 
### Together Forever: A Druid's Curse

Written & Published By

Leslie M. Joyner

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Published by  
Leslie M. Joyner

Copyright © 2002 Leslie M. Joyner

Formatted for E-Book Version February 16, 2012

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and events are products of the author's imagination, or used as reference to enhance the story line.

Original Copyright July 25, 2002

Under the Title

Together Forever

Revised Edition 2010

Under the Title

Together Forever: A Druid's Curse

Edited By

Cheryle L. Goodsell and Kym M. Goodell

Contact: swordsjandl@yahoo.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

To my husband Ed,

Thanks for choosing me.

Special Thanks

to my editors and best friends:

Cheryle L. Goodsell

and

Kym M. Goodell

## Prologue

Journal September 1971

It was a breezy spring day in the rolling hills outside a small Irish village. The morning was clear and the clouds pushed themselves along the sky. I was in the fields helping a young shepherd, whom I had met a few days ago; tend his father's sheep...

As the day dragged slowly on, a light misty haze began to settle over the rolling land, but there appeared to be no chance of an actual downpour. We sat on a high point above the herd, so that we could see if any began to wander off. The young shepherd turned to me and momentarily gazed into my eyes. He began stroking my long dark tresses and they began to fall leisurely from the pin that held them in a loose bun on top of my head. I leaned to him, wary of what was to come... I placed my hand upon his clean-shaven face...

Our eyes locked for what seemed an eternity. He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine as he held my neck and I began to recline backwards... Wanting him to take me... Perhaps even more than he wanted me. When his lips touched mine, I knew that I loved him. His hands caressed me as we lay down on the soft green grass, his golden hair sparkling with beads of water that had accumulated from the misty haze.

**Journal THREE MONTHS LATER**...

Her father heard a retching sound coming from the bathroom down the hall. For the past two weeks she had awakened him with the horrible noises she made. He thought that it was just a bug or something. Several times he pleaded with her to go to a doctor. He was beginning to fear that she had contracted some sort of disease while on her tour of Europe and Asia. He had no idea what was wrong with her and she thought to herself as she stared in the bathroom mirror... "I can't keep this up much longer. I'll start showing soon, than all hell will break loose. I'll tell him soon, perhaps even tomorrow. There are really only three things that he can do... Be happy about becoming a grandfather (which I seriously doubt), send me away, or kill me (which he will probably do)."

The morning passed gradually and she felt better, especially after her father left for work. Throughout the day she did everything in her power to keep from eating everything in sight. Night came and she began undressing for bed. After taking off her blouse she looked down... "Much longer and none of my clothes will fit. I guess that should tell 'Daddy Dear' that 'Baby Girl' had an accident a few months ago..." and with that thought in mind she slipped into a large T-shirt and went to bed.

The next morning went great for her and her father. She wasn't sick therefore she didn't wake him up. She decided, as she got dressed, that it was now or never... As she descended the staircase and headed for the breakfast nook she thought to herself... "Here goes everything..."

"Hello Daddy! How are you this morning?" she beamed with delight and bent down to kiss him good morning.

"Fine, I see that you're feeling better this morning."

"Much, thank you. So what are your plans for the day?"

"I'm going over to the country club to play golf with Danny Smithson."

"Well I've got some good news for you before you go..."

"And what's that darling?" He asked as he read the morning stock report, not really listening."

"In about six months you will be a grandfather."

"Do what?!" He yelled, not knowing how he should react to this type of news. She repeated again her precious news.

"How... How did this happen?" He asked trying to remain calm.

"Daddy you should know that by now. You're old enough to have found out I'm sure. Do I really have to explain?" She was trying to be calm and lighthearted about the whole thing.

"That's not what I mean and you know that young lady!" His voice rose and trembled with anger as he threw the paper on the table and began to stand up. "Tell me who? I'll kill him! So help me God I will! I bet it's that James boy from the high school isn't it?" As the facts began to sink in he became more and more angry.

"No Daddy, it wasn't James. Three months ago I was in Ireland. James was no where around." She began to cry, knowing that she should have stayed in Ireland.

"What's his name? I demand to know his name!" his voice thundered though the halls of the large and lonely house, that had suddenly ceased to be a home.

"I won't tell you!" Rose screamed at him and ran up the stairs to her room. She cried for hours in her room. When she finally came out of her room she overheard her father making arrangements with someone on the telephone...

"I'm sending my daughter to a villa in France. There is a small hospital nearby. I have hired a private doctor to care for her and a couple for her to stay with. You are to stay in the villa and keep an eye on her. When she goes into labor, you will follow her to the hospital, but you are not to confront her under any circumstances. I've left instructions with the doctor that you are to take the child. He will give her some medical reason why the child did not survive. You will then take the child back to the States to the couple that I have arranged to adopt the child. You will then be paid in full for your services."

"Your instructions will be followed completely."

"Good-bye then."

"Good-bye, Senor."

SIX MONTHS LATER

"Push... Come on push!" The doctor screamed at Rose, but she no longer wanted to move. She had been in labor for thirteen hours and she was ready to die. If only it was that simple! But it wasn't. As she pushed again and again her mind drifted, thanks to the drugs, and she began remembering that day...

That day in Ireland that she would never forget. She could feel his hands caressing her...But now in France, only a channel away from him she was paying the price for that one moment of pleasure, passion, and a love that could never be.

Seventeen hours later a healthy daughter was born, but it was never held by it's mother. The pain increased and Rose could handle no more, she passed out. Thirty minutes later the doctors had taken a second child be C-section, and three minutes later another girl was born. Making the American the unhappy and unknowing mother of three beautiful girls that she was never allowed to hold or even see...

The Hispanic took the first child from the doctor and knew exactly where this child's future lay. Two nurses came out of the emergency room, each holding a child. The mysterious man was not aware that there were any other pregnant women in the vicinity, so he wondered...The doctor began to explain that Rose had triplets. With this information an idea struck the employee of the black market...

"There's no reason to tell Van Hime of the other two... I can make more money another way, and I am sure that the doctor won't mind receiving a little extra incentive to keep quiet..."

## Part One

## Chapter One

An ocean away Transatlantic Flight 302 landed in New York. The Hispanic and his girlfriend waited patiently for the next flight to Chicago, where they were to meet a man who would be delivering money in exchange for two of the babies. As soon as the transaction was completed, in the Chicago Airport, they boarded a Delta Flight to Memphis. The last baby one was taken to a couple at the Memphis Airport, as arranged. The Hispanic now had more money than he had ever dreamed of... He and his girlfriend returned to Peru and retired permanently...

The oldest girl was given to the couple in Tennessee... Tess and Jonathan Smith. She was named Victoria after the novelist Victoria Holt. The other children were separated and taken across the country. The loving couple Scott and Ashley McCallaugh who lived in Maine adopted one. They named her Katherine after Ashley's grandmother. Ian and Madeline Douglas of California took the other child. She was named Annabelle after her mother's best friend in high school who had passed away in a car wreck on the night of their graduation.

The couples in Maine and California paid for their daughters. Neither had been able to conceive a child for one reason or another, and adoption through the state often took years, and that was after they passed the home study by a social worker. On the other hand, the couple in Tennessee was paid to take a child they did not want and they did not care about...

## Chapter Two

The girls were almost a year old and like other babies they grew and learned... One night Victoria's father came home drunk, as usual, but this night was different... Victoria was cutting teeth and had been very cranky and Tess had become ill from the babies crying, so she took some sleeping pills. Then Jonathan came home and Victoria was still crying. He yelled at her to shut up, but this only intensified her crying... Around 1 o'clock that morning Jonathan went over the edge, but remembered nothing when he woke up the next day. After thirty minutes of hearing the baby crying he had yanked her out of the playpen where Tess had left her. The arm broke cleanly in two and Victoria screamed at the sharp pain...

Victoria did not see a doctor until morning light when Tess awoke...

At the same time that Victoria's arm was broken Annabelle began to wail, as if she were in pain. When her father arrived to check on her, he found that her arm was broken. He rushed her and her hysterical mother to the hospital... Annabelle's doctor could not determine why the arm had broken. The only explanation that he could offer was that the baby had put her arm through the crib bars and gotten stuck, and then she began to twist and turn until it broke.

Meanwhile in Maine, Katherine awoke screaming with pain. Her mother didn't know what could cause her baby to scream so. She ran to the nursery and found Katherine with a broken arm and yelled for her husband to call an ambulance. Agan the only explanation for this child's broken arm was the same one that Annabelle's doctor had guessed at...

## Chapter Three

The years passed quickly and each developed her own personality, yet each being a part of the other. Many times bruises would appear on Katherine and Annabelle... Like those that Victoria would receive from a beating, but no one ever touched them. It was from Victoria that the marks originated... Another problem that the girls had were terrible nightmares in which they saw everything that happened to Victoria... For Katherine and Annabelle it was utter terror... But for Victoria it was life... Often they glimpsed into each other's lives and not just Victoria's... Only at this time did Victoria feel safe and unafraid... The special events for Annabelle and Katherine such as birthdays and holidays like Christmas were unbearable for Victoria. Only in her dreams could she feel good. Only by seeing through the eyes of the others, feeling what they felt, and growing to love the strangers that were called mom and dad in the dreams could she, for a short time, forget about her life that was a true nightmare.

Katherine and Annabelle also dreamed of each other and wondered why their minds would create another place just as good as their real lives in their dreams. They also dreamed of the mountains, of more people that they did not know even existed... Growing to hate these people as Victoria hated them for everything that they had done to her and in essence to them. For the most part they believed that these people were truly evil and that the other people that they saw from each others lives were just a part of their over active imaginations, most of the time.

## Chapter Four

It was their thirteenth birthday. Each was celebrating differently. Katherine was shopping with her mom in the mall. Annabelle was having a party with all of her friends in the game room of her house. Victoria though was not celebrating much of anything. Her father loved any occasion that gave him an excuse to drink and her mother could care less about what either one of them did. Victoria was content to stay at home alone. Unfortunately, her father remembered that it was her birthday and came home early from work...

"Let's go over to George's." He said with anticipation as Victoria came down the stairs. Immediately and reluctantly Victoria agreed to go. She knew that Jonathan only wanted a reason to snort some coke. Another reason that she didn't want to go was George's brother, Dave. Dave gave her the creeps. As she went upstairs to get her things she prayed that Virginia would be home... Thirty minutes later they arrived at George's. As luck would have it Virginia had went to North Carolina to visit her sister for the weekend. Victoria wanted to leave but she knew what would happen if she even asked... The day was hot and they had moved to the poolside. Victoria sat leisurely, yet apprehensively in a deck chair reading a book. All the time watching every move that Dave and George made. After a few hours her father, Dave and George were all stoned and drunk. Around 2:00 Dave started coming over to her side of the pool. Though he was only 25 he looked more like 40. He approached her as quickly as he could in his staggering state, his eyes glazed over with a drunken madness... Dave sat on the ground next to Victoria's chair and whispered up to her. Adamantly she refused to do what he had suggested. Her father came over yelling at her, and he joined Dave in telling her what she would do for them. Victoria continued to refuse...

"You'll do it or I'll..." Jonathan stammered unable to complete a full sentence because of the drugs.

"NO!" Victoria screamed as she stood up to make her refusal. Jonathan slapped her once then told her the truth... that she was no kin to him... That she was adopted... That some rich guy's daughter was a whore and a slut and that they were paid to take her... And that she would do what ever they told her to do whenever they told her to do it...

Victoria's mouth gaped in astonishment and relief. It was not a complete shock to her that these people were not her parents. He told her again what she would do for Dave, but again she refused. He hit her again, harder this time knocking her into the deep end of the pool. Jonathan hit her so hard that her feet hit the bottom of the 16-foot pool. While trying to surface she inhaled water. When she finally reached the water's surface her father pushed her back into the water. She struggled to come up, but in the struggle she hit her head on the side of the pool and everything went blank.

Katherine froze... Her mother continued to walk not noticing that her daughter had stopped. When her mother realized that Katherine was not beside her she turned around. Ashley went immediately to Katherine thinking that she had stopped to look at something in a window that had caught her fancy. As Ashley approached Katherine she realized that Katherine was not breathing and had turned extremely pale...

"Katherine, What's wrong?" By this time Ashley had dropped all of her packages and was shaking Katherine vigorously, all the while becoming hysterical. Finally a bystander shouted for someone to call an ambulance. Before the paramedics could arrive Katherine had fallen to the ceramic floor of the mall and was beginning to choke up water as if she had been in a pool and was drowning.

Annabelle became a statue as she and Luke were dancing. Rapidly her breathing dropped to almost nonexistent. Luke quickly picked her up and screamed to the people on the couch to get up. Straight away she became unconscious and her pulse was erratic. Macon called 911. As the ambulance arrived Annabelle began to spit up water...

JOURNAL ENTRY JUNE 14

I found out yesterday the truth. As I have always suspected, I am adopted. I have no idea of my real parents except that my grandfather was rich and that could be anyone in the world as far as I am concerned. I want to know why my grandfather felt that he had to get rid of me, and why didn't my mother fight him? Did she not care? Perhaps she did fight but lost the battle, as I lose every day with these people. Did my grandfather know what terror these people would inflict upon me? I wish that I knew the reasons that he had for placing me here with these strangers that I at one time called my parents, but who were never really my family.

After Jonathan told me the truth he tried to force me to do things that Dave wanted. Things that I could resisted for as long as possible. I remember Jonathan hitting me into the pool and hitting the side of the pool as I tried to surface. Then it was like floating. Soon I was emerged in a bright light that I can only describe as fluorescent. At first I was scared, I did not know what was happening... I wondered (hoped) perhaps that I was dying. The light was so warm and inviting. I'm not sure what happened after that. I only know that feeling of the light and its warmth was something that I shall forever search for...

**Dear DEE Diary** ,

Today is June 14. Yesterday something very unusual happened. I was shopping with mother when I lost sight of everything. I felt surrounded by warmth and saw a bright light and felt as if I were floating. I saw what looked like someone drowning in a pool, but I couldn't do anything to help her. Then I saw people in the mall from the ceiling (don't ask me how I got there). It was all so strange, and I don't understand any of it...

Life's Log June 14

I had a very unusual experience yesterday. About all that I can remember is dancing with Luke and everything went blank. It seemed like I was floating. I could see everything as if I was lying on the ceiling, as if that is even possible. The next thing that I saw was someone drowning. She looked familiar but I can't say who she was or even if we've ever met. That strange sensation of floating was terrifying yet also exhilarating...

## Chapter Five

After Victoria was told the truth there was no stopping Jonathan. He forced her to do things that she could never (consciously) repeat to anyone. Though subconsciously the events that happened on every horrifying day manifested themselves into the dreams of Katherine and Annabelle. Even though they had always dreamed about the mountains of Tennessee and the people that lived there. The dreams were nothing like the terrifying nightmares that had now begun...

Now that Victoria knew the truth Jonathan saw no need to treat her as a daughter or even treat her as a human being, and from that day forward she was never again treated with any type of sympathy, love, understanding or any emotion that parents were expected to giver their children. Victoria would clean house before leaving for classes in the morning and upon her return she would start all over again. She prepared every meal that Jonathan ate at the exact time that he came home everything was ready, no matter how early or how late he was. After the meal she began cleaning again.

She was virtually a slave who waited on both Jonathan and Tess for what ever they wanted or needed at whatever time they wanted it. Then if Jonathan did not pass out from alcohol or drugs, his actions to her would be so unspeakable that not even the worst criminal in the Tennessee State Penitentiary would attempt the acts that he did to her almost every night. Some nights weren't so bad as compared to others. The worst night came when something was not done to Jonathan's liking, a spot on a dish could be all that it would take to set Jonathan off.

Victoria had no choice but to submit to Jonathan's abuse. She promised herself that one-day one of them would die... Until that day came she would continue to work as hard as she could in her classes so that she could one day support herself and never again depend on anyone for anything. Between their thirteenth and fifteenth birthdays the girls had three broken arms a fractured rib, and innumerable bruises, black eyes and bloody noses. Katherine and Annabelle would have no idea except the glimpses that they had of Victoria's life, but they could not tell their parents or the doctors about the visions/dreams for fear that they would be labeled as insane, mad and a list of other adjectives that all teenagers fear.

Victoria knew the reasons for all of the injuries. Even though she did not know that the others were suffering as she suffered with no explanation, in fact she just thought that the glimpses into their lives was just a part of a fantasy world that she had created in order to escape from the real world around her. Her "father" came home drunk so often and she began to fight him with more ferocity that the beatings and molesting, and even full-blown rape became worse than ever. Only while she slept could she escape into a peaceful world full of love and away from Jonathan's cold and callused hands.

