Chapter 17

Donnie was satisfied that his gifts had repaired Rory's heart a second time and also staunched the Collie's bleeding. His trusty companion was out of danger from his wound, but Donnie now had a different battle on his hands.

"Who the hell is Horace and what do you think a Queen's Council is going to be able to do for a dog?" the police officer challenged Donnie.

"A little over an hour ago I was standing with Alex Salmond celebrating another SNP seat won in the election," Donnie answered him. "Horace is one of the SNP business managers. As for the QC, he's not for the dog; he's to represent me for anything I need to do to stop you harming him!"

Donnie was bluffing. He had made up the name Horace and he hadn't actually spoken to anyone other than himself when he had asked for the QC over the phone. He was gambling that the mention of the SNP and such senior legal representation would make the officer think carefully about what he did.

"Look, son. The dog is a killer, he has to go," the officer told Donnie, his patronising tone really getting under Donnie's skin.

"Officer, I've had Rory for almost five years. We have worked together in the fields herding sheep. In all that time he has never been aggressive towards an animal, never mind a human. If you look at that man's throat you will see that this wasn't a frenzied attack. Rory didn't 'rip his throat out', far from it. The signs are of a calculated attack in self-defence," Donnie argued.

"Self-defence? This guy was apparently attacking Miss McGregor, not the dog!" the officer scoffed.

"Officer, I'm surprised at you. Perhaps you need to brush up on the definition of self-defence. It doesn't only mean defending yourself," Donnie told him.

"Katie!"

The shriek was from Heather, as she entered the flat and took in the body and the police officers.

"Would someone put up a bloody perimeter!" screamed the senior officer, dismayed that a member of the public had managed to wander in to a major crime scene.

"Heather's here to travel with Katie to the hospital," Donnie advised the officer. "She will go in the ambulance and that will allow me to take Rory for treatment."

"The dog isn't going anywhere, trust me on that!"

"Officer, I beg to differ. You have no grounds to take my property from me. There has been no law broken here and you have no powers to intervene."

Donnie's statement was made so factually, and with all of the confidence that his gifts bestowed that it carried significant weight. He stood up and lifted the injured Collie in his arms. The officers looked at each other, unsure of what to do. None of them could actually think of a law that they could use to stop Donnie from simply walking away.

"Heather, look after Katie for me. Katie, I'll be back as quickly as I can."

Donnie started for the door and the officer who had been the most threatening towards Rory moved to intercept him. Donnie met the officer's eyes.

"What are you going to arrest me for?" he asked. "I'm leaving and taking my property with me. There's nothing you can do to stop that, now please stand aside."

Once outside the Alexander Court building, Donnie rushed quickly to the Polo and placed Rory on the back seat. Now that the police had seen the Collie's injuries he decided that there was no reason to delay fully healing his friend. Laying hands on the dog's head, Donnie let his gifts complete what he had started and in minutes Rory was as good as new.

"Okay, my four-legged friend. Let's get you out of harm's way for a while. How do you fancy a few weeks with mom and dad on the farm?"

Rory's woof seemed to indicate that he quite liked the idea.

"I'm guessing that the goddess has branded you for a reason, my friend," Donnie whispered as he crouched to scratch Rory's ears. "No doubt she will let me know why when it suits her."

Despite already having had a very long day, Donnie wanted Rory somewhere that the police wouldn't have easy access to him, so he set off for the farm without delay. His parents were at first grumpy about being woken up at 04:00, but when Donnie related the events of the evening, they were as supportive as always.

"Get back to Stirling now, son. You should be with Katie; she'll need your strength. Let us worry about Rory," Mairi McGregor urged.

Katie wasn't detained long at Stirling Royal Infirmary, but of course the police were anxious to interview her about the attack and the death that had resulted from it. A time was agreed for later that day, allowing for Katie's lack of sleep and her reaction to the attempted rape. She was looking for her iPhone to call Donnie when he appeared through the main entrance to the hospital and quickly walked over to wrap her in a hug.

"How are you bearing up?" he asked.

"Surprisingly well, to be honest," she answered. "I'm most bothered by how stupid I was. I mean ... I always check before opening the door. Why didn't I check this time?"

Donnie merely shook his head.

"Life is full of things like that. If you dwell on it, you'll just get yourself into a state. Come on, let's get you home. I'll drop you off first, Heather and listen, thanks for being there when we needed you."

"Don't be daft, I know both of you will be there for me if I need it," Heather replied.

Donnie dropped Heather off at the Halls of Residence, but instead of then driving to the Alexander Court building, he turned the Polo and left the University campus again.

"I thought you were taking me home?" Katie enquired.

"I am," he said. "I'm not taking no for an answer this time. You're moving into the apartment with me. Tonight was a shock. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."

When they got back to the apartment, Donnie heated some milk in the microwave and made some milky coffee.

"Where is my hero?" Katie asked.

"I wanted him far enough away to make it difficult for the police to do anything stupid," Donnie explained. "I took him back to mom and dad on the farm."

"He'll like that."

Katie took a sip of her coffee and seemed to stare off into the middle distance for a few moments. At last she sighed and tuned to look at Donnie.

