NOTE:  This story was originally titled "First Time Out."  It can be found under that title on the Highlander Archives.  This is the very first fanfic I ever wrote.

DISCLAIMER: Highlander the Series is the property of Rysher Entertainment.
Characters from that series are used without their permission. The characters
and stories not belonging to Rysher belong to me.

What Price Vengence
by Laura F. Schomberg

The dojo
6:00 am

'I hate getting up early!!!' Richie thought as he pulled up in front of
the dojo. He stepped off the bike and headed up the stairs. The buzz stopped
him as he put the key in the door. He hesitated, Duncan's plane didn't get in
until later this morning. Richie opened the door and pulled his sword out of
his jacket.

Quietly he entered the dojo, looking for the unknown immortal. From the feel of
the buzz, Richie was pretty sure that the immortal was either in the gym or
office. Using only the dim early morning light coming through the windows he
searched the gym area. No one. That left the office. He raised his sword
defensively as he crept toward the office door.  

"Who's in there!?!"
 
Richie received no answer but he was rewarded with the sight of a form slowly
rising out of the leather chair. Whoever it was wasn't very tall.
'Kenny?'
 
"Who are you?" asked a quiet female voice.  

'Definitely not Kenny'
 
"I hate to be childish" Richie replied, "but I asked first."  

"I'm looking for Duncan MacLeod. And I know that you aren't him."
 
"If you're hunting, you'll have to go through me."  

The most beautiful laughter Richie had ever heard filled the dojo.
 
"Don't worry, baby. I'm not hunting him. By your stand you must be a friend.
I'd guess that you're his student. Right?"
 
"Yes, and his friend."
 
The woman turned on the light in the office. What Richie saw didn't exactly fit
the image of the shadowy figure that he had been creating in his mind. She
looked . . . like a filthy child. Her pitch black hair was in wild disarray. It
looked like she had put something black on her face and then tried to clean it
off. Richie could still see some of it on the right side of her nose and on her
forehead. She was wearing a trench coat that had obviously originally been
owned by a much taller man. Her hands were stuffed in the pockets and the
excess sleeves were bunched around her wrists. Richie guessed that a good foot
of the coat was bunched on the floor around her feet.  

"You still haven't told me your name, baby."  

"Why are you calling me baby? You don't know how old I am."  

The stranger shrugged and turned back into the office. She headed toward the
chair and collapsed into it with a sigh. Richie didn't think he had ever seen
anyone look as tired as she looked.
 
"You became aware of what you were when you were, what, 19? 20?"
 
"19."
 
"Well last time I saw Duncan he didn't have a protege. As far as I know he
never had one. That and from the feel of you I'd say that you are anywhere
from, oh, 21 to 70 years of age. Tops."
 
"From the feel of me? I've never been able to tell how old an immortal was from
the feel of him."  

She shrugged again, "It's a gift. Let's narrow this down a bit. Umm, how many
heads have you taken?"  

"I've had my share."
 
"That's not an answer. Okay then. I'd say either one strong one or two to three
mild to moderately strong Quickenings."
 
Richie's jaw dropped.
 
"Two or three?"
 
"Three."
 
"Well that narrows it down a bit. I'd say that you're less than 25. Which to me
means you're a baby. My name is Ellianna, by the way. What's your's?"
 
"Richie. Richie Ryan. If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?"
 
"Let's just say that I was about 25 when I first died."  

"Okay, then why are you here, Ellianna?"  

"I'm going by Ellie this time around. I'm not really sure why I'm here. I found
myself outside and thought I'd stop by and say hello to Duncan. When will he be
back?"  

Richie wasn't sure if he should believe her or not. She seemed to be telling
the truth, that is what she did tell him. He needed to check her out, he
decided. Duncan was on a plane right now so he couldn't ask him. Joe!
 
"I need to make a phone call."
 
"Checking me out, huh."
 
"Something like that."
 
"I'm too tired to leave the room, or be a threat for that matter. Go ahead."
 
Richie didn't really feel like talking to Joe in front of her but he picked up
the phone anyway and dialed Joe's house.  

"Yeah," the voice mumbled.
 
"Hey, Joe. Sorry to wake you up."
 
"Something wrong, Richie?"
 
"No. I just wanted to find out if you know about an immortal named Ellianna.
Claims she's a friend of Duncan's."  

That seemed to wake up Joe.
 
"Ellianna? Is she there?"
 
"Yes to both."
 
"Let me talk to her."
 
"What? Isn't that against the rules?"
 
"Just give her the phone!"
 
'I don't believe this!'
 
"Here, Joe wants to talk to you," Richie said as he reached the phone out to
Ellie.
 
Ellie looked as confused as Richie as she reached out and took the phone.
 
"Ellie here."
 
"I spoke to Janek this morning. He's sending some things for you. He said to
call him."
 
"Th. . .thanks. Joe as in Joe Dawson, right?"  

"Yes. I just want you to know that I don't approve of your relationship with
Janek."
 
"An immortal named Richie Ryan calls you at 6 in the morning and asks you to
tell him about another immortal and YOU don't approve of my relationship with
Janek. Sounds like double standards to me."
 
"Point taken. But I haven't told him about other watchers. Let me talk to
Richie."
 
She handed the phone back to Richie.
 
"I take it she's telling the truth."
 
"Yes, at least I have good reason to believe that she is Ellianna. I can't tell
you much about her, though. We don't have any real solid information about how
old she is or where she is from. We do know that she is good at disappearing
and that she has spent the last 20 years working for various groups interested
in bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. By the way, I don't think that
Ellie's watcher would have let me know that he and she were friends unless
something big was up. When are you expecting Duncan?"
 
"I was supposed to pick him up at the airport in about four hours."
 
"Call someone else to do it."
 
"Why can't you?"
 
"I'm waiting for a package. It probably won't get here until about that
time."
 
"Okay. See you later."
 
Richie hung up the phone and looked at Ellie. Her head was being supported by
her hands with her elbows propped on the desk. Her head started to tilt forward
and then jerked back and she looked towards Richie. For the first time he
noticed her eyes. He had never seen eyes as green or quite so tired.  

"Let's get you upstairs and into Duncan's bed. He won't mind. After that I'll
give Adam a call and see if he can pick up Duncan at the airport."
 
Richie reached down to help her out of the chair but she jerked away from
him.
 
"Adam. As in Adam Pierson?"
 
"Do you know him?"
 
"Yes. He's an . . . old friend."
 
Richie decided that if that was the tone of voice she used for old friends then
he would hate to be an enemy.  

She let him help her out of the chair and followed him to the elevator. They
went in and Ellie leaned against the back wall. Richie pressed the button to
take the elevator to Duncan's quarters and turned back to Ellie. She had fallen
asleep and was sliding down the wall. He reached out to grab her and then
picked her up in his arms. The elevator reached Duncan's floor with a small
jolt. Richie tried to figure out a way to open the gate while holding her but
couldn't. Finally he put her down and then opened the gate. He picked her back
up again and carried her to Duncan's bed.
 
Richie placed her on the bed and stepped back. He decided to take off the
trench coat so she wouldn't get tangled up in it while she slept. He undid the
buttons and pulled first the right and then left arm out of the sleeves.
Gasping, he stepped back when he noticed the state of her clothes under the
coat. She was wearing a dark, long-sleeved cotton shirt and black pants that
had more holes in them then he had ever seen. Richie couldn't tell if the shirt
was originally black or if it was the blood that covered it that made it black.

 
Richie stepped back away from the bed. Turning around, he headed to the phone
to call Adam.
 
Duncan's Loft
 
10:30 am
 

Richie sat on Duncan's sofa trying to think of something that he hadn't done.
He had put a sign on the dojo door saying that it was closed. He had found some
of his clothes for Ellie to wear since Duncan's would be too big. After that
incident with Kristen Duncan had let him keep a change of clothes at the loft.
He had called Adam. Now that conversation was almost as strange as the one he
had with Ellie.
 
"Hi Adam."
 
"Do you know what time it is?"
 
"About 6:30."
 
"This had better be good."
 
Obviously Adam wasn't an early riser.
 
"Look, I need a favor. Duncan's plane comes in at 10:00. Could you pick him
up?"
 
"Why can't you?"
 
"We've got company."
 
"Who?"
 
"Ellianna. She's sleeping now. If you don't want to go to get Duncan, will you
come here?"
 
"Does Anna know that you're calling me?"  

"Anna? Um, she's going by Ellie now. Yeah, she knows."  

There was a pause on the other end.
 
"Did she say anything?"
 
"Just that you were an old friend."
 
"How did she sound?"
 
"I don't know how to explain it really. I know I'd hate to be an old friend
like that."
 
The pause this time was so long that Richie was beginning to think that Adam
had hung up.
 
"I knew she wouldn't forget but I did hope she'd forgive."  

"What?"
 
"Nothing. I'll pick up Duncan. What flight?"  

Richie told him.
 
No, there wasn't anything left for him to do until Duncan and Adam arrived. He
had even cleaned Duncan's loft. Not that it was that dirty in the first
place.
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
The snowstorm had let up but it was still bitterly cold. Ellie trudged on with
her head bent down. She could no longer feel her hands 'Being immortal isn't
keeping me warm' so she turned her head to the left to make sure she still
held Danka's hand. She did. Danka had refused to wear Ellie's coat. It wasn't
much but it was better than Danka's coat. And it didn't have that damn yellow
star patched onto it. Ellie's coat had a patch but it was a green triangle not
a yellow Star of David.  

Danka didn't look like she'd last much longer. The past few years had been hard
on the child. She was fourteen but was no taller than a ten year old. And she
was so painfully thin.  

They had been marching for about an hour. They weren't the only ones. Several
thousand people, mostly women, were also marching. Only the guards on their
motorcycles were warm enough. The guards had orders to shoot all stragglers.
They were doing a good job.
 
Ellie looked around to see where the guards were. If only there was a big
enough opening they could take off toward the trees. If she had to she would
carry Danka. The guards were just too close. Hamann especially. He seemed to be
keeping an eye on them in particular.
 
