Forgiving Hearts: Duncurra 1-3

by Ceci Giltenan

  “Can I go too, da?” Maeve MacBain pleaded. “I want to play with the dogs.”

  “Me too, Da,” Kieran said. “Tomas, do ye like dogs? Maybe Da will let ye come too.” Apparently, Tomas MacIan and Kieran had become great friends over the last few days.

  Fingal’s wish for Quinn to keep Fallon and Ailsa occupied was quickly turning into something much larger. Gillian leaned close to Fingal’s ear. “Quinn may return to his father if ye saddle him with a gaggle of children,” she teased.

  He winked at her, whispering back, “Not a chance. There are more children at Carraigile.” Then he said, “Niall, it is a fine day and we have some things to discuss. Perhaps we can trouble Kira and Edna to join this outing and help mind all the children.”

  Niall nodded. “Aye, Turcuil and Keavy can go as well. They are just wee lads in big bodies themselves.” Everyone at the table laughed.

  “And since that’s the case, Laird, perhaps I should go too, to keep an eye on the lot,” teased Bran MacBain. “Do ye mind?”

  “Nay, go right ahead. Take anyone ye need.”

  The message was clear. The children would have an outing, but only under the watchful eye of a substantial guard.

  After they had all left and the tables were cleared, Fingal and the elders were ready to hear the results of Katherine’s search of Rhiannon’s cottage. Her initial statement came as a surprise to everyone.

  “I found nothing but some commonly used safe herbs, no foxglove.”

  “Ye found nothing suspicious at all?” Gillian was certain that Rhiannon had been responsible for everything. If she didn’t have any of the herbs, who else could it have been?

  “I wouldn’t exactly say that. In my opinion, finding nothing was suspicious in itself. Pennyroyal and tansy are common enough herbs and when used in the right way, they have benefits. I would have expected her to have some of both of them. Also, we know she gave ye poppy extract. She had none of that either.”

  “She had none?” Archie asked. “But she gave it to me once when I was having terrible pain from gout. She seemed to have quite a large supply.”

  “That is why I think it odd. Most healers have some.”

  “Aye and someone drugged the wine I drank the night of the fire,” Gillian observed.

  “What?” demanded Nolan. “Someone tried to drug ye before? Why are we just learning of this?”

  Gillian realized this hadn’t been common knowledge as soon as she had said it. Now she had to explain. “Nolan, there has been more than one attempt on our lives.”

  Daniel too looked affronted. “More than one? We should have known this before now? Were ye trying to get Gillian killed, Laird?”

  Fingal shook his head. “Nay, I wasn’t. But I wasn’t completely sure it wasn’t an accident at the time. Some guardsmen knew, still I wasn’t sure who to trust.”

  “What else has happened?” Archie asked.

  “My fall during the boar hunt was not an accident. Hearn found that someone had cut partially cut through the cinch on my saddle. We also suspect the fire was not an accident. Gillian drank from a decanter of wine in our chamber, but I had only a mouthful. It tasted odd, but I couldn’t place it at the time. I know now it was poppy I tasted. I suspect whoever put it there did so to keep us from waking as they entered the room to start the fire. I did have trouble waking Gillian when I discovered the blaze. If we had both drunk the wine, we would have died.”

  “Whoever did that had to have access to yer chamber,” observed Owen. “Neither Rhiannon, nor Coby would have been able to do it without being noticed. Rhiannon rarely comes to the keep.”

  Archie shook his head in disgust. “That brings us squarely back to Lana.”

  Nolan watched the exchange with his brows furrowed, a pensive expression on his face. “Nay, it doesn’t.”

  “Of course it does. Who else would have a motive to help Rhiannon?” Owen asked.

  “No one. But Rhiannon might have known a way to access the room without being seen.”

  “How is that possible?” Fingal asked.

  “Niall, does Duncurra have a bolt hole?” Nolan asked.

  “Nay. Built on the crag as it is, it is practically impregnable but there is no secret escape route.”

  “Well there is one in Brathanead.”

  “Do ye mean to tell me someone can just enter Brathanead through a secret door? Where is it?” demanded Fingal.

