“Just remember not to look down,” Ian said. “We’ll be on the other side before ye know it.”
She took another step, and now both feet were on the log—and over the cliff. Although she kept her eyes fixed on Ian, she could hear the rushing water below.
“You’re doing fine,” Ian said. “I won’t let ye fall.”
She took another step.
“ ’Tis easier to keep your balance if ye move quickly,” he said, urging her along.
She took another step and another. It was getting easier. She dared to breathe again.
When she was halfway across, her foot hit a clump of moss and slipped. Though she recovered her balance almost at once, her gaze dropped to the churning water far below. Panic shot through her limbs and sweat prickled under her arms. Her feet would not move again.
“Look at me,” Ian said in a tone that said everything would be all right. “I have ye, Sil. I have ye.”
With an effort, she wrenched her gaze from the crashing waves below to Ian’s face. His expression was confident, reassuring.
“That’s a good lass,” Ian said. “We’re nearly there.”
Step by step, she followed him, squeezing his hand until her fingers ached. An eternity later, she reached the other side, and Ian was lifting her down. The feel of solid earth beneath her feet made her light-headed with relief.
“Ye are going to owe me a hundred kisses for that,” he said, his voice hard and urgent. “We must hurry now.”
Her trial was not over, for they still had to follow the cliff path the rest of the way to Tearlag’s cottage.
“Can ye let go?” she asked, as Ian pulled her along. “I’ve no feeling left in my fingers.”
“No.”
The path narrowed until it was a ledge barely as wide as her foot. They sidestepped over loose stones with the rock face at their backs. Beyond the toes of her shoes was nothing but air—and the gray swells and white foam far below.
Sileas’s heart pounded in her ears as she scanned the sheer cliff below for shrubs growing out of the rock that she could grab hold of if she fell.
And then her heel slipped on the loose rock, and her foot shot out from under her. She screamed Ian’s name as she fell to her death.
She continued screaming as her feet dangled in the air.
“I’ve got ye,” Ian said, his voice strained.
She stopped screaming and looked up. Ian’s knees were bent, and he had one arm spread across the rock wall for balance; his other hand still held her wrist. His jaw was clenched, and the muscles of his neck were taut with the effort of holding her.
With a grunt, he hoisted her back up onto the path. Her knees were shaking so violently she would have fallen again if Ian was not holding her up.
“We can’t stop here,” Ian said, looking hard into her eyes. “I told ye I would not let ye fall. Ye need to trust me.”
She nodded. Ian had a firm hold on her arm; he would not let her go.
“Just a wee bit farther, love,” Ian said, coaxing her along. “I can almost see Tearlag’s cottage now.”
Sileas’s heart was in her mouth, but she moved with him.
“That’s a good lass. Three or four more steps is all.”
When the footpath finally opened onto the clearing behind Tearlag’s cottage, Sileas wanted to sink to her knees and kiss the grass.
“For that, ye owe me a good deal more than kisses,” Ian said, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. “Now we must find Connor and Duncan.”
They ran into Tearlag’s cottage and found the two men sitting at her table eating stew from large wooden bowls.
“Time to run, lads,” Ian said in a dead calm voice. “Hugh and twenty armed men are coming up the road.”
Connor and Duncan were on their feet before Ian finished speaking.
“We’ll be in the cave,” Connor said, as he strapped on his claymore. “Make some noise to warn us if they start down to the beach.”
“I will,” Ian said. “Just go.”
“Sorry, Tearlag,” Connor said over his shoulder, as he went out the door.
“Save my stew,” Duncan said, as he grabbed an oatcake. He waved it at them as he followed Connor out.
Sileas sank into the chair that was still warm from Connor sitting in it.
“Where’s your whiskey, Tearlag?” Ian asked.
“I’ll get it,” the old woman said.
Sileas’s limbs felt melded to the chair as she watched the other two go about their tasks with quick, controlled
