“Maggie, you are welcome as always in our Hall,” Donal called back.
He was on his feet at the high table, his eyes fixed on Maggie, his body tense and alert. There was something ritualistic about the way he’d spoken — was this how he’d been trained to deal with angry Fae? Helen couldn’t help thinking of all the casual comments Maggie had made about how foolish it was to tangle with the Fae. At the time, she’d taken them as idle threats — but now, looking at the rage on Maggie’s face, knowing the power that the little old woman held… well, she was worried. Niall took her hand in his under the table, squeezing it reassuringly, and she leaned against his shoulder for comfort, not daring to take her eyes off Maggie.
“I know damn well where I’m welcome,” she spat, clearly unimpressed by the courtesy. “I want to know who’s the damn fool who allowed the Monster to come to such serious harm?”
“Th perpetrators are in our dungeon,” Donal said, moving from the high table toward Maggie as he spoke. “The ringleaders got away, unfortunately, but my men are already searching for them. We are taking this attack as seriously as though it were upon one of our own, Maggie.”
“It is on one of your own, you daft young man,” Maggie spat, and a ripple of unease went through the hall.
Men were exchanging glances — such an insult to the Laird was clearly a contentious subject.
As if sensing their dismay, Maggie glared around the hall, fury twisting her face. “Oh, you don’t like the truth when it’s spoken? You fools allowed one of your strongest protectors, your most devoted allies, to come to harm!”
“How bad is the injury?” Laird Donal asked, clearly working to keep himself under control in the face of Maggie’s scorn.
“Not as bad as it could have been, I understand,” Maggie said, her eyes roaming the Hall still. “I understand one of your men was injured removing the weapon from her back. The only smart move in a cascade of stupid ones,” she added, eyes whipping back to Donal.
Helen squeezed Niall’s hand, fiercely proud of her lover for what he’d done to keep the Monster from further harm.
“But she’ll still take weeks to heal — and you’re lucky the damage won’t be permanent. Iron is nothing to be trifled with.” She wrinkled her nose a little, her eyes darting to the guards closest to her. Helen realized that they were all armed with iron — Maggie was clearly overcoming a lot to be here.
“Is there anything we can do for her?” Laird Donal wanted to know.
“Oh, you’ll be far too busy looking after yourselves to spare a second for her, that’s for certain,” Maggie said darkly. “Without her between you and the Kelpies, I’d look forward to an upswing in attacks. That’s why I’m here — to warn you, as well as to scold you for your foolishness.”
“I apologize, Maggie. Truly, on behalf of all of us — for Perry MacCullen’s actions, and for our failure to prevent them.” He took a deep breath. “And I thank you for your warning regarding the Kelpies. We’ll take action to keep ourselves safe.”
“Good luck,” Maggie said darkly. “You’ll damn well need it.” And with that, she turned sharply on her heel and marched out of the Hall, throwing one last irritable look at a nearby guard with an iron short sword at his side.
There was a ringing silence in the wake of her departure… then everyone began talking at once, chaos overtaking the crowded hall. Laird Donal yelled for silence, leaping up onto one of the tables as he raised his arms to get his people’s attention.
“We all would do well to heed Maggie’s warning,” he called, the crowd slowly quieting as they listened to the Laird. “With the Monster wounded and unable to help protect us, we must be twice as vigilant as ever in regard to the Kelpies! Henceforth, nobody is permitted outside of the Castle before dawn or after sunset — with the exception of guards on duty. This warning will be extended to the village. We must anticipate further attacks. Keep each other safe.”
He leapt down from the table, and the conversation resumed — low, intense, a worried buzz in the room as people discussed Maggie’s dire warning with one another. Eamon, sitting by Helen’s side, was uncharacteristically quiet, his eyes wide with fear at what he’d just seen. Helen had a feeling that it was going to take a sizable bribe of shortbread to make Eamon comfortable with Maggie again after witnessing her in all her fury…
“Helen,” Niall said softly. “I must ask a favor of you.”
“Of course.”
“There’ll be extensive repairs needed on the Docks. And with the renewed threat of Kelpies, I can’t… I can’t risk Eamon being anywhere near the water.” He was speaking in a low voice, clearly trying to stop the little boy from overhearing. “Can you keep him inside?”
“Of course,” Helen said. But then she frowned. “For how long?”
“Until it’s safe,” Niall said shortly. “Until the Monster’s back in action… until the Kelpie threat’s over with… God, until he’s eighteen years old, how about that?” He tried for a smile, but it was a frazzled one.
Eamon was fiddling with his breakfast, clearly distracted from their conversation, and Helen was grateful for the opportunity to discuss this with Niall.
“I’m not sure how sustainable that idea is,” she said in a low voice. “I can keep him distracted inside for a day, maybe two, but you know how much he loves it outside. He loves the shore, he loves the forest… we’re going to see more than a few tantrums if he’s kept away from his favorite places for too long.”
“We’re just going to have to explain how dangerous it is,” Niall said with a shrug. “Helen, I can’t risk his life, tantrums or no tantrums.”
