“You’re not thinking about going after him are you Duncan?” grabbing his hands she tried to anchor him to her, she didn’t want him to go, didn’t want him to court that kind of danger. Whatever Richard had done, it just wasn’t worth it!
“Thinking?” he paused, “Aye!” at her look of horror he was quick to sooth, “dinnae worry sweetheart, I’m not gonna follow him back to England! But I hope for yer sake that he isnae stupid enough to show his face here again. He willnae be welcome! And I still want to talk to him!” he proclaimed.
“And what if the accidents continue to happen?” this was met by a look of scepticism from her husband.
“Still willing to defend him to the end.” there was no censure in the words. In fact Duncan half admired her for the blind faith she was able to give the people she loved, “I hope if I ever need it, ye’ll give me just as much faith?” he asked.
“Duncan?” Both turned around to watch as Colin approached, his face rigid, and his expression serious. Whatever news he was bringing wasn’t good. Elizabeth’s heart skipped a beat; she prayed for her brother, prayed that Colin’s news was not about him.
“Have ye found him?” Duncan rose, the question left his lips hesitantly, he wasn’t quite sure what answer he wanted to hear.
“No. Can we talk alone?” with a dip of his head he indicated the other side of the hall which was now empty.
“Excuse me” Elizabeth rose to her feet, “I’ll leave you men to it”.
“Wait!” Duncan haltered her departure with one word. “Anything ye have to say can be said in front of Elizabeth. Sit down Colin” he ordered, dropping into the comfort of his own chair as he said it.
Hurriedly Colin sat, not because he was afraid of insulting Duncan, but because the sooner he sat down then the sooner he could pass on his message. “A messenger just arrived, he was sent by Malcolm MacGregor”.
“Who was he?” Duncan questioned.
“I dinnae know” he shook his head, “I’ve never come across the man before” he shrugged unconcerned, “ye know how quickly servants come and go from Malcolm’s lands”. He certainly did, Malcolm had a fierce temper which rivalled that of his own and he had a difficult time finding men with enough nerve to be able to live with the variance of his temper.
“What’s his news?”
“The castle’s under siege, apparently Malcolm sent out four messengers last night in the hopes that at least one of them would reach ye. The man outside was the only one to get through enemy lines as far as we know. Mary’s still inside the castle, he wasnae able to send her away in time, he’s asking for yer help.”
“Oh no!” Elizabeth jumped to her feet, hands covering her face. Poor Mary! “You have to help them Duncan! Oh! Poor Mary and the children! We have to help them!”
“Go ready the men Colin, round up supplies. I want to leave before dark. We know the land around here well, it might just give us an advantage!” he ordered, knowing what needed to be done.
Jumping to his feet, Colin left to carry out Duncan’s orders, his blood already beginning to pump through his body with the anticipated battle.
“I’ll come too Duncan! Mary’s my friend! Surely there is something I can do to help!”
“Yer my wife! I will not have ye or my child placed in any position of danger. I want ye to stay here. Keep my people safe while I’m gone” he soothed gently, not wanting her near any danger.
“But who will keep you safe?” she questioned.
A look of disbelief crossed her husband’s face, “I’ll keep myself safe, as I always have done!” he dipped down to drop a quick kiss on her upturned lips. “I dinnae want to leave ye. Not now!” he whispered placing his hands on her flat stomach.
“I don’t want you to leave me either!” she threw herself into his arms, tangling her own tightly around his neck as if she would never let go.
At the sound of heavy footsteps behind them they reluctantly broke apart and on a groan he gave her one last kiss, “I have to go”.
“I know you do” she said to his receding back and exhaled in frustration, “be safe Duncan” she said aloud, “hurry back to us”.
Elizabeth turned from the window at the knock on her bedroom door, she watched as Ewan peeped around the wide door, his eyes hastily scanning the room. When he found her by the window he quickly scurried in and crossed to stand beside her. Both stood staring at the scene below them in silence for a long time before Ewan broke in, “father’s leaving again”
“I know” she wrapped one arm around his little shoulders, wanting to sooth him but knowing that she couldn’t.
“How long will he be gone this time?” his little face looked up trustingly, seeking answers.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take Ewan, but I hope it won’t be too long”.
One by one, the men below them mounted their horses, ready to set off to defend a friend’s land. Their preparations were over, and as day turned into night they filed out of the castle walls, through the village and then through the great gate before the drawbridge was drawn and the Campbell keep was cut off from the rest of the world for the night.
From her vantage point Elizabeth watched the men leave, her eyes slowly scanning the departing figures for the familiar sight of her husband. Eventually she found him; he and two other men were riding slightly behind the others apparently in deep discussion. Before his horse walked through the outer gates he spared one last look behind him and his eyes rose to the small window where Elizabeth and Ewan were standing together. Their eyes met briefly in silent communication before he dug his heels into Shadow’s flanks and trotted across the drawbridge, which began to ascend as soon as he reached the other side.
Turning from the window, Elizabeth closed her eyes, unable to shake the sense of foreboding which washed through her, silently she prayed for his safe return, not wanting to contemplate what she would do if he didn’t come back to her. So lost in her own thoughts was she that she jumped when Ewan laid his cold little hand in her palm.
