“I left her at the castle. She is safer there if the miscreants should return.”
That was true but it wasn’t the whole truth. He thought about her continual assertion that she had traveled through time to help him. There were elements of her that didn’t add up. The clothing she had worn when they first met, the fact she knew so much about modern masonry techniques, even suggesting dog tooth stone carvings for extra strength in window and door lintels. It was her idea to cover the cart wheels with metal so they lasted longer. Was that enough to believe she was from eight hundred years in the future? Of course not.
He had come to two conclusions. One, she had traveled abroad. Rory had mentioned the term dog tooth when talking about some of his brothers who had traveled on the last crusade. She had clearly picked up her ideas from her travels. Two, she was quite mad. That was the only realistic explanation for her belief that passing through the one remaining doorway from the old hall would send her back to the future.
That was the main reason he had insisted she remain at the castle. To bring her to the hall would likely increase her madness. Would her mind snap entirely when she walked through it and nothing happened? He could not bear the thought. Better she remained safe in the castle, safe from men with burning torches and safe from the demons that lurked in her mind, trying to take over her soul.
“Should we get home?” Gillis asked, his horse flicking its mane under him.
“Aye,” he said, turning from the hall and leading his men onto the track that led back to the castle. “What do you think of her?” he asked Gillis as they made their way steadily south. They had fallen behind the other highlanders who were talking amongst themselves.
“Beth?” Gillis asked.
“Aye.”
“I think if she told you the truth, then God sent her to you for a reason.”
Andrew nodded in response. “I want you to keep what I said between us.”
“You still think she’s mad?”
“I dinnae ken.”
“What about her prophecy?”
“About Melrose Abbey? I have heard nothing.”
“You could ask MacLeish if he’s founded an abbey. That would not give too much away.”
“And if he becomes suspicious how I would know an abbey has been founded on his land? What do I say? A wee lassie from the future told me Melrose Abbey was founded in 1290 on your land? I would be a laughing stock.”
“Then you’ll never know if she’s telling the truth.”
“Och, she can’t be. It’s not possible.”
He wasn’t as certain as his words sounded. Part of the reason he didn’t want to check her story was he feared it might be true. If that was the case there was a chance she would go back to her time and he’d never see her again. He’d yearned for her the entire time they’d been patrolling and he couldn’t imagine a time when he might never see her again.
When they reached the castle, he was glad to find her there. A fear had grown in him during the ride that she had escaped and he was relieved to see her looking up at him as he rode in. She looked exhausted. “You have been working too hard,” he said as he stopped his horse next to her. “You should rest.”
“There’s too much to do before the frosts start. I haven’t got time to rest.”
“Rory,” he called to the steward next to her. “Can you spare her for a couple of hours?”
“I reckon we can survive.”
“Then climb up here, lassie.”
“Up there? Why?”
“I want to reward you for your hard work.” He held out a hand and after a second of thought she took it.
With a yank of his arm, he lifted her through the air, guiding her to land on the horse in front of him. “It felt very different last time I was on here,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder.
He had a sudden urge to kiss her. Instead, he kicked the sides of his horse and turned her back toward the portcullis which remained open.
As he rode through, he noted the stone walls that guarded it. “The gates can’t be pushed open with stone behind it,” she said, seeing where he was looking. “And to burn the props they’d need to demolish that wall first and that would take some time.”
“While we drop burning oil through the murder holes,” he replied, nodding his approval.
“Where are we going anyway?” she asked as they began to move away from the castle.
“You’ll see.”
