"Previously..." "We were in Scotland on our second honeymoon." "I wanted it to be a dream, but I knew it wasn't." "I was no longer in the 20th century." "It was like landing on an alien world you'd only glimpsed through a telescope." "Are you following me?" "I am but Dougal's eyes, no his head." "I suspect you may be an English spy." "My name is Geillis Duncan." "I hope I'll see you tonight at the hall." "He's offering to take the girl's punishment." "You need not be scared of me nor anyone else here as long as I'm with ye." "You will remain here as my guest." "You mean as your prisoner, don't you?" "Only if you try to leave." "♪ Sing me a song of a lass that is gone ♪" "♪ Say, could that lass be I ♪" "♪ Merry of soul she sailed on a day ♪" "♪ Over the sea to skye ♪" "♪ Billow and breeze, islands and seas, ♪" "♪ Mountains of rain and sun ♪" "♪ All that was good, all that was fair ♪" "♪ All that was me is gone ♪" "♪ Sing me a song of a lass that is gone ♪" "♪ Say, could that lass be I ♪" "♪ Merry of soul she sailed on a day ♪" "♪ Over the sea ♪" "♪ To skye... ♪" "_" "I contacted Colonel Halligan." "He said it might be a week before he can issue a new set of orders." "Frank, I don't feel it's right to use your connections." "What of these men... they've no one to change their orders." "I don't understand why you would want to even..." "What I want is my husband at home with me." "But I can't have that right now." "And if people use the system to their own benefit, then we might as well just give up the ship and start speaking German." "Please, listen to reason, if not your husband." "Darling, it will be all right." "I'll be all right." "I'm sure of it." "You have to trust me on this." "Woe betide the man that stands between you and what you set your mind upon." "And damned if that stubbornness, isn't what I find so attractive about you." "All aboard!" "All aboard!" "As they say, that's my cue." "This is backwards." "I should be the one leaving for the front lines." "Welcome to the 20th century." "Please, don't take any unnecessary risks." " I won't." " I love you." "Claire Beauchamp Randall, promise that you'll return to me." "I will, Frank Randall." "I promise." "Bloody hell." "Aye, a bit brisk?" "Keeps you clearheaded and strong though." "I really can wash and dress myself, you know." "Oh, I don't mind helping you." "Such beautiful skin you have." "I've never seen a woman past eight or nine with skin so unmarked by injury or illness." "Your next husband will be a lucky man." "What's wrong,?" "Mrs. Fitz," "Can I tell you something?" "Of course you can." "It's about my husband." "He's not dead." "Have you run away from him?" "Was he no a good man?" "No, he's wonderful." "It's just, well... he hasn't been born yet." "I don't understand your meaning." "Mrs. Fitz, I seem to have fallen through time." "I was on my honeymoon in 1945, 200 years from now." "It was Samhain, and I went to the stone circle at Craigh Na Dun." "Do you know it?" "Aye." "I've heard strange tales." "I touched the stone, and it... the world just spun out of control, and the next thing I knew, I was here in 1743." "I'm not an English spy." "I'm from the future." "It's a lot to take to mind." "I can hardly believe it myself." "I don't even know if I can travel forward to my own time." "I have to get back to the stones." "Is it my help you're asking?" "Do you think the Mackenzies would believe me if I told them the truth?" "Perhaps." "You're fair of eye and honeyed of tongue, but I see you now for what you are." "What?" "Be gone, evil demon." "I abjure thee!" "No, Mrs. Fitz..." "I'm a good Christian woman!" "I'll not let you spell me." "Mrs. Fitz, no!" "Witch!" "Witch!" "Oh, aye." "Hundred of Mackenzies will be turning up in the next few days for the gathering." "Are you listening to me, child?" "Sorry, what?" "Gathering?" "I'm not familiar with that term." "'Tis where all the Mackenzie men throughout the Highlands come and plight their oath to the clan and himself." "Last one was decades ago when Colum was made Laird." "I'm fair glad you're here to handle the physicking." "I have enough to manage without dealing with folks' ailments." "You do well with that." "Dougal and himself will not forget it." "You'll be in their good graces, make no mistake." "If I could get in Colum and Dougal's good graces, perhaps I could win my release and begin to make my way back to Frank." ""...for headache, take ye one ball of horse dung." "It is to be carefully dried."" "Medicine and caring for the people of the clan Mackenzie seemed the most logical way for me to