"I did not, I tell you," Eneas said wildly.
"Then who did?" Lion demanded.
"I do not know." Spittle flew from Eneas's mouth as he gasped for air. "I wanted you in disfavor, but—I never tried—" The word ended on an ominous gurgle. Eneas stiffened, then breathed his last.
"Glenshee!" Alexander roared. He and his followers, a hundred strong at least, had regrouped on the far side of the clearing. "Surrender, you whore's son traitor."
Lion scanned the clearing. It was littered with fallen men, some allies, some enemies. Robbie MacNab was still on his feet, bleeding from a shoulder wound. No more than fifty of his men and Lion's were in condition to fight. Rowena and Glenda had taken refuge at the base of an oak, huddling together for protection. His first thought was to get them away, but the only horses left standing were the earl's.
"Let us fall back to the road," Bryce said. "We can form a rear guard while the others make for the keep. Mayhap the guards will see us and send out reinforcements."
"There aren't enough men at Glenshee to aid us." Lion straightened, his eyes locking on the earl's glittering ones. "I am still prepared to offer the same exchange. My life for those of my people."
"Nay!" Rowena's cry was echoed by a dozen others.
Lion glanced at her and shook his head. He must do this, for his clansmen, for his lady and for his son. "What say you?" he shouted at Alexander.
"Why should I spare any of you when I have the superior force?" Alexander sneered. His expression made Lion's blood run cold, devoid as it was of decency and mercy. "I'll see you all hang for having defied me," he continued. "But you—" his lips curled back over yellowed teeth "—you, Lion, will roast over a slow fire. I'll…" He went on to describe tortures so horrible that even his own men squirmed.
"Lion, for the love of God, let us run," Bryce whispered.
Lion wanted to. But the thought of what such a madman might do to the women and bairns hardened his determination. "We'd not get far before he caught us, and his fury would be the worse for the chase. Nay, I must—"
"Take them," Alexander shouted.
His men started forward, weapons raised.
"Halt!" roared a voice as rough as gravel.
Lion spun just as an old man rode into the clearing. His hair was snowy white, his face lined and weathered, but he sat erect in the saddle, his blazing gaze fixed on the earl.
"Fergus Ross," Bryce whispered.
Lion swore. "Damn, I told him to stay away."
"Who the hell are you?" Alexander snarled.
"Fergie Ross of Clan Ross. I've come to see young Lion comes to no harm at your hands, Wolf of Badenoch."
Alexander stiffened as though he'd been struck. "How dare you call me that, you old fool? Seize him."
"Oh, I dinna think ye'll be doing that." Fergie raised a large, gnarled hand, and the clearing was suddenly filled with men wearing the Rosses distinctive red-and-black check. There were easily two hundred Ross clansmen, Iain among them. They were armed with spears and long pikes, their faces painted for war.
Alexander's eyes widened, and some of his men edged backward, but he was not cowed. "I'll have you put to the horn for this, Fergus, and every man by the name of Ross will be hunted down and killed like vermin."
"That's providing ye get away from here alive, Your Grace."
"Kill me, and my brother will hang you for treason."
"He's right, Fergie." Lion started toward the Rosses, but Rowena caught hold of his arm.
"Lion, I must speak with you."
"Not now, sweetheart. Get back where it's sa—"
"Nay." Her grip on him tightened. "We have the proof."
"What?" He started, then leaned closer.
"The letters. You were right, they do contain the promises he made to Archie Campbell and Donald MacKay. I have them." She patted her belly, where the parchment was bound beneath her clothes by a length of towel. "Glenda and I found a way to open his strongbox and take them. With him none the wiser."
Lion grinned and kissed her quickly. "Ach, I do love you, lassie."
Tempted though he was to tip his hand, to shout across the meadow that the earl and his horrendous schemes were doomed, Lion realized none of them would be safe until the letters were in the king's hands. And admitting he had them would be like waving a bit of choice meat under a hungry wolf's nose.
"A word, Fergie." He strode over to the Ross. "I know it's tempting to end it here and now, but he's right when he says Robert would hunt us down. I have a better way." Quickly he told the chief about the letters and Alexander's promises.
"After what he's done to me and mine, I'd rather sink my blade in his gut," the old man grumbled.
"I know. The dead cry out to me, too, but what good is it to avenge them and die ourselves? Better to hit the Wolf where it will hurt him most. And believe me, I do think he would prefer death to the disgrace that will be heaped on him when Robert sees proof that his brother plotted to take his throne."
"I suppose," Fergie said grudgingly.
Lion walked back over to where Bryce and Rowena waited. "My lord earl," he called out "I do give you leave to depart my lands in peace."
"What?" exclaimed Bryce. "But—but after all he's done—"
Rowena poked him in the ribs. "Oh, he will pay. Lion will make certain of that. And knowing our illustrious earl, I do think that being stripped of power and titles will be a worse punishment than any death we could devise."
"Amen to that," Glenda said, coming over to join them. Her triumphant smile transformed her face, making her almost pretty.
