Highland Wolf Read online

  “We will win this time, willnae we, Ida?”

  “Och, aye, I dinnae doubt that for a moment.”

  “I cannae believe she was able to e’en stand up let alone walk all the way here in search of us,” said Tormand the minute they entered Simon’s bedchamber.

  Simon poured them each a goblet of ale and handed Tormand his. “She doesnae look as if she would have such strength, yet it took a great deal to do what she did. E’en her ribs are wrapped tightly, meaning they were badly bruised or worse. And I can tell ye that e’en breathing with such wounds can be an agony.”

  “So, ye are nay longer afraid that she cannae be trusted.”

  “Nay, but it really isnae because she came here all battered. Aye, that actually moves me to think she is a good woman, but nay, it was that look she got when ye called her James’ Annora. Despite all the swelling and the bruises, ye could see that that delighted her and then she said oh, that sounds nice.” He grinned briefly when Tormand laughed at Simon’s attempt to imitate Armora’s voice. “It held that almost too sweet note of a woman who believes she is in love.”

  Tormand shook his head. “Ye are a cynic, Simon. A hard mon. Mayhap someday ye will tell me what has made ye so sour on such things as love and marriage and put that soul deep distrust of women inside ye.”

  “Mayhap. Right now what I think of it all doesnae matter. I do believe that she feels she is a woman in love and she has done something extraordinary because of that. I just wish that James had told ye of the secret way in and out of Dunncraig and then that poor woman could have crawled into a bed where she belonged and had some maid tend to all her bruises.”

  “Weel, James had intended to tell me, e’en draw me a map, but then everything went wrong at Dunncraig and he had to try and escape.”

  “’Tis good the lass kens it, then, or your brother would have no chance of surviving this, and we both ken that MacKay willnae gift him with a swift, clean death.”

  Tormand took a deep drink and then studied the wooden goblet he held. This is one of James’. One of his more simple designs. The innkeeper must have bought them for these, his best bedchambers.” He sighed and looked at Simon. “I ken weel what MacKay is. I ken that the moment MacKay rode back through the gates of Dunncraig my brother would soon be suffering a lot of pain. James will abide it if he must. He will wait for me to come to his aid but will ne’er fault me if I fail to save him. I dinnae think I need to say that I wish to save him any pain and save his life, but right now e’en that doesnae consume my mind the most. Nay, I wish to reach James before MacKay’s torture goes too far, before he ruins James’ hands.”

  “His hands?” Simon looked at the goblet he held, a perfect match to the one Tormand held. “He does do verra fine work.”

  “Ye dinnae understand. This isnae work to James. Aye, he can make money with his skill, but he does this because he has to. James has always carved wood, e’en before our mother wanted him to be within yards of a sharp edge. He can stand before a piece of wood, stare at it for a while, and then abruptly start working on it. Sometimes he just sees a picture in the wood. Sometimes he scratches it out on a piece of parchment so that he can show someone else what he sees or just be certain that what he sees will work perfectly. It always does.”

  “I fear I have ne’er really understood such things, yet ’tis all around me, from the weaver of a tapestry to the maker of jewelry. Yet, your brother is a laird.”

  “It doesnae matter. If he was a king, ye would still be certain to catch him carving something out of wood e’en on the throne. Truly, he has to do it. If MacKay crushes that skill in James by hurting his hands beyond repair, it will destroy something in my brother, something I am nay sure e’en his Annora will be able to mend. I think it is the way of it for many people with such gifts.”

  “Then we shall get him free of MacKay ere that can happen. If ’tis any comfort, for all of his cunning and brutality, I dinnae think MacKay is all that quickwitted. I dinnae think he will ken what your brother’s weakest point is.”

  “I pray ye are right, for if MacKay does ken how important James’ work with wood is to my brother, those hands are what he will go for first.”

