by Lynsay Sands
Pulling back abruptly, Niels caught her chin in his hand and raised her face. He scowled when he saw the tears threatening to overflow her eyes, and Edith found herself suddenly pressed firmly to his chest as he began to thump her back as if burping a babe.
"I hope ye're proud o' yerselves," he snapped. "Grown men making a wee lass weep."
A burble of laughter slipped from Edith's lips, and she pushed away from his chest. Shaking her head, she said, "'Tis fine. I'm no' crying."
"Actually, aye lass, ye are," Rory said gently as she dashed away the tears that had spilled over onto her cheeks.
"Unless yer eyes are just leaking," Geordie said hopefully. "But it does look like we made ye cry."
"Nay," she assured them, and then added, "Well, aye, but only because I was touched by yer considering me family."
"Ah," Rory said with understanding. "Well, I'm afraid yer stuck with us. Ye are family now that ye married our brother."
"Aye," Geordie growled, and then teased, "But the fact that ye agreed to marry him proves yer touched."
Niels glowered at his brother, but Edith chuckled and then glanced toward the door as Tormod stepped back into the room to announce, "The men are coming."
The first didn't return to the hall then, but paced briefly in the center of the room as they awaited Cameron's arrival with the guards who had been in the hall outside their chamber during the night.
Edith bit her lip and eyed the two men sympathetically when they hurried into the room on Cameron's heels. Both men had obviously been rousted from a deep sleep and looked a bit panicked, as if they thought they were in trouble. It appeared Cameron hadn't explained things and had simply rumbled them from their beds in the garrison and rushed them back here.
The moment they paused in front of Tormod, he asked, "Did ye see anyone coming or going from this room last night?"
"Nay," they said in unison, both obviously surprised by the question. That more than anything said they hadn't.
"Fine." Tormod nodded. "Ye can find yer beds again."
The two men looked more bewildered than when they'd entered, but nodded and turned to leave.
"That fire did no' start itself," Niels said now. "There must be a secret entrance. We should search the room."
Tormod hesitated and then said, "There's no need to search. I ken where it is."
Edith glanced at him with surprise. "There's a secret entrance?"
"Aye."
"Where?" she asked, glancing around curiously.
Tormod hesitated and then said stiffly, "Only the Laird and Lady o' Drummond ever ken where 'tis."
"And you," Niels added.
"Aye. Laird Drummond told me when Lady Drummond died. He felt someone besides him should ken in case he died unexpectedly before passing the secret on to his son," Tormod explained.
Niels nodded solemnly and said, "If ye'd rather only tell Edith, my brothers and I can leave."
She glanced to him with surprise at that, and opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Tormod said, "Nay. Ye're laird here now. Ye should ken."
Edith relaxed and beamed at Tormod. The man had just given most definitive approval of her husband. Her people must have accepted him. It wasn't something she'd even worried about ere this, but she was glad not to have to.
When Tormod still hesitated to speak, Niels said quietly, "I trust me brothers with me life."
Sighing, the man nodded and turned to Cameron. "Close the door on yer way out."
The soldier nodded smartly and slipped from the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
The moment it had shut, Tormod walked to the candle ledge to the left of the fireplace and pressed on the smallest stone in the middle. The wall on the left of the fireplace immediately shifted, a portion of it about seven feet tall and three wide sliding open about an inch. Tormod caught the raised edge and pulled the hidden door open into the room.
"Where does it go?" Niels asked as he, Geordie and Rory crowded into the opening to peer into the darkness revealed to them.
"This one leads to hidden stairs."
"Stairs to where?" Edith asked, fascinated.
"They go both up to the wall and down to a passage at ground level with several hidden doors. There is one in one of the garderobes off the great hall, one in the pantry off the kitchens, one from the gardens and then another to a tunnel that runs out under the bailey and outer wall to a cave in the woods at a spot about halfway between where the woods start and where the loch is."
Niels considered that and then turned to ask, "So around where we found Lonnie?"
