Page 47 of Ruining a Highland Healer
In the dim light, Noah approached with a torch, bringing his horse to a halt next to Torrin.
"Riders from the east," he said, nodding toward a trail of dust winding across the moor.
Torrin narrowed his eyes. He tried to see into the distance, through the mist and the darkness that quickly began to surround them. "One man. Fast."
It didn’t take long for the rider to reach them, pushing his horse to its limits as he tried to reach them. He was a Gunn soldier, but barely recognizable through the grime and blood on his face. Had it not been for the colors he wore, Torrin wouldn’t have known him. When he reached Torrin and Noah, the soldier came to a sudden halt, and though it was his horse that had been doing all the work, he still seemed to be short of breath.
What happened tae him?
Torrin suspected he already knew. There was only one reason why one of his men would come to him like this, bloodied and dirty, covered in mud.
"Me laird," the man gasped, "it’s the castle."
Torrin’s worst fears were confirmed with that one simple sentence, telling him everything he needed to know. Keith’s men, surely; it couldn’t be anyone else.
He had delayed his wedding to Valora for too long, and now Keith had had a chance to attack. He didn’t regret giving her a choice, but he did regret that it had come to this.
"Speak," Torrin said.
"Attacked. This morn, soon after ye left. Keith’s men… fifty, maybe more. They came from the southern cliffs. They—" the man swallowed, drawing in a deep breath, "they came an’ left fast. I reached ye as fast as I could, but… but I dinnae ken what the situation is like in the castle now."
"They came an’ left?" Torrin asked with a frown.
What could they have possibly come for? What was it that they were looking for? Had they retreated because Torrin wasn’t there?
No, that sounded unlikely. It was more likely that they had gotten what they had been looking for.
The wind fell silent. A sharp pain speared through Torrin’s chest.
Valora.
Noah muttered a curse under his breath, his hands already tightening around the reins. "Any sight o’ them since?"
"Nae from me," the soldier said with a shake of his head. "Others were sent out tae follow them but I dinnae ken what may have happened."
Torrin clenched his jaw, doing his best to stop himself from screaming obscenity after obscenity as the blood flowed like lava in his veins. His anger threatened to bubble over, his hatred for Laird Keith only growing with every passing moment, and he had half a mind to march back to the castle, gather his men—those who were left—and simply attack.
He turned to Noah. "Gather the men. We’re headin’ back."
It would be dark by the time they made it back, the night a pitch-black curtain, but they had no other choice. Torrin had to evaluate the damage himself. He had to see what could be done now that Clan Keith had made its first move.
"It’s dark," Noah pointed out. "It’ll take us hours tae head back."
Torrin’s eyes flared as his head snapped to the side to look at Noah. "Then we ride, an’ we ride fast. Nay pause. We dinnae stop until we’re inside the walls."
I will kill every man who dares tae touch Valora.
He turned to his men, who had by then gathered around him, flanking him on both sides.
"Let us head out," he called. "Let us head back tae our home an’ see what those bastards have done."
The men shouted in assent. Urging his horse into motion, Torrin led them all back toward the path they had taken—the long wayhome. But no matter how long it took them, he was determined to never stop until they reached the castle.
They rode fast and silently for nearly an hour, cutting through the moor, their only companion the sound of the horses’ hooves against the ground. Every drum of the horses’ hooves drove Torrin’s fury deeper into his gut. The thought of Keith attacking his home, his people—the thought of him harming Valora was enough to drive him crazy with fear, and though he knew they were still too far from the castle, he kept waiting to see its walls just around the corner, his impatience getting the better of him.
What has he done tae her?
There was a chance she was perfectly safe. There was a chance she had been harmed. Torrin knew that Laird Keith wouldn’t dare kill her, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t harm her, either, or that he wouldn’t try to take her from the castle. And if the latter had happened, then there was little hope for them, save for Torrin declaring an all-out war and attacking Clan Keith to take her back.
