His Highland Pledge (The Clan Sinclair Book 4)

by Celeste Barclay

  “Magnus,” the voice sounded more urgent, more desperate. “Magnus, wait. Please stop. You have to help Deirdre.”

  That made him halt. He turned to see an overwrought Elizabeth sliding along the way, tucked as far into the shadows as she could.

  “What do ye mean?”

  “Her parents have locked her into her chamber again, but this time it’s much worse. They said horrid things to her, and I believe her father hit her at least once.”

  “What? How do ken this? Ye said they have locked her into her chamber. Did she say as much to ye through the door?”

  Elizabeth blushed a dark shade of red against her fair skin but then took a deep breath and shook her head.

  “I was with Dee when the queen summarily dismissed her from service. Her parents found her when she left the chamber, and I slipped out behind them. They led her to her chamber and all three of them went in.” She looked around to be sure no one was within earshot. “Magnus, there is an entire network of secret passages in this castle. They run behind and between walls. Dee’s chamber has a doorway to them,” she whispered.

  Secret passageways? Ye mean I didna need to risk ma neck on that ledge made for the fae?

  “How do ye ken any of this?”

  “I have been at court longer than Deirdre. I was practically raised here. I learned about them as a child, but I’m one of only a few ladies-in-waiting that are still here from that time. Some of the others use them to sneak away at night to tryst. I hadn’t used them in years until recently. I followed Dee and her parents the last time they locked her into her chamber. With her removal from the queen’s court, I knew this confrontation would be far worse than the first. I’m scared for her. I truly am. I do not know what her parents or Lord Archibald will do to her, or what she might do if she’s that desperate to escape.”

  “Can ye take me through them,” Magnus gestured to himself as he moved his hands up and down. He little faith he would fit in narrow corridors.

  “Yes. The tunnels are as tall as some of the chamber’s ceilings. They are a tight fit, but you should be able to make it if you turn sideways in some parts. The passageway from Deirdre’s chamber leads past mine, and that one connects to two others before ending near the postern wall. It was always intended as an escape route but has been used to spy on the king and his councilors for scores of years. As I said, I used to play in them, too.”

  “Can ye take me there now?”

  “Yes, but we must prepare a few things for your escape. You cannot take Deirdre away in one of her court gowns. It will be far too obvious the moment anyone sees even the hem. You need to find something that will allow her to blend in. You might consider a pair of breeches for yourself, at least until you are a safe distance from the castle and town.”

  Magnus scowled but knew Elizabeth was right. He had no desire to put on a pair of breeks, but if he could find a pair that belonged to a servant or even nearby farmer, he would blend in better than wearing his plaid. He doubted, though, that he could find any that would be long enough for him.

  “How do you propose that we find these spare clothes?”

  “Dee has always declined to have a lady’s maid, but I have not. My maid has a small chest in my chamber which will have an extra set of clothes that Dee can wear. They aren’t that far apart in size. As for you,” she looked Magnus up and down before shrugging, “you may have to wait until you can pinch something from a local merchant or farmer. You definitely cannot wear anything from the royal household, and now that I think about it, I have seen none of the male servants are as big as you.”

  “I ken who I can find clothes from that will fit. Ye have a blacksmith within the bailey, aye? He will be aboot ma size, and I will have to fold ma plaid. I shall have to sling ma claymore to ma saddle.”

  “You won’t be able to take your horse. There won’t be time to go to the stables and then out the postern gate.”

  “Just how do ye think we will make our getaway if we are on foot? I amnae leaving ma horse. I’ve had Sealgair since he was a foal, and he’s kept me alive more times than I can count. He may vera well be the difference between us getting away and getting caught.”

  Elizabeth thought for a moment before nodding her head as though she came to a decision.

  “I think I know someone who can help us with that. He can get your horse and bring him around to meet us. We will have to go in the dead of night that way you are not noticeable.”

  Magnus raised an eyebrow and was about to ask who, but Elizabeth’s sharp look and a small shake of the head kept him from speaking. Elizabeth looked around as though she could see through walls to whoever might be listening.

  “We cannot stay out here much longer. Someone is bound to see us. I will lead the way, but you must follow at a distance that will make no one suspect you are coming with me. We need to go to the queen’s music room. It will be empty at this time of day, so we can slip into the hidden passageways and go to my chamber for Dee’s change of clothes. I will also show you the way to her chamber and then the way to the gate in case anything should happen, and I cannot guide you, but you must wait several hours before you can go to her. We cannot risk her parents coming back and finding you there or her gone too soon.”

  Magnus and Elizabeth spent the next two hours collecting her maid’s clothes and then touring the passageways. Elizabeth led Magnus through each one with a lit torch and then insisted that he show her he could do it without one. She made the reasonable argument they could not guarantee they would be able to take a torch or that it would stay lit. Elizabeth reasoned that she could not even guarantee she could escort them to the postern wall. She insisted Magnus prove he could do it alone out of fear he and Deirdre would get lost or trapped within the walls.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Deirdre looked around her chamber after wiping her stinging cheeks with a cool compress. She moved to stand before the mirror and turned her head from side to side as she examined the splotchy red marks that remained from her father’s hand.

