by Barbara Bard
Isla had been correct when she stated to Finlay that Lord Henry had made a huge mistake in taking Gavina. But he had also made another by allowing one of his men to abandon his post after finally becoming disenchanted by the irrational rule of his Lord and leader.
The man went by the name of Urian, a fairly common man who always feared Lord Henry, like most did, but did his bidding for sake of his own self-preservation. However, after hearing that his Lord had murdered Earl Simon of Sanford a few days prior, he knew the time had come to leave and inform the other royalty that one of their own had finally gone too far.
He rode away from the camp toward the closest settlement that he knew of where a group of men, led by a man known as Lord Torstein of Renfeld, was permanently holding residence in a castle that was still in the midst of construction. He was greeted outside the gate, relieved of his weapons, and brought before Torstein in his chambers.
Torstein was in many ways the opposite of Lord Henry—tall, handsome, clear-minded, and fair. He had earned his position well and was past his days of fighting and traversing.
Torstein was huddled over a map near a roaring fire, one of his knights conversing with him about something in hushed tones as Urian the deserter was led in by two of Torstein’s guards.
“My Lord,” the one on the right said. “This is Urian Crane. He is a knight in one of the Lord Henry of Sanford’s army, son of Earl Simon of Sanford. He wishes to take council with you, sir.”
Torstein felt a throbbing in his temples. He, like most of his countrymen, knew all too well about the exploits of Lord Henry of Sanford. He turned in his chair, looking at the frantic knight named Urian standing with a bowed head and tremor-filled composure.
“Leave him here,” Torstein said, dismissing his knight. “One of you can stand guard by the door.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
Two of the knights excused themselves as Lord Torstein stood tall before Urian. “What say you, good man?” Torstein said. “What word do you bring from Lord Henry?”
Urian cleared his throat. “Dire news, my lord.” He checked over his shoulder nervously at the night. “I’m afraid…” he closed his eyes. “I’m afraid that Lord Henry may not be well, my lord.”
“In what way?”
Urian searched for the words and nearly choked on them as he spoke. “H-he is not…right, my lord?”
“According to what you are saying, but what illness does he currently suffer from?”
“Not one that is physical, my lord, but one of the mind. Lord Henry has taken it upon himself to take control of Earl Simon of Sanford’s men and resources. He was sent to this area to relinquish control when he was killed by Lord Henry but two nights ago.”
Lord Torstein’s lips parted, shocked but somehow not surprised. “Are you saying,” he spoke in clear and concise tones, “that Lord Henry murdered his own father.”
“Yes, my lord, and then he took command of his men and killed the rest that would not remain loyal. I knew that it was my duty to abandon my post and inform our countrymen of what is transpiring. It just took longer than I had expected.”
Lord Torstein took a moment to absorb the words, rotating his wedding band on his finger as he stared at the fire roaring beside him. “You have taken a great risk coming here against an oath you swore to your own lord.”
“I understand, my lord, and I will gladly receive whatever punishment awaits me for my betrayal. But my lord, Lord Henry plans on pursuing a pack of Highlander savages, one of which he intends to take as his wife. He has risked significant resources and many lives in the pursuit of his campaign. I fear that more men will die and a significant number of Scotsmen as a result.”
Lord Torstein turned from the fire and approached Urian, looking at him with a highly scrutinized gaze in the hopes that Urian was lying. Based on the look in Urian’s eyes, he could see that he was hearing nothing but the truth.
“Where is Lord Henry of Sanford now?” Lord Torstein inquired.
“A day’s ride from here,” Urian replied. “But they are no doubt on the move as we speak. They are awaited the arrival of the Highlander clan I spoke of. Lord Henry currently has taken the youngest sibling of Lady Isla hostage. He plans on luring them in and dispatching of them all upon their arrival.”
“Bloody fool,” Torstein seethed, talking more to himself now than he was to Urian. “That arrogant man is going to singlehandedly ruin the empire. And he dispatched of Earl Simon? He murdered his own father?” Torstein huffed, pounding his fist on the edge of the stone fireplace as he thought of his next approach.
“This cannot stand,” he said. “We must inform the king. We must send out a party to intervene and stop Lord Henry from this madness.”
“What of the Highlanders, my lord?” Urian asked. “What of them? They are arriving in full force at Lord Henry’s encampment at any moment. We will surely run into a resistance.”
Lord Torstein nodded at Urian’s words. A man who thought his fighting days were over was once again finding himself having to take up the sword.
“In regard to that inquiry,” he said to Urian as he headed for the door, “we will deal with that issue in the proper time. Come now. Lead me to your lord’s encampment.”
He grabbed his knight by the arm at the door.
“And send message to the king,” he said. “Tell him that Lord Henry of Renfeld is on his way to relieve Lord Henry of Sanford of his command. And inform the king of what is transpiring…”
***
Finlay, Isla and the twelve riders with them had finished packing up their camp and were following Finlay’s lead. “I ken much about this area,” he said. “There are two separate routes that Lord Henry’s men could have come fae.”
