be at any time. She looked sternly at the sweetling and said, “I’ll thank you to keep your judgments to yourself lass. Anyway, it is… was jealousy, not hatred.”

“But it is not a judgment. It is a point of great importance.”

“ What difference does it make? We are going to the other side and Caitlin will get her healing.” Nessa looked up and away from the lass.

“The difference it will make is in you and how you will be with everyone who loves you from now on. You will always be bitter and anger will shadow every encounter.” Jan sensed that this was the last she would say on the subject, at least for now. She felt Nessa’s hand wrapping around her chin and forcing her to turn back around to face forward. The Celt leaned down and whispered hotly in her ear. “If you want anger to shadow my next encounter with you little Faery, you’ll keep up this line of talk.” Jan held her tongue as any wise young faery would do.

The small girl leaned back into the Dark Butch's embrace, and sighed quietly. If her sensitive Lord had the need to express anger, or frustration, she would offer herself again and again. Painful as it might be physically, it would be easier to handle than witnessing her beloved Druid's turmoil and anguish.

Whether the Warrior would accept her form of support was another matter all together. The faery kept her tongue still, but her mind and emotions raced, she had to consciously force a relaxed posture and fight the trembling that seemed a natural state for her whenever Lord Nessa's attention was focused on her.

Although Nessa wasn't pleased with her line of questioning, jan hoped the Druid realized that anything she'd said was understood as concern ... Not judgment, and some things had to be addressed whether the big Celt liked it or not.

It wasn't only Caitlin's state of mind...state of being, that mattered now.

The faery glanced at Killian, she smiled tenderly. She could feel Killy's fear that Aria and Nessa might not accept Caitlin even after Her recovery. She wanted to talk to her worried friend, to reassure the strong and gentle woman that it would all work out for the best...

As they approached the entrance to her world, she could only nod to Killy, and pray silently for all of these precious souls that she held so dear in her heart.

