Some Enchanted Dream: A Time Travel Adventure (Seasons of Enchantment Book 2) Read Free

the village proper. Brown, dreary buildings and warehouses with dark windows passed on either side. The road gradually changed from gooey mud to sturdy cobblestones beneath their feet. The buildings became stone instead of wood, and grew taller, providing more of a wind buffer as they traversed the narrow streets.
    "My feet are numb," Dan complained as they marked the empty streets about them.
    Her brothers and her husband remained stoic and silent.
    "Damn it, we're in for another dousing," he continued.
    As Tara paused to gaze up at the roiling skies above, agonizing pain shot through her. She clutched her belly and bent double. The pain sharpened. She groaned.
    Adrian's voice was a distant shout as her knees weakened and she started a slow descent toward the wet cobblestones. Her cheek sank into a cushion of damp soft fabric as Adrian's arms bore her weight. He caught her, preventing her fall as he sank to his knees beside her.
    The men huddled about them to shield her from the weeping skies.
    Tara cried out again, and blessed darkness embraced her.
     
    Adrian tried to stand. He swore as he wavered and stumbled with his precious burden. His wound ruled him with punishing pain. Tara was hefted into Dan's arms. Mick helped Adrian stand properly and handed him his blasted walking stick.
    "Above the shop, over there. I see light in the window," Doc Riley hurried to the side door in the alley. The door was locked against entry. He pounded on it vigorously and called out.
    "Damn, what I wouldn't give to be back in my own time," Dan muttered. "At least there a fellow could call an ambulance and duck into a mini-mart to escape the rain." 
    “What is an ambulance?” Adrian grew impatient with the fellow's constant grousing.
    “A vehicle, like an enclosed carriage, that rushes out at a moment's notice to collect the ill or injured and takes them to the nearest hospital for medical care. Judging by our surroundings, there aren't such conveniences here. Damn it, I miss the digital age, cell phones, free Wi-Fi on every street corner, and fricking automobiles with heaters.”
    Adrian stood by the giant, his hand on his wife's arm, feeling lost at the man's mystifying speech. He was still trying to digest the reality that his wife could deliberately move through time. Adrian met Tara on a stormy night in County Cork, Ireland. British soldiers had dragged her into the barn to interrogate her, believing her to be a rebel spy for the Irish. Adrian rescued her from King George's men. It took a full week before she could speak clearly after her strenuous shift through time, and she’d suffered temporary paralysis from the experience.
    Tara seemed fine today after traveling through time once more. She had been talking and moving easily, appearing unaffected. Was this a delayed reaction to her use of powerful magic? This time, Tara had transported not just herself and Dan, but four more men. They started out as a group of six, but seemed to have lost Mr. Lawless in the time jump.
    Transporting five extra bodies, all men, must have been too much for the slender waif.
    Tara looked so pale. She was soaking wet, even with the addition of Adrian's cloak about her and Dan's hat shielding her head from the fine, light drizzle. “Can you hear me, my love?" Her eyes remained closed.  Adrian took her slim hand between his own, shaking it gently and patting it. "Tara, wake up.”
    "What's wrong?" A middle-aged man in a white artist's smock emerged from a door Riley had been pounding on. He stepped out to join them in the alley. "Is that a woman?" He drew closer to inspect Dan's burden. "What happened to her? Do you need a doctor?"
    "It is not your concern." Mick Gilamuir waved his hand as he spoke, as if performing magic on the curious fellow. "My sister is exhausted from our arduous journey. We walked several miles in the country to get here, in the rain. Can you direct us to lodgings nearby?"
    "Just there, at the end of the next street," the