Page 5 of Stolen Highland Dreams (The Highlanders #9)

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“ Y ou saw him on the hunt? The chief of Cairn Castle?” Mina asked as Ella combed Mina’s long, soft white hair. She frowned at her, appearing exasperated with her.

Ella knew Mina wished she had tried to communicate with the laird.

Ella nodded. No man was as impressive. His tall composure as he was seated on his big roan made her feel even smaller. His muscular figure was imposing and commanding. She heard the other hunters with him tell him about her. He was searching for her for the first time while on the hunt.

He was the one who gave the orders, the one everyone listened to, the one she couldn’t take her eyes off.

It was the second time he laid eyes on her. Though he might not realize she was the same woman he had seen in the forest when he was welcoming MacAfee at her castle. She had been more out in the open with him than with his other men. She’d only allowed brief glimpses of herself with them once she’d ensured they were not affiliated with MacAfee.

When his men told him about her, she wanted desperately to speak with him, to tell him her whole story, but she couldn’t. Not without a voice. What if he locked her up in his dungeon for being in his woods, and she couldn’t return to Mina and her family?

She was surprised Dashiell hadn’t shot the deer when she held up her hand to stop him. What a foolish gesture she had made! He could have hit her and the deer! For some reason, he had just frozen with indecision. She’d gotten away, but she was just lucky.

She knew where to run and where to hide, and her green gowns helped to conceal her in the woods. Worse, her veil had snagged on a branch, and she’d had to return in the dark to find it once the men had stopped searching for her. She was glad they had not found it.

She stroked Mina’s hair some more. She was grateful that Mina had taken her and her kin in and protected them over the years. It was Ella's turn to care for the kindly, old woman.

Though in the village, when Ella had gone for supplies, she'd heard the whispered words that Mina was a witch, and no one dared cross her. No one knew Ella lived with her, or they might have called her a witch too. Mina was not a witch. Gifted, aye, but not a witch.

Mina sighed. “After all these years, I had hoped you would find your voice. You must, you ken. The chief willna help you if you canna speak with him. He and the others of his ilk will think you daft.”

That was why Ella hadn’t allowed the laird to find her. She had thought the same.

“You canna live with me always. I am old. Older than some of the trees in this forest. Your place is within the walls of the keep, safe from harm, Ella, no’ out here in the woods with me. No’ now that MacAfee no longer rules there. It should be safe at Castle Cairn now, but you must learn to speak again. Amelda and your brother also need to be there.”

Mina took a deep breath, turned, and took Ella’s hands in hers, her gray eyes soft, yet her jaw was set. “I have called you Ella, one who is a beautiful fairy, one who enjoys life. You are no longer a young girl but a woman full grown. ‘Tis time you have a guardian who can protect you, and you can use your true name, take your rightful place, and make a home among your people.”

Her people. Dashiell’s people were not her own. She’d watched the men hunting, the women gathering flowers in the meadow, and the lads fishing in the stream, and she knew they were not her clansmen.

Oh, how she had hoped she would recognize someone she had known. Anyone from her past. Like the blacksmith who had aided them.

But her people were gone. All gone. She’d hoped beyond hope that some of them had made it out alive, that she’d seen some of them escape. The more she thought about it, the more the darkness closed in on her, shutting out the memories.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to live in the castle. They lived a simple life out here of fishing, catching birds, and gathering mushrooms, herbs, and berries, which she sometimes bartered at the market so they could buy other supplies they needed. They took care of each other. Yet, she knew it was forbidden to be here.

“You canna protect the deer of the woods always, lass. If you are no’ careful, you could be injured. The laird has every right to hunt in his woods. So do his men. They claim these woods for their own. When they, in truth, are your woods to claim. No’ that anyone will listen to you—a woman without a voice.”

Ella nodded.

“With a name that could mean trouble for you should you share it with anyone—unless you have MacTavish’s protection. I’ve been thinking it over. I fear you dinna have long before some of MacTavish’s men or the laird himself discover us. Instead of being caught out here, you must…you must seek the laird out and beg for his protection.”

