In the sunlight she could see an entire vista laid out in front of her. The track they’d taken fell steeply away into a long valley of green pasture surrounded by mountains on either side. In the distance the hills rose again, turning into woodland.
“The castle is on the other side of those woods,” Bruce said. “It looks so close, does it not?”
“You had something you wanted to talk to me about?”
“I ken where Gavin has gone.” Bruce looked at her earnestly.
“Where?”
“Back to the castle.”
“How do you know?”
“He told me last night.”
“But why? He didn’t say anything to me.”
“I suspect he’s going to try and kill the old crone, perhaps Mungo too.”
“But why go alone? I don’t understand.”
Bruce sat down on a rock, stretching his feet out in front of him. “One thing you have to understand about our laird.”
“What?” she asked impatiently, feeling increasingly angry.
“He kens what he’s doing.”
“What? That’s it? I’m just suppose to accept he’s gone off on his own on a suicide mission?”
“He’s gone to save us all. Kill those two and we get the castle back. We can all go home.”
“And if he gets killed. What then?”
Bruce shrugged. “He asked me to keep you safe.”
“Well that’s that then, is it? He dies and your clan spends the rest of their lives hiding in caves, is that it?”
Bruce tapped the rock next to him. “Listen, he won’t fail. If anyone can kill those two, it’s him. I saw him take on three wolves on his own before. He’s not afraid of anything.”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
Bruce put an arm around her shoulder. “It will be fine, trust me. Before you ken it, this will all be a distant memory.”
“Yeah, right. Hang on, what’s that?”
She squinted. Down in the valley figures were emerging from the distant woods. They were nothing more than dots but as she looked more of them emerged. At first the morning haze made it possible to think them nothing more than mirages. But they kept coming closer.
Bruce looked where she was pointing. “Outlaws,” he said. “They have found us. We should not have stopped last night. We should have kept moving. Curses.” He grabbed hold of Heather’s shoulders. “We cannot outrun them. We must fight.”
She nodded, feeling fear rise up inside her. She bit it back down. “I will keep the children inside. Do you have any spare swords.”
“No but we have daggers and a few bows. Why?”
“Give them to the women.”
Bruce managed a laugh. “Women cannot fight.”
“Try any city center on a Saturday night. You’d soon change your mind.”
