The echoes of the bagpipes died slowly in the large cave.

The torch light glinted in a million colors from the glistening wails and roof. As much as he had ever been, Michael was happy. He thought to himself "That laddie is a king among pipers. I must talk him into a private performance sometime soon." Their own clan piper was far from being as good. He had other reasons to be happy. The gathering in the cave was in celebration of the end of a blood feud that nearly tapped his clan and the neighboring clan completely dry of resources and manpower over the long bloody years. The two clans, deadly enemies, celebrated together with an almost exhausted relief. Now, in part through his efforts, there would be peace. Michael had come to the clan some ten years before with no real account of his past. He quickly gained a power in the clan greater than that of the chief himself. At first, people that opposed him just seemed to have a lot of unfortunate accidents. It quickly became clear that he had the power to change events as he pleased. What only was known to a few was the limits of his power. He could only ruin, he could not improve or create. The odd limits of his power were a curse to him. He could always find a way to get what he wanted. He did not always keep it. The current truce was in part due to some very real threats and some unlikely promises he had made to the man that still pretended to run the clan. Michael had controlled the real power for years. The pipes struck up once more and he saw there were dancers now. After the first set, a woman he had not seen before began to dance. She was tall, blonde and somewhat pale. But once she began to dance her color came up quickly, and all Michael's thoughts of peace were swept away. "I must have her!" the thought raged in his mind leaving no room for compromise. He controlled himself at last, and as casually as his racing heart would allow, he began to ask about the woman among the members of her clan. The half answers and evasions that he got did not put him off, they only increased his desire for the woman. The less response he got to his questions the greater his resolve became. All the long way back to their lands from the gathering, Michaels thoughts were aflame with desire. He conceived a treacherous plan to get the woman. He called the clan together as soon as everyone was back. Gone was all pretense that any other power existed beyond his. Before he had allowed the old chief at least the courtesy of thinking he ran the clan. Now, everything was swept away by his passion to possess the woman. He stood before the clan terrible in his power, confident his will was law. "Now we have seen the true weakness of our old enemy, we know just where to strike. This is known to him. We must regain the upper hand, we will strike now, this night, while they think the peace of their miserable gathering is on us." He spoke harshly, with no regard for highland custom, that those taken in as guests should not attack the host no matter what the grievances between them. Many muttered under their breath about such a plan, and wondered at Michaels wi11ingness to so quickly throw away the peace he had worked so hard for. No one was willing to speak aloud against the plan, remembering the fates of those that had tried to oppose Michael before. His power had seemed to grow even as he spoke, and none doubted the raid would happen as he wished. Michael called his apprentice aside and gave him instructions for finding and returning the woman unharmed. Angus Dhu was the name given Michael's apprentice when he was young and noted for his dark eyes and hair. But now, Angus Dhu was grey and bent, and was actually much older than Michael. He had been the first to realize the power Michael held, becoming his assistant to share in his power. Now it did not seem such a good idea, as he heard his doom pronounced. "Bring this woman back to me unharmed, or you will live out all the years of your life in one night and return to the dust before me!" As Michael spoke, fear came to the face of Angus Dhu, for of all the members of the clan he alone knew the full extent of Michaels power, and the doom that could follow him where ever he ran. The raid was soon on its way, most of the party already happy with a highlanders almost innocent desire for bloodshed. Michael stared into the dark long after the raiders were out of sight and hearing. He had never felt more certain of his power, and was sure his will would be obeyed. He woke to the sound of voices, dreams of the blonde fading reluctantly from his mind. The raiders had returned, and by the look of relief on Angus Dhu's face, he knew the woman he desired was now his. The raiders had split up, an old habit, the cattle and horses being brought in by a long overland route, the captives, if any, and smaller va1uab1es being brought a1ong a sheer cliff edge that attackers could be brushed from like flies. The only path was not much wider than a man, and halfway between the sky and an angry sea. Michael saw the woman on the path and headed towards her. As he passed one of the raiders he heard him boast. He stopped at the words. "They had scattered a lot, and we had only to kill them as we pleased, when their piper started to play. Well, that brought them together. But he stood up on a great rock, and I shot him neat as neat could be with this crossbow you see here now." Michael looked at the boasting crossbowman, reliving the joy of his kill, and remembered for a moment the piping he had enjoyed at the gathering. Michael looked at the crossbowman and those around him drew away, as Michael told him. "You will die very soon." Michael walked away from the crossbowman without another word. To Michael he was already dead. His thoughts had returned to the woman ahead, and he hurried towards a woman that had already caused so much grief. The crossbowman slowly walked onward, but after a few steps a rock falling from higher on the cliff carried him quietly down to the waiting sea.

The woman's name was Kathleen, and some still muttered about the price she had cost the clan, not alone the few that died in the raid, but the shame that would forever follow them for killing their hosts. She seemed to accept her fate quietly, and Michael became more bewitched by her the longer they were together. Michael was happy, and paid no attention to the isolation he had brought on himself by using his power so openly and carelessly. This isolation helped Michael, in that he was not suspected when the clan's luck turned more and more foul. He seemed unaware even when Angus Dhu tripped and broke his neck on a rock smaller than a baby's fist. Others said i t was a doom on the clan for breaking trust and murdering their hosts and they would all feel its effect soon. Michael awoke to the smell of smoke, thatch was burning, and the screams were sharp in the air. "Kathleen, quickly, it's fire all about!" he yelled, afraid of loosing the woman that had cost them all so much. "I'm right with you Michael, leave everything. If they see you, you are dead!" Kathleen whispered in his ear. "They're your clan, aren't they" he said fiercely. There was no more time for talk. They left amid confusion and batt1e. It was clear that Michaels clan would be totally destroyed. They followed an almost invisible trai1 up the back of the cliff face. Kathleen led with the confidence that came from practice. Michael was certain she knew of the raid in advance, but how? The thought grew in his mind, of the accidents he had ignored, and the death of Angus Dhu. As they reached the top of the cliff and the burning houses and screams faded behind them, he asked Kathleen. "You never told me what it was you did for your clan, and none I asked that first night I saw you seemed to know. Will you tell me now?" Kathleen smiled slightly, and said. "I love you Michael, or I wou1d have left you to burn in your house as you deserve. I came to love you because we are so alike, for I too can curse a man. Or a clan..."