Behind her, Rosalyn rose from her seat to come around the desk and stand beside Ellie. “The lass speaks the truth. She must go. Will you no, as a personal favor to me, protect her on her journey?”
“I’ll come along with you, Dair,” Alycie stood and walked to her brother’s side. “With me to chaperone, you’ll no have to fear for her reputation, aye?”
Dair’s glower lit on each woman in turn. “I canna fight the lot of you, can I?” He sighed and threw his arms into the air. “Verra well. It is decided. I canna allow you to go alone, so I go as yer protection, milady.”
Ellie didn’t mistake his bow for anything other than the sarcasm he intended, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t even matter that Miss Perfect was coming along.
Caden believed her. He’d trusted in her enough to send Baby with his message and she was going to save Caden. Then he and his beloved could get married and have lots of perfect, proper little children.
And she could go home.
“I really do have to get going.” Ellie stroked a finger over the downy soft forehead of the baby in Sallie’s arms. Such a tiny little creature with such serious blue eyes.
Sallie shifted, obviously trying to find a comfortable spot in the bed where she sat and instantly her husband was at her side, helping to adjust her pillows. She smiled as he paused to stroke a big finger over his daughter’s forehead just as Ellie had done.
“I ken yer need to be off, but I want to give you something to take along. Ran?”
Her husband moved to the end of the bed and opened the lid of a large chest, pulling out what looked to Ellie like a simple bundle of cloth. He laid it on the foot of the bed and unwrapped it carefully, revealing two belts and two small daggers, which he placed beside his wife before taking their daughter from her arms.
“Several years ago I learned the hard way of the need to protect myself. I’ve worn these ever since. I would feel so much better if you would take them along with you.” Sallie moved the weapons to her lap.
“I don’t think I could…” Ellie began, but Sallie was hearing none of it.
“You can. Many women in our time wear a belted dagger at their waist. Many claim it’s for household use, but I ken the truth of it. Our men willna be there always when we need them. We have to take responsibility for our own protection.”
Ellie stifled a grin. Apparently she’d been way off base in believing all the women here were meek and subservient. This one, at least, was clearly as serious about self-defense as anyone Ellie had met in her own time.
She reached out and took the smaller dagger and belt from Sallie and fastened it around her own waist. With its pretty jeweled handle, it looked almost like jewelry.
“There. Now if I can just manage to wear this without stabbing my leg, I should be in fine shape defending myself.”
Sallie shook her head, a look of irritation settling on her face. “Dinna be thinking like a fool-headed woman. Do you no realize if yer taken, they’ll see that weapon and remove it? You’ll no be able to stop them. We canna be as strong as the men who seek to harm us, so we must be smarter.” She lifted the second dagger, longer than the first and very thin. “While many a lady wears something like what you have at yer waist, no so many have one of these. Here. You hide this one. I strap it to the inside of my leg. Here.” She slapped the inside of her thigh before holding the weapon and strap out.
Ellie had misjudged her. Sallie was way more serious about self-defense than Ellie had ever thought of being.
“Thank you.” Ellie accepted the knife and leaned in to give Sallie a hug. “I’ll wear it, I promise. I really have to go. They’re waiting for me.”
Hurrying down the hallway, Ellie considered the lethal-looking weapon. Sallie might appear to be a petite, helpless woman, but Ellie could learn a thing or two from her. Somehow she couldn’t imagine Sallie allowing anyone to move into her family home and take it over like Ray had done to her.
She entered her room and started to strap the knife to her inner thigh.
No, that might work for someone like Sallie, but Ellie had proven herself less than graceful on too many occasions since she’d been here to try that. She’d likely end up cutting a slice off her horse or severing her own artery at the rate she’d been going. The leg strap wouldn’t work for her.
She leaned over the chest at the foot of her bed and lifted the lid, digging through the clothing she’d worn since she’d been here. There, at the very bottom, she found what she sought. Her bra and panties, tucked in the corner where she’d placed them that first day.
She unlaced her overdress and tugged off her shift before stabbing the dagger through the elastic back of the bra. She slipped her arms into the lacy straps and snapped the little fastener closed between her breasts before pulling up her shift and overdress.
Satisfied she was ready, she headed for the courtyard, where Dair and his sister waited, conscious of the feel of the little garment she’d once taken so for granted. Though the elastic now felt restrictive and uncomfortable, the cold blade had warmed against the skin of her back and hardly felt out of place at all.
She could get used to this. And though she didn’t expect she’d ever be a major ass kicker, she was beginning to believe that just maybe she could be a force to be reckoned with. It gave her a rare sense of control over her destiny and made her feel for a brief moment like a heroine out of those books she loved so much.
Confidently Ellie pushed through the great entry door to begin her journey.
Twenty-three
“When we were but wee bairns, our father would build a huge fire in front of our home and we would sing along while he played a tune on his pipe.” Alycie rested her head against the large boulder she sat next to. “It was all quite lovely.”
