I sweep my arm in front of myself, letting power rip, and the dogs are swept aside. Alesoun looks over in relief.
“Take the children up the hill,” I say. “Run. Get them away.”
She nods and disappears into the cave to gather them. Duncan and I exchange a glance. More guns fire and I have no idea if it’s friendly fire or not, but the resulting screams add to the cacophony. The MacGregor men are trying to assemble and fight back but it’s clear that, somehow, they were taken by surprise. This is a nightmare. In the center of the camp stands Chief Johnne with two men at his side. They have their swords out and are fending off wild dogs while facing down at least six men with guns and swords of their own.
Men on horses are riding down clansmen, striking them with bludgeons. The thatch roofs of the houses are ablaze, and the stands of trees are smoking too, soon to be in flames as well. As I stride through the chaos, an eerie calm comes over me.
Mists rise from the ground and swirl as I walk. A hot breeze blasts across my skin and I feel it lifting my hair. I hold my hands out to either side, palms facing the oppressors. Power pools in my palms and I draw in all the energy I can.
One of the men on horseback sees me and points. He pulls a longsword and charges. I let him get close, then raise my hand and punch with a closed fist. He flies off the horse backwards and slams hard to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth.
The eyes of the first man I killed drift behind my thoughts, but the dark whispers rejoice at this one’s death. I’m going to kill them all. One after another until there are none of them left. I don’t break my stride, closing with the next. I make the same move again, but before I can finish the punching motion my fist slams into an invisible barrier.
“That is not very nice,” Lord Nicholas says, riding up on a black charger that is so massive I can’t believe it’s a normal horse.
“You,” I growl.
Power surges and I focus it down into a single ball that I throw at him like a baseball. It crackles through the air, red and purple lightning arcing at it races towards him. He smiles, tilts his head to one side, then with speed so fast it’s hardly more than a blur he pulls a sword and slices through the magic.
The ball lightning splits and passes harmlessly to either side of him. I scream in rage, echoing the cries of pain and despair that are all around me. I throw ball after ball of pure magical energy at him like I’m a pitching machine. Blam, blam, blam. He deflects most of them but two make it past his defense. The first burns his silk blouse and the second draws blood as it slices across his face.
He touches the cut with two fingers then holds them up in front of his face, staring at his blood, then he looks at me and smiles.
“Nice,” he says. “My turn.”
He thrusts his arm forward and clenches his fist. My arms are pinned to my side, my legs snap together, and I can barely breathe. In my peripheral I see Duncan charge at Nicholas, his claymore held in two hands. I try to yell for him to stop, but I can’t speak.
Nicholas’s eyes barely flick in Duncan’s direction. He makes a dismissive gesture, barely a flick of his fingers, and Duncan lifts off the ground and flies backwards. Nicholas smirks, his attention returning to be all on me.
“I’m going to kill you,” I growl.
“You’ll try,” he says, sounding bored. “It’s so repetitive, isn’t it? Over and over. Aren’t you tired of it?”
Three men close in. They’re carrying a heavy chain stretched across their arms. I try to blast them away with magic but for some reason it feels slippery. I can’t get a hold of it like I normally do. It’s like trying to grasp a fistful of water.
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and center myself the way the Druid taught me. When I open my eyes, Nicholas has come closer, though he’s still astride the monstrosity of a horse. The pitch-black creature nickers, baring its teeth and huffing an awful smelling breath in my face. Nicholas pats its neck and makes soothing sounds.
I squint and will a force to knock him off his horse. Something surges out of my chest, and it does hit him. He jerks back, bending almost in half, but then he rises back to his sitting position and laughs.
“Let me go.”
“Why? Why would I ever do that?”
“You can’t do this.”
“I’ve done this, Quinn. I know, I know, now is the time you want me to tell you all my dark plans. I’m supposed to go on some big exposition to make this entire story make sense. Give you some secret insight that you’ll put together with all your clues and figure out what my game is. But you know what?”
He arches an eyebrow and waits for me to answer. I try to do another blast of magic rather than answer but the three men with the chain press it to my back and the instant they do, there is no magic.
I gasp. It’s like air is suddenly gone. Sensing the magic was so natural to me that I didn’t realize how much a part of me it was until now. Until it’s not there.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Nicholas says. “Can’t have you doing untoward things. Now, where was I?” He taps a finger on his chin, looking thoughtful. “Oh, right. You know what?”
“You’re insane.”
“Perhaps, but no, that’s not the answer.”
“What’s the question?”