All the men in the room raised their fists and repeated the MacDonald motto. “By land and by sea!”
The moment Connor stepped out of the cottage door, he knew something was wrong. The men he had left standing guard appeared unaware of the threat. Connor stood still, listening and staring out into the night. He sensed no movement to his left or to his right.
As he peered out at the dark water, two war galleys made a silent appearance around the jut of land to the south. In the moonlight, he could see the row of shields along the length of the boats, each of which would carry thirty to fifty warriors.
Connor had six men, counting himself.
There were far too many enemy warriors to fight, and Connor could not afford to lose any of his. As he watched, the war galleys turned into the cove, which made it impossible for Connor and his men to reach their own galley and escape by sea.
By now his men had gathered around him.
“Our best chance is to split up and run like hell,” Connor said in a hushed voice. “We’ll meet back at the castle. Now go!”
As the men ran off, Connor went back inside to warn the others.
“Ye must be silent! MacLeod warriors are landing,” he told them. “Everyone, run!”
Connor held the door, urging them to hurry, as he watched the MacLeod galleys glide into shore. The men left quickly, but it seemed to take a lifetime for the woman and her husband to gather their children. Tension thrummed through Connor as he watched the line of children climbing down the ladder from the loft.Jesu, how many did the couple have?
“Get your wife and children out quickly,” he called to Malcom. “Hurry! Hurry!”
“Leave him to take care of his own children,” Sorely said, pulling at Connor’s arm. “Ye must escape. I’ll stay at your side.”
It seemed unlikely that two galleys full of MacLeod warriors happened upon them. Until Connor knew which man had betrayed him, he was not traveling alone with any of them, not even Sorely.
“Go,” Connor said. “I’ll find my own way back.”
“But—”
“I said go,” Connor commanded.
By the time Malcom and his wife had herded the last of the children out the door, Connor heard the thuds of feet running up the hill from the beach.
As he swung the door closed behind them, Connor caught sight of a curly-headed bairn coming down the ladder from the loft. He reached her in three long strides, plucked her off the ladder with one arm, and ran out.
As he rounded the corner of the cottage, he saw the mother running toward him holding a child with each hand. She must have realized she had missed one.
“I have her,” Connor told her. “We must get your family hiddennow!”
“This way,” she said.
They were in plain view, and the MacLeod warriors would reach the top of the hill at any moment. Connor scooped up the child who was lagging behind and holding his mother back, and together they ran for the copse of trees behind the cottage.
Shouts and the sounds of the enemy warriors smashing the family’s pots and meager furniture reached Connor’s ears as they entered the trees and continued running. On the other side of the small wood, they caught up with Malcom and the other children, who were waiting for them on a well-trod path.
“I’m grateful to ye for helping with my family,” the woman said, her voice breathless. “But you’re in danger here, Chieftain. Ye must go while ye can.”
“I’ll wait until you and your bairns are safely hidden,” he said. “We’re too close to the cottage. They’ll find ye here.”
“We can hide down the hill,” she said.
They had evidently hidden there before because the older children were already disappearing down the side of the hill. As Connor left the path to follow them, he glanced over his shoulder. He saw no one yet, but they would be coming.
The family hid in an eight-foot-wide depression in the side of the hill created when a large tree had been uprooted.
“Ye must keep the children quiet,” Connor whispered to Malcom and his wife while he passed the two bairns he had carried down to them.
Connor lay flat in the grass next to their hiding place where he would be able to see anyone on the path above them. Sounds were still coming from the cottage, but he suspected the MacLeods would split into groups to search. At least, that is what he would order if he were in charge.