Victoria never had friends as Katherine and Annabelle. Although she was a nice girl and never bothered any one and she was definitely not overlooked; for her beauty could be described only as breath taking. The morning sun flowing gently on a spring day were the only words that describe her hair and her complexion that of the setting sun burning gold across the blue sky. No one ever asked her to join them at study hall tables, or lunch tables. She was never asked to parties or out on dates.

She attributed this to her uneasiness around people... So she concentrated solely on graduating and leaving home. To Victoria, having friends meant relying on someone other than herself so why bother with them anyway... Until the spring of her junior year...

## Chapter Six

"I don't want to hurt you. I just want you..." Dean R.Koontz

Annabelle screamed in her sleep. Moments later both of her parents were by her side, unable to wake their raving daughter from a screaming trance. They tried albeit unsuccessfully, to calm her down. Repeatedly she yelled in a strange voice...

"Please... Don't...!!! No you're hurting me... Please STOP!!!"

Thousands of miles away Katherine screamed into the night waking her mother. She cried only two words into the darkness... "Victoria... Don't..." Katherine then became fixed in a trance like state. Minutes flashed by and her mother could do nothing to wake her, nor could her father who arrived just a few moments later. Profusely she sweated as if in fear and thrashed about as if someone was attacking her.

While Katherine and Annabelle were in trances and scaring their parents to death... Victoria was out with someone that she had met while shopping at the mall...*

She was not sure if she should go out with him, but she needed to get away from Jonathan for as long as she could. Michael seemed like a nice guy and he willingly spoke with Victoria on his own... For that she was secretly grateful; yet there was something about him that she feared. They went to a movie and Victoria somehow sensed that he had to restrain himself from the same things that Jonathan often did to her. How she knew this and if it was really true about Michael she did not know.

After the movie, they got in his red Camaro. She asked him several times where they were going, but he just smiled and said A "special place, a real special place..." Victoria did not like the sound of that. She knew that he was talking about a place that she had overheard the other girls talking about. The ever-famous "Lover's Lane." Twenty minutes later they were parked on a lonely stretch of dirt road near the lake. A full moon and bright shining stars lighted the sky. The moon's reflection bounced off of the lake in a beautiful and in the right circumstances even romantic way.

Michael made her feel uncomfortable. He turned on the radio and a slow song played that she had never heard before began to play. He leaned closer to her and brushed back the hair from her face... He could tell that she was nervous. "Let's go for a walk," he whispered softly into her ear and got out of the car.

Victoria thought that maybe the walk would cool him off and if not she could make a run for it. They strolled past the picnic tables and went closer to the beach on the other side of the lake. the crickets chirped as the moon's reflection rippled across the water. Victoria liked being out here, but not with Michael.

She felt that he had different ideas, other than a leisurely stroll along the beach...Ideas that continued to remind her of that man that had nearly destroyed her. "Want to go for a swim?" He asked as he began to take off his own clothes. "No I'll just watch you." Victoria didn't care for swimming to much after her last birthday swim at the age of 13, three years ago. Besides she didn't have a swimming suit. Then again neither did Michael, but he didn't seem to care one way or the other... After swimming a few laps and floating around on his back he came back to shore where Victoria had settled down in the sand.

"Water feels great, until you get out anyway." Michael was trying to start a conversation to make her feel more at ease. While at the same time he was putting his arms around her. Victoria was definitely not ready for what she knew was coming. Victoria began to slowly move away, hoping that he would not do something that they would both regret... "Please don't go..." He begged her and then madly grabbed her arm when she tried to stand up. He leaned over her forcing her to sink deeper into the scratchy dry sand... "Michael, please let me go..." Victoria pleaded with him, but she could tell now that he was just like Jonathan and next to nothing would stop him... "Why should I? I know what kind of girl you are..." As he continued to tell her of what he had been told by Jonathan's friend Dave, he began to massage her neck. Then his hands moved across her body. This was not her idea of a good time. When he finished talking he violently kissed her as if she would die without him...

Something hit him on the back of the head. He turned over onto his back, releasing her arms, but he saw no one, only the shadows cast by the moon's limited light. As he called out "Who's there?" Victoria quietly jumped up and ran for the trees. Hoping to lose her aggressor in the night, which had suddenly been filled with utter darkness, but before she could reach the woods she tripped over a large stone at the edge of the beach and in seconds he was upon her...

She continued to scream, but there was no one there to hear her pleas for help. Another pebble hit Michael in the back of the head, this one only slightly larger than the first. This time he did not let go of her as looked around to see who was throwing stones at him, leaving her no choice... Moments later Michael was lying on his back. Victoria was standing beside him, staring down at the blood that poured from his left temple onto his crisp brown hair. Victoria did not know if he was just unconscious or dead... She only knew that she was frightened.

Out in California Annabelle had become very quiet after her outbreak of hysterics. Her parents had finally managed to wake her up. All she would say was that she remembered nothing and wanted to go back to sleep...

In Maine Katherine woke up with a start. She told her parents that she couldn't remember anything that they told her of the screaming or what had possibly caused the fit. That it must have been a nightmare and now all she wanted to do was sleep.

In Tennessee, while Katherine and Annabelle were returning to sleep, Victoria was forcing herself into unconsciousness. Not knowing how she had done what she had done or how she was inducing herself to sleep. She knew that no one would believe what had happened and she could think of no way to explain any of it. She decided that if she were asleep then no one could bother her... In her "Fantasy World" they could not intrude and ask the questions that she knew would come...

## Chapter Seven

The next day someone found Michael's car and called the police. Thirty minutes after a patrol car arrived they found Michael and Victoria on the edge of the beach. Victoria was unconscious, but alive, and Michael was dead. The police could tell immediately that someone had hit Michael on the head with the huge rock the laid next to him on the sandy ground. Although there was a large amount of blood that had drained from his wound, but it looked as if he had died instantly from the blow inflicted upon him. Either way he was dead and the girl was not. Maybe she would be able to explain what had happened. They rushed her to the hospital in hopes that she would soon be revived.

Katherine and Annabelle would not wake up no matter what their parents or the doctors tried. Two days after being placed in the hospitals they awoke from their deep slumber...

The police then questioned Victoria as much as the doctors would allow. She commented that the only thing she could remember was playing chase with Michael. She said that she vaguely recalled slipping, then everything went black. She tried to find out from the officers what had happened to Michael, but she already knew...

## Chapter Eight

Journal April 13

The prom is about a month away now. I thought Glenn might ask me. A few times he has talked to me and we are very much the same, neither one of us talks to many people. I really like him, even though in my mind I don't want to feel for him the way that my heart does. I don't really want to be near any one, but I guess that at some time everyone needs someone to feel close to and loved by...

I don't know why I continue to think that he might ask me to the prom. I'm sure he will ask Suzanne. So many months that I've longed for him, from the first day that he moved here and started classes at Central High I've only thought about him. Perhaps I could learn to love and trust him, even though I swore to myself that no one would ever receive my trust... I'm tired of staying here. I'm always fighting with Jonathan and Tess... Never doing anything right... Yet something inside of me is happy. I cannot place it. I love this feeling, yet I hate it. It is not my own emotions and I don't know where it comes from. If only I could go to it... Alas, I know not where it comes from and through time the darkness grows and begins to overwhelm these slight feelings of happiness. I have lived so long in the darkness that not even the memories of the warm glow of contentment will be enough to keep me from totally enveloping the darkness...

**Dear Dee Diary, Today is April 13**.

I knew that it would happen! I mean why shouldn't it! I know I'm babbling, but of course you know about that. Thomas asked if could escort me to the senior prom. I feel so good... It's great hearing the words and not just assuming that he was going to take me! I feel like I'm on some kind of cloud! This is going to be the best time of my life. I know it, it just has to be...

However, I have this odd feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is missing and I can't place it. In the past everything has been so great, but there has always been something missing. I think that the dreams may have something to do with these odd feelings. Like a part of me that is missing, a part that I never had but nonetheless I know that it is missing... I just wish that I could figure it out before the prom gets here so that it doesn't bring me down like it often does. I want to feel as good as I did when Thomas asked me to go to the prom...

Life's Log April 13

Luke and I are going to the prom together (as if that was a big surprise to anyone, since we've been dating since eighth grade). I can't believe it's almost here; mom's having her designer friend design my dress so that no one else will have one like it. It will be a complete original. It's going to be a total blast! I know that everything is going to turn out all right... Or at least I hope that it does... I have this strange feeling that something is going to go drastically wrong... I'm being ridiculous. Nothing could possibly go wrong this my senior prom we're talking about.

## Chapter Nine

"Hey Annabelle. What's up?"

Annabelle's friend Macon asked over the blaring music. "Nothing. Where's your date?"

"Over at the punch bowl. How about yours?"

"Mine too."

Annabelle replied with contempt.

"You'd think that they came for the punch instead of us!" Macon replied. "They go drink and leave us standing here like knots on logs." Macon was getting madder and madder as the night wore slowly on.

Later that night Luke finally came over to Annabelle with another girl on his arm..."Sorry Annabelle... Looks like you'll have to go to the after prom party with Macon and Don. Me and Cheryl are going out." As these last words escaped his lips he and Cheryl turned and left. Which was good because Annabelle probably would have caused a really big scene in front of the entire Senior and Junior classes.

She wanted to cry, but she vowed that she wouldn't. Well at least not until she got home. She was hurting deep inside, but she went to the party with Macon and Don anyway. She didn't care for staying at the prom with all of these people around and Macon knew this, so she talked Don into leaving early.

***

Katherine could barely hear over the loud music which started again after the King and Queen announcements were complete. She and Thomas stood in the buffet line waiting to reach the food. The night wore on and the music blared. They talked and danced the night away... But something didn't feel right... She should have been having a great time but the fact remained that something had her ill at ease. Relentlessly she kept up her appearance and no one could tell that something was troubling her. Or if they could tell no one mentioned, and that was good, because she would not have been able to give them an answer as to why she felt so bad...

Journal May 12

I knew that Glenn would not ask me! Not that it matters. I don't see what the big deal is about a stupid prom anyway. And I don't care about any of it anymore!

I'll just let the darkness take over and destroy me. I'll be able to know what the light feels like without searching this plane of existence for it...

## Chapter Ten

Released

I see the blood as the skin is cut...

The blood rushes and pulses...

The life runs out of me as I see

The last trickle of blood...

The darkness has ceased and I am

Embraced by the light...

Only with the trickling of the blood

Can I be released from the Darkness

That has held me for so long.

Sorcha Bloduewedd

"... Knew it was madness, suicide... but it was also a beginning!" Ray Bradbury

As the knife sank into her flesh the blood surfaced.... The skinned burned and her eyes watered... She sat alone on the bottom step and watched the blood begin to fall... With each breath she took, her heart beat again, the blood pulsed and the skin vibrated... Quietly the darkness engulfed her...

At the party Annabelle began to feel light headed... She asked Macon for a glass of water. By the time Macon returned Annabelle was unconscious...

The prom had slowed down. Thomas and Katherine were slow dancing to "Drift off to Dream" by Travis Tritt. Suddenly Thomas felt something begin to ooze down his back were Katherine's arms rested. he slowly raised his arms to hers and unlocked them from around his neck. He brought her arms down in front of him and even in the dimly lit ball room he could see the blood pouring from her wrists...

"My God Katherine you're bleeding!" Thomas yelled and the room became silently as her blood dripped onto the floor and everyone saw the pool of blood on the floor and on Thomas's back.

Katherine looked at her wrists and slumped to the floor... "Someone call 911! Thomas yelled...

Macon yelled for someone to call the paramedics.

And Victoria lay alone on the back porch embracing and releasing the darkness that had encircled her, all of her young life.

## Chapter Eleven

During the night all three slept in their hospital beds, and they dreamed... They dreamt of the past and they dreamt of each other. In the dream they met face to face and shared an unknown bond. Victoria was terrified to be left alone. Annabelle and Katherine knew of no way to find her. As they dreamed Katherine had an idea... An idea of a pact... One that could be sealed with blood... This way they would always feel connected and never again really ever be alone. Victoria reached into the darkness of the dream and produced a knife glimmering in the light. She was the first to slice the tender skin of her palms... Allowing the blood to pulse slowly over the blade. She then handed it to Annabelle, who proceeded to do the same... Annabelle gave the razor sharp knife to Katherine. With extreme slowness, Katherine clenched her teeth and pushed the knife into her right hand, then her left... Wanting to cry out in pain, but she did not...

They clasped hands, forming a circle, and with the warmth that embraced them they promised to seek each other out and be together. Their dream ended and they continued to Asleep." In the night their beds became saturated with blood, yet the nurses could find no cuts, except for Victoria's and her cuts had clotted. There was no explanation for their unconsciousness or the bleeding...

## Chapter Twelve

"Mr. and Mrs. McCallaugh, there is no physiological reason to explain this, this phenomena." The doctor tried to explain to the nearly hysterical parents of Katherine. "What do you mean there's no reason, doctor?" Katherine's father had calmed down considerably since last night. "When your daughter first arrived, we tried to stop the flow of blood. Naturally, we thought it was some sort of cut. We first applied direct pressure, but the flow continued. The nurses applied pressure to all the major arteries that would affect the wrist, but the blood would not stop. The x-ray technicians ran several test but found nothing wrong from internal pictures taken. No cuts, no abrasions, no broken bones, no internal bleeding, nothing... The blood finally stopped on its on, then suddenly last night the blood again began to flow this time from their palms. I have consulted every physician in this hospital and no one can came up with any ideas as to what is happening to your daughter..."

"Doctor, what is wrong with our daughter?"

Annabelle's father begged the doctor to explain. "All we know is that Annabelle felt very faint, someone went to get her a glass of water. When this person returned, Annabelle was unconscious and her wrists were slowly beginning to bleed. They called an ambulance and she arrived here. We ran every test in the medical field. There is no logical or even illogical reason for the state that your daughter is in...

## Chapter Thirteen

"Ashley, something has got to be done about Katherine's condition." Scott was trying to explain to his wife that there had to be some reason for all the things that had happened to their daughter. He wanted to know before things got drastically worse and they lost her forever. "I don't know Scott. I just don't like the idea of sending her away without us. There's no telling what those doctor's will do to her. Think of the strain all of those test will put on her..." Ashley was trying to rationalize why they couldn't send Katherine to the Institute. "What about the strain of everything that has already happened to her that no one can explain, at least the doctors will be able to explain to her what they are doing and that they are trying to help her find out what has been happening to her." Scott was determined to send Katherine to the Institute.

Thousands of miles away in California, Madeline and Ian Douglas were having a similar conversation about their daughter, Annabelle.

Neither parent wanted to send their daughters away, but they did not want to see their daughters die for no reason either.

In Tennessee, Tess and Jonathan Smith were arguing. Neither wanted to make any decisions concerning their adopted daughter, Victoria. They didn't want this child and they did not love her. They had only took custody of her for the large sum of money that they would be endowed with yearly. Since neither would make a decision on what to do about Victoria. They both went to pick her up at the hospital, with no idea or concern about Victoria.

Mr. and Mrs. McCallaugh finally decided. They would visit the Institute, then decide if Katherine should stay.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas decided. Annabelle would go to the Institute next week.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith did not care.

## Chapter Fourteen

On June 1

Katherine and her parents walked through the doors of the Institute and into the office of Doctor Alfred Cline, who half stood as the trio entered. He gestured toward the leather chairs in front of his desk and said, "Please, have a seat, Mr. and Mrs. McCallaugh, Katherine."

"It's really difficult to explain in layman's terms exactly what we do here. We naturally run a number of physiological and psychological tests. The results from each test helps us to determine what other tests are required. One test will check Katherine's clairvoyant powers. In this test, cards with various symbols will be face down on a table, Katherine will then try to picture what each card is and tell us. We record her answers as well as physiological reactions such as respiration, brain waves, heartbeat, blood pressure, temperature etc. Another test is telepathy. This test is very similar to the clairvoyant test, with the exception that a person will be looking at the cards and she will attempt to read the image from the person's mind. All the physiological measurements will be recorded in this and every test that we perform." The doctor continued his explanation of even more complicated experiments that involved REM sleep and dreams. "These machines, will they be very uncomfortable or even dangerous," Katherine's mother asked, fearing that something could go wrong. Katherine sat silent and intrigued as they spoke. "Some of the machines will be slightly uncomfortable, but none of them can harm her. Some of the equipment that we will be using are the same one's that your doctor's at home may use on you when monitoring someone in the hospital, such as EKG's, respiration monitors, blood pressure and temperature monitors. I think that she will adjust to them rather quickly." The doctor continued to explain even more complex monitoring systems, which went way over the McCallaugh's heads. "Katherine, how would you like to see the rest of the gardens and libraries we have here, while your parents and I speak privately?" The doctor had Katherine's file and did notwant to disclose information that she may not know about. "Sure." Katherine knew that something else was going on that they didn't want her to know about. "Good...Good. Ms. Snowden will you show Katherine the grounds." Dr. Cline paged his secretary to take Katherine for a tour.

