A Highlander’s Homecoming (29 page)

Too slow. They’d never make a successful escape like this.

They’d made it outside the castle and were nearing the little gate that led out to the fields when Jamie veered off to one side.

“This way, Jamie,” Isa panted, shifting his arm on her shoulder.

“No, Isa,” the child called, limping steadily away. “Bronco’s tethered out here. I heard the men say so.”

“Bronco?”

“My horse.” Robert had told Jamie about raising Bronco from a colt while they’d worked together on the fence. “I’m a hard-core Denver fan,” he added with a chuckle, though even he’d be forced to admit his comment lost any trace of humor ending in that wheezy grunt. Damn, but his chest hurt.

“I’ve no idea about this ‘hard-core,’ but yer hard to understand, I’ll say that for you,” she muttered in return. “Now why do you suppose they’d have left yer animal all alone, way out here?”

Before he could even consider her question, Jamie returned, leading Robbie’s horse along behind him.

It took a few extra moments, and an argument with Isa about her walking while he rode, but soon enough both he and Jamie sat on Bronco’s back, with Isa leading them through a deserted side gate.

With a little more of this kind of luck, they might even have a chance.

Chapter 27
 

At this rate, they didn’t stand a chance.

Isa winced as she stepped into yet another hole on the rutted road, twisting her foot once more. It had happened so many times as they made their way through the night, she’d given up counting. She was certainly no stranger to putting in a hard day’s work, but the distance they’d traveled so far had taken its toll. Her shins ached and the muscles in the backs of her legs felt as if they’d knotted themselves into hard little lumps of pain.

She’d been so grateful to see the sun rise this morning, lighting her way at last, she’d come close to forgetting how tired she felt.

Glancing back at the horse she led, she almost wished it were still dark. Jamie’s cheeks were stained a feverish
pink, his small head bobbing with each step the animal took. Without a doubt, the child was asleep sitting up.

And Robbie! She couldn’t begin to imagine what kept him upright in the saddle.

An involuntary shudder ran through her body. She’d promised herself that as soon as the sun came up she was stopping to have a look at the place he clutched on his chest, but from the circles under his tightly closed eyes and the sweat on his brow, she feared she’d not be able to get him back up on the horse if he once climbed down.

Again she stumbled, her legs numb with fatigue, the pain of her hours on her feet creeping up into her lower back.

“You need to rest, Isa.” Robbie must have caught her looking back at him. “And I need off this animal before I fall off. There’s tree cover over there.”

She thought to protest, but he was already swinging his long leg over the back of his mount. He hit the ground with a grunt, doubling over.

Dropping the lead she held, she ran to his side and slid under his arm on his good side. Together they managed to get him to a grassy area and she helped him to sit up against a large tree.

Jamie slid off the great horse right into her arms when she tugged on his leg, and she wondered if he even woke up. When she laid him on the ground next to Robbie, he curled onto his side, all without ever opening his eyes.

She led the horse over to where they sat and looped his lead around a bush before dropping to her knees by Robbie.

“Move yer hand. I want to see what those bastards did to you.”

He shook his head to deny her but didn’t resist when she pushed his hand away and tugged his shirt up.

“Holy Mother,” she whispered before she thought, glancing to his face guiltily when she realized she’d spoken aloud.

“That bad, huh?” His eyes were closed so she had no means of guessing what he was thinking.

Bad? It was the worst thing she’d ever seen. Like a wound freshly closed, the skin was swollen and bruised, with what looked like a newly formed scab covering a jagged cut between his ribs. Heat from the wound assaulted her fingers, hovering over the site.

When she looked up again, he was watching her intently, his expression telling her more than she wanted to know. If she could only fill the silence with her talk, she wouldn’t have to hear the words she could see in his eyes. If she didn’t allow him to say it, it still wouldn’t be real.

“We’ve come such a long way this night. We passed the crossroads hours ago, so we’re doing just fine. After we rest for bit, we’ll start out again. I’m sure we’ll find water soon, and we can wash that wound properly.” She would have continued, but he covered her hand with his palm and the mark on her skin came alive, stealing whatever thoughts she might have expressed.

“It’s time to face the facts of our situation. The wound is growing worse. We need to go over what yer to do if I should lose consciousness, aye? No matter what happens, you must give me yer promise that you and Jamie will get to MacQuarrie Keep. ”

“Of course we’ll get there. Together. All three of us.” They had to. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything else. “With you to lead us.”

“As far as we have yet to travel, there could very well come a time when I willna be able to lead. With one of us walking, our progress is slow and Bronco canna carry all three.”

Desperation clouded her thoughts but fueled her tongue. There must be a way. “In that case, you go on ahead with Jamie. I’ll wait here. You can come back for me.”

He made a clucking noise with his tongue that reminded her of her chickens at their feed.

“Surely you ken I’d never leave you behind. No for any reason. As you say, we’ll go on together, but you must be prepared for whatever is to come. Just in case.”

“Dinna say that!” she ordered sharply, covering her mouth with her hand when Jamie’s body jerked in response to her words.

Robbie picked up a stick and began scratching in the dirt next to his leg. “I’m drawing you a map. You’ll need to memorize it exactly for when I canna direct you there.”

