Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Archie took the first shot from where he’d lain hidden inside the wagon, twenty paces away. He gut-shot one of Kildary’s soldiers.
The rest of the soldiers dropped to the ground, giving Dugan and his men the chance to draw their swords and mount their attack while Archie reloaded.
The odds were in Dugan’s favor, for there were only seven Sassenach soldiers remaining. He took the two on the left, while Lachann and Conall split up the next four. Archie picked off the seventh with deadly accuracy.
Archie always had been the MacMillans’ best shot, and Dugan was thankful he’d ordered the lad into the wagon before Kildary and his party had gotten close enough to take notice of him.
Dugan fought with passion, his sword serving him well, but Archie’s shots served him even better, disrupting every attack the Sassenach soldiers attempted. While the redcoats ducked and looked for cover every time a shot was fired, Dugan and his men were confident Archie’s shots would not go astray.
Dugan took one shallow slash to his upper arm, but ’twas hardly more than a scratch, and gave him the necessary sting of anger to finish off his two Sassenach soldiers and join forces with Conall and Lachann to lay waste to their opponents.
When it was done, he already had a plan in mind.
“We’re going after Maura,” he said. “Lachann, are you with me?”
Lachann looked his brother dead in the eye, and Dugan hoped he finally saw that Maura was more than just a bit of entertainment for him. “Aye. We’ll get her back.”
“Let’s go, then!”
They flew onto their horses and tore off in the direction Kildary and his men had gone, catching sight of them through the trees, but staying far enough behind to keep out of sight. As darkness fell, it was more difficult to follow, but Kildary’s company eventually stopped to make camp. ’Twas clear they believed they had naught to worry about.
The soldiers stopped in a rocky, wooded terrain and pulled Maura off the horse, none too gently. Kildary ordered her hands to be kept tied behind her, and one of the soldiers sat her down in the damp grass while they set up camp.
Maura felt numb, except for her shoulders, and they screamed in agony from being held so far from their natural position. Worse, the sound of those gunshots at Loch Aveboyne still rang in her ears and her heart ached with the knowledge that Kildary’s men had killed Dugan. Tears of pain and despair ran down her face.
If only she’d given Dugan the clues earlier, everything might have been different. They might have made it to Loch Aveboyne sooner if he’d known where he needed to go.
Now he’d been killed, and on the orders of the man who was to be her husband.
Maura swallowed her tears and hardened her heart. She would never wed Baron Kildary. Because the first chance she got, she was going to shove a dagger into his cold, black heart.
The man was just as horrible as she’d expected, and certainly no better than her own kin who had carried out the slaughter of Dugan’s innocent clan at Glencoe.
Maura took stock of her surroundings and tried to think of a plan in case she managed to free herself. She counted less than a dozen men at the camp site, and Lieutenant Baird was one of them. He looked at her with such malice her skin ought to have melted with just a glance.
Beneath his malice was something else, a menacing wildness Maura had seen only hints of before. His dark eyes seemed like dull, black pits of blame, and as he stared at her, he swatted at his ear as though swiping at a fly, while muttering some kind of nonsense to himself.
She realized he was mad. A sickening chill ran through her, and Maura had a clear sensation that he was going to try to kill her. It brought a new urgency to her need to escape, but she did not know how. If only her hands were not secured behind her!
She felt the rocky ground for something to use as a weapon—or something sharp to cut away at the bindings ’round her wrists. Baird growled incoherently at her and stomped away, and Maura felt she could breathe, if only for a moment.
And then her hands alit on a sharp-edged rock. She put it to use immediately, frantically sawing at the ropes that bound her wrists.
As she worked to free herself, she kept her eye on Baird, who stopped in the midst of the other soldiers who were at work making a fire, taking out provisions, and laying down bedrolls. The lieutenant stood there as though unsure of what he was about. Then he reached into one of the packs—
Maura could not see what he took out before her attention was deflected by Baron Kildary, who came to stand before her. Maura averted her eyes from the despicable old man. “Stop your sniveling, you willful quine.”
“I would wipe my face if my hands were free,” she snapped.
He slapped her, knocking her over. Maura tasted blood.
“Have you any idea how much trouble you put me to?”
Maura clamped her jaws together. There wasn’t a retort in the world that mattered, now that Dugan was dead. Now that there was no possibility to get to Loch Camerochlan and rescue Rosie.
For once she killed the baron, she had no hope of survival. Either his soldiers would kill her or they would take her to Cromarty to be tried and hanged.
“Ach, I’m of a mind to send you back to your father.”
Maura licked the blood from her lip as she watched Kildary stalk away from her. He came up against Lieutenant Baird, who stood in his path and did not move aside for him. Maura saw that he held a pistol in one hand.
“Get out of my way, you useless dolt!” Kildary snarled. “This is your fault!”
Baird raised the pistol and aimed it at Kildary’s chest.
“Idiot! Put that down!”
The captain of Kildary’s company suddenly took note of Baird’s threat and drew his sword. He lunged at Baird and ran him through with his blade, but he was too late. The gun went off with a deafening blast.
