Debra Kay Leland (34 page)

“
Claymore?  It would be best to leave him here, Garrick.”

“I cannot, in good conscious if I must condemned
him, then I shall do so in my dungeons and under my care.”

“And if she finds out about it?”

“She won’t, I promise thee.”

“Then so be it.”

“Aye, ‘tis cruel, but I can see no other way.”

When evening came, Miranda was still weak with worry and yet when she heard Garrick’s boots upon the cold stone floor she straightened in the chair and waited for the sound of the keys, and for the door to open, and for him to come in again.  She cast her eyes down as he came into the room; he stopped and looked at her shaken appearance with a concerned frown. 
“Ye still are not well…”

“Well enough to see my brother.”  She stood and swayed lightly on her feet, her hand pressed on the soft sway of her back.

His voice softened as he watched her.  “Nay, Miranda, a day of rest shall not matter much.”

She shook her head. 
“I shall see him now.”

“Like this?”

She straightened.  “Aye, like this.”

He considered her for a long moment; then agreed; perhaps if Turin also saw what he was doing to her it would make him relent also.  “Alright, then come.”  He stepped forward and took her arm; she cast him a startled look but didn’t protest as he led her from the room.  All that was important right now was Turin, and if gaining Garrick’s favor would help, then she would not offend him this day!

The dank dungeon made her shiver as he led her down the narrow passageway to where her brother still hung on chains.  She halted at the sight of the thin boy, before she swayed lightly on feet.  Garrick grip tightened before he slid
his other arm around her trembling frame as he heard her whisper her brother’s name, then she slowly crumpled in his arms.

The young boy barely managed to open one swollen eyes as he pulled at the chains that held him. 
“Miranda!  Get away from her ye swine!  Miranda!”

He shot the boy an angry look then carried her to the bench along the wall and gently laid her down.  Her sweet angelic face was pale as if she merely slept. 
“Hurry! Get watered wine from the kitchen!”

A stout older guard complied running up the stairs as Garrick turned his head towards the boy again angrily. 
“Do ye see what ye are doing to her?!  Would ye have it that she lost the child she loves, for worry for thee?!”

The boy clenched his teeth at the older man’s words, and watched her with fear on his bloodied face.

“Is this how ye repay William for the good he had done in Glenton Moor?  By taking the only child he has?!”

Turin turned away at his hurtful words.

Garrick watched as her lashes fluttered slightly and as she stirred from unconsciousness.   She blinked back the haze that still held her and sat up unsteadily.  He pressed the cup of wine that had been bought into her hand as he murmured softly,
“Here, drink this.  Ye fainted, m’lady.”

She took a sip, her eyes falling to her brother’s again, and her heart sank within her all over again.  “
Oh Turin… what have they done to thee?” 
She slowly pushed the cup away and stood and went to him unsteadily, throwing off Garrick’s arm as she did so.  She came to him and laid her head on his shoulder.  Her voice a soft Gaelic whisper as she spoke to him,
“…Turin… go home, and break not my heart.  My child and I belong here now; I am treated well, ye may go home and be at peace.”

His young voice choked with emotion. 
“Nay, lass, come with me.  I —I would not leave ye here with them.”

She reached up and touched his bruised cheek, tears running down her pale face.  “
Nay, brother, this is my home now.  I shall remain and have William’s child among his people and raise it here as his father would have wanted.  Please, Turin, go home…”

He shook his head and stared at her with the teary eyes of a child.  She turned back and made her way to the bench again with Garrick at her side. 
“Please release him, and let him sit with me here unbound...” 
She sank down onto the old wooden bench and waited.

He motioned to his men and they released the boy and helped him to the bench beside her.  She took him in her arms and whispered to him gently, pressing her cup to his lips gently. 
“Refresh yurself, brother, for I am about to set ye free.  When the commotion ensues run from here up the stairs that I came from, the drawbridge is down for the merchants are departing from the bailey.  Leave here, Turin, and do not come back.  I shall be well and well cared for, and as long as ye are safe that is all that matters...”

He looked at her with his bruised and bloodied face and took her hand. 
“Come with me…”

“I have chosen myself to remain here, Turin, no one forces me.”

“But they will lock ye in the tower.”

“
Nay, I am still free, they only mean to protect me.”

He pressed her fingertips to his swollen lips and kissed them. 
“…I—I shall go, but I do not know if Egan and his da shall stop till they get ye back again.”

‘Th
en ye must convince them, Turin!  If ye love me, ye shall do it.”

He bit back the emotion that welled up within him at her words.

She noticed that Garrick had his back to her and that the men around him were listening to him speak in a low controlled voice as he motioned towards them with a hard frown.  She didn’t give herself time to think, for she had no choice as she reached up and pulled the torch from the wall and dropped it into the old dirty straw that ran along the sides of the wall making it burst into flames on contact.  It flared up with a roar, the flames quickly sweeping along the wall, igniting the old wooden doorposts aside it as it moved onward...

It took but a moment and the room was filled with smoke and flames and th
e roar of voices, the men pushing this way and that in the commotion.  She pressed Turin towards the stairs, but he would not release her hand, so she ran with him to the door and up the stairs, yelling to the men who came down towards them. 
“Hurry!  Get water!”

Truly, she had not intended for any to get hurt and only prayed it were so
, as she and Turin emerged coughing and running from the narrow passageway.  They didn’t stop as they ran towards the drawbridge that had been abandoned in the commotion; and yet, Turin pulled her along with him as he went.  “
Nay, Turin, I cannot keep up!   Hurry, run!”

