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Sandy continued to nod his big head as if to say ‘yes,’ while Fergus stood beside him, patting and stroking him, filled with happiness at seeing his old friend again. “I was so worried about you,” he told the horse, then his expression became somber, as he turned to Danny and asked anxiously: “do you know where Grace is?” He was dreading the answer.
What if Robert had hurt her, chained her up, locked her in the dark? What if he had somehow inveigled the local minister into marrying them? Robert was nothing if not cunning. “Did she look well the last time you saw her?” Fergus asked. He was trying not to let his fear show on his face, but it was hopeless. He was terrified for her.
“She left this mornin’,” Danny answered. “I heard tell that she was goin’ home tae her family, an’ last time I saw her she was fine, Fergus.” He smiled at him reassuringly and patted his back.
Fergus’s knees almost buckled with relief. He knew without a doubt that if anything had happened to Grace, he would have killed Robert, the brother he was now learning to hate. “Thank god,” he breathed. “I was so scared that Robert had done something terrible to her.”
Danny’s lip curled in disgust. “None o’ us would have let him lay a finger on her, Fergus.” He said scathingly. “The only reason most o’ us work for that man is that we need tae feed our families. He has some that will toady tae him, like that wee worm Angus, but we know who they are. Far more o’ us are on your side, Fergus.”
Fergus sighed with relief, and patted Danny’s shoulder before it hit him; he needed to get back. “I have no idea where I am,” Fergus said as he looked around himself, puzzled.
“We are on the edge o’ Patterson land,” Danny told him. He thumped his fist into the palm of his other hand in a gesture of anger and frustration. “God knows what your brother’s scheme was, but he could have planned tae let ye die here, only tae find ye later an’ tell everybody the Pattersons did it. I think it more likely that he just wanted ye tae disappear, never tae be found.” He shrugged. “But I might be wrong. We came as soon as we could.”
“I cannot believe even he could do something so cruel,” Fergus said, then he thought for a moment. Robert had steadily been becoming more vicious by the day, and now Fergus had no idea what lengths he would go to, in order to be rid of his brother. “No, perhaps I can. He is not the brother I used to know when we were children.”
He felt an enormous wave of sadness wash over him. Where was the young boy he used to play ball with, wrestle, swim and ride with? Where was the brother who played hide and seek with him, and taught him how to skiff stones on the loch? Yes, they had grown up now, but why and when had he acquired such a mean spirit? Surely it could not have happened because of one broken romance?
“Fergus!” he looked up to see Rory, another one of the guards, coming forward to meet them, smiling. “There ye are! I am sae sorry it took us sae long tae find ye. We had tae get the lassie that cleans the Laird’s study tae find the keys for us, an’ she had tae wait till he was out.”
“How long have I been in here?” Fergus asked, puzzled. “A day? Two?”
“Since the day before yesterday,” Rory replied. “We went out wi’ a search party o’ some o’ the other guards, but it wasnae much o’ an effort. We found out ye were here by askin’ Angus a few dozen questions. We put him against an archery target an’ Danny stood in front o’ him wi’ a bow an’ arrow.”
Danny threw back his head and laughed heartily at that. “Aye. We only had tae ask him once, an’ he told us right away. We would never have hurt him, though, we just wanted tae frighten the life out o’ him. We did that. He was nearly scared tae death! Shakin’ a’ over!”
Rory had brought some food with him and he offered it to Fergus, who leapt on it, throwing chunks of bread and meat into his mouth, faster than he had ever done before. Then again, he had never been so hungry. He wondered how long it would have taken him to die of thirst and hunger in the cave, then shuddered at the thought. It was no good thinking this way. He was alive, and now he could find Grace, and that was all that mattered. There was only one more matter that needed his attention.
While he was eating, Rory and Danny had been readying themselves to go back to Castle Inverleck; however, when Fergus told them that he was going to confront Robert, they both looked worried.
“Are ye sure that is a good idea?” Rory asked, frowning deeply. “You know what he is really like now, Fergus.”
“Did you not say that most of the guards were on my side?” Fergus asked.
“That we did,” Danny said, nodding, “but we cannae just go in there without a plan, Fergus.”
“Then we will think of one,” Fergus said resolutely.
* * *
“Leave the searching to us, Grace,” William pleaded as he saddled up his mare, ready to leave the castle.
“No.” The one word dropped from Grace’s mouth, heavy with certainty, and they could almost hear it thudding onto the ground. What they were, in fact, hearing was the sound of Grace’s foot as she stamped it on the floor with as much force as she could muster. “If you want to stop me, you will have to tie me up!”
Callum sighed in exasperation. “Grace, can you even ride?” he asked, trying to keep his temper.
Grace had opened her mouth to answer in a loud bellow, but she did not get the chance.
“Yes,” William replied calmly. “Probably better than you can. You are not going to win this argument, Cal, so give up. Let’s go.”
It was a bright, blustery day when they set out, but the summer was beginning to fade into autumn, and the air had a distinct chill in it. Grace wondered if Fergus was cold. She could not bear to think of him shivering and unable to warm up in a cold and dark prison, but the thought hardened her determination to find him. Robert MacAndrew would not win, not if she had anything to do with it.
They had to ride further into the Patterson lands to reach the main road, but just as they came out of the trees, they saw three other horses coming towards them.
Grace frowned. The one in the middle…Suddenly she screamed and urged her horse forward, and at the same moment, the rider on the middle horse did the same. They met in the middle of the road, then Fergus leapt from Sandy’s back, and ran to Grace, pulling her from her horse. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as if he would never let her go.
They stood there for a long while, neither of them speaking, just breathing in the sheer joy of being together.
Presently, Grace pushed Fergus away a little to look into his face. “Thank God,” she whispered. “Thank God.” She tightened her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder, feeling the hardness of his body against her. It was glorious.
