‘Moyenstane Tower? Is that the home of the Chief of the Douglas Clan?’
‘Aye, but they have a watch tower high on the hill above it. I’ve no doot they’ll see us coming once we’re over the hill. There’ll be no turning back,’ he added, giving her another chance to wait for him.
‘We go on, together.’
‘Let us pray they see there are only two of us. We do not come to raid or reive.’ His concern for her was obvious and Isabella wanted to hug him.
‘Whatever happens you must not blame yourself, Sam. I was determined to come but I could not have crossed the marsh alone.’
It was a steep track up the hill side and several times they had to dismount and lead the horses where the path had washed away with heavy rain. At last they reached the top and Isabella didn’t think she had ever seen anything so beautiful as the view which spread before them. Amidst the green of the grassy glen a burn sparkled like molten silver in the morning sunlight, bubbling over rocks and into wider pools, then narrowing again into little water falls. In two of the fields there were flocks of sheep and at the end nearer to Moyenstane Tower they could see several horses and a herd of cattle grazing peacefully.
Negotiating the path downhill, although not as steep, or as dangerous as the ascent took all their concentration. They were almost at the bottom before Isabella realised they had been watched.
‘The two men waiting for us will be the guard,’ Sam said quietly. ‘The tallest is the man who bound Jamie’s wound.’ Isabella looked up and her startled gaze met an equally startled pair of the bluest eyes she had ever seen.
‘What have we here then?’ the man asked in a deep amused voice. ‘A woman? Have you come to steal our cattle too?’
‘Of course not!’ Isabella answered more sharply than she had intended. The man quirked a quizzical eyebrow.
‘Then what, I wonder, brings you over the hilltop to our glen. Neither visitors who come in peace, nor thieves who want to steel out sheep and cattle risk coming that way. Have you lost your way?’
‘We wish to speak to the Warden or the – the chief of the Douglas Clan. Are you the chief?’
‘No. I am Alexander Latimer and this,’ he turned towards his dark haired companion, ‘is Walter Nixon. My uncle, Sir William Douglas, is the warden in this area. He is also chief of the Douglas Clan.’
‘Then it is he we must see without delay.’
‘I see. And you are?’ He looked at Isabella’s wide grey eyes. They were beautiful, fringed by dark curling lashes but he thought he saw desperation in their gold flecked depths. Her business with his uncle must be urgent for her to undertake a journey over the hills. There was a vast stretch of marshland beyond the hill to the south. Surely she and her silent companion would not have risked crossing the marshlands? The same thought had crossed the mind of his companion.
‘Well, Zander, here is a young woman with enough spirit to match even yours if she has ventured over that hill.’ He looked sharply at Sam. ‘Speak up, man. What possessed you to bring a beautiful young woman on such a perilous journey? Few men would cross the marshes, even less a girl.’
‘Do not blame Sam,’ Isabella said swiftly. ‘He did not want to bring me. I needed his guidance and he is the only one I can trust. He is loyal to my family.’
‘It is true,’ Sam agreed, ‘I did not want to bring Miss Isabella but time is short. You hold my young master, Jamie Ellwood, as a prisoner. Miss Isabella is his sister. She insisted on coming herself to plead for his life.’
‘I see!’ Alexander whistled. ‘So the youth was telling the truth.’
‘Of course my brother would tell the truth. We are Ellwoods,’ she said, lifting her small chin higher. Then, ‘Jamie is still alive?’ Her voice quivered with anxiety.
‘He was still alive last night but I could get no sense from him. My cousin, Anna, is caring for him. She says it is the fever making him gabble. She has cleaned and dressed his wound. She stayed with him all night, plying him with the infusions her brother concocts from the bark of the willow tree. Anna says it has lessened the fever but he was too weak to answer questions at dawn. He must answer to my uncle before sunset.’ Sunset! The time to hang. Isabella trembled but took a deep breath.