But still he would not release her hand…

The fire had swept though
the old straw in an instant!  Garrick he turned and bellowed orders through the thick smoke before he raced towards where he had left her, but she was gone!  The heat of the fire intensified and buckets of water were passed down the opposite stairwell…  He knew what she had done and why she had done it…!  He raced forward up the narrow smoke filled passageway and caught sight of them heading through the bailey towards the drawbridge that yet remained down.  He lunged ahead at a dead run and easily caught her arm, pulling her against him and halting her brother’s in the process.  His angry voice raged from his lungs.
“Go!  Ye are free!  But the girl stays!”

Turin looked at
her with pleading eyes as she yelled for him to go!   He glanced behind them at the commotion that still ensued; then turned and fled without another word…   He hesitated a mere second before he rounded the side of the castle and cast them a fleeting glance over his shoulder, hating how they looked together standing there… knowing that this man meant to have his sister...

She bit back a sob as she watched him go, feeling Garrick’s strong possessive arms around her like iron bands.

He drew a tense breath, he wanted to tell her that he would never let ye go. 
Never!  That he would marry her and raise her child as if it was his own, but he feared she would only push him away at his words
.  So for now, it was enough that she let him hold her here, for she was his though she didn’t know it…

And yet, as if she sensed his possessive thoughts she moved away from him slowly, then turned and lifted teary blue eyes to his.
“…I—I thank ye, Garrick...   The boy’s life is as important to me as my own.”

He nodded with concerned eyes and then reached to wipe a smudge of soot from her cheek but she only stepped furthe
r away and lowered her lashes.

A frown creased his forehead at her hesitation.  He drew a long breath and glanced around them, then motioned her back towards the castle.  “Co
me, Miranda, ‘tis not safe for thee here, there are still those who would do thee harm.”

“Then ye don’t believe it was Turin who shot the Edmund?!”

“Nay, not Turin, but…”

“Nay… not Egan or his da either!”

“Go inside now, my lady.”  He took her arm when she hesitated; she glanced at his taunt expression that warned her not to press him further this day and truly she had not the strength left to do so now anyway.

Inside she hesitated at her door; he stopped abruptly and looked down at
her with stern eyes. 
“What now?”

“Promise me ye will not send yur men to find him?!”

He paused mere second then replied choosing his words carefully as he said, “Sleep well, my lady.”  And then he left her there staring after him with sad teary eyes and with no answer to her question…

M
iranda stood at the window listening for the sound of the drawbridge as it was lowered, and yet it didn’t come.  She should have been relieved, but she wasn’t.  She knew what she had done was wrong, and how very dangerous it had been, but she also knew that the dungeon was mostly made of stone and that the fire would not have burned long—or so she had hoped!  It hadn’t been the best of plans, but Turin was free and that’s all that mattered to her now.  She only hoped that she’d convinced him enough that he would give up his plans and go home—if he could make it that far after the beatings he’d endured!

But then there was Egan and his da, convincing them would have been more difficult for him, but she prayed he would manage
to do so!  Yet, even if he had, there would be no way for her to find out.  Right now, all she could do was pray that all would be well!

She looked around, catching her the old woman scowling at her again and knew that no one here would ever trust her again, but yet she did what she had to do to protect her brother and that was all.  But in the end, all that really mattered to her was that Turin was free, and that someday Edmund and Garrick would understand—she paused at the thought, not at all sure why it was important to her that Garrick would understand; but yet, somehow it was.

When Lydan returned with his men and heard of all that had happened he was even more convinced to make trouble for them.  He, himself would have beaten the boy till he either told of
where the other men were or died hiding it, it was that simple!  Garrick on the other hand, was just trying to appease both the girl and his uncle and betraying both in the process.  And then there was the twit, she didn’t even deserve to be here and yet she was…!

She stared out at the meadow beyond from the window in her chambers as she had done all day, thinking of nothing but Turin and hoping that he had gotten safely away; part of her wanting nothing more than to be with her family again, and yet in her heart she knew that that was not to be…  But she would truly miss them all and her home…  Her child moved and she paused and laid a soft hand upon it, her heart now heavy within her—for Turin, for her father and mother, for the man she had loved and lost, and for the uncertain life that lay before her in a place where she was despised…

She closed her eyes, and sighed again and prayed that the cruel words that Lydan had spoken to her about her child were just a lie.  It had been enough to have the fears of childbirth looming ahead of her, knowing that if it did not go well both she and Will
iam’s child would not survive—and yet the fear that once she was delivered, they would merely take the child from her and lock her away, darkened her thoughts even more…

She closed her eyes again as hot tears ran down pale cheeks.  Even as she tried to tell herself that Edmund would never do that to her; yet, deep inside the fear remained.  For even now, he had yet refusa
l to let her see him; which only added to her fears, and made her feel as if he too had turned his back on her.  And yet, if she had it to do all over again to save her brother’s life, she would have…!

It was the next morning that the news of another fire in the villages was brought to him, and all were more convinced than ever that Turin and the other men were responsible.  And even worse was the recrimination of his uncle for having left the boy escape.  It hadn’t helped either that Lydan had been the first to talk to his uncle about the matter, he wished the man would just go back to his own estate—but instead he lingered on, sulking around and making things even worse on both he and the girl!  Edmund had been ready to spit when he’d gone into his chambers a few hours later, and it had taken him nigh an hour to just calm him down enough to be able to reason with him, but in the end he conceded. 
“I suppose it is for the best… the girl would have never forgiven either of us had the boy died in my dungeons…  But what now?”