Page 42 of Glasgow Rogue

Annie stared at the dark figure on horseback blocking her path.

She couldn’t make out his face since a hood partially covered it, but the moonlight reflected off the steel blade he held in his hand.

Brigand. She wheeled her horse swiftly, only to find another dark-cloaked rider behind her.

He didn’t make a sound as he grabbed her reins.

Annie thought to reach for the knife in her boot, but the man was pressed too close to her leg to maneuver.

Where was Niall? She hadn’t been that much ahead of him… At the sound of pounding hooves, she breathed a small sigh of relief. As soon as he distracted the two men, she could reach for her own blade.

But her hope was short-lived. There were several horses galloping toward her, one of which was riderless. As they came closer, she recognized Niall’s gelding. Her stomach suddenly felt as though she’d swallowed lead.

“Is the guard dead?” the brigand holding the knife asked.

“Aye. He hit his head hard on a rock,” one of the three others replied. “We threw the body into the ditch.”

Annie’s heart stuttered in her chest. Niall was dead? She felt the blood drain from her head and the world started to spin around her. She clutched her saddle and struggled to breathe. Niall couldn’t be dead. No. No. No.

“Are ye sure there were nae more men behind him?” asked the knife-holding brigand who seemed to be their leader.

“Aye. Nae one followed.”

“’Tis strange to have only one escort for the lady.”

“Well, this one was well-armed,” the second rider replied. “Half a dozen knives and a sword, plus a musket in the saddlebag.”

“And doona forget the coin.” The third one held up a leather pouch. “’Tis enough to keep us in whisky and women for weeks.”

The leader turned his hooded face toward Annie. “And what riches are ye carrying?”

“Besides the obvious,” added one of the men, snickering.

“Aye, we can draw lots who will have her first.” Another man looked inquiringly at the leader. “Unless ye want to be first, Calum.”

“Stop your blethering,” Calum snapped. “We are holding Lady Briana for ransom, nae ravishing.” He sheathed his knife. “At least, nae yet. If the Campbell refuses to pay, ye can all rut her until she is raw.”

Annie still felt dizzy, the conversation swarming around her like a cloud of midges, but slowly the words began to sink in.

Apparently these men mistook her for someone of some importance to a Campbell.

That might buy her a day or two of time before whoever this Campbell was refused to pay ransom for someone who had not disappeared.

It also meant this band was not regular highwaymen out simply to rob.

And rape. A cold shiver swept down her spine as she recalled that part of the conversation.

The leader had told the men to hold off, but as soon as they realized they had the wrong person…

Annie took a deep breath. She still had her knife. Now she needed to collect her wits.

“So what riches are ye carrying?” the leader asked again.

Annie swallowed and lifted her chin. “I do nae carry jewels or coin when I travel.”

“I can check your saddlebag later.” Calum’s cloaked head moved up and down as he appraised her. “’Tis a rather clever disguise for ye to dress as a lad, but ye took a foolish risk with only one escort.”

A lump rose in Annie’s throat as she thought of Niall’s body lying in a ditch. She felt the lightheadedness begin again and willed herself not to faint. “My…guard was well-armed.”

“Aye, but nae match for five MacDougalls.”

So that’s who they were. Was this about a clan feud?

Even though the English had implemented the Disarming Act over fifty years earlier, she knew Highlanders still remained loyal to their clans, but she wished she understood more about such things.

A wild idea flitted through her mind. It might not work, but it was worth a try.

“Your men must have remained well-hidden for Campbell men nae to notice them.”

The leader frowned. “What do ye mean?”

“Well, we did have several men travelling ahead of us to be sure the road was clear,” Annie said, her mind racing. Surely there must have been other travelers on this road earlier. “Since we should have been in Crianlarich by now, they’ll be coming back to search for me.”

Calum tossed back his hood and she could see the hard lines of his face.

His eyes glinted near black in the moonlight.

“Ah. I dinnae think your uncle was so stupid as to let ye ride with one guard, although ’twas clever enough of the bastard to nae call attention to ye.

” He looked down the road in the direction they had come.

“And does he have a rear guard following as well?”

Annie forced herself to smile and managed a shrug. “Perhaps.”