Ellie felt herself being pulled to the ground. She turned back just in time to
see Danka drop to her knees on the cold road.
 
"Danka, get up!"
 
"I can't. It's so cold."
 
Ellie looked up in time to see Hamann raise his rifle and point it at Danka.
 
"NO!! I'll carry her. You don't have to shoot her!"  

Ellie stood in front of Danka, trying to shield the child with her body. Hamann
grinned and adjusted his aim. The rifle was now pointing at Ellie's head. She
closed her eyes. Her head snapped back and her body twisted and then slammed
into the road. She never heard the shot.
 
'I've failed,' was her last thought.
 

 
Ellie flung her hands to her head, screaming. Awakenings were always so painful
for Ellie. And so confusing. Ellie looked around, trying to get her bearings
and remember what had happened. She saw what looked like bundles of clothes
scattered throughout the snow. A closer look at the nearest bundle showed that
they were really bodies. The march! 'Danka!'  

"Danka! Danka!"
 
Ellie looked around her. None of the bodies that she saw could be the child's,
they were all too big. Danka had to be nearby. Ellie didn't believe that Hamann
would let her live. Slowly she got up and started examining every bundle
carefully.  

The motorcycle tracks caught her eye. These were too far from the road and
headed towards the trees. Ellie followed the tracks and then the boot tracks
toward a clump of bushes. She stopped just before the bushes.
 
"Please, no," she whispered.
 
Slowly she walked around the bushes. Danka's almost nude body lay on the other
side. She had been brutally raped and then strangled. Ellie fell to the ground
beside the girl.  

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
 
Richie jumped off the sofa and ran toward the bed. Ellie was sitting up in the
bed screaming.
 
Richie sat on the bed next to her and grabbed her shoulders. He started to
shake her.
 
"Ellie! Ellie! It's alright! Wake up!"
 
Ellie's eyes snapped open and locked onto Richie's. Her hands came up and
grabbed his arms as she looked wildly around the room.
 
"It's okay. You're safe here. I won't let anything happen to you."
 
Ellie turned back to Richie. He could see the panic leaving her eyes to be
replaced by tears. Richie wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly
against his chest.  

"I'm sorry."
 
"Why? Everyone has bad dreams."
 
"It wasn't a dream. I mean," she sighed, "it was a memory."
 
"Do you want to tell me about it."
 
When Ellie hesitated Richie added, "It might help."  

"What do you know about the holocaust?"
 
"I know that 6 million Jews died during the holocaust. Most in concentration
camps."
 
"Not all. I was in a camp called Stutthof for about 2 1/2 years at the end of
the war. It was outside Danzig, Poland. I wasn't sent there because I was a Jew
but because I was a criminal."
 
"What did you do?"
 
"I tried to help Jews. That was considered a crime. In January of '45 the
Germans decided to close the camp and marched most of us west ward. I don't
know where we were heading. I never got there."
 
Ellie preceded to tell Richie about her dream. Richie released his hold on her
and moved back a little. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had heard
about the atrocities and he had seen a few movies about that era but what Ellie
was telling him was worse than anything he had heard before.  

"Hamann killed Danka?" Richie asked when Ellie finished her tale.
 
"Yes. But not for long."
 
Richie gasped, "You mean she was one of us?"  

Ellie dropped her head with a small nod.  

"I failed her."
 
Richie reached under Ellie's chin and turned her head back up to look at him.
 
"You did your best. What else could you do?"  

"I don't know."
 
"Where is Danka now?"
 
Ellie pointed toward her chest. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
 
"You took her head?"
 
"About twenty years later. At first I took her to a convent that I could trust.
But she wasn't happy. I would have taken her to be with her own people but
there were so few left and there weren't any left that I trusted. At least none
who lived on holy ground."
 
"What happened?"
 
"She wasn't happy," Ellie repeated. "Every year when I went to see how she was
doing she would ask me to take her head. I would refuse. I was sure that given
time she would get over what happened to her. But the nuns told me that she had
the same horrible nightmare every night. One year when I went to see her she
told me that if I didn't take her head she would find someone who would. I knew
she meant it."  

"So you took her head."
 
Ellie just nodded. A sobbed escaped her as her tears started to flow down her
face. Richie pulled her back into his arms. He slowly started to rock her back
in forth all the while telling Ellie that everything would be okay.  

The buzz stopped them both.
 
"That must be Duncan and Adam," Richie said.  

Ellie pulled away from him and wiped her eyes.  

"No offense, but you're filthy. Why don't you take a shower and I'll fix you
something to eat. I don't think that the guys are going to mind."
 
Ellie nodded and stood up. She looked around for the bathroom and then walked
toward the door.  

"I left some clothes in there for you. Their mine. I hope you don't mind."
 
Ellie had reached the door and turned back to Richie, smiling. Richie noticed
that the smile never reached her eyes.  

"I love men's clothes. Thank you."
 
She closed the door the at the same time that the elevator reached the loft.
Richie turned toward the elevator and saw three men getting off. One of them,
Joe Dawson, was carrying a long package.
 
"Where is she?" Duncan was the first to ask.  

"Taking a shower."
 
"Did she say anything?" That question came from Joe.  

"Up until a few minutes ago she was sleeping. She had a bad nightmare."
 
"The march," Adam said.
 
"How did you know?"
 
"That's what she's been dreaming about for the last 51 years."
 
'That makes sense,' Richie thought.
 
"Then you know about Danka."
 
Adam nodded.
 
"You know she was one of us."
 
Adam looked shocked. The other two men just looked confused.
 
"She never told you?"
 
Adam just shook his head.
 
"Will one of you please tell me what you two are talking about, " Joe said as
he moved over to the sofa and sat down.  

Duncan was still standing. He looked from Adam to Richie.  

"Well?"
 
"I promised Ellie I'd fix her something to eat."  

"I'll do that," Adam said. "I know what she likes anyway."  

Duncan turned back to Richie and motioned him over to the sofa. He sat in a
chair across from Richie and Joe. Richie took a deep breath and then started to
tell them about Ellie's dream and what happened to Danka.
 
Duncan's Loft
 
12:00 pm
 
Richie had long since finished telling Duncan, Joe, and Adam Ellie's tale about
Danka. The four men sat quietly eating the lunch that Adam had made. Luckily
for Adam, Richie had done some grocery shopping for Duncan the day before.  

Finally Joe broke the silence, "Richie, did she tell you why she was here?"
 
Richie shook his head, "She has to be in trouble, though."  

"Why do you say that?" Duncan asked.
 
"She was dressed all in black, at least in dark clothes. The clothes were full
of bullet holes and covered in blood."  

"I wonder if she found him," Adam said.
 
The three remaining men turned towards Adam. Their faces ran the spectrum from
confusion to dawning awareness.  

"Hamann was. . .is one of us also," Richie stated.  

"Yes."
 
"Is that really. . ." Joe started to say when Ellie came out of the bathroom.
 
All eyes turned to her. Richie's eyes ran up her body. Her feet were bare and
just barely poked out of his rolled up jeans. Her right hand had a handful of
the waistband and was holding it tightly against her waist. He had given her a
green print button down shirt which she had tied in front of her and then
buttoned up only enough to cover her breasts. She now looked like she was only
a little older than Richie. Her auburn hair, still slightly damp, was brushed
behind her shoulders.  

'Auburn hair?'
 
"What happened?" Richie gasped.
 
Ellie turned and regarded him with a confused look.  

"What do you mean?"
 
"Your hair was black."
 
Duncan and Adam looked from Richie's confused face to Ellie and burst out
laughing. Adam was the first one to regain enough composure to speak.
 
"When I last saw her in Paris it was blond."  

"In Georgia it was brown," Duncan added.  

"I ran into her at Woodstock and it was a flaming red."  

"Black. It was black the first time I met her."  

Ellie glared at the two chuckling immortals, "I don't need any help from the
peanut gallery."
 
The two immortals tried unsuccessfully to stifle their laughter.
 
"Duncan, do you have something I can use to hold these pants up?"
 
Duncan got up and walked over to his closet. He opened the door and considered
the ties before pulling one out. It was a colorful number that reminded Ellie
of something worn by a large, loud man on some show who didn't seem to like
women who thought for themselves. She had discovered him one day a few months
ago when she was in Florida and was surfing channels in a hotel room while she
waited for Janek to arrive.  

"Here. Try this," Duncan said as he handed the tie over to Ellie.
 
"Are you sure?"
 
"Yes. I never liked that tie anyway."
 
"Hey! I gave you that!"
 
Duncan turned to Richie, "Sorry, Rich."
 
Ellie grinned and threaded the tie thru the belt loops of Richie's pants before
tying it into a knot.  

"That's much better," she said as she headed over to join the other men.
"Richie, I had put some stuff in my hair to keep lights from reflecting off of
it. That's why it took so long for me to take a shower, I was having trouble
getting it out."  

"Oh. I was beginning to think that maybe Mac was looking for a change," Richie
said with a grin. "Ellie, this is Joe. You spoke to him this morning."
 
"Nice to meet you in person," Ellie said, holding her hand out. Joe reached up
to shake her hand.
 
"I put the package that Janek sent over there," Joe said, pointing to the long
package that had been placed on table in the kitchen area.
 
"Damn!" Ellie exclaimed. "I forgot to call Janek."  

Ellie turned around and headed over to the phone. She picked up the phone,
dialed something and then asked for an international operator. After waiting a
few seconds she said "Israel" and gave the operator a string of numbers. After
a few moments she started talking while the others listened to the one sided
conversation.
 
"May I speak to Janek Stern, please?"
 
"Miriam Rosner. Who is this?"
 
"Officer? Has something happened to Janek?"  

"I'm the granddaughter of someone he was in the camps with. He was supposed to
call me about two hours ago."  

"Washington state. In the United States of America."  

"10 years. He's dead isn't he?"
 
"I don't think you would ask me how I knew him or where I lived if he weren't
dead."
 
"When did it happen?"
 
"H. . .how?"
 
"Who?"
 
"No. Thank-you. I'll call his son."
 
