“’Tis too risky.”
“There is nay other choice. If they catch us here without a way to escape, we are dead.” His horse snorted as if sensing Cailin’s tension. “If I shout for you to go, ride hard to Taog’s camp.”
Red swept up her cheeks and she withdrew her bow, tapped a quiver secured on her mount. “I willna leave you.”
Exasperation and fury shot through him that she’d dare argue. If anything happened to her… Cailin kicked his steed over and caught her mount’s reins. “Youwilldo what I say!”
Her jaw tightened, a stubborn look he’d grown wellfamiliar with.
“Swear it now!” he snapped.
Green eyes narrowed. “I swear it, but Idinna like it.”
* * * *
Elspet’s heart pounded as Cailin withdrew his sword, then kicked his horse toward the exit. With each step away, her chestsqueezed tight.
What if he died and never came back?
Terror roared through her as he started around a boulder. “Cailin.”
He turned.
I love you!Stunned by the words tangled in her throat, she fought for calm. “Damn you, come back to me.”
For a moment, something flashed in his eyes, a dark desire that ignited hope that he cared for her more than she’d believed. He gave a curt nod, kicked his destrier forward.
After nocking an arrow in her bow, she glanced skyward, where the sun’s brilliant rays flooded the sky. “Please God,keep him safe.”
Long moments passed, and with each one, her fear built. Why had she agreed to stay behind? She skimmed her finger over the feathered flight. She wasn’t a helpless woman. The blasted, thick, pea-brained idiot. When he returned, she’d…
The soft clop of hooves had her drawingthe arrow back.
* * * *
Cailin guided his steed around the rocks toward where Elspet waited, cursing himself for placing her in danger. He should have shortened his talk with Taog, woken her and departed at dawn as originally planned; then they would have arrived at the tunnel hours ago.
As he rounded the last boulder, he saw her relax her hold on the arrow, then lower her bow. Her shoulders sagged.
“You didna have a chance to erase our tracks,” she said.
“Nay. By the time I reached the entry, they were too close. If I had tried, I would have been seen. Thankfully, they rode past a good distance away without incident. From where I hid I couldna I tell in which direction they went after they rodeout of view.”
“Could you hear them speak as they passed?”
“Only bits. They have broken into several groups in hopes of picking up our tracks.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Which, nay doubt, however careful we are, they will find. We need to be long gone before then.”
She stowed her bow and arrow, then guided her mount beside his. “We canna ride to the secret entry with the earl’s men about; ’tistoo dangerous.”
“I agree. We will travel north for a ways, then circle back to the cave we stayed in the other night.”
“Why not return to Taog’s camp?”
He shook his head. “I refuse to risk leaving a trail exposing a connection between us and the Romani.” Cailin reined his mount forward. “Let us go.”
Snow muted the clack of hooves as they wove through the maze.
At the entry, he paused, searched the surrounding area. Beyond the clearing, snow-drenched hills lay before him, fragmented with jagged walls of sheer rock, smothered with thick, green slashes of fir woven with leafless stocky oaks, ash, and birch.