"Aye," Tormod admitted, surprised to note that. "Quite close, in fact. About twenty feet to the right and ten feet farther out from where ye found Lonnie if yer back were to the castle."
Niels nodded and then raised a questioning eyebrow. "Ye said this one leads to the great hall and the kitchens. There is another?"
Tormod turned to walk to the candle ledge on the right of the fireplace. This time he pressed the largest stone in that ledge and a second secret door slid inward an inch.
"This one leads to the bedchambers along the outer wall," Tormod announced, pulling it open as the three brothers moved over to look into this new, dark passage. "The rooms Lady Edith and her brothers occupied and that you're all in now."
"What about the windows?" Edith asked with a frown and when Tormod glanced to her in question, she pointed out, "Surely the windows in each room are in the way. Do ye have to crawl under them?"
"The passage slopes down from each entrance to clear the windows and then back up to the next entrance. In truth, as much o' it is between the upper part of the great hall wall and the outer wall as the wall o' the upper chambers and the outer wall. And there are peep holes drilled every few feet so ye can look down on the great hall."
Frowning, Edith asked, "There are no' peep holes into the bedchambers, though, are there?"
Tormod's eyes widened at the suggestion and then his brow furrowed and he admitted, "I'm no' sure, m'lady. Yer father merely took me to each bedchamber, showed me how to open each entrance, explained about the passage dropping down between each secret door and told me ye could see into the great hall through peep holes. He did no' mention being able to see into the bedchambers and I've never had occasion to actually go inside the passages."
Grunting, Niels looked around the room and then said, "Wait here," and slipped out into the hall. He opened the door just enough to slide through so that the open passages would not be revealed to anyone in the hall.
They all stood silently, lost in their own thoughts, Edith supposed. She was certainly thinking. She was fretting about those peep holes. Worrying over whether there were any looking into the bedchambers, her bedchamber specifically. And if so, had the mystery person who'd been sleeping in this room watched them in their private moments? The possibility was distressing enough that Edith was grateful for the distraction when the door opened and Niels slipped back into the room carrying a lit torch.
Holding it high, he crossed the room, pausing by Edith to kiss her on the forehead, and then said, "I'll be right back," and slipped into the passage. Frowning, Edith moved to the opening and watched him raise his torch, but then peered back when Geordie asked, "Are there any passages to the bedchambers on the inside?"
"Nay. Just the outer rooms. That's why the family members were all given those rooms and the inner rooms were made guest rooms," he explained.
The men all nodded. It made sense. The passages were first and foremost an emergency escape should the castle be invaded. Visitors would not be here all the time and were the passages needed for an emergency escape, the family would be the first concern.
"There are torches in holders along the passage."
Edith gave a start at that announcement directly behind her, and stepped out of the way so that Niels could come back into the room. Smiling at her distractedly, he crossed to the second entrance and disappeared briefly inside that one.
"This
one too," he announced as he came back out a moment later, and Edith noted the glow in the passage now. Apparently, he'd lit at least the first torch, she thought and then saw the same glow at the other entrance too.
"So this must be how someone has been getting in and out of this room without anyone seeing them," Rory commented, walking over to peer into the passage Niels had just come out of.
"Most likely," Niels agreed, but Edith noted that the suggestion made Tormod frown.
"It may even be how Effie has managed to disappear," Geordie pointed out.
"Nay," Tormod said, shaking his head firmly. "Effie could no' have kenned about these passages."
"Victoria could have told her," Edith pointed out.
"Victoria could no' have known either," he assured her.
"Brodie probably told Victoria the minute he found out about them," she assured him dryly.
"That's just it, he did no' ken about them, so could no' have told her," Tormod explained.
"What?" she asked with surprise. "But he was laird once Hamish died."
"Aye," he agreed, and then pointed out, "Fer two whole weeks ere fleeing the castle. And I would ha'e got around to telling him eventually. Probably," he added in a mutter, and then clucked with irritation and admitted, "I apologize, m'lady, but yer brother was a selfish, coddled, beef-witted idiot. I could hardly believe we were stuck with him as laird, and was hoping we would no' be. O' course, had he bothered to ask what he should ken to run Drummond, I would have told him. But he did no'. So . . . I decided to just wait until things settled down before sharing all the secrets o' this place with him."
