Page 50 of The Highlander's Dangerous Bride

“Raven, I wondered if ye’d like tae go fer a walk with me in the gardens. I’d like tae talk tae ye about somethin’,” he blurted out.

She looked at him for a few moments gravely, her lovely eyes searching his face. He honestly thought she was about to tell him to go to hell. But instead, she nodded and replied calmly. “Alright.”

So, they bid Haldor and Sofia and the rest of the company a good night and went out into the tranquil gardens. They walked side by side in awkward silence for a little while along the graveled pathways in the falling dusk. A luminous sea of yellow primroses stretched away beneath the trees.

“What is it ye want tae talk tae me about?” she asked finally.

Arne struggled to find the words. “I wanted tae apologize tae ye fer… fer what happened last night.” He saw her cheeks flush as she turned her head and looked away across the lawn. “I find it hard tae explain the way I feel. I’m nae much good with emotions.”

“Ye didnae seem tae have much trouble explainin’ it last night,” she said flatly. “Ye were quite clear about it. Ye cannae trust me.”

“Aye. I admit I have trouble with that. But I shouldnae have acted the way I did, and I want ye tae ken I’m sorry fer it.”

“Well, that’s a sort of apology, I suppose.” She suddenly stopped, looked at him, and said, “If that’s all ye wanted tae say tae me, I think I’ll go indoors.”

“Nay, stay, please, I’d like tae talk some more,” he said, anxious to keep her there. But then he noticed a strange expression on her face. She sniffed the air.

“D’ye smell smoke?” she asked, casting about them.

He sniffed, and the unmistakable smell of burning assailed his nostrils. “Aye, I can smell it. ’Tis probably the gardeners burnin’ leaves.”

Then, she pointed over towards the training ground and the soldiers’ barracks and said in an urgent tone. “Nay, look, over there. Smoke. I think there’s a fire.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Arne looked where she was pointing and spied a thick pall of grey smoke rising into the air. The burning smell became stronger as it drifted towards them on the breeze. His heart began racing in his chest.

“Jaysus, ye’re right. I think one of the barracks is on fire!”

They started hurrying in that direction but when a terrible scream echoed from somewhere near the smoke, they looked at each other. “Someone’s in trouble,” Raven cried, picking up her skirts. Without hesitation, Arne grabbed hold of her hand, and they began running as fast as they could toward the barracks.

When they reached the training ground, they could see at once that flames were leaping from one of the barrack blocks, and thick smoke was billowing around it, filling the air. The soldiers and people milling below were trying to tackle the fire by forming a bucket chain from a nearby well, but the fire seemed to have taken hold. The building was rapidly being consumed and looked unstable.

“We must pull down the thatch, stop it from spreadin’ tae the other buildin’s!” Arne yelled as he and Raven ran over to help. But one of the soldiers wielding buckets of water shouted over to them and pointed up to the roof. “We dare nae try it, for there’s a lad up there. He went up tae fetch his ball. Look!”

Arne and Raven peered through the smoke and glimpsed a small figure on the roof. It was a boy of perhaps seven or eight. He was standing at the edge of the roof, as far away from the licking flames as he could get, holding a ball and waving frantically.

Nearby, a woman started screaming, “Save me Billy, please, someone, save me lad, will ye?!” Just then, seeing his mother, Billy let out another terrified scream.

“I’ll get him,” Arne cried, stripping off his coat and throwing it at Raven as he ran closer to the barracks, preparing to brave the flames and climb. But Raven followed him and held him back.

“Nay, the timbers are almost gone, Arne. Ye’re too heavy, ye’ll go straight through the thatch. Let me go. I’m much lighter than ye,” she shouted above the roar of the flames, thrusting his coat back at him.

“Nay, Raven, that’s madness,” he yelled back at her, hurling the coat to the ground heedlessly. “Ye’ll get yersel’ killed.” Despite the heat of the fire, the thought sent a cold chill over his body.

“Nae if I go now,” she told him over her shoulder, kilting up her skirts into her waistband as she ran, weaving through the panicking crowd to the side of the building. She was so quick, Arne could not get to her fast enough amid the crush before she began climbing up the drainpipe on the side of the wood-framed barracks.

“Raven, come back down here now! I order ye tae come back down!” he bellowed up at her from below, his heart hammering in his chest. But she either ignored him or did not hear him over the clamor of the fire. He was forced to stand, his fists clenched at his sides and watch as she nimbly scaled the pipe, her stockinged legs in full view of everybody watching. He held his breath as she stepped gingerly onto the surviving timbers of the thatched roof.

Without a second hesitation, she ran to the boy and put her arms around him. Arne could see her talking into his ear. With the flames consuming the other side of the thatch roof hungrily, she rushed the boy, who was almost doubled up with coughing, to where she had climbed up.

“Arne, Billy’s gonnae jump, and ye’re gonnae catch him, all right?” she shouted, coughing herself as the smoke thickened about her and Billy.

“Aye, all right,” he shouted back, getting into position. Others came to join him, linking arms to make a sort of a cradle to catch Billy.

“Come on, Billy, lad, jump, we’ll catch ye!” Arne yelled up at him as his small, soot-streaked face peered down at them, a picture of sheer terror. Arne could see Raven was talking to Billy. He saw the boy nod and throw down his ball. Somebody in the crowd caught it.

“He’s gonnae jump. Are ye ready?” she called down.

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