The leader’s brows drew together. “I doona like lasses with sassy mouths. If ye are nae careful, I may let my men have sport with ye in spite of a ransom.”

“’Twould be a fittin’ revenge for what Campbell men did to your sister,” one of the riders said.

“Aye, it would,” another added. “Perhaps just a wee taste of her now?”

“Not now.” Calum turned his hard gaze on Annie. “Ye would be wise to watch your mouth.”

Annie steeled her hands not to shake and hoped her voice didn’t either. “I simply meant that my…uncle…did nae advise me of his plans.”

“That sounds like him. Nae matter though.” He pulled a small sack from beneath his cloak and shook it out. Before Annie could respond, he reached out and pulled it over her head, blinding her. “We will be well out of the way by the time they pass by.”

****

Niall groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

Or one eye, anyway. The other seemed to be pressed shut by something damp and hard.

He lay still, trying to adjust his senses to where he was.

An earthy, somewhat putrid smell filled the air and he realized that half his nose was buried in something slimy.

He snorted and pushed himself up to find he was sitting in a grassy ditch still muddied from the last rain.

His head throbbed. Niall touched the egg-size bump along the side of his head and stared at his hand, covered in half-dried blood. How long had he been out? And why? His memory cleared and he remembered the ambush.

Annie. Where was Annie?

He started to leap up and then fell back as dizziness swept over him.

Damnation! Now was not the time to be weak.

Niall gathered his strength and rose, more slowly this time.

He had to wait a moment for his equilibrium to adjust itself and then looked in either direction.

The road was deserted. He glanced up. The moon was low in the western sky and streaks of lavender heralded dawn in the east. He had been unconscious for several hours.

His horse was gone. The brigands obviously had stolen it, but had they abducted Annie as well?

A slim sliver of hope that she’d managed to ride on to Cairnlarich shriveled when he thought of the time elapsed.

If she had managed to escape, she’d have had time to reach the village and return with help.

Was she lying somewhere up ahead in the ditch?

Hurt? Or even dead? Fear washed over him like a cold bucketful of water as he forced himself to start walking, crisscrossing the road to check both sides, hoping he would not find her body.

She couldn’t be dead. She. Just. Could. Not.

Be. Dead. Niall knew he was repeating the words in his head to reassure himself, but it was somehow comforting, nonetheless.

He wished he knew who had done this. Brigands who wore hooded cloaks were unusual, but who else would lie in wait along a well-travelled road?

Niall cursed roundly at having continued on for the night.

He knew damn well they made an easy target after darkness fell.

He should have insisted that they stop and take shelter in a copse of trees, hidden from view.

Had he not been so intent on reaching the inn and setting the mood to persuade Annie to see his reasoning was right, this wouldn’t have happened.

Niall stopped when he saw the jumbled hoof prints about a half mile from where he’d been attacked.

The dirt on top of the road was dry, but loose.

He wasn’t the expert tracker that his brother Braden was, but the sky was lightening and as Niall bent down, he counted different hoof imprints of at least six or seven horses.

One horseshoe had a missing nail. He straightened.

Only three men had accosted him, which meant two more had been waiting around the bend.

That was strange too. Usually a band of brigands surrounded whomever they were robbing so no one could get away.

And usually, they didn’t take victims with them.

But he hadn’t seen Annie lying in the ditch and her horse was gone.

The trail led clearly off the road and toward the woods.

Niall started along the path. Whoever the abductors were, they either were unskilled in covering their tracks or they didn’t care if they were followed.

If the latter were true, that probably meant there were a lot more of them lurking inside the forest.

Niall didn’t have the talent for stealth that Gavin had, but he’d learned enough from his brother to know how to shadow. He moved from tree to tree cautiously since he his weapons had been stolen. He didn’t know what odds he would be facing, but it didn’t matter.

They had Annie.

****

Annie blinked in darkness almost as dense as the sack over her head had been.

At least, her abductors had taken that off after she’d been pulled from her horse and half-carried, half-dragged across a rocky path full of gnarly tree roots.

Perhaps it was just as well that two of the men had a firm grip on her, since her legs almost buckled when she dismounted.

She didn’t know how long they’d been riding—the hood had made her disoriented—but it seemed like hours.