Highland Steel: Highland Chronicles Series - Book 3

by Rose, Elizabeth

  “There’s a moat down there. So even if I fell, I would have been fine. I can swim.”

  “Do ye really think someone could survive that fall?” She looked out the window.

  “Aye, and that’s how we’re goin’ to escape, so I hope ye can swim.” He put both feet over the ledge and dropped down into the room.

  “My sword,” she said, seeing it strapped to his waist. “Where did you find it?”

  “Bug said ye left it in the wagon. He gave it to me when he helped me to break out of the dungeon.”

  Rhoswen threw her arms around him in a hug, and then started kissing him over and over again.

  “Mmmph,” he said, pushing her away, looking up to see Rona. He yanked the sword from his belt. “Ye’re Drummond’s whore.”

  “It’s all right,” said Rhoswen. “Rona isn’t going to tell anyone you’re here. Are you, Rona?”

  “Nay, of course no’,” said the woman, looking down and picking lint from the wedding gown.

  “Rhoswen, I think ye should ken that I found yer sister in the dungeon while I was there.”

  Greif spread through her. “Please, I don’t want to hear about her remains.”

  “Nay, lass,” said Logan. “She is alive – although a little beaten and bruised.”

  “She is?” asked Rhoswen and Rona at the same time.

  “That’s wonderful,” said Rhoswen, relieved and excited to find out that her sister hadn’t died after all. “Where is she?”

  “I had Bug hide her in the back of the wagon. We’re gettin’ out of here one way or another. But there are too many guards at the tower stairs so ye’re goin’ to have to jump out the window and into the moat.”

  “What?” Rhoswen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I’m not going to jump into the moat!”

  “Ye have to. Now, come on.” He took her hand and pulled her over to the window. “After ye’re safe, I’ll find a way to save yer sister, I promise.”

  “I think you’re forgetting something,” said Rhoswen as the baby started crying. “I’m not leaving here without Lockie. And I don’t think he’s going to be able to swim the moat. We’ll just have to find another way to escape.”

  “Och, that’s right,” said Logan, looking at the child and then back to Rhoswen. “All right, I’ve got it. Ye jump to safety and I’ll tie the boy to me with my plaid and protect him when I jump so he doesna drown. Then I’ll use the secret entrance to get back into the castle and help yer sister and Bug out that way before I go back to get my sword and kill Drummond.”

  “Ye’re goin’ to kill Ranulph?” asked Rona, looking concerned.

  “Logan,” said Rhoswen under her breath, wishing he hadn’t said that aloud in front of the woman since she seemed to be in love with the man for some odd reason. “Nay, Rona, he doesn’t mean it. Now, why don’t you go down to the courtyard and wait for me there? Go on.”

  The woman cocked her head, surveying both of them, and then silently opened the door to leave.

  “Let’s go, Rhoswen. There is no time to lose. Ye first.” Logan jumped atop the window ledge and held out his hand. He still held her sword in the other hand. “I’ll help ye, so dinna be scared. Ye just need to jump far away from the tower so ye dinna hit it on the way down. The water is right below. It’s really no’ dangerous at all.”

  “Logan, I’m not leaving the baby. This idea is daft and only going to get us all killed.”

  “They’re in here,” shouted Rona. Suddenly, the sound of running feet and shouting men filled the air as the guards made their way up the winding staircase.

  “It’s the guards!” cried Rhoswen. “They’re going to kill us.”

  “Go on. I’ll kill them first,” said Logan, reaching down for her.

  “There are at least a dozen guards all with swords comin’,” said Rona, looking down the staircase. “Ye canna kill them before they kill ye.”

  “Rona, how could you do this?” screamed Rhoswen, not able to believe the woman had betrayed them.

  “I canna let Logan kill the man I love,” she answered. “I’m sorry, Rhoswen, but I had to do it to protect Ranulph.”

  “Well, I can’t let your lover kill mine either!” Rhoswen couldn’t let Logan fight all these men by himself. He was one man against a dozen. He was sure to die. She quickly glanced over to the baby on the bed and then back to Logan.

  “I’m sorry, Logan,” she said.

  “Come on, lass. Now!” he shouted, standing on the ledge, holding out his hand to help her. The guards burst into the room with weapons drawn.

