Trial by Fire

As they walked back to the campfire, he reached out and took her by the wrist. She tried to edge away but he persisted, lightly pressing on her pulse point with soft, sure fingers. She glanced over at Rowan and saw the willstone at his throat glittering subtly. Her fever ebbed out of her, like hot water swirling down a drain. Before she could ask Rowan what had happened, they’d reached the fire.

Several conversations, spoken in a language Lily couldn’t even begin to place, hushed at once. A dozen men and women sat in a circle, staring at Lily with wide eyes and blank faces. Some of them had graying hair and craggy faces, but they all seemed to be remarkably fit and strong. Lily wondered why they were called elders when none of them seemed all that old. There were certainly no frail or elderly people among the Outlander elders.

“Well—that’s Lillian,” said a wiry woman with a thick mane of salt-and-pepper hair. She had cinnamon-colored leather for skin, and a dried and spicy voice to match. “Kill her,” she said with a shrug, like she couldn’t believe no one had done it yet.

Half a dozen bows were drawn, creaking ominously to fulfill the woman’s order. Lily stared over the fire at a semicircle of arrows pointed at her face. Her jaw fell open and a whimper squeaked out.

“Wait!” Alaric shouted, his hands up in appeasement. “Yes. She is a Lillian, but not the Lillian we know from this world. Rowan. Explain.”

Lily realized that she had grabbed onto Rowan’s arm. He had stepped in front of her so quickly she hadn’t immediately noticed, and now he pulled her forward so she stood in front of him. Lily’s knees shook, and she leaned her back against his chest. A dozen arrows were still aimed at her face. Rowan slowly took a hold of the collar of her shirt in both hands and opened it so everyone could see her bare throat and chest.

“No willstone,” Rowan said. His voce rumbled against her back. The tips of half the arrows dropped to the ground hesitantly, then Rowan continued. “I brought the shaman to the Citadel almost two years ago. I didn’t know that Lillian trained with him, and I still don’t know how this is possible, but somehow Lillian has managed to spirit walk into another world, locate another version of herself, and bring her here.”

The fire popped and Lily felt the weight of everyone’s hate and fear pressing in on her. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat. Deep in the crowd, she saw Tristan’s worried face staring back at her and Caleb’s stern face right next to his. Rowan slowly shifted her behind him and out of the remaining line of fire.

“This version of Lillian is from a world so different from ours that she studies science, not witchcraft,” he said with disbelief. A murmur swept through the mob. “And she likes to be called Lily,” he finished, allowing a note of humor to enter his tone.

That strange language rose up again as the elders began to argue. Rowan’s head snapped around in reaction to what some in the crowd were saying, and as he listened, he became increasingly tense. He reached back for Lily, keeping her close to his body. As the infighting between the Outlanders escalated and braves began to stand and face off with each other, Lily could see Tristan and Caleb weaving their way through the crowd toward her and Rowan. Rowan suddenly held up his hands again, waving for everyone’s attention.

“Who here knows Lillian better than I do? And who here has more reason to want her dead?” Rowan announced loudly. The bickering ended abruptly. “I swear on my life this is not Lillian. If it was, I would have strangled her myself.”

The wiry woman stepped forward again. “Alright, Rowan, we believe that you believe. And since we knew your father, that’s good enough for most of us.” The wiry woman paused in a moment of reverent silence, and the crowd followed suit, some of them even bowing their heads. “But if what you’re saying is true,” she continued after a suitable amount of time, “what does it mean?”

“I don’t know yet,” Rowan said quietly, his eyes reaching back to meet Lily’s. “But the possibilities are literally infinite.” Rowan kept his eyes on Lily. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but whatever it was, it frightened him.