Amanda Scott (25 page)

D
IANA AND NEIL HAD
risen long before sunrise, and they reached the Ballachulish ferry well before the starless darkness began giving way to twilight. The ferryman was awake when they arrived, and they reached the Lochaber side without seeing a sign of Black Duncan or any other Campbell.

That they had seen no one, Diana knew, did not mean there was no one to be seen. Just as darkness hid their movements, so too might it hide the movements of others, and daylight was increasingly near.

She had left the village festivities the previous night soon after parting from Calder, and had made Neil return to Maclean House with her. Mary stayed longer, with Ian and some friends, and since Morag and her brother Gordy also stayed, Diana had not objected. Better that they all be seen having fun, she had thought. Then she and Neil might not be missed.

As the darkness lifted, she noted with misgiving that the sky was overcast. Riding alongside the narrow upper end of Loch Linnhe, they met other travelers, including occasional red-coated soldiers, but she could detect no sign that anyone followed them. Uneasy, she kept looking back over her shoulder.

“Relax, Diana,” Neil said the third time she had done so. “Anyone who sees you looking back like that will think we are eloping or some such thing.”

“I know,” she said. “I just wish this road were not so public.”

“Well, it will be so until we pass Fort William,” he said. “That is why I told Dugald not to meet us before Spean Bridge. He can get there easily without drawing notice, and once there, no one will pay heed to our meeting him.”

“I hope he does not fail us,” Diana said, suppressing the urge to look back again. “We’ll need him to show us the way to Glen Drumin. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I don’t know the area well enough to be sure we can find it on our own.”

“Nor do I, unless we go all the way to Fort Augustus,” Neil said. “The old road over the Corriearrack begins near there, and from that road, I can find Glen Drumin. Dugald will take us a much faster way, of course, straight through the mountains from Spean Bridge. Still, I don’t think we’ll get there before dark.”

“Goodness, I don’t see how we can,” Diana said, amused. “We’re not carrying much, to be sure, but it must be nearly fifty miles, Neil.”

“It’s only half past seven now,” he protested, “and at this pace—”

“We won’t be able to maintain this pace once we head into the mountains. Father used to say that one should never count on making more than five miles an hour on horseback, and that is for ordinary travel.”

“Well, but still, that is only—”

“We will have to rest the horses, too,” she went on firmly, ignoring the interruption. “We cannot afford to hire others. Indeed, since we want to draw no notice, I think we’d be wise to avoid Fort William. There must be a way around it.”

“Well, I don’t know of one,” he said. “In any event, if you want to make speed, we must keep to the main road until we meet Dugald.”

“Very well, then.” She glanced up at the dark gray sky and drew her cloak more closely around her. “I just hope it does not rain before we find him.”

Neil smiled. “‘Mist in the hollows; fine weather follows.’ ”

“Aye, but there’s mist on those hills, too,” she pointed out. “That will bring ‘water to the mills’ before your fine weather, I’ll wager.”

The rain still had not made good its threat forty minutes later when they approached the village of Maryburgh and got their first view of Fort William. One of three Highland forts commanding the Great Glen, it was the only one that never had fallen to a rebel attack. At the moment, thanks to the deepening gloom, its high walls looked forbidding. Diana put up her hood and pulled it forward.

Lying south of the fort, the village existed chiefly to supply its garrison. Cottages and shops lined both sides of the road. Pedestrians, other riders—including a small patrol of soldiers—and even a rackety old coach, added to the traffic. Diana eyed the soldiers warily, but none seemed to pay them heed.

Ten minutes later, rain began to fall lightly as she and Neil left village and fort behind. There were still others on the road, however, and she realized that the main route from Fort William to Fort Augustus and Inverness was used no less than that from Ballachulish to Fort William.

They entered a thick wood, and for a time the interwoven branches overhead sheltered them from the rain, but there was less light, and they slowed their pace accordingly. Whenever they passed through a clearing they received a shower, and twice they took shelter for a time with other travelers to let the rain ease before continuing on their way. When they emerged from the woods at last, they could see in the distance the high bridge spanning the River Spean’s deep gorge.

