by Terry Spear
The lads were eager to hunt, but they knew that taking down a stag or wild boar was only incidental to why they were going. Every MacNeill man there, and the Cameron also, knew to safeguard Alana. If she hadn't planned to attempt to communicate with any spirits lingering about the woods, she wouldn't have gone because she knew she would be too much of a distraction.
Since they left the castle grounds before it was light, they would reach the killing grounds when it was late morn. She tried not to observe MacDonald and his sons too overly much, but she was curious to see how they reacted when her uncle led them so far away from the castle to hunt.
She and Dougald were riding behind MacDonald and his sons and her uncle, while Gunnolf and Niall flanked her and her husband. The lads and the rest of the men rode around them in a protective stance.
Not to her surprise, MacDonald finally said, "We are going quite a distance, Laird Cameron. Seems the forest nearer your fortifications would have the same prey as the woods this far out. If we keep going in this direction, we will soon come to the MacNeill lands, will we no'?"
"We will hunt before we reach the MacNeill lands," Cameron assured him.
Hoel kept giving Alana backward glances the nearer they got to their destination. Which again made her think of her brother's words. Had Hoel actually seen Seana? And her brother?
If he could see ghosts like she could, and she was able to see some who remained behind where her da and his men had been murdered, would Hoel also be able to see these men? And hear what they had to say?
What if MacDonald had sent his own men to kill her da because he hadn't wanted her to marry MacIverson? And he thought he'd have a better chance convincing her uncle to agree to have her wed to Hoel instead?
She wondered where her brother and Seana were now. If they showed up, she might be able to observe Hoel's reaction to their arrival. Unless he saw them, but pretended not to.
They were getting close to where they needed to enter the woods when a man on horseback raced toward them. It was Angus, Dougald's youngest brother. She tensed. Something must be wrong.
Dougald went off to meet him and talked for a moment in private. She knew he did so, not wanting MacDonald and his sons to hear what was being said. She wanted to join them also, but Gunnolf and Niall kept her from going anywhere. She should be irritated, but she knew they only had her welfare in mind.
Dougald listened to his brother, nodded, then rode back with Angus to the group. He gave Cameron a slight tilt of his head, indicating they should move on.
"What happened?" Alana asked Dougald in a hushed voice as he rejoined her.
"Rob MacNeill was found." Dougald glanced at Gunnolf. "He has no hard feelings that you broke his nose and stated he was afraid if he told you who he was, you might have done worse."
Gunnolf shook his head. "Teaches the mon to lie to me."
"And the sick niece?" Alana asked.
"She is well now. By the time our healer saw to her, the cough she had was subsiding."
Alana's mouth gaped. She hadn't thought Odara had told her the truth. "But I thought you said the sheepherder had no niece."
"He hadna. At least that we knew of. And certainly before that, he wasna caring for her, until this last summer. His sister died and he took in the young lass. The girl and Kerwin fight all the time, but in a good way, Rob said."
She frowned. "Where was the niece when you gave the man a broken nose? Surely he didna leave her alone."
"She was sleeping in his shieling," Angus said.
"But where was the man's shieling? He wasna close to the border between our lands."
Angus shook his head. "You must have crossed the creek too far north."
"Och." She was annoyed with herself until she remembered what had happened because of not finding Rob MacNeill—she was now married to Dougald MacNeill. "And the bairn?" She hoped that if the sheepherder had taken Odara in, he was marrying her and providing for the bairn she was carrying.
"Aye. Tavia, our healer, said the lass is breeding. Odara is living with the sheepherder. After one of our men took her, Rob MacNeill, and the lad, Kerwin, with them to see James, he had Rob and Odara wed."
Alana chewed on her lower lip. "They are keeping the lad?"
"Aye." Angus smiled at Alana. "The boy seemed verra happy to be living with the couple. He loves the sheep and said he has no brothers to throw him into smelly places now. And he said the girl, Tristina, has been a pest, but he smiled when he said it."
Relieved beyond measure that Odara had not lied to her and that she and the others were well, Alana smiled. "I am pleased they are all content, though I am certain my uncle willna like that Odara's shieling has been abandoned."
"Rob told James if the Cameron doesna mind, he can move his sheep and Odara's back to her shieling. She has an attachment to it as she was born there and her mother and da died there. Her shieling is bigger so will accommodate the burgeoning family. He wanted Cameron's permission first though," Angus said.
"What about Rob's own place?"
"He has a cousin interested in it."
Alana took a deep breath. "How did she get word to Pelly, Cook's assistant, that she was ill?"
"A man said that she would be paid well if she said she was ill when you arrived. She was already feeling unwell, so she didna believe she had done anyone any disservice. He said that you were in grave danger if you should wed the MacDonald's son, and if she cared for your well-being, she must do this. Concerned for you, she wished to aid the man—and you."
"So she hadna asked for me to see to her. But she was ill."
"Because of the bairn, aye. She had not sent anyone for there was no one to send. She thought she would get better. She had been fetching water when she heard a rider approaching, and though she thought you would come days earlier, she ran into the shieling and hurried to the bed just in case it was you."
"Which was why she was so flushed. I suspected since she was dressed, she might have been doing chores. Who was the man?"
