Highland Thirst (27 page)

Tearlach
felt his own smile fade as he watched the pain well up on her face at the loss
of such a brother. He wished he could take that pain away, but knew he could not.
He also wished he’d met and had the chance to get to know this man. He was sure
he would have liked him, but that too was impossible, of course.

“Ye
should sit and rest,” he said gruffly. “Ye’ve had a busy mornin’.”

“Aye.”
She forced the grief from her face. “I found a handful of berries on my walk. I
shall just sit and eat them while you...er...”

Lucy
never finished the words, but turned and moved farther into the cave, finding a
good-sized boulder to sit on. She then pulled her berries from her pocket. They
obviously hadn’t fared well in there, and she grimaced at their squished and
bruised state but set about eating them with determination.

Positioning
himself so that he could bend over the man with his back to Lucy and thereby
block her view of what he was doing, Tearlach didn’t waste any more time, but
knelt to feed. It was a quick business despite the amount of blood he took. He
left the lad alive as Lucy wished, but the fellow wouldn’t be up and about for
a while.

Sitting
up once he’d judged he’d taken what he could without killing the young man,
Tearlach closed his eyes and allowed a moment for the blood to get to where it
needed to go. He’d taken much more from the fellow than he had from Lucy the
day before and felt better for it. His weakness was slipping from him by the
second, leaving him feeling strong and capable again. Relief followed hard.
Tearlach wasn’t used to feeling weak and dependent on others and hadn’t enjoyed
it.

“How
do you feel?” Lucy asked from her boulder when he suddenly stood.

“Better,”
he assured her and proved it by bending to catch the unconscious fellow by his
collar and lifting him half off the ground. “I’m takin’ him back where his
friends will find him. I’ll not be long.”

Without
waiting for her response, Tearlach dragged the man out of the cave and then
paused. It was still light out, but the dusky light of new night, that grey
place between day and full night that seemed to last so long in summer. He took
in a deep breath of cooling air as his eyes slid over the area outside the cave
where they had taken shelter and then his eyes found the path of crushed grass
and weeds that Lucy had made dragging the man to him. He frowned at the obvious
trail, knowing they were lucky one of the man’s friends hadn’t come looking for
him and spotted it. It would have led right to them.

Aware
that could still happen, Tearlach hefted the fellow over his shoulder,
grimacing at the effort it took. He was much better than he had been, but more
blood would help him regain full strength. With the man on his shoulder, he
scrubbed one boot over the ground as he went, trying to repair some of the
damage done and eradicate the trail. He gave it up after a bit, thinking it
would be smarter to just relieve himself of his burden and get Lucy moving away
from there as quick as they could. After all, the state of the man he was
carrying would be a dead giveaway that they’d been in the area.

Thinking
this made more sense, Tearlach simply followed the path to the tree where Lucy
obviously had downed the man. He lay him down there, leaning him against the
tree, then paused and glanced around. It wasn’t far from the cave, which was
probably a good thing. Lucy wouldn’t have managed to drag him back otherwise.
But the others would be nearby and he could do with a bit more blood.

Lifting
his face to the sky he breathed in deeply, taking in the scents on the night
air. His olfactory senses were better than most men’s, almost as good as an
animal’s for scenting trouble on the air. Now he used it, hoping to get an idea
of which direction he should go to find his breakfast’s friends. He’d barely
started scenting the air, however, when he heard the snapping of twigs and
someone grumbling.

“God
dammit, Jones. Where have you got to?”

Tearlach
smiled wryly as he lowered his chin to peer into the woods in the direction of
the sound. Luck was with him tonight. The man’s friends were going to make it
easy to find them. He stood waiting where he was, smiling when another soldier
broke out of the trees and came to a startled halt right in front of him.

“What—?”
the man began, and then his gaze dropped to the huddled form slumped against
the tree behind Tearlach and the man cursed and whirled away, ready to make a
run for it. He didn’t manage more than one step before Tearlach was on him.