  Dinna still be red when Mangus comes. He will go berserk if he kens that ma father struck me. Twice. I dinna think I can talk him out of confronting ma father, and I dinna want him ending up in the dungeon. I need him now. Where is he? I’m sure he believes I am still with the queen.

  Deirdre tried to blink and swallow away the tears that threatened. She had not cried from her father’s mistreatment. She was well past tears over her parents. Instead, she longed for the comfort of Magnus’s arms, for the chance to escape the castle, the royal court, and her parents.

  I just want to leave here. I dinna care to ever return. I will happily miss every Highland Gathering or royal hunt until I breathe ma last if I could just leave now with Magnus.

  The tears poured forth as she continued to look in the mirror. She thought back to the evening just over a sennight ago when Magnus led her to her chamber after the nasty confrontation with Hay. They had stood before this mirror, both staring into the reflection that showed how different their bodies were and how perfectly they fit together like the pieces of a mosaic. Deirdre tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes as she pictured them standing together.

  Och, Magnus. Where are ye? I need ye right now. I dinna want to be alone anymore. I am scared of what is to come. What if ma parents really do announce ma betrothal? What if they send me away and ye canna find me again? St Columbo’s bones, I willna survive that a second time. Nae now that I ken ye love me, that ye never ever stopped.

  Deirdre opened her eyes and looked around her chamber again. She took in all her belongings she accumulated over the seven years of traveling with the royal court. While she had spent the most time in this castle, she routinely traveled with the royal couple. She had fond memories of some of the trinkets she collected, but for the most part, she felt no connection to the chamber or her belongings.

  I can walk away right now and nae look back. I would be happy to do that. I need to ready maself for when Magnus comes, or if
need be, when I make a run for it on ma own. I willna be trapped here.

  Deirdre walked to the window embrasure and pulled the glass open. She looked out over the bailey wall to the town surrounding the castle then she looked at the narrow ledge that ran on both sides of her window.

  By what grace of God did Magnus manage this? And more than once! His feet are at least twice the size of mine, and I dinna think even mine will fit.

  Deirdre looked down and felt sick as she saw the distance to the ground.

  Stop being a ninny. If ye must, then ye must. I would rather crash to the ground in a pile of broken bones than give in to ma parents. But I mustnae think it will come to that. Magnus has never let me down. It was ma parents, nae him, that have disappointed me. Repeatedly it seems. Magnus was always there. Always. He will be again. I’m sure.

  She stepped back from the window and moved to the large armoire that held all her gowns. She pushed them aside and reached into the far back and found two plaids. One was her Fraser plaid and the other was a Sinclair plaid Magnus gave her during one of their brief encounters at a hunt. She had stowed it away when her parents brought her to court and kept it hidden all these years. She pulled it out often and imagined that she could still catch Magnus’s scent on the wool. It was the only comfort she had during their seven years apart. Her parents burned all of Magnus’s letters from before their handfast, and she now knew they rejected any correspondence once they separated the young couple. She pulled out the Fraser plaid first. She grimaced at it as she tossed it into the fireplace. She watched with satisfaction as the flames enveloped the yards of wool. She stopped considering herself a Fraser when she wed Magnus the first time but came back around to thinking of herself as one when she neither heard nor saw Magnus over the years. From the night Magnus appeared in the gathering hall on, she considered herself a Sinclair.

  Deirdre laid the folded plaid on her bed and moved to one of her chests that stood in the corner. Everyone believed it held her most favored books and old scrolls, which was true, but it held other remnants of her past, of her years growing up in the Highlands. She carefully lifted away the scrolls that rested at the top. Sandwiched between her scrolls and leather-bound tomes were the proof she was still a Highlander at heart. She lifted an oilcloth from the chest and moved back to the bed setting it beside her plaid. She could not help herself and ran her fingers over the plaid once more before turning her attention back to her hidden treasures.

  With care, she unwrapped the oilskin to reveal a set of gleaming daggers. There were three dirks and one sharp sgian dubh. Beneath them sat a set of bracers Magnus gave her for her fifteenth saint’s day. The sgian dubh had also been a gift from him just before the fateful hunt where she was thrown. She pulled back the sleeves of her kirtle and tied a bracer to each wrist. She adjusted them so that the narrow sheath was on the underside of her wrist and then tucked a dirk into each one like Magnus had taught her. She found the thick leather thong she used for the sgian dubh. Magnus had insisted on teaching her not only how to throw the knives but to use them in close quarters in case someone snuck up on her. She thought it silly at the time, but Magnus foresaw a time when her attractiveness would be a temptation to men other than him. He insisted that she be able to protect herself. Before pulling up her skirts, she checked both hidden pockets of her kirtle to ensure her other dirks were there. She had become complacent over the years and did not always carry them, but after the incident with Hay in the alcove, she wore them again; however, she kept them in her pockets now, making them easier to reach. She tied the thick leather strap around her thigh and tucked the deadly thin blade into it. Looking back to the armoire, she spotted her riding boots which she pulled on. She tucked her last dirk into one boot and pulled one of her pocket daggers out to shove into the other.

