Highland Dawn

Dartayous gazed down at Moira. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. What she had done shouldn’t surprise him, yet it did. She had changed since finding her sisters. Changed so that she wasn’t predictable.

And that worried him.

An unpredictable Moira could get them in all sorts of trouble, never mind that they had a duty to perform that would send most men running the other way. He wondered if they would find the hidden doorway into the world of the Fae and if they would be able to free the Fae.

With another sigh he bent and lifted Moira in his arms to carry her the rest of the way to their camp when his eyes fell on the sleeping infant.

They were going to need milk.

He cursed long and hard as he gazed upon Moira and the babe. Things just became complicated, and if his instincts were true, things were going to get much worse.

Dartayous gently set Moira back on the ground before he titled his head back and let out a whistle. In less than a heartbeat, his horse whinnied in return. Dartayous heard the horse running through the woods as it searched for him. He sent another shorter whistle and soon found the horse trotting toward him.

“At least you listen, lad,” he said as he patted the great black steed. “Wish I could say the same for Moira.”

After he had adjusted the saddle he bent close to Moira and sat her up. Slowly her eyes opened.

“Come,” he urged. “You’ll ride Raven back to camp.”

“The babe,” she whispered.

“I will carry him. We have much to do. Will you be able to hold on?”

She nodded and he hastily picked her up and sat her on the black. He waited for a moment to make sure she would stay atop the horse before he went back for the infant.

Thankfully, their camp wasn’t far. Once they reached it, he laid the baby down and reached for Moira. She was asleep before he laid her beside the babe. As carefully as he could, he placed the infant in Moira’s arms.

“Watch them, Raven. Keep them safe,” he said as he walked from the camp.

By the time Dartayous returned, it was well into the afternoon and he wasn’t in a pleasant mood. It had taken more coaxing than he had been willing to do to get the milk. And as it was, it wouldn’t last them long.

He had also managed to obtain a bladder skin that had been transformed into a makeshift breast from a peasant. They hadn’t been willing to sell it because they were suspicious of why he wanted it. But he could be very persuasive when then need arose.

When he walked into their camp Moira was awake and cooing to the infant. He tried not to notice the gratitude in her eyes when she spotted the milk and bladder.

“Thank you,” she said as he handed her the filled bladder.

“I don’t understand why you are doing this.”

“Don’t you?” she asked as she placed the end of the bladder on the infant’s lips.

“Nay.” He watched as the infant tried to drink then turned his head away. “We have a dangerous mission to accomplish and you want to bring a babe along. Call me a fool, but taking an infant into the Fae world while trying to find an evil so fierce that he has imprisoned the Fae, is asking for trouble.”

For a moment, Dartayous thought Moira refused to answer him as she whispered to the infant, coaxing him to drink. Once the babe began to drink greedily she raised her Druid green eyes to him.

“I’m a score and four years old. He is the only way I will ever have a child. My greatest desire lay in front of my eyes dying. To allow him to die when I could save him would have been like tearing my heart out.”

Her words were like a spear in his chest. He understood her feelings, and for the life of him he couldn’t deny her the babe.

“I’ll take care of him,” she continued. “You won’t have to do a thing. He won’t be a hindrance. Please, don’t make me leave him.”

Dartayous stared at her. She had always been beautiful to him, though he never allowed her to know it. She was taller than most women, but he liked her height. He didn’t have to bend over to speak to her.

Her straight, flaxen hair fell to her waist begging him to feel if it was a silky as a falcon’s wing. She had a stubborn chin that she lifted any chance she got in thwarting him, which was often. Her lips were full and wide. A lover’s lips.

But it was her eyes he loved the most. They were the most unusual shade of green. Druid green Frang had called them. Her eyes held mysteries that even Dartayous couldn’t begin to understand.

From the first moment he had seen her huddled in her parent’s chamber that long ago night, he had been entranced by her. She had tugged at his heart even then, and he had known he would have to distance himself from her.

Yet, even when he had, she hadn’t completely left him. She asked him once why he didn’t allow himself to become close to people.

He hadn’t known how to tell her that he was immortal, that he was tired of watching friends grow old and die. Few knew of his immortality, and he wanted it kept that way.