Page 119 of My Brave Highlander

"Who entered or left this room?" Dirk asked.

"Her maid took supper in to her last night," one of the guards said in a hesitant tone.

"Allow no one else to enter. She's to have no contact with anyone. No talking and no missives. Make sure she hides no notes beneath or inside anything that leaves this room. Two guards are dead because of her scheming. This is a matter of utmost importance. Do you understand?"

"Aye, m'laird," the two guards said in unison.

They'd best obey his command or he'd send them packing. He wouldn't tolerate insubordinate or slovenly guards.

Moments later, Dirk rejoined Conall in the lower corridor and they descended the narrow stairwell to find several angry, shouting men in the great hall.

"Which way are they headed?" Dirk asked loudly.

His clansmen quieted and turned to him. "We know not yet. Three men are following them."

"What is all the ruckus?" Rebbie asked behind him.

Dirk turned to find his friend fully dressed. "Thanks to Haldane, the prisoners have escaped. They killed two guards. We're going to find them." Dirk strode toward the exit, all the men following him.

They proceeded across the torch-lit bailey to the stables where the grooms and lads were already busy saddling horses.

"Each of the outlaws took a horse," one of the young grooms told Dirk. "I tried to stop him, m'laird, but your younger brother stole your horse."

A lit fuse of outrage burned through Dirk. "What? Haldane stole Tulloch?"

The groom shied back. "Aye. He forced me to saddle him at sword point."

"Damn the little bastard," Dirk growled. If Haldane was here, Dirk didn't know if he could stop himself from strangling him. He hoped Tulloch tossed the upstart into a bog.

"He must have stones the size of cannonballs," Rebbie muttered.

"Which might get him killed." Bravery didn't equal intelligence. "How many horses are left?"

"A couple dozen," the groom said.

"That's enough." They'd find the horse thieves and murderers.

A skinny lad ran into the stables, breathing hard. "M'laird, I didn't go with them."

Holding the lantern aloft, Dirk saw 'twas Ross, the friend of Haldane's Dirk had threatened with expulsion from the clan. "They freed me from the dungeon but instead of riding away with them, I hid until they left."

"I'm proud of you, Ross," Dirk said, halfway trusting the lad, and halfway wondering if Haldane had left him here for some nefarious purpose. 'Haps as a spy. But he'd give him the benefit of the doubt. "I'm glad you've learned a lesson. Do you ken where they're headed?"

"Nay, they didn't say. But 'twas Haldane, Gil, and some of Lady MacKay's guards who released us."

Just as Dirk suspected. "Stay here and help the stable lads."

"Aye, m'laird." Ross immediately joined the others, asking what they needed help with.

"Watch him," Dirk whispered aside to Conall. "I don't trust him. He may be working for Haldane. Don't allow him near Isobel. Will you relay the message to her guards?"

Conall nodded. "Indeed. Have a care, lad."

Dirk mounted the unfamiliar horse, a renewed surge of fury at Haldane heating his veins. He'd get Tulloch back, even if he had to chase Haldane all the way to the Lowlands.

Moments later, Dirk, Rebbie, Keegan, Erskine, and almost a dozen of the strongest, best-trained clansmen rode through the gates, leaving several guards to man the gates in the event the outlaws circled back.

Using lanterns and torches, they followed the hoof prints in the few inches of snow that blanketed the frozen ground of the moor. The tracks led south. A sinking feeling settled into Dirk's gut. Could they be headed toward Munrick Castle and the MacLeods?