Lost in the Highlands, Volume One

by Lorraine Beaumont

  “Not ta worry, I will find her,” Broderick boasted.

  “I’d wish ye luck in that but I would prefer ye went back ta hell.”

  Broderick’s face twisted as he flexed his fingers. “When I find her, and I will,” he promised. “We will see if the lass can do what the other failed to do.” A sneer broke across his face.

  His words brought Gavin back from his slipping consciousness. “What are ye talking about? Jillian left of her own accord, she went back…”

  “She sunk she did, like a rock,” Broderick jeered. “Well,” he amended chuckling. “She did once we weighted her skirts down with rocks.”

  “Ye killed her?” Gavin felt ice pour through his veins, freezing him from the inside out. She didn’t leave him like he thought.

  “I think that is too harsh a word.” Broderick rubbed his knuckles. “Ye see…she couldn’t swim with the extra weight, so she drowned.” He shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

  “Why ye sorry excuse for a ….” Gavin fought against the restraints with renewed vigor.

  “Watch the name calling, Laird,” he scathed. “I only did what ye didn’t have the guts ta do yerself.”

  She didn’t leave him after all. A bone crushing sadness closed in on him and he could barely take a breath. “She was innocent.”

  “Och,” Broderick snorted. “She was a witch, just like the one that’s here now.” He took a step forward and lowered his voice, leaning down close to his face. “Although I have to say she was a mite comelier than her replacement, aye?”

  Rage tore through Gavin. Jerking forward, he freed one arm and slammed his fist into Broderick’s smug smiling face.

  Stumbling back from the blow, Broderick clasp his eye that was already swelling shut. Letting out an earsplitting roar he charged forward and slammed his fist into Gavin’s jaw.

  Gavin’s head snapped back like a whip from the impact. When the darkness came for him this time, he went willingly.

  ♦

  Hidden in the bushes where I dumped the rushes, I stayed hidden and listened to the exchange between Gavin and Broderick. I couldn’t see the tree with the dead men, which I was glad for. The feet dangling above my head would be forever burned into my memory. Biting back the urge to be sick, a familiar ache settled upon my chest, not only for the men but because of what I just heard. Gavin knew about the so-called treasure all along. And he was going to sacrifice me. To what, though? I still didn’t know, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. And if that wasn’t bad enough, now I knew why Gavin acted the way he did towards me. He was in love with another. And Broderick killed her, just like he was planning on doing to me if he found me.

  Someone walked by.

  I didn’t dare turn or move a muscle. My hiding place was not the best. If someone looked over the side of the stairs they would surely see me. But it was the only place I could find on short notice.

  A blustery wind kicked up a good amount of dirt and debris. The tree limbs creaked in protest bringing the unholy sight of the men I had seen hanging from the branches back.

  My stomach lurched. Bile burned its way up my throat and into my mouth. Terrified, I would be heard, I forced it back down.

  ♦

  It seemed like hours passed but it could have been only minutes. Time didn’t have much meaning when a person was trapped. The men finally left the courtyard and made their way into the castle. I hunkered down under the dirty rushes, barely breathing.

  It was already growing dark. Ominous clouds swirled above in the gray sky. Against the eerie backdrop, Gavin hung limply from one of the low hanging branches, with his arms stretched above his head. He wasn’t moving and his head was cocked strangely to the side. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead. I tried not to think about it.

  Making sure no one was about I peered through the branches. I could hear the men inside the castle, laughing and making a good amount of ruckus. I cringed from the sound. How could anyone laugh and carry on like that when such horror was right outside the door. “Monsters.”

  Trying to be as quiet as possible, I crawled out of my hiding place and came nose to nose with Elvis. He wagged his tail happily and then slobbered a good amount of spit on my face when he licked me with his tongue.

  Rubbing his balding head, I pushed him back and stood up. “Stay,” I told him in a low voice so I wouldn’t be heard. Thankfully, for once he listened.

  Gathering my skirts in my hands, I crouched down and sprinted over to the tree. The door was open and there was a straight view to where I was. I ducked around the side. Hoping against hope they wouldn’t look outside, I crossed over to Gavin. He looked so white. Blood dripped down the side of his face and my stomach lurched in protest. “Please don’t be dead,” I prayed as I lifted my hand to his neck. I could feel his pulse—thank God!

  Standing on my tiptoes, I reached up to unbind the leather strips on his wrists. The limb creaked and bobbed under his weight.

  I nearly got him untied.

  His body jerked against mine and knocked me off balance. I fell backward against the tree. A dangling foot was just above my head. Stifling the urge to scream, I looked back at the castle to make sure I was still undetected. Thank the Lord they didn’t seem to see me.

  “Gavin, it’s me,” I whispered as I made my way back to him. His eyes looked crazed, frantically searching for where my voice was coming from. I tentatively reached out and placed my ice-cold hand on his heated skin. He flinched. “It’s all right,” I lied. Nothing was all right.

  “Lass?” He shuddered out a breath of air.

  “Shh, don’t waste your breath. I’ll have you untied in just a minute.”

