Highlander The Demon Lord

by Donna Fletcher

  “You are not feeling well?” Espy asked.

  “A bit tired, nothing more,” Adara assured her.

  “Then you should rest. Your time grows near.”

  Cyra agreed. “Do rest, Adara, you will need your strength to birth the bairn.”

  “Begging your pardon, my lady, but you are needed in the kitchen,” Wynn said.

  Adara nodded and stood, the bairn turning hard in her stomach as she did. She stilled and rested her hand there.

  “You should rest,” Espy scolded.

  “I will as soon as I see to this I will retire to my bedchamber for the day.”

  Espy appeared relieved. “Good, I will come see you there later.”

  The two women walked silently through the stone hallway that connected the kitchen to the keep. Before reaching the kitchen, they turned and went to the door that led them outside.

  Wynn snatched a cloak off the peg by the door and draped it over Adara’s shoulders. “He waits behind the large boulder just beyond the kitchen garden.”

  Adara nodded.

  “God be with you, lass,” Wynn said and hugged Adara.

  Snow had fallen last night, leaving deep tracks for anyone to follow not that Adara paid mind to it. Her thoughts on one thing alone, and she found herself hurrying her steps.

  Warrick could not get his thoughts off his wife. They had agreed on sharing their worries and something obviously was worrying her, yet she did not speak of it to him. He saw to the message from Benet, settling the matter quickly by letting Benet know that those who felt they need not obey their new chieftain would be sent to Warrick’s castle to serve him.

  He saw to a couple of other matters with haste as well, wanting to return to his wife, but was once again delayed when Selwyn, one of is trackers, approached.

  “I may have found something, my lord,” Selwyn said.

  Warrick nodded for him to continue.

  “With the freshly fallen snow, I noticed two tracks similar to ones where the dead man was found. I followed the one and it brought me to another set that reminded me of a faint track that was also similar to another found not far from the dead man.”

  “You saw these similar tracks again today?”

  “I did,” Selwyn said. “I could not find where the one track originated from but it led me to the keep garden where I found the other one. The one returned inside the keep and the other went into the woods.”

  Warrick did not need to ask Selwyn if he followed the tracks into the woods. He was his best tracker and did his job well. “Where in the woods did the tracks take you and who do they belong to?”

  “Langdon, my lord, and he waits behind the large boulder near the kitchen garden.”

  “The one who entered the keep, do you know who that track belongs to?”

  Selwyn nodded. “I believe it to belong to Wynn, my lord, though I cannot be sure.”

  “Come with me,” Warrick ordered and Selwyn hurried behind Warrick, Roark following along as well.

  When they reached the kitchen garden Selwyn scurried past Warrick, calling out, “Wait.” He dropped down and examined the imprint in the snow and turned to look in the distance. He hurried to his feet and went to Warrick. “Another track, my lord, and one I recognize since I am familiar with it, having seen it often… your wife.”

  “She goes alone?” Warrick asked, clinching his hand in anger while concern filled his thoughts.

  “Aye, my lord,” Selwyn confirmed.

  “No one is to follow me,” Warrick ordered Roark and followed his wife’s fresh tracks into the woods. His mind was in turmoil, fearing the worse. Had Ronald’s search for the true king led him here? Had Wynn known something about the true king and Ronald confronted her on it? Had Wynn killed him? An unlikely possibility with her advanced age and lack of strength. Had Langdon defended Wynn against Ronald? Or had, in the end, the true king been hiding here in Clan MacVarish all this time? And if so why?

  His wife’s frantic voice broke through his disturbing thoughts.

  “No! No, you will not!

  Warrick hurried around the massive stone, hearing her distraught plea and came to an abrupt stop. His wife stood in front of Langdon, her brow resting against his shoulder and the man’s arms around her. He appeared far different than he usually did. His shoulders were not stooped, they were broad, his chest wide, his gray hair not hanging loose around his face, but gathered back with a strip of cloth at the nape of his neck, and his eyes did not squint as if he had difficulty seeing, they were wide and alert, and threatening as he glared at Warrick.