Ellie looked stricken as she slowly put the phone back in its place. She turned
and went over to the package Janek had sent. She took off the lid and pulled
out a sword and long knife. The weapons were placed to the side as she reached
into the box and brought out a letter. Ellie crumpled the letter after reading
it and shoved it into a pocket. Without a word she turned around and left the
loft.
 
"Richie, go after her," Adam commanded.
 
"Why me?"
 
"Look, Richie. She's told you more about herself in a matter of hours than she
has told me in centuries! And she's mad at me. She won't talk to me but she
might talk to you."  

Richie didn't look like he thought that she would talk to him but took off
after her anyway. He stopped only long enough to grab her weapons and his
jacket. As he left the loft Adam turned to the two other men left in the room.
Both mortal and immortal looked like they would wait only so long for an
explanation. Adam simply shrugged.
 
Finally Duncan said, "Well?"
 
"We ran into each other in Paris. Just after that bit with Kalas. I told her
what happened. And about the disc."  

"That explains why she's mad at you."
 
Adam turned from Duncan to Joe. Joe had already gotten up and headed to the
phone.
 
"Get comfortable. This may take a while."  

Adam turned back to Duncan, shrugged and sat back. Duncan looked from Adam to
Joe and then finally decided to sit down on the sofa.
 
*****************************************************************  

 
Richie's footsteps echoed through the empty dojo. He came out of the stairway
in time to see Ellie go out the dojo entrance. He followed her outside and was
surprised to find that she had stopped. Her back was to him when she said, "Why
are you following me?"
 
Richie stopped on the top step and replied, "Adam told me to."
 
Ellie turned and glared at Richie. The look on her face scared Richie. 'I'm
glad I have her weapons.'  

"Do you do everything that Adam tells you to do?"  

"Actually, this is the first time. Adam thought you might talk to me."
 
"I wasn't planning to," Ellie said and she stood on the sidewalk below him.
 
She seemed to be considering her options as Richie came down the steps to join
her. Ellie turned to look at Richie and then at the vehicles parked beside the
building.  

"Is the bike yours?"
 
"Yes."
 
"Can I borrow it?"
 
"Only if you'll let me come with you. Besides, I have your, um, tools."
 
"Whatever."
 
"I only have one helmet."
 
"I don't need one."
 
Richie shrugged and decided not to bring up the issue of helmet laws. Ellie
braided her hair as they headed over to Richie's bike. She made quick work of
it and then tied the hair into a knot at the bottom while Richie picked up his
helmet and put it on.
 
"Let me drive."
 
Richie pulled the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Ellie. She got on
the bike first and then waited for Richie. Richie looked back at the dojo
before getting on the bike. <I hope this isn't a mistake> he thought as
he climbed on behind Ellie. Ellie turned to look back at Richie as she started
the bike.
 
"Hold on."
 
Richie grabbed her around the waist just as she barrelled out of the parking
spot. For the first time in his life Richie closed his eyes and prayed that the
ride would soon end.  

*****************************************************************  

 
It took Joe about 30 minutes to get the information he was looking for. He
finally hung up the phone and came back to sit down next to Duncan.
 
"Tell me about Janek, Adam."
 
"What haven't you been able to figure out?"  

"Why did he become a Watcher?"
 
Adam sighed. "Ellie met Janek in Stutthof. I think they were lovers. She never
told me much about him. I think that they arranged for her watcher back in 1948
to see them together as a way to get Janek introduced to the Watchers. You
probably know the rest."
 
"Yeah. Janek and Ellie supposedly run into each other and Janek 'recognizes'
her and creates a scene before Ellie can get away from him. Her watcher sees
the whole thing and introduces Janek Stern to the Watchers."
 
"How did he get picked to watch Ellie?" Duncan interrupted.  

"We bent some rules. Ellie had 5 different watchers during Janek's training.
She was very good at spotting them and then losing them. She also
reestablished, or at least that's what we thought, her relationship with Janek.
We decided that as long as Janek never told her what he was he could be her
watcher. He didn't get a tattoo so she wouldn't see it and become
suspicious."
 
"Ellie asked Janek to become a watcher to help her find Hamann."
 
"She told you that?"
 
Adam looked slightly uncomfortable. "No, not really. I ran into both of them in
'47. She told me that he had a stake in finding Hamann. I didn't know for sure
who her watcher was until I was working on the data base. When I saw that Janek
was her watcher everything sort of fell into place."  

"Who's Hamann watcher?" Duncan asked.
 
Now it was Joe's turn to look uncomfortable, "He didn't have one. Until today
we weren't even suspicious that he was immortal."
 
"Then how did Ellie find him?"
 
"I don't think she did. Janek filled a report just after he got off the phone
with me. In that report he stated that he had received a call from Ellie saying
that she was taking two mortals into Peru to bring out the man who gave the
orders at Stutthof to shot all stragglers. Two days later Janek received a call
from a woman named Rebeka Horowitz who said that Ellie had told her to call him
if anything happened to her. Rebeka told Janek that everything was going as
planned when for no reason Ellie stood up and gave away their position."  

"Hamann?"
 
"That's my thought, Duncan. Rebeka told Janek that Ellie looked like she had
seen a ghost and then she was shot several time by one of the guards. Rebeka
and the other member of the group, a Jacob Dresner, dragged Ellie's body back
to their car and dumped her in a ditch about 5 miles from the nearest town."  

"So she didn't expect to find him there?"  

Adam answered, "No. When I saw her in Paris she told me that she hoped that
this man would tell her something that would led her to Hamann."
 
"She was hunting?" Duncan asked. That didn't seem like the Ellianna that he
knew.
 
"I know. I tried to tell her that she didn't have any experience hunting but
she wouldn't listen."  

"You mean Ellianna has never gone hunting before?"  

"Yes, Joe. She always told me that it was easier to let immortals out hunting
come to her. She said that they always misjudged her abilities because she was
female and, well not very tall."
 
"Joe, why did Janek file that report?"
 
"I don't know, Mac. Unless he thought that something had gone so wrong that
Ellianna might not get out of Peru alive. Janek's report goes on to state that
he was called by the authorities in Peru about 30 hours later. They informed
him that Jacob Dresner and Rebeka Horowitz had been found. They had been
tortured and then beheaded. The authorities called Janek because Rebeka had his
number in one of her pockets. His report ends there. There is no mention of
Ellianna trying to contact him after she got shot."
 
No one spoke for a moment as Janek's report sunk in. Finally Joe shifted
uncomfortably and then continued telling the immortals what he had
discovered.
 
"The Watcher outfit in Israel said that Janek was killed about three hours ago.
He wasn't tortured but he was beheaded, just like Jacob and Rebeka. At first
they thought that Ellianna had committed the crime, even though she had never
killed a watcher before. That opinion changed after the authorities reported
that a witness saw a tall blond man leaving Janek's home about the time of
death. The man was seen throwing a bloody rag into the bushes."
 
"Hamann," Duncan spat.
 
"That's what I thought," Joe said as he looked at the two immortals. "That's
all I could find out. So now what do we do?"  

No one answered Joe for a few minutes. Both immortals seemed lost in thought.
For a moment Joe thought that another immortal was present. Finally Adam shook
his head and stood up to walk over to a window.
 
"It will take Hamann a while to get here. There is nothing else to do until
then. We wait."
 
Somewhere in Seacover
 
12:30 pm
 

Richie had more than enough of his wild ride with Ellie. He thought about his
days racing bikes and the fiery crash that ended that career. That ride was
tame compared to what Ellie was putting him through. He watched in horror as
Ellie raced the bike thru a red light narrowly missing several cars, again. She
had not slowed down much less stopped once since they left the dojo. Richie had
to admit, though, that he was impressed with her skill handling the bike.
 
It was beginning to rain as Ellie finally slowed the bike. Richie looked around
and realized that they were heading toward the lighthouse where he had once
fought Annie Devlon. Ellie stopped the bike and used her foot to knock down the
kickstand. Before getting off the bike she reached back and untied the knot in
her hair. Finger combing her hair she started to head thru the rain to the
lighthouse. Richie took off his helmet before following her.
 
Richie didn't catch up with Ellie until she had already reached the metal
platform below the outer revolving light. She was standing at the railing
looking out over the ocean. To Richie's surprise she suddenly climbed over the
railing, sat down on the top rail, and wrapped her bare feet back over a lower
rail.
 
"Aren't you worried about falling off? It's pretty wet."  

Ellie turned around to look at Richie, "Why? It wouldn't be permanent."
 
"I know that. I just don't think that even a short death will help you out."
 
Ellie just shrugged and turned back to contemplating the ocean. Richie stood
behind her trying to decide what Mac would do in this situation. He couldn't
come up with anything so he decided to join Ellie on the rail.
 
"Sorry, Richie," Ellie said quietly.
 
Richie turned toward her, "For what?"
 
"The ride."
 
"Oh that," Richie said shrugging. "That was pretty tame."  

Ellie turned to look at Richie, chuckling, "Tame? So why were you holding on so
tight? I thought you'd squeeze me in two."
 
Richie blushed.
 
"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."  

They looked at each other for a few seconds, laughing quietly. 'I could look
into those green eyes forever,' Richie thought.
 
Suddenly Ellie shook her head before turning back to the ocean. Richie was
confused but decided to wait for Ellie to do or say something. They were both
soaked when Ellie started talking again.
 
"Have you ever known anyone who you felt that you could trust completely?"
 
"Yeah, Duncan MacLeod."
 
"Anyone else?"
 
"Tessa."
 
"Who?"
 
"She was Mac's girlfriend when I met him. They were together for 12 years. She
died at the same time that I was first killed."
 
"I didn't know. I've spent too much time trying to avenge a dead friend."
 
"Danka?"
 
Ellie sighed as she got off of the railing. Richie climbed off the rail while
she walked over to lean against the metal. Richie leaned against the railing,
his arms crossed. He decided to wait for Ellie to start talking again. After
all it had worked the last time.
 
"No," she finally said.
 
"Then this isn't about Danka?"
 
"No," she said before lapsing into silence.  

'This is going to take forever,' Richie thought.  

