Page 62 of Highlander Unraveled
Holding my hand tight, he started to run and I worked hard to keep up, but his legs were long and I was tired. I tripped several times before he swung me up into his arms and kept on running as though the added weight were nothing to him.
“Get back here, you heathen!”
The voice was the same, but the sound of the crashing from behind us had the distinct sound of more than one man.
“How many do you think?” I asked, clinging to Logan as he ran.
“At least six.”
That was too many for him to fight off alone, and while he’d taught me self-defense, I wasn’t exactly a warrior by any stretch of the imagination.
Where had the black box taken us? The woods of Gealach had often been filled with English, but not as of late…
With eyes wide open, I prayed we weren’t caught.
17
Logan
Less than a quarter hour later, I set Emma down beside a small spring with a waterfall at its back. A gentle spray misted the morning air. The sound of the falls as it spilled over the top of a crest some fifty feet in the air was thunderous. Dangerous, in that I couldn’t hear our enemy approach from afar, but safe, because they couldn’t hear us, either.
Emma shook, though the air was warm, and dipped her hands in the water, bringing them cupped to her lips.
“We’ve lost them for now,” I said.
“Do you recognize this spring?” she asked, studying the green foliage around us.
Small flowers dotted the landscape, and just above the spring, the sun shone down, warming the spot. It was tranquil, a location I recalled stopping to water horses and rest some years before. I’d not explored it greatly then, too much in a hurry to return to my castle.
I nodded. “I think we are on the perimeter of Gealach lands. At least a day or two’s walk to get back to the castle. If we had a horse, we could be there by nightfall.”
Emma rubbed water on the back of her neck. “Maybe we’ll pass a village along the way that will give us horses. You are their laird, a good and just leader. I think they’d be happy to help you.”
Her faith in me never ceased to amaze. “Aye, but if they were to do so, and the English are following, it will only put my people in danger. I dinna want to lead them to a village’s gates.”
“Surely a scout has spotted the English and gotten word back to Ewan.” She took another sip of water, the color that had faded from her skin when I first found her was returning, and the bruise on her cheek seemed to have miraculously also faded to a yellow, as though it happened a much longer time ago than just the night before. “Will he not assemble warriors to meet the English upon their way?”
She had a good point. I grinned, proud of her for taking on the role of Lady of Gealach with such spark. “Aye. If one of the local garrison’s has not already been warned. I keep men, fully armed, at various spots throughout our land.”
“Then perhaps, we should head toward them?” Emma asked. Her lips trembled with a fear she was trying to hide.
A part of my ego was wounded that she didn’t feel safe just being with me, but I was also not a complete fool. We’d just had to run from sixSassenachswho would have killed me and tormented her.
“Aye,” I lied, wanting to ease her fears.
I couldn’t tell her the truth—that the English were most likely headed straight for those outposts, and the worst place for us to go would be toward my scattered forts.
Aye, they had walls and numbers that could protect us—if we made it. Having men, weapons and horses at our back would give us an advantage, but I wasn’t willing to put my wife in danger by deliberately setting her upon the English’s path. If we didn’t make it before the English arrived there, we were dead. If they happened to ambush us on the road, we were dead. It was too risky. I’d already lost her once; I simply couldn’t chance losing her again.
The one advantage we did have now was that the English didn’t know these lands like I did. The best decision would be for us to hide for the rest of the day, and when night fell, make our move. The English would not be brave enough to travel at night. And if they were, they wouldn’t be as prepared as I was, nor as easily able to hide with their larger numbers, not to mention, I could hear their chainmail and armor clinking a mile away. At least, I could before we arrived at the waterfall.
I squatted beside Emma and dipped my hands into the water, wishing I had a water skin to fill to keep us hydrated. We had no food, either. I frowned. It was going to be a long day if we didn’t havesomethingto eat.
Around the waterfall, there were often berry bushes and even the occasional nut tree. I couldn’t risk hunting and lighting a fire to cook our food.
“Let us forage, before we go into hiding,” I suggested.
“Where will we hide?” Her eyes scanned the area.
