Ann Carr

by Loyal Warrior

  Inside the castle there was a completely different scene playing out. Few adults were sleeping, all were too aware of the peril they now faced. There was no option to flee so all would have to fight to differing degrees. All of the men had stepped up, prepared to defend each other, and also many of the women had volunteered to take up arms while others would look after the children, feed the men and tend to the wounded. Everyone had banded together, they were now fighting as one unit, fighting for each other. John just hoped that it would be enough, that they would be able to hold the English off for as long as possible.

  Over at the other side of the room John saw Elizabeth's bustling figure, closely followed by her brother who was trying to gain her attention without any luck. Making a decision John crossed the room towards them; they wouldn't have much time until daylight John estimated, but hoped that they would have long enough for a few questions to be answered.

  They gathered in the library and John perched on the edge of the solid table which served as a desk, he leaned back as he watched brother and sister face each other like two combatants about to fight.

  “Where were ye these last two days?” he directed the question towards Richard.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell Elizabeth all night! If she wasn’t so stubborn then you’d have the answer by now!” his exasperation was beginning to slip into anger.

  “The answer Richard or more lies?” Elizabeth injected equally as angry.

  “The truth God damn you! When I came back from my morning ride the stable was deserted so I began take care of my horse myself. Before I’d even dismounted everything went black. The next thing I remember is waking up with a terrible headache; obviously someone had whacked me over the head and then moved me and bound my limbs!”

  “Where were ye then? How did ye free yerself?” John inserted logically.

  “When I came to I heard two people whispering a short distance away, I couldn’t make out what they were saying but I do know that they were two people talking! I didn’t know where I was, it was dark, but I came to the conclusion that I was still inside the castle walls, I knew I was inside of a building and from time to time I could hear the whispers of voices as people passed by me unaware. Immediately I started trying to loosen my bonds, it took an age but eventually I managed to work myself free. When I could move I found my way out of my prison and came directly to find you.” he looked at Elizabeth.

  “Where were ye kept?” again John questioned.

  “Up in the loft of the stable!” he stated and heard Elizabeth’s gasp, John merely nodded.

  “If you still doubt me then look!” he extended his wrists towards her so that she could see for herself the marks that the ropes had left as they had dug into his tender flesh.

  “Oh Richard!” Elizabeth cried, “I wanted to believe it wasn’t you, I’m so sorry that I ever doubted you” she threw her arms around his neck.

  Richards’s eyes met those of John’s over Elizabeth’s shoulder, but he quickly looked away at the knowledge lurking beneath those eyes.

  “So we now know that they are two traitors!” was John’s comment when he eventually spoke.

  “But who John? Who would betray Duncan in such a way? Who would have contact with my brothers from inside these walls?”

  “I dinnae know. What I do know is that we must find out quickly! Have ye told anyone else this information?” he demanded. At Richard’s shake of the head he continued, “did ye and Mrs MacTavish notice if anyone was missing?” this was directed at Elizabeth.

  “No. Everyone is accounted for. Which means that they are here amongst us doesn’t it?” her eyes went huge.

  “Aye, and we must find them! I dinnae think we should share this with any of the others, the less people who know the better!” he decided.

  They all lapsed into silence, thoughts racing through their minds, each wondering who the traitors were, each wondering how they could find them.

  “Couldn’t we get word to Duncan?” Richard inserted into the silence.

  “How? There are hundreds of Englishmen outside of the castle gates in case ye hadn’t noticed!” John answered sarcastically.

  “What about sending someone out of the escape tunnels?”

  “What escape tunnels?” Elizabeth questioned, “I’ve not heard anything about any escape tunnels!”

  “I mean surely there’ll be an escape tunnel. Every castle has an escape route!” he covered but not before John had picked up on his slip of the tongue.

  “Is there?” Elizabeth questioned.

  “Aye! I dinnae know why I dinnae think of it sooner!” John’s mood picked up, “the tunnel doesnae surface until deep in the western forest. The English troops willnae be anywhere near there will there?” he asked.

  “No!” Richard answered.

  “Whoever goes should be perfectly safe, probably safer than we are in here!” he commented.

  “Elizabeth should go!” Richard inserted, wanting only his sister’s safety.

  Seeing that John was about to agree, Elizabeth stubbornly proclaimed, “No! I will not run away! In my husband’s absence I am in charge of keeping our people safe. I will not leave them. I will not run!”

  “If ye will not leave then perhaps we should send Ewan” John inserted.

  “But would he be safe? I don’t want to send him into danger!” she didn’t know, couldn’t decide.

  “He’ll be safer out there than here!” John declared, “we must decide quickly Elizabeth, there is only a short time until daylight, he will be even safer if he leaves under the nights darkness!”

  “But he can’t go alone! Someone will have to go with him!” She decided, not willing to concede this point.

  “Who would you send?” Richard queried, “who can you trust?”

  “What about William?” John decided.

  “Isn’t he too old?” Richard wondered at the choice.

  “He might be old but he can still ride a horse like the best. He will take care of Ewan I dinnae doubt that; he’s been here since before Duncan was born. He’ll get word to Duncan or die trying!”