  “I love you, Logan,” she told him, reaching up but not taking his hand. Instead, she pushed him with all her might.

  “Rhoswen, what the hell –” Logan teetered on the ledge, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to regain his balance. Reaching up to him, Rhoswen grabbed her sword and once again pushed him hard until he disappeared from sight.

  “Naaaay,” Logan cried as his body plummeted toward the ground. Rhoswen closed her eyes, not able to look. Her body trembled. She hoped she’d pushed him far enough away from the building or she might have just sent him to his death. Still, she had to try, because if he’d stayed and fought, he’d be dead either way. She heard a loud splash, and glanced out the window to see Logan swimming the moat.

  She breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her sword as the guards came to claim her.

  Chapter 22

  Logan hit the water hard, feeling like his sides split open. When he made a splash, the putrid waters of the moat closed over his head. His eyes opened under the water to see the skeleton of a dead man whose leg was chained to a rock. He came up sputtering and gagging, wondering how many other bodies or things he couldn’t identity were down there.

  “Dammit, Rhoswen,” he spat, pulling himself up onto the shore. Pushing the wet hair out of his eyes, he looked up to the tower window to see several guards staring down at him and shouting.

  He heard the growl of an animal, and turned his head to see his gray wolf.

  “There ye are, Jack. I ken ye’re tryin’ to warn me, but I already see the guards in the tower window.”

  He reached out to pet his wolf and an arrow shot down between them from up above.

  “God’s teeth,” he growled, looking up to see archers shooting at him. “Run, Jack. We need to take cover.”

  Logan managed to dodge the arrows, making his way to the back of the castle where Bug had told him was a secret door. He looked for the old tree trunk Bug mentioned, finally seeing it and crawling toward it.

  He stopped, sitting on the ground with his back against the stump, trying to catch his breath. Jack hunkered down under a bush. Then the wolf made a small sound, but it wasn’t a growl to warn him of an intruder. It sounded somewhat playful.

  “Logan? Is that ye?” Caleb crawled over the ground on his hands and knees with his pine marten leading the way. The wolf shot out from under the brush chasing the weasel-like animal.

  “Dammit, Logan, call off yer wolf before he eats Slink.”

  Logan gave a small whistle and Jack ran back to him. “Lay down and leave Slink alone,” Logan ordered, still trying to catch his breath.

  “What are ye doin’ out here and why are ye wet and smell like a garderobe?” asked Caleb.

  “Dinna ask,” said Logan, not wanting to explain that the woman he loved just pushed him out of a tower window. “Where are Ethan and Hawke and the rest of the clan?”

  “We’ll, when we figured out ye’d left without us, we came after ye but saw that the drawbridge is raised so we couldna get in. Storm and the clan are waitin’ in the woods for my signal as soon as we figure out a way to save ye.”

  “Save me? I’m no’ the one that needs savin’. It’s Rhoswen we need to worry about. She’s about to be married off to Drummond.”

  “Och, nay,” said Caleb.

  “We’ve got another situation on our hands now, too.”

  “What is that?”

  “We have no’ only Rhos
wen to save, but also the baby, Bug, and now Rhoswen’s sister, Ailsa.”

  “Ailsa? I thought she was dead.”

  “Apparently no’, but close to it. I’ve got to save Rhoswen. I love her and want to marry her.” His hand went to his pouch where he’d put the ring he’d gotten from Bug. “My sporran is gone,” he said, looking around the ground. “Damn, I must have lost it when I fell in the moat.”

  “Ye are worried about that at a time like this?” asked Caleb.

  “I had a ring in there I wanted to give Rhoswen when I propose to her. Well, I guess it doesna matter. After all, we might all be dead before this is over.” He got to his knees and felt around on the ground for some sort of secret entrance but couldn’t find it. He sighed and looked back at the moat surrounding the castle. He was never going to get back in. Then he looked back at the stump and smiled. “That’s got to be it.”

  “What?” asked Caleb. “And where did Slink go? I canna find him.”

  “Forget about yer weasel. We’ve got lassies and a baby to save.”

  “It’s no’ a weasel,” Caleb protested. “Besides, we have no way to get in.”

