One could feel the frustration in the air. The Lord was frustrated because he couldn't find his daughter, the guards were frustrated because they’d lost so many men and still couldn't find the rebellious runaway girl.
“You said there were no survivors?” Hale asked again and the guard nodded.
“Take some more. Head out at sunset.”
“Milord, if I may,” Sebastian cut in as the guard was about to speak up. “The estate is lacking in security, all our men are out looking for the lady and less than half of them return. We cannot afford to send more men to look for her.”
“She is my daughter!”
“These are also your men and you have a responsibility to them,” the guard replied. “We have no clue which direction she went, My Lord.”
“Then send men in every direction!” Lord Tyrill commanded.
“We are doing our best to find her. The more men we lose, the more we put this estate in danger.”
“Find more men, gather men from the town and send them to look for her!” Hale walked up the guard. “I am your Lord and you will obey my command.”
“I have sworn to protect you and your family. I have my men here to do that and I will not take them to meet their death, leaving you unguarded. If you want me to go then I will go, but we cannot force the townspeople to do our bidding, My Lord.”
“All right,” Lord Tyrill said as he stepped back. “I will go see the Duke again,” he said, picked his coat and left the estate.
Sebastian waited for Lord Tyrill to leave the room before turning to Sir James.
Lord Tyrill is not a forgiving man!
“You should not speak to him like that, James,” Sebastian said, and the younger man huffed.
“He never listens to me until it is too late! I cannot let more of my men die or get injured. Can you not see that our Lord is losing his mind?” Sir James replied.
“You need to understand what the Lord is going through,” Sebastian tried to explain but the head guard huffed and walked out, leaving Sebastian in the study. He took a seat on the arm chair and closed his eyes.
The peaceful atmosphere was broken after a while when a bloody guard pushed past the doors.
“Where is Lord Tyrill?”
“What is it?”
“I need to see Lord Tyrill!”
“Why? Out with it!” Sebastian grabbed the guard, who was struggling to catch his breath. “Answer me!”
“The Lady! I found her!” he gasped.
“Where?”
“In the forest! She-she was with two men. They were Scots,” he panted as Sebastian shoved him in the seat and slammed the door shut. “She was willing to go with them! One of them killed my comrades!”
“What do they look like?”
“The injured one had golden hair. He was bigger than his partner and he seemed closer to Miss Hale.” Sebastian nodded and suddenly grabbed the guard.
“Now listen. You are discharged from duty for the rest of the month.” His eyes widened in fear.
“W-why?”
“Take time to rest, but ensure no one else hears of the events you have told me about.”
“Lord Tyrill! He has to hear abou—” Sebastian cut him off by putting a dagger to his throat.
If Lord Tyrill hears news that she is headed to Rattray, he will start a war that we are not prepared for…or worse. There is no telling what his rage will drive him to do.
“Do not speak a word about this to anyone, not even to Lord Tyrill. Do you understand?” The guard nodded in confusion. “Now go!” He shoved the guard back and he stumbled out of the room.
Sebastian was happy to know that Joan was still alive but he had mixed feelings about the company she was with. He had no idea if he should to sad or happy. He did know she had to be brought back.
“Sir James!” He left the study to look for the head guard. He found him in the courtyard flirting with a maid. Sebastian grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away from the maid. “Go. Take two men and go to Scotland. She is somewhere along the route. Search everywhere. Every house, every tavern, and every inn but do it carefully.”
“But my men—”
“Go now! Take whoever you can.” Sebastian shoved him back and the head guard scurried out to do as he was told.
Joan watched as Aidan slept. She had done all she could about the wound and she hoped he would regain his strength quickly.
“How is he doing?” Ian asked and Joan looked up from Aidan's body.
“He has only stirred a few times,” Joan answered, averting her gaze from Ian's hard stare. She looked down at the injured Aidan who let out a grunt and she brushed his golden locks out of his face.
Joan knew she was the reason Aidan got hurt. She also knew Ian wasn't too keen on the fact that she was with them in the first place. She could almost swear he was glaring daggers at her head as the horses galloped. He never wanted her to come with them and now Aidan had gotten injured trying to protect her.
“How far are we from Scotland?” she called out to Ian, who looked at her. His face held a slightly-irritated look and she averted her gaze back to Aidan.
“Nae so far.” She looked back up and was met with the back of his head. She noticed his clothes were stained with blood and dirt; his bloody hands had an iron grip on the reins. He had the reins of both horses in his hand so Joan could hold on to Aidan properly. She saw his jaw was clenched and his brows furrowed. He suddenly looked at her and she gasped. “Stop staring at me. It is an annoyance,” Ian said, and Joan nodded quickly. He rolled his brown eyes and scoffed.
