The Raven's Moon (44 page)

She stood in a narrow space, facing another set of turning stairs. Faint moonlight lit the stairwell from a high window. She climbed upward rapidly, running a steadying hand along the wall as she went up the wheeling steps.

Below, she heard Simon wrench open the door and come up the steps. Lighter and quicker, she reached the top and stepped out into a small, bare room. Through two windows, moonlight spilled onto the wooden floor.

She was in one of the watchtowers. She remembered seeing Abermuir's round corner turrets, added like afterthoughts to the angles of the tall, massive Border tower. From up here, guards could view the countryside for miles around.

"Mairi!" Simon's steps were heavy, louder, closer.

She opened the outside door and stepped out onto the roof.

Chapter 28

She's turned her right and roun about,

The tear was in her ee:

"How can I come to my true love,

Except I had wings to flee?"

—"Johnie Scot"

The wind pushed against her with unexpected force, billowing her skirt, tearing at her hair. Glancing around frantically, she saw the pointed caps of the turrets and the low parapet wall that surrounded the L-shaped roof.

Hoping to find a way back into the castle, she headed for another turret jutting up from the roof, but saw the gleam of a torch inside the half-open door. The guards there would not help the warden's pledge escape. She turned again.

In the center of the flat roof floor was a smaller pitched wooden roof. Its sloped sides shone in the moonlight. Another structure sat on its ridge, a tiny house that rode the larger like a turtle on its parent's back. Mairi guessed it was a chimney house, built around a central chimney to provide shelter and warmth for watchmen.

Just as Simon shoved open the turret door, Mairi ran toward the low pitched roof, climbing its slant to reach the chimney house. The door gave easily and she slipped inside, closing it. Moonlight flowed in from two small windows, and she could see well enough to throw the door bar securely.

The room was about six feet square, and the platform floor was built around the roof peak. She stepped back and leaned against the warm chimney wall, catching her breath.

Within minutes, she heard shouting and running footsteps, and then a frightening banging sounded on the door.

"Mairi! Open up! I order you!"

She held still, praying the bar would hold and that he would think she had gone elsewhere. She waited, holding her breath.

"Come out! I will not hurt you. I only wanted to know if you saw how that rascal Heckie attacked me. I had to kill him to defend myself."

Mairi gasped at the lie. He was more conniving than she had realized. Now she could only do her best to protect herself from him. She glanced around the tiny house for a weapon.

A few lances stood upright in the corner, leaned against the wall. She crossed there and hefted one in her hands, its length difficult to manage in the awkward space. She set it back.

Then she saw the pistol on the floor, gleaming in the moonlight. She closed her hand around its heavy handle. It was a wheel-lock, left by one of the guards. And she knew how to handle one of these. Groping around, she found a leather pouch beside where it lay. Inside were lead balls, gunpowder, and the tiny, essential key.

With trembling fingers, she loaded it and turned the metal key to wind the mechanism.

Simon slammed against the door, the blows threatening to crack the wood. Drawing a breath, Mairi lifted the gun in both hands, aimed it, and waited.

Silence. The gun was heavy, but she held it steady. Then she jumped at another noise. Turning, she saw the glint of Simon's steel bonnet and breastplate at the other window.

"Mairi," he called. "If you will not come out, I will fish you out wi' smoke."

Mairi aimed the pistol toward the window. The silence that followed was thick and extended.

Then he returned with a bright, smoking torch.

* * *

"Now that is a reiving moon," Jock said. "The kind the Scotts like best. White and clear, but not too full to show us."

Rowan glanced up. "Those dark clouds say yet another storm is on its way." He shook his head, returning his gaze to the stark silhouette of Abermuir Tower. In one turret he saw torchlight glimmer.

"We can hurry," Sandie said. "Scumfishing's quick."

"If we smoke them out, we will have a hundred troopers after us. We're here to find Mairi."

"She'd come running out wi' the rest," Sandie said.

"Smoke would stir more trouble than we need." Rowan turned to Archie. "Where would he keep her?"

"I doubt she is in the dungeon," Archie replied. "Perhaps in the spare bedchamber on the top floor next to his own."

Rowan nodded. "We'll follow Archie, as we discussed, through the yett and up the steps. Then Archie and Geordie will gather the guards in the barnekin with some distraction, while I go in search of Simon and Mairi."

"We'll set a fire in the yard if we must," Archie said.

"We'll search each floor until we find her," Rowan said. "Ready your weapons."

"Eh, scumfishing's the way," Sandie grumbled.

"I heard once o' reivers who took a tower by its roof," Christie said. "They cut down a tall pine tree and leaned it against the wall, and climbed up its branches. Then they took off the roof and went down." Sandie gave a soft, approving hoot.

Clouds covered the moon. Rowan glanced up again. "Let's go. Geordie, hand me the papers and the mirror as well. I mean to tempt Simon with what we've found." Geordie handed him the mirror and pages in a packet.

Rowan gathered his reins and led the way. The silence among the others was as determined and grim as his own.

Thunder rumbled overhead as they rode toward the tower.

* * *

Smoke swirled into the tiny chimney house, filling it quickly, obscuring the moonlight. Mairi covered her nose and mouth with her hand, breathing shallowly. Simon had sealed the first window with a board leaned there, and then had tossed burning, pitch-soaked rags inside the second window. Smoke poured upward, smothering the light and the breathable air.