  Cold water hit his face hard and James abruptly woke up. He felt as if his head was going to split apart. His body felt as if he had been thrown from a cliff onto the rocks—several times. MacKay had come back from trying to catch MacLarens, if James recalled what he had heard correctly, and he had been in a rage over his failure to kill even one MacLaren. MacKay had felt insulted by the MacLarens’ attempt to take Dunncraig and had wanted them to pay for that insult in blood. Instead MacKay had used James’ body to soothe his rage. It had been a hard punch to the face that had finally driven him into a very welcome blackness. It appeared that respite was over.

  He looked toward where the water had come from and had to blink several times to clear his vision. No faces came into view until he looked down. Big Marta stood there holding a bucket of water, a tankard, and a sack.

  “Good, ye are awake now,” she said as she set down the bucket of water and opened the sack.

  “And ye think I should feel good about that?” If MacKay was soon to return, James thought he might prefer to be insensible.

  “Aye and nay.” Big Marta looked all around before she started to wash the filth from his body. “MacKay will return soon and he intends to make ye beg for mercy.”

  “He will be four score years buried and rotted ere that happens.”

  “I wouldnae be so sure. He has broken many a brave mon.”

  “My men, ye mean. Good men who wouldnae break their oath to me e’en if it would have saved their lives.”

  “Aye, the weeks after ye left and MacKay claimed all of Dunncraig as his were verra sad days. But t’will soon all be set aright again.”

  James stared at the woman standing on her tiptoes so that she could wash down his arms. “Do ye have the sight, then? Ye have seen me taken from this place and nay just as a corpse for the burying?”

  Big Marta tsked her impatience over the cross cynicism in his voice. “Ye ken weel that I have no skill or gift or whate’er ye wish to call it. What I do have is a pair of good ears and, at the moment, a wee bit more knowledge than ye do.”

  “’Tis a wee bit difficult to gather knowledge whilst hanging from a wall and a mon is punching ye senseless.” James almost smiled at the creative curses Big Marta spoke. “What do ye ken?” he asked quietly, briefly looking round for any sign of his guards. “Do ye ken how Meggie and Annora fare?”

  “Your lasses are fine. Meggie is a wee bit frightened and Annora a wee bit bruised.”

  “Only a wee bit?”

  “Weel, while MacKay was out chasing MacLarens she went to the village to find your brother and his friend, so how bad could she be feeling?”

  James was not sure he believed her but decided there was no time to argue. She had said that both Meggie and Annora were alive and he would let that be enough for now. “Weel then, what do ye ken if nay information about their fates?”

  “I ken a lot,” she said, using a very soft voice again. “Now your guards have left to find food and a garderobe. MacKay thinks I am safe enough in the kitchens although I dinnae think he understood that I wasnae asking to see ye, I was telling him that I would come and see ye. So I came down here, told those hulking great fools watching o’er ye that I was here to tend to your wounds, and they decided that was just fine with them.”

  “And they didnae argue with that? I dinnae think MacKay often sends someone down here to tend to the wounds of his prisoners.”

  A sigh escaped Big Marta. “He has done so in the past. He wanted to keep your men alive as long as possible, didnae he? There are things from those days that I still see in my dreams.”

  “I am sorry ye had to see that. I shouldnae have left.”

  “Wheesht, shake away that guilt, laddie. Ye had to leave to save your life and no one could have expected MacKay to treat your men as he did.
Most expected he would command them to swear an oath to him or leave Dunncraig. There were some who had heard some verra dark tales about the mon and left as soon as ye did. A few others did swear fealty to him and stayed, although they have ne’er really mixed with the men MacKay brought with him. Their only thought was, and still is, to survive and stay close to their loved ones.”

  “I hadnae realized that some of my men were still here. I had thought them all dead or gone. How many?”

  “Oh, five, I think. They had lovers or family here and didnae want to leave. Edmund didnae ken all of your men weel enough to ken that. But they are ready now,” she said in a whisper.

  “Ready for what?” James felt better after having been so thoroughly washed down and some of his wounds salved, but his head still throbbed so badly he was beginning to have difficulty following whatever it was Big Marta was talking about.

