Page 43 of The Splendor of Fire
“Yes. Put your spear away, Anndra, before you hurt someone.”
Looking shaken, Anndra lowered the quivering spear. “I’m sorry, Commander MacLean, she came through the woods and I told her to state her name and she wouldn’t respond.”
Calum rolled his eyes. “That’s because she can’t respond. She’s mute.” He signed to her.Come. Sea. Near. Loch.
Heart bursting, she signed back.Very good! You’ve been practicing.
Calum nodded.We. Practice. Every day. Beithir. Best. At. Signs.Almost. Good. As. C-A-R-A.
Anndra followed them as they walked to the Loch. “Are you communicating?”
Calum signed as he spoke. “Yes. She speaks in signs. I started learning a few months ago.”
“Why?”
A flicker went over his fair features and he winked at her. “Because she’s a trusted friend of someone I know, and I wanted to learn. Don’t you have a perimeter to walk?”
No doubt worried about a bad report to the chief, Anndra hurried back to the edge of the wood, spear now held confidently before him.
When he was out of earshot, Calum frantically signed and spoke at the same time. “We heard from Mowbray that Niall had taken you from the prison as leman. How on earth did you get away from Dun Ringill?”
She made a circle with her hands and mouthedtunnel.
Calum repeated her sign. “Tunnel?”
She nodded, signing as slow as she could.Yes. I was down in the auld dungeon. Felt a breeze. Looked around. Found an opening in the wall. An old water gate. A tunnel to the outside.
Emerging into the brighter moonlight in front of Dunvegan, Moira noticed the hustle and bustle of a large merchant vessel being loaded.What’s that?
“A supply ship?—”
“BIRDY?” From the end of the dock, dressed in black, Iain stared at her, dumbfounded, then shook his head hollering at the top of his lungs. “Birdy!”
SEA!
Iain ran down the dock and scooped her into his arms, spinning her around. “This cannae be real, Birdy. How’re you here?”
Calum signed the answer.Tunnel.
Iain repeated the motion. “Tunnel? At Dun Ringill?”
Yes. Down off the auld dungeon. I found it this morning.
Iain breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. We’ll need tae get ye doon to Lochbuie. Hector and Cara will look after ye, it’s noo safe for ye on Skye.”
No.
Iain made a face and signed back.What do you mean, no?
Slipping off her shoe, she removed the battered scrap of paper and handed it to Iain. He read it, a spark of anger igniting across his face. “These are plans to attack Duart.”
Calum snatched the paper with his tattooed fingers and read it. “Where did you get this?”
Niall MacKinnon’s solar. I don’t believe he realizes that the newest chambermaid can read.
Iain looked confused. “I tho’ he took ye for leman? Is tha’ par’ of it?” Calum punched him in the shoulder. “Wha? I dinnae ken.”
Laird Mackinnon tried to—harm me—the first night I was there but I kept attacking him.
