Tal slammed his hammer onto the red hot metal against the forge again. And again. And again, making the small forge shack ring with the force of his blows. He looked at the ruined axe head he'd ostensibly been making, grit his teeth, as slammed his hammer into it again.

Boann said the baby could come anytime now, though she wasn't due for another half moon.

And what had Tal accomplished in freeing his wife from the bondage she suffered? Nothing. A full moon cycle and half of another had passed with Deirdre stranded up there in the broch away from watching Uen play with his cousins. She loved that, and separating her from it was breaking his heart. He wasn't going to stand idly by anymore and trust the very presence of his wife by his side to others.

No, Tal was going to take action.

After throwing down his hammer and quickly banking the fire, he slammed the forge room door shut on his way out, walking to fighter practice and storming up to the first man he saw who had gauntlets.

“Clyde," he said, pointing, "let me borrow those."

Clyde looked about uncertainly for only a moment before removing the gauntlets and handing them over.

"May Fortune favor you, Tal."

Giving Clyde only a grunt of thanks, Talorac stormed over toward the broch.

Word had gotten around with the reason for Deirdre's confinement, and everyone who crossed his path gave him a sympathetic look and a sad smile.

"May Fortune smile on you."

"For the land’s sake, I wish you success, Tal."

Jaelle's smile of sympathy nearly tore him apart.

"Be careful, Tal. Here..." she dug around in a pile of things near her feet and came up with the sack they used to carry the children's practice swords, which were currently out and in use. "Just grab the sword by the leather cord and drop it into the sack. Perhaps that will save your life."

Tal took the sack from her with a grateful look just as Uen crashed into his legs and hugged him tight.

"When can Mama come out? I learned so many new things and I want to show her."

Tal held Jaelle's gaze as he spoke to his son.

"If she hasn't come down by tomorrow, then you can go up and show her up there, even though it is a bedroom and not meant for playing."

Jaelle nodded with a sad look on her face that broke through the smile of reassurance she tried to give him.

And then he was at the broch door, through the entryway, and up the spiral staircase to the kitchen door. Hoping she was asleep and fearing she would be sitting in the kitchen drinking tea, fully aware of what he was trying to do, he pulled on the gauntlets. They fit. He wasn't sure what he would have done if they hadn't.

He opened the kitchen door.

Sure enough, Deirdre was sitting there sipping tea, hand on her belly and fighting her discomfort to smile up at him in greeting.

And then she saw the gauntlets on his hands, and her face contorted in worry as she tried to get up. But she was having a terrible time of it. Her huge pregnant belly got caught under the table, and it also made it difficult for her to scoot her chair back.

"No, Tal. No, he'll kill you. I can bear being away from you, but I can't bear the thought of you dying so futilely. Please don't try it, Tal. Please, for me."

Not hesitating for even a second to go over and kiss her goodbye in case this was the end, Tal resolutely headed toward their bedroom.

"I do this because I love you, because I cannot bear the thought of not having done everything I could to secure your freedom so that you could stay with me."

Holding the sack out in front of him, he burst into the bedroom, stormed over to where the sword hung from its peg, and reached out toward the sword with his gauntleted hand.

* * *

Deirdre beat on the table with her hand, and then inspiration struck. She pushed up on the table until it fell over in front of her, freeing her pregnant belly from underneath. Standing up took her a full minute, rocking first one way and then the other toward the edge of her seat before she could fall out of it onto her feet. Holding her back so that the pain didn't make her cry out and distract Tal, she waddled over to the bedroom door.

What she saw there made her skin crawl.

Tal was rigid beside the peg on the wall, his gauntleted hand around the leather strap Galdus hung from.

She cried out and rushed across the room in her waddling way, horrified at how much time it was taking her.

Tal wasn't even breathing. Was he…

She reached out for Tal’s consciousness in her mind, but just like all the other times she had done so over the past few months, her reach was blocked.

She didn't dare reach for Galdus's mind. He would surely take over.

So all she could do was reach for the sword itself, the idea being first to try and yank away from Tal’s grasp and free him from his paralysis.

As soon as she touched the sword, Galdus was in her mind. Why hadn't she thought to grab some of the bedding to put between her skin and the metal?

Galdus’s chuckle was more evil than ever.

"What wull it be, Deirdre? My continuing companionship, or the end o yer husband's life? Ye must decide now."

Tal convulsed the way she had heard people did when they had been hit by lightning.

Tears streamed down her face.

"Let him live, Galdus. Let him live. Of course I choose to let him live!"

Tal let go of the sword’s strap, leaving the sword in her hand.

Pausing only to look down to make sure Tal was indeed breathing — which he was — she left the bedroom, left the kitchen, and ran down the spiral steps before giving her plan time to form concretely in her mind, where Galdus could read it. Smiling at everyone as she passed through the bottom floor of the broch, she went outside and headed toward the forge shed.

She knew the fire was hot because she had heard Tal’s hammer ringing off the anvil all afternoon. Her resolve almost failed when she heard Uen running toward her.

"Mama! Mama! I want to show you something, Mama!"

Deirdre closed her eyes in relief when she heard Jaelle scoop him up.

"Not now, sweetie. Mom is busy. Let’s go watch the fighters."

Giving Jaelle the most grateful look she'd ever given anyone in her life, Deirdre opened the door to the forge and went in, holding Galdus out before her.