Ella thought her brother should get work first and find his way in the world. For now, this was her home. She knew Mina would never agree to leave the forest. Ella envisioned living in the castle where the darkness awaited her.

She could sense it deep within her bones every time she approached the place. She had a strong aversion to going there, yet an inexplicable pull towards it. She knew that if she weren't cautious, she would meet the same fate as her people before her.

Mina scoffed. “You will havena choice before long, Ella. I pray you will find the courage to…” She shook her head. “I was wrong to take you in. I should have found a family to care for you in the village. Even if you didna live in the castle, you would have had a family.”

Ella shook her head vigorously. Mina was their family. Even if she denied it, Ella believed Mina had needed them as much as they had needed her.

Mina sighed. “I ken, lass. You might no’ have been safe there, either. MacAfee and his men searched the village on and off for years. Come, let us prepare the stew. Mark my words, you must ask for the laird’s protection before long. I am no’ long for this world. I've prepared you for my passing, taught you all I know, but in the end, you canna live here forever like I have.”

Ella looked at Mina and stubbornly raised her chin. She thought she could live here in the hut so buried in vines and moss that it was invisible to the rest of the world. But Amelda needed to be with others.

Mina had been like a grandmother to them, though she had told her for years that Ella was not to call her that. She was not their grandmother. That Ella was destined for more.

But Ella would never abandon her. When the time came, and Mina was gone, Ella would try to get work at Cairn Castle if they would allow her to bring Amelda.

Unable to quit thinking of the woman in the woods, Dashiell readied himself for bed, yanked off his boots, and spoke with Christopher, an orphaned Saxon of sixteen summers that Dashiell had saved in a tavern brawl and who had pledged his loyalty ever since, serving him as his personal guard.

“You have hunted with me before in the Caledonian Forest.” Dashiell sat on the edge of his feather-filled mattress. “Have you ever seen Ella, the Nymph of the Forest?”

Christopher smiled and shook his dark curly hair, his amber eyes dancing with amusement. “Nay. However, I had heard of a woman from the Caledonian Forest for many years since I was young. I was born at Wharram Percy on the Yorkshire Wolds, you know.”

“This woman couldna be very old.”

“Nay, my laird.”

“What have you heard then?”

“The lady I have heard of lives deep in the woods where no man ever goes, no hunter, no forester, no thief. They say she has magical powers, and if any invade her territory or threaten her in any way, they vanish, never to be seen or heard of again.”

Dashiell laughed. “Nonsense.” He removed his sheathed sword and his belt and frowned. “Besides, the forest within our clan’s boundaries is ours. It isna hers.”

“‘Tis only a tale.” Christopher hung up Dashiell’s belt and sword.

“Of course.” After changing into a clean léine, Dashiell climbed into bed. He yanked his fur covers to his chest, folded his arms behind his head, and stared at the ceiling.

“Do you wish for me to get you anything?”

“Aye, the lady in green.”

Christopher smiled. “I believe she is an owl tonight.”

“So I have heard. Sleep, Christopher. I need naught else tonight.”

When Christopher climbed onto his own trestle bed beside the west wall, Dashiell wondered about the woman, who she was, why she was in the forest, and how she had befriended the deer until his eyes grew heavy with sleep, and he finally shut them and drifted off.

A mist filled the forest—cool and serene, the sunlight filtering through the dense leaves. Dashiell approached the stream on horseback, staring at the familiar surroundings, thinking of her—the red-haired nymph when he spied a deer drinking from the brook. He nudged his horse closer.

In the muted greens of the forest, he saw Ella holding a spray of violets in her hand as she seemed to appear next to the deer suddenly. The animal stopped drinking from the brook, lifted its head, and stared at him. Not at Ella, as Dashiell would have expected. The deer regarded her as though she was just another deer, joining him, unafraid.

