A short while later, I found myself seated on a horse with a strong arm wrapped around my waist. In his infinite wisdom, Erik had decided that I should ride with Logan, that way I could take over steering the horse should Logan’s injuries prove problematic. Logan had seemed offended by Erik’s suggestion that he might not be able to ride on his own, but kept silent just the same.
“Are ye cold, lass?” Logan asked as we made our way through the dark landscape towards some unknown destination.
“No, Ah’m perfectly all right,” I told him, obviously lying but not caring whether he knew it or not. “Just make sure we don’t crash inta anythin’. Ah’d rather not go tumblin’ off this horse, thank ya very much.”
Logan snorted quietly, obviously amused by my comments. “Ye’ve got quite a mouth on ye, lass. And a fair sized temper to go along wi’ it.”
“If ya think this is mah temper ya’ve got another thing comin’,” I grumbled under my breath.
Our little band of travellers stopped for the moment so that all the leaders could confer amongst themselves. Obviously not one of the men in charge, Logan and I were stuck in the back with the annoyance that was Kurt. There were some other men gathered around-- all of the younger ones --but I paid them no mind. I didn’t want any of them near. I didn’t want to be anywhere near them. I wanted to be back at the bed and breakfast with Scott. Preferably in bed and making love into the long hours of the night, but I’m not picky. Just get me out of the cold and away from the barbarians and I would be content.
Behind me, Logan suddenly began jerking about, nearly knocking me from my precarious spot in front of him. Spinning around, I watched in horror as Logan was about to undue all of the careful bandaging I had done to his shoulder.
“Will ya stop fidgeting!” I scolded, whacking Logan in the centre of the chest. “Yer gonna hurt yer shoulder an’ mess up the bandages.”
“I’m trying to get my cloak off t’ cover ye with,” Logan explained, still moving about. “Yer shaking like a leaf, lass and I willna let ye catch a chill. Now could ye please help me? It’s kinda hard to do this one-handed.”
Scowling at him for good measure, I nonetheless unfastened the large broach that held Logan’s cloak in place. Once we had it all freed, Logan tugged the plaid from his shoulders and, with a marvelously dexterous swirl Logan flung it around the both of us, tucking the ends of the plaid under the saddle in front of me to keep us both locked within this pocket of warmth.
We started up again a few moments later, continuing on with our journey. Even though I refused to admit it, I was grateful for Logan’s presence. He had a calming effect on me which was something that I craved in my present situation. While he wasn’t Scott, Logan had an imposing stature which brought comfort now that I was wrapped in his arms.
“Ye have nothing to be scared of, bideach aon. For all his talk, Erik won’t let anything happen to ye,” Logan tried to assure me, sensing my unease.
Turning my head, I shot Logan a confused look. “An’ just what is a bej ‘achg ùn?”
Logan’s face broke out into a wide grin, illuminating his face even in the dark moonlight. “Have ye no Gaelic then? It means ‘little one.’ Something which suits ye just right.”
I tried my best to scowl at Logan, but it didn’t work one little bit. Logan merely smirked and steered our horse around a bend in the path. Instead, I snuggled deeper into Logan’s arms, searching out whatever warmth he could offer.
For a long time after we rode in silence. Even if Erik hadn’t ordered the silence I would have most likely remained silent. My mind was working a million miles an hour, attempting to figure out what had happened to me. I was also worried to death about how Scott was reacting. I had been gone for at least twelve hours and he would have undoubtedly begun to worry about me.
“That’s Cocknammon Rock!” I shouted suddenly, catching sight of a familiar landmark in the darkness.
Logan chucked quietly from behind me. “Aye, lass, it is. Been in this area before have ye?”
“Didn’t the English use that fer ambushes?” I asked, completely ignoring Logan’s comment. “If there’s an English patrol in the area, chances are they’d hide behind there....”
Next thing I knew, I had a hand clamped over my mouth. A very warm, heavy hand that would have covered my nose as well if I had not pushed it downwards. I noticed right away that all the men in our group were suddenly on edge, whispering amongst themselves and drawing their weapons.
Seconds later I was unceremoniously dumped from the horse into a large bush. I began to protest very loudly, shouting a slew of profanities at Logan as I clambered out of the bush and onto the path that I had been riding on only a few moments before. When a gunshot went off, I let out a frightened squeak and fell back into the bush.
“Okay, we have a battle goin’ on,” I mumbled to myself as I carefully extracted myself from the bush a second time. “This is not good.”
Using the distraction presented by the English patrol, I began to head back towards where I assumed Inverness lay. I needed to get back to Scott and away from these insane Scotsmen.
I got a few steps down the path when I came to a sudden realization. While I could see the path with no problems, it wasn’t because of any unnatural lighting. The path and the surrounding landscape was lit by the full moon shining overhead. There was absolutely no light where Inverness should be. The only reason I hadn’t noticed the lack of light before this was because I was used to it. The war had gone on for so long, that I had become used to darkened skies every night so that enemy planes could not bomb cities. After all, if you couldn’t see the city you couldn’t drop a bomb on it. But the war was over. It was no more so there was no reason for Inverness to be dark.
Trying not to let that bother me, I continued on down the path. Even if Inverness was not there, at least I would be away from the brutes who had taken me captive.
After stumbling down the path for about ten minutes, I came to a sudden realization that the Scotsmen would most likely look for me on that very path. If I was to have any chance of escaping them I would have to venture off into the gently rolling hills that surrounded it. Not the wisest thing considering I wasn’t at all familiar with the landscape, but I was sure that I would eventually find my way back to Inverness and Scott.
“Yer not gonna get far going that way, bideach aon.”
