Over the Highland Mountains

Chapter 19 • Bridge (Part 1)

The red-brown haired man behind her slid off the horse but before she could even think about escape, his hands harshly grabbed Lily's arms, plucking her off the horse. Her yelp was muffled by her gag. He forced her forward, clutching her bicep so tightly she was certain he would leave bruises. All the men from the riding group dispersed into the small makeshift camp they found themselves in except for two who carried torches.

Lily was grateful it had stopped raining, but the forest floor was so muddy and her arm was being held so high, she had a hard time keeping up with the man's long strides.

They walked past the makeshift tents in the small clearing where they had set up camp. Men sat in their tents staring hungrily at Lily, making her feel like a piece of meat. She almost drew closer to the man holding her arm before she thought better of it.

They made it to one of the three proper tents and one of the two other men went inside with his torch and the other held the flap open for her and the man to go through.

Lily panicked.

She was pretty sure they wanted her dead, that much she could live with, ironically, but the thought of what they would do to her before killing her, that had her protesting.

She dug her heels into the muddy dirt, writhing against his hold, not able to hold in her screams which were still muffled by her gag, but the red-brown haired man simply kept walking with his tireless grip, pulling her off balance making her land on her hip and dragging her the rest of the way inside.

He yanked her to her feet and shoved her to one of the other men who caught her, spun her around to have her back to his chest, and held her fast as the red-brown haired man pulled out a dagger and stepped forward.

Lily started to squirm again, but the man caught her bound wrists firmly and cut the ropes. Before she had a chance to rub her raw flesh, the man behind her began pulling her backwards until he wrapped her arms around a pole at her back and started tying her hands together again. Another whimper escaped her when he did a final tug too tightly.

This man then made his way out of the tent, leaving one of the torches stuck in the ground and the red-brown haired man with Lily.

Lily squirmed under the man's intense gaze but slowly stilled as she caught a glimpse of the man's face in the firelight. There was something undeniably familiar about his pale green eyes that sent shivers down her spine.

Bad shivers, definitely bad shivers.

He came closer to her and gently removed her gag, his fingers lingering just a tad too long on her cheek as he manoeuvred the material down to hang around her neck as a necklace.

She gasped when she realised who else had made her feel as uncomfortable under his gaze as this man did.

"Hugh?" she tried in a shaky whisper. The desirous look in his eye became arrogant at her remembering him. "Hugh, what's going on? Where's your family?"

Hugh only answered with a smirk.

"Do no' do this, Hugh," Lily pleaded stiffly, unable to hold back a grimace when he trailed his finger down her cheek again continuing down her neck, "Think o' yer wife and yer childr-"

She was interrupted with Hugh's rumbling laughter.

"I kenned ye were bonnie, lass, but I did no' take ye fer a dafty."

Lily's eyebrows crinkled in confusion. He calmed down enough to look at her, but burst out laughing once more.

"I really fooled ye with that story, did I no'?" Hugh wiped a tear away, "Good thing, too, because if ye did no' convince that husband o' yers to let me go, I'm sure he and his men would have killed me then and there."