Spellbound (20 page)

42

The day moved slowly while Maighdlin awaited Kade’s return. She swept her father’s cottage and strewed new rushes on the floor, shooing a chicken outside. She folded some clean, well-worn linens and placed them in a small chest. Then she gathered wild flowers and put them in a small blue-and-yellow vase that had apparently been Mariota’s nicest possession and placed it on the table.

She
visited with Elliot, Darach, and Erskina and some of the other villagers, and let Clare’s oldest daughter braid her hair while they sat in the sunshine. Maighdlin kept herself as busy as she could to keep from worrying about Kade. Finally, she took a walk by herself, climbing the heather-clad hill where she’d first encountered Kade.

She
missed him horribly. She sat by the small burn for a while until she finally heard it. The sound of horses. Kade was back!

She
raced toward the sound only to be greeted by strangers. A tall, lean, blonde-haired man sat atop a lively steed. His green-gray eyes were alert and darted back and forth. His clothing was stained with blood and dirt. The men surrounded her.

“
Christel,” the man said. “How fortunate to find ye alone.”

A
chill raced up her spine.
Not again!

A
sword was pointed at her throat and she was lifted up on the man’s horse, in front of him. He laughed, and it was almost childlike, almost a giggle. “’Twas too easy to fool the MacAlister,” he breathed along her neck. “And here ye are, all alone without yer new husband to protect ye. Dunna make a sound Christel. If ye do, I willna hesitate to kill ye. And that is something I want to do while he
watches
.”

As
the horses galloped off, Maighdlin desperately wanted to know what had happened, where Kade was, yet she did not speak. The coldness in this man’s eyes was entirely different than Kade’s had been when he’d taken her from her village.
Where was Kade?

There
was something else about this man’s eyes…something
unbalanced.
She could only hope that when they got to wherever they were going that she’d have some answers.

43

At the MacKinnon keep, in the great hall, the blonde man sat Maighdlin at the main table, beside himself, and offered her bread and ale. She couldn’t eat or drink. Her stomach felt twisted in fear.

“
Have ye figured out who I am yet, Christel?” He smelled of wine and was brought more. He slurred his words. “Our father loved ye so much he hid ye away in a village when ye were a babe.” He picked at his long, dirty fingernails as if disinterested then stared at her with loathing.

Dear
God. He was her brother?!

“
Oh, I see. Ye realize now I am yer half-brother. Took ye long enough.” He caressed a strand of her hair.

Maighdlin
couldna speak. The hall was in disarray. The servants and maids cowered. Women with linen curraichd on their heads whispered and cried. The rushes stank. Whereas the floors of Kade’s keep were strewn with woven mats of rushes and scented with heather, thyme, lavender, and sage, this castle smelled of wet wool, hounds, sweat and whisky. The peat shifted itself as it burnt in the hearth and yet no one attended to the fire.

“
Brodie ne’er cared a whit for me, Christel. All those daughters and only one son, begotten by a village whore at that!” He stood slowly and stretched. “Yer a bonny one, Christel, and ‘tis rumored ye have the Sight. Tell me, did ye e’er see me in yer dreams?”

“
I didna know Brodie was my father until recently.”

“
I’m laird of this
impressive
keep now, Christel.” He spread his arms wide in mock appreciation. “Now that he’s escaped his own dungeons, Brodie wouldna dare come back here. If the MacAlister lets him go. I know the MacAlister is keeping him prisoner until he can sort things out.

“
E’erything here belongs to me now. E’en the new wife of Kade MacAlister.
Especially
the new wife of Kade MacAlister. But what shall I do with ye?”

He
gripped her arm and pulled her from her chair. He was so close that she nearly choked on his wine-soured breath. She refused to look at him until he tipped her chin up with his grimy fist. His eyes were green, murky, gray, with a crazed silver glint. A jagged scar ran the length of his right cheek, and he had a sparse day’s growth of blonde whiskers on his jaw. “I see ye looking at my scar. Do ye want to know how I got it, Maggie?”

He
heard her quick intake of breath. “Is that what Kade calls ye? ‘Maggie’? How precious.”

He
wrenched her from the hall and up a set of wide stone stairs. They stopped in front of a wall with a leering mask hanging on it. He pushed the mask aside to reveal a squint, usually found in solars or great chambers to allow the laird to see what was going on there or in the chapel, so that mass could be heard and seen without getting out of bed.

“
I wonder why auld Brodie had a squint put in here? Maybe to keep an eye on his village whores? Look through it, Maggie.”

She
bent her head to the holes and peered out.

