by Amanda Scott
“She was worried about you,” Mag said. “So I’m glad I returned to Ayrshire. When I arrived, she was in a rare tirrivee with my good-brother, Erskine, because he had forbidden her to try to find you. I saw straightaway that she was gey sick.”
Andrew frowned. “She looked hale enough to me.”
“She is better,” Mag said. “But the bairn makes it hard to keep food down, and she must take care of herself. But now I know that Lina will look after her.”
“I will, aye,” Lina said. “I am brewing a tisane now to ease her sickness. I know some foods that will be easy for her to digest, too, and Mam can help. After all, she birthed six children.”
“So she did,” Mag agreed. “I’ll be leaving Dree in safe hands, then.”
“Ye are, aye,” Andrew said. “Ye might put a drop o’ whisky in that tisane o’ yours, though, lass. Cures any ailment, whisky does. Then, as long as we can fend off Pharlain and his gallous son if they try to steal ye back, we’ll all do fine.”
Lina smiled. “I don’t think they will do that now, sir. What could they hope to gain by such an act other than to bring the Colquhouns down on them?”
As she said those words, the fiendish, tickling chill slid up her spine again, and she wished she could take them back.
In the inner chamber at Dunglass, Ian faced Colquhoun across the big table. “Sithee, sir,” he said, “my idea hangs on the fact that you have taken such pains to maintain our neutrality. And although I ken fine that I may have damaged it when I rescued Lina, I doubt that James Mòr can know the whole tale of that even now.”
“D’ye imagine that Dougal MacPharlain will have told him nowt of it?”
“I don’t know what Dougal said to him, or if he said anything. That would depend on who found the note I left in Lina and Lizzie’s chamber. If one of James Mòr’s men found it and gave it to him, James Mòr would have summoned Dougal and demanded an explanation.”
“True,” Colquhoun agreed. “But since, as ye’ve said, Dougal was at Tùr Meiloach when ye arrived, threatening to ruin Lina, he must have avoided such a confrontation. Sakes, he had begged James Mòr to give him Lina, so James Mòr may well suspect that Dougal had a hand in the girls’ disappearance.”
“It is to James Mòr’s benefit to pretend that that’s exactly what he believes, even if he does not,” Ian said. “He can then continue parleying with you and pretend to be doing so in good faith. I still doubt that he is acting so, though.”
“James Mòr has done nowt yet to suggest that he suspects us of any involvement in the lassies’ disappearance,” Colquhoun said musingly. “But what if he learns that they are at Tùr Meiloach or, worse, that ye’ve married Lina?”
Ian had not considered those possibilities. But since Alex’s men might know where the girls had been going from Inch Galbraith, and his own men were excited about his marriage, someone could reveal either or both facts. Sakes, Mag had said more than once that Andrew Dubh suspected he might have spies at Tùr Meiloach.
“Gorry will likely tell us if James Mòr hears rumors about those things,” Ian said at last. “If he does, mayhap I can ask him and a few others to put it about that I followed Dougal and rescued the girls from him on the Loch of the Long Boats. In troth, Dougal is the most likely person to speak of their whereabouts or learn about our marriage. But James Mòr is unlikely to take Dougal’s word for much. He must know as well as we do that neither Dougal nor Pharlain is noted for honesty.”
“I won’t lie to James Mòr,” Colquhoun said sternly. “However, I could say that you rescued and married the lass to protect her from dire threats that Dougal had made against her. That is true. I can also disclaim personal knowledge of Lizzie’s exact whereabouts whilst admitting that I did hear she is with friends of Galbraith’s. That may cast suspicion on Patrick Galbraith, however.”
“Patrick is James Mòr’s shadow, not Dougal’s. James Mòr will likely know that Patrick had nowt to do with it. He may not be as sure of Galbraith, though.”
“Aye,” Colquhoun agreed. “Mayhap I should know exactly what you mean to do before I talk with Arthur.”
“I mean to spread word of a magnificent stag that dares to roam at will in the woods between Dumbarton and Loch Lomond. In troth, I saw it first near the pass above Glen Luss. Yesterday, it was near where Lina said she and Lizzie fell captive.”