  “Ye have to run, run as fast as ye can,” he was talking quickly.

  “Not without you.” I finished untying his wrists.

  His full weight fell down on me and I had all I could do to keep standing. I shouldered him upward and slung his arm around my neck. “Can you walk?”

  “Aye, I think.”

  “You have to do better than that. Come on,” I used my sternest voice hoping it would spur him to move faster.

  “I thought ye were dead,” he rasped.

  A surge of annoyance shot through me because he sounded surprised that I wasn’t. “Well, I’m not, so come on.” I jerked him and he immediately gasped in pain. I felt bad but we didn’t have time to dawdle, or make small talk.

  “Aye, I can see ye are not dead,” he griped, and took another long shuddering breath.

  “If you don’t get your ass moving we will be,” I snapped. My anger was dwindling fast and fear was creeping back out to grab hold of me, and if that happened, we’d both be screwed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  LOCH MORAR, SCOTLAND

  Sometime during the reign of King James

  “Lass, listen ta me.”

  My head listed to the side, trying to get away from the insistent tapping against my face.

  I opened my eyes to the darkness and immediately screamed.

  A hand promptly covered my mouth, quieting me.

  “Shh, lass, do not scream,” he warned.

  “Gavin?”

  “Aye lass, it’s me,” he said softly.

  I got my bearings and the horror of what I had seen came rushing back. “All those men…they’re dead…” A fresh wave of tears slipped from my eyes as the cloying feeling I had felt earlier came back to take hold of me.

  “I know, lass.” His voice carried the weight of a great pain and sadness as he spoke.

  “Why?” It was the only word I could manage.

  “They want the treasure.”

  “The treasure…”

  “Aye, the treasure,” he repeated.

  “I thought you said there wasn’t a treasure.”

  “I lied.”

  “Why?” A sickening feeling settled in my stomach as I remembered a bit too clearly what finding the treasure entailed. I scooted away from him.

  “What is wrong?”

&nb
sp; He sounded so concerned I almost caved. “You lied to me.”

  “I didn’t have much choice.”

  “You didn’t have much choice…” I sounded like I was a broken record.

  “Aye.”

  “You had a choice. You just chose not to tell me.” I stood up and stepped into water. The frigidness of it made me gasp.

  Gavin didn’t move. “I know. I lied. But I didn’t know…I didn’t know…” he repeated, quieter now.

  “What didn’t you know?” I sloshed my way through the water back over to the ledge I was on moments before and climbed on top.

  “I made a deal.”

  “What deal?”

  “With the witch,” he mumbled.

  All my fear went to the wayside again. “What witch?”

  “The one that sent you here,” he said and I could hear the strain in his voice. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was upset or in pain.

  “What about her?”

  “The King is superstitious. He thinks witches are making his boats sink and stealing his gold.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Everything. Don’t ye see?”

  “No. Gavin. I don’t’ see.”

  “I was…am, supposed to retrieve it for him in return for my freedom.”

  “So, what is the problem? Why don’t you get it for him?”

  “I would but there is a wee problem.”

  “What is this wee problem? Surely you…”

  “It is protected by the monster,” he added quietly.

  “There’s a monster? There’s no such thing.” Even as I said it, I had a hard time swallowing it because there was no such thing as traveling to the past, and yet, here I was.

  “Aye, lass,” he said.

  “What do I have to do with this…monster?”

  “I was supposed ta sacrifice ye ta it.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I pushed farther back up on the rocks.

  “Lass, stop fretting, I was not going ta do it.”

  “Then what’s wrong?”

  “Other people want the treasure and they will stop at nothing to get it.”

  “So, let them take it.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “I still don’t get what that has to do with me?”

  “Everything, lass,” he said so quietly it was only a whisper of air.

  “Wait? What? I don’t understand.” A rush of water slid inside the cave and lapped against the rock I was standing on.

  “Lass ye made a deal with a witch ta come here.”

  “I did not!” I was adamant. “It was that damn Gypsy or…wait…are they the same?”

  “Aye, lass,” he sighed. “Did she draw yer blood?”

  “Well, yes. I already told you that.”

  “Then ye made a binding deal, then.”

  “I did?”

  “Aye, lass, ye did.”

  “So, this is my fault? All the men…it’s my fault?” I had a hard time standing. I felt like my legs were going to buckle under me.

  “Nay, lass,” he soothed. “Broderick would have found another reason to do what he did. I think he is trying to take the gold for himself and in doing so, double cross the King.”

  “Are all of the men…?”

  “Not all, but most,” he said answering the rest of my unspoken question.

  My heart constricted with heaviness. “Why?”

  “They were in the way.”

  “I don’t understand,” I told him and I didn’t.

  “Lass, there is no time.”

  “But if I didn’t come here…if I didn’t make the deal with the Gypsy…”

  “Nay, lass.” He shifted to the side. “It still would have happened sooner or later. If it was not ye than it would have been someone else.”

  “Like it did to…” I almost told him what I heard earlier about the girl he loved, but my heart constricted, making it hard to catch a breath, let alone keep speaking.

  “I know lass,” he sighed. “She tricked us all.”