After Katherine had left the doctor began. "I see from Katherine's files that she is adopted. Does Katherine know?" Katherine's mother gasped, thanking God that Katherine had left. "No we have never felt that it was something that she needed to know about. We love her as if she was really our child." Her father explained. "Do you know anything about her real family, medical history or anything? Her mother or father's history, or if she has any siblings?" Dr. Cline asked. "No." They answered in unison. "This could drastically affect some of the test results. Is there any way for you to find out about her family?"

"I'm afraid not." Ian reluctantly answered. "Uh...we don't have access to any of that information. Are we going to be able to keep it from her that she is adopted?"

"We will keep it from her for as long as we can, if that is your wish, but it would probably be more beneficial to her as well as the doctors here that she is told. If it becomes necessary to tell her we will call you and allow you to tell her." Dr. Cline could tell that these people really loved their daughter. After their lengthy conversation Dr. Cline gave them a tour of the Institute and they later met up with Katherine in the library. The McCallaugh's decided that they would leave Katherine their in Dr. Cline's hands. Katherine's luggage was placed in suite 203E (second floor, east wing).

Soon after Annabelle and her parents arrived in Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas met with the other head doctor, Samuel Skinner, who told them basically the same thing that Dr. Cline had told the McCallaughs. Annabelle's luggage was taken to Suite 203W (second floor, west wing) while they toured the grounds and ate in the cafeteria with Dr. Skinner.

## Chapter Fifteen

The first week of testing revealed nothing from Katherine. In the second week however, she began to have dreams of the small town in Tennessee. The dreams had always been there, and they had always scared her, but she could never understand them, and know it seemed that perhaps she would finally learn the meaning of everything.

Each night the doctors monitored her REM sleep, pulse rate, blood pressure, temperature, and brain activity. They were amazed at the results. On most of the nights Katherine would awaken terrified, yet for a frightened person her pulse rate and blood pressure was extremely low for some one in her mental state. Brain activity would be erratic as if she were fully awake, where as the brain activity of someone sleeping is far less active. Her "rapid eye movement" was almost nonexistent, which is inconsistent with someone who is dreaming. Katherine would awaken screaming but she could never remember more than scant details.

In the other wing, Annabelle had moved in but testing had not yet begun. Annabelle was also having the dreams, but no one knew and she could not bring herself to tell the doctors quite yet about the odd visions. The dreams were like before, but they were growing in intensity and it was beginning to drive her completely insane. She, unlike Katherine, always remembered every detail. Still she had no clue to who these people were other than first names and that they lived in a mountainous region. She also knew that they were very real and that she hated them. She didn't understand why she felt this way; she just knew that she did.

When she wasn't dreaming of the mountains, she dreamed of being tested her in the institute, but in a different place and by people she had never met. Annabelle didn't understand this either. She had so many questions to ask, but she was unsure whom she should talk to.

In Tennessee, Victoria and her parents were arguing more than ever. She wanted to go on a trip but they refused to even listen to her reasons. Since they would not allow her a small vacation, Victoria decided that she would not do any of her assigned chores. For this her and Jonathan got into fights every night. The things that he did to her now did not compare to what he had done to her in the past.

" **To thine ownself be true." Hamlet William Shakespeare**

At night he would finally leave her alone and she would silently cry herself to sleep. She dreamed of what Jonathan had done to her. Victoria would then awake in a cold sweat, but remember nothing of that night's fights or of the dreams. Victoria also had strange dreams in which many unusual tests were run on someone. Although this was a strange, new and medical place, she actually felt safe when she thought of this place.

Considering that no one knew about Katherine's dreams, because she could not remember them, and Annabelle had not yet told any one about them, no one at the Institute could connect them to each other... And no one even knew about Victoria so there was no one that could reach out to her and help get away from Jonathan and Tess. With each day passing things grew worse.

## Chapter Sixteen

" _There have been times... times when I thought there's something missing in me, some tiny piece that's an essential part of being human. I've felt different from other people, almost as if I'm a member of another species... and it's... tearing me... apart."_ Dean R. Koontz The House of Thunder.

Victoria could take no more. She was terrified of Jonathan, and Tess was no help. She decided to go North, where her dreams seemed to originate from. She had over $300 that she had saved that no one knew about. While Jonathan was at work she called the airport and reserved a seat in coach for $150 to Connecticut. Victoria didn't know why Connecticut, but it seemed right. Hours later she arrived in Connecticut with no place to go. Since she knew no one outside of Tennessee she decided that she would walk around for a while. Thirty minutes later she found herself in a park, sitting on a bench, watching the children play and the squirrels chase the pigeons away from the breadcrumbs that had been left for them. She didn't know what was happening... only that she was almost safe.

As Victoria sat on the bench she slipped into a trance like state. She couldn't see or hear anything in the park. What she did see was a doctor with a lot of machines, just like in her dreams. They were running more tests on someone, but she couldn't see who. It was as if she were looking at the doctors through that person's eyes. Victoria knew that the person was in no harm, yet she felt an urgent pull to this place. As she sat in the park appearing to watch squirrels in the distance, but instead she was looking much farther away into a place that she must go. But how could she get to a place that she didn't know the name of.

The doctors and nurses never mentioned a name only "The Institute." Victoria continued to search for some kind of a clue. Finally someone with a blue identification badge came in. It read: "Tracey Stephens, RN, Security Level 2, Schleswig Institute."

As she saw this badge a child threw a Frisbee right into her stomach. The vision vanished but she remembered everything. Especially the institute's name... Schleswig. This was the place in her dreams that she felt safe. She gathered her leather backpack and rushed to the nearest telephone booth for a telephone to find an address for the institute. Immediately she hailed a taxi and headed for the Institute 35 miles away. Instead of telling him the exact location she told him the street name. The taxi stopped, she paid the cabby and stepped out. She looked around saw a large white building. Victoria had never been here, yet everything was familiar to her. For a while she just stood, looking around.

## Chapter Seventeen

Victoria began to walk around, trying to decide how to get in. She thought about talking to one of the doctors, but decided against it. As she walked, she passed a gate that led to a beautiful garden. She tried the handle, but it was locked... She made the decision that if something had drawn her to this place, then no locked gate was going to keep her from it, so she squeezed through the bars of the wrought iron fence.

Annabelle was on her way back to her suite from the library when she felt compelled to go to the garden. As she entered the garden she realized what a sunny clear day it was, so she went to the bench that was under the dogwood tree.

Katherine was in her suite when she slipped into a trance and had a vision of the garden. She was seeing everything as if she were sitting on the bench under the dogwood. Katherine rushed to the garden, unable to understand the vision, and hoping to find out if she was really seeing through someone else's eyes...

***

As the girls approached the tree from separate sidewalks, they stared at each other curiously. They knew that each had never seen the other before and yet they seemed somehow familiar. Into each girl's mind memories came, and with the memories came names... Memories of all the nightmares and yet now, now they didn't seem so terrifying. As the memories washed over them, the girls began to understand that they had shared these dreams, and then the girls knew... They knew who each was and why they seemed so familiar. They had lived each other's lives through the dreams. Without a word they reached for one another... Silently remembering the promises... "Annabelle, Katherine..." Victoria whispered. "I know now... I remember everything... I understand..."

"We know Victoria, we've known for a long time." Katherine and Annabelle said in unison. "But we didn't know who we were or why all of this has happened to us, until now..." Katherine began to explain. "Now we are together and the cycle is complete... Throughthe reunification all has been revealed... And never again shall we be apart. Never again will we be alone."

Annabelle began to speak as they clasped hands... Their hands grasped each other longing to replace those missing centuries of not understanding why they had always been different... As their minds seemingly became one, their hands began to bleed... Symbolizing their sacred promises to each other...

Victoria knew now that in their past she was not the only one to suffer. At times they were together, yet only they knew that they were different from the others around them, but they never understood why. All the memories flooded their minds. But it was to much for them, and they passed out, slumping to the ground in the garden.

## Chapter Eighteen

An hour later one of the hospital attendants came out to the garden to eat his lunch in the warm Connecticut sunshine. Like almost everyone, and certainly the girls, his favorite spot was among the dogwood trees. As he worked his way along the crooked maze of bushes, he saw ahead of him three teenage girls who all looked alike. One of them he knew to be a patient, but which one? Immediately he dropped his lunch and ran back to the main building to get help...

In less then five minutes doctors, nurses, and attendants were in the garden with stretchers. They could not break the embrace, and locked hands that the girls had on each other, so they had to place them all on one stretcher. The attendants hoisted them up and took them to one of the examining rooms...

Annabelle and Victoria's blood pressure was low, yet their brain activity was high and erratic. While Katherine's blood pressure was high and her brain activity was almost completely gone, as if she were brain dead. It was if they were asleep and dreaming, but there was no rapid eye movement. None of the doctors could explain it. Dr. Cline thought it would be best if they put off telling the parents for a few days of the complications of the catatonic sleep and the third girl, in hopes that they would soon awake.

On the third day Katherine awoke, but she was very confused, but not half as confused as the doctors were to become...

"We are sisters..." Katherine began to explain, "I don't understand how, for my parents are not theirs and theirs are not mine... Yet they are. I possess my memories, and their memories, but never before have we met." Dr. Cline tried to comprehend what Katherine was talking about. He knew that it was logical that they were sisters because he knew that Annabelle and Katherine had both been adopted. He did not know this third girl who remained unconscious, yet he knew that she must be their sister because she resembled them so closely. Could there be a psychic link so strong that it had kept them connected over the years, and that had finally brought them together here at the Institute. Cline began to question Katherine, but she could not answer the questions, and slowly she drifted to sleep, murmuring that never again would they be separated.

## Chapter Nineteen

Within a few hours all three had completely awakened. They were understandably confused and scared after everything that they had experienced in the past and the memories that had flooded their unconscious minds.

The doctors wanted to separate them to run tests and ask questions, but they flatly refused to leave each other's sight. They claimed to have been separated for far to long. Dr. Cline and Dr. Skinner agreed that perhaps if they used the evaluation rooms on the third floor that had windows but were sound proof they could question each girl individually without actually separating them for very long. The first tried to speak with Victoria but she would not talk. They had no idea who she was or where she came from.

Though the doctors were fairly certain that this girl was the one that had lived in Tennessee and that their patients had dreamed of. As far as the doctors knew Victoria never even talked to Annabelle or Katherine, not verbally anyway. And if they were communicating telepathically, there was no way to tell...

For a while Dr. Skinner spoke to Annabelle, while Dr. Cline talked to Katherine. All they could find out was that the stranger was their sister, Victoria, and that they could never again be separated.

## Chapter Twenty

The girls knew but didn't understand what had happened. Therefore they could not tell the doctors what was going on, because they themselves did not know how to explain there memories of the past centuries. All the memories that had flooded their minds had become so jumbled that there was no one place in which they could start to explain any thing that had happened.

Dr. Skinner suggested hypnotic regression to help them recall their past. The problem with this was that in order for the hypnosis to work was for the others to be in different rooms so that one's memories would not influence the others memories when place under hypnosis.

After two weeks the girls finally consented to being temporarily separated, but no farther then the next room and only for a short period of time.

## Part Two

## Chapter Twenty-One

The story that you are about to read is about three sisters... A story that could possible predate the birth of Christ... yet this story has been ever continuing from that time to today's time... For centuries they have been reborn and each time they were together. Until the late twentieth century, they were then separated for over sixteen years, but they continued a crude yet effective form of psychic communication. It wasn't until they were finally reunited that the truth was revealed, not only to them but to those who have devoted their entire lifetimes researching this type of phenomena.

No other events have been recorded in such emotional detail. Perhaps no one will ever really know the true answers to the questions that most certainly will be asked about these that things have happened to these girls. We can only document what we have found in our hypnotic regression sessions with them. Because much of the general population does not understand psychological jargon, we have composed the lives of these sisters into story formats, so that everyone may see, enjoy, and be fascinated by the past lives of girls who are Together Forever. We first present you with the very beginning... The lives in which it all began centuries ago in the land of Great Britain. Doctor Alfred Cline and Doctor Samuel Skinner Schleswig Institute

## Chapter Twenty-Two

It was soon after the Roman invasion of Briton that Gwynn, Corra, and Ariana were being considered as possible members in the Druid order of their village. The evening appeared to be settling down quietly from the day's activities of the harvest when a great clamor arose from the southeast. It was the Roman soldiers that everyone had hoped and prayed would not come this far north. Their village was a small one and the battle for lives was short lived those who were not killed were taken as captives, to be returned to Rome as slaves. A few managed to escape into the forest and elude detection by the Roman guards.

After a week's end the soldiers dispersed; three quarters of the men headed farther north to another village and the remaining troops began the return trip to Rome. Several weeks passed by as they traveled on foot, the soldiers being waited on by their prize catches. Finally they reached the sea were others stood guarding the ships. Another two weeks passed on water and finally they reached a port in southern Spain.

Two more weeks passed and they finally reached Rome. Another week passed and one of the soldiers came into the home where the women slaves were being held until the auction. "Tomorrow, at sunrise all are to be cleaned, wearing these dresses for the auction. Be in line oldest too youngest before I return.' the soldiers voice boomed down the corridors. Ariana began to cry, because she knew that they would be separated. Corra held her tightly reassuring her that they would always be together. Gwynn talked quietly to another Celtic lady, which she knew quite well from a neighboring village...

"Many people thought that murder was a sin... God had made them what they were..." The Bad Place Dean R. Koontz "Tonight when that guard comes, the one that likes you so much, you shall give him what he thinks he wants. While you are disrobing him I shall take his dagger..." Gwynn did not like the plan and neither did Bridget, but they knew there was no other way to escape...

Later that night the sentry arrived at 9:00 to relive his comrade. As always he walked through checking to make sure that every slave was asleep (secretly hoping that one certain one would not be). As he finished his check, a soft Gaelic voice spoke his name... "Anton..." He knew immediately that the goddess Venus had finally answered his prayers and sacrifices. It was the voice of the beautiful Bridget. "Bridget?"

Anton spoke her name low so as not to awaken the others as he walked through the darkened building searching for her. "Yes, Anton, it is I Bridget of the Celts." She whispered to him as he bent to where she lay. "Do not tease me slave woman, for tonight I may be like the rest of my comrades and simply take what I want."

"Do not worry master Anton. I tease you not. I only ask that we go to the far end of the room where there are fewer people..."

Slowly they crept to the far corner of the room where Gwynn awaited them. Bridget began to carefully undress the roman soldier. First his heavy bronze breastplate and then his sword belt, which also held his jeweled dagger, fell to the floor. As soon as the belt touched the floor, the dagger was in Gwynn's hands. Bridget and Anton came to the floor, slowly embracing each other in passion, or so the soldier thought...

For Bridget it was pure repulsion. When they had finally settled and Anton's body laid on Bridget's, Gwynn placed the dagger under his chin. Before he could realize what had happened Gwynn's steady hand had severed the man's throat. Bridget soaked the blood up with the soldier's own tunic.

After they were positive that he was dead and that no one had awakened, they went to Corra and Ariana... "Hurry we must go." Gwynn whispered to her sisters... No one spoke until after they reached the forest at the north end of the town...

"Where are we going Gwynn?"

A still groggy Corra asked. "To the northern part of Gaul or home to Briton if we can make it. We must hurry. They will know that we killed Anton and they will never stop looking for us, but if we can get far enough away perhaps they will give up, thinking that we died in the forest..."

Two hours after Anton began his shift, his relief arrived, but he found no Anton at the door waiting to be relieved. He searched the house and could find no one missing in the dim light of the lantern that he carried. Because Julius did not like the idea of awakening a commanding officer, he decided that it Anton might just be taking a walk, or perhaps fooling around with one of the slaves. So he went to the woods to have a look around...

"Stop." Gwynn whispered. "Why?" Bridget asked quietly. "Someone's coming. Hand me Anton's sword."

