his lungs as they ran the short distance across the width of the island, keeping close enough to see each other. When the ground sloped downward toward the opposite shore, they slowed their steps. Connor strained his ears for the sound of voices or the crackle of a campfire.
Nothing. Damn.
When they reached the shore, he stood still for a long moment, listening hard. He thought he heard a voice across the bay, but none closer. Stopping on the island had been a waste of time. Hugh must have moved his camp or set a different trap for him.
But wait. What was that? Connor heard something - probably just a deer - move up the shoreline to his right. Signaling to his partners to follow, he veered inland until he was behind whatever had made the noise. The fog was so thick that he almost fell over Hugh's lookouts before one of them spoke.
"Hugh's nephew won't come tonight in this fog, will he?" the voice said.
Connor made out three men sitting in the beach grass just above the shore, facing the bay.
"Hugh was certain nothing would stop his nephew from coming once that old farmer told him what we did," another of the lookouts said. "The farm is just south of here. If that's where Connor's going, he'll pass through here."
Connor narrowed his eyes, trying to see better. One of the men had his hand on a taut rope that was tied to a rock beside him. The other end of the rope stretched out to sea, a clever method, which he suspected Hugh had devised, for extending their vision on a foggy night. By running a rope from the offshore island to a boat midway across the bay, and probably a second rope from the boat to lookouts on the shore of the bay, Hugh's men would be alerted to a passing galley that would otherwise be hidden in the fog.
Connor considered taking one of the lookouts prisoner to question him, but it was better to keep this simple. The risk of someone calling out was too great.
"Weren't you the lucky one, getting the daughter first," one of the men said, keeping his voice low. "The lass was hardly worth the trouble by the time I had my turn."
"But the mother still had some life in her," the third said, and they all laughed quietly.
On his signal, Connor and his partners slit the lookouts' throats soundlessly. He regretted he had neither the time nor patience to give them a slower, more painful death.
Now that he had discovered Hugh's trap, he could avoid it. After returning to the galley, they continued along the outer shore of the island, rounded its southern tip, and entered the bay from the south, the opposite end from which they were expected. The creek Lachlan described was nearby, and they came upon it quickly.
The fortuitous timing of Lachlan's discovery of the location of Hugh's lair raised questions in Connor's mind, though his information appeared to be correct. He was not completely certain of Lachlan's loyalty to him. And yet he did trust the big, fair-haired warrior to protect his fellow clansmen in the castle - and Ilysa, in particular - in Connor's absence. It had not been easy to leave Lachlan with her. Her safety, however, was far more important than his own petty jealousy.
The fog thinned as Connor and his men followed the creek up the hill, but the night was still dark. When he reached the top of the rise, he saw windows lit by the glow of a lamp or hearth fire. Gradually, he made out the dark shape of a long, one-story building.
His heart beat fast. At long last, he had found his uncle. Hugh had not yet abandoned the house. Connor had been this close before, however, only to have Hugh escape. He was a slippery devil who could be counted on to save his own skin first. This time, Connor was determined to catch him before he slithered away into the black night.
Connor stationed men at every window and positioned himself with the rest at the door. Two men held a log, waiting for Connor's signal to break it down. Connor's muscles were taut with tension. Every sound in the night seemed unnaturally loud to his heightened senses.
That was what finally alerted him that something was wrong. The house was far too quiet.
"Run!" he shouted. "It's a trap!"
An instant later, Hugh's men poured out of the woods behind the house.