Kildary staggered and fell to the ground, with Lieutenant Baird on top of him.
Dugan reached the encampment just as Kildary knocked Maura down. He lurched ahead, ready to rush the bastard when Conall held him back, pointing to Baird, who stood behind Kildary, his gun loaded and cocked.
“He’s going to shoot him, Dugan.”
“Or Maura.” Dugan drew his sword and sprang from his hiding place and went for Maura. The shot rang out before he reached her, and suddenly the Sassenach camp came alive. The men seemed to believe they were under attack, and all drew their swords, looking for an enemy.
They found Dugan and his men.
The Sassenach captain pulled his sword from Baird’s body and went for Maura, but Dugan yanked him ’round to face him. “Leave her be, you bloody bastard!”
The captain thrust his sword toward Dugan’s chest, but Dugan blocked it, then parried with him as the rest of his men battled the other soldiers all ’round them.
Yet another blade came at Dugan, but he ducked and dodged it, then turned and dealt a killing blow to the captain. He wasted no time in doing the same to his second assailant.
He heard Maura scream just as his brother gave a shout to call Dugan’s attention to her plight. One of the soldiers had grabbed her and was dragging her away from the camp.
Another swordsman prevented Dugan from going at once to Maura’s aid, but he overpowered and slew the man without delay. He took off running.
Maura had never felt so helpless. She tried to dig her heels into the hard ground to keep Kildary’s soldier from being able to drag her any farther from camp, but he was far too strong for her to resist.
“Stop!” she cried.
“Shut yer trap, wench!”
“When Laird MacMillan comes after you—”
“Laird MacMillan is as good as dead,” he grumbled, but before he could finish saying the words, Dugan came at them with a roar that could frighten the very devil. The soldier dropped Maura to the ground and drew his sword. But he was too late. Dugan allowed the man two or three lunges, dodging easily before he dealt the killing jab.
The soldier fell to the ground and Dugan came to her.
“You’re alive!” she cried.
“Aye,” he said. He took out his dirk and cut the rope that bound her hands and she nearly cried out as the blood came rushing back into her arms and hands. “You didn’t think a few Sassenach soldiers could keep me from you, Maura.”
“I w-was so ...” She took a sobbing breath as she grabbed hold of his arm. “They didn’t slaughter you ... l-like at Glencoe!”
He pulled her into his arms. “I’ll never be so unprepared again, lass. Are you all right?”
“Dugan—”
“Stay here,” he said. He started to turn away, but drew her tight against him and kissed her, long and hard. “Hide until I come for you.”
Maura’s knees felt wobbly, and she was bruised and battered all over. But she hid behind a tree where she could observe the battle taking place in the camp.
Her heart was in her throat as she watched, even though the highlanders seemed to have the advantage. When Dugan returned to the thick of the fighting, her warrior laird and his men finished off the last few soldiers.
Maura sank to the ground, hardly able to grasp all that had happened. She began to shiver, feeling as though she would never feel warm again.
Dugan sought Maura in the woods outside camp and found her crumpled on the ground not nearly far enough away. Now that the danger was passed, he grinned wryly to himself and knelt down to gather her into his arms. “Will you never learn to follow an order, Maura mine?”
“I-I h-hid, just as y-you told me,” she said through chattering teeth.
He drew his plaid ’round her and held her close to warm her and stop her from shaking. “Ach, aye. Ten feet from the battle.”
“Mmm.” She cuddled closer, pressing her nose to his chest. It felt as though her shivering was beginning to subside.
“You’re free now.” Dugan said the words, but they were far from satisfactory. There was a great deal more he wanted to say.
Maura lifted her head and gazed up at him. “Everything could have been so different, Dugan. You didn’t find the gold at Aveboyne. You could have taken Kildary’s money in exchange for me.”
“No. I couldn’t, Maura,” Dugan replied as his lungs expanded with an emotion he only just recognized. “I love you, lass.”
Dugan realized he was holding his breath when she tightened her grip on his shirt. “Oh, Dugan! I love you so much! But I-I was afraid you could never ... I mean, I’m a Dun—”
“The past doesn’t matter any longer.” He kissed the palm of her hand. “I want you at my side, Maura, always. I want you for my wife.”
She sniffed her tears away and, with an exquisite tenderness that tugged at Dugan’s heart, cupped his jaw in her hand. “Oh yes, Dugan MacMillan! I will be your wife!”
He rose to his feet and pulled Maura up after him, then lifted her into his arms. He wanted to get her away from the carnage of battle. “Let’s leave this place.”
“I c-can walk,” she said.
He doubted it, but that was his intrepid Maura, never admitting to any weakness. “There’s no need, sweet. I’ll take you to my horse and we’ll ride Glencoe to our own camp.”
While Lachann and the lads searched the Sassenach camp for Kildary’s ransom money, Dugan and Maura rode back to Loch Aveboyne. He felt relieved to know he would soon have enough money to pay Argyll, though ’twould not be enough to buy the land.