  “That’s what I was worrying about!” Richard said without humour.

  “William’s an excellent choice!” Elizabeth seconded, “he knows the land between here and Malcolm’s home better than anyone. If anyone can get there swiftly and safely then he can!”

  “I’ll go ready everyone. We don’t have a minute to spare so we must act swiftly!”

  Without another word all three of them left the room to put their plan into action, all three totally unaware of the gleaming eyes peering after them from their hiding place.

  “Are you alright Elizabeth?” Richard quietly asked a short time later as they watched William and Ewan swiftly ride out of the tunnel before disappearing into the forest. Once their decision had been made, they’d wasted no time in putting it into action, knowing that time was not on their side.

  “No!” her voice quaked, “I hope I’ve done the right thing!” she said tearfully as she watched her son disappear.

  “Ewan will be fine Elizabeth!”

  “God! I hope so!” she smiled as she remembered his excitement upon hearing his mission. All she could do was pray that he would make it to Duncan, once there Duncan would make sure he was safe.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The three figures stumbled along the dark, stale tunnel towards the heart of the castle. Elizabeth walked blindly, too lost in her thoughts to care which way her feet moved, she was guided by the protective arm that Richard had placed around her. There was barely enough room for the pair of them to walk side by side through the tight tunnel, they both trailed behind John, who kept the pace swift, eager to get back to his men. Above him, John carried the fire torch which threw a golden glow on the damp stone engulfing them, affording them just enough light to highlight their route home.

  “What’s that?” Richard gasped. John quickly spun around, looking for the threat, waving the fire in front of
him in stilted movements.

  “No! Stop!” Richard reached up to place his hand on the torch next to John’s and guided it lower, moving it from side to side until he found what he was looking for. “There!” he exclaimed releasing the torch so that he could bend down to take a closer look.

  “What is it?” Elizabeth peered over his shoulder but couldn’t make out what he was looking at.

  “Paper!”

  “Let me see!” John pushed Richard aside and reached down to pick up the scrap of paper.

  “Is it dry to the touch?” Richard questioned.

  “Yes”

  “What are you talking about? Why are we wasting time looking at a piece of paper? We need to get back to the castle!” she failed to see the significance.

  “There’s something written on it” John squinted down, lowering the torch to give more light.

  “Let me see!” Richard moved closer to peer down at the writing too. In the next heartbeat both men exchanged a look of mutual understanding, both realising the significance of finding this fragile scrap of evidence. Together, they turned their gaze towards Elizabeth. The serious expression in their shadowed faces caused her a moment’s panic.

  “What?” she gasped, taking an instinctive step back, not liking the look in their eyes.

  “Look at this!” Richard thrust the offending object at her.

  Looking down at the scrap that she now held in her own hands the tension began to ease, “Why! It’s only a letter!” she still didn’t understand.

  “It’s the same as the one that Duncan received from Malcolm.” John explained.

  “So what are you saying, that Duncan was down here and dropped it himself?”

  “No. Duncan dinnae come down here, and he had the letter with him when he left last night. I saw it with my own eyes! This must be a copy!”

  “How could someone have a copy of a letter that Malcolm wrote?” she questioned, still not understanding its significance.

  “There couldnae! Unless Malcolm dinnae send the message” John paused for the implication to finally sink in and the silence was deafening.

  “So who?” Elizabeth mumbled to herself, “we are the only ones who have been down here.....NO!” she swung around to face her brother, “you promised me!” she screamed at him.

  “I didn’t do it!” his voice came out shrilly, the evidence was damning.

  “He dinnae do it Elizabeth!” John backed him up.

  “What? You?” she was dumbfounded, she had never suspected.

  “No, not me!” he said quietly, gently.

  As reality dawned on her she slowly turned to look down the tunnel from where they had just come.

  “No!” she screamed, dropping to her knees, “what have I done?” she shouted in despair, the only response was the echo of her own voice.

  The two men looked at each other, not knowing how to deal with the woman at their feet. Before they had time to act Elizabeth jumped up and started running blindly down the tunnel to where Ewan and William had disappeared only a short while ago.

  “Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” Richard caught hold of her, halting her headlong run through the darkness.

  “Let me go!” she was frantic now, but his grip only tightened.

  “We’ve got to go after them! We’ve got to get Ewan back!” she struggled.

  “We wouldn’t catch them now!” Richard shouted back, trying to make her listen.

  “It’s still too dark to track them!” John injected sombrely.

  “Please! Please do something!” she begged, feeling dizzy with the hopelessness of the situation. Her mind was anxiously grappling for any solution. “Duncan!” she exclaimed, “We’ve got to get word to Duncan! He’ll find Ewan!”

  “Do ye think ye’ll find yer way to castle MacGregor?” John directed his question to Richard.

  “Yes!” his voice was filled with determination, for he knew the importance of his mission, “but how will I convince Duncan to believe me?”

  “Give him this.” Elizabeth injected, holding out her wedding ring with unsteady fingers.