  “We do if we find the hidden door with the tunnel that leads under the moat and into the castle.” When Logan felt the top of the stump, his hand ran across metal hinges. Sure enough, he lifted the wood and it opened up to a hole that went right through the hollowed-out stump and into the ground. “I think I found the secret entrance.”

  “Ye’ve got to be jestin’,” said Caleb, looking down into the dark hole.

  “This tunnel will take us under the moat and into the back of Drummond’s castle. Now, go back and tell Ethan and Hawke about it. Together, mayhap we can lower the drawbridge and raise the gate for the rest of our clan. Mayhap all hope hasna been lost yet after all.”

  * * *

  “We found her with this in her hands,” said the guard, throwing Rhoswen’s sword down at Drummond’s feet after they’d hauled her out to the courtyard. Rona stood behind them holding Lockie who screamed at the top of his lungs. Rhoswen was dressed in her sister’s wedding gown, since Rona wouldn’t let her leave the tower until she’d donned it. It was the same gown that her mother had once worn when she married their father.

  “My little bride has a sword? How amusin’,” said Drummond, chuckling and eyeing her up. “But where did she get it?”

  Bug stood by his wagon parked across the courtyard by the kitchen. He faced Drummond, shifting his weight from one foot to another, looking very nervous. Rhoswen

  thought Rona was going to say something about him but she didn’t.

  “It’s my sword, given to me by my father,” Rhoswen spoke up loudly to be heard above the crying baby. “And I know how to use it, too.”

  “No bride of mine will use a sword,” he snarled. “Tamhas, go get MacKeefe from the dungeon so he can watch me wed his lover before he dies.”

  “He’s no’ there, my laird,” said Tamhas.

  “What?” spat Drummond. “Well, where is he?”

  “It seems he escaped. The guards said the girl pushed him out of the tower window.”

  “What? This is preposterous. Then bring me his dead body, so I can see it with my own eyes,” snarled Drummond.

  “He fell into moat,” said one of the guards who held on to Rhoswen’s arm so she wouldn’t move. “I saw him out the window as he swam away.”

  “Ye let him escape?” asked Drummond, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the man.

  “Well, nay. He was already gone when I got there,” the guard answered nervously.

  “What did ye say?” Drummond walked closer, holding the Sword of Triumph in his grip. “I ken ye let him escape, so just admit it.”

  The guard looked from one man to the other, not sure what to do. Finally, he must have decided not to anger his laird further. “Aye, Chieftain. I let him escape,” said the man, only telling Drummond what he wanted to hear.

  “Then ye’ll die for it,” said Drummond, stabbing the man through the chest. “And the same thing will happen to anyone who helps MacKeefe or my bride.”

  Rhoswen gasped, not expecting this at all. The guard’s fingers loosened and his hand slipped off her arm as he fell dead at her feet. Looking down at her wedding gown, she saw it splattered with the man’s blood.

  Bile rose in Rhoswen’s throat and she wanted to scream. She quickly looked away rather than gaze at his dead body. She had to stay strong. And she had to come up with a plan quickly on how to get out of here. Now that Logan was safely outside the castle walls, he couldn’t help her and she was on her own.

  “Enough of this nonsense. Bring me the priest so we can marry.”

  “The priest is waitin’ by the gallows,” said Tamhas.

  “Bring her over there,” Drummond instructed his men as the crowd moved toward the platform that was constructed for Logan’s demise.

  “Are we ready, my laird?” asked the priest, looking almost as nervous as the guards.

  “Come here, Rhoswen,” said Drummond, yanking her toward him. She barreled into him and quickly stepped away. She didn’t want to be with him, she wanted to be with Logan. “Say the words quickly, Priest, or I’ll kill ye as well.”

  “Nay, please,” said the man. “I’ll make it fast. Do ye, Ranulph Drummond take Rhoswen Asquith as yer wife?”

  “Aye,” Drummond answered rolling his eyes.

  “And do ye, Rhoswen Asquith take –”

  “Nay,” Rhoswen answered before the priest had the chance to answer.

  “What?” The priest looked up from his book in surprise. “Ye’re supposed to say aye.”

