Wherever she was, it was cold and wet, with the sound of dripping water nearby and a sighing noise a little farther off. The sea?
With a groan she struggled into a sitting position. “Lir?”
Still no answer.
“Excellent,” she muttered. “Just absolutely wonderful.”
She needed light. Taking a deep breath, she sent her awareness spiraling deep inside herself and called forth her spellweaving magic. As always, it burst upon her in an explosion of force that tore a gasp from her throat. She gritted her teeth and fought it into submission. When she had it under control, she wove it into a spell she knew well and a globe of light appeared, bobbing just over her left shoulder.
It was enough to illuminate her surroundings, and as she took in where she was, she let forth a string of colorful curses. It was a cave. A dank, wet, dark cave with a rock pool in the center from which she had emerged.
There was no sign of Lir.
Elise growled deep in her throat. So, Lir had dumped her here and then done a runner. Fabulous.
“Lir!” she yelled, her voice bouncing off the dripping stone walls. “Where the bloody hell are you? This isnotfunny! If you don’t come back right now, I’m going straight back into that pool and straight home! Are you listening? I’m not kidding!”
She had agreed to come back in time to help Jamie Donald and the people of Islay face some threat that only a spellweaver could face. Fine. She hadnotagreed to be dumped alone in a cave with no clue where she was or how to get out! She should have followed her first instinct and told Lir exactly where she could shove her request.
Climbing to her feet, she strode to the rock pool and stood on the lip. In the illumination from her light globe, she could see that the pool was deep. Very deep. If she jumped back in, would she be able to make the magic work to take her home? She didn’t know but she was damned well going to try.
“I mean it!” she yelled to the empty air. “I’m not here to play games, Lir! Either you get back here and explain what the hellyou think you’re playing at or I’m going home right now! What will it be?”
Her words echoed back to her before fading into silence.
“Right. Fine. Have it your way!”
She balanced on the pool’s edge and took a deep breath, readying herself to jump. But then she heard a sound coming from the opposite side of the cave.
She turned in that direction. In the light from her globe, she saw an opening on that side, one she hadn’t noticed before. A tunnel! And coming along that tunnel was the sound of footsteps.
Finally! About bloody time!
“Where have you been?” she demanded, striding towards the tunnel entrance. “I thought you’d abandoned me. I—”
Her words trailed off as a figure stepped into the cave. But it wasn’t Lir.
It was a man.
Recognition sent a shock right through her. Wavy white-blond hair that hung to his shoulders. Green eyes like sea glass. And a scowl that could crack dinner plates.
An instant later, the scowl turned into an expression of shock and the man’s mouth dropped open.
“Elise MacFinnan!” he exclaimed at the exact same moment she blurted, “Jamie Donald!”
Then in unison, their voices mingling in the echoing cave, they both demanded at the same time, “What are you doing here?”
*
Jamie couldn’t havebeen more shocked if he’d walked into this cave and found a trio of Irish leprechauns doing a jig. What hehadfound was a wet, bedraggled Elise MacFinnan staring at him as though she was just as shocked as he.
Was he dreaming? Had he fallen and whacked his head? When Lir had sent him here to find someone who could aid them against the pirates, he’d expected to find a warrior, not a woman from the future who had been haunting his dreams.
“What amIdoing here?” Elise said incredulously. “What areyoudoing here? I have to admit, Ididexpect a slightly warmer welcome.” A smile curled her full lips. “You look like you’ve sat on a spike.”
Jamie blinked, opening and closing his mouth a few times, trying to work up enough saliva to speak. “I…I…” It was all he could manage.
Elise raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing from your landed fish expression, that you weren’t expecting me?”
