Nyssa Constantine never asked
to be immortal. Infact, the idea of sword play made her think
of Camelot, an age a couple hundred years before her time.
She leaned back in her rocker
and looked up at the stars from her front porch. East Texas in
early fall teamed with chirping crickets and owls made her pine
for earlier days. She wondered how long it would be before the
city lights would make it out this far.
Nyssa was torn from her reverie
from the familiar tingling of an approaching immortal. If she
concentrated hard enough, she could possibly block the sensation,
making her seem invisible to another like herself. As a precaution,
Nyssa made a mental note of where her sword lay, tucked in the
doorway inside her umbrella stand. She pulled long, dark hair
from her angular face, gray eyes trying to see what she could
still feel. Then she saw the lights of an approaching car. "Must
be an ancient one." She muttered with a slight quiver. She
wasn't afraid of a good fight, Ramirez had taught her well but,
it was the old breed she was avoiding.
The black Volvo pulled into the
gravel drive. Eternity passed, or so it seemed, before the car
reached a stop in front of her house and the door swung open.
She licked dry lips. If it was him, she could make it to the sword.
But even Ramirez had told her so many years ago, that this was
the one to avoid.
He got out, not at all like she
pictured him. Seemingly in his late twenties, early thirties,
dark brown hair cropped at the collar, dressed conservatively.
If she hadn't known better, it looked like... "Methos? My
God," She didn't hide her relief and shear joy at seeing
her old friend. "what are you doing here?"
Methos scratched his head and
grinned sheepishly. A smile of innocence. "Were you expecting
someone else?"
They greeted each other on the
porch and hugged. "Why didn't you call? I could've fixed
something to eat. Are you hungry?"
He shook his head. "No,
Edie. I ate in Dallas. Tea would be good. You look great!"
"I Haven't aged a bit in
over a hundred years. If I could bottle up immortality, I'd be
a quasi billionaire."
The west couldn't have been wilder
when she last saw Methos. She had been married then to a mortal,
adopted a child, was perfectly content until two immortals blew
through town. One, after her head and the other drifting by. It
was a hot, dusty day in Casper Wyoming when Methos interfered
and saved her life. She didn't know it at the time, but Gaspar
was an ancient. Methos had promised to return after Luke had died.
She hadn't expected him to return. She enjoyed their friendship
and always hoped for Methos' return but knew not to hold her breath.
It suddenly occurred to her that it might be pay back time for
saving her life. "Come inside and we'll talk."
"A hundred and thirty years,
right?" He asked as he followed her through the house to
the kitchen.
"A hundred and thirty-five.
But to an old man like yourself, what's five years?" She
winked as he seated himself at the breakfast table and she put
the water on to boil for some mint tea. She couldn't help but
look at him as he studied the hardwoods, high ceilings and pickle
wood cabinets. "You know, I've been here for years and no
one bothers me. It's so peaceful."
"Eden, I--"
She cut him off with a wave of
her hand and sat across from him. "Nyssa. My real name is
Nyssa. Eden died... Oh sixty years ago. Come on, old man. You're
not here to sort out old times. What's wrong?"
"I'm sick of it. So damn
sick of it!"
Nyssa shook her head. The light
he once had in his eyes all those years ago had vanished. She
noticed the tattoo on his arm and immediately he covered it up.
"You're a Watcher?"
"I don't know what I am.
He looked up half ashamed, the other confused. Surprise didn't
seem to be a part of Methos' vocabulary. "How did you know
about us?"
"A long story." Nyssa
heard the water starting to boil and attended to it, putting a
couple of tea bags in the water while she told him her story.
"Luke and I had a boy as you may recollect. Well, when Sam
was old enough, we told him the truth about immortals. He told
his son and somewhere down the line, my great grand son became
my Watcher." She sat across from Methos who seemed absorbed
in her story. "Anyway, I was in Dallas and noticed this boy--
well, young fellow in his 20's-- following me. This was about
a year ago. Anyway, I turned into an alley, drew my sword and
waited for him to turn the corner. I like to have scared the crap
out of him when I held the sword beneath his chin and told him
that there were stalking laws and I couldn't decide to turn him
in or cut his throat. Well, he stuttered and stammered and begged
me not to kill him. Finally, the kid broke down. Spilled everything.
Told me about that he was a Watcher and knew about Immortals."
She wanted to know without asking Methos directly if he were a
part of The Kinsmen. Ramirez was one of the ancients but he never
swore allegiance to that society of Immortals. She would have
been surprised if Methos wasn't. She hoped he wasn't. "Of
course he was rattling on so that he even mentioned the Hunters
but knew nothing of the Kinsmen.
Methos put some cream and sugar
in his tea and took a sip. A blank look long practiced over the
millennia ran over his face. "What are they?"
"Ancients who think they
remember what we're really here for. That's why you've come. For
my head. right?"
