by Alisa Adams
“Ye will also have to deal with my husband, Laird Keir Gunn.”
Her normally soft voice carried as strong as any commanding warrior over his men. “As well as Wolf and Swan of the MacKay clan, and Laird Steil and Neilina McKinnon of Brough Castle! These are people who have taken on armies and won!” she shouted in a commanding voice. ‘
The men stood frozen in fear.
“Leave at once!” Gillis shouted. “Or I’ll let this dragon of a horse go after you again! And there are more of his type, I assure you. Now, all of you leave! Two are company but you four are a crowd!”
Kaithria’s head whipped towards Gillis. “Gillis! ’Tis ‘two is company but three is none’!”
Gillis hissed, “Nay!” at Kaithria and turned to glare at the men.
The men each hastily helped their companions to their feet. They were staring in silent fear at the women on their large horses. At a nudge from the other two, they all grabbed their sacks and stumbled off into the brush until, finally, the woods were silent.
Iris let out a plaintive whinny mixed with a braying noise.
“Easy Iris, easy. I have you. Stay still for me. I’ll not let you slide into that pit!” Caden ground out as his eyes scanned the woods where the men had disappeared. He put his knife back into his boot and turned to look at the women.
“What did ye think ye were doing?” he said, knowing his Scot’s accent was coming out thicker with his anger.
“Helping ye,” Kaithria said softly.
“Aye, we were helping you,” Gillis added with a proud smile.
“What about your saying that ye dinnae look for a fight?” he demanded of his sister. “I was trying to talk to them so that you two women would not get hurt,” he said forcefully.
Kaithria and Gillis looked at each other and grinned.
Kaithria turned to her brother and smiled softly. “They couldnae hurt us on our horses. And Brother, I have been through far, far worse than that. Just now, we ended any fight that was coming, ’tis all,” she said calmly in her soothing voice.
“A soldier would have killed them.”
“We dinnae need to kill someone to make our point,” Kaithria replied calmly as she raised her chin. “And we are not soldiers. Warriors, perhaps?” she said and looked at Gillis, who shrugged and smiled.
Caden eyed them. “They will be back,” he said in a clipped voice.
Gillis smiled. “Perhaps, and perhaps not.”
Caden looked at Gillis and then at Eckle’s now calm eyes. “That horse is...I am not sure if he is wild or brilliantly brave,” he said gruffly. He turned back to stroke Iris’s neck.
The huge mule had ceased her braying and was still, her sides heaving, her legs shaking.
Caden shook his head. He had to admit they had handled it fine without him throwing a single knife. He did not know if he was relieved or angry at that.
Caden patted Iris’s big head. He looked steadily into her eyes, “You are fine now,” he crooned to her softly. “Stay still.”
He then walked quickly behind her to the pit. Her legs were caught in a tangle of the sticks and large tree branches that had been covering the pit and had now fallen in and tangled with the stakes.
“Do you need our help getting her out?” Gillis called to him.
Caden grimaced. “Nay!” he shouted to her.
Caden looked back at the tangle of limbs. He would need the mule to back up so he could free her. No horse would be willing to back down into a hole. He knew this. Let’s see how smart a mule can be, he thought to himself with a grimace.
“Iris,” he said as he tugged gently on her tail, “back girl, back up now…”
Iris let out a sharp hee-haw but Caden called to her again and pulled her tail a second time. He touched her back legs gently, pressing down on the large branch that had her snared.
Iris turned to look at him. Caden pushed the tree branch down with all his might. She eased her weight back very slightly, relaxing the tension on the branch, just enough that Caden could push the branch down and off her legs.
“Go, Iris!” Caden called to her. “Go on now!”
The mule gave out a loud hee-haw but did not move.
Caden peered around her. “Very well. Can one of you take her rope and pull?”
Gillis smiled and trotted Eckle forward. She leaned down and grabbed Iris’s lead rope.