“How will we know which direction they came in from?” Isla asked.
A nod. “We hae tae ride about two hours in our current direction. It was a single rider. Based on the tracks we find we shall be able tae tell where our man went off with Gavina.”
They eventually reach the proverbial tracks, in an area of dirt road that snaked straight ahead for miles of road but splitting off down and leading down an incline thirty yards and to the left.
“There,” Finlay said. “He went left. West. Based on Lord Henry’s pursuit of us, he must have settled his men into a hillside that provides ample cover on two sides. Me brothers and I once sat the night there.”
“Were you fleeing?”
“Naw,” Finlay said fondly. “It was me birthday. We were tae pished tae ride.”
Isla smiled and was relieved of her fear and anguish over Gavina for the briefest of moments. She had come to embrace her love of Finlay, and it helped alleviate the suffering somewhat, but her heart had been racing for fear over her youngest sibling, and rather than dwelling on how or why she simply set her intentions on finding Gavina and rescuing her from the clutches of the bastard Lord Henry.
“Riley,” Isla said, “was told that over two hundred men are settled out there. I am heeding yer advice on being cautious, so tell me how we go aboot securing enough men to have a fighting chance to save me sister? And keep in mind that time is of the essence.”
Finlay thought quickly on his feet. He knew that they would have to make do with whatever numbers he had—but he needed to rally all that were had at his disposal as quickly as possible in order to have their fighting chance.
“Eamon,” he called over his shoulder.
A ginger-haired rider called back: “Aye.”
“Ride back to Riley. He’s naw doubt nae fae behind us. Ye need tae tell him which direction we are riding.”
“Aye,” Eamon called out before turning his horse around and charging back in the direction they had come from.
“The rest of ye,” Finlay said. “Ye will stay here. Isla and I will ride ahead. We will scout this encampment out and be back tae ye all within two hour’s time. Should ye encounter any Sassenach, hold ye ground. I promise ye Riley will be nae fae behind ye.”
&n
bsp; The riders then spread out and began setting up a temporary defensive position as they awaited the arrival of Riley and the reinforcements.
“We gae in slow,” Finlay said to Isla as they began to ride. We just need tae be a pair of eyes right noo.”
“I might hae a better idea,” Isla said as she bucked the horse and shot straight ahead of Finlay.
A half-hour later, they arrived on a hillside looking down onto the encampment of Lord Henry, both of them lying flat on their stomachs as they stared down from 200 yards away at a barrage of men. Their numbers overwhelming to Isla and Finlay as they watched the men go about packing their camp.
“They will nae be done soon,” Finlay said. “They are moving tae slow.”
“Aye,” Isla said, still keeping a cautious eye out for any lingering Sassenach. “And it looks like he has all of his men on hand. I dae nae see anyone.”
“His men are weakened. Some of them even look ill. They hae suffered under his rule and it takes a toll on them all. I am surprised that nae one of them has broken down and fled to inform their king of his foolishness…”
They took a moment to count the numbers of men, estimating, like Riley had stated, around one hundred eighty-six.
“I cannae see Gavina,” Isla said. “I am having trouble seeing where Lord Henry’s quarters are. Nae doubt he has her hidden in there.”
Finlay squinted harder and took his time to look at every tent in the camp—some were dismantled, a few were not. He searched to find the biggest and most durable of them all and spotted it on the most eastern part of the valley.
“There,” he said. “I have a strong suspicion that Gavina is in there.”
Isla followed his finger and found the tent, confident of her plan when she turned to Finlay and said: “I have a better idea in mind.”
Finlay shook his head. “Isla, if we—”
She gently placed her palm over his mouth.
“We will strike,” she said, knowing what words he was already going to use before he even said them, “but this we will do as well. Are you listening?” She slowly lowered her hand.
Finlay nodded. “Aye.”
One of Lord Henry’s knights saw what appeared to be a woman in a red dress stumbling toward him in a daze. The closer she came—he realized the dress was green and it was simply covered in blood.
“Bloody hell,” he said with a smirk as he moved to intercept the woman. “Are you lost, love?”
The woman came to a stop.
“Aye,” she said. “My name is Lady Isla. I believe Lord Henry is looking for me.”
The knight’s eyes went wide, and his smile stretched into a lecherous beam as he said: “Well, well, well. God smiles at Lord Henry today.”
He shouted over his shoulder to a knight not far away.
“Oye! Fetch Lord Henry,” he grabbed Isla by the arm. “Tell him that his dreams just came true.”
Chapter 26
Lord Henry was more than elated when he heard the news being called out to him by Stephen from outside his tent.
“What did you say?” he called out as he shot out of his chair and rushed toward the front of his tent, Gavina perking up and hoping that rescue was just moments away.
