Thistle and Flame - Her Highland Hero

by Anya Karin

  “Oh I suppose the rose garden is rather nice, you can see that from your window. That’s where I spend a good deal of my time. Something about the flowers is relaxing. Especially this time of year, when the weather is cool but not cold and not yet humid.” Lachlam patted Kenna on the shoulder, smiled, and began to whistle as he strode off.

  “Right, thanks!” Kenna called after him a moment later.

  Again she went to the door, tried the latch, and it slid open. No one was outside to catch her, no one was chasing or running about to find her. She just went outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air. It was cool, but like the gardener said, not at all cold. The Scottish chill that filled her lungs gave Kenna a deep sense of home, and her thoughts drifted there, back to Fort Mary.

  I wonder what Ma is doing, and Pa? They seemed so happy that I was going off to be married and get all grown up, but what if they knew? What if everything they found out about Macdonald and everything else? What if they found out about Gavin? I just don’t know.

  Her thoughts carried her far away and long ago, or at least it felt like it was long ago even though, it terrified her to realize, she had been home in Fort Mary not a week and a half in the past.

  “Hey! Hey you! What are you doing?” A voice broke her repose. “You there! You’re not supposed to be out here!”

  “Damn, damn, damn!” Kenna said under her breath. “Think, Kenna, think!”

  She turned and looked behind her to see one of the younger house servants. She thought it was the one who Macdonald had tend his chamber pots. Why he needed more than one, she hadn’t a clue, but she was almost sure that was who this was. She cursed her bare feet and her form-fitting dress, and then started to run.

  A step after she started, her dress split down the left side, but she kept right on.

  Gavin, I must get to Gavin was the only thing running through her mind, not the stones biting into the bottoms of her feet or the binding, squeezing ache of her arms where the cloth on her sleeves dug deeper with every passing moment.

  Where are you? What am I doing?

  She stopped in her tracks. Behind her, the young steward came running, the hard clomping of his feet on the cobblestones made Kenna cringe, but she didn’t bother to turn, nor fight him. Standing still with her shoulders slouched she felt a hand on the back of her neck, and then a squeeze. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it too hard to be comfortable, pulling her arm behind him.

  Numbly, she followed him back to the house, watching the tips of her toes one after the other, touch the cracks between the stones.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “To where you belong.”

  Seated on her bed, staring into the fireplace in the corner of her chamber, and watching the gentle orange light bouncing off the floor, Kenna briefly considered diving into the fire and letting it burn her, then decided that would be quite painful and instead thought about using one of the logs to burn down the castle before she remembered it was made of stone.

  Might burn a tapestry, she thought. I’d hate that though. The tapestries are the only parts of this place that aren’t ugly and dirty and...

  “No, no, no! You are trying very hard Louis, but this is just not how you should be making a bed! The corner goes under the mattress like so, and then you fold, and, yes, yes this is very good!”

  “Olga! Olga, I need you for a second,” Kenna said, sticking her head out of her chamber door and calling down the hall. “Very important.”

  “Give me one second, dear. Louis is learning to make beds!”

  Kenna couldn’t help but laugh even with her dire circumstances. Olga was prattling on for another few seconds, complimenting the young man about his bed-making abilities and then insulting him for not having the sheets quite tight enough. A moment later, she looked into Kenna’s room. Never had a big, round, smiling face ever been so welcome.

  “What is it you need, Miss Kenna? Very important lesson being taught.”

  “It’s...it’s Gavin. The man I told you about?”

  “Oh, ho ho! Yes, the one from the party with the big, round shoulders and the thick-”

  “Right, yes, that one. Well it seems as though the sheriff and Macdonald have somehow caught him and he’s been thrown in jail. Gavin had promised to visit me last night, but when he appeared outside of the window, he seemed to be acting preoccupied. He was very strange.”

  “Must be a strange thing to be in two places at once, no?”