“
See that burning village, Maggie? I lived there until I was seven.” He frowned and seemed lost in his unpleasant memories. “My mother was a whore. I had the misfortune to interrupt her once when she was drunk and rutting with some strange, filthy man. I was five. As punishment, she carved up my face with a knife. E’en the other villagers avoided us.”

His
fingers traced the scar on his cheek, the raised, puffy hiss of hard skin. “Me own mother did this to me. She died soon after—had her own throat slit by a man outside a nearby tavern. Brodie took me in then. He knew. He
knew
I was his son, but he ne’er acknowledged it.”

“
Calum, I’m sorry,” Maggie whispered, “for all ye’ve suffered.”

He
nodded. “Ye dunna know how sorry ye’ll be. Tell me Maggie, did ye fall in love with the MacAlister after he kidnapped ye from yer village? Is it because he’s handsome and no’ ugly like me?”

He
turned suddenly, grabbing her and grinding his mouth so viciously against hers she was sure she’d have bruised lips. He pressed his erection against her.

“
Nay Calum!”

“
I want ye. It matters no’ that yer my half-sister. I’ll have ye. Now. Before the MacAlister comes for ye. Then, after he knows I’ve fucked ye good and hard, I’ll kill ye both.”

He
jerked her back down the stairs e’en though she struggled against him. “Calum…’tis madness! It doesna have to be this way!”

“
Oh, but it does. Life is harsh and unfair, my dear sister. Ye’ll spread yer legs for me just like my mother spread hers for all those men that meant so much more to her than I e’er did. Do ye think she cared who she slept with when a few greasy coins were at stake?” They continued down damp corridors. He finally paused before a dark, descending stairwell and took a sputtering torch from the wall, and Maggie shivered.

Below
stairs it was dank and cold in the dungeon, and she gasped as a rat scurried along the wall. He pulled her hands above her head and secured her to the wall with rusted chains. “Calum, please, no!” She tried to reason with him but he’d retreated into himself and barely seemed aware of her presence now.

He
paced and talked to himself. Maggie vowed to remain calm.
Kade. Kade…where’er ye are, help me. Help me!
She silently reached out to him, felt he was still alive. He must be. She would know it if he were dead. She felt him in every part of her being.

Calum
stopped pacing. The torch was already burning low when he’d taken it from the wall, and there were no windows in the dungeon. Soon it would be pitch-dark. “I need to leave ye for a while to think,” he said, and was gone, along with the light.

Maighdlin
cried out when she felt the rat scurry by her feet. She yanked desperately on her chains, but to no avail. Her wrists became bruised and bloody from her efforts. She could see nothing in the dark. Was this where Brodie was kept before he escaped? She shivered, thinking of her dream then, where she’d been imprisoned in a dungeon with the word “witch” scratched in the wall. She called out until her throat was raw, hoping someone would hear her pitiful cries. She remained alone. Except for the rat.

44

Some hours later Calum returned to the dungeon. He carried another torch and set it high in the wall.

Maggie
saw drawings on the wall that she hadn’t seen before because of the feeble light. Crude drawings of animals and tents and people.

Slowly,
Calum removed a small dagger from his waist and laid it on the ground. He stared at Maighdlin as he opened his trews and began to stroke himself. His manhood was swollen, red, slightly bent.

“
Look at me, Maggie.”

She
looked away. She could not reason with a madman. She was too tired and too cold to try. He moved close and rubbed against her, gripping her hair. “Touch me, Maggie.”

“
Nay! Ye are my half-brother!”

“
Is it because I’m ugly? Because I am no’ rich? Because my mother was a filthy whore?”

He
began to inch her skirts up and she panicked. “I…I am with my monthly flow!” she lied. A stricken look crossed his face. He backed away from her as if she had the Black plague and sank down, his back against the far wall, his eyes truly wild now.

He
began to weep. “My mother…she ne’er covered herself when she was with a man. She ne’er cared that I could see e’erything! We lived in a one-room hut. The floors were covered with stinking animal dung and rotting food. I saw the men atop her, heard them slapping their filthy bodies against her flesh, heard their grunting, their coming. She did it anytime she could. She had no shame. She e’en did it when she had her monthly flow. The first time I saw that, she stood up from the mattress covered in blood. I thought she was dying! I said, ‘Mama, are ye dying? Dunna die! Dunna leave me all alone!’ She laughed at me.
She laughed at me!
” His voice had become small, like a little boy’s.

“
Calum, let me help ye. I can help ye. Ye suffered much as a child, saw things no child should e’er see.”

“
Nay! ‘Tis a lie! Why would ye want to help a creature like me?”