She sighed, seeing a big storm in their future. But Niall was right — it was too dangerous out there. It would be downright reckless to ignore Maggie’s strong warning. “I’ll do what I can,” she said softly. “I’ll do my best. But you know him better than I do — how do you think he’ll react to this?”
Niall shut his eyes for a moment, and she could see the pain on his face. “It’s better than losing him,” was all he said, then he rose abruptly to his feet. “I have to start on the repairs,” he said.
Eamon bounced out of his seat, eyes bright.
“I’ll come too! I can help!”
“No, Eamon. You stay with Helen, okay?”
The little boy looked from his father to Helen, confused and clearly about to object — but Niall was gone before he could say anything. Clearly confused — and a little frustrated — he flopped down next to Helen, a scowl already brewing on his face. She bit her lip, worried. If he was already this grumpy, they may not even have one good day ahead of them before the inevitable tantrum.
“How about we go up to the roof?” she suggested. “We can see if we can see the Monster from up there…”
“We won’t,” he said, sullen. “She’s hiding. She’s hurt.”
Helen sighed. This was going to be a long day.
And a long day it was. Eamon was restless and distracted all day, clearly waiting for any opportunity to go outside. Helen was desperate to entertain him, but even the courtyard wasn’t enough — he wanted to go riding again, to visit Darter, to go into the forest, to walk along the beach… all wonderful places, true, but all places that a Kelpie might be hunting. And though it was still daylight, Helen was loath to go against Niall’s wishes. Who knew how bold the Kelpies might be growing, with the Monster out of action? They were intelligent — had they already realized that their main predator was out of action, nursing her wounds at the bottom of the Loch? Had the word spread amongst them that the humans they’d been hunting were less protected now?
Helen felt more exhausted at dinner than she ever had… and it seemed that she wasn’t alone in that. There was a worried energy in the air — the servants seemed less chatty and more withdrawn, the guards were standing around in solemn clumps discussing their patrols in low voices, and even the scholars and herbalists seemed less energetic than usual… and given their book bound tendencies, that was r
eally saying something. Niall came to sit with them, looking tousled and exhausted, his hands roughened by what seemed to have been a long day of work.
“Three of the docks are badly damaged,” he explained, his voice rough from shouting commands all day. “It’ll be a few days until they’re repaired — not to mention the damage to three fishing vessels. The fishermen are trying to help out, but they’ve got work to do, fish to catch, families to support. It’s not a good situation, Helen.” He rubbed his head with his hands, looking utterly dejected. “I’m trying to look on the bright side, but…”
“Sometimes there’s not much of a bright side to look on,” Helen sighed, putting her arm around him and resting her head on his shoulder.
At least they had each other for comfort. She fell into bed again with him that night, and they stayed up late together, finding comfort in each other’s arms, in the wordless physical distraction of lovemaking. And afterwards, she crept back to her own room, feeling odd about staying too long with Niall. What if Eamon saw that they were sharing a room? With the boy already so close to a tantrum at all times, she didn’t want to tempt fate by drawing an unwelcome comparison to his lost mother. Niall seemed to understand, but there was a shadow on his face as she crept out of the room, and it took her a long time to fall asleep in her own bed.
She’d hoped things would be better in the morning. But it seemed the opposite was the case. Because she’d barely been awake for an hour when the awful news reached her.
“More attacks,” Niall said simply. And the look on his face made her lower her eyes in grief.
Chapter 48
It seemed the Kelpies, just as Maggie predicted, had been emboldened by the loss of their main opposition in the waters of the Loch. With the Monster gone, sightings of the creatures had tripled. She learned that at breakfast from a worried conversation between two guards, one of whom said he’d narrowly avoiding being attacked by a Kelpie stalking him in the darkness. And not only were they growing bolder — they were beginning to stray outside of the confines of their previous nocturnal behavior. Several of the guards reported that Kelpies had been spotted hunting well after sunrise, when usually the gray light that preceded dawn was enough to scatter the creatures completely. One had even made an attack on a guard with the sun well over the horizon, its black eyes flashing red and its sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight.
“Was the Monster somehow keeping them back during the day?” Helen wanted to know. But nobody seemed to have an answer — only conjecture.
“It may be a combination of the Monster’s absence and desperation,” Kay said thoughtfully when Helen consulted with her after breakfast. Eamon was with her, bratty and sulky, and she resisted the urge to snap at him as he tugged at her hand insistently while she was trying to talk to Kay. “They’d be hungry by now — with limited prey and the guard patrols keeping them from attacking too many people, they might be driven to hunting in different hours than just the ones they prefer.”
“Just what we need,” Helen said gloomily. “They’ve been sighted swimming in the Loch, too — a handful of guards said they saw their ears sticking out of the water.”
“That’s because the Monster’s gone.” Kay sighed. “Curse that Perry MacCullen. Any word on him?”
Helen shook her head. “They’re hunting him — but the guards are under a lot of pressure as it is with the patrols they have to do, so there’s not much spare time to track down MacCullen. Especially as it’s too late to prevent harm to the Monster,” she added, scowling.
“Didn’t he say he wanted it dead? Would he be likely to try to harm it again?”
