Amanda Scott (43 page)

“It was one boat, a birlinn,” he snapped. “Now, tell me what is amiss, or by heaven, I will—”

Without another word, Lady Percy crumpled to the floor.

“You’ve frightened her to death,” Patrick said, moving swiftly to her side and dropping to one knee to shake her. “Madam,
my lady, wake up!” Looking up at Fin, he said, “I’ll fetch Mauri. She’ll know what to do.”

Fin nodded and then took Patrick’s place when that gentleman hastened from the chamber. As he knelt beside Lady Percy, he
caught a wisp of motion from the corner of his eye.

Quickly turning his head and seeing only swirling dust motes in a beam of evening sunlight, he turned back to his fallen guest.
Shaking her again, harder than Patrick had, he had the satisfaction of hearing her groan.

“Collect yourself, madam,” he ordered harshly. “I must know what has upset you. I know that your so-called attacker the other
day was Donald the Grim, but I suspect you were either in collusion with him or that you somehow managed to escape his men.
What I do not know is how cozy you were with him before his death, I think you had better tell me everything, and at once.”

Moaning again, she sat up and allowed him to help her to her feet. “I…I apologize for allowing myself to be overcome, sir,”
she said faintly. “I…” Words failed her, and tears welled in her eyes.

“You are overset,” he said. Drawing her toward the nearest bench, he waited only until she sat down, before he said firmly,
“You must tell me what you know, madam. Is Molly in danger?”

“Aye,” she said flatly. “Donald must have her.”

“Donald? Do you mean Sleat’s whelp, Donald Gorm?” He shook his head. “He cannot have taken charge of his father’s men. He
is too young. By heaven, madam, if you are making game of me, I will make you wish—”

“Donald the Grim is not dead, as you think, but dangerously alive, sir,” she said steadily. “He told me he nearly died. They
thought he severed the major blood vessel in his leg when he yanked out the arrow that struck him, but the bleeding stopped,
and he is quite well now, I promise you.”

“Then may the devil take him!” Fin exclaimed. “He has captured Molly?”

“All I can tell you for certain is that he intended to take me south to Dunbarton, for he hoped—” Breaking off, she licked
her lips, then added hastily, “That plan is of no consequence now except, until early this morning, he…he threatened to take
me with him. Then someone brought him word of a birlinn in the Sound of Sleat. He said it was ‘them, trying to sneak by.’
”

“Them?”

“Aye, sir, ‘them.’ I paid little heed to his discussion, because I believed the information he received did not concern me.
I learned long ago that powerful men react badly if one reveals too much interest in their affairs, and I was careful not
to anger Donald. His temper is… is perilously volatile.”

“That’s true enough,” Fin agreed grimly, wondering if she knew that men had said as much of his own temper. “What then?”

“Donald and his men set out at once, and although he did take me with him, he put me and my woman ashore at Kylerhea, where
he arranged for horses and a few men to escort us. I had told him from the outset that I came to the Highlands in search of
my daughter. He knew that I wanted to visit her before I continued to Stirling, and he said he had no objection. Before, whenever
I pressed him to let me do so, he mocked me.”

Fin suspected that there was more to her tale than she was admitting, but she had told him enough to get on with.

“If Sleat captured Molly, will he not take her back to Dunsgaith?”

“I do not believe so,” she said. Her color had returned, but her voice retained a note of urgency as she said, “He was prepared
for a sea journey, sir. He had two large galleys with those very long oars that take two men to manage each one. Such galleys
are very fast.”

“Faster, certainly, than the birlinn I sent Molly in,” Fin muttered as much to himself as to his guest.

Lady Percy said quietly, “You should know, too, that Donald spent much of the time I was with him questioning me about Dunsithe
and the Maid’s portion.”

“What did you tell him?”

“What
could
I tell him? I know no more about it than anyone else. Think you, sir, that had it been otherwise my brother would have allowed
me to keep such a secret to myself? You know naught of Angus if you believe that. He may keep secrets of his own,” she added
bitterly, “but he does not allow his sisters to do so, particularly sisters born on the wrong side of the blanket. He thinks
we were born merely to serve him and his political interests.”