"You're not going to kill anyone else are you?" Ariana knew that another man would die tonight if they were to escape successfully. "I may have to, if we are to survive." Gwynn replied cold heatedly. Deep inside they all knew that the killing would never stop, not as long as they were in the land of the Romans. Their only chance for life was to return to their homeland, and join their people in the fight to keep Briton out of Roman hands. "Everyone split up and go into the woods. I'm going to stay here and find out who's coming!" Gwynn ordered.

They were alone in the darkness. The forest was lit only by the half moon. Gwynn felt sure that the person that was pursuing them would continue on the straight path that led to her place of guard. Suddenly she heard a muffled scream. "Oh Dear Goddess, please don't let it be my sisters!" Gwynn thought to herself as she ran in the direction of the noise, the Roman's sword poised to strike at anything. When Gwynn reached a cluster of trees, she saw Bridget's body slumped over at the base of a tree. No one had to tell Gwynn that her friend was dead. She knew, but at this point she did not care as long as Ariana and Corra were safe she didn't care who died.

As the Celt bent to kiss her friend's forehead in a last good-bye, a man stepped out from the shadows. Gwynn knew that this was the murderer, for who else would be lurking in the forest at night. Because of the dimness of the night the soldier did not see the sword that Gwynn clenched in her hand. As she rose from her crouched position, Gwynn brought the sword up, slashing the man's leg. He went down with a scream. Before he could compose himself, Gwynn drove the sword into his heart, silencing him forever...

"That was to avenge the death of my friend... and the death of my people that you took in Briton..." Gwynn spoke softly to the fallen Roman.

## Chapter Twenty-Three

Several weeks later they were in the central part of what is now known as France. Finally they were safe, because the Roman's had not yet been able to dominate the French people. Although they were outsiders, the French took them in as one of their own, if only to show disrespect to the Romans. Within a few days the girls decided that it would be safe to settle here until they could safe enough for the return trip to Briton. It was hard traveling by foot for long hours and having only wild berries, and nuts to eat, along with the occasional wild rabbit. Although the French did not worship in the ways that the sisters did, they still stayed and decided that this would be a perfect place to begin their work of conversion of the main continent. The first few months were hard for them. Even though they learned the language in only a few short weeks, they had to prove to the villagers they could work hard and would work hard in order to have a dry place to stay, even if this dry place was only a loft over the sheep or cows. They took odd jobs to get money for a place of their own. Among the odd jobs they took were sewing, midwife, painting (for Ariana was very good with portraits of people), singing, and whatever the people wanted (short of barmaids, for their previous training into the Druid order would not allow them to defile themselves in such a way).

Within a year the people were so fond of the sisters, and especially Ariana's gift for art (her work was becoming well known all over the countryside) the villagers gave them a small portion of land at the center of town on which to build a house. In a month's time they had not just a house but also a home. The villagers had helped them to construct the quaint cottage. On many nights you could find the sisters entertaining the villagers with stories about their homeland and their escape from the Roman guards and slave traders. Often the gathering would turn to tales of the Celtic gods and even thought the people did not realize it, they were losing their own gods and believing in the Celtic ways of life.

When it seemed that all was perfect, the Romans invaded Gaul. News of the invasion came from one of the villager's daughters that had moved further south to be with her husband's family. When Gwynn found out, she wanted to panic, but she knew that she could not, for if she did who would care for her sisters.

"Will we have to leave, Gwynn?" Corra asked her sisters. "I don't know yet. The Romans may not reach this far into Gaul, so don't worry about anything. We are safe here." Gwynn reassured her sisters.

Gwynn had this intense feeling inside that they would soon be fleeing for their lives yet again. She also knew, thanks to a secret contact, that she and her sisters were still wanted for the murder of the two Roman guards, Anton and Julius. There was nothing she could do. Everything that they had was here. Then again, when this had started everything they owned and all of their friends and family was in a small herding village in northern Briton. Gwynn would wait until the last possible minute to tell her sisters that she knew that the Romans were still seeking them.

A few weeks later and the Roman Army had moved in to close for comfort. In order to protect their friends it would be time to move on. That night they told only their closest friends that they would be leaving and that it would be easier to go at night without the good-byes from the entire village. "But we don't want to go. We like it here. Every one is so nice and think about how many have come to us wanting to know more of the gods of our country, some have even came to believe in them strongly." Corra spoke up defiantly, all the while packing only what she could carry. "I've explained already that if the Roman soldiers find us we will be killed. The army is only five days travel from here, and our friends will not be able to hold them off indefinitely." Gwynn said scornfully. She hated to leave also and Corra was making things worse.

By nine o'clock they were packed and left. No other words passed among them. Lucky for them the moon was full, so they could travel a lot faster on their trek northward. By midnight however they were exhausted...

"Do we have to go on? Can't we stop and rest for just a little while?" Corra whined. "All right, but only for a few minutes." Gwynn sighed. She knew that they were tired, she was to, but she couldn't let that stop them from covering as much ground as possible, before the Romans overtook them...

## Chapter Twenty-Four

They slept only for a few hours before the sun rose. As soon as the sky began to lighten, Gwynn was up cooking a breakfast of hot cakes, when she heard something... She looked cautiously around and saw no one. "It was probably just an animal returning to his den." She though out loud. Another sound came from the opposite direction, and then another. The leaves of autumn were crackling underfoot of something that was much larger than a forest animal, and that left only humans. Luckily Gwynn still had Anton's dagger hidden under her robe. Before she could get to it someone grabbed her by the neck...

"So we've finally found you and look here, the evidence we need you still carry his dagger. What kind of murderess carries a dead man's weapon seven months after his death?" It had finally come the Romans had found them. The soldier spoke softly so that he did not awaken her sleeping companions. Five minutes later his fellow comrades arrived and woke the sleeping girls.

"Wake up ladies. It's time to pay for your transgressions against the Roman Empire and its people." With a yank of the blankets Marcus uncovered the now awakened sisters while Aureilius held tightly to Gwynn's arms and tossed the dagger into the bushes.

They knew what was going to happen... they always knew. but this time they would not let it happen. Together Gywnn, Corra, and Ariana concentrated all of their power and thought and with a flash of lightning the bodies of the Romans imploded. Bits of flesh flew into the trees and the blood from their bodies spewed forth like a geyser.

Even though they were safe for now, their garments were splattered with blood and they would be easily recognized as murderesses. Quickly they ran to the spring and washed their soiled clothes and bathed in the cold waters. They left their clothes on nearby bushes to dry while they returned to the campsite to dispose of the bits and pieces that was left of the Roman soldiers. They gathered large portions of flesh, which had not yet been scavenged by the wild creatures of the forest and burned them to ashes, then scattered the remains in the swiftly running stream. The armaments of the soldiers were gathered and buried under the pit that they had used for a campfire, except for the daggers which the sisters kept for extra protection and use in hunting.

They returned to the stream, dressed and left. Their destination was unclear. The only thing that went through their minds was that they had to get as far away as possible. It might even be best if they did not live near others considering what had just happened. They did not fully understand what had caused the death of the Roman soldiers, but they were grateful to whatever gods and goddesses were helping them.

## Chapter Twenty-Five

After several days of walking they reached the northern coast of Gaul, but they knew that they had to keep going. They would never be safe from the Romans on the mainland. If the gods were willing they might be able to return to Briton where news of their acts had not yet reached the regimens stationed there. It had also been rumored that many were being pulled out of Briton and sent eastward to Asia. Roman governors were being left in Briton to set up law and tax systems for their newly conquered lands. Therefore the sisters should be safe, if they stayed out of trouble once they returned to Briton. This thrilled Corra and Ariana, but Gwynn was worried. She didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she felt that fate did not intend for them to ever be free or safe. Gwynn had no clues as to what would happen next so she went along with Corra and Aryan's hopes of returning home. Gwynn booked passage on a merchant ship bound for north Briton. Other than the crew the girls were the only people on board. The rest of the cargo consisted of wine, pottery, jewelry, clothing and such. As much as Gwynn wanted to be on deck to watch the waves and breath the salt air, but she knew that they were still not safe. It wasn't the Romans that she feared now. It was the ships crew that she feared. She didn't know why, but she knew that their troubles had not ended.

Two days into the voyage a storm began. For five days the sky was black with rain clouds. The only light came from bolts of lightning that flashed every few seconds. The ocean's waters leaped onto the ship's decks as the crew attempted to keep the ship on course, but it was no use. The winds blew so fiercely that the men were literally blown overboard into the churning waters below. By storms end three men had been washed overboard and six were injured. Along with the loss of man power the captain had to determine where they were so that he could set a new course in the direction of land, and not a course that would take them further out to the sea and into the hands of death. Gwynn heard a rapping on the door. She hurried to open it to keep whoever it was from waking Cairo and Ariana. Gwynn stepped out into the clear night air with the captain.

"If you would care to join me Ms. Gwynn, I would like to speak with you about our situation." They walked to the Captain's quarters where he kept his maps and instruments.

The girls slept like angels and had looked so inviting to the crew when they first boarded so many days ago. Now they were east of Briton by seven days or more. Jauqce and his brother Claude did not want to spend the next week or so alone. They could think of nothing but the two luscious looking girls that had unwittingly boarded the Jeanne. Jauqce and Claude watched the cabin door close as Gwynn left with the Captain... A loud knock echoed through the room. Ariana groggily went to the door not knowing who was waiting on the other side. The door slowly creaked open to a two-inch crack so that she could peer out...

"Pardon us, but my brother and I were lonely and thought that you lovely ladies might also be lonely and want some company." Jauqce stood with is cap in his hand as if he were a gentleman asking a lady to dance. His black hair shimmers in the moonlight. Claude stood to his left, red hair and beard drenched with moisture from the sea air. Their bodies were bulky from the rigorous strains of working on a large ship. Jauqce's height reached at least 6'6" , while his red headed brother only reached 5'11" . Ariana had seen them upon boarding the Jeanne. That first day she had felt that they were trouble. She could feel then staring. It wasn't only at her. She sensed their intense gaze on Corra as well. Yet they rarely looked at Gwynn. It was as if they feared her.

"We don't feel like seeing anyone. We would rather be alone," Ariana spoke softly and began to close the door, hoping that they would go away.

"Oh come now, I haven't heard your sister say. I'd bet she'd love to have some friends in." Jauqce had pushed the door open wider.

"Corra is sleeping." Ariana tried to shut the door.

"Well then, we'll just have to wake the sleeping beauty then won't we." Jaucqe threw the door open, knocking Ariana onto the floor. "It seems we'll waken the little sleeping princess, Claude." Jauqce was reaching for Ariana. "I guess we'll just have to find something to entertain them eh Jauqce?" Claude, who had been silent until now, said as he walked to where Corra was beginning to sit up.

Before Claude could reach Corra, she was on her feet to confront him. "I think that you should both leave." Corra's insides were shaking but her voice was as calm as the sea had become after the storm. "Now what fun could we have if we left, and what fun could you two girls have if we left you all alone." Claude grabbed Corra around the waist. At the same time Jauqce's hand went from Aryan's wrist to her breast. The girls began screaming for help...

Screaming for their sister Gwynn. Simultaneously the brothers slapped the sisters. Their screaming stopped abruptly, but not before a few other sailors had came to the cabin to see what all the commotion was about. "That's a lot better." Claude exclaimed and then proceeded to kiss Corra. "There now... Look what you girls have done. Your screaming has brought the whole bloody crew here. Well, I guess after we four have had our fun, you two will just have to entertain our traveling mates." Jauqce nodded to his companions outside the door, then slammed it shut.

The sailors didn't bother to interfere. They thoughy that when Jauqce and Claude were finished they would get their turn at some "companionship." Like Jauqce and Claude, none of them wanted to be completely alone for the rest of the voyage when there were three beautiful girls on aboard, so they returned to their posts without alerting the captain of the incident that was currently taking place.

On the other side of the ship the screams went unheard by Gwynn and the captain. They continued their discussion of the new course and how long this would delay they arrival in Briton. "You see Ms. Gwynn, the storm has pushed us to the east of Briton, here." The captain pointed to their approximate location on the map. "If we can avoid anymore squalls we should be able to make Briton in seven days or so. I hope this does not inconvenience you and your sisters." The captain was a gentleman, even though his crew were not.

"That's quite all right, Captain. As long as we reach home, we will be quite happy, no matter how long it takes."

"Would you care for some tea or perhaps some wine?" the captain was not really trying anything; he was just attempting to be a good host. "Some hot tea would be nice." Gwynn was glad at the thought of hot tea after the long cold nights of the storm that they had been through...

"Why don't you just relax, little lady. Things will be a lot gentler if you'll just give in." Jauqce was getting agitated at Aryan's stiffness. Ariana and Corra both resisted, but had ceased their screaming. Every man on board neither could not hear their pleas for help, did not care, or had the same thoughts that Jauqce and Claude had. They had in idea where Gwynn was and why she was gone.

Corra began to kick and then tried to slap Claude, but it was useless. His strength was far superior to hers. With one shove Claude pushed Corra to the floor and held her arms above her head with his left hand, while his right hand began to rove her body. Claude's touch was making her sick, yet there was nothing that she could do. So she turned inward and cried for Gwynn to come back.

Ariana was crying as Jauqce tore her tunic. She could not fight someone as strong as Jauqce, so she, like Corra, turned inward and began to cry for Gwynn to come and save them...

As the water for the tea began to boil Gwynn's head began to swim and her heart sank with the cries that resounded from her sisters. The captain turned to tend to the tea as he continued to tell Gwynn of his last trip to Carthage. When he returned to his seat Gwynn was gone...

A gust of wind and bright light circled through the room. With a loud crash of thunder the door of the cabin, which had been locked by Claude, swung open. Many of the sailors that had investigated the screams now returned to find out what was making all of the thunderous noise. Outside the cabin Gwynn stood surrounded by the bright light, her long golden hair transformed into writhing snakes by the wind...

"NO!!!!!!!!!" Was the only word that could be heard over the roaring wind. Another crash of thunder and the light disappeared leaving only the moonlight and stars. As the two men attempted to stand, and clothe themselves, their insides began to burn and their screams of agony began.

The Captain, wondering where his guest had gone, arrived just in time to see the demise of Jacque and Claude. Suddenly their screams ceased, and their bodies imploded, just as the Roman soldiers in Gaul.

All was quiet, as the blood of the two seamen ran down the walls and dripped from the ceiling. The crew was momentarily stunned, but soon they recovered from their stupor and began to move towards the cabin. Corra and Ariana slowly came out of the cabin to stand with Gwynn. Their faces and clothes torn and tattered were streaked with the blood of their attackers.

"HALT!!!! The captain shouted as he walked to Gwynn's side. "Who here can explain?" The captain attempted to find out exactly what had just happened. No one came forward and Ariana and Corra stood quietly. "Captain, it appears that after I left with you, two of your men entered our cabin and attacked my sisters." Gwynn was trying to explain, even though she had not actually been there. "Their WITCHES!!!" Came a cry from the back of the crowd. "HANG THEM!!!!!"

Another man shouted.

The crew quickly grew into a hostile lynch mob, shouting for the deaths of the sisters. Shouts stating that they were "... born of the evil gods that sought the lives of all who sailed the seas..." Screams that the only way to rid the ship of this evil was to kill the Briton born witches.

"Hurry Ms. Gwynn, into your cabin and bolt the door." The captain commanded as he stepped on top of a large crate filled with pottery from Carthage. "Who among you has not at some time committed a crime or sinned?" The captain bellowed to his men. There accusing shouts quieted and their oncoming steps began to cease. "Which one of you can truthfully say that you are sin free? Therefore, can it not also be said of you that you are the workmen of the demons. These women may have killed. True I do not know or even pretend to understand how, but I can see that it was done in their own defense, in order to keep them from becoming defiled by the likes of Jaqcue and Claude. I do not condone the acts of these girls, nor do I condone the act of my crew against our passengers. But as owner, Captain of this ship, and your Commanding Officer, will I not allow them to be murdered in revenge. Is everyone understanding what I say?" A quiet 'aye' echoed from the crowd. The crew knew that on sea a Captain's words were law and if they attempted a mutiny their only choice would be to turn to piracy. Many of the men had families to support and could not afford the chances of a failed mutiny, which would mean walking the plank or hanging, nor could they risk their lives as pirates, where every man's life was his to protect with no help from others.