Lucy
had finished her berries and was sadly contemplating her still mostly empty
stomach when the crunch of feet on stone drew her gaze to the mouth of the
cave. Tearlach had returned, she saw with relief and smiled, then her eyes
widened as she spotted what he carried with him. A rabbit, skinned, skewered,
and already roasted.

“Where
did you get that?” she asked, getting eagerly to her feet and moving to join
him.

“The
lad’s friends were camped nearby. They had this all prepared and ready when I
found them. I think they were about to eat.” He held the meat out. “Here, hold
it for me while I saddle your mare.”

Lucy
automatically accepted the meat, but her attention was now on Tearlach. She bit
her lip as she watched him work over the mare, hesitating until he had finished
saddling the animal and turned back to face her before finally saying
carefully, “They
were
camped nearby?”

“They
still are,” he assured her with a roll of the eyes. “They’re all sleeping now.”

“Oh.”
She relaxed and managed a smile, her attention turning back to the rabbit. Lucy
licked her lips as she gazed at it. “It looks good.”

“Aye.
Smells good too.” Tearlach grinned at the greedy look in her eyes, and then
stopped teasing her. “Ye can eat while we ride. Come.”

Her
stomach rumbling at the very thought of eating the meat, Lucy followed him to
her mount. When he turned his back and wasn’t looking, she couldn’t resist
pinching off just a bit of meat and popping it quickly into her mouth. Lucy
nearly moaned aloud at the succulent taste that exploded in her mouth. It
seemed like forever since she’d eaten anything but those few berries.

A
gasp of surprise slid from her lips as Tearlach suddenly leaned to the side and
scooped her up off the cave floor.

“Would
you like some?” she asked guiltily as he settled her in the saddle before him.

Tearlach’s
chest rumbled with quiet laughter as she held out the rabbit to him, but he
shook his head. “I ha’e fed.”

Lucy’s
eyes widened as she met his gaze. “Do you not eat food?”

“Aye,”
he answered, not appearing upset by the question and then explained, “there
were two rabbits o’er the fire. I ate one on the way back to the cave and saved
the other fer you.”

“Oh.”
She relaxed and even smiled as she realized the entire rabbit was for her.

Tearlach
left her to eat in peace as he urged the horse out of the cave and onto the
path.

Every
last trace of the sun was now gone, taking its light with it, but the moon was
full and bright this night, offering its own light for them to see by. They’d
traveled for perhaps five minutes before Lucy became aware of Tearlach relaxing
in the saddle behind her. It was only then that she realized that he’d been
tense and alert before that. It wasn’t long after that before he began to
speak.

“I
ha’e tae find and rescue me cousin, Heming,” he announced.

Lucy
frowned as she chewed and swallowed the bit of rabbit in her mouth. “Aye,” she
murmured, her eyebrows drawing together. She hadn’t thought much about what may
have happened to the second Scot. This man and her own situation had taken up
too much of her mind to leave much room for Heming. Now she considered him and
worried over his fate, wondering where he had been taken and what he was
suffering.

She
suspected whatever was happening to him was at least as bad as the torture and
whipping Wymon had visited on Tearlach and shuddered at the thought of the
unending torture he may be suffering.

“O’
course I’ll see ye home safe first,” he added as if she may have feared he
would dump her at the side of the road now that they were away. While she
supposed another man might have, she hadn’t even considered he would. She’d
instinctively trusted him with her well-being. Before she could comment, he
added, “How far is Blytheswood castle from the cave we slept in, lass?”

“Only
about three hours’ ride at this pace,” she answered quietly and then bit her
lip as she considered going home. Home to Blytheswood and the reality of her
brother’s being dead, murdered by their neighbor. Her people would be in an
uproar if they knew. Whether they knew or not was the question. Had Wymon sent
news of John’s death and spread the story of her being taken by the murdering
Scot who had supposedly killed him? Or had he stayed silent on the subject
until he saw whether he could convince her to marry him or not? She doubted he’d
remained silent. When she and John hadn’t returned to Blytheswood, riders would
have been sent to search the path between there and Carbonnel. They would have
had to have been told something.

