by Alisa Adams
"Of course no', mistress," she said sadly. "I am very sorry."
Then she turned and walked out, forgetting her errand.
Alexa was stunned. She looked at herself in the polished metal mirror, and at the blonde curls tumbling down each side of her face. They were beautiful – what had she been thinking? Sometimes in her quest to prove that she was not weak she only succeeded in making herself look ridiculous. And now she had hurt Nanny Joan, one of the most important people in her life.
She turned and rushed down to her room where Nanny was sitting by the window with tears running down her face.
"Nanny!" She threw herself down by her old nursemaid's feet and burst into tears. "I'm so sorry."
Nanny Joan hugged her tightly.
"Ye are a wild, impulsive wee thing." She laughed through her tears. "But I still love ye."
"I am so selfish." Alexa shook her head. "I never even gave a thought to your feelings, Nanny. Forgive me."
"Of course, silly lassie!" Nanny said, then they were both laughing, crying, and hugging each other.
"I'm always trying to prove how strong I am, but no matter how much I try, I cannot be a man, no matter how many times I change my dress." She sighed and smiled with sadness.
"But don't ye like bein’ a girl?" Nanny was concerned, but Alexa gave her a wide smile.
"Of course I do; I just don't like all the frilly stuff!"
"An' dae ye like it when the lads give ye the glad eye?" Nanny asked slyly.
Alexa blushed.
"Yes, I do," she confessed. "But sometimes they are even sillier than girls!"
"How?" Nanny Joan asked, frowning.
"They show off," Alexa said dismissively. "Sword fights, horse races, who can lift the heaviest weight and who can boast about the most outrageous things! Do you know, Nanny, that one of the lairds' sons nearly caught the Loch Ness Monster one day? If I were a man, I would never behave like that."
Nanny laughed and stroked her still-long curls.
"I told ye afore, lass," she reasoned. "If God had wanted ye tae be a man, he'd hae made ye one! An' he should hae made it a mortal sin tae cut aff hair as bonny as this!"
"Then I am glad you saved my immortal soul, Nanny Joan!" Alexa laughed, as they hugged each other again.
9
Gregor and Mairi
When Gregor reached the meeting point at the appointed time, he had to wait a long while for Mairi to appear, and when she did, she was trembling. It was a warm night, and he was dressed lightly, so he was surprised to see that she was cold when she sat down beside him. He gave her his cloak, which she wrapped around herself and held onto as if to shield herself from harm. It was then that he realized that she was not trembling with cold, but with anger or fear.
"What is wrong, Mairi?" he asked anxiously.
"It's Pa," she said with venom. "He was drunk this night an' beat my mammy somethin' awful. If somebody disnae dae somethin', I'll kill him myself, even if I die an' all."
Gregor shook her gently.
"Don't say things like that!" he hissed out. "Nobody is going to die – I won't let them!"
She looked at him for a moment, and the helplessness in her eyes almost melted his heart. He reached out and gathered her into his embrace till she was relaxed and breathing slowly again.
Mairi could not remember the last time anyone had held her like this. It was sheer bliss, being held in a strong man's arms and feeling safe for once in her life.
She had never been beaten by her father, but he rarely showed affection of any kind to anyone, unless it was to leave them alone. That was all she could hope for and all she had come to expect.
Presently, Gregor let go of her and looked at her again. She had stopped shaking, but as she stood up she wobbled slightly, and he grasped her arm to support her. She felt bereft and just stopped herself from hugging him again.
"Is it safe to go in tonight?" Gregor asked, still anxious.
"Aye," she replied grimly. "There are nae raids tonight an’ Paw is passed oot drunk. I made sure tae keep his goblet full."
Gregor lit their lantern and half-shaded it with his cloak, then they began to walk. It was a strange, winding path she took him on. They could have gone a much straighter way, and Gregor asked her why they were not doing so.
"If we go behind all the rocks," she pointed out, "they cannae see us so well from above."
"We are going an awfully long way."
"Greg, I knaw this path like the back o' my haun'. We will get there." She sounded angry, but in truth, she was not angry with him, but with the monster who had made all this necessary.
Gregor thought that if he could lay his hands on the brute, he would pin him to the ground with crossbow bolts.
They seemed to have been walking for miles.
"We have walked a long way from the fortress," Gregor said.
"Nearly there."
They walked for a hundred yards more till they came to an outcrop of rock with a high spur sticking out into their path. It was so far away from the hilltop fortress that no one would ever have looked for it there.
"So where is the one you came from?" he asked, puzzled.
"The same one," she murmured. "I jist had tae walk a lang way tae get tae the place we met at."
He chuckled.
"The tunnel must be very long," he observed.
"Aboot a quarter mile."
The jutting rock had cracks and fissures all over it, and she led him to one part that looked exactly the same as the rest. He frowned at her.
"Here it is," she said, smiling.
"Where?" He held the lamp up and scrutinized the rock face.
"Right in front o' ye," she replied, laughing.
He ran his hands over it, feeling no difference between one part of the surface and the next.
"Show me," he demanded.
