We rode in gloomy silence, Geillis, Mac, and I the only ones who knew what this truly meant. It was spring, but there was no warmth to the air, Scottish springs were cold and cheerless, like our spirits.

The Scots begrudged the time Margaret spent to nurse the baby. I understood, we did not know how far the Campbells were behind us, but time was precious and we could not afford any delay. Still, the baby had to be fed and his wet nappies changed. When he was uncomfortable or hungry he began to fuss, but so far it was not too bad.

We would spend one more night in an inn, then it would be hard riding to Inverness. So far we had met no one on the road, which I took to be a good omen, but any moment now things could change. We'd decided that the men from Leoch would leave us in the morning, and take the back roads back to their home. Jamie could not afford to be seen and Angus and Rufus were anxious to get back.

I hated the quiet we rode in, it reminded me too much of my flight from Colin Campbell. There was no singing or talking or laughing, just quiet watchful awareness. We listened for the sound of hoof beats, however faint, behind us and were grateful when we heard nothing.

My nerves were being stretched to their limit, I imagined that any moment I would hear the sound of horses behind us. I don't know if anyone else felt it too, but I could not shake the feeling that any moment we would find that we were not alone on the road.

Jamie, Angus, and Rufus have left us. They are taking the back ways home to Leoch to avoid running into the Campbells or any British soldiers who may be on the road. It is just us now and I feel vulnerable and scared.

Geillis rides in the back, keeping a sharp eye out for soldiers or anyone who may be a threat. So far nothing, but I am in terror of seeing Colin's blond head. He'll be riding at the head of the group, maybe with Randall at his side. There will be people I knew while I was living in Chateau La Mere whom I may have counted as friends—once.

I wish we knew the countryside so we could stay off the main road, but we don't. We can't chance getting lost, it's way too risky. And who knows who might find and "rescue" us. Under no circumstances do I want to be handed over to Colin Campbell. I'll kill myself and the baby before I let that happen.

I try to comfort myself with the fact that we are only a few miles from Inverness and the sacred grove. When we reach the path to the stones I will take the baby from Margaret and send her on her way. She's a smart girl, her wits and the gold I plan to give her will help her get away safely. She's fierce but she's also superstitious so she's not eager to approach the stone circle with us. It's better that way.

Then I hear the words I've been dreading. "They're coming," Geillis says and Mac helps Margaret down off the horse.

"Let me take the bairn, mistress, I can keep him safe." Her eyes are pleading with me but there is no way I will be separated from my son. I give her a handful of gold coins, more than she's ever dreamt of having and tell her, "No, I can't, I need to keep him here with me." She kisses my gloved and squeezes it.

"God keep you, ma'am," she says and gives the baby one last look, then runs off. She won't be caught, she knows this country. Though I'm not religious, I say a little prayer, asking God to keep her safe and I know he will.

This is it, we spur our horses now and urge them to run as fast as they can. It's only a short space to the entrance and then down the path that leads to the grove. The horses seem to sense our fear and respond to us almost of their own accord. We don't want to kill them, but these horses are hunters and are bred for endurance and speed we press them as hard as we can.

They are a ways behind us, but we can hear them. Men's voices are co-mingled with the sounds of hooves. In the two or three minutes it would take to run a race we have found the entrance to the stone circle and the horses are now running on soft turf. Though their hoof beats are muffled, our tracks are there for all to see and they won't lose us, they will follow us to the end.

And they have. Are their horses fresher than ours? I don't know, all I know is that now I can hear yelling and the jingling of their bridles. I don't turn around because I don't want to see, but I know that Colin has instructed them to ignore the others and head straight for me.

Mac and Geillis pass me, I am inhibited because I am holding the baby, but there is no way, short of surrendering to Colin, that I will put him in danger. I tell myself that it's all right, that Mac and Geillis know that I know the way. If they can wait, they will, otherwise they will make their way through the stones and I will meet them.

My horse stumbles, he's tired and so am I. Like a thoroughbred in a race he finds his footing and we race down the path towards the stones. I can see them just ahead of me but Mac and Geillis are nowhere to be seen. I breathe a sigh of relief though, that means they got away and I am no longer a danger to them.

Someone is behind me, I can't see who but I know that is it, Colin. He's determined that I will not escape him this time. I got away from him once before and I know he is angry, but I don't know if he plans to punish me or make me marry him. I am not going to let either happen if I can help it, but Mac and Geillis are gone and I am alone with no one to help me.

I feel someone slam into my horse so hard that I start to slip from the saddle. I am going to fall, I can't help it but I've got to keep the baby from harm. I feel myself tumbling from my horse's back, but I hold onto Callum tightly, protecting him. I hope that I can make my feet and run to the circle before someone is able to stop me or take my child from me.

