Highland Thirst by Lynsay Sands, Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online

where he is or what has happened to him?”
    “He
will tell them when he returns home, aye?”
    Brona
looked at Sir Heming and then back at Colin. “Do ye think he will live?”
    “Who
can say, but e’en if he doesnae someone will come seeking revenge. I am that sure
of it.”
    “Colin,
he was kidnapped, sent to sleep with a potion in his ale. Someone took his
cousin and Hervey took him. How can anyone ken where Sir Hervey is?”
    “Such
secrets will out, mistress. If this mon was kidnapped at an inn then there is
someone there who kens it. And what if this cousin ye mention gets free and
comes ahunting for the truth? Nay, mistress, I fear Rosscurrach is due a
reckoning for this.”
    That
was frightening, especially since Brona could see the sense in all Colin said.
If many of the MacNachtons were like Sir Heming, she feared her people were in
for a very bloody future. She had no doubt in her mind that Sir Heming was a
strong and fierce warrior, and one with the cunning to stay alive in battle and
gain victory over his enemies. Her idiot of a cousin Hervey had certainly made
this man an implacable enemy.
    When
she reached the chamber set deep beneath Rosscurrach and lit a few torches,
Colin, Fergus, and even Peter looked around in amazement. She had gathered
rough pallets for all of them and set them around the edges of the room. She
had gathered clothing, blankets, and food as well. Thor sprawled on one pallet
and Havoc on another. In one corner, she had set a number of weapons, swords,
and daggers she had taken from the armory, feeling that the men would need them
when they were finally able to flee the keep.
    “Ye
brought your pets with ye?” asked Fergus as he helped Peter lie down on one of
the pallets.
    “I
had to. Hervey and the others wouldnae care for them and I kenned that, once
Hervey realized I was the one to set ye all free, he would slaughter them out
of anger at me.” Brona fetched some water and rags in order to clean the wounds
on Sir Heming as best as she could.
    Colin
settled Sir Heming on a pallet with surprising gentleness. “Aye, ‘tis just what
he would do. And where do ye plan to go when we can finally slip away from the
keep?”
    “Ah,
weel, I havenae exactly decided on that yet.”
    She
could tell by the looks the three men gave her that they thought she was being
a foolish woman, but she ignored them. Brona turned her attention to trying to
clean Sir Heming’s wounds. It might have been wise to take enough time to plan
where she would go and how she would get there, but she had felt there was
little time for anything more than getting the men out of their prisons and to
a safe place. There was also the fact that she really had nowhere to go that
Hervey did not know about and could find her. It was going to take a lot of
planning to decide what her next step would be.
    “They
did him hard this time,” murmured Colin as he stared down at Sir Heming when
Brona gently removed the man’s jupon. “We heard him making some of them noises
that sound like an animal again, but we ne’er thought they near killed the mon.
And why would the laird think this mon would ken how to live forever? It looks
like he is but a breath or two away from being dead to me.”
    Brona
gently set a cloth soaked in cool water over Sir Heming’s bruised and swollen
eyelids. “Aye, I fear he looks the same to me. Hervey wasnae thinking clearly
when he did this or mayhap he truly believes all those wild tales about the
MacNachtons. He could have just lost the chance to get what he is so desperate
to learn.”
    “About
living forever? No one can do that.”
    “Weel,
Sir Heming told me that his kin are long-lived, healthy, and strong. That may
be what has spread that foolish tale of living forever. Hervey truly does
believe it, I think. So much so that he and Angus are thinking of making a
potion to drink using this mon’s blood.”
    “Ere
they dragged me away to my cell, I heard them say that the mon’s wounds