"She didna know. Since she lives so far from Braniff Castle, she doesna know everyone."
Alana frowned. "Then she needs to be returned so she can identify the man for me, and I will thank him most profusely." She looked up at Dougald.
"I will reward the lass myself for sending you to me," Dougald said.
Angus looked at the three men riding ahead with Cameron. "Is that MacDonald and his sons?"
"Aye," Dougald said.
"What are they doing here?"
"They were concerned that Alana was missing. They didna like that I had married her."
Angus gave Alana a worried look. "Are you certain you want to return to the place your da died?"
"Aye, I am. 'Tis time to bury the past and learn the truth if 'tis possible."
They rode into the ancient pinewood forest mixed with deciduous trees now, having to go single or double file in some places where the trees clustered together. The ground and tree trunks were covered in green moss. Leaves littered the forest floor and creeping woody undergrowth. Catching her attention, a red squirrel scampered up a tree while a bird pecked at a fallen pinecone nearby.
Before they rode much further, Dougald took hold of Alana's reins. "Sit with me, lass."
"You worry overmuch," she said, but didn't argue as he pulled her onto his saddle and Angus took her reins.
"Do you see anything?" Dougald asked, leaning forward, whispering in her ear.
"Trees."
He chuckled.
Cameron cast a look over his shoulder to see if Alana was all right. She smiled at him, but it was more of an anxious smile than anything. She knew he was leading them to where the actual battle had taken place. She had not seen where the men had killed her clansmen that day.
A shiver trailed up her spine, and she suddenly felt chilled. Dougald wrapped his arm around her tighter, pulling her closer to his body.
Then to her surprise, she heard Connell arguing with someone else in the woods up ahead. Sean
a? She couldn't see them.
No, not Seana. It was another man's voice. But she couldn't hear the words yet.
What was Connell doing here? He must have followed them, staying out of sight. Because of Hoel, mayhap?
She strained to recognize the sound of the other man's voice. If Connell and he were having words, the man had to be dead.
Landon?
A chill sliced through her.
"That way," she said, pointing in the direction of Landon and Connell's voices.
She glanced toward Hoel to see if he'd heard the voices, too. He was looking in the same direction. Another shiver stole through her. Dougald rode off toward the voices she heard and several of the men stayed with them.
Cameron said to the MacDonalds, "They must have spied something to hunt."
"Here, stop." She almost neglected to tell Dougald, forgetting he couldn't see them and would have run his horse right through her brother and Landon if she hadn't told him to stop. Because the men appeared so real, she kept thinking everyone witnessed what she did.
She wondered if this was in the vicinity where the killing had taken place. Whatever blood had been shed on the ground during the massacre had washed away over the years. Now ten years later, Landon and Connell fought each other with their ghostly swords, slashing at each other, attacking, parrying, falling back, and lunging forward. How could they fight? Why would they fight? They had been the best of friends.
She hated seeing them battling one another, flinching every time they sliced through each other, fearing they'd be injured, despite being dead.
Was Connell angry Landon had abandoned her to join their men in the fight? Or angry that Landon had told on him when Connell stole the bread and couldn't go on the hunt and hadn't been able to be there for his da or Alana?
Connell was ten years older than Landon now, but it didn't seem to matter. Neither could have the advantage fighting in their ghost forms.
Seana was nearby, her face ashen. How a ghost could look so real and lose all its color like a living being, Alana didn't know. Seana glanced at Alana, finally realizing she had arrived and shouted, "Make them stop!"
MacDonald said, "I see naught. Did someone see a stag and lose sight of it?"
That's when an arrow went whizzing through the air headed straight for Alana. The next thing she knew, she was falling or rather she and Dougald were falling from his horse.
Chapter 27
The arrow came at her so quickly, Alana didn't even have time to scream. Thinking Dougald had been hit, panic and dread welled up inside her. She could barely breathe as he pinned her to the earth with the length of his body.
"Dougald," Alana said, trying to determine if he was all right as he took a heavy breath and didn't move off her right away. "Were you hit?"
"I am fine, lass," Dougald finally said, kissing her cheeks, her lips, her chin, his eyes dark with concern. "Are you?"
Seana was looking down at them, tears staining her cheeks as she wrung her hands.
"Aye, I am." She placed her hands on his face and saw the worry in his expression. "I am fine."
Several men galloped off in the direction the arrow had come, the MacDonald men with them. Others quickly surrounded Alana and Dougald, some to help, some to protect them. Angus and Niall quickly dismounted and drew close.
"I pulled you from the horse quickly enough that the arrow missed. I couldna have moved the horse out of the arrow's path that fast." Dougald moved off Alana and helped her to sit.
She let out her breath. "Thank the heavens he missed."
Connell appeared beside Seana, and she gave him a shove. As if she had given him an actual physical shove. When he fell back a step, he appeared as surprised as Alana was, his blue eyes wide, his mouth agape.
Seana furrowed her brows at him. "Why were you no' watching out for your sister? This Landon friend of yours is dead. You should have been looking out for Alana."
"He isna a friend of mine." Connell glanced over his shoulder.
