Ian (18 page)

He had no time to think about that right now, and rode out of the stable
and made his way quickly over the drawbridge that was already lowered, hoping to have escaped anyone noticing him. Although they may have heard the clip clop of the horse’s hooves, the fog was so thick that they’d think he was one of their soldiers who had been going across the drawbridge and back all morning, bringing livestock into the outer ward from the pastures. The sound of sheep bleating took his attention, and he stopped and looked up to the MacTavish pastures, wondering when they’d gotten so many sheep.

He hid behind a tree and watched
, and realized there were also cattle, extra horses and even a good dozen pigs in the holding. And a small coop on the side held chickens and even a few geese. But that’s all he could see in the fog. Still, he realized there was so much livestock here that they’d probably not even be able to fit it all inside the inner curtain walls. And unless Ian was mistaken, some of those sheep looked very similar to the ones that were stolen from the MacKeefes.

He heard a raven cry out from the sky above him and that bad feeing was back in his gut
again. It looked like the MacTavishes were not who they seemed to be. And there was one more thing he had to find out before he did something to rectify all this. He headed straight for the only place that would tell him if Tearlach was still dead or had truly come back to life. Because he planned on digging up the man’s grave and finding out the answer once and for all.

* * *

“Come on, Kyle,” said Kyla, getting dressed and heading for the door. “We have te find Ian and see what he’s up to.”

She knew it wasn’t going to be easy to just walk on out of the castle without anyone seeing her. That’s why she needed a little help. She spied her things she’d brought from the MacKeefe camp piled up against the wall. She rushed over and
pulled out a bottle of mountain magic and stuck it under her arm. “This should work,” she said, and pulled open the door.

“Where are ye goin’?” growled the guard. She was glad to see only one, and figured the voices she’d heard must have been them changing posts.

“I jest wanted te have a drink with someone,” she said, pulling the bottle out from under her arm. “I’m sooooo lonely.” She tried to sound seductive, like the way the whore in the pub had come on to Ian, but she knew she wasn’t doing a very good job at convincing him.

“Nay. I’m no’ allowed.” The man looked the other way.

“It’s mountain magic, the best whisky ye’ll e’er taste in all o’ Scotland. Are ye sure ye dinna want a sip?” She held it out to him again.

“
Mountain Magic? I’ve heard o’ it. Aye, I would like te try it.” The man’s focus settled on the bottle and Kyla could almost see him salivating. Then he looked back up to her and narrowed his eyes. “How do I ken it isna tainted?”

“I’ll prove it,” she said,
pulling out the cork and taking a huge swig. She swished it around her mouth and swallowed it down, feeling the burning trail it made inside her. Then she smacked her lips. “Damn guid,” she said. “Have some.”

“Well, mayhap jest a little,” he said, looking around and then taking the bottle from her.

“Ye have te take a really big swig in order te feel it work it’s magic.”

“All right then,” the man said and took a big swig. Kyla almost laughed aloud when his eyes bugged out and he fell backwards gasping for air. She reached out and grabbed the bottle just as he fell to the ground
, unconscious.

S
he held up the bottle and inspected it, then looked down to the dog. “I didna even think this batch was thet strong. Och, well, come on, Kyle we have te share a few more drinks and then we’re off te find yer master.”

Chapter 20

Ian lifted another shovelful of dirt off the grave, and when he hit something, he knew he’d had the right spot where he’d buried Tearlach MacTavish. Sure enough, there was something hard in the earth and he bent down to inspect it, thinking he’d find Tearlach’s body.

He
used his hands to dig away the dirt but found mostly rocks. The only bone he found was that of Tearlach’s missing finger. This couldn’t be. His bones had to be in the grave even if his body had been eaten by worms. And his plaid would be here too. He dug around some more and though he found no skeleton, he did find something else that didn’t seem to belong there.

He reached down and pulled it out of the earth, realizing it w
as the MacTavish clan badge. That is, the badge that identified a man of the clan as a chieftain.

