Page 35 of Return to Wildsyde

Yet Murdoch thumped his tail again and gave a soft bark, which sounded so much like agreement that she laughed a little.

“Well, that wasn’t very wise, now, was it? Just you hold tight, though. I’ll fetch help and be back before you know it.”

Luella went to leave, but the dog whimpered and cried at the sight of her walking away, trying to get up and only tugging the snare tighter.

“Oh, no!” Luella cried, moving back towards him as he yelped in pain. “Don’t move, you foolish thing. Oh, Lord, now what am I to do?”

She dared to get closer to the dog and crouched down beside him. Gingerly, she reached out and patted his head. The big wiry tail thumped, and large, guileless eyes stared trustingly up at her. Luella stared at the wire on the dog’s bloody leg and swallowed. “I’ll just see if I can—”

He growled, which made her give a little shriek, and she scrambled away from Murdoch. The big tail thumped again, and he ducked his head, looking a little sheepish.

“Well, I suppose I wouldn’t want anyone touching it either,” she admitted. “But someone will have to if we are to get you free. I suppose you’d let your master do it?”

Luella sighed, looking around her. The rain had begun, a fine mizzle that settled over everything, leaving a fine shimmer of moisture. Murdoch shivered, looking utterly miserable.

“Well, I told Jack where I was going, thank heavens. That boy has a deal more sense than I credited him with. So, someone will come looking eventually, assuming your master isn’t hopeful I’ve fallen off a cliff. I suppose he would come looking for you, though, so someone with find us,” she said encouragingly, as much for her own benefit as Murdoch’s.

With nothing much else she could do, she sat down beside the dog, stretching the folds of her cloak over him and stroking his head, taking both their minds off the situation by talking nonsense. Having soon run out of things to say, she turned to the big dog.

“Do you like music, Murdoch?”

Lyall muttered an oath. He had walked the castle grounds twice, calling Murdoch, but the disobedient wretch had gone wandering again. Now he’d get it in the neck from Mrs Baillie for missing dinner, and he’d been looking forward to discovering what Luella had made for dessert too.

He strode around to the stable, a little surprised to find Jack sneaking into Adaira’s stall, holding a bridle.

“Jack?”

The boy leapt about a foot in the air and turned, looking about as guilty as a lad could do.

“What are ye about? Ye ken better than to take Adaira out with no one knowing about it.”

Jack swallowed but met his gaze bravely, putting up his chin. “Yes, sir… I mean, my lord. Only I had to.”

“Never mind the ‘my lord,’ ye may call me Lyall. But what do ye mean, ye had to?”

Jack shifted from foot to foot, clearly nervous, but then his face set into something hard and determined. “I’ll only tell you if you promise not to be cross with her.”

Lyall sighed. He might have known. “What has she done now?”

“Nothing!” Jack said crossly. “She told me she was going to walk to Bucholie Castle and that she wouldn’t go near the edge or climb on the ruins, so she did everything she was supposed to, didn’t she?”

“Aye, she did right to tell ye, but are ye telling me she has nae returned?”

Jack nodded, his expression taut with concern. “She ought to have been home more than an hour ago, and she said she would see me at dinner and that’s now and—”

“All right, laddie, dinna fash. I’ll find her, eh?”

“You will?”

Lyall felt a surge of guilt at the relief in the boy’s eyes. “Aye, of course I will. Did ye think I would nae?”

Jack shrugged. “Everyone knows you hate her.”

“Ach, I don’t hate her,” he said uneasily. The boy stared steadily back at him, his stormy grey eyes the mirror of his sister’s, and full of sincerity.

“She’s not a bit like Lilith,” Jack said, his voice firm. “And I couldn’t blame you for hating her, for she was never nice to us, especially not to Luella. I think she was jealous of her, but Luella is kind and funny and she’s always looked after me. If we must share anything, she always gives me the biggest piece and…”

He swallowed hard, his throat working.