As the site of the first shots fired in the Forty-Five, the bridge stirred Diana’s emotions, but her feelings were undeniably mixed. The Jacobites had won that skirmish, but in the end their cause had been lost, and many people, even friends, now questioned both the sense and the value of the uprising. Since she still believed that a German-born king had no right to rule Scotland, it struck her as ironic and sad that she was on her way to persuade her mother to swear fealty to him.

It was nearly noon, and by her calculation, they still had twenty miles or more to go through the rugged mountains of the deepest Highlands. Sighing, she hugged her cloak more tightly around her and urged her horse on toward the bridge, where she could see the small patrol of red-coated soldiers crossing.

Rory and Thomas encountered a setback at Maryburgh. Rory had expected to change horses there easily but soon discovered that Maryburgh did not boast a posting house like those found along most well-traveled roads. Directed to Fort William by a helpful citizen, he learned that the fort had few horses to spare, and no stalls for hire. He learned as well that Duncan and his men were ahead of them.

He and Thomas had entered the fort through the main gate, and he saw at once that the place was nearly deserted. At one time, he knew, it had contained upwards of twelve hundred men, but it now contained less than five hundred, and many of those were out with patrols. The fort’s primary purpose now was policing the Highlands. He was beginning to think that a great deal of time, manpower, and money were wasted looking for and chasing Highlanders who dared to wear kilts. Worst of all, according to Patrick, the red-coats rarely caught their prey.

The young soldier who had told him about the lack of horses was a chatty sort, interested in where he had come from and where he was bound. Not wanting to draw attention to Diana or Neil, he said only that he had come from Balcardane.

“Och then, ye be the second lot the day,” the young man said. “The young master o’ Balcardane were here wi’ his men nigh onto an hour since. Asked if I’d seen a young woman and a lad pass this way. Now, I ask ye, would I be likely tae notice one lass amongst many on yon road, me wi’ me work and all tae do?”

“No, and I’ll ask you no such questions. However, I have not been in these parts for years. Shall I meet with any new roads betwixt here and Spean Bridge?”

“Nay, me lord, but beyond the bridge ye must keep left if you’re bound for Fort Augustus. The other way will take ye tae Dalwhinnie. ’Tis sorry I am aboot the horses, sir, but when Black Duncan ordered up four and the captain from Castle Stalker said he should have them, I couldna say him nay.”

“Of course not. So Patrick Campbell is in the area, is he?”

“Aye, sir, wi’ a patrol. He said if Black Duncan can put a few reivers out o’ business, he’ll thank him for it, so I warrant they be chasing cattle raiders again.”

“I see.”

“I can scare up two horses for ye, sir, but I canna promise they’ll be good ones. Most o’ these I’ve got are not full rested yet.”

“I’ll take just one, so find me the best you’ve got,” Rory said. Turning to Thomas, he said, “I want you to stay with our horses. Rest them for at least four hours and then follow me to Spean Bridge. I’ll manage to leave word there for you, or get a message to you somehow so you’ll know which way I’m bound.”

“Aye,” Thomas said gruffly. “’Tis nae more than I expected. But ye’ll mind yer back, master. ’Tis no from the wench that the danger will come.”

“Now you sound like Mary Maclaine,” Rory told him. “Have you acquired second sight since we came into the western Highlands, Thomas?”

“I have not. What a daft thing to say!”

“I suppose I’ll offend you even more if I tell you that I wish that one of us had it,” Rory said with a sigh.

Crossing General Wade’s high bridge over the deep gorge that contained the roaring River Spean, Diana looked down only once, gulped hard, men kept her eyes fixed resolutely ahead. Safe on the other side, they turned east and at once began watching for Dugald. The rain had stopped, and behind them, the western sky looked lighter and less threatening.

The winding gravel road ahead lay empty, for most other travelers seemed to have gone up the Great Glen toward Fort Augustus. As they rounded a bend, a small clachan appeared, its thatched-roof white cottages scattered like sheep in a damp green meadow above the roadway. Since the road followed the edge of the river gorge, the mountainside plunged steeply away on their right.

Just ahead, a big, fair-haired man stepped onto the road from behind a large boulder and lifted a hand in greeting.

“There he is,” Neil said unnecessarily. “Ho, Dugald!”

They rode to meet him, and as they halted their mounts, Diana glanced back and saw four riders coming toward them at a canter. “Neil, look!”

“I see them,” he said grimly. “Those are no ordinary travelers.”