He took the badge in his hand and brushed off the dir
t. He could see it well now. It was a boar’s head surrounded by a band and buckle. Ian started thinking about what Tearlach said. That he would make him rich and very happy if he stayed with the MacTavishes. And while at one time Ian may have considered the man’s offer, he knew that turning to darkness and the way Tearlach lived was not what he wanted. He wanted a sense of family – and he knew that although he’d never know about his true family, he had a family with the MacKeefes. And that’s where he planned on going as soon as he collected Kyla.

He had no idea how the man really survived, but the fact was
that he was still alive. And if Ian was going to save Kyla, Tearlach had to trust him. He could never let him find out that he was the one who tried to kill him.

He sh
oved the badge into his pouch and got to his feet. He didn’t like to disturb the dead, but then again it didn’t matter since it seemed that Tearlach was not dead after all.

“Ian, is thet ye?” He looked up to see Kyla coming toward him
through the fog, with his hound sniffing the ground and leading the way. She was on foot and looked very troubled.

“Kyla, what are ye doin’ here?
” He brushed the dirt from his clothes and hands.

“I think the question
is, what are ye doin’ here, Ian?” She looked down to the ground and shovel, and then back up to him. “This is a grave, isna it?”

“Aye, Kyl
a, it is. This is where I buried Tearlach MacTavish after I killed him three years ago. Only it seems thet the bastard isna deid after all. And after what I’ve heard and seen lately, I’d say Tearlach is deceivin’ everyone and has joined up with the MacGillivrays.”

“Ian, I
dinna understand what’s goin’ on around here, but I dinna like it. I want te go home,” she said softly.

“I plan on takin’ ye home, Kyla.
Right now. As I willna let ye marry thet man, no matter if he is alive or jest a spirit. He is pure evil and deceivin’ e’eryone. We need te get away from here now, afore we no longer can.”

He heard horses coming through the woods then, and his hound started barking.

“Shhhh, nay,” he said to his hound, but it was too late. They were getting closer and about to be discovered. “Kyla, ye’ve got te get outta here. Now go on up te those ruins and hide inside so ye’re no’ discovered.”

“Ye come with me, Ian.” He heard the
pleading in her voice and he wanted nothing more than to do just that.

“Nay, they ken I am here and I’m goin’ te have te fight them.”

“Ye canna fight them all and live. I’m goin’ te stay and help.”

“I canna fight them if I’m worried aboot ye. Now take me hound fer protection and go on up and hide in the ruins.
I’ll cause a distraction and hopefully they willna even ken ye were here. Now, I’m no’ goin’ te tell ye again.”

“I’m no’ leavin’ without ye, Ian.”

“Haud yer wheest and go already, afore its too late. And dinna let Kyle bark or come after them when I start te fight or it’ll give yer hidin’ place away.”

He pulled her into his arms and
quickly kissed her, and she looked up to him in surprise. “What was thet fer?” she asked.

“It was te let ye ken thet if we make it outta this alive, I plan on pickin’ up where we left off.”

“And ye’re goin’ te tell me brathair aboot us?”

“I
’ll tell the whole world, Kyla if I live through this and get the chance. And I only wish yer brathair and Dagger were here right now as I could use them. I’m really goin’ te miss them.”

“Dinna say ye’ll miss them, as ye will see them soon, same as me.” She turned quickly and disappeared into the fog.

He drew his sword and took a stance, listening to Kyla scurrying away with his wolfhound at her side. He almost wished that he were fighting a ghost right now instead of men, because then mayhap he’d have a better chance of coming out of all this alive. He heard the damn crows in the trees that surrounded the ruins not far from there. But he didn’t need to hear them to know that something very bad was about to happen.

“There he is,” he
heard Eigg’s voice as a dozen men raced out of the forest straight for him.

“Come on ye bastards,” Ian said under his breath, just standing at the ready.

“Ian, what are ye doin’?” It was Dunmor. He rode his horse up to him.