“Eckle?” she said quietly to the horse as she gently pulled one of his reins to bend his neck so that he looked back at her. “Take this?” she said as she put the rope near his mouth.
Eckle immediately took the rope between his teeth. Then Gillis sat up and moved her heels slightly back as she tucked her seat into the saddle. “Back up Eckle, back up my smart warrior. I promise ’tis not a cannon you are pulling.” Then she remembered he could not hear. She used her seat and legs stronger. “I really would prefer a horse that can hear,” she grumbled.
Eckle backed up until Iris’s rope was taut.
“We are ready, Caden!” she called out.
Caden looked back at her to be sure she was indeed ready to pull. His eyebrows raised at the sight of the mule’s lead rope in Eckle’s teeth.
“Gillis!” he called out. He was ready to tell her to take the rope herself, but she stopped him before he could say that.
“Eckle can pull her, Caden. Dinnae worry,” she said with a sure smile. When Caden turned back to the mule she leaned forward and whispered to Eckle. Even though he could not hear, she hoped he could sense something of what she was saying. “Dinnae let me down now. I know you like to carry ropes and reins, but now you must keep this rope in your teeth. Dinnae let go, wild warrior!”
Caden pushed the tangle of branches down again as he shoved on Iris’s haunches. “Go, Iris!”
Immediately, the mule heaved herself forward with her front hooves as Eckle backed up, pulling her rope even tighter, keeping the tension on it.
Caden jumped out of the way as Iris was finally able to use her back hooves against the dirt wall of the pit to help push herself out of the hole.
Finally, she surged up and forward until she was standing on all four feet with her sides heaving and her head hanging low. Her legs were shaking pitifully. Caden wrapped his arms around her blocky head as the girls cheered happily.
Iris made a pitiful groaning sound as she tucked her head under his armpit. He gently scratched her ears until her breathing returned to normal.
“Let’s go,” Caden said in a low voice. He looked back at the pit. Those weren’t boar pits like he had first thought. Caden recognized them. Those were schiltron stakes. They were set for men on horses.
But who were those men? They were not soldiers. And what were they carrying in those large sacks?
He sent the women back to the inn after speaking quietly with them. He also asked them to speak to the innkeeper about sending some messages. Then he turned and looked at Iris. He gave her a pat and then walked beside the exhausted, giant mule as he led her on foot back to Sanside House.
8
Caden put Iris back in her paddock. He crooned quietly to her, thanking her, and telling her how proud he was of her. She tucked her head against his chest and made quiet noises. Caden smiled. He was learning the giant mule’s language.
He watched as Iris trotted eagerly back to the other old Frisian warhorse and the donkey who gathered around her. They greeted her affectionately as she brayed and whinnied and wuffled quietly to them of what she had just been through.
Caden walked back towards the house. He stole back inside through a side door; standing just inside, he looked around. He noted the candlelight showing under the door of the housekeeper’s room. He quickly pulled his boots off and then quietly took the stairs to Catriona’s bedroom two at a time and walked as softly as possible down the hallway to the door of her bedchamber.
He pushed it open and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and setting down his boots.
There was a candle still lit by Catrio
na’s bedside table. It was burned more than halfway down, sitting in a puddle of wax.
Beside the candle sat the tin of oatcakes with its lid left open, and beside that was a half-eaten oatcake.
Caden looked at the bed. The bed curtains were open.
Catriona was not in it.
He looked around the dimly lit room.
He heard an odd noise and walked past the bed. He could see a white shape, kneeling on the floor in a dark corner of the room.
“Catriona?” he said quietly.
He heard the noise again. It sounded like retching mixed with whimpering.
It was Catriona. She was losing her stomach, kneeling, and hunched over a chamberpot.
“Och, Catriona,” he whispered gruffly as he knelt down on one knee beside her.
