The Time Traveller's Heart

Chapter 6

Mammy- MOTHER; ken- KNOW; kent- KNEW; bairn- CHILD; och- OH; dinna- did not

Hannah tossed and turned that night as her head filled with dreams of floating shapes that morphed into the mysterious shadow who had decided to control her life. Fires and terrors followed the shape as it rampaged in her mind. Hannah screamed when a hand seized her arms. They held her in a vice-like grip making it hard for her to move away.

"Hannah! Wake up! Ye are havin' a terror dream," a stern voice sounded through the fog of the nightmare but it was not enough to fully wake her. 

In her dream, she ran after the shadow as the flames grew higher fighting the arms that held her back. She screamed after the shadow, cursing loudly and condemning it back to the fiery pits from where it crawled. All around her, bodies appeared. They were the men of Camden's clan all tattered and torn as if they had been fighting in a long battle. Not a single one fo them were moving, they all remained still. Crumbling to the ground, she touched one of their hands. It was cold to the touch causing the tears to flow harder and faster soaking the ground. Looking around she saw something that made her heart fall, a woman's hand laying open to the air. Running to it, she stopped with eyes wide open. It was not any woman, it was a reflection of herself. Sticking out of her was a large sword with intricate carvings that symbolized something but she had no idea. Her dead counterpart's eyes were glazed open looking towards the sky. 

A whisper reached her ear. The shadow. It stood over Hannah's prone figure. 

"Endless possibilities Hannah," the figure turned to face her, "Just remember when the time comes to choose wisely." The figure dissipated and Hannah was left standing alone among the dead bodies of all the Scottish men. They were strewn about as if the wind had picked them up in a great gust and thrown them wherever it had pleased. Arrows stuck out of various figures along with other battle weapons. It was too much to look at. 

Turning back around, she stepped back as her dead figure disappeared like dust and another figure took its place. A woman with dark hair. Her eyes were as green as the Scottish country that surrounded her. Her mouth was agape and she was barely breathing, Hannah knelt down trying to staunch the flow of blood that seemed to be endlessly flowing from the woman's abdomen. "Take...care...of..him," she whispered with her last breath as she passed into the next life. Sitting back on her heels, Hannah wept and closed the eyes of the mysterious woman. 

Sitting  up in the bed and dripping with sweat, she looked into the concerned eyes of Camden. He stared at her cautiously not knowing what to do. His arms still gripped her own. Hannah yanked them away as if they were burning her skin. Gently, she tugged the blanket up around her to give her some more modesty since the sweat had the effect of making the white shift turn transparent in some aspects.

"I heard ye screamin' and wanted tae make sure ye were alright. Are ye?"

"I'm fine Camden. You can leave now."

It was as if she had taken her hand and slapped him once again. The kindness that had been sitting in his hazel eyes washed away quickly with one drop of his mouth. Standing up, she realized he had not been sleeping in a room but rather outside of her door. The kilt was ruffled and there was a large imprint of wood on his bare side.

Placing a hand over her face, she moved it roughly through her red tresses before sighing. 

"I'm sorry Camden. I shouldn't have said that. You were being kind and I turned back around and slapped you with a rude remark. For that, I am sorry."

"It's alright lass. Ye were havin' a terror and wakin' up from those can be nasty. I just wanted tae make sure that ye were alright."

Hugging her knees to her chest, Hannah glanced out the window only to be greeted with the cold stare of the moon and the twinkling of the stars in the open sky. Camden had lit a small candle when he had entered which sputtered in the corner.