"Pierre, Jean, and Dionne, stand guard while Isaiah and I return to my quarters to discuss the fate of the women. If one of the men comes nears this cabin you have my permission to dispose of him as you see fit." The captain turned to the crowd of men as he gave his orders to his top three men. The captain then dismounted from his perch high a top the crate and walked solemnly to his cabin with his first mate.

They spoke for over three hours before a decision was made. Although the Captain did not want to do anything to them, he knew that if he did not do something, then the crew would slowly began to speak of mutiny and perhaps even go as far as taking over the ship. Thereby killing the women and himself.

"Then you agree Isaiah, that the only way to possibly spare the women's lives was to set them adrift and hope that another merchant ship will find them."

"It's the only way Captain." Isaiah stated with no emotion. He wanted them hanged, but as first officer he had to support his commanding officer or face being thrown in the brig at the least. Even worse, if he did say anything the captain would throw him overboard, personally.

"Prepare one of the boats with as much food and water as it can hold. I'll bring the ladies along in half and hour for their departure. Dismissed." The captain spoke quietly now, regretting everything that had transpired on this voyage.

A knock rang through the quiet cabin. They had not been able to sit idle while waiting for the Captain's decision, so they cleaned the bloody room. Gwynn answered the door. "Ms. Gwynn, I'm sorry, but the only way to keep you and your sisters alive is to set you adrift at sea and hope that another vessel finds you. I have instructed Isaiah to fill one of the small crafts with food and water. Your chances are four ways; a merchant ship finds you before you run out of food and water, a Roman ship finds you and you will be hanged for the murders that you committed when you left Rome, you'll run into another squall that a small ship will never survive, or you will simply run out of supplies and die from either starvation or dehydration. If you do run out of water before you are rescued, I warn you, do not drink the seas water for it is poison and will bring about a horrible death. The other alternative is to stay her aboard the ship and risk the crew's mutiny and death by hanging. I've been able to contain the men so far, but I will not be able to keep them for a week's time while we journey to Briton. The choice is yours." The captain paced, waiting anxiously for their reply.

"It seems that we have no choice if we are to continue to live. Yet there is no guarantee that we will live out there on the open sea in a small craft. Our choice is made Captain. We are ready to leave, let us not delay any further for the risk of mutiny is high."

Aryan and Corra stood as Gwynn's side ready to depart, thanking the gods that they had at least a remote chance to live.

"Here is your passenger fee. I cannot keep it, and if someone should happen to find you, they will want some type of payment for your voyage." With these last words the captain turned to escort them to the boat, which awaited them. Almost two weeks at sea passed. The food supply was low and would not last for many more days. The water supply would last only a day or so longer than the food, even though they had rationed all the supplies from day one. They spent their time in prayer, song, quiet meditation, and sleep.

For two days they had gone without food, which was done easily enough because they often fasted for holidays, but now they were out of water. It was surly the end. They would become lost souls without the proper burial, but they still prayed that somehow they would be saved.The next day Corra heard a faint horn, but she put it off to the hot sun and lack of water. A few moments later Ariana saw a ship, but she also thought that it was just a hallucination. Then Gwynn heard the loud horn and saw the ship coming towards them. From this distance she could not tell what kind of craft it was. She only hoped that after all this time it would not be a Roman vessel.

## Chapter Twenty-Six

"AHOY!" Came a shout from the ship. "HERE... OVER HERE!!!" The girls shouted, ecstatic that they had been found. "Lower the ladder!" Came a call from the captain. "Can you ladies climb aboard, or will you be needing assistance?" The first mate called down to them.

"I think that we can manage." Gwynn replied as she rowed the boat to the ship's side with renewed energy. They climbed the rope ladder slowly to keep from getting dizzy, for they had not gotten much exercise throughout the last two and a half weeks, and the "fasting" that they had endured over the past two days, the lack of water in the hot sun of their rescue day. After what seemed like an endless climb they reached the ships deck where they were gently helped aboard.

"I've got a few questions for you ladies, but I think they can wait until after you've gotten some food and drink in you." The captain said as he escorted them to his cabin. "Llew, have some food and water sent to my quarters and prepare a room for our guest."

"Aye Captain." The first mate acknowledged as he hurried to the galley.

They reached the Captain's room. Unlike the quarters of the other captain, which was cluttered with navigational instruments and maps, this room was immaculate. On the walls were paintings of seascapes and beautiful women from far away places. In the center of the room was an intricately carved table with six matching chairs. Each chair was covered in the finest red silk. to the right of the table a shelf held a dozen cask of wine. The other side of the cabin also had a shelf that held carved statues of stoned, jewels and wood. To the back of the room were two doors. A couch sat between the doors and a chair was placed near the casks of wine.

"Please have a seat ladies. Llew will be here soon with some food. Perhaps one of you would like to tell me why you were adrift out this far from land." The captain sat in the chair and motioned for them to sit on the emerald green couch.

"We had some problems on the ship we were on. We were blown of course and some of the crew attacked my sisters. The men were killed. The captain only had two choices, hang us or set us adrift. We understood that his men would not allow us to live if we stayed on board, so we left. We have money if you will take us to your next port." Gwynn opened the pouch around her waist. "After what you ladies have apparently been through, I insist that you keep your money and be my guest." The captain reached out to Gwynn's hands to assure her that no money was needed to ensure them safe passage aboard his ship.

"Thank you Captain. Your generosity and kindness is very appreciated and I'm sure that the gods will reward you greatly, not only in this life but in the next." Gwynn said as she and her sisters clasped their hands in thanks. A loud knock sounded throughout the cabin. "That's Llew with the food. You ladies can cleanup in the door to the right. Come in Llew. I'll help you set up while they are washing."

"Aye Captain. Have they said yet why they were adrift?" Llew asked as he set the food on the table.

"They claim to have been attacked by some of the men on a ship. These men were consequently killed. They faced a lynching from the others. So the captain of the ship had two choices, hand them or set them adrift."

"How long were they at sea?" Llew asked as he poured water into the goblets of gold.

"They didn't say, but by the looks of them I would say at least two and a half weeks. "Ah! Here they are now. Please be seated ladies, your dinner awaits you." The captain gestured to the table. Before them was laid a feast so magnificent that they could find no words. There was roasted chicken, duck, and lamb. The vegetables were stewed... cabbage, carrots, potatoes, corn... and the fruits were to numerous to count. This much food on a ship could mean one of two things. Either the captain himself was a member of royalty or a favorite of some king or queen.

They ate until they could eat no more. When they were finished the first mate showed them to their cabin, so that they could rest until morning. It was the first night of peaceful sleep that they had in weeks. Ariana was the first to wake, at first she did not know where she was and almost panicked before she realized that they were on board a ship and not adrift in the small boat.

A knock came at the door, but Ariana would not answer it for fear of what happened the last time she had opened a door. Instead she woke Gwynn. It was the captain with trays of food for their breakfast...

"You lovely ladies have slept the day away. It is almost evening. Since I had not seen you since last night I decided to bring you supper or should I say breakfast." The captain said with a laugh as he walked into the cabin and began to arrange the food on the table. "This was very kind of you Captain, but I'm sure that we could have found the galley ourselves. You do not have to wait on us, after all you are the captain." Gwynn said bluntly, feeling bad that the captain was serving them. They were but passengers on his ship and nonpaying passengers at that.

"Nonsense my lady, you are my guest, and is only proper that I serve my guest the best way I know how. Besides it gives me a chance to be with you beautiful ladies instead of on deck with all of those ugly sea hands." The captain said this jokingly, for none of his men were ugly, indeed the sisters found everyone on the ship quite handsome.

"In that case Captain, I insist that you stay and dine with us, and if you have already eaten we want you to stay, so that we may hear of your great voyages until you can longer stay awake." Gwynn was glad that he had brought them their supper. She felt that she could trust him, and his men, and if it were not for her destiny to join the order upon returning home, she could definitely imagine spending the rest of her life with him. "I will accept your invitation. I just hope that my stories do not bore you to death." The captain seemed to enjoy the thought of reliving his exploits, especially to three ladies such as these.

While they ate, the captain-spun tales of his travels in the orient were he hunted the great tigers of India; riverboat trips were he fought hand to hand with the deadly crocodile. His favorite story seemed to be of an old man who said he knew all of the questions that any man could ask. But when you asked the old man a question his answers were always in the form of riddle so that you were no better off than you were before. The old man was cunning enough to always ask for payment in advance, and an agreement would always be made that no matter what the answer, the payment was his. The captain also told of his travels to Egypt, and other African places were he met the most interesting of people. Some were giants that reached nearly eight feet in height. Others were pygmies whose height barely reached three feet. Around midnight the captain could see that the ladies were getting tired, so he bid them goodnight...

"Will you have breakfast with us in the morning, if we promise to get up?" Corra wanted to hear more of the captain's tales.

"I will, but only if you ladies will share with me your adventures that have brought you this far from your home." The captain grinned a boyish grin, as if he knew that they held secrets that he would finally learn come tomorrow.

"We will, if you'll have some more oranges like the ones we ate earlier this evening sent to the cabin." Corra loved the oranges; they seemed to give her a renewed life that she had not felt since the Roman soldiers had captured them. "Very well then. I will send Llew with the oranges, and I shall see you in the morning." The captain bowed as he left their cabin.

"And exactly what do you intend to tell the captain, Corra." Gwynn was scared of what the captain might do if he found out the truth of their power that they did not understand, or really even know how to control. Would he be as kind as the other captain and set them adrift before his men lynched them, or would he join them in the slaughter?

"You can tell him what you want, but leave out the way the men died. We could face death again if anyone ever finds out." With the harshness that she spoke, Corra knew that Gwynn spoke the truth. Ariana remained silent as she had since they had arrived on board. The night came to an end as the sun's rays burst into their cabin and awakened them.

As they dressed a light knock came at the door. Gwynn was next to the door to find Llew waiting patiently. "The captain is ready for the morning meal, if you are ready, I am to escort you to his cabin."

Moments later they had arrived at the Captain's quarters. The table was just as elegantly set as the first night that they had arrived. Llew who said little but smile a lot joined them. It seemed that the only ones who talked were Corra and the Captain. Gwynn listened carefully to make sure that her sister said nothing that could endanger their lives.

After breakfast they walked on deck, as Corra continued to tell the captain of their capture by the Romans and their escape to northern Gaul. After her tale was finished, the captain sighed. "I am very glad that you ladies survived that terrible ordeal. It had been a joy having your company the past few days.

"I only wish that it could last longer." The captain turned to the horizon, the sun glittered yellows beads on the captains coal black hair.

"Does that mean that this leg of your sea voyage had come to an end and we will be reaching land soon?" Gwynn asked, hoping that it was not their journeys end with the captain that he was talking about...

"Yes, we will be landing late this afternoon. "The captain continued to stare into the horizon, a tear form in his eyes. "Where exactly is it that your destination has brought you, and for that matter, us." Gwynn questioned him. "My homeland, and yours, Northern Briton..."

"We are finally home." Ariana whispered her first words since boarding, and they all stared into the horizon where one could see a faint object in the distance that could only be there home...

## Chapter Twenty-Seven

They docked in a sea town that was unknown to the girls. Considering that they had been gone for a long time, it did not surprise them that new towns had formed. It did not take them long to find out how far from home they were. "You're sure that it is only four days journey to the village of Saverbia." Gwynn was much more composed than her sisters were. Someone had to be if they were going to find out the information they needed in order to return home.

"If you go by horse it is only four days, if you walk it may take six or seven days journey." The blacksmith told them. He could tell that they had been away for a long time and that they wanted only to return home and see their family and friends.

"Where can we get supplies for our journey?" Gwynn asked hoping that it would not be to far. She was anxious to start, just as the other two were. "I can sell you horses, and Dea two houses down can help you with any other supplies you might need, such as food or clothing." The man was jumping at the opportunity to sell some of the horses that he had had for two weeks and no one wanted. "Thank you, but even though it will take longer to walk, we must take that route because we do not have the funds to purchase horses and supplies, it is one or the other and for a journey food is always the better choice. Thank you for the directions and sending us to someone who will have supplies." Gwynn gave the man a coin, and turned with her sisters to Dea's.

There they purchased dried meat, meal traveling clothes and water pouches. They slept in the blacksmith's stable until daylight. As the sun's first beams rose they were cleaning up their morning meal and packing. Before the sun reached its morning apex, they were on their way home. They walked for several days and saw no one, only the animals of the forest and meadows. On the end of the sixth day, as the sun was slowly descending, a small house was becoming visible as they traveled onward. It was getting dark, but the joy that they had of being so close to home overwhelmed them, and they began to run towards the house. They reached the small wooden cottage just as the sun disappeared for the night and the moon to rise to its fullest...

Gwynn knocked on the door, knowing that under Celtic law they would be given shelter and food for the night. There was no answer. She knocked again, but still no answer. "No one is home." Ariana said with disappointment and sorrow, "Can we stay here anyway Gwynn? It's late and we have traveled a long way today. I'm sure that whoever lives here wouldn't mind if we slept inside as long as we don't bother anything." Corra was tired and had been hoping that they could find a hot cooked meal and a warm bed to sleep in for a change from the cold hard meat and ground. "I suppose it's all right." Gwynn was reluctant about entering a house that was not theirs and that belonged to a stranger.

They entered the cottage, which smelled musty as if it had been closed for many months. Gwynn stumbled around in the darkness and found a single candle at a table near the door. She lit it. As the light from the candle gave off a faint glow they could see why no one had answered. The former occupants would never again answer their door. Ariana ran out of the cottage and began crying. A rat scurried across Corra's foot and she screamed as she followed Arainna outside into the night. Gwynn remained inside staring at the destruction of a family's home, and their skeletal remains. Slowly she walked out into the fresh night air. "Do you suppose anyone still lives in the village?" Corra was beginning to wonder if any of their people had survived the Roman attack, in which they had been captured and taken away. "I don't know. I can only hope and pray that someone survived." Gwynn said knowing that someone, at least a few had to have had survived.

None of them felt like eating so they built a fire for warmth and went to bed. The sun began to peak out of the night and they slowly awoke from a restless night of sleep, in which they had terrible dreams of all that had transpired since the time of their capture. They did not bother with breakfast. They just packed what little they had and began their last day's journey. Around sunset they began hearing sounds that were so familiar to them...

The sounds of their village, there were survivors. They began to run, for they knew that just over the hill they would find, maybe not all of their family, but at least many of their friends...

They topped the hill and from there they could see the bonfires of Belenos, marking the moving of the cattle to the fields. They began to run again as fast as they could, knowing that they were still miles from the village, but also knowing that their excitement would carry them as if they were riding on the backs of birds in flight.

As they reached the edge of the clearing a young man saw them approaching and alerted the elders. Wondering why someone was walking out of the woods instead of being in the celebration, the elders gathered a few of the young warriors and went to meet the running figures as they entered the clearing and were illuminated by the firelight and full moon. "Halt! Who travels at this late hour?" Cried Macroth, the leader of the warriors.

At the sound of his voice Corra knew that they were home at last. She stopped and returned his call by singing one of his favorite songs of the ancient warrior Lugton. In an instant he knew that it was his Corra returned to him after so long... Macroth ran to her as the other followed. The sisters were lifted upon their shoulders and ran back to the circle of bonfires. The celebration of Belenos was accompanied by the homecoming of the triplets. The bonfires raged on for days. Slowly things returned to the normal slow pace of a herding village.

## Chapter Twenty-Eight

As the days passed and the sisters settled into their old routines, they told the stories of their journey through Gaul and on the sea. In the past they were considered special, just for the fact that never before had a woman borne three daughters and all three survive past a few days. They did not fear their friends and family, so they told the horrid accounts of the instant implosion that had saved their lives. Slowly the cool winter days heated into the warm spring days, giving way to the feast of Beltain. As the day of the festival approached the high priest, Lugton, approached them...

"The others and I have given this great thought. We had even discussed it before you were taken away, and now it seems as if the gods have already written it in the records. As you know, you have special powers, which could have only come from the goddess Carman. We would like to make you a part of the High Order. Although you will not receive the rights and privileges of full Druid priest, you will become closer to the gods, and therefore furthering your call to them by serving them in this way." Lugton ended his invitation.

"We are honored that you, the priests, and the gods most of all have seen fit to give us this opportunity to serve in this way. We accept your invitation and await your command." Gwynn replied in the proper fashion of those who had just been given a very prestigious honor, which this was. "You will come to the oak grove outside of the village tonight when the moon is full. Until then you will prepare yourselves. I must return to the others so that we may prepare for tonight's ceremonies." Lugton turned and continued on his journey to the other priest who lived outside of the village and to the place that would now become their home.

