Read HISTORICAL ROMANCE: Scottish Romance: Scars of a Highlander (Highlander Alpha Male Romance) (Historical Fantasy Scottish Time Travel Romance Short Stories) for Free Online Page A

her, but that she still had to go out and look. Where should she look? How long should she spend looking, before she could admit to herself that it had been a fool’s errand and nothing more? Could she even take the risk and leave her clan in peril, just so that she might save her heart from a life without love?
    She found herself on her feet and pacing. The marriage was only hours away. If she was to leave on her quest then she needed to do it at that moment, otherwise it would be too late. She thought about going and speaking with her father. She thought about trying to explain the legend to him and gaining his support, but she knew that the dream was far flung and that he would only stop her from leaving if he knew about her plans.
    She sighed as she realized she had no choice but to go out and look. She had to at least try and find another solution to their problem without it being a lifetime of unhappiness for her. She pulled on a thick robe and walked back out into the night. It had darkened even more since she had been out and not even the embers were helping to light her way. The night’s sky was clouded over and the moon was hidden away.
    She looked back over to where she knew her father’s tent was and then she walked out into the openness of the night. The clan hadn’t been in the area long, but Abi had already taken a long walk of the surrounding area, so that she would know the ground for when the time came. She picked her way through the darkness without too much of a problem and headed in no direction in particular.
    She could already feel her back starting to ache as it cried out for sleep, but she told it that there would be plenty of time for that once the war was over and won. She could still hear the woman’s voice in her mind and she let it lead her path, as she padded softly through the grass and broken branches of the trees.
    She stopped when she heard a branch break. The noise rang out into the otherwise silent night and seemed to echo around her. The sound had been close, but she hadn’t been able to tell whether it had been from a person or animal. She stood perfectly still as she listened out into the night. Her eyes were no good; it was too dark even after they’d had time to adjust.
    “Is someone there?” She called out when no further noise followed. No one replied and she started to walk slowly in the direction of where the noise had come from. She could feel her ears staying alert to even the slightest of sounds that didn’t belong to her, and she breathed deeply to make sure that any foreign smells wouldn’t pass her by.
    There was nothing though. She walked to where she was sure she had heard the noise come from and there was nothing there at all. She turned and started to walk back in the direction from which she had come, and she stopped when another branch broke under foot. “Is somebody there?” She called out again and she tried to keep the spooked feeling out of her tone.
    There was no response and she forced herself to put it down to some kind of animal that was obviously sniffing about. She looked up at the sky and noticed a pinkish tone shining through the inky blue. She had been out for longer than she had thought and the dawn was just starting to break through the darkness.
    She carried on walking away from the camp, though. The rising sun was only a reminder that her time was short and she knew if she didn’t find the warrior before the day completely broke, then she would have to return and accept her fate. She pushed her legs harder, as they burned with resistance. She needed to cover more ground. She needed to look harder.
    She let her eyes dash around the rolling hills and meadows of flowers, as she tried to find the statue. She stopped as the stupidity of her quest finally sank in. She was looking for something that wasn’t real. She believed in it because she wasn’t willing to accept the reality of the situation. She had probably made the old woman up in a