Gifted Thief (Highland Magic #1)(91)

Travis straightened. ‘Whatever it is, we don’t have time to worry about it.’

There was the sudden, unmistakable sound of a flare being set off further up. It rocketed into the dark sky, a plume of red shooting a path of pain.

‘Well,’ Tim murmured, ‘one of them is still alive.’

We picked up our pace. Travis began jogging and the rest of us fell into line after him. As we rounded the last craggy outcrop, Aladdin’s Mirror loomed in front of us. With the sky as dark as it was, it was difficult to see much of it but we weren’t here for sightseeing ? the whimper from the foot of the Mirror confirmed that.

Travis strode forward. He was almost as sure-footed as a fey Sidhe. He reached a shadowy lump just ahead of us and dropped to his knees. ‘My name is Travis,’ he said calmly, in a manner designed to put injured climbers at ease. ‘Are you Maggie?’

‘Y–yes. Maggie Moncrieffe.’

I stiffened. No-one had mentioned that we were here to rescue a Sidhe, let alone one from Aifric and Byron’s Clan. At the thought of Byron Moncrieffe, Aifric’s son, my stomach tightened. I pushed away the image of golden boy’s handsome face which had popped unprompted into my head. It didn’t matter who these people were; they still needed rescuing.

Tim and Tam pushed past me, already assembling the stretcher.

‘You alright?’ Isla asked me.

I shook myself. ‘Fine,’ I muttered.

Travis ran his hands over Maggie’s body. ‘Where does it hurt?’

‘My ankle,’ she gasped. ‘I think it’s broken.’ She yelped as his fingers touched it gently.

‘Okay,’ Travis soothed. ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to get you onto the stretcher and down from here. You’ll be back home in no time.’

That was all very well but she was alone. I hooked my backpack off my shoulder, pulled out a splint and bandages and glanced at Isla. ‘Isn’t there a husband?’

She nodded. I knelt down beside Travis and started binding Maggie’s ankle so that she could make the journey back down without further damage. ‘Maggie,’ I said softly, ‘where’s your husband?’

She moaned in pain. As her pupils were dilated and she was clearly drifting into unconsciousness, I had the uncomfortable feeling that she was suffering from far more than a broken bone. I reached for Travis and gripped his forearm, jerking my chin at her. He gave me a grim look of acknowledgement. We had to get her to a hospital fast.

‘Maggie,’ I said again. ‘I need you to look at me. Where’s your husband? He was here with you.’

Her pulse fluttered rapidly in her neck and her skin was hot to the touch but she was as tough as the other Moncrieffes I knew. Her eyes met mine and she managed a weak whisper. ‘He went for help.’

Shite. We’d not passed any tracks other than those belonging to the strange, unidentified animal. He must have wandered off in the wrong direction. It didn’t matter how often we instructed hikers and climbers to stay together when there was a problem; someone always thought they knew better.

‘What’s his Gift?’ I asked. If he were Sidhe he might be able to call up magic which would help him survive, otherwise he might well be lost for good. Unfortunately Maggie had given us all she could; she’d already closed her eyes.

I stood up. ‘You need to get her to a hospital now. She’s probably bleeding internally from the fall.’ I looked up at the sheer ice wall of Aladdin’s Mirror. If I squinted, I could make out an ice pick buried about twenty feet up. There weren’t any ropes, though. No wonder she’d landed so badly. Daft bint.

Travis nodded. While Tim and Tam carefully laid her onto the stretcher, he pressed a button on his walkie-talkie and called the helicopter to arrange the rendezvous.

‘There,’ Isla said, pointing to our right. ‘There are footsteps.’

The continuing snow flurries were already starting to cover them. ‘I’ll go after him,’ I said.

‘You can’t go on your own, it’s too dangerous.’

Travis looked at the pair of us. ‘You’ve got fifteen minutes. It’ll take us longer to get back down to the landing point anyway.’

I licked my lips; they were already dry and cracked. ‘And if we don’t find him?’

‘Then we’ll take Maggie to the town and come back later.’

I nodded, although that didn’t sound like a brilliant plan. Judging by the state of the weather, things weren’t going to improve any time soon. I was no snow expert but I could tell that the wind was getting stronger. Dangerously so. If this got much worse, the helicopter wouldn’t be able to fly, let alone drop us back here. I caught a look in Travis’s eye before he turned away; he knew it too. If we didn’t find Maggie’s husband and get him to the helicopter soon, we’d be forced to abandon him for the night. And he probably wouldn’t make it if that happened.

‘We’d better get a move on,’ Isla murmured.

‘Fifteen minutes,’ Travis repeated. ‘I mean it. This isn’t the night for silly heroics.’ He looked at me as he said those last words. That wasn’t entirely fair; I’d followed his instructions and commands to the letter over the last four months. Still, I nodded in acknowledgment and Isla and I took off.

The footsteps were close together, suggesting that Maggie’s husband had been moving slowly. That was good, it meant we had a better shot of catching up to him. I followed Isla’s lead, keeping my own steps light and brisk. I counted silently in my head to keep track of the time. Realistically we couldn’t follow his trail for more than eight or nine minutes before we’d have to return.