The sisters put away their things and gathered towels and clean clothes. In a solemn march they walked to the river to begin the cleansing process. While Ariana and Corra disrobed, Gwynn built a fire and added the appropriate herbs for the cleansing. She then joined the others in the cool water in complete silence. The only sound was that of the river's waters flowing gently downstream, and the birds softly chirping their joyous songs that seemed to celebrate not only life, but also the acceptance of the Sisters into the High Order. The sun was slowly edging towards the west, leaving behind a purplish orange haze. A soft breeze swept across the river every now and then, rustling the leaves of the nearby trees, and bushes... And three golden haired ladies bathed in the river, each helping the other prepare for the coming ceremony that would allow them to fully serve the Celtic gods.

After several hours of physical cleaning they came ashore to the fire to begin the cleansing of their spirits. Before they poured the steamed herbs over themselves, Ariana prayed for the goddess to give them guidance...

"Divine Goddess, Mother Nature, who generates all things and brings forth anew sun which thou hast given to the nations; Guardian of the sky and sea and of all good powers; through thy influence all nature is hushed and sinks to sleep... Agan, when it pleases thee, thou send forth the glad daylight and nutrient life with thine eternal securety; and when the spirit of woman passes to thee it returns. Thou indeed art rightly named great mother of the gods and of man. We ask that you bless us as we enter your divine service and lead us in the ways of your brothers, sisters, daughters and sons..."men" Finally night fell and the sisters began the slow march to the sacred oak grove of the gods...

## Chapter Twenty-Nine

Darkness fell and the moon ascended into the heavens. The Druid Order of the village had already gathered in the sacred oak grove outside of the village. A few of the younger men of the Order were high in the trees with the golden sickles, gathering mistletoe. As the mistletoe fell it was caught by white cloaks held by the elders. Others gathered dried branches to build a bonfire for the ceremony. Finally the fires were lit and the circles were formed...

"We gather hereon the night of this full moon in honor of our gods, and to honor them we are here to induct three sisters who have been extraordinarily blessed by the e gods themselves..." Lugton began the ceremony with a simple prayer. "Lugton finished the prayer as the others began singing. At the end of the singing the mistletoe was blessed and then placed on the hot fires that burned in the center of the circle. The sisters were then brought to the beginning of the circle were Lugton stood...

"You have been chosen not only by the leaders of this order, but by the gods themselves. Not only were you born from the same womb but you were born within minutes of one another, and you all survived, feat that has never before been accomplished, except with the help of the gods. Each one of you is unique, yet you are the same and contain a part of the other. Along with this special bond that the gods have given you, they have also given you powers beyond your understanding and without the proper training they can turn on you and become very dangerous. By joining our order we will help you to understand the gifts of the gods and to help you control them through vigorous training. In taking the knowledge that we offer you of your powers, you must accept the life of a Druid, all rules and anything that an elder commands you to do you must obey... Now it is your decision, to accept our way of life, or to return to the life of a villager and chance that the powers within you will grow to strong for you to control. If it is your decision to leave the life that you have lived, stepped forward to accept the burning brand of the oak."

There was no hesitation from them. As soon as Lugton asked them to come forward they were at his side. They did not give a thought to the pain they were to endure in receiving the brand of the oak that would mark them as Druids. Gwynn received the mark without a sound. Corra on the other hand screamed until a cooling salve was placed on her wrist. Ariana made no sounds, but as the brand was placed upon her wrist a nearby tree stump exploded and burst into flames as she passed out from the pain of the hot brand. Quickly water was gathered from the nearby stream to put out the spontaneous fire and to awaken Ariana. The fire was quenched and Ariana was wide-awake staring at the smoldering heap of wood that her uncontrolled powers had ignited...

"Well, it would seem that we've found the one with the most power or at least the one with the least control..." Lugton reached for Ariana to assure her that everything was okay. "It could be that she is the focus of all of your powers. Gwynn didn't flinch, Corra screamed, and Ariana seemed to absorb everyone's pain including her own and she could not control the power that the gods have given her..." Morrigan began. "Yes you could be right, but let us leave that for after the ceremony, when we begin their training." Lugton wanted to finish so that the sisters could rest from their branding and the rest of the ceremony that would last until morning. "As you wish Lugton. Shall I have the feast brought in?"

Morrigan himself had been fasting for several days in a personal observance of the new moon and tonight's feat was to mark its end.

"Yes have the horn blown to bring in the villagers and their offerings." During many of the ceremonies the villagers were included in order to provide the food so that the order could concentrate more on prayer, and other ceremonial preparations such as the gathering of the mistletoe or slaughter of the white bulls for other ceremonies.

A loud trumpeting sound vibrated throughout the forest summoning the villagers. Within minutes blankets were placed around the great bonfires and the food on the blankets. All types could be found... soups, meats, breads, vegetables, fruits, wines and ales. After everything was set and everyone stood back in complete silence...

"Gods, we your faithful servants have gathered tonight to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring, to honor Belenos, and to pray that this years plantings, herds and even ourselves are as fertile as you would have us to be, for this is the celebration of fertility... Bring forth the first offerings to the gods." Lugton finished the short prayer shortly after midnight. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of the forest and the people feeding the fires that represented the gods...

"Now let us feast!!!" Lugton bellowed and the feasting began. Torches were lit around the grove so that all could see the various blankest of food and drink. As with most feasts it felt as if it would continue forever. A few days later the cattle were again lead to pasture and the fields were being prepared for the spring planting. This spring Gwynn , Corra, and Ariana would not participate in the planting, this season they would be in training...

## Chapter 30

"I personally will oversee your training. I feel that although the others are well trained in meditation, prayer, the sacred ceremonial rites, and the history of our people, none of them have powers such as yours. I do not have a power such as yours, mine is but a small power in comparison, yet the gods have seen fit to show me the ways that you must control your powers. My power is only that of moving objects with a thought. This power has been in my clan for generations. Yet I cannot tell you how your powers came to be except that they are blessings of the gods." Lugton spoke to the sisters as they hiked into the highlands to begin their training. By sunset they had reached the plateau where their training would be undisturbed... "Do you know how far your powers reach? What exactly can you do?" Before beginning the training, Lugton had to know where their limitations lay. So they discussed it over a light supper...

"We know that when we are scared or facing a threat, things explode, implode and catch on fire. As we have told you the stories of the Roman soldiers, and the sailors, Jauqce and Claude, and as you saw at the ceremony extreme pain can also bring on sudden actions that we are not aware that we are causing them to happen." Gwynn told of the worst of their uncontrollable powers. "Sometimes we know what is coming before it actually comes, but not very often." Corra offered a bit of information to help Lugton in deciding how their training would be structured. "No matter how far apart we are, we are always connected. We feel what the others feel, and we can speak to each other without actually talking." This was the first that Ariana had spoken since the induction ceremony. "We will begin with the last power that you mentioned. I am going to tell Gwynn something. Then, Gwynn, I want you to concentrate and Corra and Ariana I want you to concentrate also and if either one of you think that you know the word or words, come to me and whisper it in my ear, so that the other does not hear it." Lugton then leaned over to Gwynn. Within moments Corra and Ariana were both at his side with the correct phrase, "Fires of Beli." They continued at varying distances and each taking turns of being the Asender." Each time they tried they got the words exactly as Lugton said them and at the exact time.

"It seems that you have already mastered this aspect of your power." Lugton was not amazed by the strength of their power but he was impressed. "This power has always been with and the strongest one." Corra offered. "Yes, I can tell. It is growing dark, let us retreat to the camp site and test your power of fire that Ariana has already demonstrated..." Lugton was very curious about this power that he had never seen used by anyone before. Slowly and silently they walked to the plateau from the forest to their campsite. Their tents still stood at the edge of the forest, yet near enough to the forest for firewood and close to the downhill stream to fetch water without delay. They all gathered stacks of wood not only for the campfire but also for the next test..."Gwynn since you are the oldest, why don't you try to light the fire first?" Lugton offered. Gwynn concentrated alone and at the stack of wood only a small spark flashed, smoldered and then died out. Corra tried next but nothing happened. Ariana stepped forward and a blaze leaped from the wood and just as quickly the flame died away. "Well now, we know for certain who has the most power when it comes to fire. All three of you try it together. Concentrate only on the small branches, then work your way to the logs on the fire." Lugton stepped several feet back, he knew that they would have a fire quiet soon, and at within moments a fire roared and they began to cook their supper. The girls were so tired from their sessions that they hardly talked, and after cleaning up and extinguishing the fife they went immediately to bed. The next day they awoke and continued training with fire for the next several days. Lugton felt that this deadly power need to be controlled by each one so that no one would ever be hurt by their power unless they intended for such an incident to happen. The sun rose and set many time but by the next full moon Ariana was able to start and control the fire alone. Another week passed and Gwynn and Corra both had learned to produce the fire but not to control it. Two more days passed and by that time they could start the fire and control it on their own. "You have all done well with fire, but it seems that Ariana is the master of it. Ariana I want you to continue working with your sisters to control the flames. Now for the next lesson, Corra see if you can move that rock that is by your hand with only a though. Concentrate solely on the rock let the world become silent. There is only you and the rock..." The rock shook, then began to float at Corra's head. With only a thought she hurled the stone to the stream and watched it sink in the water.

"Very good Corra, now Gwynn it is your turn." Lugton was quite impressed with Corra and only hoped that they others would do as well in his on strength. 1 Gwynn cleared her mind, nothing existed in the entire universe except for that rock, and slowly it shuttered, rose about a foot and then fell to the ground with a loud thump. Ariana then tried but her efforts were futile, it only shimmed on the ground and nothing else. "It appears that Corra holds the strength of movement. But with time I am sure that all of you will be well practiced in this. See that small boulder over by the stream, I want all three of you think only of that boulder and its new destination, over there by the large oak tree." They all looked at the boulder. The sounds of the birds singing, left them, the sound of the stream gurgling was behind them as if very far away... Slowly the boulder began to shake, then it rose steadily, and slowly it floated to the new destination by the woods. For several days they practiced with movement, as they had with telepathy, and with fire. Soon they had control of fire, movement, and they already had their thoughts and images to each other down pat (that was the easy of all to do). Lugton continued to drill them on every aspect of mind control that he could think of. Although quite dangerous he hadthem practice implosion and explosion on apples that he placed very near to each other. Rows upon rows of apples sitting next to each other, and only certain ones that were destine to be exploded or imploded. With each session each girl grew stronger and stronger in her powers given to them by the gods. In just a few short months in which no one had seen any of the other villagers, or priests there was nothing else for Lugton to teach or train them in. "You have all learned quickly and well. There is nothing more that I can do. I have overseen your training to ensure that you can control your powers, but your gifts have surpassed my limited knowledge. Tomorrow your training of the druid ways will begin with Morrigan, tonight sleep well for the knowledgethat you are about to embark on shall seem endless..." Lugton left them in the clearing so that they could have a short time to themselves, not as training Druids, but as sisters...

## Chapter 31

For months they memorized the ceremonial rites of the festivals, as well as how to prepare the sacrifices, both animal and human, although this secretly repulsed them, yet it was their new duties as Druids to offer up the sacrifices that the gods and goddesses called for. They learned the laws, which they had not learned before being taken by the Roman soldiers. Along with the many festivals and ceremonies that they had to learn, there were many deities that they had never heard of as mere villagers, but as Druids there were many other gods and goddesses that had to be worshipped properly, or else risk the wrath of the gods falling upon the whole village.

Finally after six full months, when the seasons began to change, their training was completed. With the changing of the season travelers began to journey home from sea voyages for the winter. A "golden rule" of the Druid/Celtic society was that any stranger that asked for food and lodging received it, with no questions asked, until all of his needs were satisfied.

The sisters welcomed each stranger as a friend and served them only the best that they had to offer. With each new visitor they learned of old friends thought long passed over and family that had moved away. Also with each visitor came a lessening of their supplies...

The cold had descended and taken a tight grip on the small village, and with the cold snow came one with a heart of ice to the door of the sisters...

As was customary, they gave him hot water to wash, wine to drink and enough food to satisfy three men and a warm place to rest by the fire. They asked no questions as the man silently ate... he offered no conversation which was unusual, for every one had heard of the Druid Sisters and their adventures in Gaul, and they asked questions and in returned offered news from afar. Yet this stranger did not even offer his name to the sisters.

Dinner was finished and things were put away in silence. The girls did not even speak to each other, at least not externally... The man's ominous presence frightened them and his glaring looked warned them to ask no questions.

The room glowed a pale orange overhead as they turned into their rooms for prayer before bed. Prayers finished they laid down to sleep, and the mysterious man sat on his pallet gazing into the fire. Late into the night when all were asleep all except for the man, he stood and stared into Gwynn's room for a long time and slowly he began to walk towards it, without making a sound...

Before he could reach the door Ariana was awake and watching his every move. Silently she called out to her sisters to awaken for there was danger from their visitor. Immediately they awoke, but did not move. He entered Gwynn's room, and she sat up as did the others. "Is there something more that we can do for you sir?" Gwynn asked quite politely, all the while he came closer to her bed. "Yes, there is something that you can do for me." He whispered into her hear as he grabbed her by the arm and began to force her down. "I'm sorry but that is one thing that I do not offer to any visitor, especially one so secretive that he will not tell us his name, his homeland, or even his business in this area..." Gwynn continued as she wrestled away from his grasp, and her sister's rose from their beds and came to theirs sisters room. "You dare to deny me what I would have? Do you really not know who I am?" He asked as if he were the most important person in the universe. "I'm quite sorry, but we do not." Gwynn said with the confidence that this man was not as important as he would have them to think. "I am the Highest priest in your precious Order of Druids, I am Teautinwada of the Sameneanesus. Now that you have defied the Celtic law of hospitality to me you will be taken to your elders. I will see to it that none of you survive until the next moon..."

They had heard of this man, of his evilness, but never had they imagined that he would come to their small village. To their very home and try to take from them that which only belong to the them and whomever that gods had chosen for them. "We can take care of him right now, and no one will ever have to know that he was here." Corra screamed silently to her sisters...

"You are wrong, the entire high council knows that I have come here to posses that which the gods have created for me. And yes I know who you are, and yes I know of your powers, and yes I can read your thoughts just as you can read each others thoughts as you wish..." His green eyes seemed to glow red with the fire lit as he began to laugh a hideous laugh that said in its sound that he is the one and only who has all power.

## Chapter 32

There was no trail, there was no judgment by their peers, there was only the sentence by the council...

Because the High Priest has brought charges against you that your hospitality was not satisfactory, you are hear by sentenced to death by his command...

The fire burned with the intensity of the noon sun in the deserts of Africa. The wood crackled and Ariana remained silent as the flames that she had at one time controlled so effectively now consumed her flesh...

The icy water gurgled over Gwynn as she was repeatedly forced down into the frozen river... Corra screamed as the silver blades were placed at her heart and at her throat...

Slowly death began to overtake them, but not before the highest pries Teautinwada cursed them... "Because you denied me what I rightfully deserve as high priest of the gods, I not only sentence you to a painful death, but I curse you that you may not find peace for thousands of years, your lives shall continue for ages, and each life will end early and in great tragedy..."

## Epilogue Part Two

And so ends what began the beginning of their journeys throughout the centuries. We can only ponder if there are more like them in existence. For unless they come to us there is no true way to discover what others may know, or may in fact not know, for it may be buried so deep that they can no longer reach the memories without our help...

Dr. Alfred Cline

&

Dr. Samuel Skinner

## Part Three

## Chapter Thirty-Three

The pages that follow are mere glimpses into what the three sisters went through. None of the following are complete accounts of their lives down through the ages. They are merely summaries of the most important events that occurred in each life. We present them to you as they were presented to us. In no order, or none that we have been able to determine.

To the girls, Katherine, Victoria, and Annabelle, there may very well be a subconscious reason why they told their stories in the order that they did, but when asked directly, without hypnosis they barely remember the events that they described to us, let alone a reason why they tell them in the arrangement that they do.

As you read each life, you may think back to their present lives, or you may recall their adventures in the time of the ancient Romans and Celtics... We can only wonder if this cycle will ever end... But this we will never know...

## Chapter Thirty-Four

Western United States 1833

A searing pain shot though her shoulder as she ran to the edge of the clearing. She dared not look back for if she did they would surely catch her and that she would not let happen. She would die by her own hand before she would be taken by the white men that followed her...

For days she had been kept bound and forced to watch the beatings, and the rapes of her friends, and eventually their deaths. Finally when the others were all dead, they turned to her, but as soon as her ties were undone, she ran with all of her might.

