Caelen's Wife - the Complete Collection (33 page)

Bhruic let out another dejected breath. “Me uncle does no’ have her.”

Collin was stunned by that information. “What do ye mean he does no’ have her? Who does?”

Sweat began to bead on Bhruic’s forehead. He swallowed hard before answering. “Gelis Farquar.”

C
ollin
, Fiona and Caelen stared at Bhruic in stunned silence.

They had all been convinced that Edgar MacKinnon was responsible. He had worked so hard to befriend Fiona, had earned her trust and she had promised that he could visit as often as he liked because he loved little Aingealag so much. With the information Alyse had given them an hour ago, they had assumed Edgar had lied, that he was holding the child as hostage to get Bhruic to do his bidding.

They were taken aback by Bhruic’s pronouncement that Gelis Farquar was holding his daughter hostage. It made no sense. But then, nothing about the attacks had ever made any sense.

“I do no’ understand,” Fiona whispered. “How did Gelis Farquar come to have yer daughter?”

“Because me uncle gave her to him,” Bhruic said, his disgust plainly evidenced in his bloodshot eyes.

Fiona quirked a brow. Edgar
was
involved. Knowing her first instinct was correct did not make her feel any better.

“Why?” Collin asked, his tone both curious and disgusted.

“Because he wants whatever it is he believes be in those tunnels.”

Fiona felt they were going around in circles. “Bhruic, start at the beginnin’.”

Though he was clearly fearful of spilling his guts, he was more fearful of spilling his own blood. He was also quite worried over his daughter’s safety. “Do I have yer word ye’ll protect me daughter?” he asked Collin directly.

“Ye do.”

He took another deep breath. “I do no’ ken what be hidden in yer tunnels, but I do ken that Gelis wants whatever it be. More than a year ago, he was visitin’ with the McKenzie and the McGregor. They’d been drinkin’ and tellin’ stories like they always do.” He turned then to look at Fiona. “Then out of the blue, Gelis announces he is goin’ to marry
ye.
”

He paused long enough to take a deep breath. “When they began to question why he’d want to marry ye, well, he could no’ tell the truth. So he lied about there bein’ magic water. Well, the McGregor and the McKenzie — bein’ the greedy fools they be — decided to beat him to ye. They gossip, far worse than any woman ever thought to. Word soon spread about the magic water.” Drunk and tired, he yawned loudly then tried to shake the cobwebs from his head.

“How did ye come to ken the water was no’ magic?” Caelen asked.

“’Twas me uncle that figured out there had to be more to it than water. He went to Gelis with a proposition, a way of gettin’ access to yer lands. Me uncle wanted a softer approach with ye, but Gelis grew tired of waitin’. That be when he hired the mercenaries.”

Caelen’s ears perked up and he took a step forward. “Mercenaries?” he asked, his brow furrowed, his face angry. “And they were to make it look like me clan was responsible?”

Bhruic nodded. “Aye, and they almost succeeded.”

“Who be the mercenaries?” Caelen demanded to know.

“John McRamey and his lot.”

Caelen’s face contorted into fury. Fiona could read her husband’s mind all too well. He was plotting his revenge against the McRamey as well as Gelis and Edgar.

Collin asked the next question. “So the idea was to have us go to war with the McDunnahs? But why?”

“They feared that since ye were the only one who had no’ yet proposed to Fiona, she might seek ye out fer an alliance. Ye have too many allies of yer own fer the Farquar to go up against. The idea was to have Fiona hatin’ ye, so that she’d go to them fer help. When that didna work, me uncle came up with the idea that I should marry Fiona.”

Silence fell across the room for a long moment, whilst Fiona, Caelen and Collin digested what they were learning.

“And when that did no’ work, they took yer daughter.”

Bhruic swallowed hard again as his eyes watered.

“But to what end? Ye be married to Alyse. How is keepin’ ye from yer daughter to solve anythin’?” Fiona asked.

Bhruic choked back his own tears and remained mute.

“Bhruic, what are ye no’ tellin’ us?”

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and took a fortifying breath. “I’m to kill ye and make it look like Caelen did it. Then I’m to kill Caelen and make it look as though he was overcome with guilt and took his own life.”

Caelen chuckled half-heartedly. “No’ bloody likely.”

T
hey were preparing
to take Bhruic back to the keep where they could keep a watchful eye, when a hurried knock came at the door. Caelen opened it. Two of Collin’s men were there, and they looked extremely worried.

“Collin,” the taller of the two came rushing into the hut.

Collin stood to face the young man. “What be the matter, Rolph?”

The young man looked reticent to speak. His words came rushing out, almost indiscernible. “It be William! They were on patrol last night and when they did no’ return this morn, I sent a search party out.”