“Dinna you even think of such things.” Surely he wasn’t giving up. She wouldn’t let him. “We will make it there together. All of us. We’ll find help. We’ll make it to a village and find a healer.”

Robbie leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes, as if holding his head up took more effort than he could manage. “I’ve traveled this way recently, remember? We’re too far from any village to count on help. It’s reality we must deal with now. Study the map
I’ve drawn. It’ll be you who must find the way if I’m no able. It’s time to use yer logic, no yer emotions, love.”

“If no a village, then someone traveling on the road. We
will
find help.” They had to. Logic be damned. She didn’t want to hear anything else.

He lifted his hand, stroking the back of his fingers down her cheek before covering her hand with his again. “As much as I want yer words to be true, Isa, as much as I might wish for someone to come along to help us, you need to deal with what is, no what you want things to be. Make yer peace with that now. Our fate will likely be in yer hands before our journey is ended. You must be prepared for that.”

Beside Robbie, Jamie sat up, rubbing his knuckles against his eyes. “Are we almost there?”

“No,” she and Robbie answered simultaneously.

“Are we lost?”

“Of course we’re no lost,” Isa answered quickly, seeing the fear on the child’s face. “We’ve only stopped to allow Bronco a wee rest. We’ll be back on our way soon, dearling, but for now, perhaps you’d best try to sleep a little more.”

Sleep was the only answer she had at the moment. Sleep so he wouldn’t remember how hungry he might be. Or how thirsty. Or how much pain he must be in with his own injuries. Sleep so he wouldn’t ask the questions she couldn’t answer.

“Are they going to travel with us?”

Isa slowly turned her head to look in the direction Jamie pointed. In the distance and closing, two wagons rumbled along. And now that she listened, she could hear the metal rattle that accompanied their passage.

“Tinklers,” she breathed, pushing up to stand. “Thank the saints. Robbie, look, it’s those Tinklers.”

Robert opened his eyes, blinking in disbelief as Isa ran down the road toward the approaching wagons. Though he hardly had the energy to smile, he couldn’t remember a time more deserving of great blustery guffaws of laughter. How like the Fae. Bring him right up to the edge and then dangle the carrot in front of him, even though they all knew the Magic would have its own way in the end.

Still, he felt grateful, in spite of what would likely be. The arrival of the Tinklers offered hope to Isa and to him as well.

Perhaps they would be willing to help them reach MacQuarrie Keep. If he could see Isa and Jamie safely there, he would have accomplished all he’d set out to do.

When he blinked, they had gathered around him, though he felt as if he’d only closed his eyes for a second. William Faas supported his head, holding a cup to his lips.

“Easy, friend,” William murmured.

As if he’d forgotten how to drink, the water trickled from the sides of his mouth and down onto his neck like little rivulets of ice on a burning pavement.

“He’s a fever.” A soft, feminine voice. William’s wife, Editha, and another woman leaned over him, but he wasn’t sure which of them spoke. And then the cool air hit his chest as his shirt was lifted.

A gasp accompanied the gentle touch to his chest.

“I might could slow the progress of yer wound, but I canna heal such as this.” The older woman spoke, her dark eyes capturing his. “It reeks of an old magic, aye? Only a more powerful magic could counter this. Perhaps a born healer could do it, but no a taught one such as meself.”

A born healer.

“Leah.” He spoke the name without thinking. Was the magic that threatened to end his life also showing him a way to survive? Leah possessed the gift of healing. He’d seen the power of her gift when she’d saved Jesse after he’d been shot. With her help, he just might stand a chance of making it through this.

“Who’s Leah?” Isa knelt at his side, her cool, sweet hand brushing the hair from his face.

How could he explain Leah without compromising the safety of his young charge? Only one way.

He’d chosen the young girl’s role himself as a means of guaranteeing her safety in this world, and denying it now could endanger her future. His responsibility to protect Leah was equally as great as his responsibility to protect Isa.

“Leah is my daughter. A born healer. She’s at MacQuarrie Keep.”

Isa’s fingers faltered the moment he uttered the words. “Yer daughter?” she repeated. “You made no mention of a daughter before.”

“It’s a long story.”

“Perhaps you’ll see fit to share it later,” she murmured as she rose to stand, moving out of the way to allow the two men to lift him to his feet and help him into one of the wagons.

Chapter 28
 

A daughter.

The lurch in Isa’s stomach had nothing to do with the wagon’s movement down the rutted path. No more than the heat or the cramped space might have to do with the pain in her heart.

A daughter waiting for Robbie at MacQuarrie Keep implied a wife waiting as well.

How could she ever manage to face that woman, his wife, after what she’d shared with him?

Unless . . .

Perhaps there was no wife. He’d never once spoken of one.

Isa might be willing to delude herself but her conscience had no desire to allow that.

He’s never spoken of a daughter, either
.

And yet clearly he has a daughter.

He had made mention of a family often enough, but she had never stopped to consider that to mean a daughter and a wife. No wonder he had been so insistent that she accompany him to his home. He’d wanted to return to his
family.

His daughter and his
wife.

Isa curled into a ball, turning away from the child sleeping next to her. She buried her face in the woolens Editha had laid out for them to rest on, hoping their fragrant thickness would absorb her tears.

If only she could join Jamie in slumber so she wouldn’t have listen to her own horrible thoughts any longer.