Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

T he rest of the week went on exactly in the same way. They slept in the morning after having a light breakfast, woke up at mid-day and made love, then slept again until sunset. As sunset they dined with Maggie and Darter and then Hamish patrolled as Maggie, Mary and Darter worked on controlling her powers.

"We haven't much more time to get you prepared. You've done well, but you are still not accessing your strongest power."

Mary nodded. "I know, I just can't seem to reach it," she said in frustration.

"You aren't using the right emotions," Darter put in.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked.

"You're using anger and frustration, but those aren't your strongest emotions."

Maggie toddled over to him and patted his head. "You could be right, lad. Try this, Mary. Focus on what makes you the happiest. Once you can feel the energy begin to build, keep that focus, make it as strong as you can. Then aim your hands at what you want to unleash that power on, for now, release it at the dummy."

Mary did as she was told and thought of a happy thought. The first thing that came to mind was being with Hamish. He was her bliss. She'd never felt so happy, so desired in her life. She focused her mind on him. On how he made her feel and felt the energy inside her build. It was unlike any other kind of energy she'd felt inside her before. It was stronger, fuller, and it didn't make her agitated.

She raised her hands and narrowed her eyes at the wooden dummy. Taking a breath, she unleased that energy in a blast that sent the wooden dummy flying and splintering into pieces.

"I did it!" she exclaimed. "Did you see that?"

“You are doing very well, lass. Keep it up.” Maggie said with glee.

“That felt, amazing, better than any of the other things we've tried.”

"Aye, we just needed to find the right focus for you. Now that you know what each of your emotions are capable of doing, you need to hone them. Let's begin again." Maggie waved her hand at the shattered wooden dummy and it reassembled. A moment later, there were a half dozen wooden dummies set up around the garden. "Let's see if you can switch between the emotions."

The training grew more exhausting and fierce but it wasn't a bad thing to think of happy thoughts especially when those thoughts were about the incredibly attractive Scottish man. The more difficult was the anger and frustration, but she finally touched on the right focus for that, being stuck in goblin form and then she had a handle on using those as well. She blasted dummy after dummy.

Near sunrise, after having eaten her fill of left over stew, Mary crawled back into the tent and fell asleep. Hamish only woke her slightly as he laid down next to her and wrapped her in his arms.

There was no sleep like having him hold her. Mary wanted nothing more than to have Hamish wrap his arms around her every time they were in bed together. She knew how special he was. She knew that he was a match for her and wanted to get to the point where they could simply be together for always. It was everything she wanted.

When they woke a little after midday, they headed out of the tent to join Maggie and Darter for lunch.

They all sat outside together including Maggie and Darter on long tables eating the bounty that Maggie had made. It was wild game that the Laird had delivered and some vegetables from Maggie's garden.

As they ate, Mary watched Hamish. He looked relaxed and comfortable and she felt her heat swell with feelings for him. She was falling hard for Hamish. She was scared to tell him but it was also hard to restrain herself from speaking the truth. She didn't know if Nellie would end up taking her life and she didn't want to go without him knowing her true feelings.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying conversation and laughing. Mary felt close with Maggie and Darter after all these days with them. She thought of Darter as a little brother and hoped that she'd get to spend more time with him in the future if they could defeat Nellie.

Of course, everything hinged on that. If they could beat Nellie Sharpfingers. It was a sobering thought. So much was riding on her being able to defeat the goblin sorceress with her own powers used against her. The spell breaking, her life, her love, her friendships. Everything and everyone was depending on her. She had to be stronger, faster, and better than Nellie.

"What's the matter, love?" Hamish asked as they headed back toward their tent. "You seem upset."

"I'm not upset exactly, it's just everything is depending on me and I want this to work more than anything, Hamish. I want to defeat her."

Hamish pulled her into his arms. "You have been training all week and you've mastered these powers better than anyone expected. You can do this, Mary. I have faith in you."

"Hamish, Mary, wait a moment." Maggie made her way over to them. "I think it might be best for you to take the night off. You've worked hard and you need to rest your mind now. It will help you to focus better when the time to fight the sorceress comes."

