He turned, dousing himself in the radiant flames, arms outstretched.
When they saw that he did not burn, several of the gathered crowd turned and fled. Others spread out and circled him.
Keavey berated those who ran.
Chloris stared at him with wide eyes.
Lennox turned on the spot and drew a circle in
the air with his fingertips. Pointing down at the ground he marked the place. The fire that surrounded him dropped to the ground, licked out across the mud track and then leaped high again in the circle he had drawn. He stood solid within the circle, staring through the flames.
As chaos erupted all around, he locked eyes with Chloris.
“Come to me,” he urged.
He nodded his head at her. “You will be safe.”
* * *
Chloris looked about, but it seemed that no one had heard him call to her, only she heard the words. They were too busy trying to breach the circle of flames that surrounded him. No matter what they did, they could not get to him. Neither muskets nor pistols nor hurled wood broke through and reached him.
Trembling, she prayed she was not dreaming this.
Forgotten by the others in the panic, Gavin had collapsed and been left on the ground near to the steps of the house. The number of people gathered there had diminished, many having fled in fear. Tamhas and others paced about as if trying to work out how to break through to Lennox.
She felt as if she truly had lost her mind, for even though she had seen his magic before, she was shocked and afraid. When he walked into the flames she thought she would never breathe again, for she thought she had lost him forever, that he had sacrificed himself to save her. Then she recalled what he’d said that afternoon, the magic he had shown her then was nothing compared to what he felt for her. When she saw the way he reigned over the fire, controlling it, she was breathless with anticipation and hope that he would be able to find a way out of this.
“It is an illusion,” Tamhas shouted, and darted over to one of the men who held a flaming torch aloft. Taking it from him, Tamhas hurled the torch in Lennox’s direction. When the torch hit the flaming circle, its own fire was extinguished and it dropped in a pile of ashes. Smoke plumed from the place where the ashes fell on the ground.
Was it an illusion? Chloris tried to make sense of it. The flames looked real enough, but they stayed in the circle he had created, wavering high like ribbons all around him. Would he be able to keep the spell going, and what would happen if he could not? They would seize him and string him up.
Lennox beckoned to her.
“Come, Chloris, you will be safe, the flames will not harm you.”
Could she do it? He had done it, but walking into the flames herself was another matter altogether, one that was far beyond her comprehension. She took a tentative step forward. He drew her to him with his gaze. The connection was so great, just as he had said, and he was leading her to him. Smoke rose all around her, and the smell of burned ground invaded her senses, frightening her.
“Come to me.”
Chloris swallowed down her doubts and her fear, and let his voice guide her.
“The woman, he summons her,” a voice cried out.
“Chloris, step away,” Tamhas shouted, and he tried to drag her back. “Don’t look at him, don’t let him bewitch you.”
Chloris shook him off.
Behind her she could hear shouts. Some issued warnings. Others called her a witch again. She was no witch, and if she was scorched to a cinder that fact would be revealed. She did not care. Even through the chaos it struck her that she was destined to be with them now, the Somerled people, and come what may it was where she wanted to be. Her legs were trembling under her and she could only take shallow breaths, but she forced herself onward.
As she grew closer, the heat from the flames convinced her it was real.
“Lennox,” she cried out, then turned sideways and shielded her face with her raised arm. As she did so, something altered. It was as if a gateway opened. She stepped through a gap in the flames and found herself inside the circle, unharmed.
Trembling with relief, she swayed unsteadily.
Lennox put out his hand. When she took it, the flames at her back shot high again, closing them in. Inside the circle he had made, the heat seemed only comforting, and she was not afraid. Lennox drew her in against him, holding her to him with one arm around her.
Another shot rang out, but it hit neither of them.