  After double checking each of her knives, she unwrapped the last two hidden items. She lifted a metal sword that Magnus had custom made by his clan’s blacksmith. He gave it to her as her sixteenth saint’s day gift only the day before their separation. She only had one training session with him, but she had taken to it immediately. At a quarter the length, if that, of Magnus’s broadsword, it was customized for her height and strength. It was a small miracle she smuggled it into her chest. She lifted it now and marveled at how it gleamed in the firelight. The oilcloth kept it from tarnishing, and she spotted the entwined D and M on the hilt. She ran her fingers over it and closed her eyes for a moment to remember Magnus’s pride and excitement when he gave her the gift.

  Setting the sword on top of the plaid, she turned to the larger chest that sat at the foot of her bed. She lifted out scrolls, quills, and inkpots and set them aside. Next, she lifted out the small bow and quiver of arrows. This had been a gift from her father. Seeing it created a sour taste in her mouth, but she was practical enough to know she might need it if they ended up on the run, or worse, if she ended up running on her own. It was a short bow made of yarrow and had her given name carved into the wood, so no one would confuse with her sisters’ bows. She had used it countless times over the years, and despite the now bitter memory of how she came to own it, she felt like it was holding an extension of herself. The feel was natural and easy. She pulled back on the string and made sure it was still in good condition before checking the arrows in her quiver.

  Finally, she moved to the table that held her jewelry. She opened the drawstring pouch that kept her earbobs, necklaces, and rings. She had a veritable treasure in gems and gold she received as gifts from the king and queen on her saint’s day and various holidays. Her parents also ensured that she was well bedecked. She understood better than ever before that making her look like a peacock was more about their ostentation than her fashion.

  Once she had done that, she had little else to fill her time, so she resorted to her most frequent pastime. She pulled out a book and read.

  Magnus and Elizabeth emerged from the hidden tunnels into the queen’s music room. They closed the door in the wall firmly and crept across the floor. Just as they reached the door, they heard voices on the other side approach. Elizabeth’s eyes went wide as Magnus pulled a dirk from his waist. He gestured for her to remain quiet as he slipped behind the chamber door. Elizabeth stepped back and darted to a shelf that held various pieces of sheet music. She picked up a set just as the door opened.

  “Make her go to the chapel this very eve is what I heard,” came a soft feminine voice.

  “Her parents will forego the official announcement now word has spread about her dismissal from the queen’s service. Lord Archibald is said to be infuriated. She has cuckolded the man one too many times in the past fortnight. He will bed her and ship her off by morning is what he told Roger,” a male voice explained.

  “She –oh Lady Elizabeth, I did not realize anyone occupied this chamber,” said Lady Arabella who stood next to her surprised brother.

  “Excuse us for bothering you,” Arabella shot her brother a hasty glance before she nudged him to retreat from the room. They went as quickly as they appeared.

  Elizabeth did not dare move as she was shaking so fiercely. She took three deep breaths before she could respond to Magnus’s gestures to come closer.

  "Shite! We canna afford to wait until tonight. It'll be too late by then. We have to get her now."

  "No, no. Before she can leave, you must be seen leaving the castle. It cannot be too obvious that you left together. Let it be known you heard the gossip and are leaving in disgust. Take your horse and meet us in town. You must get clothes once you're away from Stirling."

  Magnus nodded his head. He knew she was right, but he detested taking even one step out of the castle without Deirdre. A lead weight settled on his chest, and the fears and anger of their last parting resurfaced.

  "Go, Magnus. Make a scene of leaving. I will get her and meet you at the far side of the city." Magnus nodded, opened the door, waited his customary slow count to twenty, and then went in search of his uncle who he suspected would be with sever
al other noisy and talkative Highlanders. Sheer willpower kept him from checking over his shoulder, but he knew Elizabeth would take the secret passageways rather than step out of the music room.

  Magnus wound his way through the castle ensuring as many people as possible saw his scowl and foul temper. He found his uncle just as he expected. The older man sat at a table with the Grant, the MacKinnon, the Graham along with men from clans Campbell, Drummond, Menzies, and Ramsey. He nodded to each man, most of whom he had known since childhood. He called Hamish over and began a conversation he regretted having to have. Telling his uncle only half-truths did not settle well with him, but there was no time nor a safe place to explain everything. The less his uncle knew, the less he would have to lie about when questioned.

  "Did ya hear? Did ye? That bastard Fraser has moved up the wedding. They aren't even going to announce the betrothal. They're marrying her off this eve."

  "Are ye sure, lad? That seems rather hasty of the king to agree to that."

  "The queen dismissed her after word spread that I compromised her. Compromised ma own wife! The king wants her gone."

  "Have ye seen the lass? Spoken to her?"

  "I havenae, and she hasnae tried to speak to me. I canna believe there's a wedding planned for her tonight."

  "Surely, ye dinna believe she is agreeing to this."

  "What am I to believe? They canna say the vows for her, so she must be willing. She hasnae tried to seek an audience with the king." Magnus shook his head. He forced himself to say the next words even though the mere idea, even if not true, tore him apart. "She doesnae want me after all. She will let her parents pull us apart all over again. Just as they did seven years ago."