Joan focused on Aidan after that, holding his injured body to her as much as she could. Aidan was much heavier than she was, which made keeping him on the horse a difficult task, but Joan endured the aching in her arms. About an hour after running through the forest, they came to a large clearing where an inn stood.
There were benches with men seated on them, beer in hand and food in front of them, chatting loudly. Their chatting stopped when Ian's horse halted in front of them and he hopped down from it. He managed to get Aidan down from the horse and he hauled the bigger man into the inn, leaving Joan to get off the tall horse with much difficulty.
“Tie the horses to the tree.” Joan jumped at the sudden voice that had spoken to her. It came from a girl who looked the same age as Joan. She balanced a plate of food on one hand and pointed to the trees with the other. She had brown hair which she wore in a bun. The girl's piercing black eyes roamed over Joan's appearance and she chuckled, sounding unamused.
Joan hurriedly tied the horses to a tree and unloaded their bags. Joan saw Ian come out of the inn and he came to take the bags from her. “Walk close to me. Daenae leave me side,” Ian whispered to her and she nodded and held on to his bloody sleeve.
They entered the inn and the chatter inside stopped. All eyes rested on the bloody duo. Joan started to feel self-conscious but Ian looked unbothered as he led them to a room. He kicked open the door and Joan saw Aidan on the bed where Ian put him.
“We cannae leave if he is nae awake,” Ian said.
“I know. I will take care of him. Do not worry,” Joan said, and Ian slumped on a wooden chair. Joan removed the makeshift bandage on Aidan's wound and she saw him flinch in his sleep. “I need some water. I need to clean all the dirt off of him.”
“I already asked someone to bring us some water,” Ian mumbled as a knock came from the door. “Enter,” he called out and the person behind the door did. Joan saw the black-eyed girl enter with a box and a pail of water.
“Will you need anything else?” she asked as Joan took the pail of water from her and dipped a clean cloth in it. She took out the cloth, squeezed it and carefully wiped Aidan's face.
“That will be all for now,” Joan answered. The girl suddenly came over to them and pointed at Aidan's shoulder wound.
“You will need to—” the girl started but Joan cut her off.
“Sew it. Yes, I know. Thank you,” Joan said.
“I used to watch the doctor when he came to my father's estate to treat the wounded guards, and I read a lot in my free time,” Joan answered and Ian hummed, satisfied with what she told him. “Please get some rest,” He hummed again and Joan went back to her work with thoughts of the black-eyed girl swirling in her mind.
Something about her just did not sit right with Joan.
Chapter 9
Joan ran the wet cloth over Aidan's chest, cleaning off the dried blood from his now-stitched wounds. She snuck a glance at Ian, who was seated by the window with a bottle of whiskey next to him, watching her every move. Joan could see the tiredness behind his hard gaze. He ran a hand through his brown shoulder-length hair.
“You should rest, Ian,” she said as she got to her feet and turned to him. “Aidan might be unconscious for a while. You should get some sleep before he wakes up.”
“Daenae worry about me,” he replied, taking his gaze off her to look at the starry skies. “We need to get to Rattray quickly but since Aidan is indisposed, we must leave as soon as he wakes up.”
“What if he is not healed by the time he wakes? His wounds will open up again,” Joan tried to reason with him but Ian shook his head.
“We leave once he wakes up.”
Joan let out a deep breath at Ian's order. “He might nae be in the best shape to travel but we need to get to Rattray soon.”
“Why?” Joan asked but she got no reply from Ian.
She huffed and took a seat on the bed next to Aidan. She had known Ian for a few days. Without alcohol, she felt that he was always uncomfortable around her. He kept his conversations with her very short and they sounded forced to Joan. She could almost say he was only tolerating her because of Aidan. Ian was not happy when Aidan had come back to fetch her and he did not try to hide it. Every time she looked at him, she was met with stone-cold eyes that did not look pleased with her presence despite his kind face.
She looked up at Ian and saw him with his bottle of whiskey dangling playfully from his hand. His cold gaze was back to her and she flinched at the intensity. She sucked in air and let it out in a deep breath.
“You do not want me here, do you?” she asked, meeting his gaze.
“What makes ye say that?” he asked, taking a swing out of his bottle.
“You always seem so…” she began but Ian cut her off.
“I daenae want ye here but I will tolerate ye for Aidan,” he said, and Joan straightened up to look at him properly. “Aidan feels attached to ye and I daenae ken why. I cannae abandon me friend because I daenae like some of his decisions.”
“How do you think the people of Rattray will react to an English girl?” Joan asked, worried about what people might think of her. She knew of the war rumors and she didn't want to be seen as a threat.
“Ye need nae worry much about that. Whatever problem arises, Aidan will be there.”
“But there might be problems?” Joan asked.