Ellie's eyes locked onto Richie's as she said, "Richie I'm going to tell you
something that I have NEVER told anyone else. If you tell anyone, including
Mac, I'll take your head."  

Suddenly Richie wasn't so sure he wanted to hear what she was about to say.
 
"My best friend ever was an immortal, Rabbi Abram Yahil. I met him shortly
after his first death 273 years ago. He refused my offer to teach what he
needed to know to survive our little "Game". Instead he insisted that he would
be safe in his temple. Over the years I told him everything there was to know
about me. My real age. My first name. Everything."  

Richie interrupted her, "Wait, your name isn't Ellianna?"  

"I took that name when I was 500 or so years old. Don't bother to ask. I firmly
believe that not letting people know much about me has kept me alive all these
years."  

He nodded and then asked, "Were you lovers?"  

Choking back laughter, Ellie answered, "No. Even though I was a lot older than
him he was more like a father to me. Well, at least what I always thought a
father was."  

"In 1931 he told me about a baby that he had recently had a naming ceremony
for. He thought she would become one of us and wanted me to check. The baby was
Danka. Abram took it upon himself to keep an eye on her. At the same time I
started to quietly help Jewish families get out of Europe. Abram would tell me
about a family that needed help and I would approach them a few days later. It
worked great until 1943. One night I got caught. Do you know what they did to
people who were helping the Jews?"
 
Richie shook his head.
 
She looked away before speaking again, "It wasn't pretty. I was taken to a SS
building were I was interrogated. That's what they called torture. They wanted
to know who was working with me. Every bone in my right hand was broken.
Luckily for me they decided that I was telling the truth after that. I still
had to keep breaking the bones in my hand until they sent me away."
 
"Why?"
 
Ellie was incredulous, "Do you know what they would have done if they found out
I was immortal?"
 
Richie didn't know but he could imagine. He remembered what Mac went through
when a doctor found out that he could heal so quickly.
 
"Finally they sent me away to...."
 
*****************************************************************  

Auschwitz
 
July 1943
 
Ellie spent her first 10 days at the camp trying to find a way out. She
explored everything she could usually at night. The other women in her building
warned her that the only way out was death. They thought she was crazy when she
just shrugged and snuck out. What she saw on her 10th day ended her search. And
her plans to escape.
 
She had learned about the showers on her second day at the camp. That night she
found out that the bodies were taken to be incinerated in a row of large ovens.
The ovens made Ellie nervous. Burning was not a pleasant way to die but she
figured that she could probably sneak into the showers easily enough and avoid
that option. She wasn't Jewish but that wouldn't matter. The guards were more
concerned about people getting out of line then into line.
 
She had already come up with a rough plan when she realized that she didn't
know what was done with the bodies after they were burned. That was an
important consideration. If the remains of her body were never taken out of the
camp there wasn't much point in going forward with her plans.  

She waited until the ninth day before the guards finally shut off the ovens. It
took a day and a half for them to cool off enough for the workers to clean
them. Ellie managed to get herself on that detail. It wasn't pleasant but it
was eye opening. The first thing Ellie noticed was that there were very few
bones left. And most of those weren't attached to other bones. They few that
were attached to other bones were separated by the prisoners and thrown into
different piles depending on their size and type. Ellie didn't see any skulls
attached to neck bones.
 
Ellie quickly realized that she wouldn't be able to get out of the camp. She
didn't want to take a chance with the ovens. She couldn't make herself believe
that her immortality would protect her from fires that burned as hot and as
long as the fires in those ovens.
 
Two weeks after her plans were shattered she felt the presence of another
immortal. Her blood ran cold as she thought about her sword and knife buried in
Abram's temple. She relaxed when she realized that the feeling was coming from
the train that was pulling into the camp.
 
It took over an hour for all the prisoners to get off the train. It only took
10 minutes for Ellie to find the slim older looking immortal, her old friend,
Rabbi Abram Yahil. They embraced each other, both saying that they had hoped
not to find the other in this place. It wasn't until they pulled apart that
Ellie saw the child hiding behind Abram. Ellie took a guess at the child's
name.
 
"Danka?"
 
The girl looked around the Rabbi before pulling back and then moving closer to
a teenager standing on her right.  

"Come here Danka and meet Helena. You too, Janek. I've told both of you about
her."
 
The children came out and stood looking at Ellie. She knew that Danka had to be
12 years old but she looked only about 10. Her dark hair hung limply around her
face and she was much too thin. Janek looked like he was about 13 or 15 years
old. He stood straight, holding Danka's hand tightly in his own. They looked
like they could be siblings but Ellie knew that they weren't.
 
"Hello, Danka. Janek."
 
"Hello," they replied in quiet voices.
 
Abram took Ellie to the side before telling her, "You've got to hid these
children."
 
"I know of a place."
 
Ellie looked around, noticing that the guards were busy trying to round up the
prisoners near the front of the train.  

"Come with me," she said as she took their hands.  

She pulled the children along behind her as she turned back to look at Abram.
He raised a hand and waved them off before turning to keep an eye on the guards
near the front of the train. Ellie wasn't happy that Abram wasn't following
them but she knew that she stood a better chance of hiding the kids with him
keeping watch.
 
It didn't take long to get the children into a small open area in her building.
There was no room for them to move around but they wouldn't have to be there
long. Just until the prisoners from the train were sorted. Ellie pulled the
panel back into place before heading back to check on Abram.  

She shoved her way through the crowd of people who had come to see if they
could find any friends or family on the train. Many were already turning away
but some where crying and hugging onto someone who had recently been taken off
the train. These were the lucky ones. They would get to live another day. Other
people were calling after people they knew who were being prodded to the
showers. These were the unlucky ones. Those prisoners who had been here for any
amount of time knew that these people had been chosen to die.
 
When Ellie saw Abram being herded to the showers her heart sank. She ran
forward, trying to reach him before it was too late.
 
"Abram, no! Don't go with them!"
 
Abram turned back. "Don't worry about me," he called. "I'll be free."
 
"No! You'll be dead! Forever!"
 
Abram shrugged. "Then you'll have to keep me inside you. Watch the children!"
 
Abram waved to her one last time before walking into the showers. Ellie watched
him disappear as she sunk to her knees. She stayed that way for a long time,
sobbing.  

'Get up!'
 
Ellie looked around, certain she had heard someone talking to her but no one
was nearby.
 
'Get up! Do you want them to find out what you are?'  

Ellie realized that the voice was inside her head. It was her own voice.
 
'Are you forgetting the OVENS?'
 
She jumped to her feet and started to quickly walk away from the showers. She
needed to get to the farthest point from the ovens. Ellie didn't know what she
would do but she knew she couldn't take Abram's Quickening. She didn't know if
she would be successful but she had to try.

Ellie had made it to the other side of the camp when she remembered the children. She couldn't leave them where they were. She turned and ran back to her building. Once she got there she practically flew past the other women and to the children's hiding
place. Everyone watched her pull the panel away. Janek was the first to come
out still tightly holding on to Danka's hand. Ellie turned to look at the other
women and pulled the children in front of her.  

"We've got to hid them."
 
Several women came forward pledging to help Ellie protect her new wards. Ellie
felt extremely grateful. She knew the children would be safe for the next few
hours while she tried to avoid Abram's Quickening. She told the women that she
had to leave for a bit claiming that she was looking for the man who had come
with the children. As she turned away they were discussing ways to shave the
children's heads.  

Ellie stole out of the building and headed back to the other side of the camp.
She knew that Abram's body would already be in the ovens. All the way to the
other side she waited for the feeling of Abram's presence to disappear. Finally
it did. She just hoped that it meant she was far enough away. Ellie reached the
spot she planned to hide in and waited. And watched.
 
Several hours later she saw what she was looking for and held her breath.
Abram's Quickening. The white cloud slowly rose above the ovens. It seemed to
hover there for a few minutes before slowly dissipating into the night sky.
When it was finally gone Ellie started to breath again.  

"I'm sorry Abram. I'm so sorry. I promise you I'll keep Danka safe."
 
There was no time for tears. Ellie slowly made her way back to her building.
Five days later she managed to smuggle herself and the children on to a train
for Stutthof.  

*****************************************************************  

Richie was quiet for a long time before saying, "You let his Quickening be
lost?"
 
Ellie nodded. She hadn't been able to look at Richie once while she spoke. When
she did turn back to look at him he noticed that her eyes were filled with
tears. She turned away again, wiping the tears from her eyes.
 
"Something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy I let happen to my best friend.
And then I wasn't able to protect Danka. I failed Abram twice."
 
Richie walked up behind Ellie and slid his arms around her shoulders. She
tensed then relaxed in his grip.  

"You can't blame yourself," he whispered in her ear. "What would have happened
if you had taken his Quickening?"  

"I would have been discovered," she finally answered, quietly.
 
"Then what would have happened to Danka? And Janek?"  

Ellie turned in Richie's arms but didn't answer.  

"They would have both died a long time ago. And Danka would have been found
out. You know that."  

Ellie looked at Richie for a long time before finally nodding.
 
"I think I was wrong about your age, Richie. Are you sure you aren't at least
1,000?"
 
Richie grinned, "I have my moments. Come on. The guys are probably wondering
what happened to us. Besides, you still don't have shoes on."
 
Ellie took a deep breath and allowed Richie to lead her out of the lighthouse
and back to his bike.
 
"I have one request."
 
"What, Richie?"
 
"Can I drive back?"
 
Ellie let out a soft laugh as she handed him his keys.  

Duncan's loft
 
2:00 pm
 
Joe, Adam, and Duncan sat around Duncan's table. They had run out of things to
talk about and were left to impatiently wait for Richie and Ellie to return.
 
"How long are we going to wait for them?" Joe asked. He did have a bar to run,
after all.
 
"We have plenty of time," Duncan pointed out. He had to admit, if only to
himself, that he was probably as tired of waiting as Joe. Only Adam seemed
unfazed by their long wait.  

"I wouldn't worry about them," Adam said. "I've known Ellie a long time. The
longer it takes them to get back the more she'll have told Richie. Who know's?
Maybe when they get back Richie will be able to clear up all the questions we
still have."
 