“It is not strange to see deer in either of those areas.”
“Sir, this stag is fourteen points at least. Forbye, he is real, so word of his presence will spread quickly. I mean to have Gorry spread word of it throughout the castle, where they have enjoyed little meat of late. After I tell Gorry, you might suggest to James Mòr that in the name of making peace—or even just a brief cessation of haggling—you’d like to invite him and as many of his men as he can spare to stalk that splendid beast and enjoy a venison feast together afterward.”
“I doubt he’ll be daft enough to agree. But, if he does, what then?”
Ian allowed himself a smile and a slight shrug. “Why, Rob MacAulay, Alex, and I will ride to Dumbarton, profit from the reduced guard, and seize the castle.”
“Sakes, Ian, d’ye think that can be done so easily?”
“Aye, sure, sir. But there is one thing that I hope you will do for me first.”
“And what would that be?”
“I want Douglas and Buccleuch out of my way, but I don’t want to fratch with either of them. I’d liefer see you use your persuasive skills to get rid of them.”
A rap on the door drew an uncharacteristic oath from Colquhoun. But Ian welcomed the respite, however brief it might be.
Chapter 15
For much of Sunday afternoon, in momentary expectation of an irate summons to present himself again, Ian carefully considered each of the arguments he might use to persuade Colquhoun that the plan could work. He tried to imagine which of them was most likely to do so without first infuriating him.
As a result, when Rob and Alex insisted that he accompany them to the yard shortly before supper, Ian was astonished to find Douglas and Buccleuch on the point of departure with all the men who had accompanied them to Dunglass.
“Are you leaving us, my lord?” Ian asked when Douglas smiled at him.
“Aye, lad, for the nonce. Your father tells us that his talks with James Mòr will likely take a fortnight or longer, and we canna leave our men camped outside Glasgow that long without upsetting its citizens. Nor can we bring our men here without James Mòr’s getting wind of it. But Jamie is moving from Cambuskenneth to Paisley Abbey, none so far from here across the river Clyde. We’ll join him there tomorrow or the next day and wait to hear from ye. If ye come up with a way to take the castle afore Jamie makes other plans, ye’ve only to get word to us there.”
Douglas mounted, and Ian turned to find the wiry Buccleuch approaching.
“Douglas told ye we’re leaving, aye?” he said as Douglas turned his horse away. When Ian nodded, Buccleuch added with a grin, “I ken fine that ye hold Jamie’s warrant, man, and I’ll wager that ye’re aware that the news doesna cheer Douglas. He’ll try tae persuade Jamie tae entrust him wi’ taking back yon castle.”
“If he finds a way to do it, he’ll have my support,” Ian said. When Buccleuch raised his eyebrows in disbelief, he added, “If I haven’t taken it myself by then.”
Buccleuch was still laughing when Colquhoun joined them.
Bidding the two powerful Border lords farewell and Godspeed, Colquhoun stood with Ian, Rob, and Alex and watched them depart.
When they’d passed through the gates and the gates had swung shut behind them, Ian turned to his father and said, “You never cease to surprise me, sir.”
Colquhoun said, “I had to leave you earlier because two of Buccleuch’s men had got into a fight with two of ours. Buccleuch had it sorted before I got there, but I realized then that the Borderers would be of little use to us for some time yet.”
“I ken fine that you don’t have much faith in my deer hunt,
” Ian said. “But you know as well as I do that Dumbarton—like Stirling—requires only the men manning its gates and its north hoarding to hold the castle against any army.”
“But for how long can they do that before they run out of food and water?”
“I don’t know,” Ian admitted. “But I do know that many more local people will be injured or killed if any army occupies the area around Dumbarton Rock.”
“We could not have taken Buccleuch or Douglas on the deer hunt,” Alex said. When Ian grimaced, he added defensively, “James Mòr knows them both! He might believe Douglas had switched sides again, but the Scotts have been Jamie’s all along.”
“Both men will be good to have with us later, though,” Ian said. “If my plan succeeds, we can fly Colquhoun banners from the ramparts to signal them. Jamie will be at Paisley, too, near enough to send the Borderers and others, come to that.”