“He’ll come back” he tugged on her hand for emphasis, “he always does!”
Shaking her head in wonder, Elizabeth bent down to pull the boy into a fierce hug.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Elizabeth! Wake up! Wake up!” the pounding on her door and screeching voice woke Elizabeth out of a fitful sleep. It was dark, she didn’t know what time it was, but she recognised the voice as belonging to Ewan and she heard the urgency in his tone. Jumping from her bed Elizabeth blindly raced to the door, not thinking to light the candle so that she could see her way.
Pulling open the door, she was almost flattened by the now frantic boy babbling incoherently. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t understand him to figure out what the problem was. Bending down, Elizabeth took his trembling shoulders in her hands and gave him a quick rough shake, hoping to jolt him out of his hysteria.
Only when shock had worked to silence him did Elizabeth ask him what the trouble was, when this question was met by another babble of words, she cut him off mid flow with another sharp shake. “Slowly! Slowly tell me what is wrong!” she ordered. Hoping he would listen to her words.
“The drawbridge is being lowered!”
“What?” she asked in disbelief, “I’m sure you must be imagining it Ewan, the bridge is never lowered until daylight! Wait a minute!” she paused, “How exactly do you know the bridge is being lowered when you should have been in bed sleeping?”
“I couldnae sleep so I walked down to the outer walls, I was going to climb up them. Sometimes I like to just look out over the countryside.”
“Do you do this often?” filled with fear at the idea of him roaming around the castle grounds in the dead of night, Elizabeth was about to censor his behaviour.
“That doesnae matter! I saw the bridge being lowered! I promise ye I’m not making it up! And it’s lowering much slower than normal, as though they’re trying not to make a noise!” At the look of disbelief in her eyes Ewan frantically
searched his mind for some way to convince her of the truth of his words. When he couldn’t think of anything, he settled for grabbing her hand and pulling her down the hallway. If she didn’t believe his words then perhaps she would believe it when she saw it for herself!
Confused, not knowing whether to believe him or not, after all it was dark, he was tired, he could have imagined what he had thought he’d seen. Elizabeth allowed herself to be pulled down the hallway. She didn’t want to comprehend just what it would mean if Ewan was right! Most of the men were away, they were practically left defenceless!
Her pace picked up, she was ready to face whatever was happening at the gates head on, she couldn’t afford to ignore Ewan’s words.
The figure which jumped out at them just as they exited the door of the castle nearly caused both of them to jump back indoors to safety.
“Elizabeth!” a hand came out of the darkness to steady her. “It’s me! Richard!” he exclaimed.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered harshly. Now was not the time she wanted him to show up.
“It must be him! He’s the one opening the gates!” Ewan shouted furiously, throwing himself at Richard in attack. It was only the restraining arms of Elizabeth that stopped him from reaching his target.
“You must hurry Elizabeth. The drawbridge is being lowered! There isn’t much time before they’ll be inside!” Richard warned.
“Who? Before who will be inside of the gates?”
“Our brothers of course!” he spoke the words as though talking to a child, how could she not have figured it out!
“What?” everything was happening too quickly for her to take it all in, but the struggling boy in her arms swiftly brought her back to her senses. “You let them in! You are lowering the bridge for them to come in!” It wasn’t a question, Oh! why hadn’t she listened to Duncan all along, believed him when he had claimed Richard couldn’t be trusted. Her stupid family loyalty had blinded her to her brother’s actions and now Duncan and his people were going to have to pay the price for her pig headedness! Now was not the time for self-pity, she scorned herself, now was the time for action!
Hastily she ran towards the inner wall gates, shouting instructions to the guards to raise the alarm for the villagers and ordered them to be ready to close them when she gave the word. It didn’t take long before women and sleepy children were crossing through to the sanctuary of the inner walls, the men were impatiently collecting up food supplies which they would need to withstand a siege. Elizabeth helped them in their work, keeping one eye on the descending bridge all the while. They couldn’t afford to be trapped out here, she knew her brothers’ well, knew that they would take no prisoners; instead every man would be slaughtered.
Not prepared to wait any longer Elizabeth gave the command for everyone to retreat inside of the inner castle walls, she had no intention of risking these men’s' lives, hopefully they would now have enough supplies, and if not then only God could help them now! As she gave the command for the inner gates to be closed and locked she noticed Ewan helping one of the men to carry a bag of grain and a wave of pride engulfed her thoroughly. He was his father’s son through and through! she thought. The thought of Duncan brought tears to her eyes, would she ever see him again?
“Lady Elizabeth!” she turned to watch John race towards her.
“What are you doing here?” Relief washed through her, sending her body almost limp.
“Duncan left me behind here to protect the castle and his family” placing his clenched fist over his heart he vowed, “I swear to ye I’ll give my life to protect ye and Ewan!”
“No. No!” she touched his hand, “hopefully it won’t come to that!” She didn’t want to think of that, had to believe that all would end well!