earn their trust, but in order to do that without raising suspicion," "I would have to find a way to apply 20th century medicine using only the methods and equipment available in the 18th." ""Slaters."" "Woodlice!" "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!" "Alongside the jars of pigeons' blood, ant eggs, and powdered human skull whose, I wondered, there were a number of herbs and extractions in Beaton's collection that might actually be helpful." "It's okay." "Now, wasn't so bad, was it?" "My guards began to spend their time in the kitchen while I was seeing patients." "I told myself this was a good sign, a sign of trust, a feeling they hopefully would share with Dougal." "Excuse me, gentlemen." "I could use some help in the surgery." "The discarded medicines need to be disposed of." "What are you two drunkards still doing taking up space in my kitchen?" "If you're not working here, be gone with ye." "We're just following orders keeping an eye on this one." "Oh, and has she been hiding at the bottom of your mug for the past two hours?" "Oh, Shona." "Dinna fash yourself over this." "Go on home now." "Be with your other wee Bairns." "Carry on working." "Who was that?" "Colum's chambermaid." "Is she going to be all right?" "Aye, in time." "Her boy died last night, wee Lindsay Macneill." "What happened?" "Why did nobody come and get me?" "Oh, miss, what ailed wee Lindsay has no mortal cure." "He went up to an eaghais dhubh, he did." "Where?" "The old ruins of the Benedictine Monastery." "Folk hereabout call it the Black Kirk." "You think somehow the ruins killed him?" "'Twas not the ruins, you daft woman." "'Twas the demons who roam free inside the ruins." "Poor wee soul." "Sickly boy on his best day." "No match for old nick." "The Mackenzie requests your presence in his chambers," "Mistress Beauchamp." "Have you never heard of a comb, you wee gomeril?" "Aw, leave off, auntie." "My nephew, Tammas Baxter." "Lindsay Macneill was like a brother to him." "Mackenzie's waiting." "Right." "The medicines are on the step." "You can't miss them." "I wished I had the ability to treat Colum." "It would alleviate what I knew was a great deal of pain, and it would certainly make Colum see me in a more favorable light." "It'll be a trifle longer than your standard frock coat." "Well, you're hardly standard, now, are you, my Laird?" "A one-of-a-kind coat for a one-of-a-kind man." "I was told that you're the finest tailor in the Highlands, come fresh from Edinburgh." "Well, I thank you, my Laird." "My wife's people are Mackenzies, and I'm always happy for a chance to bring her home." "And did your wife's people encourage you to mock your Laird?" "Mock?" "Does not a man's coat usually fall just to the knee?" "Yes." "And did I ask you for anything different than that?" "Well, no, not explicitly, but, um, I just thought" "That my legs should be hidden?" "That I have something to be ashamed of?" "I would never presume." "My Laird... please." "You make me a standard frock coat and have it back to me by tomorrow." "Of course, my Laird." "Thank you, my Laird." "Thank you." "Do you sew as well as physick, Mistress Beauchamp?" "Only flesh, which makes a rather poor garment," "I'm afraid." "Just as well, I called you here on another matter." "Davy Beaton he used to massage me." "It made movement easier." "I hoped you would do the same." "Of course." "What's wrong?" "Do you find my legs as repellent as the tailor does?" "No, it's just, well, I believe it'd be more beneficial if rather than your legs," "I massaged the base of your spine." "Mm." "Don't tell me my arse offends you too." "Moist heat is usually quite soothing after a massage." "Is there any water for boiling or some clean cloth?" "No." "Mrs. Macneill, my chambermaid, she lost her son last night." "She hasn't been in this morning." "I was very sorry to hear about her boy." "Aye." "It's Satan's work." "The foolish child he went up to the Black Kirk." "Sometimes I wonder what I did to make the devil punish me like this." "What, you don't have demons in Oxfordshire, mistress?" "We do, but we call them Scots." "Sorry, did I hurt you?" "No, no." "On the contrary." "You're easing the pain considerably." "Gwyllyn the bard, he'll be singing in the hall tonight before the gathering." "I'd like you to come along as my guest." "Thank you." "My brother looks very well tonight." "He says it's down to you and your healing touch." "I'm glad I could be of service." "Aye." "Seems that the feral cat we picked up on the road is trying to pull in her claws." "What a charming