"And would ye have done the same with us had this no' come up?" Niels asked in a deceptively mild tone.
"Hell no," Tormod said seeming truly shocked at the suggestion. "Yer a hundred times better man than Brodie was. A good match fer our lady. I'm glad to have ye and ken most everyone here at Drummond is relieved to have ye both as laird and lady rather than Brodie and Victoria. When I gave ye the key to the buttery I did tell ye I had things I must talk to ye about once I returned from collecting the bodies at the lodge," he reminded him and then gestured to the secret passages. "These were on that list."
Nodding, Niels relaxed and asked, "If Brodie did no' ken about these passages, who does besides you?"
"That's the hell o' it," Tormod said looking suddenly weary. "As far as I ken, I am the only living person who knew about these passages until just now when I told all o' you. But I swear to ye that I'm no' the one who's been sleeping in this room."
"Someone else must ken about the passages then," Edith said simply. She believed Tormod. He looked so frazzled by all of this that she simply couldn't believe he was the culprit. Besides, if he were the culprit, he'd hardly tell them that he was the only one who knew about the hidden entrances and secret passage. He'd claim he'd told Brodie who may have told Victoria who shared it with the maids. Or he might even have claimed several people knew about them. But he hadn't, and she believed him, she just wasn't sure anyone else would so was relieved when her husband nodded thoughtfully.
"Aye. So, someone must have discovered them on their own," Niels reasoned. "Mayhap Effie while cleaning."
Edith twisted her lips dubiously. "Effie did no' clean as far as I ken."
"Then mayhap yer brother Brodie accidentally found it himself while playing as a child, told his wife about it and she told the maid," Rory suggested.
She supposed that was possible. Edith had always kept a safe distance between herself and any fire. As a child, she'd been present when one of the young maids had got too close to the fireplace in the great hall. The girl's skirt had caught on fire and she'd been horribly burned before Edith's mother had covered her with a fur and smothered the flames. That incident had made her cautious of getting too close to any kind of fire or fireplace. Her brothers had never had the same problem, and as she recalled, Brodie had liked to play soldier around the fireplace, setting his little carved wooden men onto the candle ledges and then knocking them off one after the other, sometimes even throwing them into the fireplace to watch them burn. She supposed he could have leaned against just the right stone one time and discovered the secret passage.
"However and whoever discovered it, we need to search the rooms and the passages," Rory said quietly. "Effie is somewhere."
"Aye." Niels nodded and then glanced to the two passages and frowned. "We need to search each room and the passage at the same time. Otherwise we risk someone using the passage to slip by us as we are in each room."
"There are five bedchambers off the right passage if ye include this one, and there are five o' us," Edith pointed out. "We could leave someone stationed here to be sure no one slips away using the passages and the other four could go to each o' the other bedchambers, search them and then all make our way back here via the passages to be sure there is no one there either."
"Except only Tormod kens how to open the other passages," Geordie pointed out.
"Aye, but I could take Lady Edith's room," Tormod said slowly, and pointed out, "'Tis the furthest away. After a quick search, I could slip into the passage, ensure no one is in it between that room and Brodie's and then open the hidden entrance to Brodie's room from the passage."
"Then you and whoever searched Brodie's room could continue on to the next hidden door, and the next, ensuring no one slips past ye and no one is in the passage," Niels said, nodding, and then smiled at Edith and complimented her. "Good idea, wife . . . Only the fifth person will be Alick. You will be safely down at the trestle tables with yer guard."
Edith's eyes widened. She'd quite forgotten about poor Alick hiding under the bed in their chamber. The young man must be wondering what the devil was happening at this point. Still, six people were better than one, she thought. But when she opened her mouth to say so, Niels silenced her with a quick kiss.
