Chapter 11
The next morning dawned bright and crisp.
Sun spilled across the heather, and the air held that softness that promised a fine day ahead.
The horses seemed to feel it too—they snorted and tossed their heads as the caravan pulled onto the road, and the low hum of conversation filled the air.
There had been no sign of danger during the night.
No riders watching from ridges. No ominous quiet in the trees.
Evan almost allowed himself to believe they were safe.
As the company got moving, he automatically gravitated towards the wagon where Ruby sat with Isla.
Isla had recovered remarkably—her face was still pale and her movements cautious-but she had flatly refused to rest in the back of the wagon and insisted on driving it herself.
After a heated argument, her father had given in, and now, from his place towards the front of the train, Duncan kept glancing back at her with the fierce protectiveness of a man who’d nearly lost the most important thing in his world.
“Evan!” Isla called in a teasing voice. “Ye are brooding again. It’s bad for the complexion.”
He shot her a flat look. “My complexion is just fine, thank ye very much.”
Isla grinned. “The sun’s out, the bandits are likely running in the opposite direction, and the road is blessedly dry. Surely ye can spare one smile?”
He glanced at Ruby, caught her watching him. Her eyes were warm, curious, faintly amused. He quirked his lips in something that might pass as a smile if you didn’t get too close.
“There!” Isla declared triumphantly. “The man’s capable of joy after all. Ruby, quick, make a note of the date. This could be historic.”
Ruby laughed—a soft, bright sound that twisted something inside him. “Be nice,” she said to Isla. “He saved your life.”
“Why do ye think I’m in such high spirits today?
It isnae everyday ye get given a second chance at life.
I intend to enjoy it.” Her gaze flicked to Evan with wicked delight.
“Perhaps teasing him will make him reveal some scandalous detail about himself. Come on, Evan, I’m desperate for gossip.
Ruby refuses to share anything interesting. ”
“Nothing scandalous about me,” Evan said smoothly, giving her the cocky grin he’d perfected so well. “Just an honest trader, that’s all.”
Isla leaned forward, smirking. “An ‘honest’ trader? That’s the most suspicious thing ye’ve said all morning.”
Ruby laughed. Evan rolled his eyes skyward, but his lips twitched despite himself.
He opened his mouth to retort, but something at the roadside suddenly caught his eye and he froze.
It was a stunted, wind-blown tree. Nothing special about that, except that this tree had something carved into its trunk. Two slashes. One circle.
Evan’s blood turned to ice. His heart kicked hard against his ribs, and, letting Ruby and Isla’s wagon move past him, he drifted closer to the tree. The shapes were unmistakable. Evan had seen these symbols before, many times.
They were thieves’ marks. A message for anyone who knew how to read it. A handful of criminal groups in Scotland used them.
Seoras MacInnes was one of them.
Up ahead, Ruby leaned over the wagon’s edge and called back. “Evan? Everything all right?”
“Aye,” he ground out. “Fine.”
Isla kept talking—a tale from a previous caravan trip, involving a priest and a barrel of cider—but Evan barely heard the words. His gaze swept the tree line, searching for movement. He saw nothing, but that didn’t reassure him.
Ruby’s eyes followed him, and, as he caught up with the wagon, she jumped down lightly and walked along beside him.
“I know that look,” she said. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he answered quickly. Too quickly.
MacInnes’ mark on that tree was fresh, and he knew instinctively what it meant. It was a warning. They’d been tracking him. And now they’d found him.
Ruby watched him for a long moment, but didn’t press. They walked together in silence, but Evan’s stomach churned.
He’d promised to see Ruby safely to Edinburgh. But what if he couldn’t keep that promise?
THE SUN WAS BEGINNING to dip in the late afternoon when Ruby found herself dozing on her seat next to Isla. It was only when the wagon jolted over a rock that she was startled awake. She looked around quickly and realized that Evan had gone again. Scouting.
It had been like this all day as the wagon rocked over rough tracks and uneven ground.
All day, ever since he’d reacted strangely to that tree this morning, he’d come and gone without warning.
In the brief moments when he returned, she noticed the tension etched into his face slowly growing, his jaw clenching as if he was holding back something he didn’t want her to know.
She shifted uncomfortably, her backside aching from the hard wagon seat.
She didn’t like Evan’s long absences, and despite his protestation to the contrary, she knew something was bothering him.
Was it what he’d told her about his family?
