Emeric spurred the horse onward, following a trail that led deeper into the ravines. His eyes scanned the barren landscape for any hint of coloration or pattern that could suggest a metal deposit, specifically copper. He found nothing.
They dismounted and went on foot, and as they wove their way through the patchwork of jagged cliffs and tumbled stone, his unease grew. It would take an enormous effort for the MacDonalds to even get their men and equipment out here so why were they so keen to do so when there appeared to benothing here?
The day grew hotter as the afternoon wore on, the clouds breaking and the sun beating down on them with no shade in sight. They paused often to drink from the ale skin and eat oatcakes and they found a thin trickle of water coming out of the rocks that Plover could drink from.
Finally, Anna threw up her hands. “There’s nothing here!” She planted her hands firmly on her hips and scowled around as though offended that the landscape would dare to thwart her.
“Aye, looks that way,” Emeric agreed. He kicked a pebble and watched as it skittered down the ravine, echoing off the sharp edges of the stone walls before disappearing into a crevice.
Anna sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She glanced at Emeric, her eyes reflecting the frustration that had been building up for hours. “So what do we do now?” She watched as Plover cropped a bit of grass near a tiny puddle, his brown eyes dull in the heat.
“Perhaps it’s time we headed back to Dun Achmore.”
“And get that fry-up we talked about? That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said all day.”
Emeric smiled and gave an extravagant bow. “Lead on then, my lady. I wouldnae wish to keep ye from that bacon and fried bread ye so desperately crave.”
She grinned in response and began walking over to where Plover was still tugging at the sparse tuft of grass. Emeric was about to follow her when something caught his eye.
Two monstrous boulders sitting side by side blocked a ravine to his left but something didn’t look right about them, as though the angle of the sun caught them all wrong.
He frowned, cocking his head. He walked slowly over, wondering what he was looking at. As he drew closer, he realized why they didn’t look quite right. They weren’t side by side at all and only looked that way from a distance. In fact they were offset, one slightly in front of the other, leaving a wide gap between them.
Emeric ducked through the gap and pulled up short. Another ravine lay beyond, with high walls rising on either side, hiding it from the view of the land above. Wide enough for several wagons abreast, it was as straight as a plumb line and as smooth as river-washed pebbles, distinctly different from the chaotic jumble of terrain they had been navigating.
He looked back towards Anna and Plover. “Anna!” he called, voice echoing slightly in the ravine. “Ye might want to see this.”
She jogged over. “What did you find?” Her eyes widened as she looked out at the ravine. She knelt and ran her fingers across the smooth stones that formed the ground. “It looks like an ancient river bed.”
“Aye,” he agreed. “And I wonder where it leads.”
Emeric fetched Plover and they mounted up and set out into the ravine. They rode steadily for miles, the terrain unchanging until it eventually began to slope downwards.
Finally, they reached its end. As the ravine opened out, Emeric found himself looking out over a vast plain. A sea of golden wheat fields stretched out, swaying rhythmically in the afternoon breeze. The contrast with the forbiddinglandscape they’d just passed through was stark, like entering another world.
On the horizon far into the distance stood a fortress, its towering ramparts wrought in dark stone that glimmered ominously under the sun’s rays. As he recognized it, a cold chill settled into Emeric’s belly.
“Where are we?” Anna asked.
“This is Murray land,” he said. “And that fortress is Dun Carrick, the seat of Clan Murray and Aislinn’s future home.”
Like a wall of mist pulling back before his eyes, the MacDonalds’ plan suddenly became clear. The audacity of it was terrifying. That cold chill inside him deepened, seeming to seep into his bones.
“This is what they are really after,” he said, his voice hoarse. “This was their plan all along.”
“Eh?” Anna said. “Who’s plan?”
“The MacDonalds. This ravine cuts straight across the north of Mackintosh territory, from MacDonald land in the east to Murray land in the west. A straight route, hidden from view, wide enough to march an army unseen.” He met Anna’s troubled gaze. “We thought the MacDonalds had accepted Aislinn’s marriage to Brodie Murray. But they havenae. Not at all. All this time they’ve been planning their revenge, planning to get Aislinn back. And they are going to start a war to do it.”
