Once she was seated, she sipped her tea sweetened with honey. “I shall miss this place. Miriam anticipates my every need.”
“I’ll bring you back, as often as I can.” Across from her, he slid his dagger free, sliced the crusty bread then stabbed some of the bacon and egg and layered it on top of the slices. He handed one slice to her and munched on his own slice before raising his tankard to his mouth and gulping down the warm cider.
“Load the galley with enough provisions for our coming journey!” Hamish’s bellow echoed through the window from outside.
“We need to hustle.” Duncan polished off the last of the bacon and egg, pushed his chair back and collected their bags.
With her meal finished too, she tucked her chair in and slipped out the door with him.
In silence, they trod downstairs and walked through the front door. Ahead, Duncan’s warriors swarmed the shoreline and she halted on the pebbly sand where the surf rolled in. Breathing deep, she took in Scotland’s freshest air as it whipped around her. The sea surged and swelled, the wind whistling through and tugging strands free from her plait and sweeping them across her cheeks. Across the waterway, her village lay nestled along the mainland, the craggy hills and grassy moors of the Highlands rising high and spreading wide beyond it.
To the south, the Isle of Skye beckoned. Ethan was so close. Hand to her brow, she took in the familiar curve of the coastline rounding the northern tip of Sleat. The gray clouds in that direction thickened further, and a squall out at sea sent rain sleeting down along the length of Kyle Rhea. “That does no’ look promising.”
“Mayhap that squall will blow itself away by the time we reach the kyle.” Duncan swept her up in his arms and carried her through the knee deep waves then lifted her over the side of his galley and bounded in behind her. At the bow before his men, he dipped her backward, kissed her cheeks and nose then set her back on her feet.
“Are you staking your claim?” She rubbed up against him, happy to stake her own claim as well. “Because you missed my mouth by an inch if you were.”
“If I kissed you proper right now, then I’d never stop.” He slipped his hand around her elbow and guided her down the center aisle to the stern, tucked their bags underneath the rear bench seat and called out, “We sail for Skye, will make berth at a secluded bay near Dunscaith where we’ll no’ be spotted. All to oars. We leave with all haste.”
His men were far more heavily armed than she’d ever seen them before. They carried swords, battle-axes, and bows and arrows strapped to their sides and backs as they took their positions on the benches and rowed their galley clear of the bay.
“Hoist the sail.” Duncan adjusted the rudder and as they cruised the waters toward Skye, the white-capped waves rose higher and pitched them about.
She searched the rocky beaches bordered by high cliffs for any vessels similar in size to Gavin’s. While she did, Hamish too kept a lookout for the same from his position at the bow.
Nothing. No sign of Gavin. She wrung her hands together. There were plenty of other lodgings farther along the main sea route toward Dunscaith, taverns and inns aplenty where Ethan and Gavin could’ve found safe harbor. She’d keep searching.
As the waves heaved higher and the wind blew stronger, she slid about on the bench and struggled to remain in place.
“I’ve got you.” Duncan lifted her off the seat and set her in his lap, banded one arm tight about her waist and kept her seated in place. “Dinnae fret, love. Well find them, or meet up with them at Dunscaith.”
“That is what I fret about.” What if she shouldn’t have let Ethan leave with Gavin on his own at all? Aye, if she’d gone with Ethan, Gavin and his men would certainly have been suspicious of her decision to join them, particularly when ’twas well known she sought peace over any blood being shed. “I cannae help but second-guess my decision in allowing Ethan to leave without me.”
“He’s your brother. We’re all overprotective of our loved ones.”
“Even as strong as he is with the battle skill, mistakes can still happen.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “I’m also leading you and your men into danger.” That danger growing by the minute as they traversed the waterways closer toward the MacDonald’s stronghold.
“There isnae a day that passes when danger does no’ follow me around.” He scanned the seas ahead, the choppy waves slapping into the bow as they rode the ever-rising swell toward the thin channel.
“This storm has no’ passed at all.”
“Aye, the squall grows stronger.”
The wind rushed all around and battered the sail. Waves crashed over the side of the galley, waters sloshing across the deck and making it dangerously slick. Several men grabbed pails and scooped the wash back over the side.