Mairi tried to stamp out the rags, but they burned out quickly; the smoke was the threat. She could scarcely take a breath, and her eyes were tearing.

She would have to go outside, where Simon waited. But he did not know she had a pistol. Gripping it tightly, aiming ahead, she opened the door.

As she eased out, Simon jumped from the side and grabbed her. The gun fell from her hand as he pinned her arms and lifted her from the ground. She kicked and struggled, screaming, but he did not relax his hold as he carried her across the roof.

Two guards inside one of the turrets looked out the door, seeing Simon dragging her away, but they ducked back inside as if hesitant to interfere.

"Are your men all like you?" she asked breathlessly. "Scoundrels and traitors?"

"When I set you down and we talk," he said, "you will say that you saw Heckie attack me."

"I saw you attack
him,"
she insisted.

"You saw it wrong," he growled. "You saw me defend myself if you value your life and the lives o' your husband and kinsmen."

"You cannot barter my silence," she said.

"I do not want to kill you," he said. "But a fall from this tower would prove deadly. Or a fall down the steps." He set her on her feet, holding her securely.

Thunder grumbled overhead. Simon glanced up.

Mairi stomped on his foot, kicked backward and caught him hard in the knee with her foot. As he grunted and faltered, she dropped, bending her knees to slide down—and out of his grip. Then she ran.

Simon stumbled and fell, then rose to his feet, cursing as he ran in pursuit.

As she headed for one of the turrets, he lunged toward her. Spinning away, she pounded across the roof toward the chimney house. Seeing the fallen pistol, she grabbed it in both hands, swinging wildly as she pointed the barrel at him.

"Stay there," she said. "I'll fire it."

He took a step closer. "You would not, Mairi lass."

"I will," she insisted. "I will fire it. Stay back."

"I would not harm you—no need to fear."

"You backstabbed Heckie. You would kill me if you thought it necessary."

He came toward her. "A shame you saw me and Heckie, lass. I thought you and I were better comrades than this, hey." He held out a hand. "Give me that pistol."

Behind him, in the darkness, the turret door opened. Shadowy figures crossed the roof. Mairi flicked her glance there, then at Simon, fearing his guards would aid him.

He dove toward her, swatting at the gun barrel. As Mairi took an instinctive step backward, her foot hit the edge of the sloped roof. She stumbled, her arm flew wide, and the pistol misfired, an explosion of sound and flashing light. The recoil knocked her fully back and the gun dropped as she fell.

Simon lunged and grabbed her, hauling her to her feet, spinning her to trap her in front of him with one arm. She felt the point of a dagger at her throat, and though she wrapped her hands around his arm, she could not get free.

"A loaded pistol cannot be trusted," Simon growled. "One shot and 'tis useless. Come wi' me." He pushed her forward a little, then stopped abruptly. Mairi glanced up and gasped.

"She'll come wi' me, I think." Rowan's deep voice cut like a keen blade through the wind. Mairi widened her eyes as he stepped out of the shadows, a pistol steady in his hand.

Wind whipped his hair, and he stared unmoving at Simon, like a dark, powerful angel of judgment.

* * *

"Blackdrummond, you blasted scoundrel," Simon growled. Rowan saw how tightly the warden held Mairi, saw the stinging gleam of the dagger tip pressing the underside of her jaw. He felt an overwhelming urge to lunge for the man and simply and quickly destroy him. But he only gripped his gun tighter, glancing at Mairi and away.

"What are you doing here?" Simon demanded.

"We came to Abermuir to talk with you. We found Heckie's body in the hall." Rowan was sure by Mairi's expression that she knew something of that. He turned a cold gaze on Simon.

"That rascal jumped me," Simon said. "I had to kill him."

Rowan had turned the body over, had seen the killing wound. "By stabbing him in the back? He held no weapon."

Simon glowered, his face shadowed beneath his helmet. Mairi glanced quickly from Simon to Rowan.

"Rowan—Simon and Heckie worked together—" she began, and cried out as Simon pressed the dagger point deeper.

Rowan took a step forward, his fingers tense on the pistol. Even if he shot Simon, the man could still slit Mairi's throat. "Touch her again with that blade and I will blast your head from your shoulders," he warned. "Tell me more, Mairi," he said, without looking at her. He could not look, or lose his hard won control. "Heckie and Simon are spies?"

"She lies to protect her brother," Simon said. "I suspected Heckie was part of this all along."

"Did you?" Rowan asked calmly. Thunder sounded overhead. Rowan saw Simon squeeze Mairi tighter, with greater threat. The coming storm seemed to unnerve him. Mairi set her arms around Simon's arm to relieve the pressure of his grip, but Rowan feared that Simon, so anxious now, would choke her.

"Let her go," Rowan said, low and fierce.

"Bring me the prisoners I want," Simon said.

"There. Done," he said, as Alec and Iain stepped out of the shadows. "Let her go."

Mairi gasped. "Rowan, you cannot—"

"Do not fret," he said. "I am loyal to my kin. And they to me. Lads!"

Alec and Iain lifted pistols and pointed them at Simon.

"What is this?" Simon snapped. "They should be arrested. Guards!" He shouted again, keeping hold of Mairi.

"Archie and others have seen to your guards in the barnekin," Rowan said. "And we've tended to the watchmen up here as well."

"Archie too! By hell! You'll all hang for this! Deputies cannot usurp their warden. I represent the king's authority here. This is treason."