Highland Supplanter (Book 2)

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Hamish was beside himself. Unsure of where to go or what to do. This was not at all his normal attitude in a crisis. He was famed for his levelheadedness and calm demeanour. But upon his return from the Keep. Where he had suffered through a vile conversation about a male that had no right calling Fyfa his daughter, and trudging back to his cottage in a torrential downpour, almost finding himself face first in the slippery mud beneath his feet.

Finally making his way into his cottage, out of the miserable weather. He had hoped to be welcomed with a warm smile, and a cheerful fire in the hearth. Instead. He found the hearth banked, the room cold and dark, and there was no sign of Fyfa anywhere. Seeing her cloak gone, the panic had set in. She had gone out. In this weather. With no indication of where she had gone, or why, or when she would return.

What if someone had taken her? Who would? Was it the male that her father had spoken off? Had he taken her without anyone’s knowledge? Unable to see or hear her disappearance because he had left her alone in a thunderous storm. Taking a seat upon a stool with a solid thump, his elbows upon the wooden surface of the table, rooting him to the present. His head in his hands he tried to think.

He had been able to calm himself through focussing himself upon some natural materials, or among nature. It was what helped him to think. He had not mentioned it to anyone. Though he believed Cam had a suspicion. Most of those they had knowledge of now, that had come from…before, had some abilities that could not be explained. Descendants from the druids, having been transported through time to safety, that was all for nothing when the children could have stayed safely with their parents. Shaking his head at the thoughts, he did not know whether he could truly accept the story that Cam and Aislinn had readily accepted, that Gilbarta believed, and could talk off so passionately. He was no one special. Maybe it was just the peace that nature brought that managed to calm him.

That had to be the logical explanation. He could not think of the repercussions if the other possibilities were true. Slowing his breathing and concentrating on the pattern in the wooden surface of the table. The solid feel beneath his elbows, he brought his mind back under his control and out of the worry that had been clouding his power to think once more.

Lifting his head, when he knew he could take in the logical clues once more. He looked for a sign of a struggle, of which he saw none. The hearth was banked, meaning she had prepared to leave, and made sure the cottage was safe before leaving. Quickly standing, and heading through to check the chest that held the belongings she now called her own, he saw everything but the dress she had donned that day, and the cloak from the hook was missing. Therefore she had to have planned to come back. A relief filled him for a moment. A relief that was stronger than he ever thought it would be. Stronger than if he was just worried for her safety. But now was not the time to look further into his feelings.

                No, he had to find her first. That was paramount. His first priority. He knew she was capable of looking after herself, yet after what he had heard from her father, he needed to see her to be able to calm fully.

                Logic. That was what he needed. Where would she go?

                Her old cottage was out of the running. The last heavy snowfall had collapsed one of the walls. She could not find any sort of shelter there now. Not that he had seen her pining for it at all. So where else could she be? There was the Keep but he had come directly from there, and would have passed her on the way if she had been travelling there when he was on his way. She could not have arrived while he was there for he was in the main hall the entire time and would have seen or heard her arrival. So that had to be out as well.