It had reduced to a drizzle now, and fog was beginning to settle over the estate. But Kate knew her way. She ran a zig-zag pattern across the grounds until she made it to the fence. Once there, she looked down to her left to see that her sisters had made it to the tree, and Willow was helping Lily down the other side by hanging off the branch of the tree. Freya stood behind, playing the lookout as she also searched for Kate.
“Freya! Go!” Kate whispered as she looked back to see if any of the men were coming that way.
“What about ye?” Freya asked, a little too loudly.
Kate looked over her shoulder at the sounds of the men. She knew that they would be caught at the rate which they had moved, and she would need a distraction. Kate turned back to Freya, “Get over the damn fence ye lassie, I’ll be with ye in a moment. Now go! Hurry!”
“Aye, but ye dae somethin’ stupid and it’s on ye!”
Kate turned and ran for the stables once she heard the sound of the men behind her. She did not need to see them to know that they were chasing after her. If they were, they would leave Freya, Willow and Lily alone, and they would get over the fence. Kate, however, wasn’t certain how she would pull it off.
She turned to the stables and drove the branch which she held into the lock, breaking it open. Once in, she released the horses, yelling and hitting them, causing the beasts to go charging outside and threatening to trample over the servants who chased after her. The men quickly turned their attention to the horses, trying to calm them down.
But as they did, another horse rushed past them, and Kate kicked down a man, riding low on the back of the horse. She knew that she would have to get through the gates, and the men had locked it down. But she rode hard for the gate, yelling as the horse approached at full speed. The guards at the gates watched as the magnificent white horse which belonged to McGowan slammed into one of the guards, sending him into the gates. The horse stopped with a cut to its thigh, which was proof that the tip of the spear held by the guard had cut into the horse.
In the chaos, Kate made it to the tree and climbed over it quickly, finding her sisters waiting for her in some bushes. They quickly walked away from the fence line and head into the town, looking for a place to hide. Knowing who they were and that McGowan was willing to cause trouble for anyone who was going against his will, Kate and her sisters moved quickly from house to house. The moment they saw the house owner sigh, they knew they would be unable to hide them for the night, and they moved to the next.
“Nobody is going to take us in! They’re too scared of Max,” said Willow.
“Aye, ye’re right. We have to hide. I can hear the horses already. He’s going to send the servants riding out, heck he might come himself, and if we get caught…” said Lily, her voice trembling as she spoke.
“To the woods, we hide there!” Kate instructed and the girls followed her. They stayed low, hiding behind bushes and small hills as they made it to the woods just by the side of the dirt roads, looking to hide but not get lost at the same time.
They heard the sound of the horses galloping past, as the servants knocked on doors of the same houses which they had stopped at just a few minutes ago. The chatter of the servants filled the night air, and Kate and her sisters hid in the corner, watching tensely. The night lights and fog offered them cover, and they watched as the servants gathered after riding back and forth across the roads. One of the horses rode right up to the lip of the hill which they hid below, holding a burning torch out.
Lily held her breath and Willow grabbed her axe, staring up at the man. The light barely reached where the four women hid, and so the servant did not notice them. After a few seconds, he moved his horse further down to check another part of the woods by the roads. They gathered once again just above them, and Kate listened as the same servant which had ripped her sleeve off spoke to the others.
“They’ve gone into the woods. If we are going to find them, it can’t be in the dead of night. We let the horses rest, and we head out by morning.”
“But they’d be gone by morning!” another servant added. “I say we head in there. They’re on foot, we’re going to catch up with them.”
“Ye bloody dobber, if ye think ye ken yer way around the forests when it’s all pitch black, then yer frickin’ pished. Best of luck to ye, but I ain’t coming to getcha.”
With that, the sounds of the horses turned and began fading away. Kate knew that the men would find places to sleep which would not be too far away, as they knew that returning without them would cause McGowan to throw a fit.
“We have to get moving, right now.” Kate turned to her sisters.
“How? We daenae have a torch. So how’re we going to see where we steppin’?”
Kate shook her head, knowing that they had to go either way. If they stayed, they would not be able to cover any ground, and the men would be on them. Even if they were crawling, at least they would have a head start on the men.
“We go now, holding each other and moving slowly,” said Willow. “I can make it through the woods, I used to head out to the little spot back in the old manor at dark, and I’d still make my way back. I can lead us, follow the North Star.”
“North?” Kate asked, looking above the trees. “Fine, let’s go.”
They moved slowly, making sure no one got hurt and making as little noise as they could. They were all bitter from the cold and knew they could not stop until they were a fair distance away from those chasing them. Kate considered having them sleep in turns, but they were all heavy sleepers, save for Lily who barely slept at all.
Climbing over jagged rock, Kate pushed her sisters through the dark woods, fearing for their lives until they made their way out to the stream. It was shallow and would allow them to cross, flowing just below their knees. But a single slip up would send them falling into the fast-flowing current and send them hurtling down the rocks and dead trees. Kate held her sisters, one by one, joining them as they made the crossing. The cold bit at her, but she knew what she had to do. She had to protect her sisters as the oldest one, and this was the only way she could.
But with the direction they were heading, Kate began to rethink her idea of protection. McGowan, despite all of his madness and abuse, was still slightly humane. If they were caught, he would privately punish them, perhaps whip her or the girls, just to teach her a lesson. Or he would lock them up in the cellar, and feed them once a day, as a way to remind them how much power he had over them. But despite all of his madness, they would be alive at the end of all the ruckus.
But in the direction which they were headed, the Laird there was a worse version of Max Sweeney. He was a brute, a man who fought in wars and was trained to take down men twice his size with ease. He was a man who was feared by all and envied the estate of McGowan. There were talks about him wanting the estate for himself, and this had put Max on edge for a few weeks on end. But the worst thing about the Laird wasn’t just the fact that he was a horrible person who had killed several men.
He was the number one enemy of the McGowan household; he was the Laird of McDonald, and the one responsible for killing their parents. Of all the girls, only Kate knew the truth, as she was the only one old enough to bear the news of their parent's death and who had taken their lives. She had lived with it for so long and had seen the hostility that the McDonalds had for the McGowans. There was certainly some bad blood there, and if they were caught on the other side of the river by the McDonalds, there was a chance that they would be killed.
“Alright, let’s head to the tree line and set up shelter. We sleep here for the night, wake up bright an’ early by morning, cross the river again and head downstream. In a few hours, we would be out of the highlands and be free from that bastard.” Kate began. “Willow, where is yer bag?”
“Ye said to get only the essentials,” Willow replied, holding up her axe.