  “It is in yer chamber, Laird. One of the pillars of the mantel slides forward, creating a small opening behind it. A narrow set of stairs is built into the wall, winding down to a man-made tunnel below the keep. There is a fortified door that locks from the inside where it connects to a natural tunnel. The natural caves honeycomb the area under the cliffs. If ye don’t know the way, ye can become lost. There is but one exit and it is apparently through a narrow fissure, near the bottom of the cliffs.”

  “Why did no one inform me of it?”

  “Frankly, Laird, almost no one knows. The existence of the bolt hole and the route out of the caverns is something which was passed from father to son. Clearly ye wouldn’t wish enemies to know it exists, even though the entrance is nearly impossible to find if ye don’t know the way. It was intended to remain secret and I thought Malcolm took the secret to his grave.”

  “But ye know where it is?”

  “Aye, I do. But while I know how to open it, I don’t know how to traverse the caves to the exit. I would sooner face an enemy than go blindly into those caves.”

  “If it is such a well-guarded secret, how could Rhiannon know about it?”

  “Nuala must have told her,” Owen said.

  Noland nodded. “Aye, I suspect so. Nuala would have known. Rhiannon was her friend and companion. I suspect Nuala told her.”

  “That would explain how she gained access to our chamber to drug the wine. I suppose if the entrance is by the hearth, she wouldn’t have had to open it far to nudge the log out. That’s how I slept through it.”

  “Laird, it is a very narrow opening to begin with and it opens nearly silently. It would have been unlikely to make enough noise to wake ye even if fully opened.”

  “Considering the opening to the caves is in the cliff wall, I’ll wager Rhiannon is either hiding in the caves or the tunnel.” Niall said.

  “Show me, now,” commanded Fingal. “Gillian, ye stay here. Eadoin, Alan, and Gavin, ye stand guard until we return.”

  ~ * ~

  Fingal led Niall, the elders, and a number of men to his chamber. Nolan went to the pillar on the right side of the hearth. “This is the one. Ye just put yer hands on either side, then pull.” He demonstrated and the pillar slid silently forward across the width of the mantel. “It was meant to serve as an escape for women and children, so I expect that is why it opens with such ease.”

  Fingal shook his head in disbelief. “Get torches. We need to search the tunnel for her.”

  Niall poked his head through the opening. “Fingal, ye have to stay here.”

  “I have no intention of staying here. I must find her.”

  “I understand that, but the passage is extremely tight. With yer broken arm, ye’ll never be able to maneuver. I’ll take several men. If she is in the tunnel we will find her. If she isn’t, we’ll come back for rope so we don’t get lost searching the caves.”

  Fingal too entered the passage to see for himself and to his irritation, he realized Niall was right. When the men returned with torches, Niall entered with them. Fingal and the elders waited.

  A shocked expression suddenly crossed Archie’s face. “Dear God, I just realized, ye and Gillian have been sleeping in here the last two nights. She could have entered and killed one or both of ye.”

  Then Fingal remembered. “I think she may have attempted to. Bodie woke us growling several times over the last few nights. I thought he heard the men in the hall but I expect the grizzled old git did try again.”

  Sooner than any of them expected, Niall squeezed his huge frame back thro
ugh the entryway. “We found her in the tunnel, but she’s in a bad way. She is burning up with fever and delirious.”

  Another man backed out of the entrance, holding Rhiannon under the arms, followed by a second man who had her feet.

  Rhiannon was clearly not in her right mind. “Ye’ll see, ye’ll see, ye can’t get through that way. Go the other way. I told ye, left out right in. That beast won’t let ye past this way. He’ll bite yer arse, mark my words.”

  Fingal jumped to action. “Let’s get her to a room. Niall, please fetch Katherine.”

  “Rhiannon, ye are safe now. Calm down,” Owen said.

  “Owen, ye auld bag of wind. No one is safe from that beast.”

  The men carried her to an empty chamber. Fingal held the door as they passed.

  When Rhiannon saw him she shrieked, “Malcolm MacLennan, I thought ye went to hell.”

  “Should we restrain her before we go, Laird?” one of the men carrying her asked.

  Fingal shook his head. “Not unless she causes trouble. She seems weak and confused.”

