Chapter 1
“We’ll nae leave ye.”
Madison’s heart fluttered as she clasped Piper’s trembling hands. She knew all too well it wasn’t the cold that had her quaking like the last leaf in autumn.
“Ye must. It’ll be suicide if ye stay,” Madison answered as she tried not to let the pain rolling up the left side of her body dull her tone. She turned her attention to the two huddled in the corner of the wagon. Their eyes were as wide as the full moon and just as ominous.
“I will kill Lewis for what he’s done to ye,” Piper vowed.
The conviction in her tone was like a bell ringing through Madison.
As much as she wanted to answer the calling of hope and dive into the realm of that security, she couldn’t.
Madison knew all too well what fate was in store for her.
But the others, Gabriella, Piper, and Flora, they had a chance.
“Ye have to escape first,” Madison said, her tone clipped but honest. There was no denying the truth and they all knew it. It settled on them like a wet blanket.
“Tell me what ye did last time,” Piper implored. “And when I’m free, I’ll come with me brothers and we’ll see ye’re freed.”
Madison pursed her lips into a tight line.
She’d heard that vow before. In fact, it was one she’d made herself.
If only she knew then there was no escaping the cycle of terror and torture.
But seeing the hope flickering like a candle in the darkest night within Piper’s eyes, Madison couldn’t bring herself to tell Piper there was no chance of escaping.
“Is there any way we can make it out of this?” Flora asked as she peered through the sliver of burlap that was tossed over the top of their cage. “Some place we can hide?”
“There should be a stream,” Madison whispered, hoping her voice didn’t carry beyond the four of them. “To the south. If you can find it, follow it up stream. There, ye’ll find a nook in the rocks. Ye might be safe there. But ye’ll have to lose the hounds.”
“What is the point?” Flora whimpered as she curled into Gabriella for support. “We’re nothin’ to them but animals. We willnae survive this.”
Madison released Piper’s hands and turned for Flora.
“I ken that the world is cruel. Believe me, I ken it better than most. But ye cannae give up. Ye cannae let the world win. Do ye remember what the good book says? We’re told nae to worry.
It’s in there three hundred and sixty-five times. Do ye think that’s a coincidence?”
Flora shook her head as she wiped away the stream of tears flowing down her cheeks. The pain on her face made Madison wish that Lewis would be satisfied with her suffering and maybe he’d let the others go. But the time for negotiations had passed.
“Nay, but ye cannae think for one moment that we can leave ye in the state yer in,” Flora said glancing to Madison’s injured leg. “If ye’re taken, then we will all be taken.”
“Please daenae give up yer freedom for me. Ye cannae put such a burden on me shoulders. When this wagon stops and the cage is open, ye are all to run. I daenae ken how much time ye’ll have.
But ye must try. We all heard the rules.
If ye can make it till dawn, ye can win yer freedom. Stay hidden, stay silent. Understand?”
Madison glanced at the girls before her, studying each of them. They all shared the same terrified expressions. As if the unknown would be far worse than what they had already endured. Madison let out a heavy sigh as she fought back the tears that wanted to come pouring out of her.
“Swear to me, swear ye’ll run,” Madison implored as the wagon came to a stop.
Her heart dropped to her stomach and every nerve in her body tingled.
The thud of the driver landing hard on the ground might as well have been a bag of rocks tossed on her shoulders.
Madison’s body tightened as if it were ready to spring like a snake from its resting place.
The girls turned for the door of the cage as the sound of keys rattling and clanging against metal caused Madison’s ears to perk.
A rusty orange sky greeted Madison as she climbed from the wagon.
It reminded her of the color of her mother’s hair as she hung the laundry in the yard all those years ago.
While Madison couldn’t quite remember all the details of her mother’s face, she couldn’t help but be transported to a different time and place.
“Ah.”
The rough clamor pulled Madison from her thoughts. She glanced about finding Piper, Flora, and Gabriella still standing before her as they watched the wagon drive off without them.
“What are ye doin’? Ye must go before the horn is called. Ye only have till the driver gets back to the keep,” Madison said as she hobbled to the boulder on the side of the trail.
“We will nae forget all ye done for us,” Gabriella said as she grabbed Flora’s hand. Madison’s heart ached to think this might be the last time she was goin' to see them.
“Daenae thank me yet,” she answered as she pulled them into her embrace. “Now go.”
