Highlander Heroes Collection: Complete Set by Ruger Rebecca

Author:Ruger, Rebecca
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rebecca Ruger
Published: 2023-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

Mari woke the next morning to a slow bustling around the camp. Stretching out onto her back, she threw her arm over her forehead and listened.

“Torquil! Niel! You’ll ride rear today.”

She recognized the chief’s voice, rising above all other sounds of the camp being broken. He wasn’t close, but the sharpness of his deep voice put Mari instantly in recollection of what was to come today.

Jerking upright, ignoring the cutting pain that lodged in her side, likely a gift of the hard floorboards of the cart, Mari stared at and through the opening in the curtains. She saw nothing but grass and trees, the greens and browns made more vibrant by the slight drizzle that greeted the early morn. Everyone was in front of the wagon, where their camp had been made and the horses had been tethered. She considered, and promptly dismissed, any idea to jump through that opening and run.

She’d be caught but quick, she imagined, and the day would only get worse.

And yet, she hadn’t just now the nerve to exit the vehicle. Doing so might only hurry along the punishment that was to come. Mari closed her eyes briefly and willed herself to remain calm, wondering if she were to be lashed here and now, before they departed, or at some later time and place.

A thump on the sidewall of the cart elicited a strangled yip of fear. Opening her eyes showed the older man peeking his head inside the knotted curtains a moment later.

“Aye, c’mon now, lass,” he said, his tone surprisingly pleasant. “Take care of your business afore we head out.”

So, it was to be later. She would have many hours to dwell upon it, no doubt would be a puddle of pudding by day’s end. But as this man hadn’t yet been unkind to her, had indeed fed her yesterday evening, Mari scooted across the floor of the wagon and climbed out.

He pointed vaguely in the direction of the trees, the same path she’d taken yesterday in her failed attempt to escape, and advised, “Dinna make me chase you, lass. I’m old and I get surly fairly easily.”

Unwilling to spare even a brief glance at the rest of the Maitland army, afraid she might meet the eye of the chief, Mari nodded and marched into the trees. She quickly saw to her needs and returned to the wagon, where the man waited.

“I don’t know your name,” she said, even as she didn’t know why she might need to.

“Murdoch, lass.” He’d waited at the side of the wagon, his arm thrown up over the siderail, his hands busy removing all the spiky leaves from a plucked thistle bloom.

Imagining he’d heard about her rashness of last night, she inquired, “That soldier won’t be punished, will he?”

“Edric? Aye, he will, as—”

Mari frowned and cut him off. “But I said I’d take the lashes. That isn’t fair. He said I could take his place and that no one else would be—”

“Whoa. Whoa,” Murdoch said, straightening away from the wagon.

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