“We’ll
ha’e to be cautious in our approach until we learn what tale Carbonnel has
spread,” Tearlach said, his thoughts obviously following the same line as her
own.

“Aye,”
Lucy agreed, her gaze on the remainder of the rabbit she held. Her appetite had
fled with thoughts of John. They’d been close, friends as well as siblings. She
would miss him terribly and would never forget the moment when their eyes had
locked as Wymon had stabbed him. He’d been far too good a man to die like that.

“Rest
if ye like, I’ll wake ye when we get close,” Tearlach suggested, but Lucy shook
her head at once. She just knew if she closed her eyes her brother’s death
would replay itself in her mind with all its horror and sorrow. She’d avoid
that as long as possible. It had been bad enough in the cave. Besides, she wasn’t
tired. She’d only been awake a matter of hours.

“Who
do you think it is that took your cousin?” she asked to distract them both.

With
her back to him as it was, she sensed rather than saw the way he jerked his
head down to peer at her. “Diya no ken?”

Lucy
leaned back against him and tipped her head up to see his face. He looked
positively horrified, she saw with a frown, but shook her head. “Nay. Why would
you think I would?”

“Well,
surely ye saw who it was who took him from the inn?” Tearlach asked with a
frown.

Lucy
started to shake her head and then paused. She’d seen a lot of men in the inn,
and then later pouring into the courtyard. As many of them had been strangers
as were men from Carbonnel. None but Carbonnel’s men had worn colors, however,
or clothing that would have told where they were from.

“I
saw many men, but no one I recognized as another lord,” she murmured
thoughtfully and heard Tearlach curse under his breath before she continued, “but
that in itself could be a clue.”

“Explain,”
he ordered, sounding grim.

Lucy
didn’t obey at once, but tried to order her thoughts and recall all she could
about the episode at the inn. Finally, she said, “None of the men there were
from any of the neighboring castles, else I would have recognized them. They
are from farther away, north I think,” she murmured.

“North?”
Tearlach caught at the suggestion.

“Aye.
Scotland, I think. Just before I blacked out, I heard someone with a soft
Scottish burr saying, ‘Ye take the MacAdie, I’ll take the other and guid luck
to us both.’”

“Aye,
a Scot,” Tearlach murmured thoughtfully and then added, “Carbonnel told me that
we were followed from Scotland. It makes sense that the other man was a
Scottish laird, most like the leader o’ the men who were set on our trail.”

Lucy
nodded. “Then we need only follow your trail backward starting at the border of
Scotland.”

“Aye,
that’s what
I’ll
have to do,” he said meaningfully, and then added, “ye’ll
be safe and sound at Blytheswood.”

Lucy
grimaced. “You should not take this on all by yourself, Tearlach. If you are
captured—”

“Then
I’d be happy kenning ye’re safe at home,” he growled, and then added, “but I’ll
no’ be captured.”

“And
I’ll no’ be safe at home,” Lucy muttered.

“What
was that?” Tearlach asked with amazement and she suspected his shock was at her
mimicking his accent.

Grimacing,
she blew out a breath and said, “It occurs to me that Blytheswood may not be
the safest place for me. It will surely be the first place Wymon looks, if he
is not there already.”

Lucy
saw the frown now claiming his expression and added, “He probably
is
there already. He could not know we would stop to rest so soon in our journey.
He would have expected us to head straight to Blytheswood, so would have
gathered his men and marched right in and taken over if the men didn’t raise
the gate on seeing his approach. He would have to. He cannot allow me to tell
anyone the truth of that night at the inn and that he is the one who murdered
my brother.”