Taming the Wild Highlander 04 (26 page)

"
Aye, it is. The chief has gone mad," Angus agreed, though he knew differently. He could see now just how much trouble his wife could get into if she revealed what she knew to the wrong person. He would protect her always if he could save her before it was too late. He would run MacRae through with his guard's sword himself if the man had done any harm to the bonny lass.

Outside, he headed for the stables, intent on
retrieving his horse and riding to the river. MacRae's men stood back, none of them engaging the fierce warriors who looked ready to kill anyone who stood in their way, since Angus and the others with him did not make a move to attack.

"
So, Oppida has taken the lad beyond the castle walls," Keary said, sounding as if he was thinking aloud.

"
Aye."

Angus wondered then if Edana could hear how furious he was, how worried for her. Would she know he was coming to
her rescue?

***

The matter could only get worse, Edana thought, if she couldn't reach Angus before he, her brothers, and her da began killing MacRae's men. Or MacRae's men slaughtered her family.
I am all right,
she silently entreated.
All is well.
But she knew neither Angus nor any of the members of her family could know what had happened to her.

She had heard MacRae galloping after her and then his horse
's hooves clomping on the ground in the dense forest faded away. The man with the torch, who was returning to the keep to tell everyone that all was well, who she had been following, disappeared into the woods far ahead of her, leaving her in the pitch blackness. It would be hours before the sun rose and she could not see far enough ahead of her to make her way through the woods. Which direction did she need to go?

She stopped and shouted,
"MacRae!" When he did not return her call to tell her where he was, she tried to reach the boy. As much as she hated to speak of her folly, she had to let the lad know she must have gone the wrong way, thinking she was headed straight back to the castle. But the woods were unfamiliar to her and in the dark, she must have gotten turned around if MacRae no longer followed her.

"
Pol, tell your da I think I am lost."

The portcullis was down, so Angus turned his horse toward the postern gate. The Chattan men and Keary thundered after him and they all raced outside. Keary shouted, "I will gather my men to hunt them down."

"
I will get mine," Tibold said.

"
We will stay with you," Kayne told Angus, chasing after him as he had not waited to see what would happen next.

He had barely reached the woods when
he saw one of MacRae's guards, torch in hand, as he rode out of them. "MacNeill," he said, surprised. "They are all right. MacRae told me to come and let you know. The boy is safe. Oppida is dead at MacRae's hand."

"
Edana!" That's who Angus cared about. Aye, the boy, but with him safe, his wife was more important than anything.

"
She…she is with MacRae. She is safe."

"
Where?"

"
I rode ahead when we got word that you were fighting our men. I…I was to tell you that all is well."

"
Take me to MacRae."

"
I need to tell everyone that Pol is safe," the man insisted.

Tibold,
his men, and Keary's rode around the castle and headed for them like a stampede of cattle.

The guard
's eyes widened.

"
You may tell them. But then, I want you to take me to MacRae and my wife," Angus said, impatient, not believing anything that MacRae said until he saw she was safe with his own eyes.

"
Aye." The guard kicked his horse to a gallop and went to head off Tibold and Keary. "The lad is safe! Oppida is dead!"

Angus shook his head. Tibold and his men wanted to know about
Edana's
safety! Fool.

"
Where is Edana?" Tibold roared.

Angus witnessed more torchlights moving through the woods. Each time a man emerged from the trees, Angus spied no sign of his wife.

"Where is Edana?" Angus growled at each man.

"
She is behind us with MacRae. The lad fell asleep in his da's arms. MacRae wanted us to hurry to ensure all was well with you and the rest of your men," a guard said.

Tibold waited with his men nearby, Edana
's brothers sticking close to Angus.

Keary held his men back on the other side of Tibold and his clansmen.

When MacRae materialized from the woods, Angus thought Edana must have followed him, but there was no sign of her. "Where is Edana!" Angus shouted.

MacRae looked puzzled.
"She was ahead of me. She should have arrived at the same time the first man was sent to give you word everything was well."

"
She is not here! Wake the lad," Angus ordered.

MacRae scowled at Angus.

"She may have tried to reach him. If the lad has been sleeping all this time, she couldna. Wake your son!" Angus commanded again.

MacRae
's face was red with anger. Angus was certain the man was not used to the brother of a laird giving him orders.

MacRae
said, "Pol, wake up."

Pol stirred and rubbed his eyes.

"Pol," Angus said, "Edana is lost. Can you reach her?"

Pol stared at him as if he wasn
't quite sure what the matter was.

"
Edana. She is lost in the woods. Can you speak to her?"

"
Aye, I will try." Pol scrunched up his small face as if concertedly attempting to contact Edana. But then he shook his head.

Tibold motioned to his men,
"Spread out. We search for my daughter."

"
My wife," Angus said to himself, furious with MacRae and more than anxious for Edana's safety. "The boy comes with us."

"
I am returning him to the keep where he belongs," MacRae said.

"
Nay, you dinna. You forced her to go with you against her will. Now you have lost her. The boy may be the only one who can help us now."

"
She saved my life, Da," Pol said, looking up at his father's stern face. "I want to help."