The sound I made when Logan spoke is one that I will deny till the end of my days. There is no possible way that I made that frightened squeak. It was completely undignified given my present predicament. I caught myself instantly and straightened my shoulders, turning to glare at Logan.
“Ah don’t really care what ya think. Ah’m goin’ this way an’ if somethin’ happens ta me it’s mah own problem,” I told him, more or less stumbling forward. “So Ah’ll thank ya ta leave me alone.”
Much to my annoyance, Logan fell in step beside me. “Now ye know I canna do that, lass. What type o’ gentleman would I be if I allowed ye to wander off like that?”
“The type that knows how ta do as he’s told.”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Logan smirk a the comment. “I can take orders readily as any man, but not when it leaves a helpless woman in peril.”
“Ah am hardly helpless,” I shot back, glaring openly at Logan.
That comment seemed to amuse Logan who reached out and latched onto my arm. “One way or another yer coming with me, lass. Either ye can come willing or I can toss ye over my shoulder.”
“But yer shoulder!” I protested, whirling around to face him.
“Does this mean you’ll come willing then? ‘Cause I’d hate to have to damage my shoulder after all the work ye did to set it right,” Logan said, guilting me into following him.
“That’s not fair!” I growled, glaring up at him.
All that Logan did was grin down at me. “That’s the point, lass. I didna wanna leave ye with any unwise options.”
Scowling at Logan for good measure, I obediently followed after him. If I thought there was a chance I could escape I would have taken that chance. Unfortunately, wounded shoulder or no, I knew that Logan would be able to catch me with no problems whatsoever. If I was going to get away from them I was going to have to wait until no one was paying attention to me. There was no telling when that would happen, but there was no possible way they could watch me all the time.
At some point they would have to let their guards down.
“Are ye all right, lad?” Erik asked as Logan and I joined the rest of the Scots.
For the first time I really looked at Logan and could not contain a shocked gasp. The entire front of Logan’s shirt was stained black from the extreme amount of blood that had been spilled during the ambush. There was no way that it could all be Logan’s because if he had lost that much blood he would have already been dead. But some of it could still be his.
“Why the hell didn’t ya say anythin’ before, Logan? Ya could be bleedin’ ta death!” I shouted at him, quickly pulling Logan towards me.
“I’m fine, lass. It’s not even my blood,” Logan protested, waving me away with his good hand. “I knifed a guy back there and he just happened t’ bleed all over me.”
“Please just let me check ta be sure,” I protested, reaching towards him once again.
Before I got close enough, someone grabbed me around the waist and all but flung onto the back of Logan’s horse. I was still trying to orient myself to what was happening to me when Logan mounted behind me. He didn’t seem to be in any pain-- he didn’t make any pained sounds --but that didn’t put a halt to my fears.
“If yer lyin’, so help me, Logan, Ah will kill ya,” I threatened as we began our journey once again.
All that earned me from Logan was a quiet chuckle. “There’s no need ta worry so much, lass, I’m not hurt any.”
Had it not require a great deal of movement, I would have turned around and glared at Logan. Instead I shifted around, accidentally whacking Logan’s shoulder with my head. Logan bit back a moan of pain, his entire body tensing up.
“Serves ya right fer tearin’ round the countryside with an injured shoulder,” I grumbled, barely holding in an instinctive need to apologize.
“Well I was fine until a certain someone hit me a stone weight head,” Logan mumbled under his breath.
I scowled into the darkness, keeping my eyes trained forward. “Bloody man.”
Once again silence reigned on our journey. I was scared out of my wits and it wasn’t because of my present situation which was even more frightening. What terrified me was the fact that I was finding myself concerned about Logan. I shouldn’t be concerned about Logan. I didn’t even know him. All that I had done was fix his shoulder, but I’d done that for countless other men and they had never stayed on my mind for more than a few minutes. Logan, however, had fixed himself in my mind and wasn’t about to let go. I put it down to the fact that I was stuck on a horse with him and hoped that it was the truth.
As much as I hated to admit to it, I was having more and more doubts about these men being mere play actors. They were entirely too authentic for this to be fake. And I hardly doubt that even in this place that they would have treated Logan’s shoulder in such a manner. No person in this day and age would suggest bandaging a gash with a greasy rag. It was unheard of! It was--
I could barely contain a gasp when my stomach rumbled in a none too quiet way.
“Logan, me boy, have ye got a set o’ bagpipes in yer stomach?” someone called from the front of the group.
“Aye, I do. And I think it’s in need of some tunin’, Warren!” Logan shouted back at him, manfully taking the blame for my stomach’s noises. Logan moved about a bit then passed something to me. “I suggest ye take a wee nip of this, Marie. It’s not food, but it’ll warm yer stomach and make it think it’s full,” Logan whispered in my ear.
“Thank you,” I whispered back, pulling off the top of the flagon. The instant that I removed the cap I was hit by the potent scent of the liquor inside. Taking a deep breath, I brought the flagon to my lips and took a quick swig. It stung my throat all the way down, but, as Logan had said, it warmed my stomach.
Passing it back to Logan, I turned my head and smiled at him briefly. Logan’s smile looked positively feral in the dim moonlight. He brought the flagon to his mouth and took a very deep drink. It amazed me that he could down so much of it in a single gulp and not choke on its stinging reaction.
After a time, however, Logan began to wobble in the saddle. It was very haphazard, making the horse shift side to side to accommodate for the teetering. I was beginning to think that he had drunk too much, the right idiot.
As I turned around to chide him, I was horrified to see Logan start to slide precariously towards one side.
“Someone help! He’s goin’ over!” I shouted, making a grab for Logan’s plaid, but failing to catch it before he slid from the saddle.