“I hope he’s not that stupid, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”
But the worst news came just after lunch. A messenger came tearing up from the docks, breathing hard, a look of abject horror on his face — a boy not much older than Eamon, one of the young people of the Castle who’d been volunteering to help out with the dock repairs. Niall had been pleased by how many people had offered to help — but this child looked anything but happy about what he’d seen. He ran straight to the high table, and Helen spun in her seat to listen to what he had to say, a horrified certainty crystallizing in her stomach like ice as the boy began to stammer his message.
“Fishermen — t-t-two fishermen got — their boats — they sank and then — they were — in the water —”
Laird Donal was on his feet, moving toward the child with a hand outstretched — he patted the boy on the shoulder gently, his eyes full of concern. “Slow down, lad. What’s happened?”
The boy took a shaky breath, and Helen could see how traumatized he was. “Kelpies,” he said finally, his face twisted with fear. Laird Donal’s face dropped. “There were Kelpies.”
“Just now? In broad daylight?”
“They — they came up out of the water,” the boy whispered. “I was on the end of the dock — I saw a fishing boat a little way out — the man was throwing a net into the water, and suddenly… I saw a Kelpie come out of the water and grab the net in its jaws. It yanked him down — and — and then —” The boy was trembling, and Laird Donal shut his eyes for a moment. “There was so much blood,” the boy whispered.
“Two men?”
“Aye.”
“You’re a brave lad for coming to tell me.”
“The Harbormaster tried to save them,” he whispered, “but — but the Kelpies dragged the men into the water. Down deep.”
There was a deadly silence in the Hall. Even Eamon was still and quiet at her side, his eyes fixed on the lad who’d brought the news and a look of real concern on his little face. Helen made an instant decision. She’d only finished half of her lunch, but food was the last thing on her mind right now. She rose to her feet amid the murmuring of the people in the Hall, scooped Eamon into her arms and strode out of the hall. She needed to see Niall — needed to be at his side, to support him through this horrible tragedy that had occurred. Her mind was racing. The Kelpies were hunting by day now — seizing fishermen and dragging them into the water in full view of the harbor. There was no safety to be had any more. What was Niall going to do? With so much danger to contend with, how could he let the fishermen continue to work?
When she reached the docks with Eamon in tow, she saw a somber gathering of fishermen with Niall at its center. It looked like every fishing boat in the Loch was moored at the docks — sure enough, when she scanned the deceptively serene surface of the lake she couldn’t see a single boat out there. Good, she thought with a shiver. They were safe on land… at least, they were for now. Eamon buried his face in her shoulder, clearly picking up on the fear and grief surrounding them, and she squeezed him tight, trying to give him comfort that she couldn’t find for herself right now.
“It’s obvious what we have to do,” Niall was saying in a loud voice that carried down the docks. His eyes were scanning the crowd, and she saw them alight on her and Eamon for a moment, saw the glint of recognition and gratitude on his face before he turned back to the men he was addressing. “It’s obvious that with these creatures on the hunt, and no protection offered by the wounded Monster, that it isn’t safe to fish.”
“What can we do? Carry iron with us?” one of the men demanded. “They were yanked into the water in a heartbeat —”
“Exactly,” Niall said. “Iron wouldn’t have saved them. The only safe place is the land. The only thing I can do is close the harbor.”
There was a murmur of dismay. Plenty of the men were nodding, their faces drawn — Helen imagined that seeing two men dragged to their deaths would certainly put them off fishing for the time being. But other men looked frustrated, frightened.
“What about our families?” one of them demanded. “I’ve gone through all my emergency stores already — we’ll starve if I can’t catch anything.”
“I’ll go to Laird Donal now and talk to him about sharing the castle’s emergency stores,” Niall said firmly, gazing around at the men. “I don’t make this decision l
ightly — I know that you and your families depend on the Loch for survival. But we can’t risk your lives like this. Not until this Kelpie threat is dealt with. I promise, you and your families will be cared for.”
A murmur of agreement went up — Helen saw one of the fishermen clap Niall on the back, his face drawn. At least they are all on the same side, she thought. With Perry gone, the fishermen were able to make sensible decisions, to talk reasonably about these matters. Still — she couldn’t help but worry about the food situation. It felt strange, to be in a place where scarcity was so close. In West Virginia, poverty was an issue, of course — it always had been. She’d had personal experience of it herself. But the idea of food simply running out — of there not being any food to get, regardless of whether or not you had the money to afford it — that was strange, to her. And a little frightening. She bit her lip, almost wanting to head up to the kitchens to talk to Blair about exactly how much food there was in storage. Could they ration it? It may come to that, if things continued on this rather dire track…
The fishermen scattered slowly, headed home to break the bad news to their families. Work had been suspended on the repairs for the day out of respect to the men that had died… and, Helen thought with a shiver, probably out of fear of the Kelpies coming up close to the docks and threatening the safety of the workers. Eamon was at her side, tugging at her hand and squirming — and she realized with a sigh that his eyes were fixed on the beach down by the Loch where he loved to walk. It was a sunny afternoon, and she had to admit, it looked wonderful down there. She braced herself, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t react too poorly when she refused to let him go where he wanted…
Needed By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (Highlander Forever Book 5) Page 29