“
Because I’ve only just learned Brodie is my father. I’ve only just learned I have a half-brother.” Maggie wrestled with the chains. The flesh around her wrists was tender and raw. Calum rose, unlocked her chains, and pulled her into his arms, sobbing.

She
put her arms around him, trying to soothe him. He spun away from her then, laughing maniacally. “Ye thought I believed yer lies, didn’t ye Maggie?”

45

Calum led Maggie from the dungeon, through the keep, up spiraling stone staircases, past bemused servants, maids, and castle folk, until they stood on the rooftop near a parapet that overlooked the smoking ruins of the village below.

Fields
and hilly woods reached out farther than the eye could see toward the dark heads of mountains that broke the horizon. A tuft of clouds floated in the sky to the east. The shadows thrown by the tops of the parapets were deep pools of blackness.

“
We’ll see him approach from here. He’s coming, Maggie. I can feel it in my veins.” He caressed her cheek. “Can ye feel him, Maggie? Ye must know the Highlander’s touch, being his wife. Ye must sense him.”

Kade
was alive!
Her heart leapt with joy. She’d been right. He hadn’t ridden into Calum’s trap. Calum still gripped her arm as he scanned the horizon. He called to one of the sleeping guards. “Bring me a bow and arrow.”

The
stout, sleepy guard roused, knocking over a near-empty bottle of wine, and brought him the weaponry.

“
Calum, please…I’ll do anything ye say,” Maggie pleaded. “Just dunna try to hurt Kade. He’s no’ a man to be trifled with.”

“
So, ye do have feelings for him.”

Maggie
frowned. Calum traced her lips with a callused fingertip. “’Twill be all the more sweet that ye’ll be the one to pierce his heart with an arrow. I’ve heard of yer skill with the bow.”

“
Nay!” She shook her head.

“
It’s yer choice. If ye dunna, ye’ll fall from this tower and he’ll see yer death.”

Maggie
swallowed the lump in her throat. The irony was that Kade was riding into a trap now. “He willna care if I die,” she said quietly. She tried to be convincing. Kade may not love her as he loved Fenalla, but she thought he had come to care for her.

A
look of surprise crossed Calum’s features. “And yet I can see by the look in yer eyes that ye’d rather fall from this tower than put an arrow in his knave heart. Ye love him!”

“
Calum, Kade is no’ the man ye think he is. He’s a fair man. He has also suffered much. His own father hated him and feared him so that he had him banished to Ireland for three long years. The attack ye brought against his clan…he lost his brother and his wife to be.”

“
My attack was successful. I want him to continue to suffer. I will be laird of his keep, too. I will know how that feels.”

“
’Tis madness. Why Calum? The MacAlisters and MacKinnons were at peace for four years!”

“
’Tis simple. Brodie and men like Brodie need to pay for their sins. For having all they have while I have had nothing but suffering and shit. Besides, sister, the dear MacKinnon motto is ‘Fortune assists the daring.’ Dunna ye think I should live up to it? Do ye not think me daring?” He laughed.

So
it was true. Brodie hadna been responsible for the horrible attack against the MacAlisters.

“
’Tis too bad Brodie escaped his own dungeon. I would’ve enjoyed seeing him beg for his life, enjoyed e’en more seeing him die.” He caressed Maighdlin’s arm. “Oh, yer cold,” he said, pulling her close.

Maggie
stood as still as a statue, knowing her half-brother was truly mad.

“
We’ll wait for the MacAlister together. Like this.” He nuzzled her neck and caressed her back with his hands. From atop the keep, Maighdlin could see that the village still smoldered. Cottages still burned; lives were ruined. Bodies of men and horses lay scattered in mud and blood on the lower slopes as the living tried to clean up the mess and bury the slain. There was nothing gallant about the end of battle, Maighdlin thought. Bodies were borne on targes and hurdles, both the wounded and the dead. Maggie had never seen the procession of the defeated. They made a brave show of it despite their fear of Calum and his circle of loyalists now ruling the keep. Still, the men in the hall below would be no match for Kade and his men. Maighdlin knew his addled plan with the bow and arrow was the only chance Calum felt he had to kill the MacAlister.

It
was a long way to the ground. “Calum, it doesna have to be this way! Kade is fair.”

He
smirked. “Ye think he would be fair with me after all I’ve done?”

“
He will listen to me. I will ask him to hear ye out. He gave Brodie a chance when he could have killed him on the spot. Trust me, there is still a chance for ye, Calum.”

He
frowned. “Maggie, there was ne’er a chance for me.” He stroked her cheek. “Just like ye, I was born into a lie. And all women are the same. No’ deserving of any trust. Besides, he lost his brother and his wife to be in the attack. I know. Not just because ye told me. I set fire to the vera cottage they were trysting in.”