Adam's comment about knowing Ellie a long time brought up another question for
Joe.
 
"How old is she anyway?"
 
Adam shrugged and turned away from Joe's piercing gaze. "What do your records
say? I haven't looked at them lately," Adam lied.
 
That got Duncan's attention. "If you haven't looked at them lately why is she
still mad at you?"  

Adam got up and went over to look out one of the windows. He wasn't really sure
why she was still angry with him. When he had told her about the disc she was
upset but she wasn't the sort to hold a grudge.
 
*****************************************************************  

Paris
 
Summer 1995
 
Adam and Ellie were just finishing their lunch on the outside terrace of Adam's
favorite restaurant. Ellie knew that Adam had something on his mind but hadn't
pushed to find out what it was during their meal. However, she had gotten tired
of their idle talk of weather and her hunt.  

"Out with it, Methos."
 
"Out with what?"
 
"Don't give me that. You have been worrying that beer for the entire meal.
Normally you would have finished it and gone on to the next two by now."
 
"You know me too well."
 
"Flattery won't get you off the hook."
 
Adam took a deep breath before starting, "I told you about Kalas but I didn't
tell you about the threat he made to get Duncan to come to him." Adam started
studying his beer again while he spoke, "Kalas found a disc that I created with
another watcher. He was threatening to give it to the media."  

"A disc? What exactly did this disc tell?"  

"About us. Watchers and Immortals."
 
Ellie sat contemplating what Adam had told her before asking, "What did it say
about me? And what happened to it?"  

Adam squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. He then turned away from her and
seemed to contemplate the people walking along the sidewalk.
 
"It was destroyed. Don't worry, I didn't say how old you really were," Adam
finally answered. He still hadn't turned back to look at Ellie. He wasn't sure
if she would be able to tell that he was only telling some of the truth. The
disc didn't tell her exact age but it did imply that she was older than the
Watchers records indicated.
 
"Were there other discs?"
 
"No," Adam replied. At least he didn't think there were.  

Adam finally turned back to look at Ellie. She was staring at him, hard. Adam
wasn't sure if she was trying to read his mind or decide if she should take his
head. She was mad. That he could tell. Ellie's already green eyes turned even
greener whenever she was angry and they were extremely green right now.  

Ellie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she looked at Adam again her
eyes had gone back to her normal hue. Adam took that as a good sign.
 
"Alright. I'll take you at your word. For now. You're not telling me everything
but if you can look me in the eye and tell me I have nothing to worry about
I'll believe you."  

Ellie sat staring at Adam. He became very uncomfortable under those waiting
eyes. He looked away and then turned back to look into Ellie's eyes.
 
"You have nothing to worry about. The disc was destroyed," at least that was
the truth.
 
Ellie contemplated him for a long moment before finally saying, "Fine. Then you
have nothing to worry about."  

Adam felt that he had narrowly missed losing a friend that he didn't think he
wanted to lose.
 
*****************************************************************  

Adam shrugged out of his revery before turning back to the other men. He wasn't
going to tell anyone else any of Ellie's secrets. He quietly went back to where
he was originally sitting.
 
Joe harrumphed impatiently. He was about to get up when he noticed the far away
looks that had come over the two immortals. He knew what that look meant.  

"Hamann?"
 
Duncan shook his head, "Too soon. He couldn't possibly get here before
midnight."
 
"Must be Ellie and Richie then."
 
Duncan shrugged noncommittally.
 
The three men waited for the immortal or immortals to come to the loft. And
waited. Duncan and Adam looked at each other as if to verify that each immortal
felt the same thing. After 5 minutes Duncan stood and reached for his sword.  

"Let's go see whose here."
 
The three men moved to the elevator. It was a very tense ride to the dojo. The
men could hear the sound of metal against metal before they even reached that
level. Adam drew his sword as Duncan opened the elevator doors.
 
The two immortals relaxed as they saw who the two immortals were, Ellie and
Richie. From the look of things Richie had the upper hand.
 
The swords clashed again and again as Richie slowly forced Ellie back. Somehow
he managed to get a few words out despite all the noise, "Told ya I could take
you."  

Duncan cringed. To his right he heard Adam mutter, "That was a mistake."
 
Ellie didn't answer. Instead she ducked under his sword and slammed her
shoulder into his lower ribs while pulling the knife out of her makeshift belt.
As Richie started to slump from the blow she brought her two weapons together
and swung them up, catching his blade between hers. She then slammed into him
again and used the weapons to twist his rapier out of his hands. Richie hit the
floor hard as his rapier clattered to the floor just out of his reach. Ellie
brought her combined weapon up and started to swing toward Richie's exposed
neck.  

"NO!!" Joe yelled. He started to move forward stopping when he realized there
was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen.
 
Ellie's sword swung towards Richie's neck . . . and stopped less then one inch
away. Richie looked up at Ellie who never pulled the sword back from his
neck.
 
"That . . .wasn't . . .fair," he finally managed to pant out.
 
Ellie grinned, pulling the weapons away. She pulled them apart, putting the
long knife back in her belt and thrusting the sword into the floor before
reaching down to pull Richie to his feet.
 
"Fair? You've got, what, 5 maybe 6 inches on me. And you're all arms and legs.
Besides, who said our game was fair?"  

Duncan walked over to the two. He pulled Ellie's sword out of the floor and
handed it over to her.
 
"Do you mind. This is my floor not a dart board."  

"Oops. Sorry."
 
"Just don't do it again."
 
"Hey," Richie butted in. "Where did you get those anyway?"  

"A very dear friend made them for me," Ellie said as she turned back to Richie.
"He told me that I was a good fighter but I had a hopeless disadvantage." Ellie
drew her sword up and down her body, "Height, obviously. Not that I'm real
short for a woman but most immortals are men and I am short compared to most
men. Anyway, he made the weapons to lessen that disadvantage."
 
She pulled the knife back out and showed Richie how the two weapons fit
together. Both handles were flat. The knife had a hook on one side of the blade
near the handle that latched onto the sword. It was apparent to Richie that it
had to take skill and experience to bring the two weapons together to make one.

Joe came over while Richie was admiring the weapons. "Look, this has been fun
but we've got some pressing matters to take care of."
 
"Oh, yeah, " Richie said, handing the weapons back to Ellie.  

Adam finally spoke up, "No offense guys but you two stink."  

Ellie shrugged, "I'm afraid I don't have anything else to wear."
 
"Well, I already gave you the only set of clothes I had here. I've got my
sweats but only the one set."  

Adam considered that for a moment before saying, "I know your size. It
shouldn't take me long to go out and pick something up for you."
 
Ellie didn't look like she wanted to owe Adam a favor but common sense got the
better of her. Duncan's clothes would be way too big. She finally nodded and
started to head toward the showers. She quickly stopped and turned back to look
at Richie.  

"Well?"
 
"What? At the same time?" Richie was stunned. "Those showers aren't private."
 
"So."
 
Adam started to laugh at Richie's obvious embarrassment. "It won't kill you.
She grew up bathing with the opposite sex."  

Ellie wasn't sure she liked the way that sounded but it was true. She decided
not to wait any longer and headed off to the showers. Richie watched her leave
before turning to Duncan.  

"Uh, Mac? Can I, uh, use your shower?"
 
Duncan nodded, chuckling. "I'll bring down a robe," he called back to Ellie.
 
He and Joe went to the elevator with Richie. Adam watched them leave before
heading out of the dojo.  

The loft
 
3:20 pm
 
Ellie stood at the side window. Waiting. She didn't mind wearing Duncan's black
robe but she wanted to put on some real clothes. She had been wearing clothes
that were too big for the past few days and was beginning to find it rather
tiresome. Adam would know what she'd like she thought. It wasn't the first time
he had helped her out this way.  

"Ellie. I want to ask you something."
 
"What Joe?" Ellie asked without turning around.  

"How old are you? I asked Adam but he wouldn't answer me."  

"I'm sure your records are accurate."
 
"Yeah, right." Joe sounded disgusted. "Our records on you are extremely spotty.
Just tell me if we have the right ball park figure."
 
Ellie turned to look at Joe.
 
"The best we have is that you're somewhere between 350 and 550 years old."
 
"Not bad."
 
Joe hadn't missed Richie snap his head towards Ellie when he had asked his
question. Ellie, for her part, never even blinked. Based on Richie's reaction
Joe figured that the Watchers' ball park figure was not even close.  

Joe watched as the three immortals all turned toward the door as if their heads
were all attached by strings. He was beginning to feel like he wasn't being let
in on a secret. Not that he didn't know who was coming. Adam.  

Adam walked through the door carrying a bag from a nearby clothing store.
 
"Here you go, Ellie. Real clothes."
 
Ellie walked over to Adam and took the bag. "Thanks. Could you come with me?"
 
She didn't wait for his answer. Instead she turned and headed to Duncan's
bathroom. On her way she grabbed the coat that she was wearing when she
originally arrived. Adam looked to the others then shrugged and followed Ellie
to the bathroom.  

Adam stepped into the bathroom just as Ellie allowed Duncan's robe to fall to
the floor. He turned toward the door as he shut it and then stayed that way as
Ellie put on the clothes he had bought.
 
"Gees, Methos. Richie being embarrassed I expect. After all its not considered
proper behavior in this day and age. But you? You weren't raised in these times
anymore than I was."  

Adam turned to look at the now dressed Ellianna. "I guess MacLeod is rubbing
off on me."
 
Adam thought that he had done a pretty good job shopping for Ellie. She was now
wearing a pair of black stirrup jeans that hugged her hips instead of engulfing
them. He had gotten her a lilac colored shirt which she had tied at the waist
before buttoning it up leaving only the top two buttons undone. The color
complimented her eyes perfectly if he must say so himself.  

"What age did you put in your disc?" She asked as she pulled on the black ankle
length boots that Adam had also bought.
 
"Why are you still worried about that? I told you it was destroyed."
 
"What age?" She asked again as she moved to the coat that she had brought into
the bathroom and pulled something out of a pocket.
 
