Outlander: The Standing Stones

The Barrow Mound

TV Shows » Outlander

Author: martykate

I locked my door that night, not sure if I had gone too far. I had the right to defend myself, it's a God given right, but Captain Randall was an arrogant man, an arrogant dangerous man. Some people just feel wrong when you meet them, and he felt very wrong. I have had this feeling only a few times in my life, but each time it happened my instincts were right. I don't know where I get it from, but I never ignore it.

It took me a while to fall asleep. I might have been able to physically defend myself, but it does not mean it did not leave me shaken. If I could have told someone, it would have been one thing, but this was an awful secret I had to keep to myself.

The first light of dawn was peaking in through gaps in the curtains, but I intended to ignore it and sleep. My plans were upset, however, by loud and persistent knocking at my door.

I wrapped the quilt around me, and answered it. Georgie Campbell was standing there, holding a skirt and a man's shirt. He shoved these at me, saying, "Get dressed and come riding with me. I want to see you prove you really are descended from the horsemen of the steppes." He stood, smiling, waiting for an answer.

I looked at the clothes, then at him. Something told me the shirt I was holding was his, but I did not know where the skirt had come from. "All right," I told him, making up my mind even as I spoke, "I will go riding with you. I'll get dressed and meet you when I'm ready."

"I'll be waiting for you in the library. This will be worth your time, I promise." He gave me his heart breaking smile, and I felt myself melt.

"No," I told myself, "You don't want this. He's young and he's handsome, he's charming and he's deliberately charming you. He's twenty, he's too young for you."

I dressed, pleased that I would not need to wear a corset with the skirt. I pulled a clean pair of socks out of my pack-I would have to wash the others-and put on my Doc Martins.

He was waiting for me in the library. I did not mean to but I gawked at all the books. I looked at one shelf and saw the Roman writers I had read in college: Seneca, Tacitus, Juvenal, Horace. There were volumes of Herodotus, and the "Argonautica" by Apollodoraus of Rhodes-I always had loved the story of the quest for the Golden Fleece. Of course they had the "Iliad" and "The Odyssey". There were more than enough books to keep me occupied for years.

"You like to read, then?" he asked, "This one is a favorite of mine," and he pulled a book off the shelf and showed it to me: "The Republic", by Plato.

"I like it, too, and I also like "The Symposium", though I know some people consider Plato unsuitable for female readers! All of us, my family, I mean, are avid readers. We'll read Shakespeare's plays, for fun. Not to stage them, just sitting and reading them out loud. I'm lucky, I think I've been lucky with my family."

He put the book back on the shelf. "Then you must come in here whenever you like. If someone's in here, just find your book and don't worry about them." He led me to the great front door and opened it, clearly not expecting my reaction.

Captain Randall was standing there, dressed in his red coat. He saw me, and stared, no doubt expecting that I'd look away. I stared back, letting him know he could not intimidate me. It was enough to make him turn back to his men and pretend I wasn't there.

"Is he leaving?" I asked Georgie, and he shrugged.

"He was supposed to be here a week, but he told my father this morning that something came up and he had to return to headquarters. This is very odd, he's never left early before."