  “Adara step away from him now,” Warrick ordered, realizing Langdon stood with regal comportment.

  Langdon kept his arms around Adara.

  “Harm my wife and I will kill you and not slowly, which would please the King since I have no doubt you are the man I search for,” Warrick warned, wanting to rush at the man and get his wife away from him. But a knife was tucked in the sheath on this belt and he would not take the chance that Langdon would harm her.

  Adara turned then, raising her hand as if to stop him from stepping toward them and tears ran down her cheeks. “No! No, you cannot hurt him, I beg you. Please, please, Warrick, do not hurt him… he is my father.”

  Too stunned to respond, it took a moment for him say, “Your father?”

  “Aye, he is my father. Wynn told me the truth when I confronted her with evidence of being at the scene of the dead man. I insisted on meeting him and now he tells me he is leaving. I do not want him to leave. I want him to stay so we can make up for all the years we have missed.”

  “That is not possible,” Langdon said sorrow heavy in his voice.

  “It is possible. Tell him, Warrick. Tell him you are no threat to him. Tell him you will not turn him over to the King.”

  Warrick remained silent. This could not have gotten any worse and yet it had.

  “That is not what the King wants from Warrick,” Langdon said, Adara turning a puzzled look on her father. “Warrick’s mission is to kill me.”

  Adara snapped her head around, her eyes wide. “You will see my da dead?”

  Warrick focused his scowl on Langdon. “What proof have I that he is your father?”

  Adara was quick to explain. “Wynn. She attended my birth as did my da. She knew that my mum and da secretly wed.”

  Warrick wanted to roar with rage at that news, but his only response was his eyes narrowing in anger.

  “You leave your husband with a dilemma, daughter,” Langdon said.

  “What dilemma?” Adara asked, innocently.

  “Tell her, Warrick,” Langdon challenged.

  Warrick remained silent, though his dark eyes spoke loud enough for him. He was ready to kill.

  “Let me answer for him,” Langdon said. “If he kills me, he leaves you as the true Scottish heir to the throne, and King James will not have that.”

  Adara shook her head. “No. No, my husband loves me. He would never harm me and I care not about the throne. I love my husband and want only a life with him.”

  Warrick was stunned, that his wife would choose him over her rightful heritage. He was the only thing that mattered to her. Her words echoed in his mind. I love you no matter what. She had let him know then that nothing would come between their love… not even a throne.

  Adara could not hold back her tears. They fell of their own accord. “This must stop. It must. Too much has been lost. I will not lose anymore.” She gasped aloud from the sudden pain and her hand went to her stomach as she felt something gush down from between her legs. She looked down and the pristine snow under her feet spread red with blood.

  Chapter 32

  “Warrick,” Adara cried out, but before she finished his name he had her up in his arms and was running to the keep. She wrapped her arms around his neck tight and whispered, “I love you, please, always remember that I love you.”

  “Do not speak like they are your last words. You will be fine. Espy will see to it,” Warrick s
aid. “I command it. You will not die.”

  Langdon ran past him. “I will alert them.” He ran off ahead of them.”

  “Warrick,” Adara whispered.

  “Not a word. Save your strength,” he ordered, his fear rising like a demon to devour him. This was his fault, all his fault. “I should have never touched you last night.”

  “No, it is no one’s fault. You will not blame yourself for this.” She rested her brow to his cheek. “I love you. I wanted you. If you blame yourself, then you blame me too. You blame our love and I do not want to think that.”

  “Think only on how much I love you,” Warrick said, angry with himself for heaping more worry on her.

  Innis met them in the Great Hall. “Espy and Cyra wait in your bedchamber.”

  Warrick flew up the stairs and his fear mounted when he saw the dire looks on Espy, Cyra, Callie, and Wynn’s faces. The sorrowful looks on Craven and Roark’s faces did nothing to help as well.

