Chapter Nineteen #4
The little girl realized that it was Thomas, the man she had been looking for. She was so cold that her lips were blue and, somewhere, she’d either lost her shoes or never had them on because her feet were filthy, bloody, and cold. She let go of the railing on the bridge and came towards Thomas.
“Tibelda is sleepin’,” she said, sounding frightened. “She told me tae tell ye that bad men came and took them away.”
Thomas was trying to make sense out of it. “Bad men?” he repeated. “Who was taken away?”
The little girl was pale with exhaustion and fear from her night on the road, but she knew that Thomas was safety, as was Desmond, whom she also recognized. She went straight to Thomas and put her little arms around his neck.
“Everybody,” she said. “The men came and they were screamin’. They took everyone away.”
Thomas was seized with dread. “Everyone at Edenside was taken away?” he clarified, realizing that he was starting to tremble. “Men came and took them away.”
The little girl nodded as she tried to climb on Thomas.
As he put his arms around her and picked her up, something fell out of her hand and onto the dirt of the bridge.
Thomas found himself looking at the wolf’s head dagger he’d lost at Coldstream when battling the reivers, something he thought was forever lost.
Until now.
Horror such as he’d never known swept him. Bending over, he picked up the dagger.
“Oh, God,” he breathed, looking at it in shock. He held it up to the child. “Sweetheart, where did you get this? Did… did someone give this to you?”
Dyana was finally safe, so her manner had eased considerably. She petted the top of the wolf’s head as if it were a living animal. “Pretty,” she said, pointing at the bejeweled eyes. “See? Pretty.”
Thomas was trying very hard to keep his composure in the face of a weary, frightened child, but Desmond wasn’t so calm. He put his hands on the little girl, trying to force her to look at him.
“Where did you get the dagger, lass?” he demanded. “And where is Lady Bowlin? Where is my sister?”
The little girl looked at him with her big, blue eyes. “The bad men took her,” she said. “Tibelda is sleepin’.”
Desmond and Thomas looked at each other over the top of Dyana’s blonde little head. The child wasn’t making much sense, but what she was saying was wholeheartedly alarming.
“I must go to Edenside,” Desmond muttered, his voice trembling. “I must see for myself what has happened.”
Thomas was struggling desperately not to panic alongside Desmond.
He was overwhelmingly worried for his father, and now his fear for Maitland was exploding.
What in the hell had happened at Edenside after he’d left?
He’d only just left there and he’d inspected the entire place for threats. There hadn’t been any sign of hazard.
Not one…
Was this his fault? Had he missed something?
Clearly, something had occurred. He could only imagine that there was some level of truth to what the little girl was saying because Maitland would have never let the child out of her sight if she could help it.
Thomas felt as if he were being pulled in all different directions and trying so very hard to keep his wits about him.
It was a nightmare.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to evaluate his priorities – his father was crucial, but so was whatever happened at Edenside.
He had a frightened little girl that told him something very bad had happened.
He wanted so badly to go with Desmond to Edenside but, in the same breath, he knew he had to go to his father first. The man was badly injured, perhaps even dying, and Thomas would never forgive himself for not being there when his father needed him.
It was a horrible choice to have to make, but he made the only one he could – he had to go to Northwood.
He prayed that Maitland would understand, wherever she was and whatever had happened.
I’m so sorry, Mae.
It was a choice that broke his heart.
“Go,” he barked at Desmond. “Take some men with you and go. Find out what has happened and then send someone to Northwood to inform me of your findings. I will take the child with me.”
Desmond was already running for his horse, shouting at the soldiers and taking at least six with him.
Thomas handed Dyana up to Markus, who took the child until Thomas could mount his horse.
Then, he handed the little girl back to Thomas, who then tore off down the road, heading for Northwood, as Desmond took off in the opposite direction for Edenside.
Even though Thomas wasn’t heading for Edenside, his focus was with Desmond, wondering what in the hell had happened at Edenside that a tiny little girl had wandered miles away trying to find help.
The more he thought about it, the more his heart sank because he knew, over and over again, that Maitland would have never let Dyana wander away from Edenside had she been able to help it.
Unless the child simply slipped out and wandered off when everyone was sleeping…
but no. He stopped himself from thinking that because he knew it wasn’t true.
Something very bad had happened.
Something very bad, indeed.