“Go away,” she moaned without raising her head. She shooed at him with one hand; her other hand and arm were wrapped around her stomach. She groaned quietly as she heaved up her stomach’s contents into the pot. Then she moaned and turned her head away from him. “Please. Go away!” she said hoarsely.
“Nay,” Caden said in a low whisper as he brushed her sweaty curls off her face.
“Please go,” she moaned. “I dinnae want you to see me this way,” she said softly as a small sob escaped her.
“What way? You think I have not seen this before?” He tried to sound gentle, though he was aware he did not know what gentle was, particularly when it came to females.
Caden rose from his knee and got the pitcher of water and the glass from the table. He looked around and found an embroidered handkerchief on another table. He grabbed that as well and wet it with the water in the pitcher. Then he walked back over to the slender woman huddled over the chamber pot in the dark corner. He knelt back down on his knee beside her.
“Look at me,” he whispered gruffly. When she ignored him and just continued whimpering, he tipped her chin up and brought her face towards his. He rubbed the sweaty curls off of her forehead and then off the sides of her face and back over her ears. He poured more water on the cloth and washed her face and mouth off.
Cat sighed and closed her eyes. She could not look him in the eyes. “I think you will never want to kiss my lips again after watching that,” she whispered miserably.
Caden tipped her chin up further. She opened her bright green eyes that shone like the color of spring grass that held the dew in the mornings. He smiled into her eyes. “Shhh,” he said as he ran the cloth over her face again, even more gently this time. He stroked the cloth slowly down her neck and then around the base of her neck and collarbone. He stroked the cloth wherever he could see sweat glistening on her skin in the dim light of the candle. He ran it down the skin of her arms, for she did not have her lacy, ruffled bed jacket on. He took his time with each arm. Slowly, caressingly running the cool cloth over her heated skin. Then he brought the cloth back to her face as he tipped her chin back up. He smiled once again into her eyes as he ran the cloth over her forehead again. Slowly and reluctantly, he sat back, letting go of her chin.
Cat lowered her head. Wrapping both arms around her stomach, she stared at the floor. She felt him place the cool cloth on the back of her neck. She sighed and reached back to hold the wonderfully cool cloth there, but her hand fell on his where he was holding the cloth gently against her. She slowly looked up into his gold-flecked, soft brown eyes. He was smiling down at her, looking intently into her eyes with something she could not define.
Her eyes flitted away from his intent look. She was not sure what it meant, only that it turned her insides to a storm of lightning that made its way through the rest of her body. Even her fingertips.
“Thank you,” she whispered huskily.
“You are welcome,” he said in a rumble of deep velvet.
He handed her a cup filled with water from the pitcher and she drank some carefully.
“Thank you again,” she said with a small smile.
“Has it passed?” he asked her quietly.
She paused, looking inward, then she smiled at him and breathed out. “Yes,” she said cautiously and then she breathed out again, more forcefully. “Yes, completely!” she said again with great relief. “And now I am starving,” she said. “I could eat that whole tin of oatcakes!” she said with a grin.
“Nay,” he growled. “I think you will not eat any of them.”
When she started to say something back, he held his hand up and looked across the room towards the door.
“Someone is coming!” he whispered urgently.
He put his finger to her lips. He heard someone walking slowly towards the door. Then he heard the click of a key in the lock of the door.
“Someone just locked your bedchamber door,” he said. “From the outside,” he added with narrowed eyes as he listened to the person walking back down the hallway away from Catriona’s bedchamber.
“They have locked me in?” Cat said in confusion.
“Nay, they have locked us in,” Caden said succinctly.
Catriona stared at him with her mouth open.
“Have you been locked in before?” he asked her quietly as he listened to the noises in the house. Whoever it was that had locked the bedchamber door had just walked out of the main door of the house.
“I would not know, Caden. I have never had a need to check,” she said and then she jumped at a grating noise coming from the side of the room.
He put his arms around her and looked towards the windows where he had heard a noise. It was very quiet now. But he knew he had heard something. So had Catriona. He had a very bad feeling about this.