"Their devotion to one another is so strong, let that be the common thread to heal them all from the suffering that has been inflicted upon them through their lives in this world. Blessed Be."

~~~~~~

The Kindred group entered the forest and wound around thick clusters of brambles and narrow passageways. At last, the party arrived at the Guardian Maple. Killian heard the rustling whisper. “Who wishes to pass child?”

“We are a party in need of council, Guardian. May we enter between the worlds for audience with the Mother?” Killian spoke back through an avenue of her mind.

“You are the seer who brought us our Sacred Stone. The walker is with you. You may pass.”

Killian opened her eyes to see Aria watching her intently. She blinked and said softly, “We are welcome.” With that, she swung down from her mare and told Caitlin to dismount. The warrior did so as if she were a three-year old following her mother’s direction. Killian took the hand of her warrior and held up her other hand when Aria stiffened. She turned and lead the troop of Kindred to the center of the Circle of Oaks.

____****____

The five women stood motionless before the large oak. Nessa drew in a breath. She gazed deliberately from woman to woman. Gray eyes stopped and held on Caitlin. Nessa thought of the statue of Cassandra, the mad oracle of Troy. That statue had the same vacant stare as this warrior. The Celt didn’t want to let on, but Jan’s question rattled her. The Faery’s words burned and yet healed her as if cauterizing her inner wounds. It still hurt but Nessa could see now that Caitlin was innocent. Now, here in this sacred place she could not continue the malice.

Raising her strong arms slowly, the Druid lifted the veil between the world of humans and the realm of Faery. All five women stood still while light and shadow changed ever so slightly around them. Then they saw small figures emerging from around the large trunk of the giant oak tree. Several of the Faeries recognized Jan and surrounded her with a chatter that seemed like confused gibberish to all but Jan and Nessa the Druid.

Suddenly the air seemed to ripple bringing a wave of sheer power flooding over them all. Nessa jerked to attention when the Mother of the Oaks took shape within the trunk of the tree before them. Aria blinked as if that might erase the vision but the Mother remained in sight. The Faeries fawning over Jan were quiet now. The spirit in the tree spoke. “What favor do you ask Druid?” The voice entered the human hearts as rapture.

Nessa turned and curled a hand around Caitlin’s wrist and led her forward. “We have returned from a long journey from across the sea. We rescued this warrior from the grip of slavery, but her internment there was long and her experience has sickened her mind.”

Again the voice of the spirit chimed. “Why this warrior?”

Killian stepped forward and dropped down on a knee, bowing her head. “Please Mother, this warrior is kindred and holds my heart.”

A smile came to the beautiful face in the tree. It had a life of it’s own. It rang through each of the visitors as a soothing balm. Then to Killian, “You are the psychic who returned our sacred stone to us. I believe we must honor your request child. Your warrior may stay.” Killian leaped to her feet in joy. “Thank you sacred One” she squeaked.

“You are welcome child. But you cannot stay. The effects that will cure the malady of your warrior will not serve you. Who will mentor this warrior?”

“I will” All eyes turned to Jan. She was clearly not the twinkling, blinking little sprite she sometimes appeared to be. She was regal here in her own realm. She had station and was not taken lightly. Jan was the only one of them that could possibly stay here for any length of time without losing track of who she was or where she came from. She looked at Nessa and nodded.

The Druid warrior bowed low toward the tree and inhaled another blissful smile from the Mother of the Oaks before she dissolved back into solid tree trunk. Then Nessa took Killian’s hand in one of her own and Aria’s hand in the other and led them through the veil to wait on the other side.

Aria was glad to see her friend so happy. But she still had little faith that this trip through faery land would cure the brute inside the warrior. It would take more than that for the assassin to believe or forgive. She flashed a look at Nessa. The big Celt looked defeated somehow. She was always the star of the show for Killian. Aria wondered how well the proud lord would handle the smaller place in Killian’s heart.

The three crossed through the veil and stood quietly wrapped in their own thoughts for no more than ten minutes when they turned to see Jan the Fae. Jan was not alone. There beside her stood the beautiful and magnificent Caitlin. Eyes were deep blue and bright. Her manner was confident. Her shoulders lost that slump. She was looking at Killian with expression that came straight from her heart.

Killian’s own breath caught in her throat. She flew into her warrior’s waiting arms. They held each other for a long time before they could stand apart. Finally Caitlin drew away and looked solidly into Nessa’s grey eyes. She felt only gratitude for this warrior who loved her Killian enough to help them find each other again. “Thank you” she whispered. She held out a hand slowly and waited for Nessa to grasp her arm in warrior salute. The Celt was stunned at the difference in this Caitlin. She looked down at Killian’s beautiful eyes and knew how she must respond. Nessa put her hand out and the two grasped each other’s arms in friendship.

Killian’s heart soared while Aria’s heart sank. She had been fooled too many times by bright smiles covering a dark heart. She would not be so fast in her acceptance of this charming warrior.

____****____

Darkness came down on the small band of Kindred before they could get out of the forest. They decided to make camp and start out for the Lodge at early light. Killian supposed that she and Caitlin could wait for their first night of real lovemaking when they were in her room and had time alone. Aria could not have felt better. She wanted a little more time to study this warrior before she allowed Killian to give herself over for the gods knew what kind of treatment.

After the fire was blazing nicely and the horses were fed, the group sat on logs eating dried venison and biscuits, watching each other in awkward silence. After all they had come through, it seemed there was nothing to say. Jan knew that Nessa could as easily bolt into the dark forest as sit here in discomfort while Killian leaned into Caitlin all night. She also felt the crackling distrust from Lady Aria. Finally, Caitlin broke the silence. She looked around at the faces of the women and said, “How did you know to be outside the veil? I mean how did you know when I would be coming through?”

