She reached for the cup enjoying the way the warmth spread from her hand to her arm. “What is it?”
“’Tis warm mead and nothing else. Drink it up and you might be offered more later on,” he said then turned back to the fire.
Agnes brought the cup to her cot then covered herself as usual, sipping the sweet drink. The liquid did wonders to break the chill from her bones and settled her belly. She wondered what had brought about this sudden change in the both of them. To her knowledge, a new missive hadn’t arrived in the past few days. They usually came every three days with news of the search and reward for Agnes and also the growing bounty on their heads. Were they in a small way trying to make amends? For what they’d already done to her or what they were about to do?
“We have no choice, you know,” Elspeth said as she approached Agnes and offered her another blanket.
Agnes’ confusion grew, as she worried more about the change in their bearing. They weren’t fired up like they had been about their cause. Rather, they appeared more solemn as if they were about to make a choice that was not agreeable.
She kept her thoughts to herself for the remainder of the day. The mead had done its job and warmed her enough so that a little clarity emerged. She’d been concerned that the crampingin her belly and her tender breasts were because of the lack of nutrition, but now recognizing she’d not bled since her wedding night, she knew.
Her entire course of thought changed in that moment. She would find a way out of this if it was the last thing she did. And it wouldn’t be. By the grace of God and her own will, she would save herself and her bairn. In her heart she knew she could. She just needed her wits about her now more than ever.
She watched as they packed up a few things, glancing her way from time to time until finally John stood before her. “You will be fine here for a few days,” he said. “We will leave the food and drink and there’s wood for a fire.”
She couldn’t believe her ears. “You—you’re leaving me here?” Was she excited or terrified? Her mind flipped between the two, settling on the former. She would keep her hopes up that she could find something to put on the fire to make it smoke to help William find her.
“Where will you go?” she asked not expecting an answer.
John hesitated at the door and opened his mouth to say something then closed it and left the cabin. Elspeth glanced once at her before she too left the cabin. She then heard a sound that made her belly turn in knots. The determined click of a lock and then the tapering sound of a carriage moving off into the distance.
The first thing she did when there was no more sound from outside was to try the latch. She was firmly trapped inside the cabin. For the moment she was safe and had enough food and drink to keep her. She stoked the fire and went rummaging for something to make a stew. Once that was done, she searched for additional clothing, for she could not be sure who would find her, but she was certain someone would. In her heart she was absolutely positive.
She sang to herself and to her bairn as she organized her provisions and even found a small chamber pot that would only do for a day or two then she’d have to find an alternative.
Why they had up and left her after all this time, she could not say. Did their brethren forsake them? Had their hiding place been offered up to save someone else’s neck? Agnes would have no way to know, but a reason like that seemed the most likely.
As she sat at the table on her first night alone, wearing a hunter’s plaid she’d found hanging by the door, she tucked her feet under her and sipped at the stew she managed to pull together. Like the mead from earlier, it was a hug from the inside out. She cleaned out her bowl as best as she could and placed it near the hearth to dry. She wanted to ration everything including water so she would use the fire to clean the iron bowl and brush out the cinders that way.
Moving about the cabin, she organized the bedding and swept the floor, trying to keep herself busy lest she let her mind loose with horrific thoughts of what was to become of her. An image of the figure on the rock a ways up the stream flashed before her mind’s eye. She pushed it away as hard as she could and instead conjured up some of her favorite stories from her childhood.
“Oh, Bregdi, if only you could come and save me now,” she said out loud. A moment later a sound from outside made her freeze.
A low growl was followed by a deep rhythmic yowl that almost sounded like words. Agnes backed away from the cabin door as the creature scratched at it, hissing and making that horrifying yowling.
She hopped onto the bed and covered herself entirely with the blanket, leaving just enough of her exposed to peek out at the door. When she did, she noticed for the first time a small crackof light coming in through the bottom part of the door. The light was blocked and then she could see it again.
Curious, she leaned closer to the door just as a small paw poked in through the opening. The hissing continued as did the odd language it spoke. Agnes squinted her eyes as the paw came through for a second time. She pushed back the blankets and rested her head in her hands.
Surely nothing to be trifled with, but the realization that a Highland wildcat was outside the door, rather than some evil spirit, comforted her.
Agnes rummaged through the basket of food and found what she sought. She placed a small piece of cheese near the crack in the door and waited. A heartbeat later the paw returned to claim the cheese. The sight warmed her heart. Perhaps Bregdi had sent protection for her after all. Or, at the very least, some company lest she go mad left with only her thoughts to see her through.
*
With only onemore location to explore, William’s hope dwindled with each passing moment. He’d practically checked under every rock and in every crevasse he could find over past days, which now seemed to bleed into one another. He had no idea when he slept or ate last and was practically on his last legs. This final spot must be it.
The Devil’s Pulpit was not easy to locate, and the descriptions were vague at best among those who lived close by. He suspected that had more to do with fear than anything else. If she was there, he’d find her, and if she wasn’t, he was out of ideas.
William followed the stream until he came to the tall dark red embankments covered in foliage. The stream ran red, likely from the iron in the soil and surrounding cliffs, but he had to admit,it was an unnerving sight. According to the locals, the only place a lodging could be built was on the other side of the pulpit. He approached the rock formation with caution.
Just as he was almost upon it, a wildcat jumped up onto the rock and stared hard at him. It yowled and mouthed some kind of cat gibberish that made the hair stand on the back of his neck. The cat meowed loudly and then jumped off the rock and ran on ahead of him. It looked back several times and then ran forward again. Did it want him to follow?
Having no other ideas, William followed the wildcat up the stream to where the tall embankments evened off and the land leveled. He smelled the smoke before he saw it. When he turned the corner and the cabin came into view, he dismounted and followed the cat to the door.
The cat meowed loudly again.
Shuffling came from within the cabin and a soft voice called, “Here kitty, kitty. I have more cheese for you.”
