Taming the Wild Highlander 04 (13 page)

"
Stop," Angus said, his feet hurting too much to take another step. He pulled off his blanket, then stripped some pieces from it to tie around his feet. They could still see the torches lighting the castle, way off in the distance, but the light didn't stretch much further than a few feet from the massive stone walls. The night was so dark, the ladies would not see him or Niall in the shape they were in—naked, beaten, shoeless. "Strip off some of your blanket to use to protect your feet or you will never make it," he said to Niall.

"
No one said we would need to be rescued from a dungeon, and that we would have to run away in the dark naked," Niall complained, though Angus knew his cousin was grateful to be free.

"
There is a first time for everything." Angus stood and wrapped the remaining blanket around his waist.

Edana placed her hand on Angus
's chest. "Take our blankets. Between Allison and me, we have four. You and Niall can wear them and mayhap they will help keep you warm."

Angus quickly fashioned the cell blanket like a belt around
the blankets Edana offered him as Niall did the same with the others.

"
I am ready," Niall whispered, and they all headed out again with Angus in the lead, winding his way through wet woods, leaves, moss, and pine needles cushioning their path now. The rags covering his feet soaked up the dampness.

The air smelled like
wet grass and moldy leaves and of pinesap—fresh and invigorating. They startled a resting male capercaillie, the slate-colored grouse, making a racket until it soared high above the treetops in silence.

W
hen Angus was certain a small candle's flame could not be seen from the castle, he lit it. With Edana's hand in his, her hand on Allison, and Niall holding Allison's free hand, they continued on their way.

Even if
they could reach Gunnolf in time, Angus didn't have any idea what they were going to do without horses or much in the line of weapons. Gunnolf had a spare tunic and brat and a couple of blankets that were warm. Edana would have her blankets, mayhap Allison also.

T
he biggest trouble was that they had no mounts. Though they could fashion a brat from the wool blankets, they had no shoes to wear. He wanted the women to ride Gunnolf's horse. But Niall and Angus could not travel far without shoes.

When he saw the caves, he hoped Gunnolf was still there. He feared Keary might suspect they
'd come here for shelter since Dougald and Gunnolf had been found here before, and they'd need to leave at once.

Angus
bade the ladies and Niall wait and he went inside, whispering, "Gunnolf."

He heard only the slightest movement, and then saw Gunnolf with his sword readied. His gaze quickly took in Angus
's lack of clothing. "God's wounds, what has happened?"

"
We are in trouble," Angus said. "We must leave at once."

"
You have no clothes."

"
Nay. We are lucky we managed to get free at all." Angus called out to Niall and the lasses, "'Tis safe to come in."

They hurried inside and made their way to the inner most cave where Gunnolf
's bags and blankets were spread out on the gray rock. He quickly lit another candle. Gunnolf gaped at Allison. "What is
she
doing here?"

"
Saving your friends," Allison said, sounding annoyed. "And before you suggest I return to the keep, what do you think my half-brother would do to me when he learns I have not only freed Edana so he canna marry her, but that I also released Angus and Niall, who he planned to use to get her concession? Eh?"

Gunnolf shook his head, then jerked his thumb at a couple of dark lumps lying near the back of the cavern,
mostly immersed in the dark. Two hefty men from the looks of it. "Mayhap they will offer something that you can wear."

Angus frowned as he and Niall headed for the men.
"Who are they?"

"
They were on their way to see the chief of the Clan Chattan," Gunnolf said, "with news Keary intended to take the chief's daughter to wife. I quickly took care of them, figuring you had gotten yourselves into a quagmire. But I was waiting until first light to leave for Edana's castle. 'Tis good I did, too."

"
Aye," Angus said, quickly stripping the one man of his clothes and dropped the dungeon blanket over him.

Niall did the same with the other.

"Keary will be furious," Allison whispered, sounding even more worried.

Served Keary right.
Angus felt really hopeful they might get away. "They had mounts?"

"
Aye, that they did. We are still short a couple, but that will give us three. So which direction will we head now?" Gunnolf said, packing up his blankets.

"
Lady Allison said Oppida served as her father's mistress, but that Keary forced her to leave the clan's holdings. So she must be with some other laird," Edana said, sounding expectant that they would continue to search for her brothers.

Angus shook his head.
"The only place we are going now is to your father's keep. As well as I know him, Keary will likely try to recapture us. He willna wish to lose you if he thinks he still has a chance to have you for his wife."

"
He doesna even know me," Edana said, sounding annoyed.

"'
Tis your charming ways and he couldna help seeing how bonny you are." Angus helped Edana onto the horse he would ride as Niall pulled Lady Allison onto his.

"
Nana," Edana said, with regret.

"
Your horse?" Angus asked, wrapping his arm around Edana as they headed out across the glen, more than glad to have her close again and under his protection, though he wished he had his own sword.

"
Aye."

"
I am sorry, Edana. If we could have taken our mounts, we would have."

"
Aye," she said, leaning her back against him, and he was thankful to have her tucked in his arms again. "I understand. Mayhap my da can bargain with Keary to release her."