“Why the bloody hell did ye no’ tell me?” Collin and Fiona said in unison.

Rolph wasn’t sure whom he should answer. Deciding quickly it was best to answer to his chief, he said, “I be sorry, Collin. Ye can beat me senseless later. Our men have just returned.” He then pulled a folded piece of parchment from inside his tunic and handed it to Collin.

Blood was spattered across the parchment. Collin unfolded it and read it.

All color drained from his face.

“What be wrong?” Fiona asked, knowing she was not going to like the answers.

“They killed everyone, save fer William,” Rolph told Fiona and Caelen.

Tears filled Fiona’s eyes. She was glad for the steadying arm Caelen wrapped around her waist, especially after looking at her brother.

Collin cleared his throat once, then twice. “William has been kidnapped.”

Fiona gasped and for a long moment she was left speechless. “By whom?”

Collin handed the note to Fiona. “Gelis Farquar.”

W
ar was inevitable
.

Fiona was just as surprised as Collin and Caelen with what they had learned from Bhruic. There was more than one betrayer afoot, more than one person responsible for the attacks and murders.

Edgar MacKinnon’s greed would be his undoing. Fiona would see to that.

Although Edgar hadn’t been the mastermind behind the attacks and murders, as far as Fiona was concerned, he was just as guilty as Gelis Farquar. He could have stepped forward and put a stop to it before anyone had been killed. Instead, he chose to align himself with the likes of Gelis Farquar.

And Gelis Farquar had kidnapped her brother, William.

She’d see them both dead and rotting in hell.

“
T
he bloody hell ye will
.”

Caelen stood before his wife in their bedchamber. His skull throbbed. If he wasn’t already having an apoplexy, he would surely have one if his wife did not listen to reason.

“The bloody hell I won’t,” Fiona ground out.

“Ye are
no’
goin’ into battle. I forbid it.”

Fiona’s eyes grew wide with astonishment. Who the bloody hell did he think he was, forbidding her to do anything? “Did ye, or did ye no’ promise me that ye’d never try to take me weapons away?”

A tic began to form in his right eye. Surely that was a sign of the impending apoplexy. “I said I’d never take yer weapons from ye. But I never said I’d allow ye to go into battle!”

Fiona scowled at him. “’Tis the same thing!”

“’Tis no’ the same thing!”

“If ye think I’ll stay behind like a dutiful, subservient wife while ye all hie off to rescue me brother and kill Gelis Farquar, then ye be as mad as people say ye be.”

Caelen drew his lips into a hard line as he crossed his arms over his chest and gave her his fiercest scowl. “I be no’ askin’ ye to be dutiful or subservient. I be tellin’ ye yer no’ goin’ and ’tis fer yer own safety.”

“I can take care of meself, Caelen.”

“I have no doubt that ye can, Fiona. But ye’ve never seen war. Aye, ye’ve practiced fer many years, but livin’ through it? ’Tis no’ the same as sparrin’ with yer brothers.” He had no doubt that Fiona could defend herself and her keep if necessary, but only if the numbers were in her favor. A full-out war, which is what their current situation was turning out to be, was an entirely different matter.

“I will no’ stay behind, Caelen,” she told him.

“Ye will no’ go either.”

She tilted her head slightly. “Either with ye or alone, I be goin’ and ye’ll no’ stop me.”

He knew then that she was quite serious. He had two options. Allow her to go with him so that he could keep a close eye on her or throw her in the dungeon until he returned. The latter was impossible, for knowing his wife, she’d find a way out, hunt him down and kill him. He could not relent just yet. He was determined to convince her that he was right.

“Fiona, I do no’ want ye to get hurt. ’Tis no’ me male pride, but me love fer ye that wants to see ye safe and out of harm’s way.” He hoped to appeal to her good sense and heart.

“I be no’ askin’ to lead the charge, Caelen. I only be askin’ fer an opportunity to be there, to fight alongside me men.”

“They be no’ yer men any more. They be Collin’s,” he pointed out to her.

Her eyes turned dark and furious. “They were my men long before they were Collin’s.”

He hadn’t meant to insult her and now regretted saying anything. “Fiona, ye ken what I mean, lass.”

He didn’t think it possible for her eyes to grow darker or more furious, but they did. “I be no’ some simple-headed
lass,
” she told him. “I be yer wife and I be a warrior.”

The throbbing in his skull increased. There was no way around it, no way to convince her she should stay behind. He pressed his fingers to his temples and rubbed.

“Caelen, there will be other women goin’,” she told him. “Our healers will be goin’ to take care of the wounded. Why do ye no’ mind that they go?”

“Because they be no’ goin’ to fight. They’ll no’ be anywhere near the battles.” ’Twas far different being a mile or more from where the fighting was taking place than being in the heat of battle.

