Page 58 of Highland Steel

“Has anyone found her?” asked Logan.

“Nay,” said Ethan. “I even had Trapper try to find her scent, but he just goes in circles like he’s confused.”

“Goin’ somewhere, men?” asked Storm walking up with his wife, Wren. A group of children, including Ethan’s daughter, Isobel, were playing on the ground nearby.

Logan and his friends all looked at each other but didn’t say a word.

“I ken ye’re goin’ to the Drummonds so dinna even try to deny it,” said Storm in a gruff voice. “I thought I told ye I didna want any trouble.”

“The Drummonds have the Sword of Triumph, that was stolen from us, then stolen by the English, but now they have stolen it back again,” Caleb told him. “We’re goin’ there to get it since it is the clan’s lucky charm.”

“What?” Storm cocked his head trying to decipher what Caleb just said. “Dinna forget what happened the last time we tried to get it. And how do ye ken any of this is true?”

“It’s a long story,” said Logan. “But Bug assured me he saw them with the sword a few days ago.”

“And they have poor Rhoswen’s little nephew, too, don’t forget,” Wren reminded them. “I think that is more important than any sword. Where is Rhoswen? Does she know you plan on going there?”

“That’s a guid question,” said Logan. “Rhoswen seems to have gone missin’. Has anyone seen her?”

“I have,” said little Isobel, running over holding her doll by its hair.

“Ye have?” asked Ethan, picking up his daughter and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Where is she, Isobel?”

“I canna tell ye,” she said, holding one little finger to her lips. “She is playin’ hide and seek, and it is a secret.”

The men all exchanged worried glances. “Isobel, tell us where she is,” Logan demanded, feeling a knot in the pit of his stomach. He had the feeling Rhoswen did something stupid. “I hope she didna leave here.”

“Her horse was in the stable,” Caleb told him. “Mayhap she’s in there as well.”

“Nay, she’s no’,” said Isobel. “Her hidin’ place is much better.”

“Ethan,” said Logan impatiently, wanting him to get his daughter to tell them. Every second they waited seemed like a lifetime to Logan.

“Isobel, sweetheart, it’s all right if ye tell me where she is,” said Ethan.

The girl whispered something into Ethan’s ear and he made a face.

“Sweetheart, tell Logan and the others what ye just told me. They need to hear this.”

“All right,” said the little girl. “Rhoswen is hidin’ with the bugs.”

“What the hell does that mean?” growled Logan.

“Logan, take it easy,” said Ethan. Then looking back at his daughter, he said, “Can ye take us to her?” Isobel shook her head, putting the hair of her doll in her mouth.

“Why no’?” asked Logan.

“Because, the bug is gone,” said Isobel.

Logan was about to explode with anger at playing this silly game, until it dawned on him what the girl meant.

“Wait a minute,” he said, raising his finger in the air. “Isobel, are ye talkin’ about Bug, the merchant who comes here with his wagon to trade with us?”

Isobel nodded. “But dinna tell Rhoswen I told ye. When she closed the door, she said it was a secret.”

“The door?” asked Ethan.

“God’s eyes,” spat Logan, knowing exactly where she’d gone. “Rhoswen must have kent Bug was goin’ to the Drummonds next and she hid away in the back of his wagon to get there.”