"God, that was a long day." Shane said as they stood outside their door at the end of the following day.

"Mmmmm…" Nicky said as he put the key in the lock and opened the door.

Shane entered first, and quickly felt a strange presence in the room. It was bright, as if the sun was shining in, but it was raining inside.

Nicky came up behind him and closed the door. He put a hand on Shane’s shoulder, "It’s all right Shay."

Slowly, a woman appeared before them. Shane held his breath, if he’d ever been sceptical about this whole thing he’d believe anything after seeing a beautiful woman come out of thin air.

And, he had to admit she was beautiful. She was wearing a light dress that was a colour he would never be able to describe, and her long golden hair had flowers spread throughout it. Her face was small and proportional, her eyes the most intense green colour. Shane thought that if earthly women looked like that he probably would go for women rather than men!

Nicky slowly moved from Shane’s side and went up to her.

"My Lady," Nicky whispered as he took her offered hand and kissed it.

"Nicholas." She smiled as she acknowledged him, seemingly a woman of few words.

Nicky motioned for Shane to come over. He obeyed and Nicky turned back to the woman.

"This is Shane."

She smiled and shook his hand; "I am honoured to meet you." Her voice was soft and sweet and reminded Shane of a light summer rain. "I believe Nicholas has been explaining everything to you."

"Yes, my Lady." Shane didn’t know where the ‘my lady’ part came from, it had just slipped his mouth, maybe Nicky…

"That is good. He is taking good care of you?"

"Yes, my Lady." Shane smiled, the situation was strange and he wasn’t sure what to do, say or think.

"That is wonderful, I'd best be going back. I will come back to see you. And Nicholas?"

Nicky looked up. "Yes, my Lady?"

"I am looking out for you. If you need me you know where to look."

"Yes my Lady, within my heart and soul."

She smiled. "Our Lord taught you well. I hope you will not dishonour him. You fail this mission and you will pay the price."

Nicky shuddered slightly. "Yes, my Lady. I promise you I will not fail."

"Very well." She looked at Shane again and nodded. "Until we meet again."

Then she vanished. Shane was slightly shaken, and even more confused. Nicky hugged him.

"Are you all right?"

Shane nodded, then shook his head. "That was…. Erm… strange?"

Nicky smiled. "You’ll get used to it. That was Cliodhna. She was sent by the Lord to check our progress. She will visit again."

"What will happen to you if this fails?" Shane knew he was nosy but he had to ask.

"I honestly don’t know Shane. All I know is I will suffer and it will be centuries until I get another mission. I will be honest with you; I have only done two missions before this one. The Lord could have chosen someone far more experienced for this, but… I don’t know why he chose me. He said I was the best candidate, and I don’t know what he was looking for, but it was certainly not experience." Nicky looked up.

"You see, when I came here, I was only scared for myself. I was scared I would fail, scared of what would happen to me if I failed. Now, I’m scared for you too. I know what will happen to you if I fail… and by God, any punishment the Lord could put on me wouldn’t be half as bad as that. I used to be selfish, Shane, so selfish… I never thought of anyone else. I think… I think he sent me here to teach me a lesson. And I don’t know if I can help you, I doubt I’m strong enough. I doubt my Lady can help me through this… I don’t know what will happen. I just hope the Lord has a back-up plan in his back pocket…"

Shane embraced Nicky. "Please, don’t be so hard on yourself. I know I don’t know a thing about where you come from but… please. I think you’re doing a wonderful job, I think we’ll make this, I trust you Nicky. I trust you to do your best and if you can’t save me, then nobody can because maybe fate didn’t want me to be saved. Maybe she’s changed her mind and have something much better in store." He lifted his hand and wiped a single tear of Nicky’s cheek with his thumb. "I believe in you Nicky. You will make this. Anything is possible if you believe it."

Nicky smiled. "You really think that?"

Shane nodded. "I know that Nicky. Those past two days stuff I never thought could happen has happened. I’d believe in anything after those events."

Nicky hugged him back, "Thank you Shane. Thanks for trusting me. You’re… you’re the first person who’s ever said something like that to me…"

Shane smiled. "Hey, don’t thank me. It’s the least I can do for the person who’s saving my soul!" Nicky smiled and hoped to God that Shane was right.

Chapter 7 >>