description." "Hmm." "If you'll excuse me," "I believe I'll have a better view from over there." "Hello." "We've not been properly introduced." "I'm Claire Beauchamp." "Laoghaire Mackenzie." "Cuts quite the fine figure, Mr. Mactavish." "Aye." "But it's not me he fancies." "Well, men rarely know what's best for them." "That's what us women are for." "Laoghaire." "Mrs. Beauchamp." "Mr. Mactavish." "I was just telling miss Mackenzie how beautiful she looked tonight." "Aye." "Aye, she's bonny." "I don't understand a word, but it's so beautiful." "Has Gwyllyn been at the castle long?" "Aye." "Many years." "I spent a year at Leoch when I was 16 or so." "Gwyllyn was here then." "Colum pays him well." "Has to." "The Welshman would be welcome at any Laird's hearth." "I remember when you were here before." "Mm, do you?" "You canna been much more than seven or eight yourself." "I doubt I was much to see then so as to be remembered." "Well, I do remember, though." "You were so..." "I mean, do you not remember me from then?" "No." "No, I dinna think so." "Still, I wouldna even be likely to." "A young birkie of 16's too taken up with his own grand self to pay much heed to what he thinks are naught but a rabble of snot-nosed Bairns." " Mm." " Colum's rhenish, is it?" "It's very good." "I've had two... three glasses." "You can have the rest if you like." "Most folks who drink with Colum are under the table after the second glass." "Are you implying that I'm intoxicated?" "I'd be impressed if you weren't." "This dressing's been chafing me for days." "Would you mind helping me with it?" "Now?" "Well..." "Yes, of course." "Take that back, will you, lass?" "All right, so let's have a look at that shoulder." "Uh, I dinna need your help." "Hmm?" "I just thought I should see you back to surgery while you could still walk upright." "Oh." "Thank you." "I suppose I did overindulge slightly." "I should have known, though." "If it was really uncomfortable, I imagine you would have just ripped off the bandages yourself." "Oh, I was afraid to." "Thought I'd get my arse skelped if I touched it." "Too right." "I am the healer, after all." "I'm in charge." "Never doubted it." "Really, though, if it was bothering you, you should have told me." "I would have taken it off for you the other day at the stables." "No." "I couldna do that before Alec." "Scars." "You don't want Alec to know you've been flogged?" "No." "No." "Old Alec knows I've been flogged, but he's not seen it." "To know something like that is... well, it's not the same as seeing it with your own eyes." "It's a bit personal, maybe, is what I mean." "I think if Alec were to see the scars, he couldna see me anymore without thinking of my back." "You don't mind me seeing your back?" "I don't." "You seem to have a knack for letting me know you feel sorry for it, without making me feel pitiful about it." "Anyway..." "I should go." "Wait." "Let me have a look at that." "It's scabbed over nicely." "There's no drainage." "Take those bandages off in a few days." "As you say." "Good night, Mr. Mactavish." "Good night, Mistress Beauchamp." "Do you never sit down, woman?" "My breakfast's barely past my gullet." "Walking is good for digestion." "Claire." "Ah, I'm so glad you could join me." "Wouldn't have missed it." "This just keeps getting worse." "Got stuck walking with that pompous windbag" "Father Bain." "He plans to perform an exorcism on the Baxter boy." "Hawthorn berries." "You rarely see these so late in season." "Did you just say "exorcism"?" "Apparently Tammas Baxter went to the Black Kirk with wee Lindsay Macneill." "Now the young fool is seized with the same evil." "Do you want some?" "No." "What is it?" "What's wrong with you?" "Well, the boy, Tammas, he's Mrs. Fitz's nephew." "When you say "seized with evil," what exactly do you mean?" "Is he ill?" "He's not ill." "He's possessed." "Do you not believe in demonic possession, Claire?" "Do you?" "I believe there are powers beyond our ken... beyond what we can see and hear and touch." "Demon, fairy, devil doesn't matter what name we put on them." "But you believe in the powers of magic, do you not?" "Haven't really thought much about it." "Have you never found yourself in a situation that has no earthly explanation?" "You have to admit it's certainly possible the boy's actually sick and not possessed." "And if that's the case, then perhaps there's something you and I can do to help." "People believe the boy is possessed, Claire." "You challenge that at your peril." "I'll not go near him, and neither should you." "Where are we goin'?" "Hey!" "Hey, where