Fin believed her. He had heard nothing about Angus that would lead him to suspect the man of being soft toward the women in
his life. If she had known the whereabouts of Molly’s fortune, she would have admitted as much to Angus the first time he
questioned her. “You think he will take Molly to Dunsithe,” he said.

“Aye,” she said. “I think he means to see if she can find the treasure for him.” She nibbled her lower lip as if she might
say more, but Patrick and Mauri entered just then with Lady Percy’s attendant.

Fin turned his attention to Patrick, saying, “Have the lads provision the galleys. Sleat has captured Molly and is taking
her to Dunsithe in hopes of laying hands on her fortune. I mean to leave at once.”

“The devil fly away with Sleat!” Patrick exclaimed angrily.

“I’ll take both galleys,” Fin said, “and I’ll want the strongest oarsmen you can find. Sleat will want to avoid the Sounds
of Mull and Jura, knowing Jamie’s friends will be watching for him, so if I take that route, I can make up time. Still, I’ve
none to waste. The journey will take three days, at least.”

Quietly but firmly, Lady Percy said, “I am going with you.”

Fin ignored her, fixing his attention on Patrick and what he wanted done. “Take Malcolm,” he said. “He can help organize the
men. I want you to think also of who we know in the Borders who may prove friendly to me.”

“You must take me with you,” Lady Percy insisted.

“Madam, you and your woman are welcome to stay here until I return. I will bring your daughter back to you as swiftly as I
can, but you are not going with me. Believe me, you would only be in the way. Now, please—”

“One hesitates to contradict a man of your size and temperament, sir, but I can do more to help you acquire Border friends
than Sir Patrick can. I am still a Douglas, sir, and in these circumstances, I believe that the Border Gordons will also aid
me. I have friends in both camps, you see, and you will save a great deal of time if you make landfall short of Solway and
ride the rest of the way. Have you access to horses? Indeed, sir, have you ever sailed those waters before? I have, often.”

Fin was silent, but he looked at Patrick.

That incorrigible young man smiled ruefully. “She has you there, laird. We’ve no one here who kens that part of Scotland.
Nor can I think of anyone to whom we might turn for aid without first applying to James for references. If we consider men
we knew at St. Andrews, we may think of someone, though.”

“We’ve no time for that,” Fin said. “And I know of no one.”

“If that is not reason enough to take me along, I’ll offer another,” Lady Percy said. “The plain fact is that if I show up
at Dunsithe, Donald is bound to let me in.”

Fin’s eyes narrowed. Harshly, he said, “Just what
is
your relationship with Sleat, madam?”

With a wry little smile, she said, “Not what you are thinking, but you may find the truth much worse. Just as I carried a
message to you from Jamie, I carried another to Donald. It was not from Jamie, however.”

“From Angus?”

“Aye, one was from him,” she said, watching him warily now. “I also carried one from Henry of England, and—”

“So Jamie was right,” Patrick breathed.

Paling, she looked at him, then back at Fin. “Jamie knows?”

“He suspects,” Fin told her. “He also suspects that Henry is financing Sleat’s rising. What about that, madam? And do not
think to cozen me into taking you to Dunsithe,” he added, seeing a calculating look leap to her eyes. “You will remain here,
but first you will tell me all you know about Sleat’s dealings with England.”

“You will need me at Dunsithe!”

“We cannot even be certain he is making for the Borders,” Fin said.

Patrick, looking past him toward the entrance, said, “Perhaps we can.”

Turning, Fin saw Tam Matheson being helped through the doorway. The lad was wheezing heavily, nearly winded.

“Tam!”

“Aye, laird,” he gasped. “Some villain be flying that devil Sleat’s banner. He’s taken the mistress, sailing south!”

“Sleat’s alive,” Fin told him. “Whereabouts did he overtake you?”