Cat pushed out of his arms and unsteadily stood up, staring at the windows.
“Nay Catriona, let me,” he said as he rose to his feet and started padding barefooted to the tall windows.
Catriona stayed right at his side, and before he could stop her she had pushed open the curtains. What is it about these women? They do not listen, he thought.
A cold breeze tousled the curls of Cat’s hair and caused her chemise to wrap tightly around her too-slender frame. She took a step back, wrapping her arms around herself as her whole body trembled.
Caden’s jaw tensed as he watched her. He immediately stepped in front of her, blocking the cold air. He looked through the shutters to the open glass windows beyond them. The glass windows were wide open, letting the cold night air of the Highlands in through the large slits in the wooden shutters. He scowled angrily. It might not bother him, but surely, to the slender woman beside him, sick and frail, that cold air would make a difference.
“So this is why I shiver all night and sweat all day…” she said as she rubbed her arms. She walked weakly back to her bed and pulled the lightweight coverlet around her shoulders.
Caden watched her. The bed coverings would not be enough to keep her warm. He looked at the fireplace and snarled. Of course, there was nothing there to make a fire to warm the room.
He looked back at the delicate girl on the bed. She was reaching for the oatcake she had not finished.
“Drop that,” he commanded her.
She froze with the little cake halfway to her mouth. “I am hungry,” she complained.
He stalked over to the bed, keeping his eye on her. “Put it back in the tin,” he ordered her.
“Caden, what is the matter with you? I am hungry, and I am also very cold,” she stated. “Why can’t I eat one?” she asked, confused.
He sat down on the bed facing her. “You saw Lady Gillis taking notes in her book, did you not?” he asked.
“Of course I saw her writing in her book. It is what Gillis does. She is studying to get her license in animal medicine and often takes notes on things she sees or hears.”
Caden frowned at her and moved closer. He took the oatcake out of her hand and placed it back in the tin and shut it firmly. Then he turned back to her.
“Catriona,” he said gruffly, “I saw one of the words she wrote in her book. She had circled it.”
“You saw one word?” she said with a grin and an arched eyebrow. “Please tell me what that one word was. Plague? Cholera?”
Caden stared hard at her. “Poison,” he said simply. “With a question mark beside it.”
Cat reared back. “Poison?” she said on trembling lips.
“Aye,” he said and ground his teeth together as he tensed his jaw.
“Nay!” she said as she glanced at the door.
“You will not be eating anything Rhona gives you,” Caden said sternly.
Cat opened her mouth and then shut it. She nodded firmly. “Very well. I want to feel good again. I want to feel alive. I want to be alive!” she said forcefully. “What?” she asked, seeing that he wanted to say something.
“There was a man in the house this evening. Short, red hair, beard. Do you know who he is?” he asked as he watched her.
“That would be Richerd Redhed, the healer,” she answered. But then she frowned. “He was here?” at Caden’s nod she frowned even more fiercely. “He typically comes to check on me.”
“But he didn’t,” Caden said in his deep voice. “Tell me what you know of him. Why would he leave out the back door and go into the woods? Up the hill towards the sea cliff?”
Cat turned her face from the locked door to look at the big man in front of her. His broad shoulders took up almost all of her vision. “He lives in a small cottage near the top that is part of this estate. He is a renowned healer. He pledged to help me because Rhona is his sister. I said he could use the cottage while I was sick and he was here.”
Caden scowled. “Renowned healer? Renowned by who? I have never heard of him, Catriona,” he said curtly.
“He is Rhona’s sister, I trust him.” She scowled. “You asked for a reason. Tell me.”
This time it was she that ordered him. She had that fierce look on her face as she looked him in the eye. He had missed that look and was happy to see it again.
“I was out in the woods on Iris. I saw him in the woods. But I also saw four men, carrying large, heavy-looking sacks heading towards the path up the hill. They thought about attacking us,” he said.