  “For rescue, laddie. For rescue. This time the bastard willnae win.”

  Before James could ask what Big Marta meant the woman was standing at the door to his prison. It was only a moment later that all of his guards returned. Big Marta was sent away and James felt himself tensing for MacKay’s arrival. This time the man would take his time.

  A tremor went through his body, but James hid it from the guards by pressing himself hard up against the stone wall at his back. Any sane man would be afraid of what MacKay might do to him, but James refused to let his fear show. He still had his pride, and if this was the time of his death, he wanted to meet it with courage and dignity.

  He found his thoughts slipping to Annora and it felt as if his heart broke in his chest. At long last he had found that perfect woman he had always been looking for, his mate, and he was not going to be allowed the future he wanted with her. There would be no black-haired children with wide midnight-blue eyes. His little Meggie would grow to womanhood thinking MacKay was her father and there was a chance Annora would eventually be forced to marry Egan or flee to some relative’s home, yet another kinsman who did not care for her at all. James knew Tormand would do his best to protect both Annora and Meggie, but it might not be as easy as they had both thought it would be. MacKay now held both of his women in his grasp, and after their near escape he would be sure to tighten his grip on them.

  What he ached to do was see Annora and Meggie just one more time, but he knew that wish would never be granted. It could also prove dangerous for Annora. If she had succeeded in convincing MacKay that she had been no more than an innocent victim of some madman, then she had a good chance of coming out of this adventure alive.

  For a moment James feared Annora would be unable to lie so well to her cousin. She was a very honest woman. Then he recalled the time he had insulted MacKay in French and the man had asked Annora to tell him what had been said. She had revealed a very good skill at telling lies to her cousin then. James suspected that when she felt she or someone she cared about was in danger, Annora could tell a complete lie without blinking, not just one of those ones where she just did not tell the whole truth or even failed to actually answer the question.

  “Weel, let us just look at the great Laird Drummond hanging up there like freshly dressed meat,” drawled a woman’s voice James was all too familiar with.

  He looked at Mab and nearly gaped. The woman was a mess, her face badly bruised and her hair cut in ragged lengths all over her head. Mab had obviously paid dearly for not holding him in his bedchamber.

  “And why has anyone let ye down here?” he asked in a voice that was so sneering and rude, all the guards chuckled. Mab blushed with fury. “There is naught ye can distract me from in here, lass. Get ye gone.”

  “Ye willnae escape this place, Wolfs head. Nay alive, ye willnae.”

  James shrugged and then fought to hide the pain the movement caused him. “’Tis verra clear that ye have no intention of aiding me or e’en giving me a wee bit of sympathy. So, as I have asked before, each time ye tried to creep into my bed, why are ye here?”

  “Mayhap I just wish to watch MacKay teach ye a little humility ere he hangs ye.”

  “And mayhap ye need the rest of your hair cut off,” drawled a deep voice James immediately recognized as Egan’s.

  Mab paled and hurried away. James looked at Egan and knew without asking that he was the one who had tried to destroy what claim Mab had to beauty. He was probably the one who had kept sending the foolish woman to James’ room. It would be just like Egan to make anyone close at hand suffer for his humiliation.

  “Ah, yet another visitor,” drawled James. “I am a popular fellow, aye? To what do I owe this honor?”

  “I just have a few questions for ye ere Donnell starts to make ye scream,” said Egan.

  “What questions?”

  “Have ye touched Annora MacKay?”

  James just stared at him. The man had just revealed that he had done nothing to Annora yet that would have exposed her lack of a maidenhead. The relief James felt was so strong he needed a moment to collect his thoughts.

  “As I told MacKay, I needed the woman to care for the child.”

  “Ye expect me to believe that ye spent a night with her and didnae touch her?”

  “Some of us dinnae find throwing an unwilling lass to the ground and taking her to be verra rewarding. So, to answer your question, nay, I didnae take Annora MacKay.”

