Page 20 of McKenna’s Honor (The Clan MacDougall #4)

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I t took Daniel a moment or two to realize it was Wee William’s voice he heard booming through the night air. Daniel and his men spun around to meet Wee William and his men at the edge of the forest. The night sky was just beginning to wane. Dawn would be there soon enough.

“We’ll talk while we ride, Wee William,” Daniel told him. “We have to be at Stirling Castle before dawn breaks.”

Both men looked east toward the horizon. Stirling Castle lay that way, just a few miles from where they stood. Their horses were covered in sweat, lathered and gnarled from the long ride and the battle fought earlier. Daniel worried that the horses would expire before they reached their destination.

Wee William nodded, sat taller in his saddle and raised his arm. He called out for his men to follow and a moment later, they were running like the devil was chasing them.

Daniel explained to Wee William the identity of the terrified lass clinging to David. Peeking through one eye, Lady Arline gave a curt nod of her head in Wee William’s direction. Formalities be damned. She was not about to let go of David for fear they would fly through the air again. She was certain that her luck would not hold and the next time they jumped over something she would be tossed from the back of the horse.

A light mist clung to their skin and clothes. They were beyond damp from all the rain and streams they had ridden through. Arline knew she looked a mess and smelled even worse. She continued to make bargains with God. If He would allow her to live through this ordeal, she would never again complain of anything. She would be forever grateful for warm clothes, low burning fires, and even porridge.

As Arline made her bargains, Daniel and Wee William filled each other in on everything that had happened since they’d left Castle Gregor a fortnight ago. Wee William was just as surprised as Daniel and the others had been when they had learned what Carlich Lindsay had told them and what his wife now had in her possession.

After learning that the items Arline had hidden in her skirts might be just what was needed to keep Angus and Duncan from hanging, Wee William felt a sudden spurt of energy. Hope began to trickle back into his heart as they pounded across the land.

Wee William informed Daniel that the wagon bringing Angus and Duncan to Stirling had been set upon and that the two men had been captured. Now Daniel had something else to worry over.

They might make it to Stirling with the documents that would set the two men free but now, their futures looked even bleaker. Without knowing who had taken them and why, they were left with nothing but conjecture and guesses. Angus and Duncan could be anywhere by now. They could very well be dead.

And they still had no bloody idea where Isobel and Aishlinn were.

A spot on the horizon beckoned, urging them forward. Stirling Castle. They would be there soon, would deliver the documents to Robert Stewart, and then leave to join the search for Angus and Duncan.

They could only hope that mayhap someone in Stirling knew where Isobel and Aishlinn were. They could only pray that whoever had taken Angus and Duncan had not killed them yet.

They were far from being able to rest easy or have any sense of relief. The going back and forth between hope and despair made Daniel feel as though he were awash at sea, being carried to wherever the waves wished to take him.

Aye, the hanging delayed meant little to any of them for who knew what the dawn would bring with it.