‘I am grateful to your cousin. Our mother uses the willow bark infusion to calm pain and fever. Will you tell her please? Can I see Jamie now? Then will you take me to see your chief?’
Alexander eyed her with reluctant respect. Although she was simply dressed she acted like a lady used to giving commands. She didn’t seem to accept, that both she and her brother, as well as their loyal servant, were prisoners here now.
‘Very well.’ He took hold of her horse’s bridle and nodded at his companion to do the same with Sam. ‘Do you carry a weapon?’
‘Only my hunting knife,’ Sam said and drew it from his leather scabbard.
‘I will take it and return it to you later.’ Sam nodded agreement and handed over the knife. Isabella noticed how weary he looked and remembered he had not slept for two days and nights.
‘Would it be possible for my friend to rest,’ she asked Alexander in a low voice. ‘He has not slept for a long time and I am the cause.’ He looked at her in surprise and felt a flash of admiration for her consideration for the elderly manservant, however loyal he might be.
‘I will see he has food and a pallet where he can sleep,’ he agreed, ‘but I doubt if he will let you out of his sight.’
‘I hope he will feel reassured once he has seen my brother. He has known Jamie and me all our lives. We have many reasons to be grateful to him. Sam and my father were friends from boyhood. He is more friend than servant.’
‘Then he is fortunate. He may have acted foolishly to deliver himself, and you, into our hands, but he does not lack courage. You must love your brother dearly, Miss Isabella Ellwood.’
‘I do. We all do. My mother and my three young sisters need him so badly to protect them and our home and lands. I must persuade your uncle to set him free to return to them,’ she added with a note of desperation.
‘I know the Ellwood lands are near the English border but I thought the English had ceased their reiving, or nearly so, since King James’ decree for peace between his kingdoms?’
‘That is true. The raids from south of the border have been fewer since sixteen hundred and three when King James became the English king as well as our own King of Scotland. It is not the English raiders my family has reason to fear, ruthless though some are reputed to be. There is a family within our own barony who covets our land and – and more.’ She bit her lower lip and delicate colour rose beneath her creamy skin. Alexander’s eyes lit with admiration. He could guess why she feared her marauding neighbours without the protection of a man. What red blooded male would not covet such a lovely young woman, and one who had courage and spirit too. He felt his pulses quicken and his loins clench. He remembered his young prisoner had been stabbed and his horse stolen, leaving the youth to a fate of almost certain death, either by bleeding or hanging. Had he deliberately led the youth onto Douglas lands, knowing William Douglas’s present reputation for justice and the hanging of any reiver who dared attempt to steal their cattle and sheep? Was it a ploy to leave this young woman and her family without protection?
When they neared the cluster of cottages and the tall stone tower with its surrounding yard Alexander beckoned a servant and instructed him to tend the horses.
‘They will be returned to you if you are allowed to leave.’ Sam nodded but Isabella broke away and ran to her horse to grab the small parcel she had tied to Beauty’s harness.
‘What is that?’ Alexander asked sharply. ‘Do you carry a weapon?’ He reached out to take it from her but she thrust it behind her back.
‘Of course it does not hide a weapon.’
‘Poison then? What other plan can you have to rescue your brother?’ Isabella turned an impatient face to him.
‘Did I not tell you we come in peace,’ she said sharply
, and Walter Nixon chuckled. It looked as though Zander had met his match with this young woman. ‘It has been a long ride. I wish to make myself as clean and tidy as possible before I see your chief. This contains only a clean collar and cuffs, a cap and apron.’
‘I see.’ Alexander eyed her cap and the net which held her abundant hair. The sunlight caught it, making it shine like a polished chestnut with more than a streak of red and gold in the dark tresses. He resisted an urge to remove her cap and the net and feel its silken tresses.
He led them to the second story of the tower, which seemed similar to her own home of Braidlands, but taller and wider. She felt a pang of homesickness for a moment. She knew the narrow spiral staircases had been built deliberately to make the upper floors easier to defend. Three women were cooking over a large fire in a stone alcove. Alexander beckoned an elderly woman.
