"God's blood! We don't have time for this! The Camerons are on our tail. I'll take your horse, Scroggie. You hide and, once the Camerons are gone, take my horse to the farrier in the village, there. Then, meet us in Stirling in a day or two."
Frowning, Scroggie nodded.
Dobson stood staring at the canvas the lass was wrapped in. "Is she still alive?"
"Aye, of course. Why do you ask?"
"She hasn't moved or made a sound."
Holme limped toward her, remembering she had broken his fall from the horse. She was a fragile little thing. He hoped she hadn't broken her neck, because he did want to have some fun with her. He unrolled her from the canvas and turned her onto her back, finding she wore naught but a soot-stained white smock she'd obviously slept in the night before. It conformed enticingly to her every curve. Her pale skin was smudged as well. Her beautiful blond hair was unbound and tangled about her shoulders. He saw no blood upon her but she lay unmoving, as limp as a wet rag, her eyes closed.
"Kristina?" Holme nudged her with his foot. She did not respond. Was she dead?
Annoyance and regret punched at him. Hell, he didn't know why he liked her so much. She was not a strong enough woman for him. No doubt a bedding from him would kill her, if she wasn't already dead.
Grunting at the pains shooting through his knee, he crouched next to her and placed his finger beneath her nose. In the cool morning air, he felt a slight stirring and warmth coming from her nostrils. "She's breathing. She was injured in the fall. That's all." That made him feel a mite better.
"Horses!" Dobson yelled as he stared in the direction they'd come from, his agitated gelding stamping about.
Holme heard the distant sound of hooves pounding the earth, growing closer and closer. "Hell! 'Tis the Camerons." They had not come into view yet.
Holme cursed, picked up Kristina and tossed her over his shoulder. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his knee, he trotted with her toward the kirk, the closest structure in the area. "Take the horses into the wood behind the kirk!" he yelled to his men. "Then, scatter and circle back around. Kill every Cameron you see! They'll never suspect I'm in the kirk."
He opened the door, went in and closed it. He placed Kristina onto the wooden floor, then dragged a heavy oak shelf laden with items in front of the door.
He drew his sword, fury and the need for revenge quickening his blood. Kristina might be near death, but he forced himself not to care. His main concern was Colin Cameron. "If 'tis him, he's a dead man," Holme growled.
***
As Colin and his search party rode around the bend, a man was running on foot, leading two horses around the back of a kirk toward the wood.
Colin veered off the road onto the snow-covered area near a small stream. Hooves had torn up the snow, grass and black dirt. Some sort of soot-blackened canvas lay on the ground.
Colin leapt from the horse before it even stopped, placed the targe upon his forearm and drew his sword and dirk. He ran behind the kirk, his friends following, their boots pounding the earth.
Four men, leading five horses, headed into the wood.
"Halt!" Colin ordered. "Or we'll fill you with arrows!"
Releasing the horses, the men stopped and spun around, their swords and targes drawn and ready for battle.
Colin halted, his gaze running over them. He thought two of them looked familiar but didn't know their names.
"Where is Lady Kristina?" he demanded. "And Red Holme?"
The men's faces paled, for they obviously realized they were greatly outnumbered. One by one, they dropped their swords and dirks.
"Where did he take Lady Kristina?" Colin shouted, glancing behind them and farther along into the wood, but seeing no one.
"The door of the kirk is blocked." Ralston yelled behind him. "I tried it."
"He's inside," Colin growled. "Tie them up." He hastened to the front of the kirk with Ralston. Bryce and a few more followed.
Colin beat on the heavy oak door. "Open the door, Holme! Do you think God and the kirk is going to protect you now? After you've done so many evil deeds?"
"Go to hell!" Holme shouted from inside.
Colin ground his teeth. "Give me Lady Kristina unharmed and I won't kill you."
