Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

away. “What?”
    “I think about having a wife to talk to at ni ght.”
    “What sort of things would you talk about?”
    “Oh, little things like what the children did that made her laugh or which man Charlet has turned her attention to next.”
    That made Rachel smile. “She wants you and will have no other.”
    “Aye, she has said the same to me. By the way, how did you get back inside the wall?”
    Rachel suddenly remembered she was still mad at him. “Did you know it was a horse? Of course you did, you tricked me!”
    He defiantly narrowed his eyes, “Do you mean to say, Rachel MacGreagor, that you did not know it was a horse?”
    She got to her feet. “I...“
    “Of course you did. It is just as I thought. You will use any excuse to get close to me.”
    She couldn’t leave fast enough and didn’t realize her fists were still clenched until she was almost home.
    Connor sighed. The war with Rachel was back on, he guessed.

    It was at last dark enough to slip outside the wall. This time Rachel didn’t have to hold the Ferguson plaids out of the water to keep them from getting wet and swimming the moat was much easier. Just as she promised, she was careful to take the long way around to the loch and then come back toward the Keep .
    It was slow going. She held daggers in both hands, expected men to be everywhere and stopped often to see if she could hear them breathe, smell them or feel any movement. She saw no one and moved on to the next hiding place. Again and again, she moved closer to the Keep and still she saw no men. If they were there, they were very good at keeping quiet.
    What she could hear was the woman and the boys talking in Gaelic. The six and seven-year old boys were complaining of hunger and wanted to go home. The woman seemed kind and told them as soon as the bridge was down they could eat. The boys were not convinced the bridge was coming down anytime soon.
    Rachel moved closer and located a large rock with bushes near it not too far from the road. She put her daggers away and got ready to catch the boys. Then she took a deep breath and remembered to speak English. “Boys, run to me...keep running...follow the sound of my voice...run this way...hurry.” She could hear them coming, grabbed the oldest boy first and then caught the younger. With lightning speed, she hid them between the bushes and the rock. Then she crouched down beside them and prayed no one could hear the way her thundering heart was beating. “Be very quiet,” she whispered.
    She fully expected to hear warriors coming and held her breath. Instead, she only heard the voice of the woman. The Ferguson woman walked to the edge of the forest and tried to see them, but it was too dark. “Smudges, tell the woman with the blue stone we are well.”
    Kevin couldn’t see her, but heard the woman ’ s words and instantly knew what had happened. “Rachel has the boys. Connor, go to Catherin and tell her to show you the secret. You are not to tell anyone about it, do you understand?” In the blink of an eye, Connor was gone.

    “Be very quiet,” Rachel whispered again. She took each by the hand and got ready to take them through the forest. “No matter what, you must not make a sound.” If the boys nodded, she wasn’t able to see them. She decided to take a shorter route and moved them from hiding place to hiding place, stopping each time to watch and listen. But she heard no sounds other than the wind and the normal rustle of small animals.
    Finally , they came to the place w h ere the edge of the forest was nearest the moat and the hidden door. She made the oldest boy stay in the trees and took the youngest to the edge of the moat.
    Nothing could have surprised her more than Connor’s voice whispering to her from the water. She didn’t hesitate. Rachel handed the boy down to him, slipped back into the forest and waited. Someone shouted in the courtyard, someone else moaned loudly and she suddenly realized how quiet it had been inside since the Ferguson woman first arrived. To help her, Kevin ordered distractions. A metal pot rolled down the hill, a door slammed and a child cried.
    When she got the older boy to the moat, Connor was there again. He must have handed the younger one to her mother and she looked, but if the door was open, there was no light inside the wall. It was another thing she was glad Kevin thought of. All the children were taught to swim. Still, it was very dark and she would need to make the