Page 51 of The Lady of Her Highland Clan

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"Ye sure this is the right spot?"

Clyde looked quizzically at her, the strong sunlight filtering out the colors from his light eyes. The capricious August sun had put in one of its periodic appearances and was now blazing hard and hot. It probably would not last long.

Dismounting from Lizzie May, Fiona squelched across the wet grass. Beneath her feet was the evidence of a torrential rainstorm that must have passed earlier. Either way, both her and Clyde had been mysteriously spared.

Fiona had awoken that morning to clear blue skies, her shaded eyes squinting into the light. Beside her, Clyde had already awoken and was packing up the tenting that they had no use for the previous night.

Fiona jolted in surprise. For half a minute, she did not remember how she had got there. The skies, the grass, and the singing birds in the clearing were all a surprise. Then, she remembered.

Grinning, Fiona had watched as Clyde worked, taking the tenting down single-handed. It was considerably faster than putting it up. She smiled. The whole enterprise had been a monumental waste of time.

Looking about the fresh glen, where the gold was hidden, Fiona wondered how they had missed the rainstorm which evidently soaked half the Highlands last night. Leading Lizzie May, she carried on, walking slowly toward him.

"I said, are ye sure this is the right place?" Clyde repeated, but more loudly as if she had not heard.

From her position across the clearing, Fiona gazed across.

"Quite sure," she said, but inside she was anything but. Inside, her heart was beating quickly. It wasn't just about the gold. It was the emotions building inside her. Everything was resting on this moment: the lost gold that had been missing for so many years and the fate of the clans. It was not just her reputation and her position with the elders at stake. Also, Clyde's own situation with his lairdship lay in the balance. Their fates were linked by this one moment.

And that was not all. Hesitating, Fiona realized she felt tense; the missing jewels held more than a monetary value. They were also the last link between her and her parents.

Walking across the wet glen, Fiona trembled.

"Fiona? What is it, lass?" asked Clyde, once he caught her eye. Even in the distance, he could see she was pale and shaking. Dismounting from his horse, he raced over. Placing a firm arm around her, he walked her to the spot on the map.

"Ye alright noo?" he asked, clenching her arm and propping her up. Feeling a little awkward, Fiona nodded.

"Dinnae fash," she said, trying to draw a line underneath it. It was just a wobble, that was all. Determined to shake it off, Fiona folded down the map, such as it was, and faced the spot in the ground ominously.

But, the nearer she got, the more she hesitated. The thicket around the area was heavy and overgrown. Battling through it took some time.

Taking her hand, Clyde helped her as Fiona picked her way across the undergrowth. It was not easy, and large sprays of brambles kept getting stuck to the underside of her arisaid.

Finally, they reached it, scratched and bleeding.

"Are ye alright?" Clyde asked as the pair of them emerged from the brushwood. Patting herself down, Fiona nodded. But then she got a shock.

"Clyde!" Fiona's expression was enough to make Clyde stop dead before he saw what she was looking at. Her cheeks blanched, Fiona pointed at the ground. A large pile of soil on the ground made it clear enough.

"It's gone!" she gasped. "Someone's taken it."

Frowning, Clyde pushed her aside. "We cannae be sure," he said, gazing at the hole in the ground, but from the look on her face, he must have realized.

But to Fiona, it was clear enough. Putting the shovel she was carrying down, Fiona drew her lips into a line.

"There's a hole, Clyde!" Fiona reacted. "How much more clear does it need to be?"

Clyde shook his head. "Aye, something has been digging. It could have been a rabbit or a fox."

Fiona fixed him with such a look that Clyde immediately dropped it. Even a child could see that this was not a foxhole.

"Well, alright, perhaps someone was digging, but it doesnae mean they found anything. The gold could be hidden around here somewhere else." Clyde looked uncertain, his pale-green eyes flickering in the daylight.

Fiona sighed. "Och, alright," she said wearily. She didn't really hold out much hope for finding the gold now, and a deep, sinking feeling filled her heart.

All the same, picking up the shovel, she made good. Lifting the spade up, she prepared to dig the surrounding area. Clyde did the same, and for a minute or two, they tried their hardest to pull at the wet grass around them.