“Ye are English and people of Rattray are nae so fond of the Englishmen, especially from Haerton.”
“But…” Ian stood up, interrupting her. “Where are you going?”
“I need another bottle; I will be downstairs. Come with me if ye need anythin' to eat. Aidan will be fine on his own,” Ian said as he made his way out of the room. Joan flinched when she heard the door slam shut. Joan rested against the headboard of the bed and soon she was asleep.
Aidan felt cold and he could feel the hair bristling on his body. The pain from his shoulder and side throbbed, the ache was almost unbearable. He had been injured worse than this many times and had the scars to prove it but he did not understand why an injury he considered minor hurt so much.
He did not want to open his eyes as he was trying to go back to sleep. He could feel a warm body next to his, lying still. The body suddenly turned and pressed itself on his arm. He could make out the supple skin that undoubtedly belonged to a woman.
He knew he wasn't in Scotland yet, so the only woman who could be next to him was Joan. He suddenly heard a low groan followed by a snore that he recognized as Ian’s. His companions were fast asleep which meant it must be past midnight.
He heard a sharp cry for help from somewhere in the inn. He opened his eyes and shot up into a sitting position, ready to attack. The door to the room was ajar.
Why is the door open?
Careful not to open his aching wounds, he got out of the bed and grabbed his sword which was lying next to the bed and slowly began to find his way out of the room. He looked back at Joan to make sure she was asleep so he wouldn't scare her.
He did not know much about where he was. He remembered it as the inn that he and Ian had stayed at on their way to England. As he turned to a corner her saw three figures at the end of the hallway. One was a woman and the others were men.
One man grabbed the woman's hair and pushed her to the wall, earning another cry of pain from the woman. Recognizing her cry, he charged toward the two men with his dagger drawn. The man holding the woman saw him coming and shoved the woman toward Aidan. Aidan caught her, giving the other two men a chance to escape.
Thank yer stars.
“Are ye all right?” he asked as she struggled to stand up straight but winced at every try. Aidan noticed the difficulty and he examined her, looking for the cause of her pain. He frowned when he saw why she was having difficulty. “It looks like a minor shift in yer shoulder. Let me help,” he asked the woman for permission and he got to work when she nodded at him.
He sat her down on the ground and carefully lifted her ankle and placed it on his lap. “Brace yerself. This will be painful.” She nodded and he carefully moved her arm up until it was behind her head. His careful movements were still quite painful to the woman.
“Try to reach for yer other shoulder,” Aidan said as he held the arm behind her head in place so it wouldn't fall back down. The woman did as he said with much difficulty and they heard a faint popping sound. Aidan grinned and sat on the ground in front of the woman. “Daenae move it so much now.”
“Thank you,” the woman mumbled as she rested her head on the wall. Aidan noticed how pale and skinny she was. Her hair was a full mask of black curls that stopped below her tiny waist. He looked back at her face and saw black eyes staring back at him. “You are injured!” she said.
“Yes, me friends and I were attacked,” Aidan replied.
“So was I, those men you fended off daenae stay in the inn, they are bandits as well. Accept me appreciation for yer rescuing me,” she thanked him with a smile.
“It was nothin'. The inn is nae safe, we will leave in the mornin’. I would advise ye dae the same,” Aidan said, feeling his wound.
“I shall. You should get some rest so yer wounds can heal,” she said, and he stood up.
He extended his arm out help her stand up and she took it with her uninjured arm.
“What is yer name?” she asked.
“Aidan,” he replied.
“I am much obliged for yer help, Aidan,” she said, bowing slightly.
“Have a good night. Lock yer doors and windows,” Aidan said as he watched her head toward her room and he heard her locks click. He turned toward his own room and wondered.
Why was our door open? They were lucky they dinnae come near Joan.
“We will leave now,” Aidan said to the innkeeper.
“Stay for a little while longer. I can get ye some drinks, free of charge,” the innkeeper said and Aidan inched away from the woman. Her brown eyes looked deceitful to him after his encounter with the woman from the night before. She tried to push the bag of coins that Ian gave her back into his hand but Ian, who was already annoyed about their elongated journey, did not look like he was enjoying the conversation.
Aidan moved away from the two of them and was trying to get on his horse. With much difficulty, he mounted it just as Joan came out of the inn with Ian's bo
ttle of whiskey. She hung the full bottle of liquor on his horse before running her palm over its nose. The horse pressed closer to her hand and she giggled at it. Aidan couldn't help but smile at her, she had a way with animals.
Ian looked back at his horse and tossed the money at the woman and raced to his troubled horse.
Ian calmed his horse and he mounted it. He looked toward Aidan, “Are ye ready?”
Highlander's Cursed Bride: A Steamy Scottish Historical Romance Novel Page 8