Aria’s brow lifted. “How do we know you’re not as crazy now as you were before you went in there?” she shot the question. “How could ten minutes possibly undo the damage of three years of torture?”

“Ten minutes?” Caitlin smiled. “Surely you are joking Lady. I have been living with the Faery folk for at least a year… I think” She looked over at Jan and then back at the astonished Aria.

“Now I know your brain is loose.”

Aria started to stand, reaching for the dagger in her boot as she moved. Nessa saw and grabbed the assassin’s arm pulling her back down to sit. “Wait, Aria! The time behind the veil is very different than it is here. Caitlin speaks the truth as she knows it.”

“Ness, you are as gone as she is… “ Aria started but heard the faery shout before she could finish. “No my Lady! Nessa speaks the truth. I was with Cat-leen throughout her time in my realm. She has undergone an erasure of much of her memory of the past three years and therefore reversed the damage to her reason. She has no rage.”

Aria sat still and peered into Caitlin’s incredibly sculptured face. Indeed, she wore a peace there. “Alright warrior, tell us what happened in that year you spent with the faery folk.”

Caitlin smiled fondly at the Gaelic pronunciation of her name. She looked into the fire and began. “ I remember waking up while walking with some of the little people. Jan was there. I asked her where we were and when she told me, I didn’t want to believe it. I fought hard against thinking that I could ever hurt Killian. I went into self hatred for a time, brooding and ignoring the people who brought me food and drink. Jan never went far from my side. It seemed that days ran into each other as I rested. I felt lighter and lighter as time passed. All I could think of was Killian asleep back at our camp. I knew she would be waiting for nuts and berries.”

“Then, Jan told me that I must pass through a series of exercises so that I could be ready for seeing Killian again. I did not know why I couldn’t just go get her and bring her to where I was but I believed the faeries and trusted them. I never even questioned.” Caitlin looked wistfully into the fire, it’s light flickering and dancing on her face.

“What exercises Caitlin?” Nessa asked.

“I was to find and kill three dragons. The first was the dragon of hate. I tracked it and found it in a cave. It roared so loudly I could not bear to go into that cave at first. But other things were enticing me. There was treasure and fine clothes, but when that didn’t work to tempt me, a vision of Killian appeared. I ran toward it right into the lair of the dragon of hate. The precious vision of my love disappeared along with the treasure. They were replaced by a stench of rot so unbelievable, I was nearly sick. This dragon had every intention of consuming me. I gathered all my strength and willed my self to throw my sword clean between the eyes of the fearsome thing.”

Aria stiffened, thinking she already had a few bouts with that particular dragon. She said nothing but waited for Caitlin to continue. Nessa listened with the ears of the shaman. She smiled with understanding and appreciation for the “exercises.” Looking up, her gray eyes caught the sparkling beauty of Jan who stayed quiet and allowed Caitlin the telling of the tale.

Caitlin swallowed water from a wineskin and continued. “I wandered for months searching for the second dragon, known as the dragon of rage. Finally as I was climbing a craggy Cliffside, I lifted myself over a ledge right into a dragons nest. It was the nest of the one I searched for. It was large and strewn with small tree limbs. In the middle was a cluster of giant eggs. No sooner did I recognize where I was when a large shadow covered the nest. I looked up to see a dragon spewing fire into the air and looking down on me with fury. Immediately I ran to the eggs before that tongue of fire could reach me. I ran behind the biggest of them. I knew that no matter how mad this dragon mother was, she would not choose to cook her own babies.

She circled and circled but she could neither strike nor spew her flame. She perched on the edge of the nest at last and went to sleep. With all my strength I rolled one of those eggs to the edge of the nest while she slept. I drew my sword and leaped high on the back of the dragon of rage. With one swoop of my sword I severed one webbed wing. She awoke screaming her fury. I jumped down and gave a powerful kick to that egg and watched it topple from the nest. The mother dragon panicked and dove to save her young. But alas, she could not fly with one wing and plunged clumsily to her death on the rocks below. At last, I succeeded in slaying the dragon of rage.”

Killian was amazed at the tale. She smiled appreciatively and asked for the story of the third dragon. “Which dragon was the last one to kill, Caitlin?”

The warrior smiled down at her own beautiful lass and said. “Twas the dragon of jealousy, my love.” She looked up at Nessa now and continued. “ I made it back to the plains where I knew the dragon of jealousy lived. I walked for many weeks until I finally came upon a small mountain of things… all kinds of things. There was furniture and clothing. There were wagons and weapons. There were jeweled cups and plates. I believed this to be the hoarding place of the dragon I wanted. I found a rather large mirror in the pile of loot. After securing it to the top of the pile, I waited for the return of the dragon. Not long after this, the dragon appeared. She had more loot for her useless pile. I hid behind a large rock and watched. The instant she came up to the pile, she saw her own image in the mirror. Thinking that this was another dragon attempting to claim what was hers, she flew into a blind fury of jealousy and began a thrashing of all she could see. I took the opportunity to place a quiver in my crossbow. I aimed for her heart and my aim was true. Thus was the end of my exercises and the end of rage hatred and jealousy in my own heart.”

The Lady Aria was still not convinced but she didn’t feel like killing Caitlin for now. For now, she would turn in and get back to the Lodge in the morning. Nessa went for her bedroll as well, leaving Jan and the lovers to wait out the night. Jan blew a kiss to Caitlin and Killian and turned into the forest to do some thinking.

The two lovers held each other, rocking and petting and whispering intimacies that only they could know. Caitlin was home.

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The End - Caitlin,  by Killian and Nessa

Nessa's Main Celt & Kin Page