Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 15:44:00 +0200 Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Marina Bailey Organization: CDS OnLine BBS, Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA Subject: Cruel Deception, Part 1 of 2 CRUEL DECEPTION, Part 1 of 2. ******************************************************************** A rather tame story. There is sex and a beheading, but unless you read carefully, you'll never know it. :-) By the way, the story is mostly about Richie and someone else, though Duncan and Joe Dawson do appear briefly. I have written about three dozen TNG stories, but this is my first stab at Highlander (so to speak - ha). ******************************************************************** CRUEL DECEPTION By Marina Bailey. 1994 Richie Ryan slept peacefully, thought the girl as she watched him. Too peacefully, perhaps. She wondered how he did it when he could be such an intense individual. His intenseness had made her forget a few fundamental things that were supposed to contribute to successful intimacy... Somehow, she knew it didn't matter, but she didn't know why. He was looking at her. "Hi," was all he said. "Hi." "You okay? You look kinda freaked." The girl smiled. "No, I'm fine. I just... I realised that we... that we didn't..." She stumbled over the words, trying to get this supposedly easy topic out of the way. But Richie grinned. Actually *grinned* at her. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I can't have kids." That hadn't been what she'd meant, but she was still startled. "What?" "I can't ever have any, so it's okay." "Did you go to the doctor or something?" "No. But I know." "How?" "I just do. Take my word for it, Elyse." "You're not just saying that to... you know." "No." He said it with such finality that she knew it was true. She wondered how he could know if he hadn't been to a doctor... "Well!" She got up. "Time to eat something, I think. It'll be my turn today, okay? I'll just borrow a shirt." She opened the cupboard, but instead of a shirt she found a sword. Lifting it carefully, she stared. "Why do you have a rapier in your closet?" Richie got up. "It's a long story." He looked into her eyes; saw dawning comprehension as she looked at him, then at the sword. "From Toledo, Spain, no less," she added. "The real thing, not a copy. You said you'd reformed, so where did this come from?" "Mac gave it to me." "Oh, your friend. The one who owns the dojo." "Yeah. He used to own an antique store. The first time I met him, I nearly stole one of his swords. But this one he gave to me. Kind of an initiation present." "You're an Immortal." She looked away, then back. Then at him, then at the sword. Ran her hands over her face. "I can't believe this. You're an *Immortal*. Aren't you?" "Yeah." Then, "How did you know?" "Oh, boy. Maybe we should sit down." 1988 "So, you're going to learn swordsmanship?" "Yeah, why not? There's so little of it; why did you learn about swords if you weren't going to pass it on to people?" "But there are a thousand other arts you could learn, Elyse. Wasn't the ballet enough? I understand your fascination with swords, but not the other." "It's your fault," smiled Elyse. "When you were making the props for the theatre, you showed me each one. Each *sword*. Didn't you ever think that crept into my imagination? "Well, you did read about Excalibur, sword of kings. You saw Shogun about twenty times. I thought it was a phase you'd grow out of." "Well, Dad, I didn't." Her father went out; someone else came in. Elyse barely looked up. "Sorry, ballet lessons start next week." "I didn't come for lessons. I came for your head." Now Elyse looked up. "What?" The man was tall and tanned with sandy hair. He was wearing black. He was also carrying a sword. A Japanese katana, no less. "I came for your head," he repeated. "I don't appreciate that kind of humour," Elyse responded. "Just get the hell away from me." But the man approached, sword held high. Elyse grabbed the only sword she kept in the studio, an imitation Claymore. When he saw that she knew what she was doing, he backed away. "Give in now; sooner or later someone *will* take your head." "I'd rather it was later, thank you." "You're going to be one of us, and you're going to be fighting for your life for as long as it lasts... be it one hundred days or one hundred years. Let me end it now." "No." "I know you'll be Immortal. I'm the only one who does. I could protect you... but I want a favour." He looked her up and down. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about!" shouted Elyse. "Now get out before I call the police!" Just then, her father's voice filtered into the studio. "Honey, Mrs. Locke called. She asked about ballet classes." "Dad!" The man in black backed off. "Too bad. We could have enjoyed ourselves together." He turned and exited, not looking back. Elyse's father came back in. "I told her you weren't teaching ballet until next week." "Thanks," said Elyse. 