Mairi shook her head, rocking back and forth. “What does this mean?” She said, her gaze falling upon the bag in Kaetha’s hands.
“I think we’re all going to have to get out of the house tonight,” said Kaetha. “You could stay with the Morays. You see, I think they might come to look for more evidence of treason.”
“More evidence?” Mairi put her head in her hands.
“I expect it’ll be safe for you two to return soon enough. But they’ll be after me. I’m leaving Braddon tonight. And I don’t expect I’ll be coming back.”
“Murdo’s saying she’s a witch,” said Donnan. “He tried to kill her tonight.”
Mairi leapt from the stool and swept over to Kaetha, cupping her face in her hands. “You’re hurt. You’re bleeding.”
“I got away in time at least.” She took a deep breath, cursing the tears that stung her eyes.“And now I have to go.”
“Well, you’re not going alone if that’s what you think,” said Mairi.
Kaetha stepped away from the others and stuffed some bread into her bag. “You don’t understand. I’m not just running away. I’m going to find him.”
“You?” said Mairi. “Against Murdo and his armed men? Are you mad?”
“It’s because of me that he got caught. He saved me. It’s my fault.” She secured a knife to her belt, flung the bag over her shoulder and strode across the room.
“Then don’t let his sacrifice be in vain by hurling yourself like a lamb into the wolf’s jaws,” said Mairi. “You won’t help him by getting yourself killed. We have to stay safe and stay together.”
“Well, we should get out of this place now, because I have a feeling that it won’t be safe here for long. I’ll get the horses ready.”
She reached for the door handle but halted as she heard a soft tread outside. Then the door creaked open. She grabbed her knife and held it out, readying herself to lunge at the intruder.
“It’s just me,” said Cailean, his hands raised before him. “Elspet and I have been watching. You haven’t got long. I can sense the approach of three horsemen. Feels like one minute away, two at most.”
“What do you mean, you sense their approach?” asked Donnan.
“No time,” said Kaetha who understood that Cailean’s Earth magic must have developed over recent weeks. “They’ll hear us leaving if we’re on horseback. Our best chance is on foot.” She turned to see Donnan grabbing more blankets and a purse of coins.
“Let’s go,” urged Kaetha. “I’ll make for the western side of the woods. You’d do better going with Cailean.”
“I’m going with you, Kaetha,” said Mairi. “I’ll put up with no argument.”
“Me too,” said Donnan.
“I’ll bring you more supplies if you like,” said Cailean. “Can you meet me by Ravens’ Knowe at first light?”
“Aye. Thank you.” Kaetha turned to see Mairi put a hand on the head of her sleeping dog.
“I’ll look after him, Mairi. I promise,” said Cailean.
Mairi nodded, sniffed, then followed them outside.
They’d just turned out of Curing Street when Kaetha heard the pounding rhythm of horses. She turned back. Two horsemen had stopped at their house and were dismounting.
“Quick,” she whispered as they swept through the streets and across the bridge, swift and silent as ghosts. A watchman had been posted at the south-east gate, though she’d never seen the gates guarded before, but fortunately he was slumped against the wall with a leather bottle in his hand, snoring.
“I bet the other gate’s guarded too,” whispered Donnan. “At least this guard’s bladdered.”
“You’re right,” said Kaetha and they crept up to the drunk watchman, eased open the gate and slipped through. “We should wait out the night as close to Ravens’ Knowe as we can get,” said Kaetha. “We won’t get much further in the dark anyway.”
“This way,” whispered Donnan. “To the Calamor road.”
The road was more of a narrow track between fields and they followed it until they reached the woods. Then, leaving the black road behind, they headed into the deeper darkness of the trees. Kaetha held her arms out before her as she crept blindly through tangles of undergrowth, over treacherous roots in the uneven ground, trying to avoid the branches which broke into their path like pikes in a battlefield.
There was a splash.
“Perfect,” said Donnan.
“What’s the matter?” asked Kaetha.
“Nothing. I fully intended to walk into the stream.
“Doesn’t the stream run past Ravens’ Knowe?” Kaetha asked.
“I can’t remember how close the stream is to the Knowe,” said Mairi. “I should though. My sister and I used to play in these woods often enough, climbing trees. We were forbidden to come here alone but we did anyway. I’d forgotten . . .”
Kaetha heard Donnan trudging by her side and grasped his arm. “I didn’t know Mairi has a sister.” She found it hard to imagine Mairi climbing trees.
“Had,” whispered Donnan.
“What? What happened?” Kaetha lowered her voice to match his.
“I don’t know exactly. Nannie told me once that she died when they were children.”
“I think we may have gone too far,” called Mairi after a while.
“In that case, I think we should find somewhere to stop – get some rest if we can,” said Kaetha. She broke away from the others a little, twigs scratching at her lifted palms. “These trees seem more densely packed here and I can feel the leaves of bushes.” She walked further around, feeling more vegetation, then she squeezed between a tree and a prickly bush. “It’ll be a bit of a squash, but there should be just enough ground space in the middle of this thicket for us to lie down. We may need its cover to hide us in the morning light.” She held back a branch to make it easier for them to join her.
“You’re shivering, Mairi,” said Donnan.