  “Come back and ready your horse, but you must hurry. Daylight isn’t long away and by then it will be too risky.”

  Needing to put their plan into action as quickly as possible, they turned and ran up the tunnel, through the darkness, their minds now completely focussed on the mission ahead of them.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “What kind of sick joke is this?” Duncan thundered as he slammed into the great hall of MacGregor castle. There was a collective gasp at his sudden outburst as all eyes were turned in his direction. Men sank into their chairs, most knew Duncan and those who had never seen him first hand had heard the stories of him. They all now fervently hoped that he was here today as friend, not foe.

  Unperturbed, Malcolm rose from the table where he was eating his breakfast with his wife and some of his knights, “Duncan! Come join us! Come join us!” he jovially invited.

  “Join ye! What I should be doing is asking ye to join me! Outside!” he roared, dumbfounded by his friends unconcern.

  “Whatever for man?” Malcolm too turned serious, now irritated by his friend’s dour mood. “Yer the one who has burst into my home! Indeed I am the one who should be asking. .. No! Demanding that ye join me outside!”

  “My men and I raced over here because of this!” Duncan threw down a cream piece of paper onto the table in front of Malcolm.

  “What’s this?”

  “What? Ye don’t recognize it?” he asked, mock shock in his voice. “This is the message that ye sent to me saying that ye were in trouble and needed my help! Now usually I wouldnae mind but right now I would prefer to be at home with my wife than dealing with ye and yer wild goose chases!”

  “Stop right there Duncan” Malcolm held up his hand for emphasis, a frown knit his craggy brow, “I dinnae send you this message!”

  “I just said I’m not in the mood for yer games!” Duncan repeated.

  “This isnae a game Duncan. I have never seen that message before!” Without asking he picked up the offending scrap of paper, a deep frown forming between his eyes as he read, but before he could comment both men were distracted by loud male voices raised in argument outside. Side by side they moved towards the disturbance, hands resting on the hilts of their swords ready to react to any threat.

  As they walked out into the morning sun, their hands dropped unconsciously as they saw the person causing all the noise.

  “I take it he’s looking for ye?” Malcolm asked dryly, not appreciating having English feet on his soil.

  Before Duncan could confirm this Richard spotted the two men standing just outside of the doorway, “Duncan!” he shouted, struggling ineffectively with the two men holding him in place, each clinging tightly to an arm.

  “Ye’ve got a nerve to show yer face here Richard!” Duncan roared back, all but jumping down the steps and eating up the distance until he stood face to face with the boy. “Let him go!” he ordered the men who were still restraining him. When they had complied he turned his attention back to Richard, “Go on! Raise yer sword! Make my day!” he thundered, murder in his eyes.

  “Wait!” Malcolm now reached out hands to restrain Duncan before he lost control completely. “At least find out why he’s here first!” When Duncan didn’t react, he turned to the boy and waited, then let out a long suffering sigh. The boy was staring up at Duncan with glazed over eyes, not a muscle moving in his body. Fear had apparently paralysed him to the spot, Malcolm had seen this reaction before on numerous occasions, sometimes it were directed at him but more often than not it was Duncan who elicited such dramatic responses.

  Duncan moved beside him, only a fraction, but Malcolm knew that he wouldn’t stand there waiting for much longer, patience wasn’t one of his friends strongest points, “Spit it out laddie!” he ordered, cutting in before Duncan had the opportunity to bite out his own scathing remark.

  Blinking Richard came out of his daze, for a moment
he had thought he was standing in front of the devil himself. He had never had such powerful anger directed at him before, oh, his brothers had tormented him his entire life but he had never seriously feared for his life before. Now he ran his tongue around his dry mouth, praying for the right words to form.

  “I....I.....” he stumbled before taking a deep breath and summoning up all of his courage, then continued, “I’ve come with news for you” he directed his speech towards Duncan.

  “Well spit it out laddie!” Malcolm prompted again.

  “Elizabeth sent me, I...”

  “How do I know what yer telling me isn’t all lies? For all I know ye havenae even seen Elizabeth since I left last night!” Duncan interrupted.

  “Because of this!” Richard dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the ring that Elizabeth had given him before he had left. Holding out his hand, palm up, he watched as Duncan directed his glare into his palm, and he knew the exact moment that Duncan realised what was cushioned in there when the anger receded from his face to be replaced by frantic concern.

  “Why do ye have that? What have ye done to Elizabeth?” he reached out to grab hold of the ring, which he squeezed tightly in his own palm, as if he could somehow summon her presence through sheer power of will.

  “She gave it to me so that you will believe that she sent me here. You might not trust me but you do know that I would never do anything to hurt my sister!”

  “Why did she send ye damn it!” Duncan bit out.

  “Castle Campbell’s under siege!” he blurted, Duncan and Malcolm exchanged swift glances, and they both knew what must be done.

  “Need I ask who is waging war on my lands?” Richards’s averted gaze was all the answer that he needed.

  “There’s no need to panic yet Duncan. The outer walls will protect Elizabeth and Ewan until we reach them. If we leave now we will be there before nightfall!” Malcolm soothed his friend.