Isla was hauled into the tent and placed in front of Lord Henry by two of his men like a prized horse, Isla’s head hung low as Lord Henry clapped his hands together and hollered out with joy.
“God smiles upon me today!” he exclaimed. “I cannot tell you how long I have looked forward to this reunion.”
Lord Henry stood in front of Isla, her gaze diverted to the ground as she trembled from a mixture of fear and anger.
“Isla?” Gavina said, wanting to rush to her sister’s side but held back by one arm by one of Lord Henry’s men, her eyes wide with horror as she saw the bloodstains on her sister’s clothing. “Are ye hurt?!”
“Shut that child up,” Lord Henry commanded, his man shaking Gavina’s arm as she bit her fist to stifle her tears.
Isla slowly turned her head and gave her sister the subtlest of nods.
“All is well, Gavina,” she cooed. “Dae nae fret.”
“Oh, she should be worried,” Lord Henry said, toe-to-toe now with Isla.
“She should be frightened for her life. That is, of course—” he traced his finger up the bare skin on Isla’s exposed arm, “—unless you obey every command, every command, that I give you.”
He examined the blood caked to her arms.
“What happened to you? Tell me? Did one of my men harm you?”
Isla said nothing, biding her time and occasionally offering a nod or a wink to soothe Gavina.
“Answer me, woman,” Lord Henry pressed. “Why are you soaked in blood?”
Still, Isla said nothing, waiting and hoping that Finlay, waiting for reinforcements to arrive, would follow through with the plan they had set. Dinnae fail me, Finlay, she thought. Please dinnae fail me.
But she knew that he wouldn’t—she had the upmost faith in him in the world.
***
One hundred yards outside the camp perched on the hill overlooking Lord Henry’s forces, Riley arrived with thirty of his men and the rest that had been left to intercept him before Isla and Finlay had left. They remained quiet, all of them waiting back far from the edge as Riley crawled on his stomach and joined Finlay.
“What news de ye hae?” Riley inquired.
Finlay pointed down to the camp. “Isla is there. She is in Lord Henry’s tent as we speak.”
Riley’s heartbeat picked up in rhythm.
“Madness,” he said. “She is gonnae get herself killed.”
Finlay shook his head. “She is smart. She awaits us to infiltrate the camp. The better tactic in this case is tae slip in and out. Attacking in full force will nae provide us with any benefit. All we must dae is await her signal.”
“Which is?”
He shrugged. “I believe we shall ken it when we hear it.” He nodded to Lord Henry’s tent. “At least those were her words. Once we receive the signal, ye and I and the rest of our people will slowly infiltrate the camp.”
“Has it occurred to ye,” Riley said, “that Lady Isla plans on murdering Lord Henry where he stands?”
Finlay huffed. “Aye. I believe this tae be true.”
“This is quite a risk, Finlay Baird.”
“The goal is tae free Gavina. I will dae everything in me power tae make sure that Isla is nae harmed.”
“That is a guarantee ye cannae make.”
Finlay focused an intense gaze on Riley. “The hell I cannae.”
A shriek emitted from inside of Lord Henry’s tent, faint enough that Riley and Finlay could just barely make it out. “I believe that tae be the signal,” Finlay said as he pushed off the ground. “The time has come tae act, Lord Riley.”
***
With a strong backhanded swipe, Lord Henry struck Isla in the face and knocked her on her back. “Isla!” Gavina shrieked as she stared fire at Lord Henry. “Leave her be!”
“Stephen,” Lord Henry said, rubbing his temples from the stress. “Take this damned child out of my sight before I slit her throat where she stands.”
Kicking and screaming, Gavina was hauled out of the tent, grasping at Isla and crying to the point that her words were nothing more than guttural noises. The entire time, Isla kept her composure, hoping that Finlay had heard her shriek and began his descent into the camp.
Lord Henry, smiling and taking pleasure in Isla’s pain, pulled her to her feet.
“You are not the screaming type, my lady. I am pleased to see that I can elicit such a reaction.” He pulled her back to her feet, violently. “Now,” he said, grabbing her face with one hand and squeezing. “Tell me what your plan is.”
Through a beet red expression and struggling to draw a breath, Isla said: “There is naw plan.”
“Do not make me strike you again, my lady, for the next time I will leave a mark.”
Isla, staring into the bastard Lor
d Henry’s eyes, felt all the rage and animosity she felt toward him swirling inside of her chest.
“Ye will leave a mark, ye say?”
He nodded. “One that will remain with you forever.”
Isla, through stifled breathing, laughed.
“Is there something amusing to you, my lady?”
She nodded. “Indeed, being that I dinnae believe a man as weak and pithy as ye could be capable of hitting any harder than that of small infant.”
Lord Henry, showcasing his yellow teeth, raised his hand and prepared to strike.