“Black Duncan?”

“Aye. Dugald, they mustn’t catch you.”

“Nay, lad,” Dugald said. “I’ve naught tae fear, for he doesna know me. Best if we look like we just stopped tae speak o’ the weather.”

The four riders came up to them with Duncan in the lead. He said, “So now we see whom you have come so far to meet.”

“Have you been following us?” Diana demanded.

“Keep your temper, lass, and introduce me to your companion.”

“You know Neil perfectly well.”

“I do, but I do not know his friend.”

She was about to tell him to mind his own business, but Dugald said in a cheerful voice, “What might ye be wanting wi’ poor auld Dugald, me lord?”

Duncan gave him a long look, then said, “I’m hunting reivers, and in view of the company you keep, I suspect you might be one. What do you say to that, eh?”

Dugald’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, giving him a look of vapid stupidity that under other circumstances might have made Diana grin with appreciation. At the moment, however, she did not feel the least bit amused.

Dugald said, “Reivers, is it?”

“Now, look here, Duncan,” Neil began indignantly.

“You be silent. I’ll deal with you in a moment.”

Diana snapped, “You won’t deal with anyone. There is no law that I know about against traveling out of Appin country, and in any event, what we do is no business of yours. As for harassing this poor man—”

“I’ll be glad to discuss that with you at length,” Duncan interjected. “I have had men watching your little brother for days now, my dear, in hopes that he would lead us to his cohorts. I confess, however, that I did not expect to find you involved with them. What shall we do about that, I wonder?”

“I have done nothing wrong,” she said. But thinking of the pistol she carried in a cunning holster attached to her saddle and covered by her skirt, and the little
skean dhu
in its garter sheath, she felt color rush to her cheeks.

Duncan’s dark eyebrows shot up in sardonic disbelief.

He had guided his horse next to hers so that she was on the outside of the road, too near the edge for comfort, but she was determined not to let him see that he frightened her. When he smiled, letting his gaze meet hers, it occurred to her that she might have more reason to be afraid than mere proximity to the precipice.

Her pistol, though not as awkward to reach as the
skean dhu,
lay beneath her skirt, and she could not easily snatch it out. She was no match for him in strength, and more than she feared for her safety did she fear for Neil and Dugald. Both men would try to protect her, and if they did, heaven alone knew what could happen.

Duncan said to his men, “Take these two round the next bend and have a chat with them, lads. I want to know where the big one was the night our herd was raided. I already know where the other one was,” he added with a grim smile, “but I’d like you to hear his tale all the same.”

“No,” Diana exclaimed, trying to urge her horse forward as his men hustled Neil and Dugald away.

Duncan stopped her simply by reaching out and catching her horse’s bridle. “You’ll stay with me, lassie. We are going to have a little talk, just the two of us.”

While he still leaned forward, holding her bridle, she reached under her skirt and jerked her pistol from its holster. Pointing it at him with a shaky hand, she said in a low but grim tone, “Let us go, Duncan, or by heaven, I’ll shoot you down.”

She expected to startle him, even to frighten him, but he looked at her calmly and said, “So you’ve done nothing wrong, have you? Do you know the penalty for a woman caught carrying a weapon? Over and above the fine and the imprisonment she suffers until the fine is paid, she must endure six full months in the Tolbooth.”

Panic surged within her, but she said stoutly, “I don’t care. Tell your men to let Neil and Dugald go.”

“Perhaps we can strike a bargain,” he said. His voice was low, almost lustful, and a shiver raced up her spine. As she opened her mouth to tell him what she thought of him, he reached out and wrenched the pistol from her grasp. “Now,” he said in a much harsher tone, “I think you will be more civil.”

“I doubt that,” she snapped. “If you think for one minute that I would let you touch me, Duncan Camp—”

The words ended in a shriek when he grabbed the front of her cloak with his free hand and hauled her close, putting his face right up to hers. Measuring his words, he said, “You are in no position to bargain, my lass. If I were interested in your body, I’ll wager I’d soon have you begging me to take you in exchange for your idiot brother and his friend. As it is, it will give me far more pleasure to see you hailed before a magistrate and soundly punished for your sins. I need only order one of my men to blow the horn he’s carrying to bring soldiers to deal with you. They rode on ahead, you see, so that we could trap you between us.”