Page 101 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
The redcoats had long gone, but she wanted to make sure they were not still lurking around before she set off to look for the man in the cloak. Was he hiding somewhere or had he managed to disappear?
Norah had to find out, or she knew that she would not sleep that night. There was very little to take back to Caitrin, since she had sold almost all of her stock, so she packed it in the sack she used to carry home mushrooms and nuts from her foraging expeditions. She excused herself, telling her fellow traders that she would be back soon.
Maisie looked a little concerned. “Are ye sure, hen?” she asked doubtfully. “There are some bad folk about in the woods these days.”
“I saw some fine mushrooms there, Maisie,” Norah replied. “They will not last long, so I want to pick them now so we can eat them for supper. I’ll be very quick, I promise.”
Maisie was obviously still not convinced, and watched Norah anxiously as she walked away.
4
It had been so long since Tearlach had had any proper sleep that when he crawled into the bush and pulled his cloak around himself, he was hard put to keep his eyes open. He knew he should be wary, should keep his ears and eyes open for the enemy, but for the life of him he could not keep his eyes open, and after a few moments of struggling, he drifted into a light doze.
He was in his home village of Dunnaird, running around the marketplace with a crowd of other children as they chased a leather ball around the square in front of the church. It was a bitterly cold day in the middle of winter and the ground was rock hard, but no one was cold: the children had been running around for hours working themselves into a sweat.
Tearlach was always ready for a challenge, and today the challenge was to kick the ball at a target that someone had drawn on the church wall. Since Tearlach had the strongest kick of any of the children in the village, it was assumed thathe would be the winner. However, today he was not, since strength did not matter in a contest like this.
He tried five times, cursing himself each time the ball came bouncing back, and the cries of derision from his playmates when he failed became louder every time. This did not sit well with him, since he was not good at losing.
He was just about to try for the sixth time when a gentle hand was laid on his shoulder, and he looked around to see Norah’s silver-grey eyes gazing into his. But she was not asking him if she could play with the ball. Instead, her voice was urgent as she cried,“Tearlach, wake up!”
Norah pulled her cloak around herself and ventured into the woods, stepping over rocks and around boulders. There were many places to hide here, but there had been three redcoats and only one Scotsman, and Norah had no idea if any of them were still crouching behind a rock or under a bush somewhere. They could be in hiding, waiting for the red-haired man to show himself so that they could pounce on him and drag him back to whatever hell they had in mind for him.
Treason was a capital crime, and she knew that the likely outcome would be a swift show trial before an immediate hanging, because the result would never be in doubt. It was always ‘guilty’. If a few hours of torture could be thrown in for good measure, so much the better. A wave of anger swept over Norah as she contemplated the prospect of this happening to anyone. No one deserved treatment like that.
Sometimes, she thought how wonderful it would be to be a man just for one day. Then she could use her strength to get revenge on all those men who had ever hurt or offended her and those she held dear. As well as that, she would not be dismissed as ‘just a woman’. That was the single thing she hated most: not being as strong as a man did not make her worthless.
But, of course, all this was fantasy. She loved being a woman, and always would, but now and again, if she became angry enough, strange thoughts like this came into her mind. She shared them with no one, of course, because they would think she was mad.
She stopped for a moment to survey her surroundings. She was going in the right direction, she was sure, but what if the red-haired man had turned back, or the redcoats had captured him? This was madness. She should turn back and go home, and she was about to do just that when something stopped her.
Suddenly, she saw, half-hidden under a bush, the figure of a large man, curled up in a fetal position with the hood of his cloak covering his face. There was no doubt that it was the man who had bumped into her.
“Wake up!” Her voice was a hoarse whisper. “The redcoats will find you!”
The man jerked into wakefulness, his hood falling off as he sat up. His eyes were bright green and widened as they met hers, and it would have been hard to say which one of them was more shocked.
“Tearlach!” Norah cried, her heart thundering. She would know those eyes anywhere.
“Norah!” Tearlach gasped at exactly the same moment. “How did ye find me? Why are ye here?” He looked around himself desperately. “Are the redcoats gone?”
“Yes, but we have no time to worry about that now.” Her voice was urgent. “We need to hide you, and I know exactly the right place, but we will have to be very quick and very quiet.”
Tearlach got to his feet cautiously, looking around himself warily the entire time.
Norah grabbed his hand and began a half-crouching walk between the trees, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.
Tearlach followed her, letting her take the lead, until something occurred to him. “My horse, Rory,” he said urgently. “I have to go and get him. You know how much he means to me, Norah!”
“I am afraid he will have to wait.” Norah was firm. “We don’t have time to go and get him. The redcoats know the area you are in now, and they will soon be back in greater numbers than before. We can come back for your horse later.”
“But Rory has been my horse for seven years!” Tearlach protested, stopping in his tracks. “We are friends! You know we are!”
“Then go and get him by all means,” Norah growled, “but do not ask me to go with you. Your horse will survive, but we might not if we stay here much longer.” She let go of his hand and began to walk ahead as fast as the undergrowth would allow her.
Tearlach followed her reluctantly. He had left the big horse with extreme reluctance, and hoped that Rory would not think he was abandoning him. The thought of that almost broke his heart, yethe realized that he would have to leave him where he was, at least for tonight.
For the first few minutes they walked in silence. However, Norah could not hold back for long. Her curiosity was becoming too much to bear.