  “Ye belong in hell, Malcolm. Ye had to dip yer wick in any lass that wiggled her arse in yer direction didn’t ye? How dare ye disgrace my sweet Nuala that way?

  Nolan arched an eyebrow at Fingal. “Well ye do look a lot like Malcolm.”

  Niall, Katherine, Gillian, and Lana entered the room. Katherine carried her bag of healing supplies.

  “Och, and there’s one now. The laird kept ye for a bit on the side didn’t he, Lana? Even after he married ye off to his cousin ye spread yer unworthy legs for him. I know ye did.”

  Lana went ashen but Gillian asked, “What is she talking about?”

  Katherine crossed to the bedside and touched Rhiannon’s leathered face. “She’s burning up with fever and is delirious, Gillian, pay no mind.” Katherine didn’t have to look far for the source of the fever. Rhiannon’s hand was red and swollen to twice its size. Red streaks went up her arm and pus oozed from puncture wounds on her hand. “She has been bitten by something.”

  “It was that hellhound Gillian keeps.” Rhiannon raised her head to get closer to Katherine and whispered loudly, “she simply would not die. All I was going to do was take a pillow from the bed and help a bit. That crazed beast bit me. But it’s all right. She was dying anyway.”

  Ignoring her, Katherine took a damp cloth and began to clean the wound. “Lana, would ye mind fetching me some hot water.” Lana nodded and hurried from the room.

  “Lana has a secret. I almost told it to Gillian, but she died.”

  “What secret is that, Rhiannon,” Katherine asked calmly. Everyone in the room remained quiet.

  “Ye’re very pretty.”

  “Thank ye. But ye were telling me about a secret.”

  “Och, which one? I know a few.”

  “Lana’s secret.”

  Rhiannon snorted.

  “Has Lana been helping ye?” Katherine persisted.

  “With what?”

  “With Fingal and Gillian.”

  Rhiannon snorted again. “Nay, certainly not. She is much too stupid. Stupid people are so easy to manipulate.”

  “Then she didn’t help ye kill Gillian?”

  “Nay. That was all my idea. No one but Coby helped me. After all, he stood to gain the most. She is pretty too, but I warned him not to fall in love.”

  “Who’s pretty? Why should Coby not fall in love?”

  Rhiannon’s face turned into a mask of rage. “Because Malcolm’s gits must not live. I told Coby to get a child or two off of her then we would rid the world of another one.”

  Katherine was confused. “Another what, Rhiannon?”

  “Are ye stupid too? Another one of Malcolm’s gits.” Gillian glanced around and saw her own shock mirrored on the faces of everyone in the room, including her mother who had just returned with a jug of hot water and a mug.

  “How do ye know that, Rhiannon?” Katherine asked gently.

  “It wasn’t hard to guess. Lana had panted after Malcolm for years. She flirted openly with him even after she was married.”

  “I-I—” Lana started to protest.

  “Not now Lana,” Fingal ordered in a hushed voice.

  Rhiannon continued as if she hadn’t heard them. “There were whispers. I thought it possible the babe was his when I made that silly prediction. That’s how the sight works, ye ken. I make calculated guesses. Nuala was barren. If Malcolm had an illegitimate son in his own clan, I knew he would recognize him so I predicted the babe would rise above all others.” She evidently found this amusing. She cackled hysterically.

  Katherine worked while Rhiannon babbled. She measured herbs from one of her bags into the mug and filled it with hot water. Then, taking the bowl from the washstand she added different herbs and filled the bowl with hot water. “But yer prediction was wrong. Lana didn’t have a son.”

  “Nay, but a lass can become a leader when there are no sons and my son could marry a daughter.”

  “I suppose he could.”

  “But the cursed king interfered. Fallon and Coby should be leading this clan.” She grinned malevolently. “But I fixed it. I killed the laird and his wife.”

  “How did ye manage that?” Katherine dipped a towel into the hot solution and wrung it out.

  Rhiannon gloated. “I poisoned Gillian with foxglove but she wouldn’t die. Meara was much easier to kill. So I gave Gillian enough poppy to kill a horse.”

  “And the laird?”

  Rhiannon cackled again. “I shoved him off the cliff.”

  Katherine wrapped the hot towel around her hand. Rhiannon screamed, “The devil take ye, lass, what are ye trying to do?”

