The Night Side by Melanie Jackson

Author:Melanie Jackson [Jackson, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Fiction, Romance, Suspense, Fantasy, Espionage, Paranormal, Historical, Gothic, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780505528049
Publisher: Love Spell
Published: 2009-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

They returned from their uneventful and only slightly imperiling game of gowff, to be met with some interesting, and even alarming, intelligence from inside the lowered gate.

Sine was waiting for them at the yett and signaled immediately that it should be raised to let them all in. Her state of agitation and indignation were obvious as she fluttered up to them.

“That odious Tearlach!” she whispered as they hurried under the heavy iron trap that thudded shut behind them. “I can’t believe his inhospitable nature.”

“What has he done now?” Colin asked, setting down the pannier of clubs and laying his sword aside. “I thought he was too ill to be making a nuisance of himself.”

“We had visitors,” Sine began, only to be interrupted by the arrival of a still very pale Tearlach.

Frances and George both frowned at his appearance, and took a step backward from the piper, as though fearing he were still ill and might infect them with his rude smell.

“They were nae visitors. They were rufflers begging charity at the gate.”

“They were not rufflers, but rather soldiers lately returned from the war!” Sine objected.

“Pshaw! They were naething of the sort. They had the look of fighting men, I’ll grant ye. But they were nae returning frae the war. Use yer God-given senses, woman! There is naething here tae return tae—except Noltland. If they were Gunns, MacDonnells, or MacKays, then they wouldnae have been stopping here with their own kin sae nearby. And beyond us there is nowt but sea.”

“How many were there?” Colin asked quietly, adding to himself: “They could not have come by boat, for we were near the cliffs and would have seen them.”

“Twoscore—that I could see,” Tearlach answered. “But more may hae been concealed in the rocks. I was about tae set out after ye.”

“Perhaps there were, though we saw no sign of anyone lingering there while we were out. George, come away from the gate,” Colin said, his absentminded tone not matching his alarming words. “Don’t leave your back exposed that way. I’d hate for an arrow to find you.”

Both George and Frances whirled about to look through the iron lath of the yett, and then whisked themselves into the protection of the stone wall. They peered cautiously around the corner, searching out enemies on the moor. There was alarm but also excitement in George’s face.

Sine’s mouth fell open and her eyes went wide.

“They were assassins sent to kill George?” Frances asked, her face suddenly as pale as the piper’s. She didn’t find this adventure exciting.

“I doubt it,” Colin answered calmly, nipping incipient hysteria in the bud. “But the temptation might prove irresistible if an enemy were granted an opportunity. We’d best not appeal to their worst natures.”

Sine’s mouth was still slightly agape. “But they said they were hungry,” she expostulated. “To refuse them entry was not generous.”

“Perhaps not. But it was prudent,” Colin said.

“Stop haverin’, woman. They had some bannocks and water,” Tearlach interjected, looking her over with a haggard eye. “They willnae starve. And the night shall be a fine one, sae they shallnae freeze.

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