“Caelen, I ken ye love me and do no’ want to see me hurt. But I have to do this, do ye no’ see? If I do no’ go, then everythin’ I’ve done or said these past two years is nothin’ but a lie.”

Fiona’s pride, her deep sense of honor had been just two of the things that had first attracted him to her. Now she stood before him, resolute and determined. ’Twas her brother who had been kidnapped, her people who had been killed. She wanted a part in getting her brother back and justice for those innocent people. Eight of her people were now dead. Her best friend, Stephan and Mildred, and as of sometime last night, five of her men. Men who had been patrolling their borders with William.

In short, she wanted the same things he would have wanted were their roles reversed.

“Fi,” he said, his tone growing softer, more understanding. “I could no’ live with meself if anythin’ happened to ye.”

Her scowl softened to a warm, sincere smile. “I ken that, Caelen,” she said as she placed a palm against his cheek.

“If ye go,” he began.

Fiona raised a brow. “If?”

He took in a deep breath. “Ye canna be on the front lines. Ye can be at the rear. If I ken ye be wieldin’ a sword, or tryin’ to battle anyone, I will no’ be able to concentrate on keepin’ me own head on me own shoulders.”

Her expression changed from ferocious warrior to concerned wife. Caelen knew then that she understood the implications of her being on the battlefield.

“Verra well. I shall remain at the rear. Mayhap I can help with strategy,” she told him.

His shoulders sagged in relief. He would keep her surrounded by his own men at all times when he could not be there. If he knew she was well protected, he would not worry over her so much.

“Thank ye, Fiona,” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her and drew her against his chest. “I canna bear the thought of losin’ ye, Fiona. I love ye far too much.”

Fiona rested her head against his chest. “And I ye, Caelen.”

’
T
was
just before dawn when Caelen’s best fighting men arrived at the McPherson keep. Some four hundred expertly-trained, fiercely-loyal men on horseback, along with an entourage of cooks, healers, and smithies stood outside their gates.

Neither Caelen nor Fiona, nor anyone else for that matter, had gotten much sleep as they prepared for war against Clan Farquar. Caelen and Brodie met with Phillip and Kenneth just inside the walls.

“We be ready,” Kenneth told Caelen as he dismounted. “Our men, it seems, would like a wee piece of Gelis Farquar and John McRamey, fer makin’ us look like thieves and murderers.”

Caelen chuckled slightly as he gave a sound pat against Kenneth’s back. “Ye told them then?”

“Well, they did ask why we were goin’ against the man,” Kenneth said with a sheepish smile. “They’ll follow ye anywhere, ye ken that. But they do like to ken why.”

Fiona came bounding down the steps of the keep, with Collin beside her. Kenneth took one look at her — dressed in leather and mail, armed to the teeth — and his smile evaporated instantly. “What the bloody,” he stopped, shook his head and looked to Caelen. “Do no’ tell me yer takin’ yer wife into battle?”

Fiona smiled as she approached Kenneth. “Do no’ look so terrified, Kenneth,” she told him. “’Tis no’ yer head I want on a pike.”

Kenneth was plainly disgusted with the thought of taking a woman into battle. “Are we so desperate now, that we take women with us? What next, Caelen? Will we arm the children?”

“Of course not, Kenneth,” Fiona answered for her husband. “Do no’ fash yerself. ’Tis no’ like I’ll be on the front lines. I’ll be in the rear helpin’ with strategy.”

His expression said he didn’t care where she’d be. The mere fact that she was going was enough to make him angry enough to bite through his own sword.

“Ye be mad,” he muttered to Caelen. “All these years, I’ve defended ye, sayin’ ye were no’ truly tetched. Today, I’ve been proven wrong.”

I
n less than an hour of
their arrival, the McDunnah and McPherson fighting forces were on their way to Farquar lands. Andrew had been left behind with some seventy-five McDunnah men and a handful of McPhersons, to defend the keep if necessary.

While it would take less than five hours to reach Farquar lands, it would take another two hours to reach their keep. Undoubtedly, they would have doubled their men along their borders. If all went as planned, however, the McDunnah and McPhersons would be able to take care of those men in short order.

A quiet pall draped over the six hundred men and women. No one uttered a word. The only sounds were the clomping of hoofs against soft earth, the rattling of bits and bridles, the jangling of mail, and the grinding of wagon wheels.

Fiona rode next to her husband. Brodie rode to her left, his eyes constantly scanning the horizon. She knew he was worried about William, as was she.

Behind them, Collin, Seamus and Richard led the McPherson men. Occasionally, Fiona would glance back at them. Never had she seen her brother or advisors — former advisors she reminded herself — looking quite so serious or determined.

Without a doubt, they would get her brother William back. Or they’d die trying.