He shook his head. "No,"
Genuine surprise. How she wanted to believe him. "I missed
you, Edie."
"Sixty years was a long
time to be in hiding. She had a problem. He came with another.
"I'm being an ass. Sorry. I've missed you, too."
"Twelve years ago I became
a Watcher. I had believed it would be great if Watchers and Immortals
could work together. But they can't as long as there are Hunters.
I don't know where I stand with myself or others."
"You've always been an Immortal.
A Watcher only a dozen years. How can you doubt what you are?
Besides, you're always welcome here. You're like Halley's comet.
You pop up once every seventy-five years or so. You'll figure
things through."
"Tell me about the Kinsman."
"Forget it. I should've never brought it up."
He sighed. "Are you in trouble,
again?"
She tried to laugh it off. Nyssa
could still feel the nick from the sword as it grazed her shoulder
last week. Someone had followed her from a cafe in Dallas and
chased her for what seemed like hours downtown. She knew however,
that soon, it would be time to move again. "It's been sixty
years-- I'm sure that they've forgotten all about it."
He folded his arms in front of
him. "Forgotten what?"
Nyssa felt another buzz from
an approaching immortal. "No time. We need to run."
2
Methos climbed in the passenger
side as Nyssa roared the Saab into life. "O.k, old man. Last
chance to leave with your head intact."
"Well, let's go."
Nyssa sped through the hills
of East Texas leaving behind, for the moment, the man who wanted
her head. No, she'd have to tell Methos the whole story. "The
Kinsmen call themselves Revelationists. They believe that chapters;
13, 20, and 21 refer to immortals taking over the world. Most
of them are ancients- 2,000 years or older. They want to win the
game at any cost. That's what I believe started the panic in the
Watchers... why the Hunters were formed." "So why are
they after you?"
"For years I've been warning
other immortals. Naturally, the Kinsmen don't like it that I've
been stepping on their toes. There are a list of immortals they
want destroyed before they go into power. I have that list. Xavier
was initially sent to destroy Duncan MacLeod but then it turned
personal real quick with him. From my understanding, MacLeod's
damn good."
Methos smiled. "Not bad
for a Boy Scout."
"She studied the grin on
his face. "You know him?"
He nodded. "Our paths have
crossed. He's a clansman of Connor's."
She remembered Connor well. Ramirez
had introduced them five hundred years ago. Nyssa often wondered
whatever became of him, but that could wait. "Then he couldn't
be all bad."
"No, not bad at all."
"This is why the immortals
and watchers need to work together. The Kinsmen have a leader
in mind. The oldest Immortal next to you. He's Acadia."
He gave her a puzzled look."The
religious leader of Eastern Molaka?"
"Some Mideast nation. Anyway,
Every twenty-five years there's an outdoor mass and the leader
prays for all the people. Since this is the one hundred year anniversary,
CNN gets to broadcast it. That's when he's going to be shot in
the head for the world to see."
"Then come back from the
dead."
"A miracle for billions
to watch." Nyssa knew it wasn't set until early next year,
but she couldn't just sit and watch any longer. "But Christians
will recognize him as the Anti Christ."
"The Kinsmen are hoping
that it will instill fear in most. They think themselves as Gods.
They can't get away with it."
"I was probably never asked
because I stay hidden. I s'pose being safe has paid off."
She crooked an eyebrow. "Is
that why you broke the rules of the game a hundred and thirty
years ago and stopped another from destroying me?"
"NO!"
"Of course not. We're friends.
You talk about not believing in chivalry. That you're depressed
and don't know who or what you are. That part of you is lying,
because I know your heart."
"You talk too damn much."
"Did I ever tell you that
Homer was a friend of mine? One of the few mortals I've told.
An intelligent man even by todays standards. He denied believing
in chivalry. Yet, he wrote the Iliad and The odyssey. There was
passion in him like there is with you. There's a reason for us,
Methos. To walk the earth in eternity is not enough. We must make
things happen. Especially while the Kinsmen are around."
Methos looked at his tattoo and
gazed out the window.
What else could she say that
wasn't said already? She continued. "You are in a prime position.
The Kinsmen would like nothing more than to see a war between
the Watchers and Immortals."
Nyssa pulled into a rest stop
that overlooked a canyon. They got out and she stretched and took
a deep breath of the unpolluted air. What was immortality without
honor or dignity. Hell, mortality for that matter. The fall night
had begun to cool. She shuddered slightly regardless of the sweater
she wore, she still couldn't knock the chill. He came up from
behind and warmed her shoulders with his hands. She leaned her
head against his chest. "You know, I'm so sick of running.
Sixty years from those morons. It's starting to piss me off."
"Try it for five thousand
plus years."
She shook her head. "They'd
have to send me away." She turned to gaze into his steady
eyes. Eyes that had seen more than she ever would.
"I won't let them."
