Anise

“What tis is ya need mah help wit?” The woman asked as she walked around her house. Her house was bare except for a small cot by a fireplace that held what looked like a stock pot and a single chair pushed off to the side of the room.

“I want to go home.” Camaron told the woman, determination in her voice.

“Then mount ya horse and get goin'.”

“Nay,” Drustan said. “Camaron was cursed an' sent here from the future.”

The woman looked over Camaron and shook her head, “Tis nothin' I cen do for ya, child.”

“I will pay ya fer the information we seek.” Drustan protested, “Ya have ta know somethin' aboot the curse.”

Alastrina seemed to get a far away look in her eyes before looking back at Camaron, “How were ya cursed?”

“I pissed off a psychic lady because I thought she was fake. She told me things that she shouldn't have known but then I bought a book to see if what she said was true and read a stupid little poem out of it and then next thing I know I'm waking up in the middle of a field here.”

“A psychic, ya say?”

“I don't know. I've never heard of a psychic cursing people.”

Alastrina nodded, “Twas a witch then. A witch cannae undo another's curse, tis nay allowed.”

“Witches have rules?!” Camaron yelled at the lady, angry now. “I dont care if I have to go out and kill a cute little rabbit for sacrifice. I want to go home!”

“And I cannae help ya!” The woman yelled back at her. “Sacrifice is fer the dark magick and that is nay what I do and it is nay what cursed ya.”

Drustan set a hand on Camaron's shoulder to calm her down. “Tell us something then.”

The witch glared at Camaron and looked at Drustan and then back at Camaron before her gaze went back to him. “She must die in the same manner as yer woman. That is all yer gettin' from me.”

His chest tightened at her words, “Thank ya fer yer time.” He grabbed Camaron's arm and gently pulled her towards the door.

“No! I want to know more. Dying can't be the only way.”

“Do nay anger me, girlie. Cursin' ya to the past isn't the worse that can happen to ya.” The woman threatened darkly. “Yer lucky I told ya what I did. Also this was nay a curse, twas a gift. Maybe ya should treat it as such.” She added before turning away.

Cameron almost yelled at the woman but Drustan jumped in before she could. “Thank ye fer yer time,” he said as he set his hand against Camaron's lower back to try to usher her out of the witch's home. “Come along, lass. Weel speak of this more on the way back to Fraiser.” He told her softly. When they exited the house the door slammed behind them.

Camaron dragged her feet on the way back to the horse, her throat and eyes burning as she tried to hold back tears. She would never see her family or friends again, she'd never get to go back to work or sleep in her apartment. Though, now she was kinda glad she didn't get that puppy she wanted a few months back because by now it would either be starving to death in her apartment or in some shelter somewhere.

She wanted for Drustan to mount the horse before taking his hand and getting on behind him, her hands just barely resting on his waist when he spurned the horse into moving. Her mind then went back to her thoughts.

Camaron couldn't help but wonder if anyone had noticed yet. She had pissed off Diana and her parents didn't really call or visit since they started their retirement up north. Work had probably just fired her, sending her a notice in the mail or something. She had never been close to any of her neighbors and most of them were never to concerned with her comings and goings. It would be a few more weeks before her apartments management company evicted her and gained access to her home, seeing it in shambles and calling the police.

She couldn't help but start to cry at those thoughts. She pressed her face into Drustan's back to wipe the tears from her face as he rumbled, “Donna cry, lass.”

“I can't help it,” Camaron's voice broke on the words. “No one will ever know what happened to me. My mom and dad will be devastated when they find out and the police will tell them I just took off without telling anyone. I can't live here Drustan. I won't be able to survive.”

“Yer already doin' it, lass.” He told her. “Yer survivin' just fine. Ye'll adapt as ye are and everythin' will be fine.”

“You don't understand!” She cried exasperatedly. “You wouldn't be able to 'adapt' if you were on the receiving end of this curse! You'd be just as upset.”

He seemed to think a moment before saying, “Aye, I would be upset but I would still adapt if I couldnae find my way home. Ye donnae hafta act like ye are nay upset but ye can still adapt. Ye hafta try, lass. Ya promised.”

Camaron kept quiet after that, thinking now about the future instead of the past. She had promised Drustan that she would try to love him. She knew that she wouldn't be able to stop herself if they spent any more days like the one on the cliffs together. He was everything she always imagined her knight-in-shining-armor to be; though, he was more like a knight-in-sexy-plaid. He was handsome and sweet, his humor made her laugh when she wasn't angry at him and he seemed to care about her when he wasn't calling her by another woman's name. It wouldn't be hard at all to fall in love with Drustan, and that worried her.

She shouldn't be falling in love with a medieval Scottish clan leader whose idea of fun was hacking people to pieces on a battle field and an conquering counties, she should be worrying with not getting home.