1994 "That wasn't enough for you to know about Immortals," said Richie. "No... four years ago I met a guy. I thought he was Superman. I had these fantasies... you know, the house, the dog, the kids. Even the damn picket fence, and I *hate* those fences!" "What happened?" "Once, I was late... you know?" Richie nodded. "Well, I told him I thought I was pregnant, and he hit me." "Hit you?" "Yeah. He accused me of being unfaithful to him, and then he told me he couldn't have children. Just like you just did. But he told me why. He had a sword, too. He showed me - actually, I thought he was gonna kill me." "What did you do?" "I told him I must have made a mistake... and of course, I had. Not only because of him... because of me. I can't have children either." "You're not Immortal," Richie said. "Of course not. I was too frightened. I was 21, Richie. The thought of being 21 forever really scared me." Richie smiled a sad, ironic smile. "I'm 18 forever." "Sorry." She held out her arms, and he hugged her. "Sometimes when I was frightened of... of someone coming for me, I'd get out the razor blade... but I couldn't do it. I was too scared I'd stay dead. I still am." "You might stay dead." "No. My lover told me everything. The Game. The Rules. The man who came to my studio was the Immortal destined to be my protector... mentor... whatever. That's why he knew. That's why he wanted either me or my head." "Who was he?" "I don't know." "If you can describe him, we'll go ask Joe. He's a Watcher." "What's that?" "If you're really an Immortal, you'll find out." "Sounds like Paul Coetzer," said Dawson. "Did he have an odd accent?" Elyse tried to remember. "Yeah... like he was Australian or something." "Uh uh, South African. He's quite a young Immortal... only two hundred years old." "Hey!" said Richie, pretending to be hurt. "I'm only 20, you know." "Sorry. You know what I mean. And he tried to take your head *before* you became Immortal?" "I'm not Immortal yet," she said. Richie could see Joe mentally filing away the information. But all Dawson said was, "Don't you people have a rule against telling the person?" "Well, I think so," said Richie. "Duncan knew the night I broke into the antique store. He threatened to cut my head off!" "But he didn't. And he didn't tell you the reason, did he?" "No. At first I thought he was just an eccentric antiques dealer who thought swords were purer weapons than guns. That only lasted about five seconds, though." "Yeah, Slan and Connor MacLeod showed up." "How -- " began Richie, then stopped. He knew how. "But after that he didn't tell me I was going to be an Immortal. He just kinda took me in. Said it was to stop me from talking, but I knew there was something else to it. I wasn't gonna look a gift horse... you know." Dawson turned to Elyse. "Why did you want to know?" "I just did. I need to know who my protector was supposed to be." "Fate's a strange one," Joe said. "To choose him for you." "Why?" "He isn't a peaceful man. He made headlines in his home country originally... a series of gruesome murders." "Other Immortals?" "That's just the thing - no. They were just normal people, all found murdered in the most hideous ways. And get this - he confessed. Sentenced to death... well, you know how that turns out. After that he left the country and went to England. Eight years ago he came here. Under a different name, of course." "And I got him for my protector?" "Yeah, if that bit about him thinking you're going to become Immortal is true." "What about Jonathan?" "Who?" "My lover. He told me all about Immortals. Jonathan Dalle." "Name doesn't ring a bell," said Joe. "Describe him." Describing him didn't help; either the man was a new Immortal, or he'd assumed a new identity and appearance. It was probably the latter, but they had no way to know. "Look," said Joe. "Do you think it matters terribly?" "No, I just... it would have been nice to know, that's all." "You have me," said Richie. "What do you need him for?" Elyse grabbed him and kissed him firmly. "Nothing!" *** *** *** "Richie..." Richie was practising with his sword. "Yeah?" "Do you love me?" It was a bit of a sudden question, make no mistake. "Yeah, I... I think so." Elyse smiled. "You think?" But she knew how difficult it was to admit something like that. "I guess I feel the same. How long have we been together, anyway?" "Three weeks." "Seems longer." Richie put down the rapier. "Yeah, it does." He kissed her. "If you really are an Immortal, it might turn out to be a very long time..." Something about that frightened Elyse. "Let's just accept each day for itself, okay?" Richie knew the wisdom of that thinking. "Okay." He kissed her again. "Let's forget about the future for now, huh?" "Sure." The phone rang a little later. "Yeah? What?" That was Richie's greeting. "Oh, hi, Joe. What's up?" He paused, and Elyse pulled up the sheet and sat up, because Richie's smile had turned into a frown. Then he turned to her. "It's for you. Joe says he knows where Paul Coetzer is." Elyse took the phone. "Joe?" "We found him. We know where he is." Elyse went cold. She suddenly knew. "He's here, isn't he? Right here in the city. Isn't he?" "Yeah." "He can't find me, right?" Silence at the other end. "Joe, tell me he can't find me." "I don't think he can, but we don't know everything yet about how becoming Immortal works. You know that. If he really is your 'mentor', maybe he could. I just don't know." "Thanks for telling me." TO BE CONTINUED \\"I have been to the sword seen it come seen it die||"...in the midst// // As we enter the dark I beseech you to try..." ||of the rubble, I\\ \\ - Melissa Etheridge; Keep it Precious ||felt a sense of // //========Marina Bailey======tmar@cds.Alt.ZA========|| rebirth..." \\ \\ "We're in the Highlands; where else?" - Connor || - Indigo Girls // --- Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR] =========================================================================