  Obviously he could also lie very well under certain circumstances, James thought. He could tell, however, that Egan was of no mind to believe him even if he had been telling the truth. It was impossible for a man like Egan to think any man could stay so long alone with an attractive woman and not have to ease his lust on her body, willing or unwilling. James suspected that Egan preferred the woman to be unwilling, for it would give him the sense of being the one with all the power.

  And this was the sort of man who would still be close to Annora after James was gone. It appalled James to even consider what the man might do to Annora. He did not really have to think too hard since twice he had had to pull the man off Annora. It hurt James beyond words to know that there was a very good chance he would no longer be able to protect her from such brutality.

  “Egan, I have been looking for ye,” snapped MacKay as he approached the prison that held James.

  “I had to ask the mon if he had touched Annora,” said Egan.

  MacKay cursed and pushed Egan out of his way as he walked right up to where James hung from the wall. “So what if Annora is nay longer a virgin?” he asked, staring at James but still speaking to Egan.

  “Because that maidenhead was mine to claim. He keeps saying that he didnae touch her, but I think he is lying.”

  “Are ye, Drummond?” asked MacKay in a soft, almost gentle voice that made chills run down James’ spine. “I think Egan may be right. I think ye are lying to me. I think Annora is lying as weel. I shall have the truth beaten out of her soon. She needs to heal a wee bit since Egan questioned her about ye a little too vigorously.” MacKay reached for a whip that hung on the wall. “I believe I shall take my time in questioning ye. Ye see, one thing I believe Annora is lying about is the way ye could all get out of Dunncraig without being seen.”

  “Ye have some verra poor guards on your walls,” James said, forcing himself not to look at the whip and anticipate the pain MacKay was about to inflict.

  “Och, aye, we do, but nay that poor. Few men could miss seeing a mon, a woman, and a wee child leave Dunncraig. Nay, I think this keep has a few secrets I have yet to uncover and I am going to make ye tell all of them to me.”

  “Do your worst,” James said in a cold voice, his fear hardening into a deep, cold hatred for the man.

  “I intend to,” said MacKay and he raised the whip.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was beginning to feel as if everyone was just waiting for her to fall facedown in the dirt. Annora knew she was but one stumble away from doing just that, but feeling everyone’s concern as she was only made it much more difficult to keep on going. That concern coupled wi
th a deep respect coming from the men creeping through shadows alongside her made her want to just sit down and allow them all to coddle her. The only man she felt had any fierce need to keep on going was Tormand and she tried to remain open to his feelings. It was enough to keep her plodding toward the well-hidden opening leading into the secret passages of Dunncraig.

  “How close are we?” whispered Tormand.

  “But a few yards away,” she replied as one by one the men with them slipped deeper into the shadows of the wood they had just entered.

  “Sit,” he said and gently urged her to rest for a moment, her back against the rough trunk of a large tree.

  “This may nay be verra wise. I may nay be able to get moving again.” When Simon crouched down in front of her and held out a wineskin, she smiled her gratitude and accepted a drink.

  “All ye need to do is stay conscious,” said Tormand. “I will carry ye on my back if need be and ye can point the way. S’truth, mayhap I shall do that anyway.”

  “Kind of ye to offer but I dinnae think it will ease my pain much at all,” she said.

  “Are ye verra certain ye cannae just tell us the way from here or scratch out a map in the ground here?”

  “I dearly wish I could, Tormand, but I have only traveled this way once. I ken how to get to the opening e’en though this isnae the way James and I traveled when we fled Dunncraig, but only because I have walked about in these woods for three years and ken every tree and bush around here. ’Tis the passage itself which I need to see in order to tell ye the way to go.”

  “Are ye certain ye will recall the way once ye are inside?”

  “Aye. I willnae weary ye with tales from my childhood but I learned verra quickly to always be able to find my way back from whence I came. I can travel a path but the once and return the same way nay matter how long a time has passed. It takes many more times of journeying a path for me to be able to tell people where to go or to draw some map.”