  “On the bed,” Espy ordered.

  Warrick placed his wife gently on the bed, the blankets having been turned back in wait.

  “Please leave us,” Espy ordered gently.

  “No! I will not leave her,” Warrick said, taking his wife’s hand, so small and cold, and locking his fingers with hers.

  “You cannot help her and you will only be in the way. Leave her to me and Cyra… it is her only chance,” Espy pleaded.

  “Go, my husband, I will do fine,” Adara encouraged, though the lack of conviction in her voice said much more.

  Warrick fought with his need to remain with her, keep her safe, protect her, but Espy could only do that now. “Do not let her die,” he ordered, glaring at Espy.

  “Espy will do her best, but if,” —Adara fought to keep the quiver out of her voice— “if for some reason I do not survive, Warrick, I want Espy to save the bairn. You cannot be upset with her if she must do that.”

  “What do you mean?” Warrick demanded.

  “I want her to cut the bairn from me if there is no other way.”

  Warrick’s mighty roar echoed off the stone walls. “No! Never will I allow her to do that.”

  While everyone took a step back, fearing the Demon Lord, Craven stepped forward. “I thought that way once when Espy tried to save mine and Aubrey’s bairn. If I had not been so foolish, the child might have lived. Pay heed to your wife’s courageous words and give your bairn the chance I did not give mine.”

  Warrick could not fathom that happening to his wife. He did not even want to think about it. He could not lose her. He could not and yet it seemed as if everyone believed her already dead. No. No. He would not have it.

  He leaned over his wife, kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear. “You will not die, wife. You will not leave me. I command it.”

  “I will do my best, husband,” Adara whispered, a tear trickling down her cheek.

  Warrick kissed her brow. “My love and strength stay with you.” He reluctantly let go of her hand and as it slipped out of his, he feared she was slipping away from him forever. He walked over to Espy. “Save them both, I beg of you save them both.”

  The room went silent. No one had ever heard the Demon Lord beg anyone.

  Craven and Roark followed Warrick out of the room and down to the Great Hall where Innis was instructing the servants to prepare hot water and to gather clean cloths and moldy bread.

  “You will go help them,” Warrick said as if it was an order.

  “They are in more capable hands with Espy and Cyra, especially Espy. Her father was a great physician, traveling to other countries and learning methods physicians here thought barbaric. If anyone can save your wife and child’s lives, it is Espy.”

  His words brought some comfort and hope to Warrick as he joined Craven and Roark at a table. He gave a glance around and was not surprised that Langdon was nowhere to be seen. He did not care at the moment. His wife and bairn were the only thing that mattered.

  “Tell me the truth, Espy. Am I going to die?” Adara asked, feeling a trickle of blood run out of her now and again as Cyra and Wynn helped her out of her garments and into a nightdress.

  Espy answered honestly. “I do not know. I will use all I know, all my father taught me, and everything Cyra taught me, to save you and the bairn.”

  Cyra walked over to Espy, leaving Wynn and Callie to settle Adara and whispered, “I have seen this and it does not bode well.”

  “I know, but Father taught me that it is due to the afterbirth coming first. If it blocks the birth canal completely there is nothing I can do. If it only partially blocks the birth canal, then there is a chance the bairn can deliver safely. Adara can survive as long as the bleeding remains minimal and her labor is not long and strenuous.” Espy looked to Adara. “Did anyone ever speak to you of when your mum delivered you?”

  Wynn answered, “I was there and her mum delivered her with ease, barely a pain, and not a shout from her.”

  Espy was pleased to hear that, for it gave her hope.

  Adara felt another pain and rubbed at her stomach, silently letting the bairn know all would go well. Please, God, please let it be so.

