Page 76 of Highland Spy

“I’ll no’ wait another minute,” said Caleb, getting atop his horse. “I will stop at nothin’ to save Bridget.”

Caleb traveled toward the border, once in a while finding a broken branch or a scrap of Bridget’s plaid, ensuring him he was headed in the right direction. But after nearly a few hours, it started getting dark, and he had a hard time telling where he was going without a torch. He figured Valan wouldn’t be able to travel too fast with two of them on one horse. He’d only seen the tracks of one horse leading in this direction. They would probably have to stop for the night once it got dark. They weren’t that far from the border and, for all he knew, they might already be across it.

“Where would he go if he wanted to hide for the night?” Caleb asked himself, traveling slowly now. His pine marten made a small sound, crawling out of the bag and jumping to the ground. “Nay, Slink, get back here,” he said, not wanting to leave him. Then he realized the pine marten was heading for the only shelter in this area and it was right up ahead. “Aye. The priory,” he said, shaking his head, wondering how the thought almost escaped him. He knew now where Slink was headed, and he agreed that it was probably right where he’d find Valan and Bridget. Now, he only hoped that he wasn’t already too late.

* * *

“Off the horse,” growled Valan, pushing Bridget. With her hands tied behind her back, she couldn’t catch herself as she hit the ground hard. Her face was pushed into the dirt. Her shoulder hurt so bad that she thought she’d broken it.

Valan slipped off the horse and tethered it to a tree. “Ye’re slowin’ me down,” he growled, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the small enclosure where Bridget had stayed on their journey with Caleb and the others on the way to Hermitage Castle.

“Then why dinna ye just leave me here and go without me?” she asked as he threw her to the ground.

“Oh, I’ll leave ye here, and go on without ye.” He unsheathed his sword.

“What are ye doin’?” she asked, seeing the glimmer of the metal in the moonlight.

“Ye ken too much. Ye dinna really think I’m goin’ to let ye live.”

“Why are ye doin’ this, Valan? I never did anythin’ to ye.”

“My life was ruined the moment I married ye,” he told her. “I will never be anythin’ without heirs and ye didna give them to me.”

“Ye’re the barren one, so dinna blame me,” she spat.

“I’ve had enough,” he said, moving forward. Something hissed at him and ran over his feet, making him jump back in surprise.

“Slink!” she called out, happy to see the pine marten.

“It’s MacKeefe’s doitit pet,” he growled. “I’ll put an end to the blamed thing as well.”

“Ye willna touch my lass or my pet,” came a deep voice from the dark. Then a man stepped out of the shadows and she saw it was Caleb.

“Caleb!” she cried out, so happy to see him.

“Put down the blade, Valan, and come back to the castle with me.”

“Are ye out of yer mind?” snapped the man.

“Ye can come back with me to get the sentence ye deserve, or I can kill ye now. Yer choice.”

“All right, I’ll come back with ye,” said the man.

“Lay down yer sword.”

Valan bent down to put the sword on the ground, but when he did, Bridget saw him sneak a dagger out of his boot.

“Caleb, he’s got a dagger,” she shouted, as Valan attacked, trying to stab Caleb.

It only took one thrust of his sword through the man’s heart to stop Valan. His body fell dead at Caleb’s feet.

“Bridget, are ye all right, lass?” Caleb rushed into the cave and untied her hands. She threw her arms around him, and hugged him, never wanting to let him go.

“Caleb, I was so frightened. We need to get back to the cave by the castle because he’s got my faither and Sim tied up there.”

“Och, lass, I’m sorry,” said Caleb, holding her tightly. Bridget felt a pain shoot through her heart because she knew what that meant.

“Is my faither dead?”