Free Becca St.John by Seonaid Page A

know.”
    “Aye, I do.”
    This was not good, but he couldn’t put her off without a shouting match and they couldn’t risk that. “Slaving. That’s what I think they’re doing, slaving.”
    Her eyes grew wide. “The gold coins?”
    “Aye.” He looked at her, then away. “I think they were waiting for your brother.”
    “Lochlan?” she whispered “That’s why he was stealing all those lasses. He was selling them.”
    “Aye. That’s what I’m thinking.”
    Seonaid headed back toward the edge of the cliff. Padraig tried to stop her. “No!” She shrugged him off. “I have to see if those are lasses they have.”
    “Then crawl on your belly.”
    “I’ll see for you, Ma.” Deian got on his belly.
    “No, you will not,” she bit out, then soothed. “The horses aren’t secured and we may be here a bit. Take care of them.” She directed him to their mounts, grazing just behind them, then got down on all fours and started to creep to the edge. Padraig had already reached it.
    “There are two women,” he told her. “The other is a priest, I’m thinking, though why they would let him survive, I canna’ say.”
    “They kept the priest?”
    “Aye, for a ransom, possibly. It’s another mouth to feed.”
    They watched as the group headed for the loch.
    “What should we do? We have to help them.”
    “I have to help them. You have to get Deian to safety.”
    She looked back at her son as he hobbled the horses, talking to them. The lad had proven himself with the animals, had a talent for understanding their needs.
    Padraig watched her watching her son, saw her swallow, a shiver course through her body before she whispered. “They’ll be raped.”
    Padraig doubted she meant to say it aloud, or to have all the misery of her past, fear for the lasses on the beach, in her eyes.
    “Are they safe until they get sold?”
    He shook his head. He’d like to think so, but doubted the truth of it and he’d not lie.
    “The odds aren’t good for you alone, Padraig. You need help.”
    “Eriboll is a hard ride away and it will be dark if you don’t leave now.” He needed her gone. He’d not risk her to the fate of the women on the beach. “If the boats set out in the dark of night, they could get past the town before I could reach them. If you and Deian leave now, for Eriboll, you can warn them to watch for the boat. They can put out a blockade.”
    “But if they don’t set sail? It’s too risky for you on your own,” Seonaid worried, and he knew she fretted for those women.
    “You and Deian head to Eriboll. I’ll see what I can do from here.”
    “No.”
    “Someone’s got to go and now.” If they hurried, they could get to Eriboll before the sun set.
    She looked back at Deian, then down to the women. He knew she was torn, but blood came first.
    “You can’t leave him to go alone, lass. You’ll fret about him, so you’ll be no help to me.”
    She argued. “Lads his age spend days out with the sheep. They watch the cattle. They take messages from one cottage to another. He can see Eriboll, he’ll be able to reach it.”
    All true, lads his age worked with the family. No cosseting as if he were a wee babe, as she’d done on this ride, but Padraig needed her gone. “And if anything happens to him?”
    “It won’t.” The lie clouded her eyes, for she did fear the worst. Padraig played with that.
    “He’s a child and you’re his mother and you can’t save all the lasses, Seonaid. You can’t, but if you get to Eriboll before their ship goes past, you may save the future. Let me take care of today.”
    “You can’t do this alone, Padraig, and you know it. We’ve already depleted their count, killing the men we have. Let us make it worse.”
    “I may not have to. They may set sail and then it will be up to you. And if they do make camp, there’s barely a sliver of new moon and it rises late. I’ll go in under the cover of darkness, get the guard, get their captives out, and be on my