Page 61 of Highland Flame

Chapter Sixteen

Cam awoke to sunshine streaming in the vents, lighting up his face. Rolling over on the bed, he heard the church bells ringing. He highly expected Brother Gillies to be pounding on his door throughout the night, forcing him to attend each of the canonical hours since the monk had been so angry with him last night.

Oddly, no one had disturbed him, and he couldn’t imagine why. He’d just finished dressing when there came a knock on his crypt room door.

“I think ye’re a little late, Brathair Gillies,” he said with a chuckle, pulling open the door to see Yvaine standing there with Nash and North. She wrung her hands and looked so upset, that it made him think something had happened.

“About time ye two got back,” he said to his friends. “Mayhap now I can get a wee break from doin’ all yer chores.”

His friends weren’t smiling.

“Why all the gloom this mornin’?” asked Cam, tying back his hair. “I was the one trapped here while ye three spent a guid time at the castle. I hope ye brought me back some Mountain Magic.”

“Cam, somethin’ is wrong,” said Yvaine, still wringing her hands in worry.

“I’ll say.” He stretched his neck, looking at his friends. “I dinna see a bottle or flask in yer hands at all.”

“Haud yer wheesht, ye fool and listen to the lass,” spat North, surprising Cam since his good friend never spoke to him in such a harsh manner.

“What is it?” he asked, feeling like he needed to know. “Has Brathair Gillies given a bad report about me to our lairds? Do I need to start a new punishment somewhere else?”

“It’s no’ always about ye, Cam,” said North. “This has to do with yer daughter.”

“Avianca? What about her?” His head snapped up and he stopped jesting with them. “Where is she? God’s eyes, dinna tell me she is ill. Has somethin’ happened to her? Has she fallen down those steep stairs?”

“If ye’d shut yer mouth for a second, we’ll tell ye,” said Nash.

“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling his heart racing like crazy. “Please, tell me what has happened.”

“She’s gone, Cam,” said Yvaine, looking like she was about to cry.

“What do ye mean gone? Is she . . . dead?” He closed his eyes, not wanting to believe that the poor, young girl’s life could possibly already be over.

“No’ dead, ye dolt.” Nash shook his head. “She’s missin’.”

“Och, is that all?” said Cam, letting out a breath of relief. “She’s probably still upset with me, and is hidin’ in the kitchen or mayhap in the orchards. We’ll find her. She canna have gone far.”

He started to take a step out the door, when Yvaine’s hand on his arm stopped him. He looked down into worried, sad eyes.

“What is it, lass?” he asked.

“My brathair has been missin’ all mornin’ as well,” said Yvaine.

“So that’s why he didna wake me.”

“Davita was able to get Sister Edna to tell her that the monk took the wee lass in the early hours of the mornin’ atop his horse and rode out the gates,” she continued.

“Gillies took her somewhere?” asked Cam, not understanding this at all. “Do ye think he took her to Naward Castle, after all? Mayhap he did it to stop her cryin’.”

“Nay,” said North. “We just came from there, and we would have seen them on the road.”

“I dinna like anyone takin’ my daughter from me without askin’.” With his hand on the hilt of his sword, Cam ran through the catacombs and out into the courtyard with the others right on his heels. When he got out into the open he saw Brother Gillies riding back into the courtyard, but the girl wasn’t with him. Gavin and Davita stood there talking with Sister Edna.

“What the hell is goin’ on? Where is my daughter?” Cam ground out, meeting the others and the monk as he dismounted.

“The child kept crying loudly all night long and I couldn’t calm her,” said Sister Edna, seeming very upset.

“Damn it,” said Cam. “I should have insisted on stayin’ with her.”