Adam's blood ran cold when he saw what she now held out to him. It was a CD-ROM
disc.
 
"What's that?" He asked. Afraid he already knew the answer.
 
"The copy of your database that you didn't know about. I was actually surprised
when I found it. For some reason your Watcher's forgot about that bookstore and
didn't clear it out like they usually do."
 
Adam sat down on the bathroom counter top. "So you've seen it."
 
"Yes," she answered before suddenly exploding, "How dare you! How dare you
imply that I'm any older than the Watchers' already know!"
 
"I just put together reports that they already had about you. I thought that it
was just a matter of time until someone in the Watcher organization put them
all together."  

"That's crap and you know it! I saw what it said, remember. 'Reports about
Ellianna can be traced back to the year 504 B.C.' You forget that I had a
Watcher plant who showed me everything that the organization had on me.
Including every report he could ever find of an unknown female immortal at any
time in the history of the organization. Not a single report could ever be
conclusively linked to me and you know it."  

"It was just . . .I . . .hell," Adam finally stammered. "I wasn't thinking when I
made the disc and I wasn't thinking when I put that in."
 
Ellie turned her back on Adam. He could tell by the set of her shoulders that
she was as angry as he had ever seen her. Adam had known Ellie for a long time.
Longer than the disc even implied and he didn't want to lose her friendship.  

"Ellie, I'm sorry."
 
"That may not be enough," she said, turning back to look at Adam. The rage had
burned out of her eyes. They were now very cold.
 
Ellie walked out the door as Adam quietly said, "I'm sorry Ellie. I never meant
to hurt you."
 
Ellie noticed that the three people left in the loft were staring at her as she
came through the door. 'Damn! I was hoping to keep that down.'
 
She took a deep breath before asking, "How much did you hear?"
 
"Pretty much all of it," Richie answered looking slightly confused. "Sorry."
 
"Why? It's not your fault that I lost control in there."  

Richie shrugged, "I know how important it is to you to keep your life
secret."
 
Ellie turned to Joe, "Are you going to change your records?"  

Joe looked at Ellie for a long time before answering, "I don't know. If past
reports can be connected to you without a doubt I'm afraid we'll have to."
 
"But you're not going to just change the information without explanation?"
 
"No. That would raise too many questions."  

"I guess I can't ask for anything else."  

"Joe, do you have to assign anyone to work on checking out old reports?"
 
"What do you mean by that MacLeod?"
 
"I mean can't you just let things stay as they are until someone, on their own,
puts the reports together?"  

Joe considered Duncan's suggestion before he answered, "Alright. That may not
help though. Her new watcher will try to learn everything about her. He or she
may even see if they can connect her to other reports. It has happened before."

"I can live with that."
 
"Not to change the subject, but how did you get Janek to agree to be a plant?"
Duncan asked.
 
"I'm sorry, Ellie, but I told them that you two were once lovers," Adam said as
he came out of the bathroom.  

A look of disgust crossed Ellie's face. "That's gross. How old did you think
Janek was when you met him in '47 anyway?"  

"I don't know. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties."  

"When I first met him in '43 he had just turned 13 years old. Now I may have
been passed from one man to the next at that age but it doesn't mean that I
agree with that type of a relationship with a child."
 
"You mean he was only 17 when I met him? But his records said that he turned 75
this year."
 
"The records of his birth were lost during the war. He knew the camps had aged
him and he didn't want to be put in an orphanage so he lied about his age."
 
Only Richie didn't seem confused by what Ellie had said.  

"Then how did you get him to help you?" Joe asked.  

Ellie walked back to the window and resumed contemplating the outside world.
"He grew up with Danka. They may have been lovers. I don't know. I didn't want
to know. They were in love. That I know."
 
"We ran into each other a few months after the war ended. I told him about
Danka. Well not that she was immortal but what Hamann did to her. I did tell
him that Hamann was one of us though. He wanted Hamann dead as much as I did.
As much as I still do."
 
"What happened in Peru?" Duncan asked her. "Why didn't you take your
weapons?"
 
Ellie turned back to the window. She wasn't sure if she wanted to relive that
night or not. It was a long time before she spoke.
 
Ellie stood staring out the window for a long time. Images from the last few
days playing out in front of her eyes. She didn't feel ready to talk about
Peru, not yet anyway.  

"Why didn't you take your weapons?" Duncan asked again.  

'Well that one I can answer. Maybe.'
 
"Why didn't I take my weapons," Ellie repeated as she turned around to face the
men in the room. "To answer that I have to take you back about 55 years. I
never went anywhere without a weapon until I started helping the Jews in Poland
during the war. On one occasion I was very nearly caught by German troops and
Abram suggested that I leave my sword and knife with him whenever I went on a
run. I thought it was a good idea. Can you believe that I only ran into one
immortal during that time? And he was a friend. I didn't run into any when I
was in Stutthof. Well, not counting Danka and Hamann."  

"What happened to Abram?" Joe interrupted. "We lost track of him when he was
sent to a concentration camp."  

"I don't know. He arrived at Auschwitz with Danka and Janek. When the kids were
sent to Stutthof Abram told them to look me up. That was the last I ever heard
of him."  

Adam was the only one who noticed Ellie watching Richie while she discussed
Abram. When he noticed Richie's barely imperceptible nod he felt his heart
begin to ache. There was a time when he knew all Ellie's secrets or at least
when he was the only person she confided in. Of course that was before his
betrayal.
 
"Anyway, I got my weapons back after the war and I never went without them
until twenty years later. That's when I took Danka's head. I guess I sort of
snapped then. I gave my weapons to Janek and told him to destroy them.
Obviously he didn't."
 
"Did you ever tell Janek about Danka?" Duncan asked.  

"No. I wanted to but Danka didn't want him to know. Maybe I should have. I
guess it's all moot now."  

"Anyway, after I gave Janek my swords I came back to this country. That was two
years before the 'Summer of Love'. I have to admit, I really got into that
scene. Peace, drugs, and hippie sex. I couldn't care less about the fight to
end the Vietnam War but the rest of it . . ."
 
"What were you looking for?"
 
Ellie turned to Duncan before answering. "That's easy. I was looking for death
but I didn't have the guts to go out and ask someone to take my head. I
couldn't begin to tell you how many times I od'd on one drug or another. In
nearly 10 years I only ran into one other immortal. Adam. Remember Woodstock?"

Adam nodded. "I also remember what we did to make money. Do you?"
 
Ellie smiled, "The Great Anna. Mentalist Beyond Compare."  

"Mentalist?"
 
"Yes, Richie. I can read minds. Well a little and for some reason only other
immortals. And only when they are really thinking about it. That's why I kept
calling you baby. To get you to think about your age. The only thing it is
really any good for is determining who will become immortal."  

"What made you decide to come back into the game?" Duncan asked.
 
"A dream. A really, really bad dream," she said as she turned back to the
window.
 
*****************************************************************

Ellie looked around her. Suddenly she recognized where she was, the march! But
where was everyone? Where was Danka? Ellie began to panic as she examined the
bodies littering the ground. None of them were Danka.
 
Ellie stiffened when she felt the presence of another immortal. She looked
around her in panic realizing that her sword and knife was still under the
floor of Abram's temple. Slowly she relaxed when she saw Danka moving toward
her.  

Danka came up to Ellie and stood staring at her with fire in her eyes. Ellie
became confused. She tried to take a step back only to find that her feet
seemed to be bolted to the ground.
 
"You said you'd kill him. You said you'd kill him and he's still alive!
Alive!"
 
"I'm sorry Danka," Ellie said trying to calm her. "I haven't found him. But I
will. And then I'll kill him."  

"Lies! You haven't killed him. So I told him he could kill you."
 
Ellie looked at her in confusion. 'What did she mean by that?' She was
beginning to ask her what she meant when she felt another immortal. She turned
to see a man of medium height coming towards her. Ellie had never seen him
before. He had dark brown hair and eyes and he had wrapped a scarf around his
neck.
 
"Because of you I'm dead!" he claimed. Ellie noticed that he had a South
American accent.
 
"Dead!" He shouted.
 
Ellie watched in horror as he unwrapped the scarf around his neck. It had
apparently been holding his head on to his neck. As it came away his head
started to topple back. He used one hand to grab his hair and hold his head in
place.  

"Because of you," he said over and over again.  

"You haven't killed him so I told him he could kill you," Danka's voice joined
his.
 
Ellie raised her hands to her ears as she tried to back away from the two dead
immortals. She tripped over a body and fell to the ground. Ellie's terror grew
as she saw the body turn under her legOTE:  This story was originally titled
Ellie's legs.
 
Ellie screamed as she scrambled to her feet. She tried to run but found her
path blocked by the two dead immortals. She turned away from them and started
to run. She hadn't gotten far when she noticed the other bodies rising around
her.  

"Because of you"
 
"You haven't killed him so I told him he could kill you."  

Ellie looked frantically for a way to escape. There was none. The dead were
coming at her from all sides. Ellie screamed as she felt cold hands start to
grab her arms and legs.  

She started jerking frantically but she couldn't break free. Her head snapped
up as she felt the presence of a third immortal.  

The immortal came slowly toward her swinging his sword in lazy circles. He was
tall with blonde hair and gray eyes. Ellie recognized him immediately, Hamann.
She renewed her efforts to escape without success as he laughed.  

"I get to kill you," he started to chant, adding his voice to the voices of the
other immortals.
 
Ellie felt a hand grab her hair and pull her head back, exposing her neck. She
couldn't move as she heard Hamann's sword cut the through the air. She screamed
one last time as she felt the blade slice into her neck.
 
*****************************************************************

"Damn." Richie said. "I don't want to ever have dreams like yours."
 
Ellie didn't respond, she just continued to look out the window.
 
"Did you ever find out if this unknown immortal actually existed."
 
"Yes, Adam. I did. His name was Ricardo Matos."  

"Was?"
 
"According to the records that Janek found, he disappeared in 1968 while he was
in Peru."
 
"So why didn't you take your sword to Peru?" Joe asked.  