Mairi put her fingertips into a small indentation in the rocks that looked just like any other. She pushed on the surface, but the door swiveled on a pivot and swung outwards instead of inwards. The inside of the rock surface had been faced with rough-hewn wooden planks, and Gregor could see by the light of his oil lamp the length of the tunnel that disappeared into the darkness.
"We take livestock through here," Mairi said, "an' heavy stuff."
It was a good size, perhaps eight feet wide by six high, wide enough to accommodate the passage of sheep, goats and even bullocks.
"How do you get them up to the top?" Gregor asked, scratching his head.
"Wi' pulleys. An' believe it or no', there's a deal o' grazin' up there, although they butcher the bullocks afore they take them up."
"Amazing," he breathed out. "No wonder no one has been able to find you!"
She proceeded to tell him much more about the operations of the Sutherlands till his mind was reeling with the complexity of it.
"I can't believe this – it's a business!" he said, incredulous.
"Ye could say that," she agreed, "an' naebody knaws whit the Sutherlands look like. Ye've only ever seen me by the light o' yon lamp."
Gregor held up the lamp and looked at her face closely. He laughed softly. "We could be brother and sister!"
He gazed at her strong face with its high cheekbones, winged brows, slightly aquiline nose and full mouth. She was as dark as he was too with eyes that were almost black.
"I wish ye were my brither, Greg," Mairi said wistfully, then changed her mind. "Naw – I wish ye were my husband."
Gregor stood silently for a moment, stunned, then shook his head.
"Thank you, Mairi," he said gently. "I'm very flattered, but I am betrothed to someone else."
"Aye, I knaw," she replied, her voice lighter. "I wis only jestin'. Have ye seen enough noo?"
"Yes, thank you. Go back now. I will find my way on my own."
"Sure?" She frowned, looking up at him with worry.
"Yes, and thank you for showing me. I will meet you here tomorrow night."
He turned away, but she he
ld him back by the sleeve of his shirt.
"Greg?" Her voice was pleading.
"Yes, Mairi? What is it?"
She was silent, then she said:
"Nae man has ever kissed me. An' Mammy told me it wis a nice thing tae dae between a man an' a woman if the man is kind. She kisses the bairns, an' me. Could ye be the first man?"
Gregor felt desperately sorry for her and did as she asked. He bent down and touched his lips softly to hers. It was sweet and innocent, but she placed her fingertips on her mouth rapturously and opened her eyes wide to look at him when it was over. In the dark, he could not see her blushing.
"Greg," she breathed out. "It was lovely!"
Gregor felt as though he had just given her a present.
"Glad you liked it." He smiled. "Now go. Shall I meet you closer to the tunnel next time? Tomorrow?"
"Aye – goodnight, Greg."
They parted ways, and he was left to work out how a girl who had been shown so little love in her life could have turned out to be such a gentle woman.
* * *
Mairi floated back to the tunnel with her fingertips on her lips all the way. That kiss had been the most wonderful, exciting thing that had ever happened to her. She hoped there would be many more after her father was jailed or hanged, but for the moment she would have to live on the memory of this one.
Iain convened another meeting of the lairds at Castle Drummond to tell them what Gregor had told him. Alexa came too but was quiet for the most part.
"Gentleman – and lady." He smiled at Alexa. "Unfortunately, Gregor could not be here tonight as he is out gathering more intelligence for us, but what he has heard so far is quite remarkable. He tells us that the entrance to the tunnel is in a spur of rock by the Craigie Burn. He says that is a crack in the rock among many other cracks and is nigh on impossible to see.
“Mairi opened it for him, and he could not see the end of it, for it is a quarter of a mile long. Apparently, it is very wide and can accommodate a herd of sheep or goats. It can even take bullocks. They have a platform and hoist at the other end so that goods and livestock can be taken up there. They have plenty of strong men to use it."
"What about horses?" Laird Kincaid asked. "If you want to move fast you can't be putting twenty on a platform – not even two by two!"
"I was getting to that," Iain said. "And this is where the Sutherlands are fiendishly clever!" He paused. "They keep three horses up in the fortress, and there are more pony-sized ones in the forest. The rest are kept by farmers who are too afraid to refuse the Sutherlands their pasture.
“They bring in the wild ones by putting food out for them since they are already half-tame. Some of the outlaws live outside the fortress and have their own horses anyway. Some of them ride two to a horse till they get to the farms where they can pick them up.
“So you see, they are everywhere, not in one place where we can get at them. And the Sutherlands only have to feed and house three horses, which they can easily bring down on their hoist.
“They are spreading their risks. To bring their booty home, they steal a cart or two. As we said before, they strike only those farms which are worth raiding, and some of the farmers have started setting aside a portion of their harvest and livestock for them to save their farms from being damaged. It is the stubborn ones who hold out who are bearing the brunt."
"So why don't we get the ones out of the forest?" Laird McKinnon asked. "That will reduce their numbers."
"We could do that," Iain replied. "But that will give the game away. Hopefully, Mairi will be able to find out when another raid is being planned. They never let her hear the target, of course, but she can usually find out by what slips when they are in their cups. The drunker they are, the looser their tongues become!"
The lairds laughed.
