Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Lachann was on his way down to the pier when he heard the commotion. When he saw Birk Ramsay take a swing at Anna, he drew his pistol from his belt. “Anna! Move away!”
But like a vicious animal with the taste of blood on his chops, Birk roared and went for Kyla with his knife.
“Ramsay! Halt!”
The bastard stopped for half a second to look back at Lachann, at the pistol he held, primed and ready for shooting, but he roared Kyla’s name and raised the knife.
Lachann pulled the trigger.
The explosion was deafening, and the sharp smell of gunpowder dispersed in the air. Birk fell and did not move again. Kyla lay under him, reaching for her bairn.
As Anna screamed for Kyla, Lachann rushed to Anna and saw that she was unhurt. He wanted naught but to pull her into his arms, but he pushed Birk off Kyla and helped Anna’s friend to her feet. “Are you all right?”
Kyla was pale and shaken, and did not answer him. She was hurt, her face fresh with bruises and a few small cuts. And Lachann did not regret at all what he’d had to do.
It had all happened so fast that men from the Glencoe Lass, as well as those from the Norse ship, were still climbing down to the pier to see what was amiss.
Anna seemed not to notice the crowd that had gathered ’round them. She picked up Kyla’s bairn and put her arm ’round her friend. “ ’Twas Catrìona that did this, Lachann,” she said, brushing away her tears. “She got out of the chapel and somehow ...”
Lachann turned to the men who’d followed him down from the granary. “Start searching. Find Catrìona and bring her to me! Someone go up to the chapel and see what happened to the guard I posted.”
Roy Ramsay pushed through the crowd to Lachann. “Gesu,” he said under his breath, then he went to Kyla. “Lass ... I should have done more to stop Birk. Can ye forgive me?”
Anna and Lachann took Kyla home and put her to bed. Janet came in to tend to the cuts on her face, then gave her something to help her sleep. When Kyla was settled into her bed, Anna came out of the small bedroom and spoke to Janet and Lachann. “She is with child.”
Janet nodded. “I know. But she is far better off without a husband than with the one she had.”
Anna silently agreed. But she felt shaken by all that had happened, and more than a bit worried about Ky. Her friend had said naught since the shooting on the pier. She just lay shaking in her bed.
Janet put her hand on Anna’s shoulder. “I heard what Catrìona said outside Meg MacDonall’s cottage, lass.”
Anna looked up at Lachann and wiped her tears. “ ’Twas Catrìona who put Birk up to this last beating. She intended for him to kill Kyla ... t-to hurt me.”
“Well, she nearly succeeded,” Janet said. “If not for yer sharp shot, Laird ...”
“We’ll find her, Anna,” Lachann said. “I won’t allow her to hurt anyone else.” He was pacing restlessly, waiting for word that his men had found the witch and had confined her. But it was Roy Ramsay who turned up.
Birk’s father stepped inside. “I’ll sit with Kyla, if ye do’na mind.”
Anna nodded and handed Douglas to him. She knew Lachann was anxious to join his men in the search for Catrìona. Anna felt the same.
“Bar the door,” Lachann said as he and Anna went to leave. “Catrìona will be a threat to Kyla’s well-being until she is confined on my ship and far out to sea.”
They met Duncan and another of Lachann’s men on their way down to the pier. “We’ve seen no sign of Catrìona, Lachann. She’s vanished.”
“No,” Anna said. “I know where she might be.”
They started down the beach, but Lachann stopped while his men walked ahead. “I don’t want you anywhere near Catrìona,” he said. Thinking of the woman who was still at large and capable of doing Anna some harm made his blood run cold.
“I have something to tell her,” Anna said. Lachann had never seen such solid resolve in her expression.
“Tell her later,” he said, “when she’s in chains in the cargo hold of my ship.”
Anna shook her head and started walking. As she took the path to the beach, Lachann reloaded his pistol. He was glad Anna had such confidence in him, but he did not like her taking this risk. Still, he understood her desire for satisfaction. Catrìona had done some terrible things, not the least of which had been her attempt to get Kyla killed.
Gesu,the woman’s blatant callousness chilled him. She was the coldest human being he’d ever encountered.
Except, perhaps, Cullen Macauley.
Lachann had received word that Mungo Ramsay was still locked in the shed up at the castle, but who knew whether Catrìona had other allies on the island. One of her men, perhaps.
He and the others went with Anna down the beach, farther than Lachann had yet explored. The terrain was rocky and rough, and only passable on foot.
“Do you see the castle wall just there?” Anna pointed to the high wall above the caves on the left.
“Aye. And the gate ... behind the chapel?”
“Look closely, and you can see a way to climb up. Or down.”
Lachann noticed the ledges that formed a natural staircase up and over the caves in the wall. “Catrìona got out that way?”
Anna nodded. “ ’Tis the only way out of the castle besides the main gate.”
“ ’Twould have been good to know this sooner.”
“I’m sorry, Lachann. I should have thought to tell you. This is where Cullen pushed Glenna down.”
Lachann took Anna’s hand and kissed it. “You can show me the entire island ... after we get Catrìona away.”
They walked in silence, in hopes of taking Catrìona by surprise. They followed the curve of the beach, and Anna stopped them suddenly, just before the land took a sharp turn to a deep inlet. She whispered to Lachann, “This is one of her places. There is a cave just past that thicket.”
“Wait here, Anna. Wait until I can make sure she is no threat to you.”
She gave a reluctant nod, and Lachann gave her a quick kiss. He motioned for his men to spread out as they approached the cave. As they moved closer, they heard voices from within, both male and female. It sounded like an argument.
“I will’na kill for ye, Catrìona,” the man said, his voice raised in frustration.
“Then what good are you to me, Eòsaph Drummond?” ’Twas Catrìona, her voice shrill.
Lachann did not wait but signaled for his men to storm the cave. He held his pistol in his hand, and when the three of them stood blocking the entrance, the man Catrìona had called Eòsaph tried to make a run for it.
The sight of Lachann’s pistol stopped him, but Catrìona was not so wise. She ran at Lachann, but Kieran was too quick for her. He knocked her feet out from under her, grabbed her, and wrestled her to the ground as she kicked and screamed for Eòsaph to do something.
“Restrain her, Kieran,” Lachann said as Anna came to stand alongside him.
“With pleasure,” Kieran replied.
“Laird ... ,” Eòsaph murmured. “I ...”
“Stand still, Drummond, until I know what part you have in all this.”
“Naught! I’ve done naught! She told me to wait for her here, and that’s all I’ve done.”
Catrìona caught sight of Anna then. She screamed and spit out her fury, but Anna stood quietly, waiting for her stepsister to take a breath.
Then she spoke. “You failed, Catrìona. You tried to make my life a misery, tried to take away all that I love ... but you failed, in every way. I will not miss you when you are gone.”