Page 63 of Highland Guard

After watching Big Mary lead her birds away, Annys shook her head and hurried back toward the great hall. The idea that they were losing the battle was indeed a hard blow to the heart, but she had always known that was a possibility. She also refused to believe the men who had died had done so for nothing. They had fought hard to try to save their homes, their loved ones, and, win or lose, their families should only have the greatest of pride in them.

And it would not be a complete defeat, either, she thought as she finally stepped into the great hall and saw Harcourt speaking with one of the wounded men. He looked exhausted and bandages circled the top of his left arm and the calf of his right leg. The way he moved told her that they were small wounds, but it took a moment to push down the intense fear roused by the sight of them.

Everyone looked exhausted, she realized. Annys knew it was not just the hard work that put that look of tight exhaustion on everyone’s face. Fear did it as well, eating away at the strength everyone needed to go on. No matter how much faith one had in one’s fighting men, that fear was there from the first hint of a coming battle. The sounds of battle surrounding the keep only kept adding to it. She could feel it nestled in the back of her mind and a corner of her heart.

“I hear ye have all been plotting whilst I was snoring,” she said to Harcourt as she stepped up beside him.

Harcourt smiled and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Ye have discovered our plan, have ye?”

“Met Big Mary taking her flock to safety.” She looked at the man on the table and was pleased to see that, although he had a serious wound on his left side, it would heal if it was taken good care of. “I didnae ken ye were anything more than a wondrously skilled weaver, Dougal.”

“Weel, near every mon has had some training and Sir Harcourt gave us more. Nay as watchful as I should have been though.”

“Ye will heal if ye take care of it as ye are told to,” she said with such confidence she could see his fear fade away. “I dinnae think ye will be going back on the wall though.”

“That was just what I was telling him,” said Harcourt. “He will be going out with the others once the sun sets.” He reached out and patted the man’s shoulder. “Ye will make your family happy by doing so, I am thinking.”

Dougal nodded. “Just wish I could have done enough to hold fast to the home they love.”

“Try to think of all this as just leaving for a wee while. For a time of healing and getting strong again. Aye, I believe we will have to retreat but then we can busy ourselves planning to come back, to take it all back, and be rid of that fool who thinks to steal from us. I will bring in my clan and some of our allies to help us do it. And, if we are lucky and nay get caught slipping out we will have a way to slip right back in.” He exchanged a brief grin with Dougal. “Rest while ye can. The leaving will be hard as it isnae an easy path to follow.”

Harcourt took Annys by the hand and led her out of the great hall, pausing now and then for them to speak to another one of the wounded men. He tried to find the words to tell her that it would all suddenly take a turn in their favor but his head knew he would be just giving her a false hope. He would not give her that and he knew she was strong enough to take the hard, cold truth. Harcourt also knew she would do anything that was needed to ensure the safety of as many of her people as she could.

Once inside the ledger room, the only room in the keep that was not being shared with any others, he took her into his arms and kissed her. To his relief, he could feel no tension in her lithe body and she returned the heat of his kiss without hesitation. When the kiss ended, he continued to hold her close and rested his cheek on the top of her head, enjoying the silky softness of her hair against his skin.

“Ned had the idea to get those who cannae move quickly out of reach beginning now,” he said. “It means that when the time comes for the rest of us to run, we willnae be held back or, far worse, end up having to leave someone behind.”

“So Big Mary told me,” she said, resting her cheek against his chest, letting the strong, steady beat of his heart soothe away the lingering fear caused by seeing that he had been wounded. “’Tis a brilliant plan.”

“It is, isnae it. I am glad that ye see that.”

“I dinnae want my people slaughtered to save this keep. Aye, we had to fight, to try, and I grieve for the ones lost, but, if defeat is staring us in the face, I dinnae want them to keep fighting. I will confess that the plan to take all we can of what is valuable here did please me. As Big Mary said, we will leave Sir Adam with only empty buildings.”

As if conjured up by hearing her name, Big Mary burst into the room through the doorway down to the cellars. The woman nearly found herself skewered by Harcourt’s sword, which he had drawn even as he had pushed Annys behind him. Annys grabbed his sword arm out of fear for Big Mary but could feel the taut readiness to strike already leaving him.

“Mary,” she said, speaking as calmly as she could while stepping forward, a little closer to the obviously frantic woman. “Were ye attacked?” she asked.

“Nay, ’tis nay me,” Mary said. “’Tis Geordie. I need to find Geordie.”

“He is on the wall,” said Harcourt as he sheathed his sword.

“Aye but they have wounded him.”

“Ye cannae be certain of that.”

Big Mary stood straight, squaring her broad shoulders as if prepared for a blow and looked at Annys. “I will understand if ye wish me gone after I say this, but I do ken that Geordie has been wounded. I ken things from time to time. I was securing my flock in the bothy and kenned that I had to get back here as fast as I could, that Geordie was going to have need of me.”

“Ye have the gift?” asked Harcourt.

Big Mary nodded but kept her gaze fixed on Annys.

Annys stepped over to her and patted her on the arm. “That is why your clan sent ye away, isnae it.” Big Mary nodded. “I am nay certain what he means by saying ye have some gift but if ye have warnings about things, I should think ye had best heed them.”

“If Geordie has been wounded then the battle has resumed.” Harcourt gave Annys a brief, hard kiss. “Ye should stay back, Mary,” he said as he started out the door only to sigh when the woman rushed right past him.

“How odd. Geordie and Big Mary. I best go and join the others in the hall,” Annys said as she walked past him and disappeared down the hallway.

Harcourt shook his head and hurried to get to the walls, going through the door in Annys’s bedchamber to save time. He had just reached the area close to where Geordie stood guard when he saw Big Mary tie a bandage on the man’s upper left arm. If the wound was deep and painful, they had just lost their best archer. He was only steps away from them when Big Mary took up Geordie’s bow.