"We will begin to prepare at once," Iain said. "All six of us shall supply as many men as he can spare. We can outnumber them easily. If Mairi can find out which farms they will target, so much the better. If not, we will make an educated guess.
“If we cannot, we will ask every farmer and his family to hide in the safest place they can find and wait it out. If the night is successful – and I see no reason why it should not be – then we shall have rid the whole area of this scourge."
"And if not?" Laird Urquhart asked.
He always looks on the black side, Gregor thought grimly.
"Then we may just as well fall on our swords," Iain replied. "But I have no intention of quitting this good earth till I see Hector Sutherland quit it first, preferably by my hand, but the hangman's noose will do just as well!"
10
The Raid
When Mairi appeared the following night, Gregor could see that she was brimming over with suppressed excitement. He laughed as he greeted her.
"What is the matter?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulder. "You look as though you could take off and fly at any moment!"
"Greg! I know where they are going," she said with joy.
"Where?"
"Elliott's farm. No' too far away from here," she replied, then on a cautionary note added, "But sometimes they go right on somewhere else. Jist warnin' ye." She laughed. "They were all so full last night they were gabbin' away like auld women!"
Gregor laughed, but his heart was hammering. Was this going to be the end?
"When they have all left." He took her by the shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. "Take your mother and your sisters and brothers and start walking towards my estate. You must take the quickest and safest path you can, and we will get you, either along the road or at the castle. Do not worry – they will let you in, and you will be safe. And now I must go back. I will see you tomorrow night, Mairi, God willing."
She nodded, and kissed his cheek, then silently disappeared into the night.
* * *
When Gregor returned to Castle Drummond, he found Iain, Graham, Alexa, and Lorraine there too. He was surprised to see Lorraine, since she had not told him she would be there, but moved over to kiss and embrace her. She looked beautiful in a gold-colored dress that brought out the highlights in her eyes, and as he looked between the two women, he could not decide who was lovelier. Alexa was always going to be fiercer, of course, but that was just her way. Lorraine could be fierce too, but passionately so.
Gregor outlined the plan for the next evening, and the two men talked it over, refining the details. They would brief the others before the event.
"We must send out messengers," Iain said wearily. "Ladies, excuse us. We need to alert the other lairds."
Alexa and Lorraine obediently went to bed, but Alexa crept down again and stood outside the room where the men were writing. She heard nothing that she had not already heard, but their confidence made her all the more determined to join them. She was not going to lie worrying while they were taking their lives in their hands.
She had her crossbow, claymore, and dagger, but there was one more thing that no one knew about. She also had a chain mail shirt. Alexa Montgomery was ready for battle!
* * *
Lorraine was terrified. Gregor was her one and only true love, her soul mate, and if she lost him, she knew there would never be anyone else. He was looking at Alexa, but Alexa did not even seem to notice. She was blameless.
There was something about her that fiercely attracted some men and equally fiercely repelled others. Gregor seemed to be one of the former – his eyes followed her when she walked across the room, and he watched her when he thought Lorraine was not looking at him.
She sighed. Gregor was an honorable man and would do his duty by her, but she did not want merely his duty. She wanted his love.
* * *
Alexa sat playing with her food while the men were eating, earlier than usual because the militia still had to muster and receive instructions. Moira also seemed to be having trouble with hers since she was only eating morsels. Her face was quite white, and she sipped her wine frequently and washed it aroun
d her mouth before swallowing it as if to wash out a bad taste.
"Are you all right, Sister?" Alexa asked, concerned. She put an arm around her sister's shoulders and squeezed her. "Are you worried about tonight?"
Moira nodded.
"You see, Alexa," she whispered in her sister's ear, "if anything happens to Iain, my baby will have no father."
A broad smile broke across Alexa's face.
"Say nothing to anyone," Moira went on. "We need to keep quiet to make sure all is well."
Alexa kissed her, and Graham looked over at them.
"I see mischief brewing!" he remarked, standing up.
"No, just girl talk." Alexa smiled, then her face became solemn. "Take care of yourself."
"As soon as I get back, I want us to be betrothed," Graham said, running a hand over the bright river of her hair.
"Take care," she repeated as if he had never spoken. "I will be awake when you come in."
"I will forgive you if you fall asleep. It will be a long night."
Then he kissed her, passionately and fiercely, for who knew when the next time they got the chance would be?
"I love you," he whispered. "And I will be back."
She only nodded, and he thought it was because her throat was thick with tears, but she would not say she loved him when she did not, because Alexa could not lie. Since she had met Gregor, her fiery love for Graham had diminished to a warm glow of affection without any fire at all.
Moira looked at her with a frown creasing her pretty brow.
"Why did you not tell him you love him?" she asked in a troubled voice.
"Because I don't," Alexa replied. "Please, Moira, I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Alexa tried to push past her sister, but Moira put her hand out to stop her.
"Where are you going?" she asked with suspicion and narrowed eyes.
"To get ready for bed," Alexa replied nervously, avoiding Moira's eyes.
"At this time in the evening?" Moira indicated to the sun, which was still a long way from setting. "Tell me the truth, Alexa! I'm not stupid!"