you goin'?" "Colum will not like you interfering with the workings of the spirits." "It's not your place." "I thought that might change your mind." "A priest once told me my healing skills were a gift from god." "My sister has gone to fetch Father Bain." "Why is he tied?" "In case he gets violent." "The demons, you ken." "Shh." "Tammas, Tammas, I'm here to help." "Are his symptoms similar to that of the other boy?" "Aye, much the same." "Wee Lindsay was weak to begin with, so the devil took him much faster." "No fever, which meant it probably wasn't an infection." "Are any of the others ill?" "No, all right as rain." "His heart rate was slow and pupils pinpoints, a sign of poisoning." "Tammas?" "Tammas?" "What have you eaten recently?" "He's taken nothing but a bit of broth in the last day, and most of that he brought back up again." "Nay, don't come near me." "He sees the demons even now." "It's all right." "He's just hallucinating." "It's another symptom." "Give me something to cut these ropes." "No, miss." "I wouldna do that." "I should say not." "What are you doing, Glenna?" "Letting a stranger in at a time like this?" "Mistress Beauchamp is a healer and a good one." "She may be able to help." "Mrs. Baxter, he needs to be unbound and fresh air let in." "I believe I can ease his suffering." "Just give me a chance." "Best make way now, lass." "Let the father do his work." "Did you feel a chill when you got near him?" "A chill?" "Well, they say you can feel old Nick's presence by the chill in the air." "Sorry to disappoint, no." "He must have been speaking in tongues, eh?" "I'm afraid not." "Well, I heard tell that wee Lindsay howled in five... lazy, fat bastard." "Wait right here." "I felt sure Mrs. Fitz would let me examine the boy after the good father finished his incantation." "But even if I could figure out what was wrong with him," "I might not be able to do anything about it with the limited resources at hand." "Good, very good." "You ken how to obey a man's orders for once." "Move." "Your lip looks a little swollen, Jamie." "Did you get thumped by a horse?" "Aye." "Swung his head when I wasn't looking." "That's too bad." "Those fillies can be dangerous." "Fillies?" "Alec has you working the fillies now?" "Hey!" "What's wrong with you?" "Bit my tongue." "Clumsy dolt." "I best go see if Alec wants anything else." "Hey, if you're teasing the lad about Laoghaire, if her father or Colum comes to know about it, young Jamie could get more than a bloodied nose." "Like a wife?" "Maybe." "That's not the wife he should have." "No?" "No." "He needs a woman, not a lassie." "And Laoghaire will be a girl until she's 50." "I've been around long enough to ken the difference very well, and so do you, mistress." "I felt ashamed of the way I'd teased Jamie, and if I was being perfectly honest," "I did it because I was jealous... not jealous of Laoghaire jealous of their intimacy." " I missed my husband." " Mistress Beauchamp." "Mistress Beauchamp, are you all right?" "Yes, I'm fine." "Thank you." "What can I do for you, Mr. Mackenzie?" "I thought you might like to visit Geillis Duncan, the fiscal's wife, to restock yer shelves before the gathering." "Yes." "Yes, I would." "I'm going into the village tomorrow morning." "I'll take you with me to Mistress Duncan's." "I'd say you need to lay in a goodly amount of white willow bark." "Eases a whiskey headache." "So is this your doing, my sudden but very welcome visit here?" "As I told you, there's many things in this world we can't explain." "I heard you made a visit to the Baxter's ' after all." "Yes, I got to see the delightful Father Bain at work." "What a sight that was." "Was the exorcism successful?" "I don't know." "I left before it was over." "I do know if Tammas were my child," "I wouldn't leave him to the tender mercies of that man." "Steer well clear of him, Claire." "There's no mercy in his bible or his heart." "He takes the view that every woman since Eve is a born temptress who should be beaten daily by her husband to keep evil at bay." "Sometimes I feel very much the stranger in a strange land." "It can't be easy... being a Sassenach in the Highlands..." "Assuming that's what you mean." "What on earth is going on down there?" "huh." "Lad was caught stealing, most like... usually is with the Tanner's lads." "They've brought him to Arthur to dispense justice." "If his breakfast had agreed with him this morning, lad might have got off with a whipping." "But since he's most likely costive or flatulent, the lad will probably lose his hand." "For