  “I have to draw the poison out, Rhiannon. Ye are healer, surely ye know that.”

  “Shhhh. That’s not where I keep the poison. Don’t tell anyone I have it.”

  “I won’t, Rhiannon. Other than Meara, Gillian, and Fingal, have ye killed anyone else?”

  “Nay. Not here leastways.”

  “Did ye intend to kill more people with the fire?”

  “I didn’t set the fire, Coby did. He didn’t want to burn the keep down. After all it was to be his. He just wanted to make a lot of smoke. He wet the rushes ye see, and pulled the burning log out. They were supposed to stay asleep. I had given him poppy to put in the wine. If everything had gone right, the smoke would have strangled them while they slept.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t know what happened. Coby swears the decanter was empty. They should have slept. That was a mistake.”

  “I see.” Katherine rewet the cloth to rewarm it and wrapped it around her hand again.

  Rhiannon didn’t react as strongly this time. “Lass, that hurts. I told ye the poison isn’t in my hand.” She closed her eyes but tossed her head restlessly.

  Katherine slipped her arm under the old woman’s shoulders, raising her from the bed. She put the mug to her lips. “Ye need to drink this now, Rhiannon. We need to bring yer fever down.”

  Rhiannon took a mouthful then spit it out. “Don’t drink that lass and don’t give it to me. The tisane is poisoned.”

  “Nay Rhiannon, this one isn’t the one that was poisoned. Ye must drink it.”

  Rhiannon narrowed her eyes before slapping the mug in Katherine’s hands, spilling most of its contents. “Ye can’t poison me. I won’t make that mistake.”

  “Rhiannon, I promise ye it isn’t poisoned. I’m trying to help ye.” Katherine tried again but Rhiannon pursed her lips, turning her head away as a balky child would.

  “I. Won’t. Drink. It.” She closed her eyes.

  “All right, Rhiannon, I won’t force ye.” Katherine rewarmed the cloth again.

  When she wrapped Rhiannon’s hand with it, the old woman groaned a little but offered no further complaint. After a moment, she opened her eyes and they were filled with tears. “Coby died.”

  “I know Rhiannon. I am sorry for your loss.”

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Coby made some mistakes. H
e missed with the rock and the arrow. But he was my son.”

  “I know, Rhiannon.”

  Rhiannon closed her eyes again. Katherine replaced the warm cloth before turning to address those standing in the room. “The wound is very bad. It is poisoning her body. I will keep trying but there is little to do for her.”

  “Will the tisane help?” Fingal asked. “Maybe we can help get it down her.”

  “It has willow bark in it. It would ease her pain a little and maybe help break her fever but the wound has gone too long without being tended. I fear it is festered beyond my ability to heal it. Perhaps ye should send for Father Stephen.”

  “She doesn’t deserve God’s blessing,” Owen said.

  Fingal frowned. Part of him agreed with Owen. Rhiannon had done unthinkable things. She killed Meara and very nearly killed Gillian. He didn’t even want to think about the tansy and pennyroyal. Still he would not deny a priest to a dying person. “That isn’t for us to decide. God’s mercy is His own to give.”

  “Ye are right. It isn’t our decision,” agreed Gillian.

  Daniel nodded. “I’ll find him.”

  “I’ll continue to do what I can for her but I don’t think she’ll wake again. Fingal, ye and Gillian don’t need to stay here. None of ye do. Rhiannon and Coby clearly acted alone in this.”

  “I will not leave ye here alone with her no matter how ill she is,” declared Niall.

  “Aye, and while she seems to have revealed everything, I will stay to hear it in case there is more,” Nolan said.

  “I’ll stay too,” Archie said. “I am shocked by all of this, but I considered her a friend.”

  “Very well then. Send for me if ye need me for any reason.” Fingal put his arm around Gillian, gently guiding her out of the room.

  ~ * ~

  Gillian was still very weak from the foxglove in her system and the revelations of the day had further drained her. She and Fingal went straight to their chamber. It wasn’t long before Lana knocked at their door wanting to speak with Gillian about the things Rhiannon had said. “I need to explain it to her. I need her to understand.”

  Fingal refused her. “I agree there is explaining to do but there will be time later.”