Saturday, December 16, 2017

BLADE OF INNOCENCE, Highlander the TV series fan fiction

Excerpt from Chapter 9 of the fan novel now available on Wattpad:

            "Mac?"  Josh stepped out into the hall, a hammer in one hand, a box of nails in the other, his carpenter's apron bulging with supplies.  He grinned as Duncan waved and continued his leisurely stroll down the hall.  "Thanks for coming.  We could really use six hands for this job today.  My other helpers couldn't come.  I thought it'd just be Andy and me today."

            Andy.  The name caught Duncan's interest.  There couldn't be two Andy's working on renovating the factory building, could there?  Duncan could almost hear Amanda chuckling.  He told himself to be honest -- it wasn't just his role as Darcy's guardian that made him want to check out the young man.


            "Hey, Andy?" Josh called, as Duncan stepped through the doorway into the half-walled room.  "This is Duncan MacLeod.  An old friend.  He's going to be helping us for a while."

            "Hi."  Andy was the red-head who had been working with Josh when Duncan first came in on Friday.  He wore faded jeans and his blue flannel shirt hung open, revealing decent abs -- he didn't get that condition from just carpentry work, Duncan decided.

            Then Duncan saw the tattoo on the young man's wrist and his assessment ground to a halt.  Dark blue, clear and unblurred from recent application, a narrow ring with the familiar triangular insignia inside.

            Watcher.  Not Josh's Watcher.  What had Darcy said about Andy being Martha's grandson?  Martha came with Josh's team to open up new missions.  Watching seemed to run in families.  Where else could they get recruits without exposing themselves to people who might think they were crazy?

            "Nice to meet you," Duncan said, shaking the young man's hand.  His own hand felt slightly clammy as he released him.  It was an effort not to keep watching Andy.  He turned to Josh and held out his sweatshirt-clad arms.  "What do you want me to do?"

            As he and Josh and Andy finished assembling a long section of wall studs and hoisted it into place, then fastened it down and started hanging the drywall, Duncan thought about what he had seen, the implications.  He stole glances at Andy whenever he could without it seeming obvious.  The young Watcher seemed not be paying any attention to him at all.  Duncan found that almost amusing.  He remembered the few times he had walked into a room full of Watchers.  Everyone had stared, either openly or so furtively it had been ludicrously obvious.  Maybe this young man didn't know who Duncan MacLeod was.

            Now that's a blow to your ego, isn't it? Duncan chided silently.  He had to grin at that.

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