The men rode throughout the day and set up camp that night. The small group had prepared for the trek across the highlands, and their food supplies were filling and satisfying.
As Gavin finished up his seared fish, Barron sat down in the grass next to him. Their campfire's embers pulsated, almost inviting Gavin to sleep. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he turned to Barron.
Gavin sighed heavily. "I canae believe we have to do this... I was just out here in the highlands."
"Aye, with that fiery lass," Barron said thoughtfully. He sighed a bit and shifted his weight.
"I wish I could have brought her with us â but I donae know what the King is plannin' â I canae risk her like that. Not anymore."
"Not anymore? Ye were fine with risking her when she was a commoner, aye?"
Gavin stared at Barron and shook his head. "No â that's..."
"Admit it, Gav, that's what it is. As soon as ye found out about her blood ye started worrying about her."
The Laird looked back to the embers, staring into them. He felt his heart race, he knew Barron was right.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Treat her like ye did before."
"Before..."
Gavin looked up into the sky and watched the stars. The clouds had a dark blue tint to them and the moon shined eagerly. He thought of the starry and exceptionally chilly nights he had spent with Elyn out on the highlands. The first moment he met her, naked and chilled to the bone from the rain. He chuckled.
"Let us get some rest, Barron."
"Aye."
Barron stood up and paced back to his tent. Gavin waited for Barron's boots to stop crunching the grass before he looked at his own tent. It would be a cold and lonely night tonight, not like before. He steeled his mind and snuffed out the fire, killing it with a couple scoopfuls of dirt.
***
Gavin awoke in the night with a jolt. He sat up quickly, the fur blankets falling off of him and exposing his sweaty body to the unexpectedly frigid air. He stared through the darkness of his tent and tried to catch his breath. Something was wrong. He knew it, but not what or why.
Gavin climbed out of his tent and searched around the camp for any signs of wildlife. Maybe it was an animal that disrupted his sleep. After finding nothing, he returned to the extinguished campfire and stared at it.
He felt anxious, and the only thing he could think of was Elyn. It was something much stronger than homesickness though. After catching his breath, he left the dead fire and returned to his tent, climbing back under the furs and dozing again.
He didn't want to worry his men.
***
The next day the men packed up their encampment and headed back down the trail to Castle Iverlochy. The morning ride went smooth enough, but Gavin couldn't shake the tightness in his chest.
Gavin felt uneasy. It wasn't a familiar or comforting sensation, like a pit was stuck in his throat. He found himself constantly looking over his shoulder to his comrades, but wasn't sure why.
"Gavin, what is it? Ye lookin' fer someone?" Barron said, his voice as boisterous and friendly as ever. An undercurrent of concern was in his tone.
"I donae know myself," Gavin said. "I feel like something is amiss... like this isn't right."
"Yer damn right it isn't right. The King calling his Laird to punish him for treason â it's ridiculous."
"I'm sure it's a mistake...
"We'll get it sorted, Gavin," Barron said. He slapped his hand on Gavin's shoulder, giving him a look that made Gavin feel a bit guilty. A powerful Laird in his position shouldn't have to look to his men for support. He had to be stronger than that. Stronger than all the other highlanders in Scotland.
The wind crept along the grassy highlands. The party of men braced themselves against the wind as it tried to bite at their exposed skin. The men squeezed their shoulders together and gripped their reins that much tighter, following the path to Castle Iverlochy through its twists and turns over the hills and valleys. Gavin didn't know if he should prepare to face the King head on, or try and discuss the situation with him. Either way, he knew he had made a grave mistake by forgetting Robert's involvement at Iverlochy. How could he have been so dense?
Gavin furrowed his brow and sighed heavily. As his thoughts turned to the approaching confrontation, a fire swelled in his eyes. What if he lost? What would happen to his people? To Elyn? He clenched his jaw and held tighter to the reins, perishing the thought.
He wouldn't fail. It wasn't an option. He dropped the idea from his mind. Gavin leaned down and stroked his steed's face, finding some comfort in Elspet's gentle nudge against his hand.
The sun glowed in the sky, but even with the warm-looking orange glow it brought the highlands, the air was just as chilling as ever. Gavin had a feeling this winter was going to be the harshest yet.
Gavin looked over his small battalion, if he could call it that. He and Barron led the group, with several of his secondary best following up behind. Barron had taken them out on a number of scouting expeditions, usually to handle reivers or bandits that strayed a bit too close to Dornie. The three men looked grizzled with age, but Gavin knew they couldn't have been older than him by more than a year or two. Battle had hardened them.
