Dreamer (Highland Treasure Trilogy)

by McGoldrick, May

  “I would save your blessings, Abbot, for you may need them for yourself before this day is finished.”

  The white-haired priest made no response to the threat, but took his time finishing his prayer. He gave one last look at the fallen monk before stepping past Sir Arthur, through the cell door before them.

  The Deputy Lieutenant, entering behind him, walked over to a small wiry man who was stripped to the waist and standing over the lacerated body of another monk. The cleric appeared unconscious, his wrists tied above his head to an iron ring that had been driven into the wall.

  “Do you see what awaits you, Abbot?”

  The monk by the wall stirred. A hand twitching, a foot moving slightly across the dirt, the man’s head lifted in an attempt to see the newcomers. His eyes were nearly swollen shut.

  “The fate of all men is the same, Sir Arthur,” the abbot replied, bending over the badly beaten body. “But what we have to answer for, thereafter, will be quite different.”

  “Do not try to frighten me with schoolboys' tales, Priest.” He kicked at the naked leg of the monk. “This arrogant fool has baited me and tested my patience for far too long.”

  The abbot said nothing, but the wounded monk opened his mouth, mumbling unintelligible words through puffed, split lips.

  “Not so eloquent today, it seems.” Sir Arthur sneered at the man. He turned to the abbot. “I’ll tell you this, old man. As the king’s deputy, I answer to one man in this world. And my solemn oath to Henry--God’s own anointed king--requires that I obey his wishes.” Courtenay took the abbot’s cowl in his fist and dragged the older man up until he could look directly into his face. His rasping voice was cold and harsh. “And he wishes to have the Treasure of Tiberius turned over to him.”

  “Not...the...king...” the monk gasped. He coughed, blood spattering the floor and the hem of the abbot’s gown. He gathered his strength and peered up accusingly at the Deputy Lieutenant “‘Tis...you! Not...the king...”

  The abbot turned his gaze from the monk’s broken face to the cold, haughty features of Sir Arthur. He shook his head. “I have no knowledge of any treasure. This...this Treasure of Tiberius. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “You lie!” Courtenay spat, shoving the abbot onto the ground beside the other man. “Those Percy bitches did not start digging the same day that they left. They knew someone would be looking...and they took steps to hide the treasure.”

  “I tell you I don’t know what...”

  “I only came to know of the treasure through this monk, when he came asking...nay, begging me to tell him what their father knew!” Sir Arthur yanked the older man up again by the cowl and stared menacingly at him. “If ‘twas not for me that they were devising this merry ‘robin chase the worm,’ then who was to be the robin?”

  The abbot gaped blankly.

  “From what I have just learned this morning, for weeks they were traveling to a number of the northern shires’ abbeys and monasteries. Don’t try to tell me that you don’t know where they went--or when they were away from your abbey. Don’t try to tell me you didn’t send someone after them!”

  With a vicious butt to the abbot’s head, the deputy turned and flung the aging monk against the rough stone wall. Stunned and gasping for breath, the old man sagged and slipped down beside the bloodied monk. Blood began to trickle from his forehead.

  “From the first moment I learned of this treasure, you have all been lying to me. But now my patience is spent. That time is finished. I’ve already sent men to bring the Percy sluts to me. Between you two and them, I’ll get what I am after.”

  Through the blood and the pain, the monk bound to the wall still managed a hideous grimace that might have been a smile. “You admit...‘tis you...only you...and you don’t...know...don’t know...”

  The deputy loomed over him. “You think you can bring on death just by baiting me? Nay, my arrogant friend. You’ve got more pain coming than you ever thought possible.”

  “I know...you...won’t kill me. You...don’t know...what the treas...treasure...is.”

  The mouth of the king’s deputy curled at one corner. “‘Pride cometh before the fall.’ We will make you cry out just for the sport of it. For now that I have the great abbot here with us, he can...”