“Yer memories and mine are fair different, Sister. My recollection is that the fire was to keep us from freezing outside when Mother had some poor farm woman in our home delivering a babe. And the pipe and singing were to cover the screams of pain coming from the childbed.” Dair poked the campfire with a stick, sending a shower of flickering embers rising up into the night sky.
Ellie stretched her back and shoulders before kneeling down to warm her hands over the fire. They’d ridden hard all day, following in the direction Baby had led them. It felt like the longest day of her life, knowing Caden was held captive in that horrible place.
Must hurry. Smells of death, Baby had told her.
“Well, of course it does,” she’d reasoned. “If it’s as old as you say, I’m sure there have been many wars and battles fought there.”
No. Fresh death.
A shiver ran through Ellie’s body as she remembered the conversation.
Soon. She’d be there soon to free Caden.
Two moons, Baby had told her. Tonight was the first.
If only she could stop thinking of Caden suffering. Desperate, hungry, hurt.
It wasn’t just her imagination running wild with her fear. When she’d first reached Baby outside Dun Ard, asking what had happened to Caden, he had flooded her mind with the pictures and sensations from his memory, each so real it was as if she’d been there herself.
Pictures of Caden’s wrists raw and bleeding, bound around a tree trunk. She could feel his fingers, cold from exposure and lack of circulation when they’d stroked Baby’s muzzle, as if they had touched her.
She’d heard his voice as he’d sent Baby to find her.
She’d seen him with a rope knotted around his neck, a look of utter desolation on his face. And when he’d turned, struggling to climb a horrible, rickety ladder, pulled forward by that awful rope, she could clearly see blood matting the back of his hair.
She would save him. She would. If only she could come up with some plan to actually get him out of there.
“And what of you, Ellie? Have you family awaiting your return home?” Alycie watched her expectantly.
Her companions had no idea just how far away “home” actually was for her and
she had no intention of enlightening them, in spite of Alycie’s subtle attempt to learn more about her.
“No. No family,” she responded honestly.
Nothing waited for her but a no-account, sorry excuse for a stepfather squatting on her property against her wishes. A wave of frustration rolled over her. She couldn’t do any more about Ray than she could about what was happening to Caden at this very minute. It was as if everything important was beyond her control, weighing so heavily on her mind it threatened to bury her.
If she could keep her companions talking, she wouldn’t have to think. Not about the ranch, not about Ray and most especially not about Caden.
“So which of you is older?”
“She is.” Dair grinned, pointing at his sister. “By several minutes.”
“Minutes?” His response surprised her. “Are you twins?”
“Hard to believe when you look at Dair and me together, is it no?” Alycie smiled fondly at her brother.
It did seem hard to believe. Dair was so large and Alycie so tiny. But as Ellie studied them in the firelight, she began to pick out their similarities. Their coloring, their soft brown eyes, even their expressions. When they smiled, each had a dimple on one side that appeared briefly.
No wonder Caden loved her.
The thought made Ellie want to gasp for air, a physical pain spearing through her guts.
Challenge little female for your pack mate. Baby’s soft growl as he curled up beside Ellie was obviously meant for her ears alone.
Challenge? What good would that do? No, the best she could hope for was to accept the inevitable. All of this was making her stronger. It was. Somehow she’d free Caden so he could have his perfect little dimple-faced wife, and then she’d go home and find some way to make Ray Stanton wish to hell he’d never crossed paths with her. She would go on. Without Caden.
You challenge. You fight. The thought rolled through her mind again, more forceful this time.
Baby repeated the directive Missy had given her days ago. Even out here, miles away, the bossy little terrier still ruled as far as Baby was concerned.
People don’t do it that way. We don’t fight. We accept.
Ellie sent the thought to the big dog beside her as she stroked his head. That’s what she needed to do. She had to accept and get on with life.
You mean roll over. Expose underbelly. Give up.
Ellie barely stopped herself from answering out loud. She didn’t mean that at all. She was simply being practical.
“So…” She dragged out the word in the silence that had grown. She needed to face it, to get over it just like she’d told Baby. “Will there be a big ceremony? For the wedding, I mean.”
“There’s to be a wedding? Who’s to wed?” Dair smiled quizzically as he lifted the jug his sister had handed him.
“Alycie and Caden, of course.”
Dair began to cough, choking on the wine he’d just swallowed, and Alycie hurried to his side to pound his back.
“Where did you get such a fanciful notion?” Alycie asked when at last she looked up.
“Well, Steafan told me…”
“You need say no more. That explains it well enough.” Dair rubbed at his eyes as he shook his head. “Our older brother oversteps himself again.”
Alycie returned to her spot near the fire. “I’m sorry if Steafan misled you, Ellie. He canna seem to accept the truth of the matter.”
“The truth?” Ellie felt totally confused. Alycie hadn’t come back to Dun Ard to marry Caden?
“Aye. In spite of what Steafan thinks, I’m happy with what I’ve chosen for my life.”
“It’s no even about you,” Dair interrupted. “You ken that as well as I do. Steafan sees it as a reflection on him. He always has. He sees only that yer choice dinna result in the life he’d imagined for himself. You’d think it was him sent to Iona, no you.”