"I think Rory being there for me is making all this easier," she started. "I'm not in denial or anything; I know how close I came to being raped or even worse. I'm coping okay though thanks to my hero. Isn't it about time you told me everything?"

Donnie had been wondering when they would have this conversation. He was surprised that Katie hadn't pressed him before now on how it had been possible to have met and saved her ancestors. That had lain between them since their first night together.

"Why now? I mean ... why are you asking me to explain now?" Donnie asked.

Katie considered his question for a moment.

"It was Rory. I knew he was dying, but you did something to him. I'm still not even sure how he got there and you seemed surprised as well. You did something to heal him and then there was the tattoo on his leg – it was the same as the one on your shoulder. I've noticed that Heather has one too, but her's is different."

"Are you sure this is the right time for this?" Donnie asked.

"Positive. I need to know what's going on around me, now more than ever," Katie nodded.

Donnie removed his shirt so he could show her his brand.

"This isn't a tattoo, it's actually a brand. It was put there by the mother of all the Scots gods and goddesses, Beira," he began.

Donnie didn't leave anything out. He told Katie his story from the first day when he had been stranded in the snow, how Rory had saved him and how the goddess had appeared and taken him into her service.

"So that's what you meant when you said that Rory had given his heart a second time?" she asked.

"Yeh. The knife wound tonight punctured his heart and he was close to death when I got to him," Donnie confirmed.

"But how did you..."

Donnie held up his hand to stop her question.

"Just listen, it will all make sense once you've heard all of it," he suggested.

He explained how he had faced his fears and climbed the cliff face and then how Sironaidh had appeared and given him her gift of healing. He recounted all of the interactions with the goddesses – including the details of how he had met Katie's ancestors. When he arrived at the part about killing the Somali pirates, Katie could see that there was still some anguish behind his eyes.

"So are you going to tell me about the bets that you have been putting on?" Katie asked.

Donnie explained about the plane crash and Vivien Dunn.

"Later, Beira explained why I didn't see anything about the crash in the media," said Donnie. "It hasn't actually happened yet, she transported me into the future."

"But doesn't that mean you can do something to stop the crash from happening?" Katie asked.

"I tried that, believe me, I tried hard. The goddess told me that some things couldn't be changed. Anyway, as part of showing me that this was something that was to happen in the future, she showed me a newspaper story about it."

Donnie described how he had taken the opportunity of writing down the information from the newspaper and how he was planning to use the money it would generate to fund the expansion of the building at Ardbrecknish.

"So how much are you expecting to make?" Katie asked.

"Next week I should bring in almost £21million," Donnie told her.

"Are you serious?!" Katie exclaimed.

Donnie couldn't hold in the laugh.

"You sit there and listen to me describe all kinds of fantasy stuff about goddesses, time travel and unbelievable 'gifts' without even a smidgen of disbelief. But as soon as I mention a wee bit of money, your eyes bug out and you're waving your arms about like a windmill!"

"It is a lot of money," Katie responded. "As for the goddess, I know quite a bit about the old ones and I suspected there had to be something like that involved. How else could you have saved someone back in 1603? Anyway, does Rory's brand mean that he now serves the goddess too?"

"I guess so," said Donnie. "It would certainly explain how he managed to be in your flat."

Not surprisingly given the time and what they had been through, Katie and Donnie both ran out of steam and they eventually crawled into bed with the sun already well above the horizon to the east.

Donnie's radio-alarm went off at 08:00. He slammed his hand down on the button that silenced the thing and swung out of bed. Katie's tousled head raised off the pillow to look at him.

"I'm due back with Alex Salmond, you take the chance to get more sleep," he told her. "I'll leave a number on the table; it's for the law firm that manages the licensing for the tree energy scheme. Phone them and ask that they arrange for someone to accompany you to the police station."

Katie nodded to show she understood and then her head fell back onto the pillow.

Donnie listened to the news on the radio as he drove towards Edinburgh. The only item was of course the election results. With only three seats still to declare, the SNP was already confirmed as the party with the highest number of seats.

Of the 126 seats so far declared, the numbers were:

• SNP – 55

• Labour – 48

• Conservative – 11

• Liberal Democrat – 9

• Green – 2

• Independent – 1

The final three seats were predicted to be split, with the SNP getting one and Labour the other two.

The result showed that, as in the UK elections in 2010, the Scots electorate had remained loyal to Labour despite the economic crisis. But both the SNP and Labour had achieved gains at the expense of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. It looked as if the SNP could either go forward with another four years of minority government or enter into coalition with either the Conservatives or Lib Dems.

Donnie knew that the SNP strategists had already undertaken preliminary work to consider a range of election results. The manifestoes of each of the other main parties had been analysed in minute detail – not just to try and find weaknesses that could be attacked during the campaign, but also to find common ground. Any coalition would involve a negotiated agreement on a programme for government and commonality could see an agreement reached much more quickly.

Donnie also knew that Alex Salmond himself was dead set against any coalition, as he didn't want the public to associate the SNP with any of the other parties.

When he rejoined the party leader, Donnie could feel the euphoria in the room at the election result. Most of the party big-wigs were milling around – quite a few of them sipping glasses of champagne, despite the early hour. Seeking out Salmond, Donnie asked for a brief word.