  “Did the…” I swallowed hard, “the witch, kill all those men?”

  “Nay, not the witch.” I felt him shake his head.

  “Who then?”

  “It was that bloody bastard, Broderick.”

  Icy fingers of dread crawled over my skin. Just hearing his name made me feel sick. “But how could one man get so many of the others?”

  “He must have drugged the ale. It was easy after that. The poor bastards didn’t even see it coming.”

  Even though I couldn’t see him, I could feel his body grow rigid. “How did he get you?”

  “I heard the commotion as I was heading downstairs…I saw what was happening, I tried to escape…”

  “You just let him…” I couldn’t finish. It was too horrible to consider.

  “Lass,” his voice was hoarse as he spoke. “Sometimes ye need ta make hard choices in life that are not the best, but sometimes, it is better ta try ta run so ye may fight another day than ta stay ta fight and die in vain.”

  “Is that what you did?”

  “Aye, I tried but didn’t make it very far.”

  “Laird…” I said, out of habit, still trying to come to terms with what he was telling me.

  “Gavin,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Call me, Gavin, for I am not worthy of that title any longer.”

  “Yes, you are,” I argued, feeling his pain.

  “Nay, lass, a laird protects his men, he doesn’t let them….”

  “It’s not your fault,” I cut him off before he could say the rest.

  “Aye, it is,” he admitted. There he had said it out loud and even though he had damned himself and his men, he still felt a bit of tension ease from his chest from the admittance.

  “Why are you saying that?” My voice hitched in my throat.

  “It does not excuse my actions, or lack thereof.”

  “You had to, you said so,” I argued, feeling desperate.” I felt as though I was freezing from the inside out. I couldn’t breathe right; I couldn’t even think straight. “Stop, please,” I begged.

  “Listen ta me.”

  He grabbed my arms and shook me slightly.

  “Ye have ta listen ta me.”

  “I am listening to you.”

  “When I tell ye ta run, run as fast and as far as ye can. Stay hidden until the mist comes and then slip inside of it and ye can get home.”

  “Home…”

  “Aye, lass…” he said. “The moon will be full soon, and the mist will come as it always does,” he tried to explain. “Ye must get inside of it, let it take ye when it pulls, do not be afraid.”

  “But you’ll be with me, right?

  Silence that stretched between us, which was all the affirmation I needed. He wasn’t coming with me.

  “Nay, lass, I can not go,” he finally said.

  “Why?” I struggled to find the right words to make him see reason. “It’s too late for them…” Even though I knew it was true, saying it out loud made me sick to my stomach. “But…not you,” I finished on a sob.

  “It is too late for me as well. I was damned a long time ago. I have only been walking in a shadow of my former self, biding my time until this day came.”

  My mind spun. I was trying to figure a way out of this mess but my brain wasn’t cooperating. Fear for him...for me…was muddling my thoughts.

  I pushed it down. Trying to stay strong…be brave…but I was none of those things. I was a coward—always had been. Didn’t I just admit that to myself a short while ago? Was it because of the other girl, his love, the one he lost I couldn’t help wondering in some sick part of my mind. Was that why he didn’t want to come with me?

  Icy fingers of dread wound its way around me. At my bleakest point, I didn’t see a way out and I was suffocating with it. And just when all my hope had all but shriveled up inside of me another voice cut through the murkiness, the hopeless
ness of it all…

  A glimmer of what could be wrapped itself around me and brought with it a calming realization that I could do this…for him, for her, for the men who died in vain, for us all. I had to.

  “Och, lass,” he breathed, lifting his hand to my face and cupping it gently, taking my silence as something altogether different, acceptance maybe? “I enjoyed our time together,” he said valiantly and I was sure if I could see his face he would be trying to give me one of his sexy heart-stopping smiles to make me feel better.

  A sudden rush of emotions tore through me. Anger, thank God, won out. “How stupid are you?”

  His body tensed and he dropped his hand. “What did ye just say ta me?”

  “Oh, so now you’ll just what? Sacrifice yourself for them? They are already gone. If you stay to avenge them you will surely die.”

  “Aye, mayhap but it would be for something worthy.”

  “What could be more-worthy than your own life?” I argued, feeling desperate.

  “Lass, ye are,” he said softly.

  Reaching up the laid his hand on my face.

  I grabbed hold of his hand. “No.” I shook my head. “I won’t let you.”

  “Ye do not have much choice in the matter.”

  “I got you into this mess and I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  “Shh, lass,” he sighed. “We don’t have much time.”

  Face to face, eye to eye…we stared at one another in the darkness. I reached up to his face, feeling the hard angles of his jaw, his thick lashes, the sweeping curve of his brows, his nose, his lips… “I love you.”

  “Aye, I know,” he breathed.

  Holding my face in his hands, he leaned down and touched his lips to mine. The kiss was painstakingly sweet…a good-bye kiss.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  LOCH MORAR, SCOTLAND

  Sometime during the reign of King James

  A flickering torch light headed toward the entrance of the cave.

  Gavin jerked away from me and pushed me behind him. “They are coming.”