Alycie shrugged. “It’s no matter. My choice is made. I’d no marry any man and most particularly not Caden MacAlister.”
Ellie leaned forward, questions flaring through her mind like Fourth of July fireworks. “Why not?”
Dair grinned, his dimple flashing into view for an instant. “Alycie has given her life over to the nunnery at Iona. She canna marry.”
Alycie nodded her agreement.
“You’re a nun?” Disbelief rolled over Ellie in waves. “I thought you guys had to wear special outfits and stuff.”
“Steafan is not the only family member who has difficulty with the path I’ve chosen for my life.” Alycie lifted the ribbon around her neck and held up an ornate little cross that had been hidden under the high neck of her shift. “I wear only this when I come home because the plain robes bother my mother as well. And since my whole purpose in coming was to comfort her while we waited to learn of Dair’s fate, I saw no reason to add to her upset.”
Ellie looked to Dair. “You don’t seem to have any problem with what your sister has chosen to do with her life.”
“I’ve always believed Alycie and I are opposite sides of the same coin. She follows her heart to Iona and I follow mine into battle. She accepts my decision no to live the life others expect of us and I accept hers.” He shrugged and the grin returned. “Besides, even if she could wed, the idea of joining a family of Fae descendants is more than she could handle, is it no, Sister?”
Alycie, eyes wide, nodded her head vigorously as she rubbed her thumb over her little cross. “That it is. Even if I were denied service at Iona, I could no live as the wife of a pagan.”
“Another point of disagreement we simply accept in one another,” Dair added as he put the cork back in the jug he held. “And on that note I’d say it’s time we get some rest. We’ve an early start tomorrow.”
Ellie nodded her agreement and rolled out her blanket. Though she snuggled into the warm wool and Baby cuddled next to her, she doubted she’d get much sleep. Between her worry over Caden’s safety and tonight’s conversation, she had too much to think about to drift off peacefully.
“I canna see why you think it a bad plan.” Alycie’s innocent gaze moved from Dair to Ellie and back again. “You saw them for yerselves when we watched the keep this morn. Surely these are men in desperate need of salvation. Dair could pass for a monk and us for nuns who travel with him. We could carry the gospel to these men and pass inside their gates.”
Ellie stared at the woman, wondering how she could say any of what poured from her mouth with a straight face. Was anyone on the face of the planet really that naïve? In the first place, no one in their right minds would ever confuse Dair for a monk. He was no Caden, of course, but he certainly didn’t have the look of a man pledged to live a life of celibacy.
And either she’d seen way too many movies or she and Alycie had spied on completely different men this morning. Because while those guys she’d seen might look like they needed salvation, they also looked like the kind who would slit the throats of anyone stupid enough to try and deliver it. Or worse.
As they’d hidden in the trees and watched the men on the wall walk, Baby’s warning had been crystal clear. Even Dair had noticed the dog’s hackles rise and had reached out a comforting hand to pat the creature.
Baby had lifted his nose, scenting what they couldn’t see. Must use care. Blood Pack inside.
“You hunt. You probably smell like blood to them, too.” Ellie had tried to dismiss the warning at first.
Baby smell of animal blood. Not Hu-man blood.
The very idea had turned Ellie’s stomach. And now Alycie wanted to march through the gates with redemption on her lips? Not freakin’ likely.
Fortunately Dair agreed.
He placed an arm around his sister’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “The men behind those gates have no interest in the charity and goodness you’d offer, Sister. It’s evil they have in their hearts and minds.”
“You make a good point,” Ellie reasoned slowly as the seeds of a plan took root. “So, if we can’t get in by being goo
d, maybe we can get in by being bad.” She grinned at the puzzled looks confronting her. “We’ll pretend to be traveling working girls. Dair can be our pimp. I’d bet that would appeal to this bunch.”
Her companions continued to watch her quizzically.
“I’m no familiar with the work of these girls nor the role of this pimp you suggest for me.” Dair shook his head, his brow wrinkled.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Ellie sighed. The language barrier could be so irritating at times like this. “Working girl. What do you call women who have sex with men for money?”
Alycie gasped, her hands flying to her chest as understanding dawned on the face of her brother.
“Whores? You’d suggest that the two of you pretend to be common whores?”
“Can you think of a better way?” Ellie watched him closely as he considered her idea.
“I’m no sure at all I want to ask what this pimp might do.” Dair actually looked a bit pale at the thought.
“He’s the…um…girls’ manager. Their boss. He sets everything up and collects the money.”
“Ah.” Dair nodded his head, relief plain on his face. “That I can handle.”
“Alycie?”
Ellie waited for a response, watching closely as the other woman took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before nodding her agreement.
“I’ll do it. But only because it’s my brother’s life as well as Caden’s.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Ellie started for her horse but stopped as Dair stepped in her path, his arms crossed, a speculative expression on his face.
“What?”
“As yer pimp”—he grinned as if he rather enjoyed the word now—“I’m no too happy with the way you look, lass. Dressed as you are, you’d be easy to mistake for a lady, aye?” He stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. “But I think I can correct that.”
A Highlander of Her Own Page 17