Page 38 of The Anguish of the Scottish Lairds (Clans of Mull #3)
Eva
Eva was ready to go, hoping they’d soon have the opportunity to put this all behind them. The bairns had come through it as if it were nothing, though Connor had gone directly up to Tora and asked, “Are you going anywhere soon, lassie?”
Tora had given her grandsire a hug and said, “Nay, I staying here to play. We go home on the mowwow.”
Connor had looked at his daughter and rolled his eyes. “I’ll just ask her from now on. She tells all.”
Dyna had smiled and kissed her father’s cheek. “Staying put for one day, Da.”
At the last minute, just before they were to head out the door, Tora had run over to Sloan, lifted her arms so he would pick her up, then whispered something in his ear.
Eva asked him what she said, but he’d replied, “Naught that I understood. Something about an apple orchard.”
Then the wee lass had shoved away from his chest to be let down before running off to play with the others.
Thus, the group consisted of Sloan and Eva, Thane, Connor, Alasdair, Alaric, and Eli.
As they approached the isle, Alasdair asked, “How many buildings should we search? Or is any building more likely to hold the scavengers?”
Thane said, “We’re headed to the village of Arinagour. That’s where we’re going ashore. It has several merchant buildings because the ferry boats land here. There is a castle on the southern end on a loch, but we’re not going that far. It’s MacClane land and no help to us. We’ll go to the market, and I’ll be direct and ask for Odart. Bastard should be well known by now.”
Eva huddled close to Sloan, the breeze cool. “Do you think we’ll find them?” she whispered.
“I do. Where else would they be? I bet they are all discussing the creature from the sea at the moment. I don’t understand any of it, so I’m not mentioning it to anyone.”
“What about my brother? Would Lennox believe us?” Eva asked.
“Nay,” Sloan said. “I wouldn’t believe it if anyone told me.”
“You don’t believe in seers, so that’s not a surprise,” she drawled. “Have you changed your mind about Dyna and Tora yet?”
“I almost did when we were told that Dyna could see us in the separate boats, but anyone with good vision could have guessed that. I’m not convinced yet, but …”
“There’s doubt, isn’t there?” Eva squeezed his arm and smiled.
He cast a sideways glance at her and said, “There is. I’ll admit it. I’d believe it of Dyna more than a child.”
“And Lia?”
“I will not discuss Lia. Nay, will not discuss. And that thing she gave Maeve? What the hell was that? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“She said it was from the Norse, but it worked. Maeve clung to it and her head popped right up in the water, and she had a gown on. I don’t know how that didn’t drag her under, but it helped because I could pull her along easily.”
“And the oddest part? Once we got to shore, no one could find it.”
“I know. I looked for it. If she’d left it in the water, it should have floated.”
“But it wasn’t anywhere to be found.”
They found themselves pulling up to a long dock, the only boat there. A couple of fishermen nearby shouted over, “Welcome to the Isle of Coll. Who are you looking for?”
“A man named Odart. Know of him?”
“Sure do. Ugly bastard just went up the hill to their land. What business have you with him?”
Sloan looked to Thane, who said, “The kind that will put him out of business. How can we find him?”
“Glad to hear it. Straight up ahead, take the path to the right and down to the end. You’ll find two buildings, a house and a stable that are not kept up. Abandoned buildings they took for their own use.”
“What use is that?” Connor asked.
“Anything questionable and Odart will do it. I like to keep my neck attached so I don’t ask. Hoping someday he’ll cross the wrong person. Who are you?”
Sloan drawled, “The wrong persons.”
The man grinned, showing a missing tooth. “Then we’ll have an ale for you on your return.”
Once they exited the boat, Connor approached the men and said, “Connor Grant of Clan Grant. How many fools are there?”
The man looked Connor up and down before answering. “Only five got off. They tossed two overboard and two headed on to Kilchoan. There was a hell of a battle on Loch Tuath or so I heard. They sounded daft, talking of lightning and faeries and snakes in the water. Know you anything about that?”
Connor grinned and waggled his brow, then drew his sword out of its sheath in one smooth move. “I might. We’ll be back in a few moments for those ales. Then if you want a house or a stable, there will be two available.”
The men chortled for quite a while after the group moved on.
Connor, Sloan, and the rest headed in the direction the fisherman gave them, finding the manor home not far down the right-hand path. The group gathered to plan their attack and Connor said, “I’ll stay here. Thane and Alasdair, go in the front, Alaric and Eli into the stable, Sloan and Eva around back. Whoever finds them, let me know and I’ll get us all together, if we need to.”
Sloan took Eva’s hand, and the two headed around back, finding a small path in the thick forestry to the left side of the house. It would be dark soon, but there was enough light to see the way without much trouble. Just before turning the corner, Sloan said, “Stay here for a moment. Let me see how many there are first.”
Eva nodded, tiptoeing carefully behind him, then stopping as he took a few steps ahead. Just as she was able to admit to herself how much she loved Sloan, he disappeared from view. She vowed to tell him on their journey home, or mayhap later this eve once the evil bastard D was dead. How she prayed they would find him.
She was just about to worry when a sound caught her attention in the bushes. A split second before she was grabbed, the odor hit her. She knew that smell. The cruel man who’d attacked her before was here.
A moment later, D grabbed her from behind and put a hand over her mouth, muffling her scream.