It took every ounce of her strength to watch her companions flee from her. But it wasn’t like she could have their blood on her hands. She brushed away the rogue tear from her cheek and glanced at Piper.
“Ye need to go.”
“Will I see ye again?”
“Only God kens the future,” Madison answered as she hugged Piper tighter. Although their friendship had blossomed through adversity, Madison could only pray her friend would escape this madness. “Now go. Ye have an oath to keep.”
Madison pulled away and flashed Piper a weak smile. It was the only thing Madison had left to give. Piper nodded and turned on her heels just as the horn blasted through the grove and darted toward the south.
Madison’s chest tightened as she stood alone.
Her leg wouldn’t allow her to run. Even walking was a chore.
Glancing around, Madison’s choices were limited.
She could stay and greet her fate with complacency.
She shook her head as she strained to hear for any signs of the hounds.
No, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
If she was going to be caught, she was going to make it as difficult for them as she could.
She hobbled to the trees, using the trunk to stand upright.
There were no nooks or hollowed spots for her to hide in.
Nor could she find any caves, or rooted spots to help mask her.
Tossing her head back, she ran her fingers through her hair as defeat hung like a dark cloud.
Then it hit her as she caught sight of the nest over her head.
She didn’t have to go under or in when she could simply go up. A smile played at the corners of her mouth as she reached for the top branch. Despite how frail and weak she was, Madison’s determination and will to live was greater. She pulled up to the first branch and rested her legs over it.
“Oh my,” she whispered as a slight relief washed over her.
The heated pain that coursed through her left side had ceased to be the moment she sat.
But as she looked to the ground, it donned on her she wasn’t high enough.
Not only would the hounds bite her feet right off, anyone hunting her could easily pull her from the spot. No. She would have to go higher.
Mustering all her strength, Madison reached for the next branch. Using more of her upper body, she climbed higher still as a low howl rippled through the grove causing Madison to freeze. The hounds were still far off, but Madison’s curiosity was peeked.
She craned her neck and spied through the branches.
Her heart fluttered as she spotted Gabriella’s bright red cloak flapping like a banner readying the troops for war.
Madison squinted as she tried to find Flora, but there was no sign of the girl.
Unspeakable thoughts played leaps and squats through Madison’s mind.
Images that were so vile, she shuddered.
Take off yer cloak and turn to the west. Ye daenae want to go that way.
Madison whimpered as she caught sight of three lairds waiting at the mouth of the ravine as if knowing at least one the girls would go there. And as much as Madison wanted to call for Gabriella to turn, it would be futile. She was too far away, and it would only give her position away.
A scream pierced the stillness. Fear gripped Madison’s heart like an eagle snatching its prey out of a lake.
In a jolt of panic, Madison shot for the higher branch.
The snap in her ear might as well have been a gunshot.
Her panic shifted to terror as she clasped for the branch only to grasp the air.
The ground came up fast and slammed the air from her lungs.
Stars exploded through her vision as her thoughts scattered.
The pain in her leg was nothing compared to the agony in her chest—like inhaling shards of glass.
She jolted up, coughing and gasping. Then she dropped to the dust once more, still reeling.
“What in the...?” a strong baritone voice rumbled through the ringing in Madison’s ears. “Clever lass.”
Madison blinked until the world and everything in it came back into view.
But it wasn’t Lewis’s face staring back at her, but a stranger’s, whose direct gaze held her prisoner.
The raven-haired man with icy blue eyes towered over her.
Madison’s body screamed for her to flee, to kick and fight off the fiend before her.
After all, he had to be one of the lairds who had paid Lewis for this experience.
It was the shift of light that pulled her out of her stupor.
In a frantic rush of self-preservation, Madison hunted and shifted through the dirt at her fingertips.
She needed a weapon, something to ward off the stranger.
The moment her fingers curled around the hard object, she wielded it as if it were a part of her being since birth.
The branch crumbled as if it were made of ash against the stranger’s arm. He scowled as he mumbled curses under his breath.
“Take it easy there lass, I mean ye nay harm,” he said as he recoiled from her as if she had any chance at damaging him.
He was the size of a bear and just as muscular.
Her heart fluttered as she stared at him in anticipation.
His gaze bore into her and despite the fear coursing through her veins, the stranger was by far the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on.
“If that’s so, then ye’ll leave me be,” Madison spat as she clung to the remnants of the branch she’d bashed against him.
His eyes narrowed as he rubbed his arm. “Now see, that, I cannae do.”