  “I don’t know what you two speak of, Sir Arthur.” The abbot was panting for breath, his face showing his confusion. “True, the Percy girls were my charges for a time. But this...this treasure? By the Virgin, I know of no treasure.”

  The monk let his head roll against the stone wall and gave a choked laugh. “You don’t...know...he won’t know. ‘Tis a secret!”

  The Deputy Lieutenant gave the monk a vicious backhand, causing fresh blood to spurt from his misshapen face.

  “I know all I need to know. You have told me so yourself. The Treasure of Tiberius is the greatest treasure in Christendom! Many have killed to possess it, you said.” His voice lowered to a rasping whisper. “‘Twas the real--though secret--reason for an entire Crusade, you said. But the whereabouts of it...now, that’s the mystery, you said. Until ‘twas learned that the Percy’s...”

  “You...know...nothing! Its worth...its hiding...place...fool.”

  Arthur Courtenay drove a fist into the monk’s face, causing the man’s head to snap around and spraying blood halfway across the cell.

  “Well, my two buggering whoresons. Between the two of you, I’ll learn what I need to know before the first of those sluts is brought to my lair.” The deputy nodded to his jailer to approach the abbot. “And make no mistake about it. Before I am through, you’ll tell me what you know about the Treasure of Tiberius...and those sluts will beg me on their knees to let them lead me to it!”

  *****

  As the heavy damask curtains were pulled open, the late morning sun spilled in, chasing the gloom from the large bedchamber.

  Nodding her approval to the serving woman who stood with an uncertain look by one of the shutters, Catherine gently placed a hand on Susan’s sleeve as she passed and whispered something into her ear. The younger woman nodded and hurried from the room without a word.

  “Catherine Stewart!” the dowager scolded from where she sat propped up with pillows in her bed. “It does not please me to have ultimatums delivered to me in advance of your arrival.”

  Catherine smiled at the departing Auld Mab. The older woman paused only long enough to shoo another young serving woman from her place on a small stool by the hearth. The dowager and Catherine were left alone.

  “Mother-in-law, I was not so much issuing an ultimatum as offering alternatives for such a pleasant day.”

  The dowager groused a bit and then patted the bed beside her. Catherine obediently moved closer and sat on the edge.

  “And I suppose you call going blind with all the coverings to the windows removed is a pleasant alternative to being dragged outside into the gardens where I can catch my death?”

  Catherine smiled cheerfully and placed a hand on top of Lady Anne’s. “Do you know this is the first time you have called me by my husband’s name?”

  “You’re trying to change the subject.”

  “Nay, mother-in-law. I am glowing at your acceptance.”

  The dowager’s gray eyes gentled as they met Catherine’s. “You are carrying a bairn. A bairn of my own blood lineage. Despite all your stubbornness and willful disregard for my health, I’ve decided to put up with you.”

  Catherine smiled more openly. Pushing off her soft shoes, she climbed onto the bed and tucked her feet under her. “I told him.”

  “Which part did you tell him?”

  “All of it.” She beamed and whispered, “I told him how much I love him, and I revealed the truth that I am with child.”

  The older woman’s eyes narrowed. “And?”

  Catherine’s eyes rounded as they met dowager’s. “That was all! I thought ‘twas enough.”

  “Aye, for any man! But I want to know how he took it!”

&
nbsp; “I think he was pleased.” Catherine could hear the note of uncertainty in her voice.

  “I knew I did wrong not having him beaten more as a lad. The spoiled, ill-humored knave! Is that all he said? That he was pleased?”

  Catherine bit on her lower lip and watched the tempest brewing in the dowager’s face. She’d seen this in Athol’s face, as well. In some ways, he was definitely his mother’s son.

  “I think you are being too harsh on him.” Catherine said at last.

  “Am I?”

  “When I told him that I am in love with him...well...he was tender...affectionate. But at the news that he was to be a father! Well! I think he was too stunned to explain himself. He was...quiet, subdued. So I have decided to accept his reaction as being pleased!”