Alana couldn't see if Landon was there or not. "What did you fight about, Connell? Did he know who killed our da and the others?"
"I was angry that he had left you behind. He wasna supposed to do so! Da would have had his head for it. But I wanted to know why he told Da that I had stolen the bread. He was the one who told me the family needed it. Then he waited for me to steal it before he reported that I was sneaking out to take it to the family before we broke our fast that morn."
She frowned. "And?"
"He…he said he knew the men were going to have a confrontation during the hunt. But he only thought the men would talk to Da. He didna want me there. He was afraid I would be killed if a fight ensued."
Alana stared at her brother, her lips parted, speechless.
Dougald rubbed her arm, looking anxious as he watched her closely. "What is he saying, lass? What does Connell know?"
She couldn't answer Dougald. She had to know more about what had gone on that day.
"If he…knew Da and the others were going to be attacked, he was in on it. How…why…?" She couldn't even form the rest of the words as she tried to think back to that day. Landon had acted hesitant to leave her, yet he also seemed to want to help the others. Had he had a change of heart when he heard the cries from their men as they were being butchered?
"He said he thought the men would talk, but Da wouldna hear of it," her brother said.
"Landon lies!" she said, as the grief at having lost her da and all the rest of the men washed over her.
"Aye, that was what I told him," Connell said.
Alana folded her arms, her brow furrowed. "I want to speak with him."
Dougald helped her up from her seated position on the ground. As she looked for Landon, she didn't see him at first. "Landon! Show yourself."
Then he was there, as real as life. His mouth curved down, his blue eyes looking at her, he lowered his gaze to the forest floor as if he couldn't stand to see the recrimination in hers.
"Who killed our people?" More than anything, she had to know who had done the horrible deed.
"MacIverson's men," Landon said. "He said you were a witch. That you could…" Landon motioned with his sword at her. "…speak with the dead. Like this."
"I dinna understand." Tears streaked down her cheeks, and she brushed them angrily away. She didn't want Landon to see her in distress, to show weakness, when she wished only to show strength. "Why did he no' just say he didna want to go through with the marriage contract?"
"Your da wouldna agree. He wanted an alliance with their clan. He didna know MacIverson believed you to be a witch."
"Why did he want to marry me in the first place?"
Landon licked his lips and wouldn't look at her.
"Landon, why?"
"He was seeing someone else. He wanted to continue to see her. She said if he married you, she could."
"Who?"
Landon shook his head.
"You dinna know?"
Landon wouldn't say. Either he didn't know, or he didn't want to reveal the truth.
"But…but the man in the woods said that MacIverson wanted me. That they were to take me to him."
"Nay, someone else. But I dinna know who."
She did not believe MacIverson and his men had any intention of talking with her da to change his mind. They had decided the sword was the only way to settle matters.
"I dinna understand. If he wanted to see this other woman, than why did he decide he no longer wanted me?"
"The woman's husband learned of her indiscretion and said he would kill her and him if he discovered she went to MacIverson again."
Alana's mouth hung agape, and then she swallowed hard. She thought frantically about what she needed to ask. Landon was already fading, as if his mission was to tell her the truth about what had happened, and then he'd be free from this world where he no longer belonged.
"Who is she?"
He shook his head, his gaze on hers now.
As
much as she hated that he had not warned her da, she had to remember Landon had protected her brother. "You saved my brother's life."
"Aye," Landon said. "But when our men were set upon, I was torn. Protect you, or help them."
"And you got yourself killed."
"I didna deserve to live. Your da was furious with me for leaving you behind. But then one of the men trying to kill him was angry with me for leaving you. He shouted at me that I was supposed to stay with you and keep you from running. I thought your da would kill me instead for the traitor I was. He didna. I will never forget the look on his face—of condemnation and disbelief. He turned his back on me, but couldna know if I would shove my sword into him or no'.
"Still, he continued to fight the man in front of him as if he had no choice as the other man was older and more battle-trained, or your da didna think I would kill him. Our men were outnumbered. I knew if I fought the MacIverson men, I would die, too. But I also believed that my leaving you alone, and mayhap their worry I might turn on them in the future, meant I wasna going to live long either. I fought the man alongside your da. We killed him, but then I was attacked and the much bigger man struck me such a blow, I didna live."
Alana couldn't help the shudder that wracked her body. He had done wrong, but how many times over the years had she made wrong choices? Reckless decisions, thinking she knew best? Only his wrong decision caused men to lose their lives.
Landon took a deep breath, then frowned at Connell. "I save your life and this is how you end up anyway?" He waved his sword at Connell.
Connell glowered back at him. "You were a traitor to our people, to Da. If I could kill you to avenge him and the others now, I would."
Dougald had wrapped his arm around Alana's shoulders, though she could barely feel his warmth she was so cold and concentrating—trying to concentrate—on what to ask next.
But Landon spoke again. "Your da rode back for you, only he and his horse were already dead. I heard him shout for you to hide. I felt badly for you. You were so young. I was afraid of what they might do to you should they find you. But there was naught I could do about it then. Your da led you home. I couldna follow. I was stuck here. Everyone else left me. How long has it been? I canna believe you are a woman now full grown."
