When she drew nearer with the candle, she saw that Alpin lay prone on the rock pile. She gasped. "What happened?" she asked Torr, then remembered he couldn't answer in kelpie form.
He snorted.
Finnian rushed forward and pressed his hand against the man's chest. "I feel nay heartbeat. He's dead!"
Torr gave another brief nod.
"Saints," Finnian murmured. "We must tell the chief."
What had happened? She didn't see how Torr could've killed him. He didn't appear to have been trampled.
Glancing at Torr and his lustrous white coat, Cat was shocked to see a dark red stain on his haunch. "Is that blood? What happened? Were you injured?"
He nickered.
"What do you think, Finnian? Is that a bad wound?" She held the candle closer.
Finnian examined the injury. "Appears to be a graze from a lead ball. Did he shoot you?"
Torr nodded.
"Good heavens," Cat breathed. "I'm thankful you weren't hurt worse."
"I heard nay gunshot, but I was fighting an owl," Finnian said.
"I did," she recalled. "But I thought 'twas part of my dream. Are you in much pain?"
Torr shook his head, then his whole body, as if dusting off the dirt, his long mane flowing and glimmering in the moonlight. He was such a beautiful creature, even if he was cursed.
Cat hugged him around his muscular neck. "I'm glad you're well."
He nickered again and nuzzled against her. How sweet he was.
A terrible thought occurred to her, and she pulled back. "Did Wilona find the keek-stane?"
"Nay," Finnian said. "I had it well hidden."
"Thank the saints! She'll be even weaker now without Alpin's help."
"Aye, but a desperate witch is a dreadful thing," Finnian said, then turned toward the stable loft and yelled, "Charlie?" After several moments of silence, the old man muttered aside. "That lad could sleep through a fearsome gale."
Cat figured that if the shot and ruckus hadn't awakened him, nothing would.
"I'll get the numpty up." Maude stamped into the stables.
Once Charlie emerged, he, Maude, and Finnian wrapped Alpin's body in the plaid he wore.
"Chief MacTavish will need to be notified," Finnian said. "Likely, he will want to give his cousin a proper burial on clan lands. For now, we'll carry his corpse to the cellar." Finnian pointed toward steps leading down beside the castle. "'Tis cooler underground. Aggie, can you carry the candle to light our way?"
"Aye," she responded and set out ahead of them.
Cat shuddered, hating to see any man completely wrapped in his plaid like a shroud. 'Twas unsettling, even though Alpin had been a menace and had tried to kill Torr. She combed her fingers through his sumptuous kelpie mane. "I'm so thankful you're all right," she whispered.
He snuggled his huge head against her like a lovable pet horse.
"I should brush your beautiful mane." She tried to loosen some of the tangles with her fingers.
A few minutes later, Finnian, Maude, Aggie and Charlie returned to the courtyard. The lad loped back into the stables, no doubt to resume his slumber.
