Chapter 10
“Idinnae like leaving like this,” Connor growled, not for the first time that evening. “Creighton will worry with his son away, and I am here to support him.”
“Just to support him?” Moira asked with a wry smile. Her husband had been fuming since dinner last night. He’d tossed and turned all night, and she knew, not because it kept waking her up, but because her own worries had kept her up.
With a sigh, Connor gave Moira a sidelong look.
It had been his idea, when he first saw Liam and Jean playing together all those years ago, to wed them.
Other clans betrothed their children, but they had married for love.
So had Creighton and Kylie. They had hoped, over time, that Jean and Liam would fall in love as well.
Unfortunately, circumstances made it difficult to get their children together all that often.
The more years that passed, the more issues that arose between the clans.
Some of the lowland clans, pushed out of their territory, had trekked to the Highlands to find homes.
They’d settled in the wilds, and now that they’d put down roots, they were looking to expand.
Over the years, a few of those clans, and some established Highland clans, had started testing those boundaries, especially as a new generation started to take over. Connor and Creighton had both found themselves traveling more and more for the alliance and less for leisure.
This trip was ideal. Jean and Liam were both at the age where they were supposed to be thinking of marriage, although Moira knew her daughter would never marry for anything less than love, and it would take her by surprise.
Liam was a different story, though. Everything he did was for his clan, and if he had to marry for his clan, he would do it.
Kylie feared that her son would never consider love but asked Jean to strengthen the alliance.
Jean would turn him down. She still had dreams of being a warrior. She just didn’t know that she could be both yet.
“This trip hasnae turned out like I had hoped. The children have spent most of their time together. How can they not see that they are perfect for each other?” Connor sighed as he sank into the bed. “Perhaps we are not as good at matchmaking as we thought we were.”
“Liam has been distracted. Ye remember what Creighton said happened to that poor girl.”
“Aye, but a wolf? ‘Tis not possible, and ‘twould not be the first time a feral dog had spurned rumors of a monster living in the woods.”
“Maybe he is wrong, or maybe he is right, but either way, he is preoccupied. Questioning himself. Still, I see the way he smiles around Jean. No one else is able to do that for him,” Moira reminded him gently.
“When this business with Clan Gibson is finished, we will return. By then, they will see that they are perfect for each other.”
Connor just grunted and turned to his wife. Even after all these years, her heart still fluttered when he gave her that look. “It took me a long time to realize ye were meant for me as well.”
“Aye, it did. Too long. Hopefully Liam will come to his senses before then,” she teased.
Her husband pulled her into his lap and kissed her passionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.
“We are supposed to be packing,” he reminded her.
“That was just an excuse on my part. I simply wanted to get ye alone.” She smiled. “Jean is…” Her voice trailed off, and she frowned.
“What is it?”
“Jean is supposed to be packing as well.”
“Then that means she isnae here,” he said mischievously before he stopped as well and frowned. She knew that they were thinking the same thing.
“Liam left hours ago,” he muttered. “And Jean is quiet. Too quiet.”
Far too quiet, and it was not because she was packing. Reluctantly, Moira rose from her husband’s lap. “She is probably training with the guards.”
At first, when they arrived, the guards were constantly coming to them to let them know that Jean was interfering with training. That had lessened over time, but still, someone came to them to let them know.
No one had stopped by today, though, so either the guards had decided that they could allow Jean to train with them by now, or Jean was not with them.
“She could’ve gone for a walk by herself,” Connor said slowly. “That does happen.”
“It does,” she agreed, but they moved quickly to the door. By the time they’d reached the end of the corridor, they’d broken into a jog. Jean’s room was not far from theirs, but it still felt like it took forever to reach it.
“She won’t be in there,” Moira said even as she knocked on the door. “I’m sure she’s out.”
Her knock was met with silence, and she opened the door. As she suspected, the room was empty. A horrible sense of foreboding came over her. “Connor,” she whispered. “Check the armory. Check the training fields. Check everywhere!”
“I dinnae think we will have to.” His voice was grim as he walked over to the table and picked up a piece of paper.
Notebooks were expensive, but Jean loved to track her training progress on them, so Connor always supplied her with one.
Under normal circumstances, Jean would never rip a piece of paper out and use it.
As Connor’s eyes swept over it, they filled with fear, and he looked up. “She went after Liam. She suspects she can do more to help the villagers. In her own words, ‘they need more than warriors. I know ye may find this strange for me to say, but I can help them.’”
“We have to go after her!” As talented as Jean was, she would be a woman traveling alone. A single bandit, she could take on. Maybe even two if she took them by surprise, but most bandits didn’t travel alone or in pairs. They swarmed in groups. Jean would not stand a chance.
Connor glanced out the window. “Night is falling. She is halfway to the river. By the time we catch up to her, she will be at the village.”
“So what do we do?”
A few minutes later, they were in one of Creighton’s private meeting quarters. “Have ye taught her how to shadow someone?” He asked.
Connor nodded. “Aye, and she is quite good.”
“She knows it is dangerous to be alone at night,” Moira said. Her mind was trying to work through the fear. “She will wait to join Liam’s group ‘til ‘tis too late to escort her back. She willnae spend the night alone.”
Creighton narrowed his eyes. “Are ye certain? She is an independent and willful lass.”
“She will.” Moira was certain of it. She’d taught her daughter well, taught her to value her safety as well as protect herself. “And if she runs into trouble, she will be close enough to Liam for him to hear it.”
The knot of anxiety loosened in her chest. The more she thought it through, the more she knew Jean was safe. She’d take precautions. “I should look through her things. I suspect she is traveling in a disguise as well.”
“Verra well. I have a man I can send for her to escort her back. Alistair. He is one of my best.”
