“Dinna let Mrs. Aberfeldy catch ye. That old cow as good as shot Murtagh herself. She willna pause when it comes to shooting yourself.” 'Twas one of the boys advising the other. Sounded like Sawny talking to the other lad.
The lights split into two flickering orbs, bobbing toward them in the darkness. Rocks tumbled and rattled, the loose shale shifting with each boy's steps. The second light halted then switched directions, retreating deeper into the inky blackness until it flickered out of sight. Alexander pressed tighter against the damp cave wall and motioned for Graham and Magnus to do the same.
“G-G-God’s beard! We’re f-found, Sawny!” The dark-haired boy turned tail to run but Alexander grabbed hold of the boy by the scruff of his shirt and yanked him back.
“Hush, boy!” One arm latched around the boy’s chest, Alexander held tight to the lad’s wrist to keep the wily scamp from hitting him in the face with the torch. “I’m Alexander MacCoinnich. Friend to Catriona.”
“Sawny, r-run!” the boy screeched before Alexander could cover his mouth.
Alexander yanked the torch out of the lad’s grasp, shoved the boy into Magnus’s arms, and launched forward. “Hold him whilst I try to stop Sawny.”
His speed hindered by the treacherous ground riddled with cracks, loose rocks and shelves of protruding shale into his path, Alexander forged ahead. The light up ahead grew stronger and so did the tang of smoke mixed with the unmistakable aroma of meat roasting over an open fire. “Sawny! 'Tis Alexander MacCoinnich! I mean ye no harm!” He prayed the boy would hear his shout through the panic his friend had stirred. “Catriona! Are ye there?”
“I am here, Alexander! I’m here!”
Something taught snagged across his shins then popped as though it had snapped. Alexander heard a great shifting rumble to his left that grew louder by the second.The little bastards set a trap.The searing pain in his weak leg triggered a groaning roar as he forced it into action. Alexander leapt across a wide crack in the cavern’s floor, landed hard on the other side, and rolled to a stop. A jumble of loose rocks shot past him as he flattened himself against the wall and shielded his head as best he could with his arms.
“Sweet Jesu!” Catriona’s desperate cry echoed through the cave. “Ye’ve killed him, Sawny. Your trap has surely killed him.”
“I didna mean to,” Sawny said in a panicked tone that squeaked and broke with the troubles of a young boy growing to be a man. “M’lady, I swear to ye, I didna mean to kill him.”
“I’m no' dead!” Alexander shouted from the darkness of the ledge. He was, however, afraid to move. He’d lost the feckin' torch and couldna even see his hand in front of his face. “Bring a torch, boy! Now!”
Footsteps scrabbled toward him, sending a watershed of shifting rocks bouncing across the floor and over the edge of the precipice. A brilliant light appeared above him. The flames crackled and danced on the end of a crude torch made of pitch-soaked cloth wrapped around a chunky stick of wood. Alexander wormed his way out from under the ledge, scraping knees, elbows and shins in the sharp debris. The flaming light held high, Sawny helped him stand then positioned himself under Alexander’s arm to support his weak side. “I had to set the trap. I had no choice. Ye ken that well enough, aye?”
“Aye, lad. I ken it well enough.” Alexander took the torch from Sawny, peeled the boy out of his armpit and placed him in front of him. “Lead the way, boy,” he said as he held the torch higher. As he lifted his gaze above Sawny’s tousled head, he caught his breath. There was Catriona. A pure vision dearer than he’d e’er realized until that verra moment.
She held a flaming beacon in one hand while her other hand clutched an arisaidh about her shoulders. The fire of the flickering light lent a golden glow to her alabaster skin and deepened the richness of her auburn hair. Her pale lips were parted, and she watched with worry knotting her brow.
As soon as he reached her, Alexander shoved the torch into Sawny’s hands then gathered Catriona up into his arms and crushed her to his chest. “I feared I’d ne’er see ye again,” he whispered into the softness of her hair. Tossing her light to Sawny, Catriona’s arms squeezed tighter around him and Alexander relished the urgency in her touch.
“I feared the same,” she said with a soft, hiccupping sob as she lifted her face to his.
“Your eyes are a deeper green when ye cry,” Alexander said, losing himself in her gaze with a gladness that rushed through him. With the tenderest of touches, he kissed away her tears then took her mouth with his, claiming hold of all the sensations she wrought in him and fueling the moment with all he hoped to give her in return. He needed her. Needed this. Her touch. Her taste. The feel of her safe in his arms. He’d never risk losing her again.
“A light wouldna be amiss to help us reach ye, Alexander.”
"Aye there! Alexander!" The hollow sound of rocks scrabbling and bouncing toward them pinged through the darkness. "Alexander! Have ye forgotten us, man?"
Graham and Magnus’s shouts finally broke into the wondrous place he’d discovered in Catriona’s arms. With a great deal of regret, he ended the kiss, lifted his head, and found Sawny standing close by with a silly grin on his freckled face. “Lead them here, aye?”
“Aye,” the lad said with a happy snort as he handed them one of the torches then headed to the mouth of the cave and Alexander’s men.
“Ye’ve scraped yourself bloody!” Catriona said as she held the light higher and eased out of his embrace. “Come. The boys just brought in a bit a water. I’ll clean ye up.”
“Ever the nursemaid,” he teased, already feeling the loss of her warmth and hating it. “'Tis but a few scratches. Nothing to worry after. I assure ye.”
Rocks flying and steps thundering, Tom and Sawny ran past them and Graham and Magnus followed close behind. “Men coming!” Sawny called out in an urgent whisper as he paused and waved them forward. “Hurry! We must get past the second trap and douse the fires afore they spot us.”
“Who?” Alexander asked as he latched hold of Graham’s arm and yanked his brother to a stop.
“I dinna ken,” Graham answered. “But they be from the keep. Young Tom spotted them headed this way. If they decide to explore the cave, we’re trapped.”
“Like hell we are!” Catriona’s tone held the rage of a mother bear protecting her cubs. “This way—now!”
“Nay.” Grabbing one of the torches, Alexander drew his sword, stepped across the great gaping crack at its narrowest point, and motioned for the rest to be on their way. “I’ll run no more this day. Go to safety while I wait here to greet our guests.”
“Nay!” Catriona called out to him. “Just reunited and now I could lose ye again? Nay, I beg ye. Come with us!”
Her words filled his heart to near bursting. He gave her his most reassuring smile and motioned for her to go. “Go now, m’lady. Keep safe. I’ll return to ye once again as soon as tis clear and well to do so.”
Before Catriona could argue again, he stomped out the light of his torch and placed it against the wall behind his heels. Sword drawn and ready, Alexander watched Graham and Magnus drag Catriona away. He watched them until the light of their torches disappeared and left him in complete darkness.
Voices came from the direction of the mouth of the cave and he heard the striking of flints to set fire to beacons.
He resettled his grip on his sword and steadied his stance.
“Come to me,” he whispered. “Come to me now.”
