“So let me get this straight,” he said as they skirted the banks of a gurgling stream, the hounds snuffling in the vegetation. “There are metal boxes that people can sit inside. And they move? What kind of devilry is that?”
Abi laughed. “They’re called trains and it’s not devilry at all, but engineering. Besides, you’re a fine one to talk about devilry with your tales of the Fae.”
“Aye, but they’re not tales. The Fae are real.”
“So I’m beginning to believe,” she looked around at the dark landscape. “I’m beginning to think that a lot of things that I thought were make-believe are real.”
“Dinna ye have tales of the Fae in yer time?”
“We do, but nobody believes they’re real. They’ve become children’s stories and they don’t have any power anymore.” She hesitated. “Although that’s not true, is it? They do still have power and they are still here, just hiding in the shadows rather than in plain sight if Irene MacAskill is anything to go by.”
“I couldnae say. I dinna know much more about the Fae than ye do. The Order of the Osprey are closely allied to them if the rumors are true, but I’m no member of the Order. My brother though, is one of their commanders. If anyone knows about the Fae, it’s him.” He fell silent abruptly.
Abi took his hand and they walked together in silence. Hours later they began to pass into more cultivated land. Dry-stone walls divided fields of sheep and long-horned cattle and small settlements dotted the area. A few dogs barked at them from those settlements setting Bo and Whitefoot growling, so Reid gave them a wide berth, heading towards a line of hills in the distance. The faintest glimmer of dawn was beginning to light the horizon as they climbed up through a tangle of woodland and reached the summit of one of those hills.
“We’ll rest here for a while,” Read announced. He gathered some stray bits of wood, piled them in a heap, and started a fire.
Considering how circumspect he’d been during their journey, Abi was a little surprised by this but she guessed he felt it safe enough to risk a fire now that they’d left Campbell behind. And besides, after the cold walk, she wasn’t going to begrudge a little warmth.
Reid spread one of the blankets on the ground, sat, and indicated for Abi to join him. When she did so, he pulled her against him so that she was sitting between his outstretched legs with her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He felt wonderfully warm and solid. The dogs flopped down by her side with a ‘whump’, adding their warmth too.
They sat there together in silence as dawn broke, dusting the land with gold and pink, and Abi would have been content to stay that way forever.
“Ye know I love ye, dinna ye, lass?” Reid breathed by her ear.
She placed her arms over his where they held her. “Yes,” she said. “Of course I do.”
“Remember that in the days to come.” There was an odd quality to his voice.
The dogs suddenly sat bolt upright with a low ‘uff’ of alarm. Abi saw torches approaching through the last of the predawn gloom. A jolt of fear went through her.
“Reid!” she said urgently. “Look!”
He didn’t move. Didn’t leap to his feet or draw a weapon as she might expect. Instead, he gave a long, deep sigh.
“It’s all right, lass. That’s yer escort.”
There it was again, that odd tone to his voice. Alarmed now, she pushed away and turned to look at him. She did not like what she saw.
“Reid? What’s going on? What do you mean, ‘my escort’?”
“Those torches are being carried by Muir guards who were on watch on the walls of Dun Calas. They saw our fire and have come to investigate. They will take ye to my brother’s keep.”
“Me? Surely you mean us?”
He stared at her, his eyes pools of shadow. His jaw twitched. “I’m not coming with ye.”
Abigail scrambled up and stared down at him in shock. “What are you talking about? Of course you’re coming with me!”
He stood. “Nay, lass. This is one journey I canna make with ye. Ye must make this last part alone.”
“Bullshit!” she cried, terror coursing through her. “Of course you can come with me! You have to!”
He smiled sadly. “I am a traitor to Clan Muir, lass. I can never return to Dun Calas. To do so would mean my death.”
She stared at him, unable to comprehend his words. What was he talking about? They were going to Dun Calas together! That had been the plan. Hadn’t it? But then she realized that he’d told her he was takingherto Dun Calas and never mentioned anything about going there himself. Cold realization swept through her. He had planned this from the start.
“No,” she whispered. “You can’t do this. You can’t leave me.”