“It’s my family outside of those walls!” she jumped as the drawbridge hit the ground with a loud thud. It wouldn’t be long now. “How long can we hold them off?”
“I’m not sure” he answered non-committal.
“John!” she chided, well used to these Scottish men by now, she knew that he was trying to hide the truth from her.
“O.K., a couple of weeks at most. Most of the men are with Duncan, we have no way of getting word to him and only a limited amount of food to feed ourselves!”
“You do know we can’t surrender, my family will only accept our defeat!”
“Aye, I know that!” he answered solemnly.
“Then what shall we do?”
“Hold them off and hope to God that Duncan comes home quickly” John calmly turned at the sound of the inner gates being rammed with something heavy and hard and added, “I’ll take charge of the soldiers now but the other men are going to have to take up arms if we have any chance here”.
“The women can help too!” she nodded in understanding, his calm demeanour helped to calm her own racing emotions. “I’ll organize the villagers, if we could meet later tonight to discuss what we are going to do?” she hesitated, waiting for his answer.
“I’ll come and find ye when I have everything in order out here” he turned to leave but then seemed to think twice about it and turned back to her, “we will get through this Elizabeth! There are no castle walls in Scotland that I’d rather be protected by. Ye must remember that castle Campbell was built purposely to withstand this onslaught and it’s never failed so far!”
“I hope you’re right John”, she said fervently and watched as he walked away and went in search of Ewan.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Elizabeth”, Richard interrupted her as she helped set up makeshift beds in the great hall.
Bent over in her task, Elizabeth didn’t even spare a glance in her brother’s direction. “I don’t want to talk to you Richard”, there was no expression in her statement, only weariness and sadness that her brother could betray her in such a way, “I don’t want to see you again or have anything to do with you at all!”
“Elizabeth I...” he reached out to her.
“No, don’t Richard!” she pulled away, she didn’t want or have the energy to fight with him, “just leave me be Richard” she said wearily as she bent back to her tasks, trying to ignore his presence.
“I didn’t open that gate tonight!” he insisted.
“And why should I believe that!” she thundered, rearing up to stare him down, “how can you expect me to believe that!” it wasn’t a question for there was no answer to be had!
“You know me Elizabeth! I wouldn’t betray you that way!”
“No Richard! I thought I knew you! I defended you! I took your side over that of my own husbands!” she yelled, now angry at her own misplaced trust.
“So you should! I am your brother! We grew up together! He’s nothing more than a damn Scot that can’t be trusted!” she was taken aback by the venom in his voice. How had she not seen it before? Why had she been so blind?
“From now on my loyalty is to Duncan, and Duncan alone!” she thundered, “He is my husband, my family, and the only one who hasn’t lied to me throughout all of this!” she raged.
“I am not lying to you now! I didn’t let down that damn drawbridge!” he yelled back.
“Shh” she admonished as curious gazes were cast in their direction, whispering fiercely she demanded, “if not you then who? Tell me who?” she paused, “No? can’t think of anyone? Well neither can I! You are the only one with a reason for doing this!” she paused, turning away. “Just get out of my sight Richard, I don’t even want to look at you”.
"Think about this Elizabeth. If it was me then what am I doing standing on this side of the wall? I had plenty of opportunity to meet them on the other side but here I am standing in front of you now!" On that quiet piece of logic he walked away leaving her more confused than ever.
“Did he do it?” she didn’t need to ask who or what it was, instead she shook her head in confusion at the man standing beside her.
“If you’d asked me that earlier then I would have said yes”, she watched a
s her brother moved through the crowd of people, helping set up beds, “but now I’m just not sure at all”.
When no answer was forthcoming she turned her gaze up to John who in turn was watching her brother, “no argument?” she questioned.
“If it was him then I dinnae know what he’s still doing here now. But on the other hand we still dinnae know what he’s been doing these past two days”
“Plus, if Richard didn’t let down that drawbridge then exactly who did?” she scanned the room.
“Is everyone accounted for?” his sober question earned her full attention.
“I don’t know. Everything is in such confusion. Do you think whoever did this might be on the other side of that wall?”
“Possibly. It wouldnae hurt to discreetly make sure no one is missing. Is there anyone ye wholly trust who can help?”
“Yes, I’ll go now and ask Mrs MacTavish to help me” she began to leave, “John? I’m so pleased that Duncan left you behind, I don’t know how I would have coped with all of this by myself”.
“I think ye would have done a fine job Elizabeth. Besides Duncan would kill me if I let anything happen to ye!” he tried to coax a smile.
“I hope he returns soon!” she said with feeling.
John did too, he had caught a glimpse of the gathered English soldiers outside of the walls and it didn't look good. He didn't want to worry Elizabeth but if they were to have any chance of surviving this then they would need backup, and quickly at that!
Chapter Thirty-Four
Scanning the room John watched for any suspicious behaviour. It was almost dawn and he felt certain that the coming day would bring with it a mighty assault from the English. So far, apart from the first half-hearted attempt to knock down the inner gate, all had been quiet outside of the castle walls. No doubt the men were resting, readying themselves for the coming battle.
Ann Carr Page 16