The Enchantress by May McGoldrick Read Free Book Online Page A

into a cold and stormy night.”
    “Now, just a moment--”
    “Nay, not another word on it. The morning will come soon enough for you to take her from us. Out with you!”
    Laura didn’t hear the monk’s mumbled answer as he stepped out into the night.
    “And Guff,” she said loudly, turning back at the door. “You see after your daughter and her husband. I’ll have Sister Beatrice bring back some broth for his fever.”
    But her look did not match her gruff words, and Laura did not miss either the affectionate nod or the subsequent wave of the old woman’s hand, telling her to get out while she had a chance. Both women knew that this was their moment of good-byes. Their moment of parting. The mother superior turned and stepped out into the darkness.
    No sooner had the thin leather door dropped back into place than Guff was there peering out. The Highlander was on his feet, too, and checking the crumbling walls of the hut for an alternate way of getting out.
    “They’ll be right back, laird,” Guff mumbled with an anxious look at Laura. “They’ve left a man standing by the apple shed. He’s watching the hut.”
    William Ross began to kick some straw near the spot where he’d been lying. “I could feel the wind pushing through this wall.”
    “There’s a goodly hole here.” Guff nodded, shuffling over to the corner. “And we’d best hurry. That monk’ll be back as soon as he sees Mistress Laura isn’t with the rest of ‘em.”
    The laborer was on his hands and knees, pulling a loose block of stone from the base of the wall and adding to an already good-sized hole.
    Laura picked up the blanket that had been thrown aside by the Highlander and rolled it under one arm. She turned uneasily to William Ross of Blackfearn.
    “So you will help me, then? You’ll help me escape these men?”
    Even in the semidarkness she could see anger blaze in his eyes.
    “By Duthac’s Shirt, lass! If it weren’t for your interfering...” He let his words trail off with a disgusted shake of his head.
    Heat rose to Laura’s face. “How was I to know that you weren’t one of them ? I mean, the way you acted...abducting me...stealing me from the market square in broad daylight!”
    She jumped when he started toward her, but he simply brushed past, going to the doorway. She felt the cold wind push around the leather covering as he peered out.
    Guff stood up, brushing the dirt from his hands. “Mistress Laura tied yer horse out by the trees beyond the walls. Ye’ll not miss it if ye go out this way and straight over the wall. Ye’d best go now.”
    Laura moved quickly to the door when the laird crossed to Guff. She could see the single man the farm hand had pointed out earlier. But there could be even more that she could not see.
    She strode back to Guff, knowing her best chance of escape lay in taking charge. She hurriedly removed the jeweled cross that she always wore around her neck--a present from her mother--and pushed it into the laborer’s hand.
    “Bless you for everything. Now you must get away yourself. And later, when they’ve gone, tell the mother superior that I’ll send word as soon as I can.”
    That said, Laura threw a hopeful look at the tall Highlander, tucked the blanket under one arm, and crawled out into the wet and stinging cold of the Scottish night.
     
    *****
     
    Behind the dais in the ancient hall, a huge, jewel-studded cross hung from the wall, a blue veil fringed with gold draped around it. In the very center of the chamber, the flames of the freshly lit bonfire licked at the pyre of oak logs.
    Suddenly, as the blaze leaped upward, the jewels of the cross seemed to come alive, casting their glittering brilliance on every wall, on every face, silencing the jangling din of the gathered throng. Agitated knights who had been arguing for hours suddenly paused, awed by the spectacle of color and light. The complaints and the grumbling ceased in an instant. The voices all hushed. But for the