“Alistair? I dinnae recall meeting him.”
“Aye. He tends to work alone. He spends most of his time gathering information for me.”
“Spying,” Moira said dryly. “No need to mince yer words around us, Creighton.”
Creighton grinned. “Aye, but never on my allies. He arrived two days ago, but he has an injury. It may take a day or two before he can ride.”
A day or two? Moira looked at Connor with worry, and he nodded his head. “Liam will take care of her until then.”
“Connor, her reputation?—“
“Is already ruined. Another day or two willnae matter, and Liam will vouch for her safety. He will vouch for her reputation as well.” Connor looked sharply at Creighton. “Aye?”
“Aye.”
“Then see to yer man, and let us hope that if the fae yer people talk about are still up to their old tricks, they will protect our little warrior.”
Jean’s heart beat erratically in her chest. On foot, she was well-practiced at shadowing someone, but on horseback and through terrain she wasn’t familiar with it proved much harder.
Liam and his men rode at a quick trot. They pushed their horses but took frequent breaks. Because they kept to the road, their ride was smoother which made it difficult for her to keep up, especially quietly, but she knew where they would be.
She was deep enough in the forest to be discreet but close enough so if she ran into trouble, she could make it to the road. Her mare wasn’t nearly as quiet as Jean would be on foot, but there were plenty of worn paths to help quiet her trot.
Of course, those paths were worn by people, like her, who didn’t want to be seen. There was every chance she would run into trouble.
The sun was setting, and she knew the dangers of traveling alone at night. At some point, she’d have to set up camp near them, and they would see the fire. It would be easier to make her presence known before then and join their camp.
A trickle of movement caught her eye, and she slowed down. It was difficult to see in the setting sun, but it looked almost like water moving toward her. It was not water, though, she realized under closer inspection, but mud.
It had rained recently, so she would expect the area to be muddy. Moving mud was a different story, however. The only time she’d ever seen that was a mud slide.
Cautiously, she moved her horse closer to the road, and closer still, and then up on the road. It was a little higher up, so she could still see the muddied creek slowly moving.
Sharply, she glanced up the road. She could see just Liam and his men traveling ahead of her. It was a strong possibility that the cascade of mud had begun deep in the river and was moving closer to the road, but the land seemed too flat for that.
Which meant that it may very well have begun on the road.
“No,” she whispered and kicked her horse into gear. “Stop. Liam, stop! Stop!”
At a full gallop, she raced. Her voice carried in the wind, and the last guard shouted, stopped, and whirled around, his sword in his hand. One by one, the other guards stopped, too. They stared, unsure of what to do. Liam moved into view, urging his horse her way to investigate the commotion.
Then there was a shout, and she watched in horror as the first horse reared up, and the guard fell.
“What in the hell,” Liam roared. “Amos!”
“‘Tis me. Jean,” she said breathlessly as she slowed her horse and threw off her hood.
“What are ye doing here?” Liam sheathed his sword and started to dismount. She was already off her horse. Tossing the reins to one of the guards, she hurried to the fallen man.
“The road moved,” he said in a daze. Blood trickled from his head. “Roads arenae supposed to move.”
“‘Tis a mudslide. Ye are lucky ye saw it in time. This one would have drowned yer horse and possibly ye.”
“What are ye talking about,” Liam knelt down by her. “What are ye even doing here, Jean?”
“Saving yer life, apparently. I’ve been following ye this whole time.
I noticed a slow-moving mud river, like a creek, in the forest. I’ve seen one before.
It’s caused by a colossal mud-pit. I am surprised ye didnae know it was here.
Ye should have seen it last time ye were here. It takes years for nature to make one.”
Liam looked over his shoulder grimly. “It wasnae here before.”
That didn’t make sense, but Jean didn’t worry about that. Gently, she touched the guard’s head. “Normally, I would tell ye not to move, but ye fell on yer side, so I am hoping that yer arm and head are the only parts of yer body injured. Slowly, very slowly, move yer head from side to side.”
“I am fine,” the guard said gruffly and immediately sat up. His movement appeared to be fine. “My head and my arm hurt, but I can ride.”
“Can ye move yer arm?”
The guard glared at her, and she put up her hands. “Verra well, but when we make camp tonight, I will be looking at yer head wound. I have some supplies with me that might help.”
She decided not to add that she had pilfered the supplies from the Armstrong healer.
“Nay, ye willnae, because I am taking ye back to the keep now,” Liam growled as she stood. “What do ye think ye are doing?”
“Providing the kind of help ye didnae think to bring. I am trained as a healer, so I can help anyone who has been injured in the fires. I am a far better tracker than ye, so I can hunt yer feral dog.” She emphasized the last part and gave him a wry look.
He might not believe himself, but she believed him.
If he didn’t think it was a dog, then it wasn’t a dog.
“Nay,” Liam said flatly. “We can manage.”
“Oh, aye. Ye will take me to the river. There is no more travel to be had today anyway, and if ye escort me back yerself, ye will lose an entire two days of travel. Ye cannae send me back with any of the guards alone, and ye know it.”
Liam swore again and glared at her. “Ye shouldnae be here.”
“I saved the lives of yer men just now. At the pace ye were riding, ye would never have been able to stop in time. Say thank ye.”
“Jean—“
“I can and will be safe with ye. There are a dozen men here, many of whom know me.” She gave the Sinclair guards a quick smile, but it was obvious they were mad at her too. “And if ye take me back, I will simply follow ye again. So what is it going to be, Armstrong?”
He stared at her for a full minute, and she feared for a second that he would risk it and take her back. Finally, he sighed. “We will need to find a way around the mud pit and make camp. Ye will do everything I say without question, do ye understand me?”
“Aye.”
She smiled as she straightened, but he didn’t return it.