“Thank you,” Natalie said, turning to face Scarlett. “For all your help.”
“Your turn to help us all,” she replied. “Wallace, the barefoot man must not get the key if we are to stand a chance. You must unlock the door in the rock. Through it you will find the thing you need most in the world. God be with you both.”
They climbed the rope ladder, leaving her on the shoreline. She waved up at them. “The beacons say the ships hunt you to the north. Circle south before you reach the mainland. As for you, Colin. If you survive, come visit sometime.”
“Maybe I will,” the captain called back to her. “Farewell.” He waved as the wind caught and they began to move further out onto the water.
Natalie walked to the stern of the ship, looking out at the water, seeing the pursuing army on the horizon. Had they been spotted? She hoped not.
She turned away, refusing to look. She had not had a single moment to catch her breath since she arrived here. She had made a mistake coming here. It was a mistake to wish to see the past. The present was dull but at least it was safe.
Wallace had disappeared inside. The captain was at the helm and she joined him.
“Was that your love?” she asked.
“It is a tale I will tell someday if we make it through all this,” he replied. “For now, you should be thinking of your own tale. How is that going to end?”
“I’m going to go home,” she replied. “If I can ever get there.”
“Is he going to go with you?” He nodded toward the cabin.
She shook her head. “I don’t know what he wants.”
The captain lowered his voice. “I’m going to share something with you that I want you to keep to yourself.”
“I already know your name’s Colin.”
“Not that. How much do you know about the MacGregor curse?”
She shrugged. “Not much.”
“Jock MacGregor was held in chains in the MacCallister dungeon by a curse so strong it could never be broken. Until Wallace came along. He freed his father but enslaved himself.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Aye. He was bound in those chains until he could find someone to take his place. Then you appear and what does that tell you about why he’s shut himself away in the cabin?”
“What are you telling me?”
“That you might want to watch him carefully around dungeons lest you find yourself bound in accursed chains with no way of escaping them.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I’ve spent a spell or two in MacCallister Castle.They talk so loudly there I’m surprised the mountaintops don’t hear the tales. Everyone knew about the curse and that they had a MacGregor in their dungeon.”
“Are you saying I shouldn’t trust him?”
“I’m saying you must decide who he is and who you are like I had to decide who I was. Colin Peabody the bean farmer or captain of my own ship. Don’t let his words fool you. It is only what he feels in his heart that has kept you safe up to now. The lairds of the highlands are cruel and cold and yet here you are, keeping company with one as content as anything. You happy?”
“I wouldn’t say I was happy.”
“Nor is he.”
The cabin door opened and Wallace emerged. If he’d been listening to their conversation, he made no reference to it when he spoke.
“I ken what we must do,” he said. “I have made my decision.”
12
