Chapter 20 #3
Ronan nodded back the way they’d come. “They’re only hours behind.”
A murmur spread through the gathered people. Fear. Elodie felt it ripple around them like a spreading poison.
Faye didn’t argue anymore. “I’ll get the injured ready to travel.”
Ronan looked around. “Eamon!”
The young man came jogging over. “Aye?”
“Get everyone on their feet.”
“We’ve only just—”
“Now.”
Eamon turned and began shouting instructions and everyone burst into activity, getting ready to move again.
Ronan turned to Elodie. “I need ye to do something for me. I need ye to lead the column with Faye. She has the map although I doubt we’ll need it from here. Follow this track straight until ye reach the river.”
“Why? Where are you going?” She couldn’t keep the worry from her voice.
“I need to fall back, ride with the rearguard. If any of Murdochs’ people catch up with us I need to make sure they dinna reach the column.”
The lack of inflection in his voice made it sound as though he was discussing the weather rather than risking his life.
“Eamon and the others can handle that,” Elodie said, hearing the desperation in her own voice. “Your people need you up front leading them.”
He smiled softly. “What kind of leader would I be if I let my people risk their lives without doing the same?” He cupped her face with one hand and she found herself leaning into his touch. “And besides,” he added. “I’ll have Bran and Skye with me. What could possibly go wrong?”
She huffed. “Don’t even joke about it. You come back safely, you hear?”
“I will.”
Eamon returned. “We’re ready.”
Ronan nodded. “Gather everyone trained to fight. We’re going to be walking the rearguard.” Eamon nodded and dashed off, shouting at the top of his lungs for the fighters to form up.
Ronan looked at Elodie. “I’ll catch ye up.”
She wanted to tell him not to go. Wanted to beg him to stay beside her. Instead, she simply nodded. “Be careful.”
His thumb brushed across her knuckles. “I always am.”
She almost laughed. No, you’re not. You’re reckless with your own safety when other people’s is at stake.
But he was already turning away, the trained fighters following him to the rear of the column. Elodie swallowed hard then forced herself to walk to the front where Faye was waiting.
“Right,” she called to those gathered behind. “Let’s get moving. We’re nearly there.”
The day became an endless test of endurance. The road climbed. Dropped. Twisted through lonely glens. Children grew tired. People stumbled. Several times they had to stop briefly to tighten wagon wheels or tend blistered feet and each pause felt like an eternity.
Every half hour—or what felt like half an hour—one of the rearguard would appear to keep them updated.
“The Murdochs are still following.”
“They’ve crossed the burn.”
“They’re making up ground.”
Each report tightened the knot in Elodie’s stomach. She tried not to keep looking back but she failed. Each time she was searching for Ronan. Occasionally she caught sight of him far behind the column.
Sarah fell into step beside her. “Ye are worried.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Sarah smiled then reached over and squeezed her hand.
In the late afternoon the land began sloping steadily downhill. Faye suddenly stopped and pointed.
“There.”
Elodie looked where she pointed and her breath caught.
A broad river glittered below them in the late afternoon sunlight.
A stone bridge crossed it and beyond the river Elodie could see that the countryside changed abruptly.
She spotted rolling green fields and gentle hills rather than the scrubby, inhospitable land they’d been trudging through.
Faye smiled for the first time all day. “We’ve made it.”
A cheer began spreading through the column. People pointed. Children laughed. Several started crying with relief.
Elodie turned instinctively, looking for Ronan.
He came jogging forward, people moving out of his path to let him through.
He halted by Elodie and Faye and stood looking down at the bridge across the river.
His face, however, held none of the relief everyone else felt. Instead, he had gone completely still.
A chill swept through Elodie. “What is it?”
He didn’t answer. He was staring across the bridge. She followed his gaze, trying to figure out what he was looking at. Then she saw them. Horsemen. Perhaps forty of them arrayed in perfect order across the far end of the bridge.
Blue and green banners stirred in the breeze and the same colors decorated the men’s plaids and shields. She remembered seeing them embroidered on one of Ronan’s old blankets and she suddenly realized what she was looking at.
The Campbell clan colors.
Ronan’s jaw tightened. His voice was barely more than a whisper. “Bryce.”
Elodie looked again at the waiting riders and noticed a man seated motionless in the center. Even at this distance she could feel authority radiating from him. She knew instinctively that this was Bryce Campbell, the earl of Newborough.
She also knew instinctively that he hadn’t come to welcome his brother home.
He’d come to stop him.