Colquhoun clapped him on the back. “I’m thinking that ye may have summat in your brainbox besides air, lad. Why don’t ye all come inside now with me, and we’ll have supper. Then we can discuss your plan with Galbraith and the others.”
The evening seemed long to Lina, but at last she retired to her old bedchamber, where Lizzie and Muriella shared Murie’s bed and Lina had the one she had shared with Andrena, growing up.
She had not realized how tired she was. Despite the cat nestled against her legs, purring loudly, she fell asleep soon after her head touched her pillow.
Sometime later, an errant moonbeam touched her face, waking her. For a time, she felt restless and tried to get comfortable…
The woods were dark, the path impossible to discern, but the woman hurried on as if she followed one. She was a shadow, nothing more, a shadow in a long flowing cloak, her hip-length hair also flowing free behind her.
The place was unnaturally silent. Her footsteps were silent, too, as if she walked on duff or damp leaves. A glimmer of silvery light in the distance was enough to show that she cradled something in her arms… nay, several things, long and tubular. As the light grew stronger ahead, the tubes revealed themselves as scrolls of parchment or vellum, three of them.
As the woman passed between two tall trees, she cradled the rolls more tightly and increased her pace to cross a clearing. On the other side, a tall, slender tree trunk had bent oddly back on itself halfway up. When she passed beneath it to re-enter the woods, a disembodied hand reached out from it, caught the woman’s arm, and yanked her behind the tree.
Briefly, before she vanished, moonlight revealed Lady Aubrey’s face.
Lina sat bolt upright in bed, trembling, scarcely able to breathe. Thanks to the pale moonlight beaming through cracks in the shutters, she could see Ansuz at the foot of her bed, glaring at her for disturbing him. Looking toward the other bed, she saw that Murie and Lizzie still slept.
Her thoughts were in such turmoil that she could not make sense of them. She could think only of her mother and the danger that awaited her if, instead of a nightmare, the dream had been evidence of the foresight Mag had suggested she might have inherited. A more horrifying thought struck then.
What if what she had seen had happened as she had watched it or was happening now while she sat in bed, trying to control her terrors?
On the thought, she flung back the covers and got out of bed. Barefoot, without even thinking of finding slippers, she ran to the door, quietly lifted the latch, and slipped out with the angry cat darting downstairs past her. Hurrying down to the next landing, she paused outside her parents’ room to listen. A cresset was alight on the landing there, casting a softly flickering golden glow on the walls.
Andrew slept heavily and sometimes snored, but when Lina put her ear to the door, she heard nothing. Fearing that her mother might already be a captive, she took courage in hand and carefully, with utmost silence, opened the door.
Putting her head in, she strained to see through the darkness to the bed.
“What is it, Lina?” Lady Aubrey asked quietly. “Is Dree sick again?”
Deeply relieved, Lina said, “Nay, Mam. I… I had a bad dream and just needed to hear your voice.”
“Aye, well, you have heard it now, love, so take yourself back to bed.”
“Goodnight, Mam, I love you,” Lina murmured. Then, shutting the door, she returned as silently as she had come. But it was a long while before she slept.
Monday morning, having persuaded Colquhoun, Galbraith, Rob, and Alex that his plan was worth trying because they would lose nowt if it failed, Ian and the others persuaded more of their supporters. After that, a plan began to take form.
Ian sent word to Gorry and Jed Laing to make it known that men had seen a fourteen-point stag in a wood between Balloch and the south end of Loch Lomond. He also told them to let him know when word of the stag reached James Mòr.
Colquhoun, having received no reply to his request for another meeting with James Mòr, sent a message with the same messenger, suggesting they might discuss how James Mòr meant to proceed if he remained Keeper of Dumbarton. Colquhoun also promised to guarantee his safety if he wanted to meet at Dunglass or some other neutral location to escape his tedious confinement at Dumbarton.
“ ’Tis nobbut talk,” Colquhoun said. “I want him to reply. The more inanities I offer, the more likely I am to stir his ire or pique his interest enough to do so.”