"
Aye, and my horse and Niall's also. As long as you are no' part of the bargain." Angus smelled the lavender fragrance in Edana's hair and was at once reminded of where the night might have taken him—marriage and consummating the relationship with her later that very eve. He closed his arm tighter around her. Whatever would happen, would happen. If her father insisted he wed her, he would do so, if she wished the same.

He
could do worse, he supposed, if he were his brother, Dougald, and sharing a bed with a wife whose ghostly brother bothered them at night.

Or one who saw visions of the future. He thought he
'd end up with a wife like Eilis, who hadn't any special abilities, but he rather liked the idea of having a wife who was gifted. If it didn't land him in any more dungeons.

"
Have you heard anything more from your brothers?" Angus asked.

She shook her head.
"I fear for them."

"
Aye, I know, lass. I would continue on our way to locate them, if it had not been for the trouble we are bound to face with Keary and his men, the fact we are not heavily enough armed, and we have two women with us."

She nodded.

"Your da willna permit you to leave with us should we reach your castle before Keary catches up to us."

"
What if we were to see James instead? You could get another horse and—"

"
Nay, lass. Concerned for your safety and with keeping clan peace, my brother willna permit you to leave with us either."

She slumped against him.

He ran his hand over her belly and kissed her hair. He hated disappointing her, but he couldn't allow her to believe she would go with him when he was certain she wouldn't have that option no matter where she went. "You were indeed bonny when I thought to have you as my bride, Edana," he said quietly.

"
You wouldna have minded too awfully much?"

"
To keep you from Keary, I would have married you in a heartbeat."

"
But if it were no' for him…"

"
I am surprised you have had no offers, lass."

"
Many times over," she said, so quickly, he wondered if she was fibbing, not wishing any man to think no one wanted her hand in marriage.

If that was the case, h
e could understand the lass's feelings. He pondered that for a time. He couldn't imagine why anyone would not wed the lass, unless it had to do with her odd gift. It did not bother him, now that he understood more of what she could do. But other men with a weaker constitution could be unduly concerned. On the other hand, if she'd truly had so many offers, why was she still unwed?

"
But you didna accept any of them. Or your da didna approve?" he asked.

She shook her head.

He opened his mouth to ask which. Then he sighed heavily and asked about another matter still bothering him. "Why did you no' tell your da why you were leaving? You said you couldna speak to him."

She let out her breath.
"Some things are no' meant to be discussed between a man and a woman."

He
contemplated that, but couldn't come up with anything she could mean. "He will be angry that you left."

"
Aye."

"
What will he do with you?"

"
Lock me in my chamber until my brothers come home. When they dinna, mayhap he will believe me. By then, it could be too late."

Angus was torn. If the lass could help him find her brothers, he still wished to take her with them. But they couldn
't travel past Keary's keep without having more of an escort. "I will ask your da if you can continue to ride with us, if he will send some more of his men to safeguard you and a maid to ride with you."

"
I thank you, Angus."

"
Aye, lass. I wish your brothers safe." But he was certain her father would not permit her to go with him.

After spending even a few hours in the cold, musty
cell with naught more than a worn blanket, he knew how sick men could become. He planned to ride out from her home again as soon as they could and search for her brothers.

They
traveled all night in the direction of Edana's castle, taking infrequent breaks to rest the horses and water them at a stream when the sun began to rise. At first, the only sounds they heard were the water trickling in the stream and birds singing in the trees. But then they heard the sound of horse's hooves striking the ground, coming from a northerly direction, they all turned to look and see who approached. Angus feared the worst. Keary's castle was north, and Edana's south.

"
Keary's men," Allison said in a panic, as the sky grew lighter, a small yellow glow in the distance as the sun began to rise, though gray clouds hung in the sky and it appeared the sun would soon disappear behind them.

They quickly mounted, Allison riding again with Niall
, Edana with Angus and headed at a gallop for Edana's castle. They were still too far from the safety of the curtain walls to ride at a full gallop with riders doubled up on two of the horses.

Angus
was concentrating on what lay ahead when he saw two men riding toward them from the south. At first, he feared further trouble, thinking Keary's men had circled around them.

"
My father's guards," Edana said, sounding vastly relieved.

"
We have more help headed our way," Angus called out to Gunnolf, who was following them, acting as a rear guard.

"
Good, though the odds were still in our favor," Gunnolf said.

On a good day, aye, but having
the women with them, nay.

"
Where is Una?" Edana called out to her father's guards.

"
We saw you from afar, and it appeared you were in trouble, lass," the older of the two men said, eying Angus. "We left her behind in the woods yonder. She is safe."

"
This is Angus MacNeill," she offered. "And his cousin, Niall, and friend Gunnolf. My father asked for them to find me."

"
And those men?" the man asked, pointing in Keary's direction.

"
Keary Dunbarton, Laird of Lockton and his men. They are trouble, Kipper."

Six men rode with Keary and
he probably had thought he could overtake them and reclaim Edana and return his half-sister Allison home when he had only two naked, unarmed men to fight. But now that Keary and his men were facing five men instead of three, Keary motioned for his men to stop. They were still a goodly distance away, and Angus could barely make out that they were Keary and his men if it hadn't been for the direction they had come in and that Allison knew them so well.