Page 69 of Bride Takes a Charmer

Shaw breathed heavily in shock at what he’d just witnessed; if not for the men holding him up, he would have collapsed for sure.

“The rope frayed because of the drag,” Walen pulled up what rope remained and examined the end. Then he shrugged and began tying it around himself. “I will go.”

“’Tis too dangerous, Walen. We should get more aid. I cannot help ye with this wound.”

“At least let me get down there. I will signal if Milady and Henny live by sticking up my thumb. Once I can see to them, ye can send another to get help.” Walen didn’t wait for him to agree and tied the rope around his waist. “Hold tight.”

Shaw’s soldiers gripped the rope and wrapped it around their waists and—once they’d wrapped their hands with cloth ripped from their own tunics—their fists. Walen scaled the edge and used his feet to jump little by little down the cliffside. Shaw’s heavy breathing intensified his pain, but he kept watch and directed his men to slacken the rope as Walen went along. After what seemed like hours but was probably only a moment, Walen reached the bottom.

He waited for Walen to give him the signal.Please, God, let them be alive.

His comrade reached Sorsha first and knelt next to her. He seemed to be assessing her and stuck his thumb up before he shouted, “She breathes.” Then he rushed to Henny’s side but didn’t bother to kneel next to their comrade. Walen kept hishead lowered, stuck out his arm, held his thumb down, and shook his head.

A wave of despair rushed over Shaw; Henny had been one of his most trusted and devoted men. It didn’t seem right that he’d be dead. He would have been proud to die in service to his laird and his lady, however. Now the clan’s war cry rose from his men.Loch Moigh!

More of his soldiers arrived from the camp as word of the attacks—and Henny’s death—spread, and again and again the war cry arose. The clansmen were saddened by the loss of their comrade, yet enraged about the attack on their laird and lady. “Henny was a good man, an admirable soldier, and will be given the highest honor our clan can give,” Shaw told them.

One of the soldiers, Donald, stepped forward. “Laird, our lady will need boards for a litter and for Henny’s…body. And more rope.”

“One of ye will need to fetch the healer for the laird and Milady. Someone grab the crofter’s tools, whatever ye can find. Let us prepare and make haste.”

It wasn’t like Donald to take charge of any situation because Henny usually directed him. He’d been a fledgling soldier beneath Henny’s guidance and only recently was promoted to a higher-ranking position. Shaw appreciated him stepping forward because, at that moment, he was heartsick, overcome, and feeling weak and dizzy from loss of blood as his wound continued to bleed. He remembered that it was Henny who’d saved his life and who had told him he’d need stitches.

Now Donald knelt beside him. “Laird, what do you command? Who did this to you? What happened to Milady?”

“Idris,” he rasped and then realized that Corliss had been the one Sorsha had left camp with, and now she was missing. He had questions to put to her. “Call Gordon. Have him find my sister. Take her into custody for she might be responsible for my wife’sinjuries. Take her home and put her in the garrison cell. Set the remaining guardsmen to watch her.” Fortunately, their fief was just over the ridge and his sister would be secured quickly.

Gordon shouted to Craig and they set out. Both men were well-known trackers and talented scouts. Shaw knew they wouldn’t cease their search until they found Corliss.

Cadge arrived, holding a satchel, and the older man shuffled toward him. “Let us see what’s what, Laird.” He unwrapped the wound and hissed at the sight of it. “It shall be well. I will put some salve on it to keep it from bleeding. Ye need to see the healer though, and at the soonest.”

“I’m not leaving Sorsha,” he said.

“At least take a wee bit of this to ease your pain.” Cadge handed him a small flask and he drank. The crofter helped him to lie back on the grass while he waited, listening to his men moving about and shouting instructions to one another as they worked to rappel Sorsha up from below and to retrieve Henny’s body.

He thought about Corliss. Shaw was unsure what he’d say to her. The thought that she betrayed him brought more dismay to his heart. All the times Mamo had spoken truthfully about Corliss’s cruelty made him flinch. He should have listened to his grandmother. Mamo always said Corliss was self-serving, greedy, and was only concerned with her own needs and desires. It had all been accurate.

He shouldn’t have trusted his sister, especially around Sorsha. Guilt plagued him briefly as he thought about the suffering Sorsha had endured. But he couldn’t hold the blame for long because his wife needed him and he would move heaven and earth to get her help.

Finally, the board that carried her reached the edge, and he painfully got to his feet to move to her. Her eyes were closed but he was relieved to see her chest rising slightly.Praise God, shehasn’t died.Again he fell to his knees, and for the first time in his life, Shaw wept. He cried with relief, with pain, and with love.

Chapter Twenty-Four

In a darkshadowy place, as if she floated beneath the depths of the deepest sea, Sorsha heard her name. The voice that called to her was muffled. A man’s deep tone penetrated the fog and implored her to awaken. She didn’t want to, but then she heard the cries of Gillian and Luthor. She pulled herself toward their voices, bit by bit, until she was able to open her eyes. She blinked. It was bright. But then she focused on her sweet children who stood watching her with tears in their eyes.

“Shhh.Do not weep.” Sorsha couldn’t recall what happened to her and how she’d ended up in her bedchamber. She wondered why the children were crying.

“Mama, are you hurt?” Gillian stared at her unmoving.

Sorsha took stock of her body, testing to see if she could move. Pain thrummed in her head and a more intense pain ached in her back and leg. She reached out to take Gillian’s hand and was shocked by the state of her own hand. Scrapes had bloodied her skin and now they were scabbed over.

But the last thing she wanted was the children worrying about her so she retracted her hand and slid it under the blanket that covered her.

“I will be all right, bun. Worry not.” But even as Sorsha spoke the words, she didn’t hold truth to them. The way she felt and the pain that made her want to moan seemed to thrum through her. “Where is Shaw…ah, your da?”

Luthor shifted forward and touched her forearm. “He is talking with the healer in the hallway.”

“Get him, please, and Luthor, take Gillian with you. Watch out for her.”