  “I don’t think he was in two places at once. I’m fairly sure the man who came to see me was not actually Gavin, but was the other man with him.”

  “Ooh! Was it the one with the big beard and those big, strong arms?”

  “No, the slighter one, I think. It was hard to tell from so great a distance.”

  “Normally visitors in the night are very close to one another, how-”

  “Olga!”

  “I'm sorry, Miss Kenna.”

  “But anyway, the man who came, he gave me an address and told me to go there tomorrow...well that’d be tonight right at sunset.”

  “Do you have the address? I run so many errands in town that I’m well versed.”

  “Aye, here,” Kenna handed it over.

  “Oh! Why are you going here?”

  “Is something the matter? I’ve no idea where that is, except that it’s on Queen’s.”

  “This is the apartment of the Earl and Lady of Dorchester. They’ve been in talks with Lord Macdonald for a time. He’s working on some sort of business deal with them. But why there?”

  “I’ve no idea, that’s only the address I was given. It might just be a place for meeting up.”

  “Must be, no other reason for... unless...”

  “Unless what?”

  “No, it cannot be that – I was thinking maybe your dashing friend was to steal from those crooked persons, but he wouldn’t involve you in danger.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know his type. They are brave and strong and protect a woman. I’ve known men like that before. What can I do for you? You had better be of a hurry if you’re to get there in time, even by carriage.”

  “That’s the problem. I can’t leave.”

  “No certainly not in that dress, it’s torn.”

  “Olga,” Kenna laughed. “No, it’s not that. Ramsay is convinced that if I step foot outside the house I’ll be immediately whisked away by a roving spirit or brigands or something and so he has people making sure I don’t go anywhere.”

  “Oh, that is a problem.”

  Olga walked with her heel deliberately touching her toe all the way along the inner wall of Kenna’s chamber, then turned around and went back. When she arrived where Kenna stood, a revelation struck.

  “I know! You are in much luck, Miss Kenna.”

  “You can help me? Are you sure?”

  “Oh yes, Miss Kenna, certainly.”

  “But how?”

  “It’s the laundry. After a party, Mr. Macdonald is not the sort to want the noise required of laundering so much linen, so he has it sent to a place in town to do it instead. I always told him that was a silly waste of money, but he just stared at me down that pointed little nose of his. Gott im Himmel but he’s a stubborn man.”

  “Yes, well, about the carriage...”

  “Of course, it departs in a half hour or so. It goes down Queen’s on the way to the launderer’s. But you’ll have to pay mind to where you are because you’ll be in the back, buried in linen.”

  “I’ll what? Why can I not ride up front with the driver?”

  Olga chuckled, her round face turning pink.

  “Aren’t you like a prisoner here? Wouldn’t you need to be leaving in a way other than by the front door else you could just go and do it? Forgive if I am not understanding, dear.”

  “No, no you’re right. Of course. I’m a fool, I’m sorry.”

  “You are addled by love and captivity. Come with me, I’ll introduce you to your traveling compa
nions. But first let’s get you into some clothes that will be less constricting.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I think you’re going to need to wiggle some, no?”

  Olga’s devilish laugh brought a smile to Kenna’s lips, and then a heavy crimson flush when she realized what Olga was talking about.

  The linens in which Kenna found herself nestled were dirty, but soft. There was a table cloth directly underneath her head, and a number of bed sheets that seemed to have never been used. Olga had packed her in with a couple of pillows directly under where she sat to cushion her from the blows that she was assured the road would deliver to her backside, and then she was draped over with other cloth to hide her on the way to town.

  “Remember, Miss Kenna that you must watch where you’re going. The carriage will not stop.”

  Kenna nodded and thanked Olga for her kindness with a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “Oh you’re too nice of a girl, Kenna. You’ll find what you seek. I know it.”

  Laughing, Kenna pulled the mummy-like wrapping around herself in such a way that even fully concealed she could look out and see her surroundings. “How will I know the place?” She asked Olga.