‘You may stay here and eat,’ he told Sam, ‘then you can rest a while.’
‘No! No I cannot leave Miss Isabella!’ Sam declared vehemently. Alexander looked at Isabella, a faint smile on his face. One eyebrow quirked in question.
‘If we can both see my brother first?’ she said. She set down the small parcel on the end of a wooden bench and opened it. She removed her cuffs and collar and deftly replaced them but as she removed her mud splashed pinafore Alexander snatched up her clean one and held it from her.
‘You do not need this. Ah, and here is a comb for your hair I see.’ Before Isabella realised his intention he reached out and removed both her grubby cap and the net so that her long hair felt in shining ripples down her back. She gasped.
‘Give me back my net and cap!’ Instead Alexander placed them out of her reach and stepped close, lifting her hair in both hands. He turned her to face him. His fingers were warm and firm against the soft skin of her neck and Isabella trembled. Her stomach muscles gave an unfamiliar lurch as she stared into eyes as blue as the summer sky. She saw laughter in them, but no cruelty. ‘Please…’ she breathed. ‘I must be clean and tidy to meet your chief and plead for my brother’s life. Please…’
‘You have no idea how beautiful you look without your cap and netted hair. My uncle admires a beautiful woman as much as any man. - maybe more sometimes.’ Isabella stared at him in horror.
‘I have not come to –to sell myself,’ she said hoarsely.
‘No? Then what other wiles will you use to plead for your brother’s release?’ She could not tell whether he was teasing or serious. The colour drained from Isabella’s face and Sam moved closer, ever protective. She had never anticipated she might be asked to bargain for Jamie’s life with her body, or that that such a thing would be an assumption for most men.
‘Give me back by net and cap,’ she demanded, raising her chin proudly.
‘Not yet,’ Alexander shook his head. ‘I will take you to see your brother.’ He took her arm and led the way to the floor above. Alexander seemed surprised to see his uncle as well as his cousins, Anna, and her brother, Henry. Two of the men who had helped bring in the young prisoner the day before were also there, talking quietly together in a far corner of the large room. When they saw Alexander, followed by Walter Nixon and accompanied by a pretty young woman and an older man they moved closer, curious but alert.
‘I have brought you some visitors young squire,’ Alexander said to Jamie.
‘Belle! Isabella, can it really be you? Am I dreaming again?’ He struggled to sit up but Anna moved quickly to his side.
‘Please lie still. Do not re-open your wound,’ she said in a quiet voice, then turned to look at Isabella. ‘You must be his sister? You are alike. He lost a lot of blood but my father - and now Zander too I suppose - will insist on questioning him.’
‘I have to reach a decision before sunset,’ her father declared irritably. ‘We cannot let a man go free when he is found on our land and gives no good reason, especially when he was accompanied by a band of thieves who would seize any opportunity to steal our cattle.’
Isabella turned to face the older man. He had a mane of thick hair falling in waves to his shoulders. It was streaked with grey now but she guessed it had once been as golden as his nephew’s and the young man standing at his side. They all had the same blue eyes. The young man was almost identical to Alexander Latimer except that his face still had the same soft bloom as a girl’s and he was of a more slender build. He smiled kindly at her and Isabella felt the warm glow she had when her youngest sister put her chubby arms around her neck and hugged her. For a moment she felt tears spring to her eyes, remembering she would never see three year old Mary again. She blinked fiercely. She could not imagine this young man baying for the sport of a hanging. She raised her chin and met the eyes of his father.
‘You are the Warden of this barony, and chief of the Douglas clan, Sir?’
‘I am, and my word is law here. I would like to know why a young woman should make such a dangerous journey?’
‘I am here because you hold my brother prisoner. I know he is innocent of any crime. I am here to take his place. If your men crave the thrill of a hanging then let them hang me in Jamie’s place. A life for a life.’
There were gasps from everyone in the room. Sam fell to his knees in front of her.
