Page 28 of Taming the Highland Beauty

Gille offered the sealskin.

“Gille, nay,” Callum objected. “We need that pelt.”

“It is all right. I believe he wants to approve of us before he will let us pass.” She continued to hold out the pelt as the animal took another step forward. “We are not going to harm the sealskin. We want to return it to its rightful owner,” she said in a calm, reassuring voice.

The boar sniffed the pelt carefully, then began to lick the leather. As it did so, its eyes softened, a look of peace washing over the animal. It nuzzled Gille’s hand, and a moment later nestled on the ground at Gille’s feet, relaxing.

“I think he approves of us,” Gille said as she and Callum exchanged smiles. Their shared moment was short-lived when another, more threatening sound came to them. Hoofbeats sounded in the distance.

“The English?” Gille asked, sudden fear in her voice as several dark, mounted shapes came towards them, cloaked in darkness. They were too close to run from, and there were no trees to shield them. Her cloak would only conceal herself, and not the others.

At the sound, the boar rose and stood beside Gille as though ready to protect her from their foe. Callum remained focused on the danger. “Go deeper into the woods and hide yourself and the sealskin,” he said, his voice laced with steel.

“Callum—”

“Go now.” He drew his sword, then a second sword from his back and handed it to Declan as the hoofbeats came closer. The boar must have been frightened by the show of weapons because it fled into the darkness.

“Go with her, my child,” Declan said to his frightened daughter.

Gille took Declan’s daughter by her hand and, clutching the sealskin in the other, fled the scene, leaving Callum and Declan behind. Two men against who knew how many foes. When she determined she and the little girl were a safe distance away, Gille dropped to the ground, pulling the girl with her, then concealed the two of them with her moss-covered cloak. With the forest as charred as it was, the moss would look out of place, but given the cover of darkness, it would be difficult for their enemy to see through her camouflage.

Gille peeked out from beneath the edge, watching as the men on horses approached. Suddenly, other softer hoofbeats than the horses could be heard coming from behind her. Gille’s breath caught. Would they be trampled? No sooner had the thought materialised than she saw the boar who had greeted her rush past, avoiding the space she and the little girl occupied, with several other boars in a pack, heading to support Callum and Declan against the shadowed invaders.

Chapter Twelve

Callum’s hand tightened around the leather-wrapped hilt of his sword. He was a warrior, a protector. The odds were not in his favour, but he would defend Gille with his life, if that’s what it took. He forced himself to relax, to lighten his stance and wait as the enemy approached.

Behind him he heard the staccato sound of hoofbeats against the soft earthen ground. A quick glance back made him start. A pack of boars. The animals stopped beside Callum and Declan, their snouts twitching, their eyes wary. Callum extended a hand to the boar that had greeted Gille and him earlier. The animal nuzzled his fingers, its rough fur sending a shiver up his arm.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves thundering through the darkness shattered the moment. A group of armed men on horseback burst into the clearing. The man at the front dismounted. “Hold,” the man bellowed, his voice familiar.

Callum’s grip on his sword lessened as his eyes widen in surprise. “Tormod?”

Callum’s brother nodded, his expression softening. “I was not certain who or what we were approaching. I could only see shadows.” Tormod’s gaze strayed to Declan, and his expression became stern, then anxious when he saw the boars. They watched the men before them with curiosity.

“’Tis well, Brother,” Callum said, stepping forward. “Declan is no threat. He was helping us.”

“And the boars?” Tormod asked.

Callum sheathed his weapon, then accepted the return of the sword he’d lent to Declan. “It seems they are protecting us.”

“Us?” Tormod asked, searching the area. “Where is Gille? When you did not return, we worried and came searching for you.”

“I am here,” Gille said as she and the little girl emerged from the shadows.

Tormod’s gaze lingered on Gille’s face for a moment before shifting to the leather-bound bundle in her hands. “You found what you were searching for?”

“Aye, right before you appeared,” Callum said, his voice filled with relief.

Tormod waved one of his men forward with a horse that had no rider. “Then it is good we have come to take you home. We brought your horse, Callum. You and Gille can ride together. I will take the little girl, and Emery can take Declan with him.”

Callum assisted the little girl and Declan on the backs of their horses before he mounted his own. He offered Gille his hand, but instead she handed him the package containing the pelt then moved among the boars, stroking each head. Callum’s chest lifted with a swell of amazement at Gille’s connection with these creatures.

During their days in the woods, he had seen Gille do strange and wonderful things, but this was something altogether different. With the boars, she had forged a bond that defied their wildness. While she was no longer the beast in the forest, she remained connected to the very essence of the woodlands and the inhabitants within.

If they failed in their mission, and Gille became a tree, Callum wondered if the plants and creatures of the forest would protect her even when he was too old to do so himself? At the thought, his chest ached. They still had two days to break the curse. He would move heaven and earth to see that Gille was free of both the curse and Oberon for the rest of her life.

Gille finished saying her goodbyes and extended her hand to him to assist her up onto the horse. Before he could take her hand in his, a roar echoed through the woods, a sound filled with rage and frustration.