Mary looked to Hamish to see if he agreed.

"You make a good point, Maggie. I think you're right." He turned to Mary. "You should rest this night."

"If you both think so, then I won't argue. This week has been rather exhausting."

"You've held up well, lass." Hamish kissed her forehead. "I'm going to begin my patrols, so you'll have the tent to relax in."

Maggie handed her a flask. "In case you need something to help you fall asleep."

"What is it?"

"Whisky." Maggie grinned.

As she lay in the tent later, she realized that Maggie and Hamish had been right. She needed to recharge her batteries with a good rest and not think so much about the work that needed to be done to fight Nellie.

The next day after the sun rose, Hamish crawled into the tent waking Mary. Mary snuggled into his chest and whispered, “I have to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"I'm afraid I might not make it through this fight with Nellie.”

“Do not say such things, lass,” he murmured.

“Please let me finish, I have a reason for it. I have to tell you. I don't want to lose this moment. I love you, Hamish. I've been falling in love with you since we met. I think I actually fell for you the moment I saw you. Even if you were holding me at crossbow point,” she said with a grin, remembering their first meeting.

"I will not forgive myself for that moment, I should have known immediately and I'll spend my life making that up to you, lass. I love you too. I've wanted to tell you for some time now, but I feared you wouldn't wish to hear it with everything that is going on. I love you no matter what form you're in. It doesn't matter to me. I want to be with you always."

“Truly?” Mary said.

“Aye, truly, madly, deeply, I am in love with you You are the one I want at my side always. Marry me, Mary."

Mary sat up abruptly, shocked by his words.

“You wish to marry me?"

“Aye, I do. Very much."

Mary threw her arms around his neck and answered, "I absolutely want to marry you Hamish. I do, but…"

"But what?" He looked at her in confusion.

"But I want this curse on me lifted first."

He nodded. "I want that for us as well."

"So you don't mind waiting until then?"

"No, love. I would wait for you for a hundred years if I needed to."

Mary giggled. "I suppose seeing as I was sent from about four hundred years in the future back to be with you, you might have had to wait longer if the Fae hadn't intervened!"

"And I am grateful every day for them." He smiled.

Mary leaned forward and kissed him. She was more focused now than ever on getting the curse lifted. She would defeat this goblin, get her body back fully and marry Hamish. She would.

That night, after the sunset, Mary headed for the cottage. Hamish was already there and she'd missed waking up in his arms. She stepped inside the cottage to find that it wasn't just Maggie, Darter and Hamish waiting for her, but the coven of witches had returned.

"Isla, it is so good to see you," Mary greeted in her gravelly voice. “We heard you needed some help and learning to fight the goblin sorceress,” Isla said with a smile.

“You have all come to help me again? That is so kind of you,” Mary replied.

“Aye, Maggie asked us to come and it's important that we do all we can to protect these lands from the goblin sorceress. You might be our only hope in fighting her with your powers since it is like hers. We are happy to help you use it,” another of the witches said.

Mary was moved by them giving of their time and energy. They had already helped her once before and now they had returned in order to help her again. She had faith that with their help she could accomplish everything she set her mind to.

“Thank you all so much. I don't know what to say. I have so much gratitude for you coming here to help. I'll do all I can to learn from you. I'll do everything I can to defeat the sorceress if it comes to that. Thank you so much.” It was all that Mary could say because she was having a hard time putting it into words.

Together the group of women and Mary walked out to the garden where they were far away from everything. Each woman had her own specialty that Mary was able to learn from. She practiced with each of them. One was good at levitating objects, the other was good at concentrating power toward healing, one was able to guide bursts of energy and another could shapeshift. It was exactly what Mary needed and Maggie helped guide along the way.

It was all about using her emotions and focusing in on them and transferring that to the power. She even managed to shapeshift a few times into small creatures. So far she'd managed a mouse, a cat, and a small sparrow. It was the best night yet and she mastered many skills. Perhaps she wasn't as good as Nellie but she prayed it would be enough to defeat her.