‘No, Little Miss! No! I would never have brought ye here if I’d known what ye intended. I will give my own life before I let you sacrifice yours.’
‘Sam, come here and help me to my feet,’ Jamie ordered. ‘I cannot speak man to man lying here.’ Sam did as he asked. ‘Isabella I will not allow you to offer your life for mine. I should have listened to your suspicions of Neb Truddle. God forgive me, I thought they were only a girl’s dislike for a would-be suitor. You’re my sister. I will not, allow you to take my place in the hangman’s noose.’
‘Dear Jamie, don’t you see, our mother needs you at Braidlands to protect her and our sisters. If you die it will be as Neb Truddle and his father planned. They long to take over Braidlands, and our mother too, even against her will. May Neb Truddle will seize Marjorie too, now I am not there. They will do it by fair means or foul, if you are not there to protect our family.’ She caught back a sob, then lifted her head proudly and glared around at the men, then at their chief. ‘I would rather die hanging from a tree than marry Neb Truddle. He is evil. They did not steel your cattle. They tricked my brother into coming, then wounded him and left him for you to hang. If you really are in command,’ she looked Sir William Douglas in the eye, ‘and if you really believe in justice, then tell these men I take my brother’s place at sunset. My life in place of his.’
Three
‘Well!’ Sir William said, when he had recovered from the shock of Isabella’s proposal. ‘As a young man I went on many raids and found myself in many fearsome situations, but I never encountered a man, even less a woman, with such spirit. Nor any with the courage to journey through the marshes and over the mountain. You must be convinced of your brother’s innocence, and love him dearly.’ Jamie sank back onto the settle, his face white.
‘I do and I know he had neither need nor desire to steel cattle from anyone, but he is an Ellwood. He refused to be branded a coward by staying safely at home. Men from our own barony claimed their cattle had been stolen by the Kerrs, whose lands lie between our own and yours I think? They are known to enjoy the thrill of a raid, if not for profit, then for sport, in spite of the King’s desire for peace and the penalty they must pay if caught.’
‘A man who is leader of his clan should not allow himself to be led astray,’ Sir William said, choosing to forget his own adventures, including one which had almost cost him his life, and caused him to leave the woman he loved, Zander’s mother.
‘It was the first raid my young master has been on,’ Sam defended. ‘He did not know the northern boundaries. The Truddles lied. Their cattle had not been stolen. It was an evil trick.’
‘Master Ellwood tells the same story, but how do we know you had not already decided upon it if he should be caught?’
‘Jamie did not know the water marked your boundary, Sir,’ Sam said in desperation. ‘He was still a boy when my master was killed.’
‘When was he killed?’
‘Sir John Ellwood died three years gone.’
‘We were told he died at the hand of the Douglas men,’ Isabella said, ‘but our mother refuses to believe a Douglas could be responsible. Her own life was saved by one of your clan when she was a child, so my father promised never to attack a Douglas, or steal their animals.’
‘Indeed?’ William Douglas looked at Isabella in disbelief. He was finding it hard to believe the story but why would such a lovely young girl risk her life to journey across the treacherous marshlands? Or offer her life for her brother’s? In all his years as a hardened warrior he had never come across a woman with such courage, or selflessness.
‘My father was a man of honour and he had given his word. He believed there should be honour, even among thieves,’ Isabella said proudly. ‘Our mother has never believed he was killed by your men, but that was the story we were told by the men who brought news of his death.’
‘Do you resemble your mother?’ William Douglas asked.
‘No. Jamie and I are like our father, but two of our young sisters are very pretty with fair hair like our mother.’
‘What is your mother’s name?’
‘Mary – Mary Ellwood,’ Isabella replied, puzzled.
‘And before she married your father?
‘She – she was christened Mary by the nuns, Mary Scott. Her mother died in childbirth but the Douglas man who brought her to them said her name was Scott. My mother lived with the nuns for the first twelve years of her life until her father claimed her.’
Love's Ransom Page 2