Date: Fri, 23 Dec 1994 11:09:17 EST Reply-To: "Diety of the editing labs (*snicker*)" Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Diety of the editing labs (*snicker*)" Subject: The Battle of Evermore, part five ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ******************* H I G H L A N D E R ************************ ************************************************************************* ************ T H E B A T T L E O F E V E R M O R E ************* ************************************************************************* BY BRIAN PROCOPIO, BASED UPON THE FILM OF THE SAME NAME. COPYRIGHTED 1994, CHAOS PICTURES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. _______________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER FIVE _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ "Side by side we await the might of the darkest hour of them all..." _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ The tell-tale buzz of another immortal rung through Brian MacKenzie's head, as expected. The rickety screen door squealed as it slammed shut be- hind him, knocking yet another chip of faded green paint from its frame. "Dave, I'm home," MacKenzie called as he tossed his black trenchcoat over the pale pastel blue arm chair just inside the door. He heard the screech of the kitchen chair on the linolium floor as David rose from the kitchen table and walked into the living room, a slight smirk crossing his face. "Bri, hey, glad you're back, there's someone here to see you..." he trailed off. That explained it, MacKenzie thought, the feeling of something... not right. He threw an inquiring look at Macleod as he brushed past him and walked into the kitchen, where he saw... her, sitting at the table, an impish smile across her face. "Laurana!" he exclaimed as he crossed the room and met the rising im- mortal with a deep hug. Her brownish hair bounced around his shoulder as she embraced him warmly in return. "It's been awhile," he commented as he eyed up the shorter immortal, searching for any drastic changes within the past thirty years. "Too long, Brian," she returned, the first possible signs of pain playing across her features momentarily. "I'm... I'm sorry.. Dave told me about it." MacKenzie broke the embrace and walked over to the back door, looking out at the surf crashing off in the distance. "Yes, well..." he murmered, "these things happen and all." "Yes, they do," she replied, her tone becoming more serious suddenly. "Bri... Kevin, he was..." "And Jenny?" he returned, gathering from her manner and behavior what had befallen Kevin Walsh. All too often in the past decade or so he had to undergo such bitter reunions, each old friend bearing news of another's death. "No, she's... well, as fine as she can be. She's resting upstairs now," Laurana commented and she sighed deeply. "It hasn't been all that easy on her either." "I doubt it would be, spending almost seven decades with one person..." he reflected, his face watching the gulls scamble for food off in the distance, their cries reaching him every now and then. "It's not easy at all, ever. Even a few years, a few months..." Laurana rose from the table and walked over to Brian's side, placing her arm on his shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, "I know..." Brian looked down at his friend of several centuries and smiled. God, had it been so long since he'd smiled? It felt almost foreign to his face. "Well," he broke the moment of silence suddenly as he walked over to the refridgerator, opening it and looking inside, scanning its contents, "how long do you guys plan on staying?" "I don't know, a few days maybe, possibly longer if that's ok..." she trailed off. "Of course, m'lady," he smirked. "Ummm... looks like we're kinda short on food and all around here... why don't we eat out? I know this great little Italian place over on eighteenth." "Yeah, yeah... let me check up on Jenny and freshen up a bit ok?" she pulled his cheek playfully as she walked past him and nearly into Macleod, who was walking through the doorway at the moment. "Hey... watch it, Davey-boy!" David responded with a lighthearted growl at the comment, and let it slide. He turned to face his mentor, who still had his gaze on the form of the lingering immortal. "Maaaaaac... Ziest to Mac..." he waved his hand in front of MacKenzie's face. "Ziest?" Brian replied questioningly. "Ah, just some bad sci-fi B flick I saw once," David returned casually as he took a pair of Pepsi's from the fridge, handing one to Brian. "So, that Laurana's quite a looker, ain't she?" he grinned. "Yeah, we go back quite a ways..." MacKenzie said wistfully. "Seemed that every now and then we would start to get close and then a Macleod kinsman would show up and drag her away for half a century or so..." David paused in reflection, mulling over his friend's words. "So you're saying," he stated slowly, "that *I* have an edge in this little competition?" Timed slowed as MacKenzie's head turned to face his student's growing grin. "Don't even think about it," his face narrowed. _______________________________________________________________________________ Laurana stumbled a bit as she raced down the steps, sword in hand. One earing dangled from her ear, its partner lost somewhere on the trip down. The scuffling sounds of a battle echoed ever louder from the direction of the kitchen. She burst through the doorway and landed in a combat stance. The sounds stopped as the two battling immortals halted their hand-to-hand brawl, both Macleod and MacKenzie with each others necks in grasp. "Ummm, Hi! Ready?" greeted Brian as if nothing at all was amiss. Laurana turned with an *umph* and made her way back upstairs. "Boys," she muttered under her breath. "I HEARD THAT!" yelled Macleod from the room behind her. His words were cut off by the sound of a slamming door... _______________________________________________________________________________ ... which caused several small sparrows in the yard to take flight in fear. Antonio strode down the concrete walkway in anger. "Empty, *again*," he grimaced to himself as he placed his sword carefully into the backseat of his car. He removed a small packet of papers from his glove compartment and rumaged through them until he reached a page marked with x's and pen marks. He placed another of the scratches over the second to last address on the list and examined the last. New Jersey it would be, he decided as he merged onto traffic along Route One, heading south towards I-95 and, he hoped, his prey... _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ well, that's all for now... If anyone is missing any chapters, e-mail me and I'll send them to you. I won't be sending them out until after the holidays, however, due to the number os students who wanted them (some schools erase alot of the mail over the break and all, etc. and I just want to do this in one lump mailing so I don't miss anyone... Anyway, e-mail as always with comments, etc. at Macleod@vm.temple.edu =========================================================================