"I believed that I wouldn't have any problems. For some reason I didn't make
the connection to my dream. And we were taking in enough automatic weapons into
the country illegally. I didn't want to have to worry about my 'manual'
weapons."  

"What happened in Peru?" Duncan quietly asked.  

"I finally found Hamann."
 
*****************************************************************

A large villa about 10 miles from Yungay, Peru  

3 days earlier
 
Ellie turned to see Rebeka and Jacob come up from the fence. They planned to
snatch a man formerly known as Captain Eric Hageman. He had given the order to
kill all straggler during the enforced march from the camp at Stutthof. So far
everything was going along as planned.
 
So far they had managed to climb the fence and bring over all their weapons
without alerting the villa's security. The three now spread out as they moved
in toward the villa. Ellie felt the presence of another immortal as she saw a
tall blonde guard come out onto the covered porch.
 
She began to rise when she recognized him as the immortal who had killed her
during the march.
 
"Helen," Rebeka hissed. "Get down!"
 
Ellie didn't respond, instead she stood, in full view of the villa, and stared
at the man on the porch as she slowly raised her machine gun. He turned toward
her with a look of confusion on his face before he raised his automatic weapon
and opened fire on Ellie. Ellie's body jerked as it was hit by the rifle's
bullets. Her finger spasmed on the trigger causing her gun to empty its clip in
Hamann's direction before her body flew back to slam into a tree. She was dead
before her body could slide to the ground.
 
Ellie awoke to find herself in a muddy ditch. At first she couldn't remember
what had happened. The memories flooded back as she looked around her. She was
relieved to see that no one else was in the ditch.
 
She stayed in the ditch for a few minutes trying to get her bearings. It was no
use, she had no idea where she was or even if she was still in Peru. She
started to climb out of the ditch until she heard the sound of a car
approaching. Dropping back into the mud she waited for the car to go past
paying close attention to the direction the car was going. When it was gone she
climbed out of the ditch and headed in the same direction. She hoped that it
would take her into a town. Any town.  

*****************************************************************

"Where did you end up?" Richie asked.
 
Ellie shrugged. "I never did figure that one out. Somewhere along the way I
came upon a stream. I cleaned up as best as I could and kept walking. When I
got to town I went into a bar and stole the coat I was wearing when I got here.
I used the money in a wallet I found in the coat to buy a train ticket to the
nearest community with an airport. When I got there I stole a small plane and
flew it low through out the night. I abandoned it when it ran out of fuel in
New Mexico and made my way here."
 
No one spoke for a long time. In the silence Ellie moved away from the window
and took a seat on the sofa next to Richie.  He reached over and squeezed her right hand. She gave him a sad smile as she placed her left hand over his hand. Adam watched their exchange before pushing himself off the chair he was sitting in to move toward the window Ellie had just left.  

"What do we do now?" He asked.
 
Ellie turned to him and said, "I told Janek a long time ago that if anyone came
looking for me to tell them where to find me. Not to put up a fight. I'm sure
he did just what I asked. The question is where did he say I could be found?"

"I'd say he told him you could be found at Duncan's."  

"No, Joe. I don't think so. He didn't know where Duncan lived, unless you told
him."
 
Joe shook his head.
 
"Joe. Where did Janek send Ellie's swords?" Duncan asked.  

"To my place."
 
"Your bar?"
 
"No. My home."
 
"Well then," Ellie said, "Janek sent him there."  

A nearby restaurant
 
6:23 pm
 
The men had finished eating their meal about 10 minutes ago.  Now they sat patiently waiting on Ellie who was only about half finished with her meal.  
 
"Sorry," Ellie said.  "I never was a fast eater."  
 
Adam chuckled.  "That's true.  I still don't see how you even managed to grow up during a time when people fought over food."
 
Ellie shrugged.  "I never said I couldn't grab food as fast as the next person."
 
"Where did you grow up?" Joe asked.
 
"I think I'll keep that my secret.  I've always been surprised that I managed to grow up at all too.  But not because I eat slow."
 
"Why then?"
 
"Because, Richie, I was the only person in my village who didn't have brown eyes.  Most of the people thought I was sent by demons and the rest thought I was good luck.  The ones who thought I was a demon wanted me dead."  
 
"Nice,"  Duncan said.
 
"Tell me about it.  But luckily for me the man who raised me as his own was the son of the village leader.  Gave me some protection.  Until he died."
 
"What happened then?"  Richie asked.
 
"I'd rather not talk about that," Ellie said.  She put down her fork and reached for the napkin on her lap to wipe her lips. She placed the napkin over the remaining food on her plate before pushing back from the table.
 
"Ready?"
 
"We haven't paid for the meal yet?"  Duncan pointed out.
 
"Then Richie and I will meet you there."
 
"I still think we should all go in Duncan's car," Adam said.
 
"And leave Richie's bike here?  Nonsense.  Besides, I like his bike.  It's the closest thing to a horse we have.  Now if I can just get him to let me drive it again," she added, looking
at Richie.
 
Richie looked uncomfortable about being pulled back into the argument between Adam and Ellie.  It had started back at Duncan's loft when Ellie refused to ride to the restaurant in the car.  Adam had claimed that everyone would be better off if they got there together but Ellie still insisted on taking Richie's bike.  She had claimed then, like now, that she wanted to take his bike because it was similar to a horse but Richie felt she had another reason for not wanting to go with the others.  She simply didn't want to be with Adam.  
 
"Will you wear a helmet?"
 
Ellie shook her head no.
 
"Then you better let me drive," Richie said as he got up from the table.
 
*****************************************************************
 
On the highway      

6:50 pm
 
Duncan drove down the highway in the early twilight.  Joe sat in the front passenger seat while Adam sat in the back seat. No one was talking when suddenly Duncan and Adam felt the presence of at least one other Immortal.  
 
"We must be catching up to them,"  Duncan said.
 
Joe was the first to spot Richie's bike on the side of the road.  It was parked next to a police car.  They were hard to miss since the squad car's blue lights were flashing.  Richie
and Ellie were standing next to the squad car talking to the police officer.  They looked up at Duncan's car as it passed.  
 
"Should we stop?"  
 
"No, Joe.  They can take care of themselves."
 
"Richie's driving?"  Adam asked.
 
"Could be," Duncan replied.  
 
*****************************************************************
 
Joe's house
 
7:15 pm
 
Richie's bike turned into the oak covered driveway and pulled up next to Duncan's car.  Richie and Ellie climbed off the bike and headed up to the two-story Victorian house.  Duncan opened the door just as they arrived.
 
"Well."
 
"Well, what?"
 
"Your driving get you another ticket?"
 
"No," Ellie answered for Richie.  "He pulled us over because I wasn't wearing a helmet."
 
"How much was the ticket?"
 
"Not a dime.  He was a very nice man.  Gave me a warning."
 
"You were lucky."
 
Ellie grinned as she walked past Duncan into the house.  Richie followed her in, shrugging as he passed Duncan.  
 
"In the living room."
 
Richie led the way to the sunken living room.  Joe and Adam rose out of their seats as they entered.    

"What happened?"  Joe asked.
 
"Just got a warning for not wearing a helmet.  That's all."
 
Ellie and Richie sat down on the sofa.  Joe, Adam, and Duncan sat in the chairs that faced the sofa.  The silence became uncomfortable as everyone looked at each other.  
 
"This is ridiculous," Ellie finally said.  "I told you we didn't all need to come here."
 
"I'm just doing my job.  Besides, it's my place.  I want to see what happens to it."
 
"Don't worry.  I'll try to take this outside.  Anyway, I'll pay for any damages."
 
"With what?  You've been stealing for the past few days."
 
Ellie's eyes turned hard as she looked at Joe.  
 
"I stole because I didn't have access to my money.  NOT because I didn't have any money.  I happen to be loaded."
 
Joe didn't look relieved by Ellie's words.  He sifted uncomfortably in his seat before standing and walking around the room.  Ellie's eyes never left him.  She understood how he felt but there wasn't much that she could do about his home.  Whatever happened, happened.  Surely someone who spent so much time watching Immortals would understand that Ellie couldn't control the aftermath of a Quickening.
 
He stopped and turned back to Ellie.  "When will he get here?"
 
Ellie pursed her lips.  "What time did you say Janek called?"
 
"3:00 a.m., our time."
 
"And exactly what time was he killed.  Our time."
 
"About two hours later."
 
"That would make it 5:00 a.m.  Therefore he wouldn't be able to get on a plane until 6:00.  It's a fourteen hour flight from Tel Aviv to Seacover so that would put him in at about
10:00 p.m.  How far is it from the airport?"
 
"About 45 to 50 minutes."
 
"He'll probably take a cab so that would put him here at 11:00."
 
"Why do you think he'll take a cab?" Richie asked.
 
Ellie turned to him before answering, "He doesn't know the area.  And I doubt he cares about being caught."
 
"What do we do until then?"
 
"Got a deck of cards, Joe?"  Duncan asked.
 
*****************************************************************
 
Joe's house
 
10:55 pm
 
They had been playing poker for the last few hours.  Joe turned out to be the best player of the group.  He won most of the hands until about fifteen minutes before.  At that point
Adam started winning most of the hands.
 
"You're distracted," Duncan told Joe.
 
"What?  No, no, I'm just off my game."
 
"That's why you keep looking at the clock, right," Richie scoffed.
 
Joe glared at Richie and was about to respond when he noticed the faraway look that entered his eyes.  Joe turned to the other Immortals and saw that each had the same look.  
 
"Damn," he whispered under his breath.
 
"Everyone stay here," Ellie said as she stood up.  "This is my fight."
 
Ellie didn't wait for an answer instead she turned and walked out of the room.  It wasn't long before the other men heard the front door close.  
 
Richie looked at the others.  "I don't know about you but I'm going out there."
 
"You'll just distract her," Duncan replied.
 
"How?  She can already feel me.  I just want to make sure that Hamman doesn't leave here alive."
 
Adam turned on him, "You don't think she can take him?"
 
"I don't know.  Do you?"
 
Adam didn't answer.  He got up and headed out of the room.  Richie looked from Duncan to Joe before getting up to follow Adam.
 