Ian smiled to himself. His father had a devious bone or two, too, whether he would admit it or not.
Lina awoke late that morning to find that Lizzie and Murie had arisen before her. Surprised at herself for sleeping later than usual, she got up, quickly performed her ablutions, and dressed. Then, hesitating on the landing, nearly certain that Mag had left Tùr Meiloach by then and wondering if she ought to look in on Andrena, she decided in favor of going down to the great hall first, to see who was there.
Andrena was at the high table with their mother and Lady Margaret, so Lina went in. Greeting her mother and Lady Margaret with a smile, she went around the end of the table to join her sister.
Andrena smiled, clearly relieved to see Lina. Taking her usual seat beside her, Lina asked one of the gillies to bring her toast and a boiled egg. Then, to Andrena, she said, “Mag left early, then.”
“Aye, and I miss him already.”
“How do you feel this morning?”
“Better,” she said. “Your tisane helped, and Mam suggested eating more often. She said it helped her to graze like a sheep, a nibble here, and a bite there.”
Lady Margaret said abruptly, “I expect I shall be leaving in a day or so.”
Both sisters turned as one to stare at her. “So soon, my lady?” Lina said. “We have scarcely just arrived.”
“Aye, well, your father has been talking about that Pharlain person again.”
“Do you fear he will attack?” Lady Aubrey asked her. “I can assure you that Andrew has kept us safe in this tower for twenty years.”
“Aye, through telling lies,” Margaret said. “I know.”
Andrena said, “He does not lie, my lady. He merely repeats tales others have told about Tùr Meiloach. Forbye, strange things do happen here. People have—”
“What Andrena means,” Lady Aubrey interjected, “is that Andrew devised strategies which, aided by the more superstitious amongst us, have kept others from trying to invade Tùr Meiloach. But if you are not happy here, Margaret, then of course you must return to Bannachra.”
“Not unhappy,” Lady Margaret said. “I enjoy your company. But it’s noisy.”
“Then, if you do go, I hope you will let me go with you and stay long enough to see you settled again. You must not travel without a female companion, after all. And since you did not bring your woman…”
“I had no need of her at Inch Galbraith. Nor did she want to go there.”
“Aye, she told us so quite plainly,” Lady Aubrey said with a reminiscent smile. “But if you will let me accompany you, I would not mind another journey.”
Lina exchanged a loo
k with Andrena and saw the same surprised expression on her face that she felt on her own. For Lady Aubrey to encourage a guest to leave was strange enough. To insist on accompanying her on a full day’s journey only to return a few days later was, as Ian might say, devilish odd.
“Why don’t you just invite James Mòr to join the hunt?” Ian asked his father Tuesday afternoon in the great hall when they still had not heard from Dumbarton.
“Building a foundation for such a thing takes patience, lad,” Colquhoun replied. “If I fail to make my invitation plausible, your ruse is bound to fail.”
“But he must have heard about our stag by now. The men are all talking about it. Even Maggy agrees that my plan may work,” he added, looking across the table at Mag, who had returned from Tùr Meiloach the previous evening.
Adam Colquhoun and Mag composed the audience for this exchange at the high table, where the four men had gathered at the end nearest the fireplace. Every other person in the hall was intent on business of his own. Several, including Alex and Rob, occupied themselves with a dice cup near the great hall fire.
Adam refilled Mag’s goblet from the jug and gave Ian an impatient look. “I do not see why you think anyone at Dumbarton will be eager to hunt a stag as old as that one must be. Sakes, with fourteen points, he’s at least a great-grandfather and will be as tough as boot leather to eat.”
“It is not the eating that will interest them, my lad,” Ian said, taking the superior tone that he knew irritated his brother. “I’d wager that James Mòr himself will want its head almost as much as he wants Jamie’s. Just think of it! Fourteen points mounted on his great-hall wall for all to see and marvel at.”
“Aye, perhaps,” Adam said doubtfully.
“No ‘perhaps’ about it,” Ian said. “James Mòr has a high opinion of himself. But I doubt he believes that many folks other than his closest followers share that opinion. To be able to show such a trophy… I promise you, the man will salivate.”