  In fact, the more Catherine thought about her husband’s immediate response, the better she felt about it. He had certainly been polite, nodding and forcing a smile--even hugging her and mumbling something about how wonderful it all was. And then he had simply retreated into his thoughts, obviously considering what it all meant.

  “So you are not angry, child? You are not going to run away to Elgin or flee on foot to the borders in search of your mother for my son’s treatment of you?”

  Catherine wrapped her hand around Lady Anne’s. “Nay, m’lady. I believe my mother has enough troubles on her mind. She has no need to be bothered with the day-to-day tribulations of a newly married daughter. So I’m sorry to disappoint you, mother-in-law, but I am here to stay.”

  “Very well!” she said, pushing Catherine’s hand away and trying unsuccessfully to hide her pleasure at hearing Catherine’s revelations. The dowager pointed at the small chest sitting on top of a table beside the bed. “Move that here, between us.”

  With a questioning glance at the older woman, Catherine did as she was told. Seating herself again on the bed, she watched as the dowager removed a chain from around her neck. As Lady Anne fingered the key at the end of the chain, Catherine considered another conversation that they had not quite finished.

  “Do you know where your husband took Adam after you asked to have the bairn taken away?”

  Lady Anne looked angrily at Catherine. “Young woman, you are not here to discuss Adam of the Glen! And I do not wish to hear that name mentioned again in my presence. Is that understood?”

  Catherine stubbornly shook her head. “I’m afraid I cannot agree to that, m’lady! As long as my husband is tormented by the man and...”

  “I have something of your mother’s for you.”

  The dowager’s words immediately silenced Catherine. Her gaze moved from the old woman’s face to the key dangling at the end of the chain to the chest that sat between them.

  “She had a messenger bring this to me right after I sent her the news that my son had forced you to become his wife.”

  “You have a way of corresponding with my mother? You know where she is?”

  The dowager waved a dismissive hand in the air before turning the key in the lock. “Disregard what I just told you, since even under pain of death, I will not again admit to what I just told you.”

  “But she is my mother, Lady Anne! I--”

  “‘Tis her wish, Catherine! Do not rebel against your own mother’s wishes. ‘Tis for your safety and the safety of your sisters that she doesn’t want her place of refuge known.” The dowager opened the small chest, took a small package from the inside, and handed it to her. “Be content with the knowledge that she is guiding your lives from a distance and...”

  “What do you mean, she is ‘guiding’ our lives? She found each of us a safe home in her native land. Are you telling me now that she is taking an active hand in...?”

  “Aye, aye, lass. Have it your way. If you want to believe the moon...or some mushroom...controls your destiny, think it so!” A secretive look flashed across Lady Anne’s wrinkled brow. “But open the packet and release me from your mother’s damnable curse.”

  “Curse?” Catherine looked down confusedly at the package in her hand.

  “She sent this thing, swearing me to greater secrecy than Moses knew in sending the Jews out of Egypt. And then she has the impertinence to write me that I cannot even die until such time that I decide you are secure enough here to receive this package.”

  Catherine’s fingers touched the softness of the parchment, and a knot formed in her throat. Her mother had held this in her own fingers.

  The dowager leaned back wearily against the pillows. “So, there you have it, daughter-in-law. Open it! I am done with it.”

  Quickly, Catherine turned and dropped the packet in the dowager’s lap.

  “If you think that you can die now, simply because you have fulfilled a promise to my mother, then you are wrong.” She shook her head resolutely. “I’m not accepting this.”

  “Stop your babbling, you blue-eyed harridan, and open the package.”

  “Only if you stop talking as if the angel of death were perched at your bedside.”

  “Have no fear about that, lass. There is no angel in this room...that I can see! Only a eldritch creature with a sharp tongue and wit enough to worry me to death.”

  Catherine frowned. “I do not find that humorous, Lady Anne. I’ve become quite fond of you, and here you are accusing me of...”

  “Just open it, Catherine, before I have Auld Mab come in here and toss it into the fire!”

