"From the borderlands. There's been an attack." Duncan was breathing hard, like he'd been searching the entire castle. "Ashcombe's men hit one of our outlyin’ villages. The messenger just arrived."
Ice flooded through Alpin's veins. "Casualties?"
"Some injuries, nay deaths that we ken of. But me laird..." Duncan's expression was grim. "They took women. At least five that we've confirmed missin’."
Beside him, Mhairi had gone pale. Alpin's hand found hers automatically, gripping tight.
"Gather everyone," he said, his voice steady despite the rage building in his chest. "We ride out immediately. I want see the damage meself."
"Aye, me laird."
"I'm coming with ye."
Both men turned to look at Mhairi. Her jaw was set, her grey eyes fierce despite her obvious fear.
"Mhairi, nay."
"Those women were taken because of me. Because Ashcombe is tryin’ tae force ye tae give me back." Her voice was steady but herhand trembled in his. "I have tae see what me presence here has cost."
"It's nae yer fault."
"I ken what ye're goin’ tae say. That this is Ashcombe's daein’, that I'm nae responsible fer his actions. And intellectually, I understand that." She met his eyes. "But I still need tae see. I need tae ken what we're truly fightin’ against."
Alpin wanted to argue. Wanted to keep her safe in the castle where she wouldn't have to witness the aftermath of Ashcombe's cruelty. But he recognized the determination in her expression, the same determination that had kept her fighting on that auction platform, that had driven her to learn healing despite her trauma.
"All right," he said. "But ye stay close tae me. And if I tell ye tae dae somethin’, ye dae it immediately. Understood?"
"Understood."
Within the hour, they were riding out—Alpin, Mhairi, Peadar, Kenina, and Callum, along with a dozen armed warriors. The day had turned grey, threatening rain, and the wind carried the acrid smell of smoke.
They rode hard, pushing their horses across muddy paths that had been churned by recent traffic.
Evidence of the attack became clear as they approached the borderlands, scorched fields, scattered belongings, a cartoverturned in the road with its contents spilled across the ground.
"Christ," Callum muttered beside him.
The village itself was worse.
What had been a thriving small community was now mostly rubble. Houses burned, their roofs collapsed. Belongings scattered everywhere, a child's doll lying in the mud, pots and pans thrown from kitchens, blankets torn and trampled.
And people. Survivors sitting in shocked clusters, some injured, all terrified.
Alpin dismounted before his horse had fully stopped, his eyes taking in the destruction with barely controlled fury. This was his land. Those were his people. And he'd failed to protect them.
"Spread out," he ordered, his voice carrying across the ruined village. "Check fer injured who need immediate attention. Look fer any evidence of where they took the women, tracks, dropped items, anything that might tell us which direction they went."
His warriors moved immediately, efficient and grim-faced.
Peadar joined him, surveying the damage with an expression that suggested he'd seen it before.
"This is exactly what Graham did tae me lands," Peadar said quietly. "Fast, brutal, targetin’ the women specifically. They knew exactly where tae strike and when."
"How many did ye say were taken?" Alpin asked Duncan, who'd ridden out with them.
"Five confirmed. But some families are still unaccounted fer, so there might be more."
Mhairi had dismounted and was already moving among the injured, Kenina close behind her. Alpin watched her kneel beside an elderly woman, checking injuries with gentle efficiency despite her own distress.