It wasn’t much, but she guessed admitting he had an estranged family in Edinburgh was a big thing for him.
He’d still not returned as evening came, casting long shadows over the moor, and the caravan finally stopped for the night. Cooking fires were lit and the wagons arranged in a loose circle for protection.
Ruby looked around. “Where is he?” she muttered to herself.
The guards were busy checking positions and their gear. Isla was tending to the horse. The only sound was the crackle of the fire and the distant calls of birds. Ruby slumped down next to the fire, leaning back against a wagon wheel. It had been a long, exhausting day, and her eyelids felt heavy.
She hadn’t realized she’d begun to doze until the first sounds snapped her into sudden wakefulness—a sharp, metallic clatter of steel against steel and shouts of alarm.
Her eyes flew open, and she scrambled up on unsteady legs, fumbling for the knife Evan had given her. Dark had fallen, and she could hear the guards rushing about, barking orders, and the muffled cries of horses startled by the commotion.
What was going on?
A sudden shadow loomed. Strong arms caught her and yanked her backward. She yelped and struggled until Evan’s voice hissed sharply in her ear. “Keep quiet. Move!”
He yanked her hand, dragging her into the dark undergrowth beyond the reach of the firelight.
“What’s happening?” she demanded.
“What’s it sound like?” he snapped. “We are under attack.”
“What? Then we have to go and help!”
“No. Ye’ll be caught, and so will I. Keep yer head down and out of sight.”
Ruby shook her head. She couldn’t just hide while her friends were in danger. “We have to help them, Evan. The guards, Isla...they need us—”
“No,” Evan cut in. “We move, we survive. Nothing else matters.”
Ruby glared at him. “Is that really what you think? Well, fine. You stay here if you want. I’m going to help them.”
He grabbed her arm. “I swore to see ye safely to Edinburgh. We owe nothing to Duncan and his people. They can fend for themselves.”
“They took us in! They gave us shelter!”
“Because ye paid them to! Dinna mistake that for kindness, woman. If we hadnae paid, they would have left us by the side of the road to rot!”
Ruby snapped her mouth shut. Was that how he saw the world? That everyone was out for themselves and nobody could be trusted? Well, it wasn’t the world Ruby chose to see.
Before he could stop her, she jerked her arm from his grasp and darted from their hiding place. She heard his hiss of frustration behind her but didn’t stop. She tightened her grip on her knife and kept moving.
She could see the firelight through the straggly brush and hear the clash of weapons getting closer.
What are you doing? A voice screamed in the back of her head. Run! You’re no hero!
Evan’s hand suddenly clamped around her wrist, and he swung her around to face him. “I willnae let ye go blundering in there and get yerself killed!”
“Then come with me!”
He ground his teeth, and in the darkness she could see his eyes flashing with anger. “Ye are a bloody stubborn woman, ye know that?” Then he shook his head in resignation. “Fine. But stay close to me and run when I say run.”
Ruby nodded. They moved carefully, darting between bushes and low shrubs, until they were close enough to see Isla and a few of the guards struggling with a wagon that had tipped in the chaos.
All sense of caution evaporated, and Ruby burst out of cover and began running towards her friend. Evan hissed a curse and followed.
They’d only gone several paces when a group of armed men emerged from the darkness and ran towards them. Evan growled low in his throat and drew twin fighting knives.
“Get behind me,” he told her.
The group spread out in a semicircle around her and Evan.
Ruby’s heart leapt into her throat as she counted six men.
They were far better dressed and equipped than the bandits who’d accosted them a few days ago.
From the way they moved and carried their weapons, she guessed they were trained warriors. Her pulse was suddenly hammering.
“Ah, Campbell!” called their leader, a tall man with a sleek blond plait hanging down his back. “There ye are! Ye’ve led us a merry chase. The fun is over now, though. Come along quietly, and no one else needs to get hurt.”
Ruby blinked, her grip on her knife slick with sweat. These men were looking for Evan?
“Back off,” Evan growled. “Or ye’ll regret it.”
The blond man shook his head as though saddened by Evan’s response. “That’s not very civil, is it? After we’ve come all this way to see ye as well.”
Ruby’s breath rasped in her throat as the six men tightened their semicircle. Steel glinted in the firelight. Her pulse pounded in her ears like a drum.
“Give it up, Campbell,” the blond man said. “Ye know there’s no way to escape. MacInnes can reach ye anywhere. Ye’ve made one enemy too many. Not even that noble blood of yers will save ye now.”