Seeing the deer’s attention diverted, Ella looked in the same direction and observed Dashiell. He was dressed in his shirt and plaid; otherwise, he was as cloaked in the woods as she was. The sun’s rays grew bolder, burning away the mist, and now he could see the woman more clearly as her hair flowed freely, cascading over her shoulders and reaching her belt.

His loins tightening, his need to capture her compelling him to move closer, he urged his mount forward as she watched. As if she did not fear him, she knelt beside the water’s edge and placed the flowers in the stream. Her fair skin shone in the filtered light of the trees as she stood.

Her gaze followed the flowers as they floated, dipping and rising on the swells in the tumbling water for some time. She looked back to see Dashiell still observing her. In that instant, he saw a terrible sadness in her green eyes, tears shimmering, ready to spill.

Before he could react and cross the stream and learn who she was, she turned, moving like a wisp of green silk caught by the breeze, flowing, blending, and vanishing into the woods.

“No!” Dashiell shouted.

“What’s the matter?” Christopher jumped from his trundle bed as three clansmen rushed into the chamber, swords drawn.

Dashiell stared at them for a moment, still foggy-headed, trying to remember what had disturbed him. Then, he frowned. “It was only a dream.”

“Of Ella?” Christopher asked.

Dashiell lay back down without saying a word. Aye, that was what he had dreamed of— her , Ella tantalizing him, teasing him, forcing him to desire her when he had no idea who she truly was.

“They say that once you catch sight of the lady, your dreams are no longer your own.”

Looking over at the young man and his clansmen, who were waiting to hear what he had to say about Christopher’s claim, Dashiell assured them, “She willna rule my dreams.”

His men looked at him with skepticism as if they knew better.

Ella woke fitfully in the hut that night, thinking of everything Mina had told her. She’d had the weirdest dream about the chief of Cairn Castle again.

Only this time, she had been crouched at the stream, tears in her eyes, as she set a handful of wild meadowland violets on the water as a tribute to her mother, da, and the rest of her clan every spring while the flowers were in bloom.

Dashiell was watching her, trying to get closer to her, like a wolf stalking its prey, slowly, ever so slowly, observing her every movement, any indication that she would take flight.

While he’d been staying still, she hadn’t minded him spying on her. If he’d kept his distance, she would have continued to stay by the stream, her heart heavy with sadness.

Tears had streamed down her cheeks, and she had desperately tried to free herself from the depths of sadness. Then she finally awoke, realizing it had all been but a dream.

Ella glanced at her brother, Mina, and her heart dropped when she saw Amelda was no longer on her straw mattress tucked under her furs.

Her heart beating out of control, Ella hurried out of bed and dressed. Then, she shook her brother awake and pointed at Amelda’s empty mattress.

Her brother wiped the sleep from his eyes, jerked his blankets aside, and stood. “I didna hear her leave.”

Mina was sound asleep, and Ella didn’t want to wake her. She grabbed her sword and sgian dubh and hurried out of the hut. Armed with his sword, her brother quickly followed her.

Amelda squealed off in the distant woods, and they ran to her aid. Ella’s heart was practically pounding out of her chest. After protecting Amelda for the last five years, Ella couldn’t believe she could lose her young cousin now.

They raced through the tall bracken when she and her brother normally moved swiftly but quietly. She was afraid they would be too late. They scared a roe deer that leaped out of their path. At any other time, they would use lots more caution as they moved through the brush, not wanting to be seen or heard.

“What are you doing alone in the forest?” one of five bearded men asked as he held Amelda’s wrist.

She struggled to free herself. She looked as terrified as Ella felt as she and her brother hid in the bracken nearby.

Ella was glad her brother wasn’t as headstrong as she could be, or he might have bolted into the men’s path and tried to take them on.

“Have you lost your mother? Your da, wee lassie?” the same man asked.

His kind manner put Ella slightly at ease. Though he could pretend to care about Amelda to learn who she belonged to and why she was alone.

