Page 14 of Stolen Highland Dreams (The Highlanders #9)

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“ E lla, Ella! Wake up!” Finnegan said to Ella, shaking her in the bed at the castle, but she felt like she was on her deathbed and couldn’t rouse enough to even look at her brother.

Then her heartbeat kicked up a notch. “What…what do you want? What are you doing here?” she whispered, fearing that the maid, Flora, would alert the guards that a lad was in the bedchamber with her.

But she soon worried that something was wrong, which was the reason he was there in the first place. He wouldn’t be otherwise, she realized, so foggy headed, that she was having trouble thinking straight.

She glanced around the room. To Ella’s surprise, Flora sat in a chair next to the table, her head on her arms where she slept.

“I skipped supper and left the inner bailey, returned to the woods, and found Mina in a deep sleep, and I’m worried she is dying.”

“No…no…no, she canna be.” Ella scrambled out of bed, throwing the furs aside, but dizziness overwhelmed her, and she grabbed the mattress to steady herself.

“Before the gates are closed for the night, I came to get you so you can heal her before we canna leave here.”

She touched her hot forehead. She was burning up.

“Everyone is asleep. The guards, everyone.” Finnegan ran his hands through his hair.

“All right. Let me get dressed. Wait for me beyond the chamber door.”

“Aye, but hurry. They could close the gate at any moment.”

She wished they could take Mina to see Dashiell’s healer, though Ella had her own abilities. But she thought the two of them would be more successful than one person.

Ella found her clothes and hurriedly put them on. She was burning up but then felt like she was freezing. She left the chamber and grabbed her brother’s arm to steady herself.

She was so dizzy that her vision blurred as they descended the curved stairs to the first floor. Thankfully, they hadn’t encountered anyone on any of the floors or the stairs when they reached the first floor. They hurried to the front doors.

“Where is everyone?” she whispered, holding her brother’s arm tight.

He looked at her, his brow wrinkled with worry. “I dinna know. You dinna look too well yourself, Ella.”

“Aye, I could have slept for a fortnight.”

They opened the castle doors, stepped into the inner bailey, and glanced at the wall walk. No one was on the wall walk watching for danger. The gates were wide open, the portcullis up. It had been too easy to leave, which worried her.

“Where are the guards?”

He shrugged.

They hurried across the inner bailey, then to the outer one, and through the open gates. She knew someone would shout they were escaping, and men would chase after them on horseback, questioning who Finnegan was and where she thought she was going.

They crossed the drawbridge, hurrying as fast as she could. Then they made their way through the woods.

She continued to feel hot and chilled at the same time. Her brother offered support as she stumbled along through the forest. She usually was spry as a deer. She couldn’t lift her feet high enough to navigate the fallen limbs, and pushing through the tall bracken seemed a monumental feat. Her vision was blurring, and she felt weak, unlike her usual self.

Then they saw Wolf, who greeted them like they were members of his wolf pack returned from a long absence.

“Do you think Mina put everyone asleep except for us so we could return home?” Finnegan asked.

She nodded. She didn’t know for sure, but she thought it might be so.

“Amelda is all right; she's just scared because she felt alone. I told her we were coming home.”

They finally found their way to the stream, but it had all dried up. They stared at it for a moment, then looked upstream, expecting the water to flow any minute and sweep them away when they tried to cross it.

They didn’t have time to ponder this and hurried to the hut. Wolf followed them all the way there, then saw a weasel and chased after it.

As soon as they reached the hut, they entered it and found Mina still sound asleep, her heart beating steadily, and Amelda sleeping beside her.

Ella breathed a sigh of relief. But then she collapsed on her own bed, feeling as though she had traveled for miles and couldn’t stay awake a moment longer.

Had they made a mistake in returning to the hut? Nay, Ella knew they all needed to be together, one place or the other.

Dashiell finally retired to bed while the maid stayed with her. He didn’t believe he could sleep. But that morning, Dashiell stretched, stared at the sunlight filtering through the window, and frowned.

“Christopher,” he said as he still slept, tucked under the furs on his bed.

“Aye.” The boy clambered out of bed.

“Did the bell no’ ring this morning?”

“I dinna know. I believe I must have slept through it if it did,” Christopher said.

“Me as well.” Dashiell pulled his covers aside but immediately thought of Ella and hoped she was better this morning. “By the position of the sun, I would say ‘tis late. I canna believe that no one would have come for us.”

