Page 5 of Highland Spirit

Without a doubt, Ethan knew it was a mistake to come here, especially at night and in a storm.

“For the love of God, Ethan, move yer bluidy arse!” growled Hawke. “I dinna have time to hold yer hand while ye worry like a wench. I need to go after the lad before he gets lost or mayhap hurt. I promised Phoebe I’d watch after him and now he’s gone and run off on me.”

“Stop it, Hawke,” snarled Ethan, not liking the way his friend talked to him. “And remember, Oliver lived on this isle his entire life even if it was against his will. I am sure he could walk it in his sleep and still no’ get lost. So ye are the one who is worryin’ like a wench, no’ me.”

“Och, mayhap so,” agreed Hawke, running a weary hand through his hair. “But I dinna like the idea of the boy takin’ off in the dark by himself. I am responsible for him now. I need to find him quickly. If anythin’ happens to him while he’s in my care, Phoebe will have my head.”

Ethan chuckled. “I think bein’ afraid of a wife is worse than fearin’ any ghost.”

“Just wait until ye’re married and ye’ll see,” mumbled Hawke under his breath.

“Dinna say that,” Ethan ground out through gritted teeth. Marriage was a sore subject with him ever since Alana abandoned him at the altar and left him for another man. He was so scarred by being betrayed by someone he’d loved that he decided he would never marry in this lifetime. He would never again take the chance of being rejected again because it hurt too much.

“Sorry,” said Hawke, realizing what he’d said. “I didna mean anythin’ by that.”

“I ken,” Ethan answered. “So Oliver still doesna like ye, does he?” Ethan stepped from the boat onto the wet shore. In one leap, his large wolfhound made it to the shore as well.

“Nay, he doesna, and I dinna ken what to do to gain his trust.” The fact that Oliver rejected Hawke really bothered him now that he was in the position of being the boy’s father. It was an odd situation, but both Hawke and the boy needed to accept each other even though it might take some time.

“Mayhap ye should let me help ye,” said Ethan with a chuckle. “After all, children like me. They dinna fear me the way they do ye. With yer disposition, I’m sure they all think ye’re goin’ to bite off their heads.”

“Hah!” spat Hawke. “Children are no’ afraid of me, and neither are they afraid of a little ol’ ghost that doesna even exist. Therefore, I doubt ye’ll be of any help to me at all. Now stop all this clishmaclaver and let’s go.”

Ethan started to follow Hawke back to the hut where Oliver used to live with his mother and sister as nothing more than prisoners of an evil man named Euan who was now thankfully dead. But when his hound, Trapper, started barking at something in the dark, he stopped in his tracks.

“What is it, boy?” Ethan reached out with one hand, running it over the dog’s back. With his other hand, he gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He was on full alert should he need to fight.

“He probably just saw a rat. It’s nothin’,” Hawke called back as he started out after the boy.

“Aye, that’s all it was,” Ethan tried to convince himself, but he knew it wasn’t so. From the corners of his eyes in the moonlight, he thought he saw a dark figure running toward the castle.

“Did ye see that, Hawke?” asked Ethan with wide eyes, pointing in the opposite direction.

“I canna hear ye, Ethan, and neither will I wait for ye,” came Hawke’s reply from the dark. “If ye’re no’ back at the boat when we’re ready to leave, ye can stay here on this godforsaken isle by yerself.” Hawke’s voice drifted off as he hurried away in the opposite direction.

“I’m with ye,” said Ethan, turning to follow Hawke. But when Trapper growled lowly and took off at a run in the opposite direction, Ethan stopped once again.

“Trapper, come here!” he shouted, but the hound didn’t listen. It was on the trail of something and kept heading in the opposite direction until Ethan could barely see it. “Bid the devil,” he grumbled, glancing back at the path Hawke had taken and then over to where his dog had gone. There was no doubt in Ethan’s mind where the animal was going. Trapper was headed right for the haunted castle. Ethan’s stomach clenched and his muscles tightened in his jaw. Then, letting out a deep breath, he turned and started his climb up the hill to the castle – the last place he ever wanted to be.

* * *

“Who was it, Finn?” asked Alana Chisholm, meeting her brother in the courtyard of Blackbriar Castle. She’d seen the boat dock at the shore from the tower window and sent the boy out to investigate. No one ever came to the isle, not once in the past year since they’d lived here. That is, no one but a man named Euan to see his family that he’d kept in a hut secluded from everyone else – not unlike the way she and her family lived now. Euan had been part of the smuggling ring that Diarmad now ran since Euan’s death.

Alana and her siblings weren’t allowed to even speak to the other occupants on the isle or they’d be punished by Diarmad. Then, a few months ago, Osla and her children just up and disappeared.

After birthing her baby in Ireland, Alana continued to play the role of mother to not only her daughter but her siblings as well. Kirstine was married to Diarmad now, and none of them had been able to do anything to stop it. Kirstine birthed him a baby nearly four years ago, but the boy was a stillborn. Since then she’d miscarried twice, but was once again almost ready to birth another baby. Diarmad was insistent on having a son, and would not give up. Alana was thankful he’d never touched her because she was pregnant with Ethan’s child. She breathed a sigh of relief but still felt sorry and sickened because her sister had no choice in marrying the evil man.

While Kirstine adapted to her new life as Diarmad’s wife, Alana could never accept it. But they were all a part of this life of hell, and could do naught to escape it. Diarmad insisted Alana knew where the secret treasure was hidden and, even after all these years, he wouldn’t give up the notion of finding it. Her family would never be truly free of the man until he had it. And even so, Alana wasn’t sure if it would even matter anymore. Her father worked with Diarmad running the smuggling ring, and they were all part of this immoral act whether they liked it or not.

Alana had always been the strength of her family, but after almost dying when she birthed her daughter, Isobel, it had taken her a long time to get her strength back. And even then, she was never the same knowing Ethan had been killed on their wedding day. When that happened, it had taken her will of living from her and she had lost all hope.

But at night when she rocked her daughter to sleep, she somehow felt as if Ethan were still there with her and this was her only comforting thought that got her through each day.

She still had the ring as well as the key her mother had given her the day she’d died. Alana had dismissed any thought of finding the treasure through the years, honestly not knowing where it could be. But lately, she’d been remembering more and more about the bedtime stories her uncle used to tell her when she was a child. They weren’t normal stories to comfort a child. Nay, they had to do with a haunted castle and a crazy man named Mad Murdock instead. He’d been talking about Blackbriar Castle on the Isle of Kerrera off the coast of Scotland. Odd, that he chose that to tell her, out of all the stories he could have told.

So when Diarmad decided to move the smuggling ring back to the Isle of Kerrera since it had a hidden cove, she was almost glad. They were back in Scotland again, and this is where her heart longed to be.

Her uncle’s bedtime stories about Blackbriar Castle made it sound as if he’d been here. That started her thinking that with its reputation, mayhap the treasure was hidden here. It would be a perfect spot and wouldn’t be disturbed. Now, all she had to do was find it and all her prayers would be answered. Perhaps she had a little hope left that someday she and her family could be happy again, and mayhap one day even rejoin their clan.