Wasn’t it one of the reasons he loved her so? How could he disfavor a trait he had always cherished about her? “Where?”
She leaned up, brushing her lips on the patch of his flesh above the shadow by bristle on his cheek. Aye, he loved the trait. He was replacing the ultimate task in capturing the Benefactor by a neat and tidy plan upon the morrow with a chance born from his ladyship’s request. She had become his ruler, not Alexander. Did it feel right? Hell, aye!
“Where is the gestr?”Who swore you were the weak link and was now being taken captive himself. How incredibly ironic.
Nella stepped toward the next break in stalls which had the canvas stretched over them for the eve. “Follow me.”Always and a day, Nella.
Mud splashed where cobblestones had worn away in the deluge that had been the stormy day. Both turned left at one of Dundee’s hallmarks, a high school, now dark with the time in day. They bore past the next row in shuttered stalls after the burgh’s water well, where a Scotswoman pulled up a bucket full.
Arrow or sword? If a distraction was the objective an arrow would be best. Perhaps hitting a wooden pitchfork if it lay near a wall by the scuttle or… He paused as Nella halted tilting her skull more. Rain. Dammit, the rain was quickly becoming thick again. So much of the day she had called upon her instinct in senses. She had to be worn at the demand.
Her breath caught as her head snapped up.
“Nella?”
“Hiss, he just declared at Lord Kolson ‘that they must make haste and be as bold as the devil who dances in thefirelight’.” She paled like a ghost appeared through the rain. “That was…” Her words broke off, replaced by a scream when thunder rumbled overhead.
She’s falling!He leapt forward, capturing her into his embrace as she thrust her palms over her ears while looking up at him. Even in the shadows, agonizing pain showed clear in her gaze as her whole body went slack against him.
The thunder. Fuk! A fresh rumble crackled overhead and she whimpered. With one arm under her knees, his other beneath her shoulders, he hoisted her up in his embrace. She was shaking.Time for the inn! She must reach the indoors then perhaps this would pass.Lord Kolson, you are on your own!
He tucked her close while her palms remained set against her skull, and she murmured a groan from pain not pleasure when a bolt shot across the sky. It showed the whole cobblestone street.Oh hell,that was not all it showed.Look at those warriors from the Benefactor staring right this way!
Chapter 21
“There! They are there!” Callum heard the one calling out pointing at them from the far distance.
Bolt right!Tucking Nella close to his torso, he took off down a different cobbled street. “Move!” he roared at a pack of sheepmen who blocked, with their flock, the walkway.
Baa, baa.Protests sounded off as he plotted their way through the impending flock headed for a drier pen. As he charged left at the next corner’s puddles, the watersplashingbeneath his soles was drowned out by a harsh streak overhead. Nella whimpered.
He vowed, “I have you, my lady.”Just don’t let the Benefactor’s warriors have them too. Make that next left ahead… Wait. Who just kicked that sheep out from around the corner up ahead toward his way?Hide!Callum snapped his stride right into a thin passage between two cottages.
Splash. Splash.The sheep kicker was approaching.Where! Where could he take Nella? Wildly, his eyes darted to a dead end. Hell! An etching by firelight ebbed the edges on a door to his left. There! Leaning back, he raised his heel.Bang!The door’s hinges gave in as a family gathered around the hearth turned wide eyed at him.
The sire and son stood tall;really tall. Hell, they were part giant.
“Leave,” the larger giant threatened.
“Please,” Callum countered, his tone edged by begging, “we seek shelter only for a moment.”
The eldest Scotswoman seated by the roaring hearth looked at Nella. “Is the lass hurt?”
“Aye, we seek only a moment…” His explanation halted when he heard a hiss-like voice order. It was Hiss!
“I saw them go down that alley there, seize them!” Shite, it had to be their alleyway.
Charging past the family, he ran for the opposite door. Lowering his shoulder, he bore hard against the wood, and the hinges groaned before breaking free and letting them back out into the downpour. Inn, the inn was… Hell, which way was the inn? With no stars to guide, he looked frantically toward Castle Wynd. The castle was north – go right!
A scream behind him sounded the alarm that they had been found out using the small cottage as a sanctuary. He raced right then rounded a new corner.Clergyman!He spun left, just avoiding crashing into the robed friar who looked wide eyed then took another right.
East;aye, they were headed east. The lights in any cottage or church or stable faded into the darkness ahead. It meant they had to be getting close to the edge of the burgh. If the burning like a bonfire in his thighs meant he could race same as the wind, they would have been there already.
That building was two floors tall! The inn! Blinking several times when water threatened to blind him, his step quickened, same as a stallion on the final leg of a race sailing over the cobblestones.
Rear door. Castellón had said rear door. He charged past the patrons who clamored to get inside from the foul surroundings. The shutters closed to avoid the rain seeping inside, but it didn’t silence the roar by Scots enjoying hearty food and ale.
“Almost there, Nella,” he huffed at the precious bundle in his arms. She tucked closer to him when a rumble by thunder echoed overhead. This was why she kept checking the sky all day.She was chancing herself to help him. If anguish could cause him to turn into a speck of dirt, he would have joined the soil under his feet as they reached the closed rear doorway.
