Errol didn’t answer. He just grunted and kicked his horse to move faster.
“Did I say something wrong?” Moira asked after another long silence.
Could the woman ever stop talking? It was as if she had this incessant need to fill the silence. What was wrong with enjoying the sounds of the beautiful nature that surrounded them? The babbling brook they were riding beside. The birds singing high in the trees. The rustle of the newly grown leaves, bright green on thick brown branches.
Soon, the salty brine of the sea tickled his nose. “We are almost there.” He announced but said naught further.
“I can smell the salt in the air,” Moira said, breathing deeply. “’Tis a beautiful smell is it no’?”
Just then, they broke through the trees and in front of them, they could see the sea, its dark blue water crashing into the rocks at the water’s edge.
Moira stopped, her breath caught in her throat as she looked out at the water and its surroundings. She brought her horse forward a few steps and then turned around. “The mountain,” she whispered. “The mountain, the sea,” she paused. “Now we just need to locate the cave. It has to be around here, close, is it no’?”
Errol rolled his lips inward and waited for her to see the cave that was just over the rocks to their left. It was located up a steep incline and the trek getting to it would be dangerous. The rocks would be slippery, wet from the water, worn smooth from the violent waves that constantly crashed over them.
And inside?
He didn’t ken what to expect. He had never explored the cave. Hadn’t kenned anyone that had. The stories he had heard as a young lad was that the cave was haunted. Inhabited by a spirit who’d gone out to meet his lover on the rocks, only to be swept away afore she had appeared. Legend says he wanders the rocks now, every day, waiting for the time when his lover will appear, and they can live happily ever after.
Errol didn’t believe the tale. But there were lots of others that did and for the most part it kept people away from the cave. Now that he thought about it, it was the perfect story to keep people out of a cave where something of great value had been hidden.
What better way to thwart the curious then with a ghost tale?
It had worked for him and those that he kenned. They’d all stayed far away from this cave whenever they’d been in the area.
“’Tis over there,” he dipped his head to the left and waited for Moira to spot it.
When she did, her mouth formed a perfect circle. She slid off her horse and moved forward, her eyes wide.
“’Tis amazing.” She spun, a huge grin splitting her face. “Have ye e’er been inside?”
“Nay,” he answered and dismounted, tying his and her horses to a nearby tree.
She walked closer to the shore and paused, her hands on her slim hips. “How are we to enter it? ’Tis high.”
“We will need to take caution as the rocks will be slick, but we will need to climb up to it.”
“Surely there must be another way. A back entrance mayhap?” She asked, her voice hopeful.
Errol shook his head. “I’m afraid no’.”
Moira clapped her hands together. “Well, then, I will just have to rely on ye and yer climbing skills, then. Too bad Rory isnae here. He would have no problem traversing those rocks.”
At the mention of her brother’s name, Errol’s fists clenched. It was a reminder that she was a Hart and he needed to see her as naught more than that.
His enemy.
Chapter Twelve
Moira wasn’t surewhat had happened between she and Errol, but ever since he’d met with that man in the pub, he’d hardly said aught to her. Just quick one or two word answers and his eyes had turned from a warm blue to an icy gray.
She’d overheard some of the words spoken between the two men. The man had called Errol a traitor. Had mentioned that he’d betrayed the clan by assisting her.
She didn’t think that was true at all. Aye, he was helping her, but he’d done naught against the MacLeods. She had to work hard to convince him to help her and when that didn’t work, Anna stepped in to assist.
But it didn’t matter. She couldn’t get him to talk to her. To have any sort of lengthy conversation.
Yet, he still led them to their destination.