  Warrick could not remain seated after a while. He paced the length of the Great Hall, fear refusing to leave him. He did not know what he would do without Adara. He had not known how empty his life had been until he met her. Now he could not imagine life without her. Or the bairn he had come to love, having felt him move within his wife or give a hardy kick. He had thought often on how if he had a son how differently he would teach his son compared to how his father had taught him. He would make him strong, courageous, though not through fear. He would teach him that love was not weakness but strength, and he would heap love upon him so that he could feel and know the truth of it himself.

  He stopped pacing when he reached the front of the Great Hall and saw Langdon step out of the shadows.

  “We should talk while you wait,” Langdon offered.

  Warrick nodded, realizing he wanted to know the truth, for his wife was now in danger of the crown.

  The two men sat in a dark corner of the Great Hall, Craven and Roark making certain the two men maintained their privacy.

  Langdon did not wait, he spoke up almost as if he were eager to share his story. “I stumbled into Faline, Adara’s mum, in the woods.” He smiled at the memory. “Actually stumbled right into her, my arms going around her as we tumbled to the ground together. I had not seen her as I sprinted recklessly past trees and bushes, over hills and down glens. It was something I had done since a child, run at great speeds. It gave me a sense of freedom. The instant I looked upon her dark blue eyes just like Adara’s, I fell in love.” He laughed. “I foolishly stole a kiss and though Faline got upset, I caught a hint of a smile on her lips. It was all I needed to encourage me.

  “That spring into summer was the best time of my life. I fell deeply in love with a beautiful woman who returned my love tenfold. I did not care about anything but Faline and when she told me she was with child, I wanted only to take her someplace safe and build a life with her. Unfortunately, the King learned there was a possibility of a threat to his throne. Few knew of my identity, but it was enough that I feared for Faline and my bairn’s life.

  “My close friend since childhood, Gregory, agreed to pose as Faline’s husband and take them both far north into the Highlands. I planned to meet them when it was safe and take Faline and our daughter away. We wed secretly before Faline left.” Tears glistened in his eyes. “My last night with her was much too brief. I did not want to let her go, but I had to. My heart broke when I held and kissed her for the last time. She was so courageous, telling me not to worry, we would be together again.”

  Warrick watched the man choke back tears and his own heart ached for him. He would have done the same to protect Adara.

  “I did all I could to make sure I buried my identity and even from those who thought I should make a bid for the crown. I knew the devastating possibilities that could bring
and I wanted no more death and destruction for my country. I left for the Highlands.” Langdon turned silent and squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment. “My heart shattered completely when I discovered that Faline had succumbed to fever shortly after Gregory lost his life to the same and that my daughter was nowhere to be found.”

  Warrick remained silent when Langdon paused for a moment, the painful memories difficult for him.

  “I finally learned that Faline had begged a crofter family to take Adara to her uncle Owen and that they would be paid handsomely for it. They never did. I also discovered that an ally of mine discovered that Adara was my child and to keep her safe, so he thought, he saw to it that she was moved from family to family. I learned he died and with him all connection to my daughter. I continued to search endlessly for her to no avail and finally decided to return here to MacVarish keep and see if Owen had any knowledge of my daughter’s whereabouts. I cannot tell you how shocked I was when I saw Adara. She looks exactly like her mum, dark blue eyes, pale skin, blonde hair, and petite. I stayed on here, wanting to be close to her, angry that she had suffered so much and wanting to keep her safe while I could, knowing that one day I would have to leave her just as I had to leave her mum.” Langdon choked back his tears.

  “Ronald found out who you were,” Warrick said.

  He shook his head. “He found out that the heir he searched for had an heir of his own and that Wynn knew who it was. He threatened to tell the King and detailed the torture she would suffer if she refused. But he promised that he could save her from it if she would confide in him the identity of the heir. He even offered to share the purse the King would bestow on him when he gave him the news. He planned on betraying you, and taking the news to the King himself.”

  “I thought he would, but that would have never happened. I have people in King James’s court that would have informed me of his presence before he could have gotten to the King.”

  “You are a wise man.”

  “A cautious and untrusting man,” Warrick corrected. “You killed Ronald when he met with Wynn.”