Page 4 of Forge of the Highlander’s Destiny
A rya’s heart had never pounded so hard before. It felt like a rock beating against her ribs, and she was afraid it would break out of her chest. She was running for freedom. Finally. The blasted man agreed to help her.
As well he should have done after what I did!
After they heard the movement of the guards, he led her to the trees, but she began to lead the way when they got to the edge of the forest. “Come with me. I have a place.”
She found the path she had tread so many times as a child, winding through the woods.
She knew the path so well because it was the one place on her father’s land where she felt safe.
She was growing tired, though, with how fast they were moving, and she knew the guards would be upon them soon.
But just when she thought her lungs were about to burst, she found it.
“Here,” she said roughly, and pushed him down so that he could squeeze inside.
It was the hollowed-out trunk of an old, large oak tree.
The base was nearly eight feet wide, and it was like a little chamber in there.
She crawled in after Cohen, and then in the darkness, they simply leaned against the wall and caught their breath.
“What is this place?” he asked, still trying to catch his breath.
“A place of solitude. I found it when I was a child. As ye can possibly guess, I didnae want to spend too much time at home. So, I found this place here. Me sister and I.” Arya rummaged in her bag, to pull out a candle and flint. The light would be well-hidden while they sat inside the tree.
It wouldn’t be enough for warmth, but they would need some light while they ate. “Here,” she said, handing it to him. “I will listen for the guards if ye can try to light this.”
He got to work wordlessly, and as she leaned against the hole in the tree, she heard the flints sound against each other as Cohen worked. Her heart slowed, but it knew the huge step she had taken today.
There is nay goin’ back now, Lass.
She didn’t hear anything, but that didn’t mean the guards wouldn’t soon be out and about.
She wondered how angry her father would be once he found out that she was gone.
Arya bit her lip and thought of Olivia. The last time that Arya had gone away, her father had punished Olivia for it instead of Arya, and she knew that she couldn’t do that to her sister again.
She turned back to Cohen. Even though she couldn’t yet see him as more than a dark shadow in the hollow of the tree, she knew she had to hang all her hopes on him. He helped her escape begrudgingly, but he would need to help her sister as well. If only there was a way to convince him.
Finally, a spark came to life, and lighting a small cloth she had given him with the flint, he was able to light the candle and set it standing in the earth. With the slight cool breeze coming in from the entrance to the tree, the candle trembled, casting shadows on the trunk walls.
They both stared at it for a few seconds before Cohen spoke. “Thank ye, Lass. Ye didnae have to dae that. Ye saved me.”
Arya looked up and caught his eye. The kind look she saw there sent a little tingle of excitement through her. She had never before been alone with a man in such close quarters, and this man she had only seen through the squares of a dungeon cell. They were free.
“Well, we cannae celebrate our victory just yet. There will be men at first light coming to search. They will ken we are missing as soon as they come to deliver our food and empty the chamber pots. I think we will have to return tonight and steal a horse. That is the only way.”
Cohen nodded, his eyes returning to the flickering flame of the candle. “How did ye do it? Get the key and come into the dungeon?”
She shrugged. “It was nay effort really. I brought them wine after the evening meal, and I mixed it with an herb called dwale. It will make ye sleep for a long while. When I returned a little later, they were layin’ down on the floor, and I could snatch up the key.”
“Ye are a wonder,” he said, and Arya smiled at the praise. He cleared his throat as if he meant not to encourage her and said, “We will have to sleep here tonight. But we have nay food. Nay way to keep warm.”
Arya felt her cheeks warm despite the sharp cold of the outside. “I ken it is nae much, but I have brought a little food and water for us.” She pulled a loaf of bread and a cask of water. She handed it to him, and he looked at it as if it was the greatest gift in the world.
“Ye have thought of everything.”
“I have a small blanket as well, but we will have to…stay close, ye ken. We cannae have a fire, of course.”
Cohen smiled. “Aye. That would be a bit reckless. Nae only because of the guards but because we are in a tree.” He chuckled, and surprisingly, Arya laughed too, her heart feeling lighter than it had in years.
Just being away from her father did much to lighten her mood and her burden.
An image of Olivia flashed through her mind, and she felt heavy again, but she was determined to save her too.
It was just a matter of getting Cohen to understand that he was the key to their safety.
Once they were free, they could each go their own way, and he wouldn’t ever have to see her again.
It was a strange thing to have one’s whole life changed in a matter of minutes.
It had been that way when Cohen was first captured, taken to Muir Castle to await execution.
His path was cut short in the span of minutes.
And yet it happened again, when he saw Arya standing in front of his cell, waving the keys to his freedom in front of him with that mischievous grin.