stealing?" "That's appalling." "I need some peppermint, my dearest." "I canna render judgment with a roiling gut." "Ow." "So you haven't decided the fate of the boy yet?" "Huh?" "Eh?" "This is Claire Beauchamp from up at the castle." "Oh, yes." "Yes, of course." "Ah, thank you, my darling." "Ah." "Ah!" "Oh, I believe it's working already." "Ah... ahh..." "I don't know what evidence there is against the boy, but surely..." "He's confessed, actually." "Stole two bannocks from his employer." "Father Bain is arguing for taking his hand." "Says it's the only way to save his immortal soul." "But he's just a child." "Surely you're not going to mutilate him just for stealing a loaf of bread." "Oh, oh, away." "Arthur..." "Imagine if our own union had been blessed, then how would you feel if your son were taken so?" "Oh." "Surely it was but hunger that made the lad take to thievery." "Aye." "Aye." "Can you not find it in your heart to be merciful, and you the soul of justice?" "Oh, my sweet, tender heart." "Since he's confessed, I canna let him go, but perhaps one hour in the pillory and one ear nailed." "Uh-huh?" "It is you who are tenderhearted." "Oh." "Oh!" "I've reached a decision, Father Bain." "We seek only justice." "There." "Easily done." "The man has no notion of guile." "What does that mean, one ear nailed?" "Nailed to what?" "To the pillory, of course." "Better than losing a hand." "Now you'll be absolved." "Let's get these herbs pounded and put them on to steep." "Then we can go downstairs and have a nice glass of port and tell each other all our secrets." "You do puzzle me, Claire." "One would think you don't have pillories or punishment where you come from." "It's different there." "Where, Oxfordshire?" "Wouldn't think things were so different." "It's not just Oxfordshire." "I had an unusual childhood." "I was brought up in lots of places." "Really?" "Do tell." "Fascinated to hear all about it." "What is it?" "In here." "Mistress Duncan." "Mistress Beauchamp." "Mr. Mactavish." "Dougal was called back to Leoch." "I'm sent to fetch ye." "Brought your cloak to keep you warm." "Mistress Beauchamp was just about to tell me of her unusual upbringing." "I'm sure it's a good story." "Why don't you have a glass of port and listen in?" "More time, I would, but we should leave, or we'll get naught but scraps for our dinner." "Thank you for your hospitality," "Geillis, and for these." "We must do it again." "Of course." "Soon." "How much longer do you think he'll have to stay there?" "He can leave anytime he wants." "His hour is done." "It's just the lad's not got up the courage to tear his ear from the nail." "You mean he has to tear himself loose?" "Aye." "He's still a bit nervous, but he'll set his mind to it soon enough." "Mr. Mactavish, your fingers, they're quite strong, I suppose." "Aye." "Now then, Novelli, got yourself in a right swivet, have you no?" "Yon's no job to be making heavy weather of." "A wee jouk of the head, and it's over." "Here, shall I help you?" "No, no." "Ah!" "Away home." "She'll be all right, just doesn't like the sight of blood." "Thank you." "I know that was a risk." "You wouldn't expect me to be less bold than a wee Sassenach lassie, now, would you?" "Would you be willing to risk helping me again?" "Do you know the Black Kirk?" "It's so peaceful." "It's not at all what I expected." "Well, they say Satan's clever." "He'd hardly catch many unsuspecting souls if he laid his traps in bogs and tunnels." "Do you actually believe demons live in this place?" "Hm." "Well, I know wee Lindsay and Tammas are not the first boys to sicken or die after a visit up here." "To tell the truth, visiting the Black Kirk and living to tell the tale is a way to prove your manhood." "Did it myself..." "When I was a lad with no harm done, but my own cousin fell under the spell and was sick near a week." "You think demons were responsible?" "I'm an educated man, mistress, if I may be so bold." "Maybe not as educated as you, but I had a tutor, a good one." "He taught me Latin and Greek and such, not childhood stories of fairies, devils, waterhorses in lochs." "But I am also a Highlander, born and bred, and I dinna believe in tempting fate by making light of old Nick in his very own kirkyard." "So when you would come here as a boy to prove your manhood," "What exactly would you do?" "Not much." "Caper about, mostly." "Climb the walls." "Maybe defy the devil by pissing on the stones." "You might be lucky and find some berries or wood garlic to eat." "Wood garlic?" " And you'd eat it?" " Aye." "Can you show me?" "Oh, I didn't