Dashiell hurried to dress.

Quinn arrived at his bedchamber a few minutes later. “I must apologize for oversleeping. I didna hear the bell ring this morning.”

“Nor did I.” Dashiell straightened his belt. “Perhaps the bell was not rung. Why did someone no’ wake us to break our fast?”

“I dinna know. When I didna see you downstairs, I grew concerned that you had left the grounds without me.”

“Now, why would I have done that when I already have my forest nymph in hand?”

“I wonder how she is faring.”

“I wasna informed if the lady was any worse in the middle of the night. I hope that is a good sign.” Dashiell headed out of his bedchamber with his advisor at his side. “Did you dream of Ella last night?”

“Nay. I slept soundly throughout the night for the first time since I saw her.”

“I had no dreams either. I had hoped I would get that kiss finally.”

Dashiell left Quinn at the door and entered the room, causing Flora to jump up from her chair.

“How is she doing this morning?” Dashiell asked. “She didna turn into an owl last night and fly away, did she?”

“I havena checked on her yet. I must have dozed off.” Flora walked over to the bed and pulled the curtains aside. She gasped. “Oh, how could she have escaped?”

Leaning over the bed, the color purple caught his eye, and after pulling the covers away, he found violets lying on top of the feather mattress. “She could not have walked out of here in a state of delirium, could she have?”

“I wouldna think so. She was very weak.”

Dashiell frowned. “When you relieved the last lady who watched her earlier this morning, was Ella still running a high fever?”

“I dinna remember even leaving here last night.”

“I thought you said you would take turns with a couple of other maids to watch her.”

“Aye, but I dinna remember anyone ever having come to relieve me.”

“You slept the whole time, I imagine, as the rest of us had.” Dashiell turned and rushed from the chamber. He entered the hallway, grabbed Quinn’s arm, and led him down the hall. “Have the castle and grounds searched at once. The lass has vanished.”

“I thought she was feverish.”

“She was. Someone must have helped her to leave from here,” Dashiell said.

“The lad? Her brother?”

Dashiell frowned. “Aye, mayhap.”

As Quinn strode to the stairs, Lynette came looking for Dashiell. “I see you are still entertaining Ella.”

“She is gone.”

“Gone? She should be locked in one of the towers.”

“Did you dream last night?”

“Nay, come to think of it, I had a wonderful sleep. I believe I overslept as I never heard the bell?—”

“I dinna believe it was rung this morning. Perhaps you can spend time with the other ladies, as I must handle business.” Then he would tell Lynette it was time for her to return home.

“Another hunt?”

Dashiell frowned. “I must know why my servant didna wake the staff before sunrise to begin their daily chores.” He had to find the lass right away.

After an hour of searching for Ella at Cairn Castle, Quinn found Dashiell getting his mount ready to ride with James and his kin.

“We have found no sign of the lady. And no sign of the lad either. The blacksmith said Finnegan was supposed to work early this morning, though he had overslept, but the boy wasna on his straw bed when he woke.”

“I suspected you wouldna find either. Gather our men. We will search the area around the stream. My healer tells me the lady willna survive with the wound she received as feverish as she has been if she returns to the forest this soon.” Not to mention, he was worried for her safety if what she said about MacAfee wanting to kill her was true and he found her first.

When fifteen of Dashiell’s men mounted their horses, Quinn said, “My wife pleaded with me no’ to go. She says that she fears for our safety as you have wounded a magical creature who will want to punish you and those of us who aid you for injuring her.”

“I think Ella knows I wish her no harm.” When they entered the forest, Dashiell said, “Listen.”

“I hear nothing except for the sound of our horses,” Quinn said.

“Is that no’ odd? No birds are chirping or rabbits or squirrels scurrying underfoot.”

They rode deeper into the forest, and the men stared in disbelief when they came upon the stream.

“Where is the water?” Dashiell rode his horse onto the dry stream bed and stared north, then turned south to observe the dry stream bed in that direction. Glancing down at the rounded stones, Dashiell spied violets, and he dismounted from his horse and picked them up. “She has been here.”

“The deer willna come here without water for them to drink,” Quinn said.

Dashiell and his men were determined to uncover why the water had stopped flowing towards the sea. They followed the dry streambed until they discovered a dam blocking its path. Some of Dashiell's men were convinced that magic was involved in this unusual occurrence.

