As they pressed ahead, the soft murmuring sounds of the river began to grow louder. In a normal season, the gurglingwaters couldn’t be heard until practically upon its banks. But today was different. Long before they reached it, he heard the rush and gurgle of swirling water. He pulled Plover to a halt and they looked out at the swollen river. It was easily twice as wide as it should be, and where there had once been a sturdy bridge, there were only a few remnants of wood still hanging on against the force of the water.
“Damn it,” he muttered, glancing up and down the raging waters. “I’d hoped the innkeeper might have been exaggerating. Seems he wasnae. We’ll have to head north, take the long way around after all.” The delay chafed at him. It would take them most of the day and the northern road would take them into sparsely populated and wild land, close to the spot where the MacDonalds wanted to sink a copper mine.
An idea suddenly came to him and he smiled grimly. Perhaps this delay wasn’t such a bad thing after all. It would allow him to spend the day with Anna—and also get a look at what had so captivated the MacDonald’s attention in such a remote corner of Mackintosh land.
They veered north, away from the river, beginning their climb into the rugged hills. The landscape changed dramatically as they moved further from the village and crossed from MacDonald land back into Mackintosh territory. The gently rolling meadows, perfect for grazing, gave way to steep, rocky ridges covered with lichen and scrubby grass.
They rode through a narrow valley where two hillsides fell steeply towards each other, forming a natural passagewayframed by jagged rocks and sparse shrubs. It had its own kind of beauty; barren yet wild and untamed.
Anna’s head turned from side to side as they rode, taking in the landscape. “I feel like I’ve landed on the moon,” she said. “It’s a bit desolate isn’t it?”
“Aye,” Emeric agreed, looking around at the harsh, wind-blown landscape. “Most of Mackintosh land is like this, barren upland where nothing grows. Mackintosh land likes to test us all right.”
Anna stretched her back. “How long till we can stop? My backside is aching something rotten.”
Emeric laughed. “Lass, we’ve only been riding an hour. It will take us most of the day to get home.”
She grinned as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Oh? Why is that? Do you have some ‘distractions’ planned?”
Oh God, she was at it again. Teasing and flirting seemed to come as naturally to her as breathing. Well, he was learning to give as good as he got.
“And what if I am?” he replied. “Ye didnae seem to mind my distractions last night.”
“Oh, you noticed that, did you? No, I didn’t mind at all. And I wouldn’t mind being distracted a little more.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Ye are a wicked lass, Anna. A very wicked lass.”
“I do my best,” she replied with a wink.
To distract himself, he reached into the saddlebag and took out the muslin-wrapped parcel that the innkeeper had given them. He handed it to Anna who unwrapped it, took out an oatcake, and handed it back to him. Taking the reinsin one hand, he took an oatcake with the other and began eating.
“You know what,” Anna said around a mouthful of food. “This isn’t bad. Although what I wouldn’t give for a greasy fry-up complete with bacon, eggs and fried bread right now.”
“Mayhap if we are nice to Cook, she’ll make us a ‘greasy fry-up’ when we get back to Dun Achmore.”
“Really?” Anna asked, excitement in her voice. “I’ll make sure I’m on my best behavior then. If I’m extra nice, do you think she would throw in some mushrooms as well?”
He laughed softly. “Aye. I’m sure that can be arranged.”
They traveled in easy silence, both munching on their breakfast and Emeric felt more content than he had in a long time. More content than he could ever remember, in fact.
The hours passed until finally, as the sun was nearing its zenith, they reached the northern valley that Emeric had been heading for. Well, it was called the northern valley but it was more like a series of ravines, a crazy hotch-potch of broken, windswept gullies, that scarred the northern tip of Mackintosh land, reaching almost to the MacDonald territory in the east and Murray territory to the west.
Emeric reined Plover in and gazed out at the broken landscape. There was nothing in sight. Not even a shepherd’s bothy could be found in this bleak place. After all, there was nothing for sheep to graze on and only the thinnest coatings of soil over the bare rock. No mineral deposits had ever been found in this area either. So why did the MacDonalds want to sink a copper mine?
“Is that it?” Anna asked as she gazed out at the ravine-riddled upland. “That’s what all the fuss is about?”
“That’s it,” Emeric confirmed. “The knife the MacDonalds are holding against our throat. The price they’re demanding to make up for the insult of Aislinn marrying Brodie Murray. If we dinna give it to them...” He left the sentence unfinished. If they didn’t give it to them, there was no telling what the MacDonalds would do.
“So let them have it,” Anna shrugged. “If they want to spend their time and resources in this back-end-of-beyond, I’d say good luck to them. If they do find anything, your family will get their share. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I dinna trust the MacDonalds, especially after what ye told me about Lady Maria being so interested in ye. There’s more going on here than they are telling us. I just need to figure out what.”
“And you think we’ll find the answers out here?”
“We willnae know until we go and look.”
Anna shrugged. “All right then, let’s go do some investigating.”