  Reluctantly taking the package again from the dowager’s hand, Catherine broke open the seal and unfolded the parchment on her lap. Inside of it she found a section of an ancient map, and opened it, as well.

  “She must think I am very secure here to have forwarded this to me.”

  The older woman peered down at the marks and symbols on the vellum sheet. “What is this, Catherine,” she said caustically, “the map to Jerusalem?”

  “Nay, Lady Anne!” Catherine whispered. “‘Tis a portion of the map to the hiding place of the Treasure of Tiberius.”

  “Treasure?” The dowager leaned forward, her face lit with interest. “Now this has the ring of something that could stir an old woman’s blood.”

  “‘Tis very valuable. It has been in the safekeeping of my family since the time of Crusades to the Holy Land.”

  Catherine’s fingers traced the fine lines of the map as she read over her mother’s message. When she was finished, she looked up at the dowager.

  “Though I’ve never seen it, I know this is only one of three portions that make up a greater map. When the time is right, Laura and Adrianne shall also receive their own portions of the map. And if the need arrives--should my mother not survive this terrible time--then the three of us shall act together and move the treasure to a safer place.”

  The dowager’s face was dark with concern. “It sounds a wee bit complicated, Catherine...and dangerous, too.”

  “It must be complicated...to make finding the treasure impossible for those who are after it.”

  “Are they many who know of it?”

  “Aye, Lady Anne. A number of groups of men know of it and seek it!” Catherine lowered her voice. “We were told stories as children that those who seek the Treasure of Tiberius were everywhere--searching the four corners of the world. I believe they could even be here in the Highlands, and some of these people are ruthless, greedy men who misunderstand the value of the treasure. For them, no crime is too horrible. No action is too hateful. In their quest, no life is so sacred that it will not be snuffed out if that will help them claim their prize!”

  The dowager frowned, worry deepening the lines of her face.

  “There is another group, though,” Catherine continued, “who have a truer understanding of Tiberius and want it for their own purpose. Because of who they are, my mother never believed them to be vicious or violent men. But what their true motives are is unknown to us.”

  The older woman reached out and squeezed her daughter-in-law’s hand with her bony fingers.

  “Catherine, however valuable this treasure is, ‘t
is not so valuable that you need to risk your life for it. I tell you that you won’t be needing anything here. Your husband took you with no dowry, and he will provide you with all the riches of the world, should you ask for it. I want you safe and away from this madness. Whatever you need will be provided, Catherine, and everything I have is yours. Perhaps, if your sisters require it...”

  Catherine placed a hand affectionately on top of the dowager’s. The old woman’s generosity warmed her heart, but her concern meant even more.

  “I’ve never considered this as wealth, and I know my sisters do not see it that way, either. We all have been told, though, that ‘tis our responsibility to keep it safe.” Catherine’s gaze dropped to the lines and symbols. “It has always been something that we know would fall to us to keep safe. Why, when my father was imprisoned by the king, my sisters and I spent a great deal of time establishing a false trail to the treasure, though ‘tis possible no one will ever follow it. But the Treasure of Tiberius is nothing I would desire for myself. ‘Tis too much for any one person to possess.”

  “Well, I’m too old and too wise to ask any more questions. The last thing I want is to find myself any deeper in your mother’s accursed schemes.” The dowager pushed the chest toward Catherine and handed her the chain and the key. “So as long as you promise not to run off without your husband to some mysterious treasure trove, then I’ll try to be civil and even assist you with whatever you need regarding the school...my grandchild...”

  “And answer some of my questions regarding Athol and even Adam?”

  “You are a bold and obstinate hussy!”

  “I am only a concerned wife. One who is trying as well to become a devoted daughter.”

  The dowager leaned heavily against the pillows, shooting an exasperated glance at Catherine. “You’ll never give up, will you, child!”

  She gently squeezed one of Lady Anne’s bony hands. “There is too much that is not known, mother-in-law. Somehow, we must end this war between them, and I believe you--as much as anyone--will be grateful to have it all behind us.”