Darkness was falling as they pursued her through the woods. She knew that if she could elude them until complete darkness, they would tire and return to their camp. The moon was covered by the storm clouds that threatened the first snow of the season. As the darkness continued to worsen the men indeed returned to their camps and left the cold, injured woman alone in the wilderness...

She hid in a fallen tree that had been hollowed out by the years of weather and animals... The woods finally became silent with the retreat of her pursuers and she eased up from the ground, her shoulder burning with pain and slowly dripping blood from the bullet that had pierced her body...

Nearby a stream gurgled and here she cleansed the wound and packed it with the special herbs that her mother had taught her to use. Although she was exhausted from her run, and her energy was drained from her because of the wound, she continued homeward, away from the soldier's fort...

The stars disappeared and the sun rose, bringing to life the singing birds and chirping squirrels of the forest that scampered away from her approaching footsteps. By noon she reached the edge of the camp and there she passed out. White Sky and Soaring Eagle came running from the other side of the encampment. They knew that she had been gone to long, and when the bullet pierced her flesh they felt her pain, but they could do nothing to help her. They took their fallen sister to the Shaman's tent and within minutes She-wolf was awake...

For hours she explained to her sisters and the elders what had happened to the small party that had went to trade the furs. All where dead, except for her. At the end of the tale the Elders dismissed them...

"We cannot allow this to continue. It has been bad enough that the white man has taken our land, but now they think that they can have anything they desire, from our horses to our women. This I will not stand for..." the Chief's son Strong Bear was furious and stormed out of the tent... His best friend Running

Fawn (for he had not yet come of age, and now never would, for an adult name) had been killed in the party that was with She wolf.

Meanwhile the sisters waited for word of what action would be taken against the white men that had attacked them at the nearby fort. By nightfall rumor through the camp was that the elders would do nothing, and that they would not condone any violent action taken by the warriors. This infuriated She-wolf...

"I will not sit here and watch them do nothing. If we do not make a stand now the white man will surely destroy every one of our people... I have seen the violence of the white man, the so-called civilized man... If they are so civilize why do they seek to take and destroy everything that the mother earth has given to her people? The white man will not stop, it is up to us to stop them!!!!" She-wolf spoke angrily to her sisters, and stormed out of the teepee, bent on revenge. The rest of the encampment slept peacefully as She-wolf and her sisters crept out of the clearing and into the forest. Quietly they walked to the nearest white settlement 7 miles away...

They stared at the small homes that were on the edges of the town... Not a single light glowed from any of the houses... She Wolf whispered so silently that her sisters did not audibly hear her, but they new what they must do... With a single gasp of air the windows of the town began to shake and then explode into the night... Fires raged on destroying first one white man's home and then another, until no buildings were left standing in the town, not even a barn... They returned to their tent, only to find the warrior Burning Coal standing inside...

You have disobeyed the Councils order to leave the white men alone. I am to take you to them; they are waiting for you now. He escorted them outside and across the encampment to the Elders lodge...

The night was just beginning to leave; yet it did not appear that the sun was going to rise. The first winter storm was to fall upon the people today...

"You have broken orders and taken revenge upon yourselves. We know what you have done to the settlers to the east. We do not understand how it was done, for only a Shaman has even a smattering of the power that you showed last night...." Chief Little Bear (although small in stature he was one of the tribes most noble and achieved warrior) began, but before he could finish the Shaman began to yell....

"They are evil. No one who is not a demon spirit could have created such destruction with mere thoughts as they did. It is not safe to have them alive. What if only one of us offends them, will they destroy that one man, or will they destroy the whole tribe...?" The Shaman continued until he had run out of breath. Meanwhile, outside of the elder's Lodge the entire tribe had gathered at the ravings of the Shaman's. And they listened intently....

By night fall the sisters were strapped to stakes and burned in order to rid the tribe of the demon spirits that plagued the tribe...

## Chapter Thirty-Five

Salem, MA 1692

"Twas they, I swear it on the good book."

Abigail cried as she pointed to the terrified girls who stood together hands clasped so that no one could separate them. The parson looked from sister to sister to sister. Thinking to himself that they must be of the devil. Never before in the history of Salem village had there been identical children been born at one time, especially three, and who remain together and are never separated. So rarely did they interact with the other children that the only explanation the parson could see was that they were either of the devil or children possessed by the devil's henchmen...

Yet by looking a the three sisters one sees only their innocence and could also surmise that they were of God and not the devil... "Ye stand accused of witchcraft and of being in league with the Prince of Darkness. How do you plea?" The parson's voice resounded deep and sure from the stone structure of the church, and courthouse. In unison they said, "We plea not guilty, we have not now nor ever in the past had any dealings with the fallen angel Lucifer. Nor have we in any way harmed Good woman Smithers." They then returned to their silent stance that they had continued since they beginning of the inquest. As in all courts, the crowd murmured amongst themselves. The majority of the crowd was like most and hoped for a verdict of guilty...

"This court disagrees and feels that under the circumstances of ye unnatural conduct and speaking only amongst ye selves, that unless ye confess to being witches, thou shalt be hanged tomorrow at dawn." the Reverend Cotton knew that they were of Satan, and he would do everything in this power to have them destroyed either before they confess our after, it did not matter to him... Katherine stepped forward, "If it be God's will that my sisters and I join Him on the morrow, then so be it. For the Lord himself says, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged. For what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged...' And as long as He who sits on high knows that we have committed no crimes against Good woman Smithers, or any person, or even Him, then we are justified in our knowledge that we are innocent."

At this Katherine stepped back and joined her sisters. "So be it, John Henry and Martin escort them to the stockades 'til tomorrow's dawn. Wesley you and your men are to prepare the gallows in the courtyard..." The judges sentence rang loud and clear as his gavel beat the tone of death throughout the small hollow church...

The sun began to rise slowly over the village of Salem as the townspeople gathered at the gallows. They all knew that the sisters were innocent yet with the mass hysteria of witchcraft in the surrounding area the felt that it was better that three young girls be sacrificed in order to save them selves. By the full rise they were led to the gallows and again the Reverend Cotton asked if the would confess...

"This be ye only chance, children. Confess now and embrace the lord in your death, or forever burn in eternity with Satan..." They remained silent as the noose was placed around each of their necks and their faces remained solemn. The Parson gave the signal and with a loud THUD, they were blown into the next life, leaving behind a world of skepticism and ridicule for being, not different, but the same...

## Chapter Thirty-Six

Germany 1944

Darkness had long descended, and the town's chapel struck the midnight hour. Smoke filled the sky and the nostrils of the survivors as they struggled through the rubble searching for missing loved ones...

They knew that their countrymen deserved every bomb dropped on them by the allies. They only regretted that the innocent children were being killed in the process, not only by the Allies infantry attacks and air strikes, but by their own nation...

Those who would not obey the Fuhrer's orders were either killed immediately or sent to the camps along with the Jews. Those who survived wished that had been killed... Three girls had defied the Nazi in charge of their district and they had barely escaped his men who had orders to take them to the nearest camp... They were now fugitives from their on homeland...

In the woods they found slight shelter from the weather and the falling debris from the bombs, but this shelter would not last long under the constant barrage of bombing. When morning came they were making their way through the forest. By mid-afternoon they when they thought that they had traveled far enough away from the city a German patrol found them... "Grab them!" The Sergeant shouted to his men. The same men that they had escaped from where the ones now working a patrol and had recaptured them...

By nightfall before the bombing started again they had been crammed into a cattle train car bound for Auschwitz - Birkenau. The train arrived at the camp five days later. The stench of human waste and decomposition of the "lucky ones" (those who died before reaching the camp) had become intolerable for many. This had induced vomiting for some, which only added to the smell. The guards were finally opening the compartment doors to unload the "cargo" after sitting in the depot for half a day. As they were being unloaded the men and women, as well as the children were being separated...

After the initial separation, they were again separated into age groups. The youngest and the oldest (as well as any who were crippled or appeared to be so sick that they would not survive the week) were sent to the "showers" and were told that they would be reunited with their families for the evening meal...

The people left were sectioned of by occupations and unskilled laborers... The girls were only fourteen, and had no skills. Slowly the people were herded towards their new places of employment to finish the day. The Nazi Officers stood speaking among themselves as the new prisoners were marched by. But one stood staring intently into the many faces of the frightened people...

Every so often he would gesture to someone, usually two people ad the Sergeant would pull them from the ranks. As the lines processed, he saw Anna, Sara and Megan. Immediately another Sergeant pulled them aside and took them across the camp to wooden barracks that did not look good enough to house livestock. Here they were given a hot bath and a hot meal (although what the meal consisted of was anyone's guess), and they were allowed to sleep... "A very remarkable finds Robert..." Dr. Mengle was stating to his comrade Dr. Robert Ritter as they spoke about genetics over cigars and schnapps. "I haven't had time yet to examine or question them, but I expect from my preliminary observations of their appearance and body movement, that they may in fact be triplets, a very rare find indeed. Just imagine the wealth of knowledge that could be gained from their genetic structure alone..." Richard could feel Josef's excitement in the air as he listened to the Doctor. "Are they Jewish?" Dr. Ritter asked slowly as he blew circles with his cigar smoke.

"This is even better they are Gypsies. Who knows what knowledge they hold of their peoples powers and curses..." This was another case to cause excitement, for many of the higher ranking officials in the Nazi Government were quite intrigued and some even obsessed with any aspect of the occult... Five am came none to soon for Dr. Josef Mengle, who had hardly slept that night in anticipation of questioning and examining the girls. For the girls it came to soon. For what they thought had been a nightmare was just the beginning...

"Do as you are told for as long as you can stand it and perhaps you can survive until the Allies can rescue us."

An older woman who wore the Jewish star told them as she gave them their new clothes and then lead them to the Doctor's office.

"Good morning girls. I am Dr. Josef Mengle, but al of my children here call me Uncle Mengle." He walked to the front of the desk where the girls were seated ad gave them each a peppermint stick. Although this Nazi was being nice to them, quite charming in fact, they knew that he was an evil man. "Do you speak German?"

"Yes." They replied in unison. "Good, good. Now let us begin with some simple questions so that I can get to know my new girls. What are your names?" They stood as they answered and then returned to their seats after they finished...

"Anna Spidla."

"Sara Spidla."

"Megan Spidla."

"Very good, those are nice names. And who were your parents?"

"Sebastian and Annabella Spidla."

Anna replied. "And do you know when they were born? Agan Ann replied, "Father was born on July 8, 1907 and Mother on November 28, 1910."

"When is your birthday?"

"April 23, 1929." Megan answered somewhat timidly. "All of you. Then that makes you triplets. Good, very good. And where are you girls from?"

"We were born in Hungary but have traveled all of our lives to Romania, Poland and other countries that we do not remember because we were so young." Sara replied hoping that cooperation would make things easier as the barracks caretaker had somewhat suggested. "And do you know where your parents were from?"

"Somewhere in Bulgaria."

Agan Anna began to answer for the group. "Did you ever know any of your grandparents?"

"Yes. They were Stefan and Abagail Ramirez on Mother's side and Johann and Gretchen Spidla and Father's side. They were from somewhere in Romania, but we move around so much it is sometimes to know exactly where."

Anna was hoping that things would be over soon.

"What is your religion?"

"Catholic."

Anna replied flatly. Do you have any knowledge of your families past religious beliefs, experiences, or affiliations?" Dr. Mengle knew that not even a frightened Gypsy would willingly acknowledge a practice or belief in the occult to a gadje (an outsider), but he hoped that a simple question about religion would through one of the girls off balance. "We have been Catholics all of our lives and I am fairly certain that our parents were, as for our grandparents, we only saw them in Catholic churches, therefore we assume that they were Catholics. There is much to their lives that no one has ever told us about. As for 'religious experiences' go...

None of us have ever had any visions or spoken to God, if that is what you mean."

Anna knew that Mengle was fishing for anything dealing with spirits, curses or any other supernatural occurrences. He continued asking them questions about themselves and their families (or tribe), hoping to trip one of them into giving the information that he sought... But they knew better... They were barely accepted in their own community for their unnatural abilities, they knew that to disclose the information to the Nazis would surely mean their death.

After the questions, which the girls thought would never end; they were escorted by Dr. Mengle's assistant to separate examining rooms and told to disrobe. Soon the doctor returned with a different assistant. After the most embarrassing 45 minutes, in each examining room, the girls had been poked, prodded, and looked at in every conceivable place. They were then allowed to return to their barracks for the noon meal...

After lunch the girls were taken along with several other children to "classrooms" for testing. The tests were given in German, so many of the children could not even begin, simply because they were from Poland, or other surrounding countries now occupied by the Third Reich. Anna, Sara, and Megan, however, were proficient in not only their Roma (or Gypsy) Language but in German, polish Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, and French. Perhaps if they had been exposed to English (or any other language for that matter) they would pick it up as easily as they had the other languages. It only took the sisters two hours to complete a three-hour test, in a foreign language, & this pleased Mengle considerably. After two other tests in Polish & Russian they were allowed to join the other girls that had been at Birkenau for sometime. They were in a small field gathering wildflowers, but there was something strange. Finally it hit Anna "like a freight train." There was almost two of everyone (a few of the girls were singles but they looked familiar); no matter how old (the oldest pair looked about 16) and no matter how young (there was a couple of 4 year olds just sitting & picking weeds and flowers). There was something else very eerie no one was speaking. This was very odd for a group of 40 children, but it did not take many days for the girls to find out about the terror that had silences the children.

The sun began to lower itself on the western horizon and the evening meal whistle was blowing. They all returned to the barracks in silence to wash before supper. This would be the sister's first meal with the other prisoners. As they followed the other twins to the mess hall there was still silence. Inside there were more children, boys to be precise, and they were like the girl children... each had a twin & if they were not twins they looked familiar. Megan then realized that the singles were fraternal twins because if the boys had long hair they would look just like some of the girl singles. All total there were more than 60 children there seated for supper & still no one spoke. After supper each group returned to their barracks to shower and got to bed, if you could call a wooden slab with one blanket and two and three girls to a slab a bed. Still no one spoke. After the lights went out the sisters could hear a few soft whispers, but mostly they heard muffled cries and they could feel the fear that emanated from the others.

Anna, Sara, & Megan slept some; awakening anytime someone's sobs broke above a murmur. To soon the sun rose and their first real day of hell was to begin. The sun's first rays began to break through the shuttered windows as the first morning whistle was blown. Quickly everyone arose and went to the lavatories to wash as the barracks overseer helped the younger ones. The sisters followed suit. The silence again permeated the room.

Anna, Sara, & Megan joined in the silence and spoke to no one except themselves & that they did silently (one of their special gifts that they dared not mention to anyone, especially Dr. Mengle.

Breakfast was hot but unidentifiable & it was quickly over. Like little soldiers the children fell into formation outside the barracks. Names were called and some children were marched elsewhere in the camp. The older ones were called and marched in the opposite direction (the sisters among these). The rest were led to the fields to pick flowers and play soccer. After about ten minutes the second group was standing in front of what appeared to be medical buildings...

"We are not sick so why are we here?" Sara silently asked her sisters. "Who knows why any of us are here at this camp, let alone this set of buildings..."

Anna could tell that her sisters were becoming scared. Part from the unfamiliar surroundings and happenings and part from being around so many scared people. They were in essence pickup and amplifying the fear from the other children...

## Chapter Thirty-Seven

France Spring 1096 A. D.

The sun was setting and the halls were beginning to fill as the guest arrived and the servants set out the beginning of the nights feast. On the balconies over looking the main dining hall the ladies stood chatting and the men lounged on the main floor discussing what they would do as just a few short months before Pope Urban II at Cleremont had given a moving speech...

"...I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot soldiers, and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends." Many in the great hall murmured that they had also heard that the Pope had offered Papal indulgences, which promised the immediate remission of all sins for those who chose to join the Crusade against the Seljuk Turks. Other conversations across the room where asking if it was for Christendom that they would be fighting, or perhaps it was a way to combine the forces of the aristocracy against a common enemy, and therefore since the constant bickering among the nobility. Others believed that it is Gods will that they fight to expel the Turks for the Christian Holy Lands. They felt that the Seljuks had already taken parts of Romania and it would only be a matter of time before they turned their eyes to Italy and then to France. Now was the time it strike with a deadly force, a time to gather the men into armies and quelch the Infidels before they headed for the men's home lands. Soon the cry within the hall could be heard throughout the entire house... "Dieu li volt!" (God wills it!) A light sound began as the troubadour began the first of his many performances for the night. The servants distributed the mead and those who did not want mead had a never-ending supply of wine from the Duke's own vineyards. Someone banged on the table with a goblet and the crowd became silent...