  Little Lockie continued crying and Rona walked over by the wagon, seeing if Bug could help her calm the child.

  “I canna marry him because he is still married. To my sister,” Rhoswen told him.

  “Is this true?” the priest asked Drummond. “Because I canna marry ye if ye already have a wife.”

  “My wife died,” he told the priest. “I assure ye, I am free to marry again.”

  “I’m not dead yet, Husband, but not because of your lack of trying.”

  Rhoswen spun around to see her sister, Ailsa, standing in bare feet and just a torn shift at the back of the wagon. Her body was thin and her eye swollen. She had cuts and bruises all over her. It terrified and saddened Rhoswen to see her sister looking this way. Yet, she was elated to see her still alive.

  “Ailsa!” cried Rhoswen, turning and running for her sister. She managed to dodge several guards, and pulled her sister into a hug, crying. “Oh, Sister, what did they do to you?”

  “Give me my baby,” said Ailsa, looking over at Rona who was jostling the crying baby in her arms.

  “Gladly,” said Rona, about to hand it over until Drummond stopped her.

  “Nay, bring it to me,” he said.

  “My laird?” asked Rona, her eyes darting to Drummond and back to Rhoswen.

  “Let my first wife bring it here.”

  “Why?” asked Rhoswen, figuring something horrible was about to happen.

  “Do it!” yelled Drummond.

  Rona handed the baby to Ailsa and Lockie stopped crying. But Rhoswen’s sister was weak and almost dropped him.

  “She’s weak and she can’t even walk, thanks to you,” spat Rhoswen. “If you want them, you come get them,” she cried out in anger.

  Bug sidled up next to Rhoswen, slipping her a dagger behind his back. She took it, waiting for Drummond. And as soon as he stepped close to her sister or the baby, Rhoswen swore she would kill the man, just like her father had wanted.

  “I’ll come to ye. But only because I want ye, Rhoswen, to witness me killin’ yer sister and that annoyin’ baby the way I should have the first time.”

  “You purposely told my family my sister was dead and then started the rumor that you killed her, didn’t you?” asked Rhoswen.

  “Ye are smarter than ye look,” chuckled Drummond, making his way across the courtyard toward them. “Yer English king
stole my sword and I kent yer faither would bring it back here, meanin’ to kill me with it. My plan worked perfectly, except I didna think he’d bring ye along with him.”

  Drummond approached them and held out the Sword of Triumph. “Stand aside, Rhoswen, so ye dinna get more bluid on yer bonnie gown when I take the lives of yer sister and her baby.”

  “Nay, ye stand aside, Drummond, and give me back my sword.” Logan dropped down from the battlements, heading across the courtyard right toward them. He took down several warriors as he walked.

  “Kill MacKeefe!” shouted Drummond to his men.

  “If ye kill him, ye’ll have to kill me, too,” shouted Ethan, stepping out from behind the mews.

  “And me,” said Caleb, coming from around the back of the stable. They all looked dirty as if they’d crawled through mud. And Logan was still dripping wet from his swim in the moat.

  “There’s three of them,” shouted one of the guards.

  “Make that four,” said Hawke from atop the battlements.

  “Nay, make that five,” came a young voice that Rhoswen didn’t want to hear.

  “Newell, nay!” she cried, seeing her brother with a sword in his hand stepping out from behind a barrel.

  “Get out of here, lad,” shouted Logan. “Ye shouldna be here.”

  “They’re my sisters and I am going to help.” Newell rushed forward, but a guard stepped in front of him to block his path. Then an all-out battle began. When Drummond turned to see it, Rhoswen’s hand shot out and she stabbed him in the back.

  “Arrgh,” cried Drummond, reaching behind him and pulling the dagger out of his back. “Ye fool! Now, I’m goin’ to have to kill ye as well.”

  “Ye willna touch her, Drummond.” Logan picked up the sword of a dead guard and with a weapon in each hand, he rushed forward to fight with Drummond.

  “My clan is waitin’ outside the gates,” Logan told him. “Ye have no chance, so surrender now.”

  “My gate is down and the drawbridge up,” spat Drummond, fighting with Logan even with the wound in his back. “Ye are the one who is goin’ to die here today, no’ me.”