Maighdlin
sucked in her breath.

“
Aye, so ye see, dear sister, Kade could ne’er forgive me for that.”

“
Ye can reclaim yer life somehow, Calum. I know it. I thought I was the daughter of a simple farmer. I will always think of Haddon as my father. E’en though I know the truth now, I can rebuild my life. So can ye.”

“
Yer so naïve, Maggie. Yer course and mine were decided the moment we were born. A man like Kade MacAlister can ne’er love ye back. No’ the way ye love him. Yer a fool.”

Maggie
swayed on her feet. “What is it, sister?”

Her
eyes grew wide. He shook her. “Maggie! Ye’ve had a vision, haven’t ye! Tell me what ye saw!”

She
tried to clear her mind. Her head ached. The wind intensified, snapping Calum’s tunic about his thin, dirty ankles.

“
There!” he pointed. She saw the distant, black shapes of men and horses riding hell-bent toward the keep.
Kade!

“
Is that what ye saw? Tell me what ye saw!” Calum shrieked, his eyes wild like the emerald sea on a stormy day. Maighdlin shut her eyes. “I saw ye on the ground below. Calum, we can still stop this. That is but one future I saw. There are others, if we change our actions now.”

“
Ye lie!” Still, he peered over the edge. He retrieved the bow and arrow and placed it in her hands. Then he stood right behind her and held her hands to the bow so that she couldn’t move unless he did.

The
horses had now cleared the forest surrounding the smoldering village. “Dunna cry out a warning or ye’ll go tumbling o’er the tower, lass.”

He
edged them closer to the parapet. Soon the riders had passed through the decimated, smoking village. Maggie wasn’t surprised that they met no resistance. They were within moments of passing under the shadow of the gate.

Kade
looked furious. Was he furious to save her? Could some part of him love her? The small, hurt part of him that still felt, that was still brave enough to risk loving her after so much loss?

Calum
raised the bow and arrow, his hands covering hers. “We’ll shoot him down together, love. It’s almost time.”

Kade
was close enough that she could see his face now, dark and menacing, more so than she’d ever seen it. It must be how he’d looked in battle, and she could see why people feared him, why rumors that he was the devil himself abounded.

Just
as Kade peered up at the parapet Maggie called out his name and brought her heel down hard against Calum’s shin. He yelped and the arrow flew just wide of Kade, driving hard into the dirt behind him.

Calum
pushed at Maggie but he was off balance. She leaned to her left using all her weight and he fell over the edge of the tower, still clinging to her arm, threatening to take her with him. She braced her legs against the curb of stone. Dear God, but she could not hold him for long.

“
Maggie!” Kade yelled, seeing her atop the tower.

Calum’s
terrified eyes met hers. She tried to pull him up. “Grip my other hand!” she said. Instead, his grip loosened ever so slightly. “Maggie.” Tears flooded his eyes. He looked like the frightened little boy he must’ve been in that village years ago, and despite all, she felt sad for him.

“
I’m…sorry,” he said. “Let go, Maggie. It’s over.” In one swift motion he used his strength to push her back to safety while he released her hand. Maggie fell backward onto the hard stone rooftop and sat dazed, unable to move.

The
world around her became hazy. Everything moved slowly. The shouts of the men below seemed to fade as she rocked herself back and forth. She felt so cold and it seemed like forever before a hand gently touched her shoulder.

She
looked up into Kade’s concerned face. He lifted her gently, wrapping his arms around her. “Maggie.” He’d run up the stairwell that spiraled through the keep, toward the opening of the tower roof. For one horrible, hellish second he’d watched helplessly below, thinking she would fall, too.

He’d
found Maggie sitting quietly, rocking back and forth, a bow and quiver of arrows lying on the stone near her feet. A stout guard was passed out and snoring. Kade helped her up and embraced her, caressing her hair and her face.

“
He was my half-brother,” she said, sobbing. “He was responsible for the attack on yer keep, no’ Brodie. He wanted Brodie to pay for no’ recognizing him as his son. His bastard son. He was mad.” Her voice caught on a sob. “He forced me to shoot the arrow. He said if I didna, he’d push me to my death and make you watch. I managed to kick his shin when he let the arrow fly…I thought maybe I would fall to my death, too.”

“
Shhh. Ye can tell me later, Maggie.” He kissed her forehead.

“
But he’s dead now, Kade, and I canna prove it to ye, that he planned the attack. That he….”

“
I believe ye.”

“
Ye do?”

“
Aye.”

She
melted into him as she continued to cry, unable to speak at the moment.

“
It’s over, Maggie. We’re going home.”