"Damnation. We'll find him."
"Is she hurt badly?" Lachlan dropped to his knees beside him in the darkness.
"Her head hit a stump. I have to get her back to the castle. She says Claybourne has taken her wee son hostage. He's only six."
"What a bastard," Lachlan growled. "Want me to go after him? I can take half the men, and leave half with you."
Rebbie paused for a moment, considering. "I don't ken what you'd be up against."
"Do you think he'd hurt the lad?" Lachlan asked.
"Let's get her back to the castle, and maybe she can tell us more aboutClaybourne'splans." Rebbie lifted Calla and carried her through the wood. While he worried about her son, he couldn't send his friend into an unknown situation. Claybourne might demand that Calla be traded for her son. Could be a volatile circumstance, which would put her son in even more danger than if they waited.
Calla squirmed in his arms. "I must… find Jamie."
"Aye, we will. Do you ken where Claybourne lives?"
"Aye. South of Perth. An estate calledBonnyridge."
"Good. We'll go get him when we ken you're all right."
"I am."
She would say that, of course, even if she couldn't stand upright. Once they neared their horses among the trees, some of the men brought torches and lanterns forward. He sat her on the ground and bade one of them to hold a torch for him. The flame glinted off the tears in Calla's eyes.
"Shh.'Twillbe all right. Let me see the back of your head."
She turned and he parted her hair. A large patch of blood had drenched her light hair. It could be a bad wound, but since she was conversing well, 'twas a good sign.
He stood. "I'll mount and then you hand her up to me," he told Lachlan.
"Aye."
Once they were mounted with Calla securely on his lap and leaning against one arm, they headed back to Tummel. "Just rest for a few minutes," he said.
Back at the castle, Rebbie carried her up the steps and into the great hall where his father sat waiting. He arose and came forward, a concerned look on his face. "I'm glad you've returned. Was she injured?"
"Aye. She hit her head on a stump in the wood. I'll return in a few minutes." Rebbie summoned the housekeeper who had not returned to bed after Calla's disappearance.
Mistress Hillman and two maids followed him as he carried Calla up to her bedchamber. "Light several candles and add wood to the fire," he said to the maids. "Does Tummel have a healer?" he asked Mistress Hillman.
"Nay,m'laird. There's one in a village about ten miles away."
"'Slud." He was no healer, but he'd seen to many injuries on the battlefield. He lifted Calla's arm and checked for broken bones. "Tell me if this hurts."
When he pressed against her shoulder, she hissed through her teeth. "That hurts. I landed on it."
"You'll have a bruise." He checked her other limbs and didn't find any broken. "Does your head hurt?"
"Aye."
"Allow me to wash the blood from her hair,m'laird," Mistress Hillman said.
"Very well. Just be careful."
"I will. Don't youfashyourself." She used a basin filled with cold water and a clean cloth.
"Go bring some boiling water and some willow bark,Cait," she told one of the maids, who then hurried out the door.