Joe shrugged, "After all, I do have a job to do."
 
Duncan stood and came over to help Joe up.  They started for the front door.
 

 
Ellie came out the front door in time to see Hamman exit the cab.  It was the first time she had gotten a close look at him since the march.  He didn't look like he had aged a day.  
She waited until he had turned to look at her before talking.
 
"I've been expecting you."
 
"Really," he said.  He hadn't lost his German accent.
 
"Let's take this in the backyard.  More private," she said before turning and heading to the backyard.  
 
She knew she was taking a chance by turning her back on him.  He could easily decide to try to take her head right then but Ellie didn't think he would.  She remembered how much he enjoyed seeing the eyes of his victims as he killed them.  Considering his activities the past few days, she didn't think he'd changed.
 
Hamman started to follow Ellie when he saw Adam and Richie come out the front door.  He stopped, trying to figure out what to do.
 
"Hey," he shouted to Ellie.  "This is just between us!"
 
Ellie stopped.  She looked back at Hamman and saw him point to the two Immortals at the door.  
 
"They WON'T get involved.  No matter what happens.  Right?"  

"Of course not," Adam answered.
 
"Coming?" Ellie asked before turning back and passing through the gate into the backyard.
 
Hamman looked at the men one more time before turning and following Ellie.  When he got to the backyard he found that she had already drawn her sword.  He didn't notice the knife that she had stuck into her waistband.  Hamman drew his sword and started to advance.    

"Tell me something,"  Ellie said.  "Why did you kill my friends?"
 
Hamman barked out an evil laugh before answering.  "The children I killed because they invaded my home.  And because they wouldn't tell me where I could find you.  It seems they didn't believe that you were still alive."
 
Ellie took a deep breath before asking, "What about Janek?"
 
"That old Jew," Hamman spat.  "I was just finishing what was started at the camp.  He knew all about me.  Said he was at Stutthof.  I didn't remember him.  I figure he lived about 51 years longer then he should have.  Obviously someone didn't do their job very well.  He died begging for his life like the dog he was."
 
Ellie stiffened at Hamman's words.  She forced herself to take several deep breaths.  There were more questions she needed to ask.
 
"Tell me about Ricardo Matos."
 
Hamman took a quick step back.  Obviously he hadn't expected anyone to know about that particular Immortal.
 
"Hageman found him.  He said that since I existed others had to as well.  He found Matos and forced him to teach me.  Hageman also wanted to know how to make people immortal.  Matos claimed that you couldn't do it."
 
"He was telling the truth."
 
"Maybe, maybe not.  He did tell me how we could be killed.  I tried it out.  He was right."
 
Ellie glanced to Hamman's left and saw Richie and Adam watching the two Immortals.  Just behind them she saw Duncan and Joe coming into the yard.  Hamman noticed where her eyes went and turned quickly.
 
"Nein.  Back off!"
 
"Don't worry.  They won't interfere."
 
"Who are you?  You don't look familiar to me."
 
"You mean you don't remember shooting me in the head?"
 
Hamman shook his head.
 
"During the march.  You killed me and then raped and murdered the child with me."
 
"Da.  I remember her.  Can you believe that that Jewish whore was still a virgin?!  And least that is what she claimed.  But we both know that that was not true.  A Jewish bitch at that age could not possibly be a virgin."
 
Ellie's hand tightened on her sword.  She was desperately trying to get her anger under control.  Rage wouldn't help her tonight.  
 
Hamman grinned.  "I wasn't the only one who had her."
 
"What?  Did you need help to hold down a small child?  Or was your penis too small to even enter that child?"
 
Hamman's grin faded.  Hate filled his eyes as he raised his sword and charged at Ellie.  Ellie raised her sword and blocked his blow before using her arms to push him back.  Hamman stumbled but managed to maintain his balance.  He charged at her again.  This time she simply stepped back out of his way slicing him across his chest as he went past.
 
"This will be too easy."
 
Hamman bellowed as he came back towards Ellie.  She backed up quickly but this time Hamman was able to keep up with her movements.  He started attacking Ellie, forcing her back even further.  His height and strength seemed to be helping him as he swung at Ellie again and again.  Ellie was forced to spend all her energy blocking Hamman's sword.  
 
Hamman swung at Ellie and struck her across her sword arm.  Her sword fell to the ground out of her senseless fingers.  She heard Richie yell and turned only long enough to see him straining in Adam's grasp.  
 
Quickly she stepped away from the advancing Hamman as he raised his sword in preparation for the killing blow.  Ellie hesitated and then dropped to the ground as Hamman swung.  She rolled into Hamman knocking his feet out from under him and
sending him to the ground.  Quickly she got to her feet and went over to grab her sword.  As she turned back toward Hamman she pulled the knife out of her waistband.  
 
Hamman had regained his feet.  He rushed at Ellie when he noticed that she seemed to be having trouble holding her sword in her injured arm.  Ellie ducked under his arm and slammed her knife into his chest.  She quickly stepped back as Hamman fell to his knees.  He was surprised to see her easily raise her sword.
 
"How?"
 
"I heal very quickly," she answered.  "Did Matos tell you that there could be only one?"
 
"Nein," he gasped as he pulled the knife out of his chest.
 
"Too bad.  Because there can be only one," she said before bringing her sword down and cleanly severing Hamman's head.
 
Ellie stood still, waiting for Hamman's Quickening.  She watched as it left his body before slamming into her.  The force of Hamman's Quickening forced a scream from Ellie's lips.  Her body convulsed.  Lightening lashed out of thin air and struck several trees, felling one.  It slammed to the ground in front of the four men.  Duncan grabbed Joe pulling him out of harm's way.  Slowly the Quickening eased off, leaving Ellie on her knees gasping for breath.
 
Adam let go of Richie.  He ran over to Ellie and helped her to her feet.  She leaned against him for support and they walked back towards Joe's house.  
 
"Sorry about your yard, Joe," Ellie said as she surveyed the damage.
 
"Don't worry about it.  I never did like that tree."
 
"Joe, why don't you and Ellie go inside," Duncan said.  We'll take care of Hamman."
 
"I can help," Joe replied, indignant.
 
"I know you can.  But it is your house.  You know where you keep your drinks."
 
Joe considered what Duncan said before heading back into his house.
 
"What do you drink?" he asked over his shoulder.
 
"The strongest thing you have,"  Ellie answered, following him inside.  "Straight up, no ice."
 
Joe's house
 
midnight
 
Duncan, Richie, and Adam had finished disposing of Hamman's body and were sitting in Joe's dining room with Ellie and Joe, drinking.  No one spoke.  Each person seemed lost in thought.
 
Ellie finished her third drink, setting the glass on the table.
 
"Want another?"
 
"No.  Thanks, Joe.  I think I've had enough for now."
 
"What are you going to do now?" Richie asked.
 
Ellie shrugged.  "I don't know.  I'd go to Israel for Janek's funeral but I don't think I could make it in time."
 
"You could go anyway."
 
Ellie nodded.  She sighed as she put her head in her hands. Her shoulders started to shake and the men could hear Ellie sobbing.  Richie put an arm around her shoulders.  Slowly her sobs eased and she took her hands away from her face and wiped the tears from her eyes.  
 
"I'm sorry.  I've kept it all in for so long.  I just couldn't keep it in anymore."
 
Richie squeezed her shoulders and said, "Don't worry about it.  We all understand."
 
"Thanks, Richie," Ellie said before turning to Adam.  "Can I talk to you?"
 
Duncan stood up as he said, "Why don't we clear this table."
 
Richie and Joe quickly agreed.  The three men gathered up the glasses and went into the kitchen.  Adam watched them go and then turned to look at Ellie.  She reached out and took his hand.
 
"Methos, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have gotten so angry."
 
"You had every right to be mad at me.  What I did was foolish."
 
"Maybe but as I received Hamman's Quickening I realized that I have spent too many years being mad at people.  Hell, I was even mad at Danka for not being strong enough to face her immortality."
 
"It's okay."
 
"No, its not.  My anger made me make mistakes.  And it almost cost me a friend."
 
Adam squeezed her hand.  "I am sorry."
 
"I know."
 
They were still holding hands when the other men decided to venture back into the room.
 
The End

Authors Notes:
 
The march from Stutthof occurred on January 25, 1945. 33,000 women and 18,000 men were marched out of the camp. 91% of the women and 17% of the men were Jews. They headed most west (the route I decided to take) and some east. There is an excellent book called The Holocaust which tells about both marches (among other things). If you want to find out why I didn't chose the march east drop me a line.

I want to thank Monica Jordan for her help proofreading my story.  No matter how many times I read it I still missed words that were spelled correctly but weren't the right word.  Spellcheck only goes so far, unfortunately.  They have yet to perfect a program that will say "Whoa, stupid!  You  want "spoke" not "spook".  Monica also put up with getting parts in dribs and drabs due to modem problems on my end.  I must also apologize to Monica for not correcting all the errors she pointed out.  Making corrections late at night is something I wont do again.  And while I know she wont see this, I want to
thank my friend Sonia who was extremely kind to let me send the parts out on her computer.  I also want to thank Samantha Copeland for letting me pick her brain about fighting styles for someone of not too tall stature. And last but not least I want to thank Lori Goldman for letting me use her description of Joe's house for my story.
 
With the exception of the series characters, Ellianna, and Rabbi Abram Yahil all the names used in this story belonged to people who actually existed.  All of the names of the Jewish people in this story came from the movie "Schindler's List."  The first and last names were mixed up, however.  Hamman did exist.  He was in charge of the commandos who cleared the Lithuanian ghettos of Jews.  Captain Eric Hageman was named after a friend from high school.  I used his name in retaliation for his comments (when asked what he did for the government) "I would tell you but then I'd have to kill you."  
 
Please let me know what you think about Ellie's name changes.  A problem that I have always had with "Highlander" was that Duncan MacLeod has always been Duncan MacLeod.  If it was confusing please tell me and I wont do it again, maybe ;-).
What did you think of this story?  Liked it?  Hated it?  Let me know.  Laura
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