However, upon closer inspection, it was clear that men had placed logs, twigs, and rocks in the way to stop the water's flow. Dashiell immediately dismounted from his horse and began clearing the blockage, with his men joining in to help. Once the debris was removed, the water could resume its journey towards the sea.

“You dinna think the lass had something to do with this, do you?” one of his men asked Dashiell.

“Nay.” Dashiell drank from his flask. “It had nothing to do with magic.” He pointed to the footprints across the stream on the other side. “Do you see the prints left by men’s sized boots? We have no’ been on that side of the stream. Men have done this.”

That’s when he thought of MacAfee.

After spending hours clearing the stream and searching for Ella, they were forced to return to the castle without her as night fell. As they sat down to eat, one of Dashiell's foresters approached him with news.

"We saw Ella and her beloved deer returning to the stream," the man reported.

Dashiell jumped up from his seat so quickly that he knocked over his ale. "Is she alright?" he demanded, already heading towards the door.

He signaled for Laird Whittington, Fallon, James, and his kin to follow him as he rushed out of the great hall.

"She was favoring her left arm but otherwise seemed well," the forester replied.

“I must find her.”

“She slipped back into the forest as soon as she saw us. She seems more skittish than before.”

“I must see her,” Dashiell said as he headed for the stables. He wouldn’t believe she was all right unless he saw her, and then he would try to convince her to return with him. He truly feared for her safety should she stay in the forest.

When Dashiell mounted his horse with the others, Lynette joined him and said, “I wish to go too.”

“Nay, you will stay here. I dinna wish any further incidents between the two of you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“The lady is mute. She canna speak.”

“She speaks when she wishes to.” Lynette tilted her chin up haughtily.

“Even when she was in a great deal of pain, she said no’ a word. I believe she canna speak.”

“Then you are saying you do no’ believe me?” Lynette folded her arms in a huff.

“Something akin to that.”

“Well, I canna believe you would take her word…”

“She canna speak.”

“Och!” Lynette said, then stormed back toward the castle.

“You will be leaving with your escort as soon as you are packed,” Dashiell called after her. He hoped her da wouldn’t take up arms against him, saying he’d treated his darling daughter horribly, but she was a holy terror.

“I wish to know Ella’s version of the situation between her and Lady Lynette in the woods. I imagine it will be quite different,” Dashiell said to Quinn as he watched the lady rush into the castle.

“Then the lady lied as we suspected.”

“Precisely. I mean what I say. I want her sent back to her people posthaste.”

“Truly, I believe most will feel that way about the woman. I’ve heard rumors that you never take a woman on the hunt and did so with Lynette because you wished to wed her.

“That is the farthest thing from my mind.”

“Aye, but you know how rumors go. One little thing incites them.” Quinn let out his breath.

“What?” Dashiell asked, figuring there was more that Quinn had not told him.

He usually didn’t put much stake in rumors unless it had something to do with someone planning to hurt another person, and he could prevent it. Quinn had never mentioned them to him, so he knew something else was bothering him.

“Some say that Ella terrorized MacAfee and their men when they stayed here after the celebration.”

Dashiell raised his brows, giving Quinn a look of incredulity.

“I know it’s preposterous, but they believe she made them dream of terrifying things.”

“Is that so? Well, I heard that some believe ghosts were the cause of MacAfee and his men leaving in the middle of the night.” But it made Dashiell wonder, since several had dreams of the elusive woman in green, could others have nightmares that had anything to do with her like Lynette had?

Dashiell shook his head. “I dinna believe it.” Then he frowned. “Why would a couple of men beat up Geoffrey MacNeill, trying to learn if he knew the lady of the forest? And then why would they block up the stream if they had been the same people involved in the other action? Did MacAfee or his men mention Ella to our people when they were here?”

“No’ that I know of.”

Dashiell rubbed his bearded chin. “I saw Ella when MacAfee and his men arrived at Cairn Castle for the celebration.”

Quinn raised his brows, then smiled. “Did you now? And you didna tell me?”

“None of you had told me about her at the time, so I didna know she was the mysterious woman of the forest.”

“Yet even then, you were intrigued.”

“Aye. But my point is she was watching when MacAfee arrived. She disappeared as soon as I saw her. If they returned here, hoping to hunt her down—that she was their whole purpose in coming to celebrate with us?—”

“Instead, they left the castle in terror and never returned.”

“But what if they had? What if they, or some of MacAfee’s men, have been visiting the forest trying to locate her?”

“For what reason?”

“To kill her—like she said.”