“If you dinna let me go, Ella will make you pay for it,” Amelda said, her chin up and defiant, but her eyes were filled with tears.

Nay, she didn’t just say that. They were never to say their names in the woods unless forced to, and then they would give another name.

Ella motioned to her brother to stay. He shook his head. She grabbed a nearby twig and wrote in the dirt: Stay. If I need your help, I’ll motion to you.

She didn’t know if the men were some of MacAfee’s, and she didn’t want them to know her brother was also out here if she could help it.

Finnegan nodded, though he was frowning. She knew he didn’t like her plan.

Ella cautiously made her way to the clearing. She didn’t want to startle the men who might think brigands were setting upon them if they were not themselves villains.

When she moved out of the trees, the men turned to see her. She pointed her sword at them as if they would be afraid of her display of aggression.

Ella!” Amelda cried out, jerked her wrist free, and ran to throw her arms around Ella in a grateful hug.

Ella backed into the bracken with Ella, and then she, her cousin, and her brother raced off.

“That’s her!” the one man exclaimed.

“Aye, I know. We must catch her.”

Ella motioned for her brother to take Amelda away from her, and they ran off to the west, where they would hide in their special places, thatched covers over shallow dugouts they had made in strategic places throughout the forest. They were off the trails where humans, deer, and wild boar traveled.

They didn’t want anyone accidentally finding their hiding places and searching for others. She could envision them putting sentinels out to watch for them should they try to use them again.

Ella popped up to let the men glimpse her so they would follow her and not her brother and cousin so they could get away.

“The lasses went this way!” one of the men said, his voice a mixture of disbelief that they’d seen her and enthusiasm at the prospect of catching her.

She swiftly changed her path several times, keeping low after that so that she couldn’t be followed. After five years of practicing and playing hide and seek with her brother and cousin, they were very good at it. She didn’t know why her cousin had been so far from the hut before Ella had woken.

The men had been close behind her, traipsing through the woods, noisily making their presence known, while she had been quiet, quick, and concealed like the deer.

She’d heard them speaking low for a while, but now they were so far away that she took the chance to head back to the hut. She hoped her brother and Amelda had returned safely.

When she finally arrived near the hut, she waited, not moving, to ensure no one was around. Then she saw her brother and cousin dash into the hut.

She gave a relieved sigh. Then she heard something rustling through the brush near her, snuffling and snorting, its pig eyes catching sight of her. She raced to the hut and ran inside.

“Were they after you?” her brother asked, panting, breathless.

She shook her head, put her fingers on her face, and indicated tusks.

He said, “Boar!”

Ella put her finger on her lips. They were to always speak quietly during daylight hours. Looking at Amelda, Ella raised her hands and brows in question. Why did she go outside and run so far from the hut?

“A kitten was mewing nearby. I had to find it,” Amelda said. “She ran away, and the men found me.”

“You are no’ supposed to leave the hut without one of us being with you,” Finnegan said.

Her brother was often Ella’s voice of reason, so she didn’t always have to write everything down. Though she was teaching them how to read and write simultaneously, she would prefer it if she could talk, too.

Finnegan shook his head. “You know we canna have a cat or dog here. They would meow or bark and give us away. You dinna remember, but Ella had to work extra hard to keep us safe when you were a baby, crying for food or because you were wet and needed to be changed.”

“Aye.” Amelda looked down at the dirt floor.

Ella knew Amelda had been scared to death when the men had caught her, and she’d done wrong, but she could understand how she felt about having a pet to love. She wrote in the dirt: No harm done. We’re all safe.

Amelda looked at Finnegan, and he read the words to her. Amelda pursed her mouth. “You have a puppy.”

Ella sighed. She wrote: The pup is a wolf and mostly on his own.

“Aye,” Finnegan whispered. “He doesna come around here much.”

Are you going to the castle this morn? Ella wrote in the dirt.

Finnegan said, “Nay. No’ after what happened with Amelda.”

Mina opened her eyes and frowned. “Why have you not begun to do your chores?”