he shouted it to the others. Tears ran down Anne’s cheeks. She was so happy.
Aidan said, “Here, Hugh, help me up. I feel as I’ve broken every bone in my body.”
When he was up and standing on his own, a cheer rose from the people. He was badly bruised, but otherwise uninjured.
Smiling with relief, Anne turned and saw Cora standing up the hill from them. Her smile faded.
Aidan asked, “Where’s Deacon?”
The mood turned suddenly somber. “We don’t know,” Hugh answered.
Aidan started toward Cora. Anne helped him, taking his arm and putting it over her shoulder. “He can’t be dead, Anne,” he whispered. “I can’t have another life on my soul. Not Deacon’s.”
She said nothing. She dreaded the worst.
Slowly Cora faced them. “I can’t find him.” She closed her eyes. “For so long, I couldn’t rid myself of him, and now I don’t think I can live without him.” Marie buried her face in her aunt’s skirts.
Aidan pulled away from Anne. “He must be here.” He walked past Cora, Hugh and Fang following. They started climbing the rubble, shouting Deacon’s name. The gulls were back. They squawked an answer, hovering in the air above and surveying the damage.
Anne picked up Marie and placed her arm around Cora. “He’s too stubborn to die,” she said aloud.
“Aye,” Cora agreed quietly.
And yet there was no sign of him.
Aidan stiffly climbed a mound of rocks, the better to see. He called, “Deacon!”
Marie lifted her small voice to shout Deacon’s name, as worried as any of them.
“Wait.” Aidan held up a hand, signaling for quiet. “I saw movement. Over there.” He stepped down from the rocks and clambered to a point not far from where he’d stood.
Then Anne and everyone else noticed what Aidan had seen. A hand in the loosened rock and dirt. The color drained from Cora’s face. She grabbed Anne’s arm.
Aidan had reached the hand. He fell to his knees and began digging. Hugh and Fang hurried to help. Thomas and his brothers came scurrying down the cliffs to join them.
Marie wiggled, wanting to be free to help. Cora took the child from Anne and held her close. “Not yet, sweet.” Anne knew Cora feared what the child might see if she got too close.
“But I want to see Deacon,” the child argued.
“Wait,” Cora said firmly, and there was something in the way she said the single word to make Marie behave. She put her arms around Cora’s neck.
Then Aidan shouted. “He’s alive.”
Aidan and the others shoveled the dirt from Deacon with their bare hands.
Deacon’s head emerged from the rubble. He drew a wavering breath and released it on a soft moan.
“Hold on, man,” Aidan said. “We’ll have you out in a few minutes.” He took a moment to brush the dirt from Deacon’s face.
“Thank you,” was Deacon’s reply, laced with his usual irony. But then, he turned serious. “I can’t feel my legs,” he said, hesitantly.
The men laboring over him exchanged glances. “Give us a moment,” Fang answered. “There is a fair amount of rock here. Don’t try to move yet.”
The men worked quickly. At last, Deacon’s torso was free, but a boulder rested on his legs. Fang organized the men to move it.
Deacon looked to Aidan. “I should have let you light the charge.”
The quip caught all of them by surprise. Aidan stared into the dirty, sweat-stained face of his friend, knowing he himself didn’t look much better, and burst into laughter.
Deacon joined him, and Fang and Hugh. The boys couldn’t. They didn’t understand. But the men did.
It was sweet to be among the living.
Deacon nodded to where Anne and Cora stood. “They will think us mad.”
“We already have the reputation,” Aidan answered.
“All right, let us move this rock off his legs,” Fang said, taking command. He organized where each would stand, and when he gave a count of three, they put their weight to it. “Careful now. Bring it straight up, else we injure him more.”
With the number of men helping, they lifted the rock without due difficulty. Deacon grunted in pain. Sweat beaded his brow. “How bad is it?” he asked Fang.
The older man shook his head. “’Tis a nasty break. We’ll set it, but the laird may want to send for the surgeon in Inverness.”
“I don’t need a surgeon,” Deacon responded.
“Would you rather lose your leg?” Aidan countered.
Deacon waved a hand to Hugh and Thomas. “Here, help me up.”
They did as he’d requested. His other leg was twisted, but not broken, and he was able to balance himself,