The stables were on fire.
“Ian!” Remy called out but Ian was already moving toward the stables, his heart pounding in his chest.
“Are they out?” he shouted to the nearest Scot, who was grabbing the buckets from the village square, filling them with water from the elaborate fountain.
The Scot just looked at him and Ian moved on, running as fast as he could toward the burning building before someone grabbed his arm.
It was Remy. “Ye canna go in there!” Remy shouted over the confusion and shouts being done by the Scots around them. “Ian.”
“I’m not going tae let harm come tae her,” Ian fought back, shaking off Remy’s strong gasp. Ida was very important to him and despite her turning him down on his proposal of marriage, he was going to fight for her.
He was going to show her that he could be the husband she deserved.
Before Remy could grab his arm again, Ian rushed to the cottage and kicked open the door. “Ida!” he shouted, trying to see through the heavy smoke that had infiltrated the area. “Ida!”
No response. What if she had gotten out already and no one had seen her? She was a smart lass.
Still, the panic didn’t ease in his chest and after a quick sweep of the cottage, he stepped out. More Scots were joining in the effort to put out the fire, forming long lines where buckets of water were being handed off to extinguish what flames they could reach.
“Ida!” he shouted once more, coughing as he choked on the smoke. He had to find her.
He heard a noise near the stable before a horse burst through the open doorway, pawing and neighing as it raced away from the fire.
There could only be one reason that horse had broken out and Ian knew in his heart that the brave lass that had entrapped his heart was in there.
Without thinking, he bolted toward the doorway of the stable, feeling the wall of heat blast him as he tried to enter the burning structure. The smoke was even thicker there and Ian coughed, knowing he didn’t have long to find her.
Each stall was empty and his heart lurched in his chest. She had saved the animals. He wasn’t surprised given how much she tended to them but he was going to give her an earful for putting herself in danger.
Nearing the last stall, Ian had to duck low to be able to see anything at all. If she wasn’t in here, then she had gotten out. He had to cling to that hope.
When Ian saw the glimpse of white on the ground just inside the stall, he knew he had found her. “Ida!” he shouted, kneeling beside her. She was barely breathing, her arm stretched out and when Ian followed it with his eyes, he saw her uncle nearby, rolled on his side.
Ian had to make a decision, and quickly. Scooping her up in his arms, he raced toward the door, holding her against his chest tightly to keep the flames from touching her. Ian felt the flames dance over his arm and he hissed but didn’t let go of Ida until they were outside in the cold air.
“Ian!” his brother Stephan called out, racing toward him with concern written all over his face. “Dear God, wot are ye doing?”
Ian ignored him and found a spot away from the chaos to lay her down. “Ida,” he croaked, his voice rusty from the smoke he had inhaled. Placing his hands on her cheeks, he tried to put some warmth into her cheeks. “Ida, lass, can ye hear mah?”
She coughed and his lungs expanded, helping her to sit up as her body rattled with the movement. “That’s it. Cough it up.”
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around frantically. “Mah uncle.”
He was still in the stable. Ian swallowed as he glanced back at the burning building and she gripped the front of his tunic tightly, forcing him to look at her. “Ye have tae save him!” she croaked. “Please, Ian!”
“Nay,” Stephan was saying as Ian gently pried her fists from his tunic and rose to his feet. “Ye canna Ian. Ye canna go back in there!”
He had to. His jaw tight, he glanced down at the woman who meant more to him than his own life. “Ye will be fine. Mah brother will care for ye.”
Ian didn’t give her a chance to stop him before he was racing back to the stable, the water barely making any headway in the fanning flames. “Nay!” someone called out, attempting to grab Ian’s arm. “The entire place is going to collapse at any moment!”
“There’s still a man inside!” he shouted back, ducking to avoid the flames that licked up the doorway of the stables now. A wall started to buckle in the distance but Ian ignored it, moving low to the ground as he made his way to that final stall where he had last seen her uncle.
He was still where Ian had last seen him, curled in a fetal position as if he had already accepted his fate. With a roar that came from within, Ian lifted the man over his shoulder and started back out of the stables, the wall behind him crashing with a thunderous sound. The structure was coming down around his ears and if he didn’t hurry, they would be trapped under the burning rubble.
His vision started to waver as Ian inhaled more of the smoke, the added weight of the man on his shoulder slowing him down. He could feel the effect of the smoke, his body feeling as if he was moving through water instead of his usual speed.
Time was running out.
