Page 26 of The Iron Highlander
Kate quickly walked off, leaving them behind as she hurried to their room. She quickly changed out of her clothes and prepared a bath, washing the sweat and fear off her body. As she showered, she turned away the idea that the Lady Grear had something to do with the attack. She would never put them, or her son, in harm’s way. But it did not give her the answers she was looking for.
Once she was done, she stepped out into the room to see her three sisters waiting. Each of them with a different look on their faces. Freya looked concerned, Willow looked excited, as she wanted to hear the story of how Kate had taken out a mercenaryon her own. Lily, on the other hand, looked as though she was upset with Kate.
But with all of the requests she knew that the girls would have, Kate was only interested in making a single statement. She cleared her throat, “We leave by the morrow. Pack yer bags.”
“What?” Willow asked, shocked.
“Yer bags, clothes. Pack light, I daenae want anythin’ that will slow us down. Quickly now!” Kate said again, working on her own small bag.
Freya walked up to Kate, grabbing her hand and stopping her. “Kate, what is it?”
Kate pulled her arm away and glared at the girls questioningly. “Did ye nae hear what I said? We are leaving!”
“I’m nae going with ye,” said Lily.
“Ye better not make me mad, Lily, this is nae the time. We got attacked, we aren’t safe here.”
“Nae, we are. It’s not the attack that scared ye like this. What is it, Kate?” Freya asked, touching her gingerly.
Kate looked away, biting her lips. They would not understand, and she had an obligation to them. She had to make the toughchoices for them. It was not a path she wanted to take, but she had no choice. They had to leave. “If by morning, ye daenae have yer bags packed, I’ll leave without ye. If ye bairns cannae see that I’m tryin’ to help ye, then there’s nothin’ I can do to change that.”
“Kate,” Willow called out, but Kate ignored her, rushing out the door.
The three girls stood, watching the door which Kate had just walked out of in disbelief. Kate had just said she would leave them behind, breaking their hearts. Lily turned around, with tears on her face. She seemed to be the most hurt of the sisters.
“She promised that we would always be together, and now she wants to leave us?” Lily asked, looking to Freya and Willow.
Freya walked over to her, holding her sister in an embrace. “No, Lily. Kate is just a little stressed.”
“But if we leave her like this, there is going to be trouble and ye know it Freya,” said Willow. “If we daenae find a way to keep her back here, she’s going to leave tomorrow, and there’ll be nothin’ we can do to stop her.”
Freya nodded. Kate was as stubborn as Max had always said. She never listened, especially when she had made up her mind about something. Now, she wanted to leave, and it would takea miracle to get her to change her mind. Freya let out a sigh, looking out to the evening skies out the window.
“What do ye think happened out there?” Lily asked. “I thought our plan would go well.”
“Aye, I thought Reuben and Kate would see they weren’t so different.”
“We need to know what happened out there,” said Lily. “I’m going to ask Reuben.”
“Is he going to answer ye?” Freya asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Aye, he better,” Lily replied and rushed out of the room.
Willow and Freya followed behind her as they hurried through the corridors to the infirmary where Hilda bandaged his wounds. Willow and Freya peered from behind the door, while Lily boldly walked in boldly, staring right at Reuben. He looked up with a smile, catching a glimpse of Freya and Willow behind the door.
“Aye, ladies.” Reuben began, seeing the look on Lily’s face, he nodded. “Lily, how are ye doing?”
“I came by to ask ye the same,” Lily replied, looking at his arm.
“Was a deep graze, but I got it all cleaned up, and it should start healing soon. Would leave a wee little scar, but that should be about it,” said Hilda, packing up the items she used to treat him.
“Thank ye, Hilda,” Reuben replied. “Kate scraped her knee, might want to check on her.”
“Aye, my Laird,” Hilda replied, walking out of the room.
“So, what happened when ye were out there?” Lily asked.
Reuben raised an eyebrow, looking at the bandage wrapped around his arm. “It’s as I said, we were attacked and…”
