Mal lunged at Jamie from behind as George lunged from in front. Jamie dodged George’s half-hearted attack easily and raised the gun again.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement up at the postern gate but I couldn’t look away from the dreadful sight in front of me to focus on it. George was juggling his sword, obviously very reluctant to slice into his brother-in-law, while Jamie held the gun steady now, still talking. Mal, almost embossed on the outline of Jamie, was trying to reach through him for the barrel with his other hand whilst avoiding the sword. I wanted to yell that he couldn’tbestabbed, then realised that we hadn’t tested this theory and the gun barrel had been able to burn Mal. Everything was happening so quickly in such a confusing montage of movement that saying anything was beyond me.
Suddenly, in a flurry of hooves and a rush of sour smell, the goat came hurtling down the slope towards us, trailing a rope and evidently having eluded its handler. It jinked around Lachlan and I and continued on down the path, lowering its head as it went. It aimed for the back of Mal’s legs and accelerated, passed clean through him clearly to both the goat’s and Mal’s consternation, and hit Jamie from behind at knee level.
There was the sound of a shot as Jamie’s legs were swept from underneath him and the gun flew from his fist as he sprawled, trying for balance. He reached out a hand, graspingfor a grip that he failed to find, and he slid desperately for a few moments over the steep grass. There was a momentary pause when he seemed to have steadied himself and arrested his fall, but then gravity took over and his body became a dark, rotating shape for a few seconds, dropping out of sight down towards the jagged rocks beneath the headland and into the hungry mouth of the sea.
Everything went very, very still. It seemed as if even the gulls stopped their mewing calls. There was nothing but pale immobile faces and a dreadful frozen feeling to the air. I was staring at George, who hadn’t moved at all since the gun had fired, my eyes desperately searching for signs of spreading blood or a shattered limb. Mal was looking over the edge in the direction of Jamie’s falling body and George just stood, wide-eyed and almost transparent with shock.
Eventually the goat broke the stasis by letting out a pathetic bleat and trotting on down the track to a particularly tasty-looking clump of grass and we all started to move again.
‘George?’ I stepped towards him, carefully fumbling my way down the incline, squeezing past the still-swearing Mal. ‘Are you all right?’
George took a very, very deep breath and swallowed hard. ‘Aye, my demon,’ he said faintly. ‘I fare well, thank you.’
‘He didn’t shoot you?’ My hands were shaking. I wanted to touch him, to check for blood but, of course, I couldn’t. Lachlan joined us.
‘You’re not hurt?’ Lachlan asked. George stared straight through him.
‘I am… unharmed.’ As though his legs would no longer hold him up, George turned and grasped the stirrup on his saddle. The horse had moved a few paces down the hill, further away from the invisible menace of me, Lachlan and Mal. It seemed to regard the goat as sanctuary and was trying to hide behind it.
‘He went over the edge,’ Mal said faintly. ‘Just… fell.’
‘Is he dead?’ Lachlan tried to lean over to see, but I gripped hold of him and wouldn’t let him step off the path for a better look.
‘If he’s not, I bet he wishes he was,’ Mal said with a return to his usual waspishness. ‘And he’d better be a good swimmer. Also possibly be wearing an Iron Man suit or have a working knowledge of submersibles. No, Lachlan, I think he’s dead.’ The wobble in his voice gave away the shock that his words did their best to conceal.
George was slumped against the horse. The goat was regarding them both with an expression of utter disdain, but at least seemed to have been dissuaded from a further attack on Mal. ‘Jamie wanted to kill me.’ George’s voice was weak. ‘I would never… what am I to tell Isobel?’ A shaky arm passed over his eyes. ‘Jamie…’ His voice was trembling now. ‘Oh, Jamie lad, what did I ever do to you?’
‘I think we ought to go back up to the castle,’ I said, trying to sound as though I had any authority here. ‘You can’t ride on until you’re feeling a bit more… until you’ve got over this.’
‘Aye.’ Still gripping the stirrup, George turned his horse’s head. It was reluctant to walk on while we stood there, so Mal, Lachlan and I went on ahead up the slope and back through the postern, where George’s re-emergence after his leaving came as some surprise to the occupants, who had clearly heard nothing of what had gone on on the track.
‘My lord?’ Fergus came running up. ‘What ails ye?’
George let go of the horse and Fergus took the bridle. ‘There has been… an accident,’ George said carefully. ‘Yes. An accident. Jamie Kintail has fallen to the sea below us.’
There was a moment of muttering and a few looked around and then crossed themselves. Fergus called to Jeannie and shecame bustling over, took one look at George and went off again, returning a moment later with Kenna.
‘The earl needs a draught,’ Kenna said, looking at George. ‘I’ll just fetch my herbs and make up a wee potion.’
Kaylinn and David, still grey-faced although not hanging onto one another now, came over to us.
‘Did he…?’ David asked.
‘Yes,’ Mal replied.
‘Did you…?’
‘No. It was the goat.’
‘We couldn’t see what happened,’ Kaylinn explained. ‘There seemed to be a lot going on down there.’
I looked over to where George was sitting now on one of the castle steps. Cellar Dog had gone over and was dribbling on him, which George seemed to regard as vaguely comforting. He fondled the dog’s ears while staring straight ahead as though hypnotised.
‘He’s in shock,’ I said. ‘I’m going to talk to him.’
‘Yes, because the presence of an intangible demon from another time isjustwhat you need to cheer you up after a near-death experience.’ Mal had clearly recovered from his own shock. ‘And, for the record, my hand is burning like a bastard.’ He unclenched his fist to reveal a blistering palm.