  “It’s a large apartment house, saddled on either side by smaller buildings. The one you’re after is three stories tall, and adorned with the Dorchester crest. Which I can’t quite recall the image, but I’m certain that it’s gaudy. They all seem to be. It’s halfway down Queen’s as you’ll be going. Got it?”

  “I think so. Thank you for everything, Olga. I mean it. This could have been the most horrific week in my life but you kept that from happening.”

  Another hug that turned tearful, and then Olga pushed her backwards and re-wrapped the mummy. “There’s plenty that could still go wrong. Be careful, Miss Kenna. Very careful.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  “Alright Henry, you can go deliver the laundry – oh what was that? You can’t squeeze me there, you fresh young man!”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Where is she?” John said. “I told her to be here by dusk.”

  “Did ye maybe consider that she had some trouble sneaking out of a manor and then catching herself a carriage and riding into town at the last moment? Did ye think that possibly the Laird to whom she’s betrothed didn’t want his bride traipsin’ off after God-knows-what? Did you think of that, John Two-Fingers?” Lynne chided him, then ran her hand down the side, then around the knee and back up the inseam of John’s leather leggings.

  “I thought about – ooh! – no, I suppose not. She’ll be here though. I saw the way those two looked at each other. And she thinks I’m he, so I have faith.”

  “Aye, she’ll show,” Red Ben said, “I just hope it isna too late for us to do what needs doin’.”

  “She has time,” Lynne said. “After all, Gavin’s not to be strung up until five days hence. Four? I canna remember. But it doesn’t matter. This will all be done tonight. It has to be.”

  “What? Why? I didn’t know we were on a time table,” John said. “Except for the one where we have to keep Gavin from getting slaughtered and keep Kenna from marrying a toad.”

  “I, er, liberated this from the Sheriff last time I went to visit.” Lynne handed a slip of paper to John who passed it to Red Ben with the excuse that he saw better at night due to the lamplight reflecting off his beard.

  Red Ben sneered and then laughed. “Right, well, I’ll be over here, under the lamp.”

  John and Lynne stood close to one another, watching Red stand in the torch light and puzzle out what he was reading.

  “Do you think this is going to work?” John asked, sliding his hand around Lynne’s waist.

  “Truly? I think it has a chance. Alan is a cruel man. The closest thing there is to a savage chief, waiting to strike. Macdonald isn’t quite so cruel but he’s more evil than Alan could ever imagine. The money, I think, makes it possible. And then these people,” she tilted her head at the apartment behind them, “they can fund the rest of his awful enterprise.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.” He pulled her closer. “In fact, I don’t know what you answered.”

  “John Two-Fingers, you are a crass man,” Lynne said with a giggle. “Your best friend is in jail, his lover is...somewhere, and we’re about to break into a heavily fortified prison. There you are, tugging on my clothes. You’re an impossible sort of man.”

  “I might be impossible, but you’re irresistible. ‘Tisn’t my fault.” He pressed his lips to the side of Lynne’s neck, brushing them from behind her ear to her shoulder. His hand he slid around to the front of her, fingers curling against her stomach.

  “S – stop... oh my goodness, you rogue, what are you doing to me?”

  “Hopefully the same thing I did to you at that party, though with you in trousers that should be a bit harder I’d think, unless they’ve a trap door somewhere.”

  His hand ran down her slender body and he nipped her where he’d just kissed. John’s fingers moved down the front of Lynne’s leggings, and underneath her underclothes. “What are you doing, milady? I thought you were supposed to be getting ready for a jailbreak and here you are, being naughty.”

  She squealed, and then moaned as warmth seeped out of her core and the fingers playing at her tickled softly. “You’re every ounce as evil as Macdonald, you know.”

  “Ach, am I?” He pushed harder.

  Lynne’s legs began to wobble just a little; she sucked a quick breath and hooked her arm backwards around John’s neck for support.