like the taste of it, but some folks find it a treat." "This isn't wood garlic." "It's convallaria majalis, lily of the valley." "Lily of the valley?" "Huh." "I never heard of it." "That's because it's not native to Scotland." "The monks that built this place, were they from Germany by chance?" "Germany?" "Prussia, I mean." "Aye." "Of course." "Mistress, the poor Bairn is nearly gone." "Satan has claimed his body." "Father Bain can only hope to save his immortal soul." "I think I can save his life." "I think Lindsay and Tammas ate this." "This is lily of the valley, but it looks exactly the same as wood garlic but this is poisonous." "I can give Tammas something to counteract the poison, but we have to move quickly." "What blasphemy is this?" "Father, I mean no blasphemy." "I simply..." "I am the lord's disciple!" "You are not ordained to drive away the demon." "Now, leave this house this instant." "The boy's problem is poison, not a demon." "And if you don't let me tend to him, he will die." "Let her pass, father." "I will not be ordered about by a woman." "This boy is a slave to Satan and must be purged or have his soul doomed to eternal damnation." "This is my sister's house, and my father's before that, and we'll decide what is done under its roof." "Tend to the boy." "I smell the vapors of hell on you." "It's a decoction of belladonna." "If the decoction worked, it would normalize his heart rate, lower his blood pressure, and bring him back to consciousness within moments." "If I was wrong about the dosage or the original poison, it would cause convulsions and kill the boy almost as quickly." "Tammas." "Ma." "Oh, my boy!" "Oh, he's come back to me." "It's a miracle." "It's a miracle, father." "God bless you, mistress." "Satan may like to make a fool of god, but god will have the last word." "I promise you that." "I truly believe Father Bain would have preferred that boy die than me save him." "Aye." "I don't doubt that." "A man's beliefs are how he makes sense of life, and if you take that away, what do you have left?" "Is it so different where you come from?" "In that regard, I suppose not." "Well, if it makes you feel better," "Mrs. Fitz now calls you..." "The miracle worker." "Good lord." "At the very least," "I hope I've earned a measure of trust from Colum." "Aye." "He's taking credit for bringing you on as healer to the Mackenzies." "I doubt he'll want to see you leave anytime soon." "I'll never get out of here." "I almost stayed in my room." "I had no desire to see that mixture of awe and suspicion that seemed to follow me everywhere now." "It only heightened the feeling of hopelessness about my situation that had come crashing down on me." "I had performed what has been called a miracle, but instead of buying me my release, it had tightened my bonds to this place." "And even if I did get away, get back to the stones," "I had no guarantee it would work again, whatever it was." "And if it did work, there was no guarantee that I would get back home." "Couldn't I just as easily be hurtled back in time yet again to the middle ages or even the Roman occupation?" "What finally brought me out of my room was the oblivion promised by Colum's rhenish." "Over here." "You dinna see me waving?" "Nearly reinjured my arm." "Stay low and quiet, or they're likely to stone us." "Now this one is about a man out late on a fairy hill on the eve of Samhain who hears the sound of a woman singing sad and plaintive from the very rocks of the hill." ""I am a woman of Balnain." ""The folk have stolen me over again, '" ""the stones seemed to say." ""I stood upon the hill, and wind did rise, and the sound of thunder rolled across the land."" ""I placed my hands upon the tallest stone" ""and traveled to a far, distant land" ""where I lived for a time among strangers who became lovers and friends."" ""But one day, I saw the moon came out" ""and the wind rose once more." ""so I touched the stones" ""and traveled back to my own land" ""and took up again with the man" "I had left behind."" "She came back through the stones?" "Aye, she did." "They always do." "It was a folktale, madness to take as fact, and yet half of what Gwyllyn had described had actually happened to me." "Why not the other half, the part where the woman returned home?" "What had Geillis said?" "As I told you, there's many things in this world we can't explain." "My heart suddenly lightened, and I knew in that moment" "I could no longer wait for permission or assistance." "I must escape Castle Leoch and get back to the stones as soon as possible or die trying."