Page 68 of The Highlander's Dangerous Bride

“I hope ye dinnae expect them tae look the same as they did six years ago,” Arne warned her gently. “That may seem a short time in the grand scheme of things, but people can change a lot in that time.”

“Aye, I ken, but they’ll still be me braithers, however much they’ve changed,” she said, clutching his arm as the wagon suddenly bumped violently over a rut in the lane.

The wagon trundled onwards, while a weak sun overhead arched through a bright sky dotted with white clouds above them. Squashed between the sacks of grain, she leaned against Arne’s warm, solid arm. She would have liked to cuddle up to him, but since she was still in her boy’s disguise, she thought it best not to.

She was so tired, it was hard to keep her eye open, and she soon nodded off, with a jumble of confusing images passing for dreams. Arne’s soft voice in her ear woke her. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, squinting at their surroundings, realizing from the long shadows that it must be late afternoon. There was something very familiar about the village they were traveling through, but she could not put her finger on exactly what.

“Where are we?” she asked Arne, who was looking down at her, a tender look in his eyes. She smiled up at him, her heart full of love. The last four days of travel after leaving the safety of the cave had been grueling, but he had been her guiding star the whole way, and she thought she was falling more in love with him every day.

“On the outskirts of Clachan,” he replied. “’Tis nearly time fer us tae get out and walk the rest of the way.”

“Och, so near?” she exclaimed softly, her excitement at the prospect of seeing Everard and Maxwell rising once more. She and Arne looked around them as the wagon rumbled down the broad, flattened roadway lined with cottages and business that took them into the village center, the market square.

The wagon halted by a carved stone market cross, and the farmer driving it turned to them.

“Here ye are,” he called, “this is as far as I’m goin’. But the castle is along that way.” He pointed ahead along the road to where it wound away into the distance across moorland and a rocky escarpment. “Ye cannae miss it,” he added with a laugh. “Stick tae the road, and ye’ll be there in just over an hour.”

With a sudden jolt, Raven recognized where they were. “I ken the way,” she told the farmer, adding, “Thank ye kindly fer the lift.” Arne slung their small bag of belongings over his shoulder, jumped to the ground, and then lifted her down too.

“Aye, thank ye fer yer trouble,” Arne seconded her words, saluting the farmer, who was now climbing from his perch. They stood for a moment in the road, brushing each other off to rid themselves of the lingering bits of straw that clung to their clothing.

“Come on, the sooner we get there, the better,” she said, heading the way out of the village in the direction the farmer had indicated.

Arne went along, but he frowned as he said, “I’m nae happy about takin’ the main road, however busy it is. We have tae assume MacDonald’s men are around here somewhere, lookin’ out fer ye.”

“Aye, I ken that, but we’re nae takin’ the main road,” she told him with a smile. “We’re taking a short cut across the moors.”

He chuckled. “I should have kent ye’d have somethin’ up yer sleeve,” he said admiringly. He kept close to her as they walked along the road out of the village, to the start of the moorland.

“This way,” she said, taking a right hand turn along a narrow, rutted farm track lined with gorse and bramble bushes. A glowing carpet of golden gorse and early purple heather speared out on either side of them as they trudged along, but the bushes gave them shelter from prying eyes as well.

“We used tae come this way tae go shoppin’ in the village. It takes half the time of goin’ over the top,” she explained, gesturing with a hand to the escarpment, which was now on their left and gradually growing smaller as they progressed along the lane.

“What about when we get tae the castle? It could be dangerous tae be out in the open by the main gate in case MacDonald’s men are watchin’,” Arne said as they continued along the lane.

“Aye, that’s another good thing about goin’ this way. It comes out at the edge of some woods a few hundred yards from the castle walls right where there’s a secret entrance tae some tunnels that run under the castle.”

“Good plan,” he told her with a nod of approval, making her laugh as he risked a kiss on her cheek, since he felt confident they were unobserved. They walked on, and after a while, the stone towers of her childhood home came into view above the tops of the surrounding trees.

A whirl of emotions flooded through her at the sight. “Look, Arne,” she cried, pointing at the castle excitedly, her heart suddenly full, and tears pressing at the backs of her eyes. “We’re here!”

“All right, but let’s take it slow and careful. We dinnae want tae get caught out,” he cautioned as they entered a wood. Raven led the way along a path she had not used for six years yet felt comfortingly familiar. The band of trees proved to be no more than a few hundred yards wide, and they soon emerged on the tree line, with the mighty curtain wall of the castle looming over them.

They stopped. “See that buttress there, the second one along,” Raven asked him, pointing.

“Aye,” Arne replied with a nod.

“Just tae the left of the base is flat stone set in the earth. Ye lift it up, and underneath is a grille. It opens on hinges and leads tae the tunnels below. Ye can go pretty much anywhere ye want from there.”

“All right. Let’s go,” Arne said, and they left the cover of the trees, moving stealthily forwards through the low, scrubby undergrowth towards the castle. But suddenly, Arne inhaled sharply and grabbed Raven’s arm, pulling her down and flattening himself against the ground.

“What is it?” she hissed, not understanding his actions.

“Guards,” he whispered, pointing with his eyes at the two-armed men who had appeared from around the corner to their left and were now walking along the base of the wall in their direction. Alarmed, for they were now quite exposed, Raven squashed herself against the ground as low as she could go.

She tried not to breathe as the men passed slowly in front of them. They had already agreed that it would be best to get into the castle before announcing their presence to her brothers. That way, they figured MacDonald’s spies would have no idea of their arrival, which would buy them time.

Fortunately, the guards seemed intent on their own conversation and did not so much as glance in their direction before they vanished around the side of a tower at the end of the wall.

---