I hit the ground, hard, hitting the side of my head. I see stars and just before I go unconscious I feel someone rip the baby out of my arms. "Give him to me," are my last words as I hold out my arms, but Colin stands next to me, Georgie's baby in his arms. Randall comes up and aims his fist at me, I feel it hit my head. "We're even now," I hear him say.

I am waking slowly but I don't know where I am until I open my eyes and see the IV's in my arms. The antiseptic smell reaches my nose and I realize at last that I am in a hospital. Where I don't know but when I attempt to sit up I become dizzy and violently ill. Someone holds an emesis basin and I throw up bile, for, of course, my stomach has been empty.

"Careful, lass," says a soft female voice with a Scottish burr, "You had a nasty fall and you have a concussion. You'll be here a few days until it's safe to send you home." She leaves in a cloud of white starch and lay back on the pillow, keeping my eyes shut until the dizziness passes. I'll save my questions for later.

That afternoon Mac appeared. "You're safe!" I say, happily surprised. "I didn't know if the soldiers had gotten you or not. What happened to Geillie?"

"What are you talking about?" he asks, the expression on his face puzzled, "When you didn't come home for a day I went to the circle and found you lying at the base of the main stone, unconscious. I brought you to the hospital and found out you must have fallen and hit your head."

"Mac, you say I was missing for just a day? How can that be? I've been gone for at least a year and a half. Do you know what's happened to my baby? Did Colin Campbell take him?"

"Irina, you were only missing for a day or so. You were unconscious when I found you and you only just woke up. You must have been dreaming."

"How could I have dreamed a year and a half?" I said, "How could I have dreamt a pregnancy? Mac, you were there, I was with you. I met a girl named Geillis Duncan who passed through the stones to avoid the law. You and Geillie helped me get away, but that's not all there was to it. I married George Campbell the Younger and bore his child, how could that have been a dream?"

His expression told me that he felt sorry for me, that the blow to my head must have left me delusional. He put his brown hand on mine, "Irina, it didn't happen. You sustained a pretty bad concussion but you're going to be all right the doctors say."

It hurt my head to think, but questions were crowding my head and I had to ask them. "Tell me, Mac, are there any legends regarding these stones taking people? I've studied folklore, you know, and I know that sometimes these stones purportedly contain the power to take people, then return them. Are there any stories like that regarding the monuments here?"

He sighed and tried to withdraw his hand but I held onto it tightly. "If you were to give me a polygraph right now it would say that I believe that everything I'm saying is true. I don't have any recollection of falling, none. I fell asleep accidentally in the shadow of one of the stones, and when I woke up my watch was not working. It stopped at three p.m. Did anyone find my pack? My watch and my phone should be in there."

He went over to the closet and found my battered backpack. I rummaged around in it until I found my watch, half expecting that it would be working and I would look like a total idiot.

It read three o'clock and I didn't know whether to feel relieved or alarmed, but clearly wasn't working. "I put new batteries in this before I left Chicago. When you were a kid did you ever read 'A Wrinkle in Time'? The three witches take the children away to find their father but tell them when they come back it will be five minutes before they left. Why couldn't something like that have happened to me? We're archaeologists, why shouldn't we believe that something like this could be real?"

"Irina, listen to me," he stood by the side of my bed, his face grave, "You mustn't tell anyone what you've told me, they're going to think you're either mad or your injury was worse than they thought it was. I don't know what to tell you. Do I believe your story is real or that you were just hallucinating? I know what I think, but I don't know everything. Yes, there are stories about these stones, stories that go back a long way, but I don't know if they're true. If I suspected that something might happen to you, I might have said something. Now, I don't know."

"I know I don't have any way of proving what happened to me was real, but I know it was. That stone is dangerous, people ought to stay away. Are there any stories connected to the stones about something similar that happened to me?"

"Yes, but no one believes them. I want to believe you, I do, but I can't. It goes against everything that I've been taught."

"So there's no haunted castles and Scottish ghosts then?"

He smiled ruefully, "I don't know, Irina, but I can't say I don't believe in ghosts." He leaned over and kissed my forehead.

This is what I know. I was taken by the stones and spent a year and a half in Jacobite Scotland. I married George Campbell the Younger and when he was killed by his cousin Colin I fled the castle with the help of Jamie Fraser. I had a child by Georgie who was an infant when I fled Castle Leoch in fear that I was being pursued by Colin Campbell and returned to the stones. Colin took my baby from me and that's the last I know of him.

Did he kill him? I don't know, but my son was the Duke's rightful heir. Perhaps since was an infant Colin spared him and stood in as regent or maybe seized power for himself. I don't know, I can't find anything that tells me the fate of my son. I only know what I hope.

I've invited Mac to go to Luxor with me, he's still thinking about it. I'm not staying in Scotland, I've had enough of this bloody land. I lost everything that Scotland means to me, now it's time to resume my old life.

FIN