It did not matter. The MacMillans would be spared from eviction, at least. And Maura—his life, his love—was safe.
Dugan and his men stripped down and washed off the blood and sweat of battle in the loch, then quickly made their beds and settled down to sleep.
But sleep evaded Maura. She lay cradled in Dugan’s arms, her body aching, her lip stinging where Kildary had split it, and her head throbbing. But at least she was warm again.
She was glad to be alive, glad to be lying in the arms of the man she loved with her whole heart and soul.
She kissed him lightly. “You are the Glencoe lad, just as Sorcha told me.”
“What?” He pulled back to look at her in the faint starlight.
“The old witch I spoke of,” she said quietly. “She told me the Glencoe lad had become a fierce warrior.”
He lay quietly beside her for a moment. “There was an old soothsayer called Sorcha at Glencoe,” he said. “Laird MacIain did not heed her warnings.”
“He likely did not understand them,” Maura said. “She spoke in riddles to me. Only now do I have any grasp of what she was telling me.”
“Aye?”
“Yes. That I would need an ally to find the treasure.”
“My grandfather told me the same thing.”
“He did?” Maura asked.
Dugan nodded slightly. “And yet ...”
“No gold,” Maura said, and Dugan hugged her close.
“If only we could make out that one word on the map,” she said.
“We have time now, Maura,” Dugan said. “I’m going to send Lachann to Inverness with Kildary’s gold. He can pay Argyll while we go to Loch Camerochlan for Rosie.”
Maura took a deep, shuddering breath and Dugan pulled her into the curve of his body. How she loved this man who would delay his return home to help her rescue her sister.
“What is it, love?”
“I’m afraid of what I’ll find there. What if Rosie—”
“Someone has taken her in,” he said.
“How can you be so sure? My own father didn’t want her when she was born. He never even looked at her after he decided her spine was crooked. She was too small,” Maura recalled. She’d hidden in the tower room where her mother had given birth, watching the proceedings, listening to his father berate the midwife for allowing the bairn to be born too soon.
“ ’Tis no excuse. Your father ought to be whipped.”
His gruff words warmed her. “My father never saw Rosie’s perfect little fingers or her rosebud lips...” Maura remembered her mother’s screams as she labored to birth her youngest child, remembered looking at wee Rosie, covered with wax and blood, lying abandoned in the well-used cradle. “Her lips were gray ... not rosy red as they should have—”
She stopped abruptly as a thought struck her. “Rosy.”
“Rosie?” Dugan repeated.
Maura sat up, wincing at her many aches and pains. “Her lips were shaped like a tiny gray rose, but they should have been red. Rose red. Rouge. Rouge, Dugan! That’s the word that’s missing from the clues!”
“Rouge?”
“Yes! That’s where the treasure will be—under a large red rock!”
Dugan pushed up onto an elbow and looked up at her. “I saw one—a great rusty red boulder,” he said. “At the tree line where you ran into the woods to evade Kildary.”
“That is where you must dig, Dugan. If there’s any gold to be found, it’ll be there.”
Maura settled down into Dugan’s arms again, but hardly slept all night. She was anxious for dawn, eager to see if she was right.
Dugan knew his confidence had not been misplaced. Once he’d realized Maura was his ally, he’d been certain he would find the treasure. His luck could not possibly be all bad.
’Twas time the fates ruled in the favor of his clan, and not the bloody Duke of Argyll.
When morning came, Dugan kissed Maura awake. “ ’Tis time, love.”
“Dugan—”
“We’ll find it.”
Joined by Lachann, Archie, and Conall, Dugan walked down to the water’s edge, then they turned and looked back at the line of trees.
Dugan held back the rush of excitement that ran through him when he saw it, a great red rock that was barely visible from the loch. “There it is,” he said. “Rouge. Just past those trees.”
’Twas huge. While Maura paced nervously at the water’s edge, the men dug ’round the massive rock to loosen it. Finally, with all four of them pushing, they tipped it over and discovered what they had been chasing for what seemed like eternity.
A metal chest, far larger than Dugan had expected.
“Are you going to open it, Dugan?” Archie asked.
He knelt on the ground beside it. Using the ax, he dug away the earth at its front and reached down to the latch. He held his breath as he pulled it open.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Lachann muttered in a low voice. “Maura was right.”
Dugan slipped his hand into the cache of cool, brilliant gold coins, and only then did the magnitude of his discovery strike him. “There must be thousands of pounds here.”
“Aye. Ten, at least,” Conall said.
Lachann slapped Conall’s back. “Thirty if there’s ten!”
With this kind of wealth, Dugan’s clan would never have to grovel again. He could buy their land and more cattle than anyone in the highlands possessed. When he married Maura they would raise their family without fear of further exploitation by Argyll or anyone else.
Suddenly, Maura was beside him, kneeling in the dirt. “Oh Dugan! You found the treasure!”
“Aye, lass,” he said, his heart full at the sight of her. “And I found a chest of gold, too.”