Nadia nearly fell off the gentled horse when she saw Tahra grab the halberd out of Ciaran's limp fingers. But then she saw his chest moving, and her heart beat once more. He was alive. If she could just get him up on this horse with her, she was pretty sure she could get them back to Eoin’s tree.

The Druid child stared aghast at the powerful magic weapon in her hands, probably communing with the cursed thing.

Nadia had to move now, before Tahra left this halberd-induced trance. Stealing glances at Tahra, Nadia used a small amount of leg pressure to coax the horse through the green trees of the sacred grove. She went around the broken bodies of the fallen Cameron warriors to where Ciaran lay.

Oh good. He was but knocked out. There was no blood. None of his limbs were positioned at impossible angles. She could see his chest rise and fall with his breath. Aye, he would recover. She just needed to—

Oh no.

A pleased wicked smile spread across Tahra’s face, and the druid child changed her tune. No longer singing to the faeries, Tahra now crooned to the halberd. "Och, sae many o’ ye. Aye, I ken ye are the lost souls o’ Druids imprisoned by this here halberd. Release ye? Mayhap, but first, as ye are, ye can summon the magic for me. Fortify me. Give me strength. Let me work the magic once more..."

Terrified that Tahra would wish the halberd’s magic onto her, Ciaran, or any of her fleeing friends, Nadia did the only thing she could think to do. Squeezing the horse as hard as she could with her legs, she urged him on with her voice while holding onto his mane for dear life and charged him straight at Tahra, hoping he would trample her and put an end to the druid child.

But Tahra brandished the halberd in front of her. A wicked gleam in her eye told Nadia the druid child knew full well what that evil conduit to the afterlife could do and was about to unleash that force. Nadia’s only consolation was the shock she saw on Tahra’s face when the halberd drained energy from her in order to power whatever spell now lashed out in Nadia's direction.

Nadia’s life flashed before her eyes. How had her desire to see the Highlands of Scotland come to death at the hands of a madwoman?

She saw herself studying her Gaelic so hard in school, with a mind only to come and work at the prestigious Celtic University. All the parties she had missed and heard about the next day haunted her. Likewise, the dances and the plays she hadn't attended, but had seen photos and reviews of later, so intent had she been to be chosen by Celtic, to be worthy of Celtic. Several guys had asked her on dates, and granted, she hadn't really been interested, but she now wondered if...

She might've had so much fun in her life, had she not been so intent on what she had thought would be adventure, excitement, and beauty.

Aye, the Highlands were beautiful, but they were so much more so out here in the wild than at Celtic. She could have enjoyed them without going to Celtic. She might have just come to Scotland on vacation, gotten a job anywhere else but at Celtic, and applied for a work visa so she could stay.

Why had she been so intent on the acclaimed institution that she only later found out was run by druids? What had possessed her to waste her youth on studying?

Paralysis hit her, making her fall off the horse.

She landed in the soft green grass. But although she knew nothing was injured, she had to wait there, able only to breathe and think, completely paralyzed by the halberd's magic.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ciaran crawling toward her. She wanted to cry, to cling to him and beg him not to leave her. She knew he would do as she asked, and it was so tempting. More tempting than anything else in her life had ever been.

But when he got close enough, she urged him with her eyes, "Save yerself. Flee from here. I canna move. I am done for, but ye hae a chance. Take it. Dinna let her kill us both with one swing o’ that cursed weapon!"

He didn’t budge. If anything, he drew closer to her, taking her hand in his.

She had done what she could. His love, pure and strong, was a balm to her despair. She relaxed into it, letting it soothe her last moments with the bliss of being close to him.

But then his eyes grew wide, and she looked where he was looking.

Eoin burst through the woods with Baltair and two extra horses, riding toward them.

The paralysis spell had drained the druid child, but she was still fierce with a weapon. She ran toward Nadia and Ciaran.

Before Tahra got close enough to attack, Eoin took Baltair’s hand, leaned down and grabbed Ciaran’s other hand, closed his eyes, and concentrated.