He leaned slightly to kiss her tenderly but passionately on the
lips. Desire unsurpassed by decades of imminent longing. She only
realized now how much she missed him. Needed. Wanted him. And
wished he'd never leave.
She heard the familiar buzz of
another and broke from his embrace. "He's coming."
"Damn. They really know
how to spoil a mood, don't they?"
She went to the car and took
out her sword.
"What are you doing?"
"If they stopped chasing
Duncan MacLeod after Xavier was killed, maybe they'll stop chasing
me after Acadia is killed."
He grasped her arm. "NO."
Then he looked up. "This is madness."
"Have you any idea what
it's like to feel that before anyone else. Ramirez taught me how
to block the sensation so other immortals don't know me from from
a mortal. But the older ones, no can do."
"It's like having a super
power and not being able to use it, huh?"
Nyssa nodded, wishing she had
never gotten him involved in all this. "It's time that I
took care of them."
"But..."
She kissed him as though it were
her last, a kiss hopefully to be remembered through the next millennia.
They watched as the lights of
the approaching car flickered into view.
"My fight this time. If
he wins, it's up to you."
The blue Taurus stopped next
to the Saab and a silver haired man got out, wielding a Katana.
"You choose your weapons
well."
He gazed at her Swept hilt rapier,
then at Methos and smiled. "Who's your friend?"
"Back up in case I lose."
She wielded her weapon above her head.
"He followed suite. "He
doesn't look big or mean enough."
"It's the quiet ones you
have to be careful of." She struck the first blow and they
crossed swords above their heads. Their eyes locked and Nyssa
could tell she might be in for a long night.
3
Methos watched and wondered how
the other watchers throughout history could observe without interfering.
He couldn't sit and watch a hundred and thirty five years ago
and that was before he became A Watcher. This guy was a more even
match for Edie, or Nyssa, whatever she had chose to call herself
these days. Ever since Alexa's death, he thought more and more
of Eden. Every time he ran into Edie, excitement and danger soon
followed.
He sat on the hood of the Saab
as they crossed swords and fought in the middle of the farm road.
Duncan and Joe needed to know about this dangerous group of Immortals.
He felt the old cynicism returning at the irony of it all. He
had come for insight from an old friend and a possibility of a
return to Eden.Not just the woman he met a thousand years ago,
but a love he realized he had almost lost. There had been so much
lost through the millennia.
Acadia was a quick and skilled
swordsman, lean and had a sharp eye. Eden had a strong arm as
well as speed and agility. He nicked her sweater at the shoulder.
It came back with flecks of red and she returned the blow to his
side. He showed no sign of pain or agony. He didn't even clutch
his side as the blood ran down his shirt. Soon, Eden would be
tiring out. He wondered why a left handed swordsman would fight
right handed, but nothing Edie did surprised Methos. Then, she
pulled out a small dagger tucked beneath her sweater, while keeping
Acadia occupied with the sword. Their eyes locked as she dug the
dagger deep into Acadia's chest. He gasped and fell back. Methos
stood up as Eden knocked the sword out of Acadia's hand and seared
his head, letting it roll down the road.
Swirling black clouds towered
over head. Eden closed her eyes and placed her hands over her
head, reaching into the quickening. Energy. Lightning swirled
around her as Methos held on to the rest stop sign. She screamed
as the quickening approached and filled her with Acadia's immortals
he had killed. There had to be hundreds, perhaps thousands. If
he were the second oldest, this would make her the second strongest
Immortal. In theory, that is. The wind picked up and Methos jumped
as the Saab and Taurus' engines revved up and the glass from the
windows blew out. It was pitch black except for the energy surrounding
Eden. For a woman who claimed to dislike the game, she just made
herself a good killing. The final spark of energy released itself
and the sky became clear. Methos went to her as she collapsed
in the road. Holding her head in his lap, he asked. "How
do you feel?"
"That was orgasmic."
4
Nyssa knew that her problems
weren't over but two weeks later she wasn't complaining. Methos
drove up in her new Blazer. Having her Saab found at the bottom
of the canyon had the makings of a perfect exit. Eden, Nyssa's
twin sister had to come and close shop. Granted, not a great lie,
but it worked for these back woods folks. She waved as Methos
got out of the car and joined her on the porch. So, you ready
to go?"
Nyssa looked at the house for
the last time. God knew how she'd miss it. But at least she had
her laptop, cell phone, and her credit card. "I think so."
She got the paper out of the yard and tore the wrapping away as
she got in the Blazer. When she flipped to the front page, Nyssa
felt her face flush.
"What's the matter with
you?" Nyssa let him read the header in case she had seen
it wrong but by the look on his face, she hadn't. "Oh my
god." He gasped.
In bold faced lettering, the
headlines read like a Tabloid teaser:
Holy Man Walks Away From Fatal
Gun Shot To The Head Is This The New Messiah?
The
End ...
|