“I’ll tell ye what he’s doin’,” said Tearlach riding up and stopping right in front o
f him as well. “He’s just led us to me grave. And since I told no one where it was, it seems ye jest gave away yer secret, MacKeefe.”

“What secret?” asked Eigg.

“Thet MacKeefe was really the one who tried te kill me. And he came back here to dig up me grave te check becooz he couldna believe I survived.”

“Na
y,” Dunmor called out. “Murdock killed ye. I found the man with the bluidy sword in his hand and he confessed.”

“Well, it looks like ye killed the wrong man,” said Tearl
ach. “Either thet, or for some reason ye are lyin’.”

“I’m no’ lyin’,” said Dunmor. “Thet’s really what happened.”

“Well, since ye killed the wrong man, Dunmor, mayhap ye’d like te right yer wrongs by killin’ MacKeefe now.”

Ian could see the turmoil o
n Dunmor’s face as he slowly pulled the sword from his scabbard. He knew his old friend didn’t want to fight him, nor did Ian want to fight him either. And he also knew now that the man had somehow known what Ian had done and taken measures to protect him by making up a story. He wasn’t sure why, and he’d probably never know. Because he had the awful feeling he wasn’t going to get out of this alive.

“Tearlach,” came a cry from behind them, and Odara came riding up on a horse with another guard. “The girl is missin’.”

“Thet’s right,” said the guard at her side. “She tricked the guards with some potent whisky and snuck out o’ the castle.”

Ian smiled inwardly upon hearing how Kyla had escaped. She always had been able to drink Mountain Magic
and keep up with the men, and now he was happy that she’d learned that from following around in his footsteps her entire life. She was better at taking care of herself then he’d thought.

“If we kill him, we may ne’er find
out where she is,” added Dunmor.

“Ye ken where she is, dinna ye?” asked Tearlach, looking straight at Ian.

The fog drifted around them, and Ian felt a chill in the air.

“Leave Kyla alone,
” said Ian. “She is only a lass and will bring no harm te ye. Jest let her go back te the MacKeefes.”

“
She’s more than jest a lass,” spat Tearlach. “She’s part o’ an important alliance. And I’ll no’ let her go back te the MacKeefes becooz if she’s talked te ye, then she already kens too much. All right, men, let’s look fer her. Two o’ ye take the road toward the MacKeefes and two more take the road east in case she’s tryin’ te make it te another clan fer help. I’ll kill MacKeefe later after we find the girl. Jest rough him up a bit and slap him in the dungeon fer now until he tells us where she went.” He turned and rode away.

Ian had no intention of going to the dungeon, nor did he have any intention of leaving a single one of them alive
if they decided to even touch him. Several men were off their horses now and coming for him with swords drawn. Ian shouted out the MacKeefe war cry of
Buaidh no Bas
, which meant Victory or Death, and rushed forward and fought two men at once. When he did, he saw Dunmor from his side vision riding up to him on his horse. He was holding his sword backwards, and reached out and swung the hilt at him. Ian turned and raised his sword to defend himself, but too late.

The heavy hilt of the sword crashed into Ian’s skull, the force sending him sprawling across the ground. And as his vision blurred, he saw in the early morning fog that strange
beggar woman he’d seen at the Samhain fire. He could see right through her body, and no one else seemed to notice her. Then she started humming the strange tune that had been stuck in Ian’s head his entire life. The tune he hummed to calm himself. The tune that made him feel as if everything was going to be all right.

Everything around him seemed to move in slow motion, and the woman held something out to him
that looked like a soul cake in her hand. Ian figured she was a ghost coming to collect his soul because he was dead.

“Come on, MacKeefe,” growled someone that sounded like Eigg, and in an instant the vision of the beggar woman was gone and two sets of hands shot out as the soldiers d
ragged him to his feet. “Ye’re lucky Dunmor hit ye o’er the heid, becooz if no’ ye’d be deid right now fer the stunt ye pulled.”