Lifting his head, he raised a hand to brush his knuckles lightly across her cheek and said, "I need to ken yer safe, wife. Else I'll be distracted with worry and may make a mistake that could get meself or Tormod, or one o' me brothers killed. 'Tis a murderer we're hunting."
Edith's brow furrowed, but after a moment, she sighed and gave a reluctant nod. It wasn't likely she would win this argument anyway. Men could be incredibly stubborn when it came to women treading on their territory, and she had no doubt Niels saw catching the killer as his job.
Besides, she didn't think they would find anything in the chambers or passages anyway. Effie would hardly be hiding in there when she had so many exits to choose from. Most of which weren't presently full of the men hunting her.
On top of that though, Edith also wanted a quiet moment to think. A good many things weren't making sense to her and she felt sure if she could just sort through them slowly and logically, she could untangle this mystery.
Chapter 15
"M'lady?"
Edith stopped pressing on the stones in the wall behind the loo bench and glanced toward the garderobe door with a frown. "Moibeal?"
"Aye, m'lady," her maid said, her tone wry. "Cameron fetched me over to see that ye were all right. It seems ye've been in there awhile and they were beginning to worry."
"I'm fine. I'll be out directly," she called with exasperation and then peered at the wall again and sighed. She'd pressed every stone on the garderobe's back wall and as far as she could tell nothing had happened. There was no click, not even a breath of sound, and certainly no hidden door slid inward to reveal the entrance to the passage from here. Neither had that happened in the first two garderobes. This was the third and last one she'd checked since leaving her husband and the others to search the bedchambers and passages above as Cameron and Fearghas escorted her below stairs.
Now, she eyed the wall and considered that there was probably more of a trick to the entrance in the garderobe than just pushing a stone. Otherwise, with so many people using it, anyone could accidentally lean against the correct stone and discover the hidden door.
But wh
at would the trick be? she wondered, reaching out to try to turn a stone rather than push it.
"M'lady?"
"I'm coming!" Edith called with exasperation. Stepping down off the bench, she walked to the door and pushed it open. Despite being happy to escape the stench of the garderobes, she scowled at Cameron, Fearghas and Moibeal as she stepped out, and then focused on her maid and asked, "What?"
"I was just going to ask ye if ye wished me to fetch one o' yer tonics," Moibeal said patiently. "The men said as how ye've stopped at every garderobe since coming below, spending an awful lot o' time in each, yet were immediately stopping at the next, so I thought mayhap ye had the flux and--"
"Nay, I'm fine," Edith said, flushing as she realized how her behavior had been interpreted by her guards. Shaking her head, she stepped around the trio and headed for the kitchens, muttering, "I need to have a word with Jaimie."
She wasn't at all surprised when all three trailed after her. The men had to, and it wasn't as if Moibeal had anything better to do at the moment. No doubt the guards had stopped her at the landing and refused to allow her to go clean the bedchamber as she normally would.
"Halt."
Edith glanced up with surprise and eyed the man who had stepped in front of her as she approached the kitchen door. Two new soldiers were guarding it today, she saw, her gaze sliding from the stern face of the man before her to his wincing partner still by the door.
"Move, Sholto," Cameron growled before Edith could speak. "Yer lady wants to enter the kitchens to speak to Jaimie."
"Tormod ordered us no' to let anyone pass," the man said firmly.
"Well, yer lady trumps Tormod," Fearghas said impatiently. "So move."
"Sholto," the second man said worriedly. "Mayhap ye should--"
"Shut up, Roy. I have this," Sholto snapped, and then propped his hands on his hips and scowled at the lot of them. "I have me orders and--"
"Sholto," Edith interrupted pleasantly.
Snapping his mouth shut, he eyed her warily. "Aye?"
"I am lady here. Tormod works fer me. Which means you work fer me. I want ye to move out o' the way." When he scowled and looked like he might refuse, Edith added, "And I suggest ye do it now or I'll tell yer wife ye were messing with the ale wench and I had to treat ye fer the drip."