Timeless

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15

:WARNING: 

This chapter depicts a gory execution towards the end. Just so you're prepared.

Ri's eyes felt gritty. Her mouth was dry, and she was pretty sure that fuzzy thing pressed against her teeth was her tongue. Her head pounded, her body felt sapped of energy, and when she lifted her hand to rub her eye, the limb felt heavy, weak and clumsy.

"Ye've awakened," a cool hand eased her own away from her eye. Ri blinked lethargically, trying to focus on the person she could sense right in front of her. She knew that voice.

"Agatha?" Her voice was small, hoarse.

"Aye, Lass. 'Tis me." Ri blinked hard, struggling to keep her eyes open for more than a moment. Agatha leaned over her, her features speaking to how beautiful she'd been before she'd given up her youth for Ri. She was still beautiful, beneath the soot that stained her cheeks and brow, but this beauty was stronger, tried and tested through life and hardship, but still shining through untainted.

"Where . . . ?" The fuzzy slug that was supposed to be her tongue was not cooperating. Ri tried to clear her throat, swallow a bit. Agatha reached over to the end table and brought back a cube of ice.

"Yer sister's idea. Smart lass," She nodded approvingly. Ri forced her arm to do as she wanted, taking the ice and placing it in her mouth. The more she moved, she found, the easier it became. She stretched a bit as she sucked on the ice, and when it was finally dissolved she felt much, much better.

"What happened?" Where am I seemed like a stupid question now, as Ri could clearly see that she was back in Shaw's room. Which Shaw seemed to be conspicuously absent from. "Where's Shaw?"

"Checking on Fergus, I'm told." Agatha sat back, watching her. Ri noticed that despite the mountain of shawls around her, the woman still seemed to be cold. Ri took one of the bear pelts that currently seemed to be suffocating her, and draped it over Agatha's lap and arms.

"So Fergus lives?"

"Aye, Lass. And I expect a great deal of the credit goes tae ye,"

"I didn't do anything,"

"If ye say so. Now," Agatha leaned forward, staring at Ri intently, "ye were sick for some time, Lass. Longer than ye should've been. Ye were asleep, dreaming, and I believe there's a reason for that. Whoe'er ye were in this time, died. As ye ken, I believe yer death was orchestrated by someone who kenned who ye were, beyond time or physical body. I believe someone killed ye because they kenned who ye were tae the Laird, and feared what ye could become. And I believe that when ye were killed, it was similar tae what ye went through on the ship a few days ago.

"Living in this time, surrounded by things that would hae been familiar tae ye in that last life, yer closer tae yer past self than most people e'er get. And then what happened at the coast, the similarities tae what would hae been the most traumatic event of yer past life, brought those memories back tae ye through yer fevered dreams. And I hope that mayhap, with a little effort, if ye recall them clearly, ye can remember who killed ye. And mayhap that'll be the end of it."

"You think that in my past life, I drowned, so the trauma of going through that again made me remember another lifetime?" Ri asked skeptically.

"Just try," Agatha implored, and she seemed so hopeful, so eager, that Ri shrugged and closed her eyes, thinking back to the tangled web of sights and sounds that she vaguely recalled experiencing in her fevered state.