“Loch Nevis, they call it. I’ve run all the way.”

“The others?”

“All dead,” Tam said with a groan. “Thomas sent me into the water afore they caught us. Be ye sure it’s Sleat himself, laird?”

“I’m sure.” Fin turned to Lady Percy and said grimly, “Very well, madam, you may come with me, but do not think you have won
much. We’re going to have a long talk about Henry and your part in this. Moreover, you’ll go without your woman, and at the
first complaint, I’m likely to throw you overboard.”

Patrick said, “I’ll give the men your orders, Fin, and then I’ll need a few moments to change clothes and gather my things
together.”

“You’re staying here,” Fin said. “I need you in command here, because Sleat may have left men and boats behind, hoping I’d
leave the castle undefended.”

For a moment, it looked as if Patrick would argue, but wisely, he just nodded and left the hall.

“Now, madam,” Fin said, “you may begin, and do not leave anything out.”

She seemed willing to talk, but her tale was tangled and filled with bitterness. That she blamed her brother for her unhappy
past was plain. That she enjoyed the freedom of her recent life as a widow was also plain. What was not plain was her true
position with regard to the daughter whom by way of farewell she had branded with a red-hot key.

Twice during their conversation, Fin experienced again the strange sense that something moved just at the edge of his vision,
but each time, when he turned his head, he saw only more dust motes in the fading sunlight.

Propelled by a brisk wind from the northwest, Fin’s galleys followed the same route that the birlinn had taken, through Kylerhea
into the Sound of Sleat, past Loch Hourn, and along the coast toward Loch Nevis and Mallaig Head. Increasing darkness gave
them cover, but Fin kept a close watch on the opposite coast, in case Sleat had left more galleys lying in wait. None challenged
him.

Tam Matheson, recovered already from his long run, rested in the stern of the lead galley, tending the tiller. Lady Percy,
swaddled in a heavy, hooded cloak, sat beside Fin in the bow. She had scarcely spoken since leaving Eilean Donan and was presently
watching the dark coastline on their right.

Tam shouted, “Will we catch them, d’ye think, laird?”

“Aye,” Fin replied. “If this wind holds, we should make it in the same time as Sleat, even if his boats are faster. We have
extra men aboard, so some can rest whilst others row, and our route is shorter than Sleat’s. We’ll take horses from a place
called—” He looked at Lady Percy. “What was that name again, madam?”

“Ballantrae,” she said, glancing at him, then looking back toward the coast.

“How far is this Ballantrae?” Tam asked.

She was not paying heed. “Kintail,” she said, pointing, “is that not someone waving to us yonder?”

Shifting his gaze to follow her gesture, Fin discerned movement in the dark shadows on shore. Then a spark flared, a torch
burst into flame, and he saw a broad-shouldered male figure waving it back and forth.

“Likely, it be a trap o’ some sort,” Tam said, peering into the darkness.

“Are you certain that Sleat’s men killed all of ours?” Fin demanded.

“I did think so,” Tam said. “His lot spilled into the birlinn and slashed everything in sight.”

“Not the women, though.”

“Nay, laird. They helped the two women into Sleat’s galley afterward, and then they sank the birlinn. I saw nae man leave
the sinking boat, so I took off running like Thomas MacMorran said I should, to tell ye what happened.”

“You did well,” Fin said, “but I think we must see who that is on the shore.”

Commanding the oarsmen on the left to back water and those on the right to stroke hard, he swung the galley toward shore.
The second boat followed.

Before they reached the shallows near the wooded shoreline, Fin was able to make out the familiar features of Thomas MacMorran.

Tam and the others recognized him at the same time, and it was all Fin could do to mute their cheers. He saw Thomas douse
the torch and fling himself into the water near the shore, taking great strides as far as he could walk, then swimming the
rest of the way. Willing hands hauled him aboard the lead galley.

Grinning widely, Fin clapped him hard on both shoulders and gave him a shake by way of welcome. “ ’Tis glad I am to see you
safe, Thomas MacMorran.”