After they ate and she fell asleep, snuggled close to him, he found it difficult to fall asleep himself as his mind was filled with too many things.
Eventually, he did, dreaming of Arya’s smile, her blue eyes, and he dreamed all night of what she would look like in the daylight out under the sun.
He could tell in the shadows that she was beautiful, but he couldn’t be certain.
They both woke at the same time hours later, and Cohen found his face in a mass of black hair, and his arm bound tightly around her stomach. When she squirmed against him, he felt his body heat, and he pulled back, fearful that she could feel his morning hardness against her back.
“Forgive me,” he managed to mumble, rubbing his face to wake up a bit more.
She chuckled. She hadn’t turned to face him yet, but her fingers were working through her long, black curls after she sat up, and he noticed her hair went all the way to the middle of her back.
“It is dusk. Good. Once it is dark enough, we will go and take a horse. The horses will nae startle when they see me, and we willnae make any sound.”
“Ye daenae think the guards will be out watching for us this eve?”
“They will be, but it is our only option. How far is yer castle?”
“Nearly thirty miles.”
She sighed. “Aye, we will need a horse, and then we will be on our way. Once we saddle the horse and ride, they willnae catch us.”
He wanted so much to believe it. They were so close to freedom, and he could practically taste the lovely food he would have upon his return. “Ye will come to my castle then, Lass?”
Arya turned around and she bit her lip, twisting a piece of hair between her fingers. “For now. It willnae be for long. Nae until I can figure out what to do next.”
“Of course,” he said, for he was now resolved to help her. She was right; she had risked a lot to save him, and he wanted to reward her.
They waited for dark, and once they were certain there were no guards about, Arya reached back and took his hand.
“Are ye ready, Laird Sinclair? It is dark enough that we will need to hold hands until we reach the stables.”
“Aye. Ready.” Cohen slipped his large hand into hers and they squeezed out through the entrance.
He followed her lead. She seemed to move by instinct in the forest. It was obvious she had grown up in the area because she moved quietly and confidently, and soon, they were on the edge of the trees, staring at a low, dark building.
“Just there,” she said pointing. “I see nay lights, nay men.”
“What of the stable hand?”
“He will likely be asleep, but ye may have to hold him back if he tries to alert anyone. I can get the horse ready while ye do so.”
Cohen nodded. He was very used to fighting, but in this instance, he had only his fists, for his sword, shield, and dagger had all been taken when he was kidnapped by Arya’s father. There would never be a hope of retrieving them any longer.
He waited for Arya whose eyes were like an owl’s, looking left and right, checking for any movement, and listening for any sound. Once she was satisfied, she looked at him and nodded.
“Now,” she said, and they dashed to the stables, opening the door and shutting it behind them as quietly as they could. There was a low lamp inside, and they could hear the snoring of the stable hand from the shadows.
“Stay here. I will get the horse. Watch for the man,” she whispered.
Cohen nodded and moved closer to the snoring, taking care that his steps were quiet.
He wanted to be as close as possible in case the man awoke, and he would have to hold him.
He could hear Arya settling the horse she had chosen, and it took some time before she was ready.
Leather stretched and metal clicked against each other, but soon, he could hear the soft clomp of hooves on the stable floor.
Once she was closer, she whispered, “The horse is ready. Time to go.”
Cohen nodded, getting up from his kneeling position in front of the snoring man.
“He is nay guard,” he said teasingly.
“Ye must let me take me sister with me,” Arya said suddenly, making Cohen’s ire raise again.
“It is enough I take ye!” He tried to keep his voice low, but he was so enraged that she would try to get him to do even more, to risk even more.
“Please,” she begged, her eyes wide. “She will be just as much a victim to my faither when he finds out that I am gone.”
Cohen shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. We have already left the castle and cannae risk goin’ back.” But at another look of pleading in her eye, he sighed. “How about a compromise? We leave now, so that we may keep our lives, but then I promise to come back and get her.”
Arya hesitated for a few seconds, but then she nodded. “Agreed.”
The stable hand had stayed asleep, shockingly, the whole time during their frenzied discussion, but when Arya opened the door, they both heard the snoring stop, and the man sat up, rustling in the pile of hay upon which he slept.
“Who goes there?” he called into the shadows, and Cohen didn’t waste any time. He jumped onto the horse and reached down for Arya.
“Now,” he said. Just as they heard hesitant footsteps coming toward them, and the stable hand’s voice begin to yell for guards, they were already out the door, racing away, out into the night with Cohen’s arms wrapped about Arya.
She held the reins, and his arms stayed around her waist, pulling her close. It was mostly for warmth, or so he told himself, but it felt good to feel something lovely against him instead of reminding himself of what deadly fate he had left behind.