"I propose a toast... To our magnificent host, Monsieur Dupree` for having all of us here as his guest and for presenting us with such a wonderful fare in wine from his own vineyards and the excellent feast soon to be before us... "The crowd responded with loud, enthusiastic cheers as everyone raised their goblets in salute to their host, Duke Jacques Dupree`. From the balcony the Duke's daughter peered down at the men as the women continued their conversations. "I don't believe we've ever seen him before,"

Amanda whispered to her sisters.

"He is quite handsome, perhaps papa will introduce us to him," Rebecca commented as she sipped her wine. "I hope he has some friends, or perhaps brothers that are as handsome as he is, otherwise we may have to fight over him," Marie` laughed as they stared at the stranger that had given a toast to their father and held them enthralled merely, by the sight of him.

The bells rang letting everyone know that the main meal was about to be served. Ready for the chance to meet this stranger the ladies went down and joined their father, while the other ladies joined their families. "Girls, allow me to introduce you to Monsieur Monticello from Venice, Italy. Monsieur Monticello my daughters – Rebecca, Amanda, and Marie`."

"A great pleasure to meet you ladies..." Philipe` Monticello said as he took their hands and kissed them. "If you will wait one moment, I will find my brother and cousin..." Monticello said as he went in search of his family. "Perhaps we will not have to fight over him."

Amanda said as he was returning to them with two men just as handsome as himself. "Ladies, my brother Carlton, and my cousin Antonio." The men lead the ladies to their seats beside the Duke and their brother, Edward. The bard began playing his lyre and singing of amore`. The servants brought out the main course, which was composed of but not limited to roast beef, boar, and venison. An abundant array of boiled and roasted vegetables ranging from potatoes, carrots, asparagus, onions, etc. Other servants made their way through the throng with pitchers full of mead and wine, keeping all the guest goblets filled. As people filled their stomachs, some began to dance as the troubadours played. The Italians came to the Duke's daughters and in unison asked... "Ladies may we have the honor of this dance." Delighted they arose as the gentlemen took their hands and led them to the dance area...

"Look father, did I not tell you that they would all like each other?" Edward inquired of his father. Edward had met them in Venice while studying art in that area. "You were right, Edward. I don't think I have ever seen your sisters so happy. There are so few noblemen in this area with which we are not constantly bickering over land rights. If the Lord wills it...Oh who knows what will happen, after all the night is still young, and this only their first dance together. Let us just wait to see what will happen without getting our hopes up to high." The Duke was sad that he had not been able to arrange marriages for his daughters in the area, but times among the aristocracy was complicated. No longer were the nobility a brotherhood. Noblemen had adhered to their own agenda of greed. Perhaps, if things went well something could be worked out with the Monticello family, and his daughters could leave France before things grew worse. The rest of the night was filled with laughter and conversation and dancing. Around 12:30 folk began to drift, making their way to their carriages...some to rooms that the Duke had prepared for them earlier... Others simply slept in the dining hall where they had passed out from the drink and merriment. "Ladies, it appears that the night is coming to a conclusion. Your father has already retired, and even your brother Edward is retiring." Philipe` said as he waved to Edward who was ascending the stairs.

"Has father prepared a room for you or are you staying in town at the Inn?"

Amanda queried Carlton, hoping that he would be staying. "Unfortunately, no. We are at the Inn. I do not know how Antonio and Philipe` feel about your sisters," he pointed to the fireplace where the other couples had gathered and were chatting, "but I would very much like to see you again." Carlton looked bashfully away, fearing that she would show no further interest than that night's event.

"Well least find out. Philipe`, Antonio—"

Amanda called them over to the table where she and Carlton had returned after their last dance. Marie` and Rebecca followed close behind them. "Yes Amanda."

Antonio asked but continued to gaze at Rebecca, as though if he dared look away she would disappear. "How would you, Philipe` and Antonio like to return tomorrow night for supper? Of course it will only be father, Edward, and us."

Amanda made no pretenses about wanting them to come back. "If I may answer for my brother and cousin," Philipe` began, "we would be more than honored to return to the company of such exquisite women!"

"Then it is agreed – Tomorrow night at 8:00." Rebecca said as they began walking their new 'friends' to the door. "Yes, tomorrow night," Carlton said as he kissed each one on the cheek. "It will be an eternity until tomorrow," commented Antonio. "Thank you ladies for a wonderful evening. The opportunity to return to your home tomorrow." Philipe` said as the servant helped him with his cape. With a thud the door was shut and bolted, as the Monticello's were the last guests, still awake, to leave. Thus ending a night of unexpected joy for the Dupree` sisters...

The servants busied themselves cleaning the Dining hall and Dance areas and made those that had fallen asleep downstairs more comfortable. The girls headed upstairs to their rooms where their maids had already prepared their baths. As they undressed they talked about that nights events...

"Can you believe what happened tonight?"

Amanda almost squealed as she stepped out of her skirt. "I don't believe I have ever met anyone as charming as Antonio," Rebecca said as Sally helped her off with her blouse.

"I do believe that I could spend the rest of eternity in Philipe`s arms," Marie said with utter delight in her voice...

## Chapter Thirty-Eight

It seemed like an eternity before the day turned into night for the Dupree` sisters who were anxiously awaiting there guest in the atrium. The sun had set and they sat in silence staring at the stars and contemplating what the night might possibly bring, not just for themselves, but also for each other. The sound of horses approaching brought them out of their reverie...

As much as they wanted to run to the door to meet Philipe`, Carlton, and Antonio, they remained in the garden waiting for the Henry to let them in and escort them to the garden. They could here the knock at the door and Henry speaking to them and taking their capes. "The ladies are in the atrium, gentlemen, if you will follow me."

Henry placed the wraps in the closet to the left of the front door, and called for Justin to take the men's horses to the stables. With each footstep the sister's anticipation grew. "Ladies, I do believe that your beauty has increased ten fold, since last we met." Philipe` had no qualms about flattering the ladies in such a manner, for he truly felt that if he traveled for a hundred years, he would never again find women that were as beautiful both inside and out as the Dupree` sisters.

"Thank you Philipe` and may I say that you, Carlton and Antonio seem quite handsome as well." Marie` commented, as she took Philipe`'s hand and led him to the bench. Rebecca and Amanda also arose from their seats, making room for Carlton and Antonio. The sun had set and the fullness of the moon lit the garden as if they were sitting inside with lamps. A clanging came from the entrance way as Melanie brought glasses and a bottle of wine, and Teresa followed behind with a tray of freshly baked bread, crackers, and an assortment of cheeses. "Do you want supper in the dining hall or would you prefer it to be brought here to the garden Ms. Rebecca?" Melanie inquired. "If it is alright with everyone," Rebecca looked to everyone, "I think it would be quite romantic to have a night picnic." Everyone shook their heads in agreement.

"Very well Madame." Melanie and Teresa left to prepare the evening meal to be brought outside. "Will your father and Edward not be joining us this evening?"

Antonio asked Rebecca. "No, father had business with Monsieur Grey and Edward went with him. So we have you all to ourselves, no business tonight only pleasure..." Rebecca replied adding this last piece of information so that only Antonio could hear it. "Wonderful, there is always time for business and so little time for true pleasures," commented Carlton, for he had overheard Rebecca's whispered remarks.

The night was spent in quite conversation as opposed to the previous nights loud and crowded festivities. The group talked of hopes and dreams, of adventures that the men had in pursuit of business ventures, and of trips yet to come. The food arrived and it was a repeat of last nights feast, only on a smaller scale.

As everyone finished with glasses of wine in their hands each couple separated to different areas of the garden....

"Amanda, I know we haven't known each other but a few hours, but I feel as though God created us for one another," Carlton turned his face towards the water fountain to his left to keep Amanda from seeing him blush.

On the East side of the garden near the exit to the vineyards a similar conversation was taking place...

"Rebecca, may I ask a question of you? If it is none of my business just tell me so."

Antonio gripped Rebecca's hands as though he were a drowning man and she the life preserve.

"Yes, Antonio. Ask what you will..." In her heart and Mind Rebecca knew...

"Oh yes, Philipe`! I know that father has not made any arrangements and I thought perhaps that is why Edward invited you here. And if Edward thinks enough of you to bring you here from Italy, then I am sure father will approve." Marie` exclaimed as Philipe` held her tight.

## Chapter Thirty-Nine

The next day before noon Philipe`, Carlton, and Antonio stood awaiting the Duke and his son in the library.

"Do you think that there will be any problems Philipe`?" Carlton asked. "Now why would there be any problems. After all, is this not why Edward invited us here?"

Antonio said before Philipe` had a chance to answer. "So gentlemen, you are here again." The Duke and Edward shook each of their hands. "Yes sir. May I say that we have enjoyed our time here," Carlton began. "And might I add, the fine company of your beautiful daughters."

Antonio said. "We have enjoyed your company also. But let us do away with these pleasantries and get to business." The Duke was a man of immediacy, whether it is the business of his vineyards, or family affairs.

"We would like to ask for your daughters' hands in marriage. As I am sure Edward has told you our father's are dead, being the eldest Monticello, it is left to me to negotiate the marriage arrangements." Philipe` commented as he handed the Duke a new pipe filled with fresh tobacco and Carlton the Duke's pipe as well as Philipe`'s. "Very well. I am willing to grant you each 10 acres to build a home and to farm if you choose to live permanently in France, or 200 pieces of gold each if you choose to return to Italy with my daughters." Duke Dupree` puffed with pleasure on the pipe.

"We sir, are willing to remain in France and work with your vineyards to sell your fine wines to our merchants in Italy." Philipe` offered, knowing that this would benefit not only the duke but his holdings in Italy as well.

"Gentlemen, I believe we have reached a mutual arrangement." The Duke shook Philipe`s hand again as Edward rang for Henry. "Henry would you ask my sisters to come in?" Edward asked. The ladies entered and acted surprised to see the Monticellos so soon.

"You wanted to see us papa?"

Amanda hugged her father, followed by Rebecca and Marie's hugs.

"Yes dears. I assume that you remember the Monticellos from your evening meal last night? I will also assume that, considering the fact that they were your guests, that you like them. They have returned today for a very specific purpose, of which I am sure you know." The daughters remained silent, awaiting the words that were sure to come. "That purpose, my daughters, was to request your hands in marriage."

"And?" Rebecca asked with anticipation.

"I said yes, and they have also agreed to build your homes here in France, and help with the distribution of the wine." They jumped to their feet and jointly embraced their father. They immediately began planning their weddings...

Being sisters who were now engaged to brothers and a cousin, they planned one large wedding for the group on June 11 of that year.

## Chapter Forty

Every nobleman in France and many from Italy along with their families arrived the night before the wedding. Agan as on the night that the Dupree` sisters met the Monticellos, the castle's halls resounded with voices and laughter from the crowds. The servants kept every goblet filled. "The armies are forming to march on Nicea. Bishop Adhe`mar of Le Puy has been able to reach the heads of all the fiefdoms in France and a great many in Italy, and requested them to send any able bodied man to fight." Earl Ferdinand said with enthusiasm. "I myself will both be able to attend, but four of my sons are leaving next week, as well as twenty of my finest and strongest servants."

"Edward and I will be leaving next week also," the Duke looked towards the stairs where his 3 beautiful daughters stood with their fiancées, greeting every guest. "And what of you're soon to be son-in-laws?" The Earl also turned to look at them. "They look to be in fine shape. Mighty fine soldiers they will make I'll wager."

"That will be their decision. They may stay and run the vineyards, or fight as they choose. Rebecca, Amanda, and Marie` all know how to run the affairs of the house and the vineyards." The Duke did not like the Earl, but it was wise to "keep your enemies closer than your friends."

"If you will excuse me Duke I believe I see Sir Woodruff and I need to get to him before the mead does." The Earl laughed as he began making his way through the crowd.

Throughout the evening there was much talk of the "Holy War" against the Turks. The celebration ended early so that everyone would be rested for the wedding festivities. St. Luke's Cathedral was filled with aromatic and colorful flowers and candles. There was not enough room in the sanctuary, so many guests stood outside in the churchyard, while others returned to the Duke's estate outside of town. After all, many only attended the wedding to have an excuse to be at the reception afterwards.

The choir sang as the wedding procession prepared and again sang several hymns after the ceremony was completed. After the ceremony Duke Dupree` invited everyone to the estate for festivities. As on previous occasions the food was divine and the wine heaven sent. Still the topic of conversation for everyone was the Turks. Even the Bards had written songs about the men who were to leave their homes...

"Her eyes welled up beside the fountain, and she sighed from the depths of her heart. 'Jesus' she said 'King of the world, because of you my grief increases, I am undone by your humiliation, for the best men of the whole world are going off to serve you, nothing matters now,' for he has gone so far away...." That was one of many ballads that were being performed. That night in France and Italy and other countries as well, ballads were being song in there own languages.

## Chapter Forty-One

The newly weds spent a week in Paris and returned to the Duke's to meet with carpenters who would build Philipe` and Marie's house first. After the meeting with the carpenters the Duke asked his son-in-laws to stay and his daughters to check on lunch. A polite way of telling them that he wanted to speak to the men privately.

"The Bishop came while you were in Paris. Edward and I will be leaving tomorrow to met and prepare for the march to Nicea within the upcoming week. Philipe`, Carlton, Antonio, I leave it up to you. If you want to stay and be with your wives, I leave you in charge. If you choose to come with us then I will supply with equipment, food, and an additional horse each. We will be taking Justin and Thomas with us, and any of the other servants that wish to fight."

"Thank you Duke for allowing us to choose. We have already decided to go." Philipe` looked downcast. He being newly married did not want to leave his wife. But being a God fearing man he knew that he had to go, to help protect God's people. That night they told their wives that they would be leaving in the morning with their father and Edward for the armies. The ladies understood, and they spend the night in tender love making until the early morning.

The sun rose to find everyone already awake and bustling about preparing for the long journey. No words were spoken for they all believed that this was a war that must be waged, or risk losing all of Christendom to the Seljuk Turks.

## Chapter Forty-Two

The months went by and everything was running smoothly. Marie`, Rebecca and Amanda s were in the garden having lunch and discussing a possible business trip to Venice to meet with distributors that Philipe` had already spoken with...

War! War! War! Clang! Clang! Clang! The swords crash upon the shields of the warriors. Boom! Boom! Boom! Thunder of horse's hooves. Aaah! Aaah! Aaah! Cry the fallen soldiers.Weep. Weep. Weep. Cry the warrior's families. Mine! Mine! Mine! Cry the unscathed as they collect their booty.Screech! Screech! Screech! Cry the scavengers of the sky over the battlefield. Shout! Shout! Shout! The injured but only the dead hear them, and they can donothing...Death! Death! Death! Cries the land overflowing with the blood of mighty warriors. Why? Why? Why? Echoes through the world.Leslie M. Joyner

**From A Celebration of Poets 1998**.

In Nicea the battle raged. Christians and Turks alike were dying on the battleground, those few who made their way back to camp often died within a few days. Arrows flew overhead as the soldiers fought with sword, spears, daggers, and a few hand lost their weapons and were now engaged in hand to hand combat. The sounds of the crazed warriors filled the air as charge was sounded on both sides. The stench of rotting men was everywhere and the sounds of those soon to be rotting resounded throughout the countryside.

Philipe's back was pressed to Carlton's back as each fought Turkish soldiers with swords. Arrows continued to fall from the sky and one struck Philipe` in the chest. He fell backwards into Carlton who turned to see the trouble. As he turned his opponent swung a fatal blow to his head. Antonio stood staring in disbelief as he watched his family and kinsman killed. While he took in the horror of the battle a spear pierced his side dropping him to his knees. The Turk that had killed Carlton came over and swung his sword on Antonio's neck.

Screams were heard from the garden. Melanie and Teresa ran to check on the mistresses and found them all unconscious and lying on the ground.

## Final Epilogue

This concludes the hypnotic regression sessions, to date, with Katherine, Annabelle, and Victoria to date. It will be years before the secrets of all of their lives are told. And the secrets of the Celtic curse that brought them through time as different people but TOGETHER FOREVER. Doctor Alfred Cline and Doctor Samuel Skinner Schleswig Institute

Thanks for taking the time to read this story it was many years in the making, and I hope that you have enjoyed it.

Happy reading and writing to everyone!