Still, they didn't look very concerned with their mission. The shortest one, Fingal, had a small crop of black hair, and lines on his face that made him look like he was perpetually laughing. He was quietly talking under his breath to another highlander, Patrik. The last, Duncan, was imposing and looked terrifying, but currently seemed oblivious to the side conversation, his eyes flitting across the horizon and back again.
"Fingal," Gavin said. At the sound of his name, the young man perked up immediately and shut his mouth tight.
He answered quickly, "Aye, mi Laird?"
"Relax lad," Gavin assured him. "What were ye and Patrik talkin' about? I think we could all use something to take our minds off things."
Fingal cleared his throat and spoke up. "We were jus' discussin' our plans after we return to Eilean Donan."
"Oh?" Gavin said. He felt Barron shift his attention from staring blankly at the horizon to the conversation. "What might those be?"
Barron interrupted. "Ye lads not talking about that girl again."
"No, no!" Patrik said. His face flushed. "Well... maybe a little."
"What girl?" Gavin asked.
Barron shrugged dismissively. "This lass they won't tell me about â," he lowered his voice, "If you ask me, there is no girl and they only tease me, saying I wouldnae know who she was anyway." Barron blew air. "Like I wouldnae know who anyone is."
Fingal laughed, only stopping to catch his balance before he toppled off his horse. He elbowed Patrik who couldn't stop from grinning. Barron sighed heavily and groaned. "See what I mean? They just like gettin' me mad."
Barron's face was bright red, and Gavin felt himself crack a grin. "Someone has to keep you sharp, Barron, someone has to."
***
As the men crested a hill, their focus turned to the sound of galloping from behind them. Gavin and Barron instinctively reached for their swords, grasping the hard metal handles with careful strength. All five men stopped and turned their steeds to face back towards the castle.
In the distance, with the twinkle of the orange sunset illuminating their vision, the men could see a small plume of dust and dirt rising behind a hill.
"Who could that be?" Barron asked.
Gavin's heart raced a little. He felt torn between criticizing Elyn for following him and feeling overjoyed to see her.
The galloping grew closer, and the men's necks bristled with eagerness just as the rider broke the hill. It wasn't Elyn, but one of the young men from the castle, Neil. Even from the distance, Gavin could see the dirt caked on his sweaty face, exhaustion and fear in his eyes.
Gavin's shoulders fell as Neil brought his horse to a halt in front of the men. He quickly dismounted before any of them could speak a world and shoved a letter into Gavin's hands.
Gavin took the paper and unfolded it, his eyes scanning the lines quickly. As he read, Neil blurted out why he had come so far.
"We canae find Elyn anywhere."
Gavin folded the letter up, which said the same thing, but was signed by Alec. "What do ye mean ye canae find her?" Gavin stared hard at Neil.
Neil furrowed his brow. "I mean we can't find her! She wasn't in her chambers this morning, and no one saw her leave."
Gavin frowned and gritted his teeth. He couldn't deal with this right now â Elyn couldn't be disappearing out of fully guarded castles. It wasn't likely. His mind raced.
"Did you search Dornie? Did ye talk to her parents?"
"We did all that, mi Laird, she's nowhere."
"What do you think, Gavin?" Barron asked.
Gavin felt a knot growing in his chest, a dry thing that raked his lungs. He grunted with displeasure and looked to Castle Iverlochy. Was she just following him? He couldn't count on that... if the King wanted him for treason and didn't expect him to show up, then maybe this had been the plan all along. To get Gavin out of the castle and leave it that much more ripe for infiltrating.
"Do you think she's following us? She didnae seem very pleased with being left behind," Barron said. Neil looked a bit relieved at the thought, but Gavin shut him down almost immediately.
"Nay. I donae. If she were, she would have reached us by now. She couldnae have gotten lost."
"So what then?"
"I think we've been tricked."
"What are we going to do?"
Gavin struggled to decide. If he continued to Castle Iverlochy looking for answers, he wasn't sure he'd ever see her again. If he returned to Eilean Donan, he might have a chance of finding her â he could at least dispatch search parties. "If she isn't just on a stroll out in the highlands and someone has her in their clutches, we have to assume the worst," his voice wavered but he kept it firm. "If that is the King's game, our small party isn't going to be able to reason with him. We have to go back and get more men."
Barron nodded and turned his steed around down the path to Eilean Donan. After waiting for Neil to mount his horse again, Gavin urged Elspet back toward Eilean Donan as fast as she could go. He relocated his grip from the reins to her withers, her bestial vigor reminding him of Elyn and his time together on the highlands.
Where could she be? If she was taken, who could have taken her?
His mind searched for the answer â it seemed uncharacteristic of the King to do such a thing.
The only snake who might dare such a maneuver was Laird Maxwell.