  “Hell of a thing you’ve given me!” Red Ben said. “What in the world is going on here? Plenty of time for that later, but right now we’ve got something more important to do than playing at adults. Now listen.”

  He slapped John hard on the back, and when Lynne pulled away from her whip-thin lover, she grasped his, stood close to him and put it around her waist. Her excuse was that he kept her warm. In a way, that was true.

  “I had naught an idea that such a thing was to happen.”

  “Red, you’ve not told me what it is, yet. You forgot that part.”

  “I suppose I did, I might’ve been distracted by you playing with your friend’s cunny.”

  Lynne feigned embarrassment with a glance at the ground, but couldn’t keep from laughing.

  “Dinna worry, I remember being young and excited about my wife.”

  “We’re not married,” John said. “Yet.”

  An elbow caught him in the stomach.

  “Yet is probably right,” Ben said. “But, listen – this thing she gave me, what I’m sure she’s read already, is a contract.”

  Red Ben skimmed quickly back through to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, then summarized it for John.

  “Tomorrow morning, Macdonald, and the Lord Dorchester are going in together. Throwing all their money into a pot and stirring it up.”

  “Are they to boil it? What are you saying?”

  “It’s what we thought – they’re going in and petitioning the King to sell them off a big swathe of Scotland. Slice us off like we’re apples or pumpkins or...”

  “How’s that possible? How can the land just be sold?” John said.

  “It’s...a tricky thing. When the Act of Union was signed forty some years ago, the King of England were made the King of Scotland, aye?”

  “Aye, and the Bonnie Prince was to be the rightful heir and was thrown out of his right, but what does this have to do with two noblemen and a pretender to the throne selling off Scotland?”

  “It’s the King’s land now,” Lynne said, chewing her lip. “I don’t understand it exactly meself, but that’s how it works. Parts of Edinburgh, and the lands outside are Crown territory. Though he’s never seen fit to do anything with that right, that looks ready to change.”

  “But hold a minute,” Red said. “If it’s only a petition, it may still be turned down.”

  “Nay, it won’t,” Lynne said. “I’ve b
een listening to all this come through the Sheriff’s office for weeks. He’s acting as the mediator between the two. It’s all but done. Of course, if one or more of them loses heart and decides to not go through with the plan, the whole thing falls through.”

  “What are we to do, though?” John said. “This is a game much bigger than either of us. We’re just three two-bit thieves wandering around lost in the streets thinking that we’ve done something.”

  “Five,” Lynne said. “Well, four and one. Do you think she’ll make a good thief?”

  John shook his head and rubbed his temples.

  “I just...I canna bring myself to realize what kind of play we’re to make. Do we go rescue Gavin and then...kill Macdonald?”

  “Well...” Lynne said. “That would certainly keep him from buying anything. But no, I think there’s a way we can manage without having to resort to murder. Though the result may well be the same. Why do you think the King’s considering – or has already made his mind? What’s his biggest fear?”

  “Jacobites, supposin’ there’s any still around strong enough to threaten him. But enough riddles, just tell us, Lynne, time’s short.”

  “Aye, Jacobites, you had the right of it. And there are those who still support the Bonnie Prince, or at least oppose the crown. They’re up in the highlands. Down here you find ten royalists for every Jacobite. But, and here’s where it gets interesting.”

  The two men leaned closer. In the distance, a carriage rumbled down the street, wheels creaking and pitching back and forth on the pitted cobblestones of Queen’s Street.

  “Macdonald wasn’t always so loyal to the Crown. We all know this, everyone in Scotland knows. But I’m not so sure the King does. That’s why he’s willing to work with him and all. Macdonald always was quite good at picking winners and sticking with them until he got whatever he needed, then jumping ship.”

  “But how could we prove that?” John said, looking up the road at the carriage. “And how do we tell the king?”

  “We don’t need to. Macdonald just has to believe that we can. And he’s got enough skeletons in his closet that we can probably do that without much trouble.”