Looking as though he
'd eaten something particularly sour, MacRae finally nodded. "Come," he said to his men, "we search for the woman." He cast over his shoulder to Angus, "If she had stayed with me when I commanded it, she wouldna be lost."

"
And why would she have run off?" Angus asked, his voice hard. Had she been afraid of MacRae?

"
She was worried about you and her kin. We had word that fighting had broken out. I suspect she wished to stop it. To show she was unharmed."

Edana. Always thinking of others.
Wanting to rescue them.

Danger in the form of wolves, wild boar, but worse—man, made Angus clench his reins
in his hand. She had nothing but a
sgian dubh
to keep her safe. At least she was on horseback.

"
A rider-less horse!" someone shouted.

Angus cursed aloud.

***

Edana cursed under her breath as she felt a cold wet substance on h
er forehead. Her spine and arse ached as she reclined on her back on the ground beneath the oaks. Ponderous trees still surrounded her on all sides. Her head pounded with pain, and she was so very cold! Where was she? What had happened?

T
hen she vaguely remembered.

Something had spooked the mare she
'd been riding. She had reared up and Edana lost her hold and tumbled from her mount. She'd hit her head hard on a branch, then again on a nasty rock as she fell the rest of the way to the ground. And then…she guessed she had lost consciousness because she couldn't remember what happened next.

Where was the mare
now?

Then she heard snorting nearby. Not a horse
's snort. Something else.

She listened carefully. Her skin chille
d. What was the sound she heard?

She tried to sit up and grew so dizzy, she lay her head back down, wanting to be swallowed up by a big bed and her husband
's warm embrace.

Angus! Her father. Her brothers. She groaned. Surely MacRae
's men had arrived back at the castle to give word the boy was…

She started
to shake her head in annoyance, but the pain shredded the very thought.

They might have received the news the boy was all right, but then discovered
she
was missing.

She
'd only wanted to ensure that her family and her husband had believed MacRae's men spoke the truth. That they had to cease fighting. She hadn't wanted her husband or family injured or killed. And now…

She gave a bitter half laugh. Now, she was
not
all right.

The snuffling and snorting grew closer. And then she knew very well the sound she heard. Little piglets and a sow. Not good. She had to climb up off the ground. If the mother boar thought Edana wished to harm her little ones, the sow could gore Edana with her monstrous sharp tusks.

Being anywhere near the great wild beast while it protected its young could enrage it.

She
'd heard of a man attempting to hide in the heather, no trees around for him to climb into, and he was gored terribly.

But every time she tried to lift her head, she felt it splinter with pain. She stifled the groan she nearly released, not wanting the boar to hear her. She must be downwind of it, thank the heavens.

With every slight movement a major painful effort, her whole body aching from the fall, but her head the worst, she sat up as slowly as she could. And nearly passed out again.

She gritted her teeth, attempting to keep her wits about her. Then turned her head slightly to consider the lowest branches of an old oak. It would have to do, if she could only get to her feet.

She tried to stand, but the sharp pain shrieking across the back of her skull made her stomach roil with upset.

S
he saw a little piglet, and then another, and her heart that was pounding as hard as if she were being chased by wolves, gave a stutter and nearly died. Four more of the little boars scurried after their brethren. Mother would be nearby and maybe even watching them now.

And then? She
'd see Edana. Despite what some said about wild boar, they could see well, they proved smarter than her da's hunting dogs, and were extremely dangerous.

Attempting not to startle the wee ones that
would cause them to let out a blood-curdling squeal that could bring the mother and any other boar in the area running to protect them, Edana again tried to stand.

Managing, s
he clutched her waist, wanting to bend over and release the meal she'd eaten earlier, and saw white stars across inky blackness form in front of her eyes. She realized she was falling, until her shoulder struck a branch, bringing her again to ragged consciousness.

She quickly—or at least she tried—to pull herself up into the lower limbs of the tree. Every effort made her head and stomach swim. She groaned, the wee pigs squealed, and the great beast of a sow charged out of the brush and headed for the tree.
The one Edana was scrambling to climb higher in.

The boar struck
the tree right below Edana's foot, the sow's razor sharp tusks gleaming in the early morning filtered light. The weight and the phenomenal strength of the beast shook the tree and with as much as Edana's head hurt, she feared being unsettled from her shuddering perch.

Worse, the wild boar and her piglets hung around at the base of the tree. She would not leave soon, Edana worried.

As she closed her eyes, trying to calm her wooziness and clung to the tree, she heard a small voice say in her head,
"'Tis me, Pol. Where are you?"

A small trickle of hope wormed its way inside her, but when she
tried to speak to him, the pain streaked through her head, shattering every thought, and she felt herself tumbling into a black abyss, and prayed she did not fall from the tree.

***

Keary couldn't help that he wanted Edana. He loved fiery-headed lasses. Had he known the Chattan chief's daughter had grown to be so resourceful, kind-hearted, loyal, and bonny—he would have asked for her hand in marriage years ago. Not that he'd had any title at the time, and her father probably would have discounted his wish back then.

Keary
had not believed Angus had wed the lass, but no matter how much Keary had plotted to wed her himself, he hated he had been unsuccessful.