The Trail to Edan

By Donna

The smoke from the burning funeral pyre stung Duncan and Connor MacLeod’s eyes, but neither man seemed to care or notice. Connor stayed close to his younger cousin, knowing the man’s grief over the murder of Little Deer and her young son Kahani was cutting deeper into his heart and soul than any sword could have. He knew, because he had felt the same pain in his own life.   

As the embers of the fires finally died down, Connor steered Duncan away. It was only a matter of time before Duncan’s grief turned to an overwhelming need for revenge against the immortal scout that had led the army troop into the village. Connor also understood that need all too well. Not that in the end, it would ease the hurting any. But there was no telling Duncan that. Not now at least. The pain was too fresh, too deep. Slowly, they walked over to where the horses were tied and mounted up. Connor had a small trapper’s shack a few hours ride away, and they headed towards that in somber silence. 

It was getting dark. Both men knew the area very well, having lived and hunted in it for several years now. But as they rounded the corner of the trail they were following, Connor and Duncan pulled up at the same time. “What the hell?” Connor said in an awed whisper. In the dimming light of the day, they could see the lights of several farmhouses, and beyond that, a town! There had been no town where they were living. No settlement of white of any size for many miles in fact. “Where in God’s heaven are we?” 

Duncan shifted on the leather hide laid over the pinto’s back that he was riding, looking around. He saw a sign and they both moved closer to it. 

Edan

“Edan?” Duncan said, shaking his head. The farms ahead of them were established ones. There was no way a settlement of this size would have escaped their notice. “Where did this town come from? It can’t just have appeared out of nowhere!” 

Connor stood in his stirrups, looking around. The mountains behind them looked wrong. The trees that bordered the trail they were following were wrong too.  This whole area was brand new to them both. Wherever they were, they were nowhere near where they had been! They backtracked a bit, but they could find no sign of the territory they both knew so well.

“Let’s try the town,” Connor suggested. “Unless you want to camp out in the woods. I can use a stiff drink right about now.” 

“The town is fine,” Duncan said, his broad shoulders sagging. “I can use a whole bottle or two. Maybe three. Think they will let me in?” He motioned to the beaded buckskins he was wearing. With his long hair and dark complexion, he looked more Indian than white, even though his voice still had a faint Scottish burr to it. “On second thought, will they even let you in? You look like something the cat drug in.” 

Connor chuckled. Underneath the decrepit hat he was wearing, Connor’s hair was long and matted, and it had been awhile he and his clothes had been thoroughly clean. “A nice hot bath would be nice too. And new clothes. These should have been burned quite a while ago!” He squeezed the palomino mare he was riding forward.  

“And a new hat!” Duncan growled. He had been teasing Connor without mercy about that hat. It had never been the same after a dunking he had gotten several years earlier when his horse had lost its footing crossing a rain swollen river. 

“I like this hat,” Connor chuckled, pleased that Duncan had come out of his dark funk enough to have razzed him about the hat again. But he had a feeling that by the time he had made his way through several bottles of whisky, Duncan would just be wallowing in his grief again. Maybe the newness of this strange place they had stumbled upon would act as a catalyst to make him want to experience life again. 

They rode past the farms as they continued to make their way into town. But one of them made them pause as the strong buzz of not one, but several immortals washed over them.  

“How many?” Duncan asked as he peered through the darkness to the house. It looked like one they would find back in England! A shiver ran up and down his spine. Something felt odd, very odd about this place. Instinctively, he reached for the almost comforting presence of his sword. 

“Three or four. Maybe more,” Connor said quietly, his intense eyes studying the place. Immortals tended to be a solitary people, avoiding contact for the most part with their own kind. To have so many in one place was strange indeed! 

The front door of the house opened, and five shadowy figures stepped out onto the porch. Two women at least, judging from their slight statures and long skirts, along with three men. They were staring out into the night, trying to see who was there. Two of the men were holding swords loosely beside them. The smaller of the two women turned to say something to the man next to her, and the two travelers could see by her silhouette that she was pregnant. 

“That rules her out of being one of us,” Duncan grumbled. His voice carried through the stillness of the night, reaching the people on the porch.  

“Hee, hee,” an all too familiar chuckle floated back to them. “You folks must be new. Welcome to Edan,” he called out.  

“Heading into town, or would you like to come in for some dinner?” the pregnant woman called out with a voice hinting that she was from the Scottish highlands herself. “There is plenty. Fried chicken and mashed potatoes. And a berry pie that looks absolutely sinful. Everyone loves Sarah Jo’s pies.” 

Duncan looked over at Connor to see what he thought, but his kinsman was white faced with shock. “Connor?” he asked, reaching out to touch his arm. “Are you all right?” 

“I… I know her,” he said, booting his horse a little closer, his heart pounding. It had to be her! Her sweet, familiar presence caressed him like a soft summer breeze. “Kat? Is that you? It’s me, Connor.” Behind him, Duncan’s jaw dropped in surprise. 

The woman exchanged looks with the man she was standing with. When he nodded, she stepped off the porch and made her way towards the two men on horseback, leaving her two men and her guests, Sarah Jo and Duncan behind her. Already they were sheathing their swords. There would be no need of them this time. 

“Aye, Captain,” Katherine said gently. “It’s me.” 

The grungy looking trapper threw himself off his horse and stumbled blindly towards her, falling to his knee at her feet. Duncan slid off his pinto, and grabbed hold of the reins of the abandoned horse. “Kat?” Connor gasped, his trembling hand reaching out to touch her expanded belly. “How… how did this happen?” 

“The usual way,” chuckled the man she had been standing by. As he and the other men stepped closer, Duncan’s world spun around him. Two of them were twins to his teacher, and the other one to himself!   

“Come inside, gentlemen,” the other Connor MacLeod said, extending his hand to his younger self and lifting him to his feet. “There is a lot that has to be explained to you both!”