Page 36 of The Iron Highlander
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Kate asked, turning away from him to douse a table in water. She turned and ran off, getting more water outside before heading back in to continue. Soon all that was left was the smoke from the flames, but they managed to get it under control, and finally put it out. The entire McDonald household stood outside, watching the smoke rise from their home. Some nearby villagers had come to offer their help, and to watch as well.
Reuben walked back in, with Hudson following behind him. He wanted to access the damage which it had done to the castle. Everything on the lower floors had suffered heavy damage. All of the connecting corridors burned badly. Their doors and roofs incinerated, and the walls were covered in smoke. The entire outer wall of the great hall had been burned, and sometime during the fire, parts of it had collapsed inward.
The rooms had taken damage too. His mother’s, Hudson’s and some of the servants. His room had been burned too, but only slightly. Kate’s room was a bit further down the hall, and theirs was fine, save for the excessive smell of smoke.
“It’s not too bad, we can rebuild,” said Hudson, holding the Laird’s shoulder.
Reuben nodded, knowing he was right. “As long as we have each other. Come, I need to check on my maither.”
They went back outside to the makeshift tents which the servants had begun setting up. Since the house was still smoking, they would have to spend the night outside. He rushed to the tent where Hilda was seeing to his mother, and found the woman lying asleep.
“How is she?”
“She’ll live. Had a lot of smoke in her, but we were able to save her. If ye hadnae got her out of there when ye did, I fear we’d be having a different discussion now,” said Hilda. “She needs to rest, at some point in the night, or by morning, she will wake. I will stay with her, to see how she is doing when she does. I would like some water though, to clean her up.”
“All right, Hudson, please.” Reuben replied, and Hudson left the tent at once. Rueben turned back to Hilda, before looking at his mother’s face. She was still breathing, and her face was stained with soot from the flames. He ground his teeth in anguish, realizing just how close he had come to losing her. “Thank ye, Hilda. Let me know as soon as he wakes up.”
“Aye.”
Reuben turned and left the tent, seeing Kate standing with a bucket in her hands. Behind her, the smoke from the castle rose up into the sky, and the moonlight seemed to beam directly down on her, illuminating her face. He stared at her for amoment, before walking straight for her. Just as she realized that it was Reuben, he grabbed her hands and pulled her in for a kiss again.
She froze for a moment, as he was kissing her in front of everyone. But Reuben was beyond that, he had almost lost her, and that scared him more than anything. He pulled away, hugging her tightly as he looked over her face and body.
“Are ye okay?”
“I’m fine, ye?” Kate asked.
“I’ll be,” Reuben replied, “Ye never listen, aye Kate? Ye stubborn lass cannae just do as yer told? What if ye had gotten hurt in the fire? What would I do?”
“I couldnae just stand back and watch as the fire burned down the place I have called home for so long now, I just…”
Before she could finish speaking, Freya and Willow walked up to Kate, with fear in their eyes. Freya spoke, “Kate, is Lily with ye?”
“Nae, I left her with ye.” Kate replied.
“We cannae find her. She was there one moment, and there was so much smoke, and we turned around and she was gone. We thought she came to help ye, but if ye didnae see her then where is she?” said Willow.
Reuben locked eyes with Kate as a chill ran down their spine.
Chapter 18
Katherine feltthe sweat run down her arms as she worked with the fighters. She would take a large bucket, run all the way down to the pond and throw it in, filling it with water, and then she would heave it all the way back to the fire and put it down, taking up the next empty bucket, and rushing to fill it up. By the time the fire was out, she had smoke across her face, and sweat dripping down her body in her clothes.
Despite all of the fear they felt as the fire ravaged the castle, nothing made Kate feel as fearful as she did when they realized that they had no idea where Lily was. For a moment, they all stood together, staring at each other, waiting for one or the other to say something that would produce the girl. But no one knew where she was, and Kate felt her heart flip in her chest.
She took off running towards the smoke, guessing that she might have tried to help out with the fire, and perhaps was caught in the smoke. Just as Kate made her way to run, she felt a hand grab her, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around to see Reuben holding her, shaking his head.
“Nae, not there. Daenae run straight into the fire.”
“But Lily!”
“Might be in one of the tents. Check there first, if she is nae there, then we check the castle,” said Reuben, looking right at her with a firm look on his face.
Kate nodded and turned to head towards the tents. There were only a few tents which had been erected, and Kate had already stepped out of the first one. However, she checked again, parting the small drapes to stare in. She found Hilda seated next to the Lady Grear, looking up at Kate with a questioning look on her face.
“Is there a problem?”
“Lily, did she come by here?”