"You will all regret this," Alexander warned. Dragging his horse's head around, he thundered down the road, away from the clearing and, hopefully, out of their lives for good.
Lion grinned and drew Rowena into the circle of his arms. "Aye, Bryce, we've very likely won. And the very best part of it is that the earl was bested by two very clever ladies."
Chapter Nineteen
"When will we go back to Hillbrae?" Dun asked.
Rowena paused outside Glenshee's stables and sighed. "Not till Lion returns."
"What of yer vow to Laird Padruig?"
"I've told you, over and over again, that I will honor it." She stepped into the building and waited a moment for her eyes to adjust from the brilliance of the afternoon sun. The cool darkness wrapped around her, the familiar scents and sounds of the animals oddly calming to her frazzled nerves. Lion had been gone for nearly two weeks and not a day had passed without Dun or Finlay or Kier asking when they'd leave.
"At least let us take Paddy back where he belongs," Dun pressed, his deep voice more gravelly than usual.
"I will not be parted from my son." Twitching her skirts, Rowena hurried down the aisle between the stalls, past Lion's great warhorse to the enclosure where her mare dozed.
"Nor, it seems, from your lover."
"Aye, I do love Lion." Rowena whirled, glaring at Dun. "But I will keep my word. However, I will not go till he is back from Edinburgh and I know all is well. If parliament and the king do not believe Lion's proof, if they do not declare the earl guilty of treason, we will all be in grave danger."
"With Eneas dead, we'd be as safe at Hillbrae as here."
"That may be, but I am not going till I'm ready." She would see Lion one last time, for once she returned to Hillbrae, she would never leave again. And Paddy deserved this chance to know his Sutherland kin and his father's home. She reached for her mare's saddle.
"I will do that."
Rowena frowned. "If you are going to pick at me about this, I will ride out alone."
"Nay. The Sutherlands say the land hereabout is safe, but I'm sworn to guard you, my lady." Dun proceeded to saddle two horses. "Does he know?" he asked as he tightened a cinch.
"Does who know what?"
Dun's eyes met hers over the mare's back. "Does Lion know that Paddy is his son?"
Rowena gasped. "Who…who told you that?"
"Laird Padruig himself�
�years ago."
"You never said anything," Rowena whispered, trying to read the older man's expression in the gloom.
Dun shrugged. "When I saw him with the lad, I marked the resemblance, though I don't think most folk would. Paddy's coloring is lighter, but there's something about his eyes and mannerisms…if you know to look."
"Aye," Rowena said faintly.
"Does Lion know?"
Rowena nodded. "Apparently Paddy looks like Lion's father, Lord Lucais."
"What will he do about it?"
"Nothing," Rowena said quickly, hoping to stem another flood of scowls and scorn. "He…he understands about the vow."
"Mmm." Dun turned his attention back to the horses, checking the tack before offering her a hand up.
Rowena sighed wearily. The castle was still crammed with crofters whose huts had been burned by the earl when he retreated from Glenshee. Her every waking hour was filled with the hundred tasks necessary to help Ailsa run the keep. The activity helped keep her mind from the eventual parting with Lion, but she needed a few moments to herself. Ailsa had suggested she ride down to the loch. "I'm riding out for a bit of peace. If you are going to plague me, you can stay behind."
"I'll not mention it again."
Rowena nodded, accepted his help in mounting and guided her horse from the stables. "I am surprised you do not require a troop of men," she observed as they headed out the inner gate. "Where are Kier and Harry?"
"Busy," Dun curtly replied, his hard face in profile to her.
Paddy crept from the foal's stall and stared after his mother and Dun. His excitement at having eluded Harry and sneaked in here to play paled alongside what he'd just heard.
Lion was his da? How could that be when they'd only just met him? A bit of memory flitted through his mind, elusive as a wispy cloud. Lion. Sometime long ago Paddy remembered Jennie saying that name, and his mother hushing her.
His eyes narrowed as he tried to catch hold of the memory, but all he could recall was the sadness in his mother's face. He thought he understood, because he felt sad himself. Sad and a little confused, as though he'd eaten butterflies for supper.
How could he have two fathers?
Finlay would know. Finlay was old and couldn't run and play, but Finlay knew things.
Sighing, Rowena cantered beside Dun down the dusty road. Her happiness at this outing was considerably dimmed by his dour countenance. If there'd been any Sutherlands to spare, she'd have begged one of them to accompany her. But Lion had taken Red Will and Sim with him, leaving Heckie in charge of the keep's defenses. Bryce was not yet back from escorting Glenda to Blantyre, which was not surprising, because the two of them had become so wrapped up in each other Rowena would not be surprised to hear there was a wedding in the offing.
Rowena tried to feel happy for her friend, but a wee bit of jealousy crept in. Here she was, yearning to marry the man she'd always loved, and yet she'd never be free.
As they thudded across the wooden drawbridge, Rowena looked back over her shoulder at the stalwart castle. In a few short weeks, it had become more like home to her than Hillbrae, where she'd dwelt for six whole years. She supposed it was the Sutherlands' doing, for they were warm, friendly and caring.
Paddy had positively thrived at Glenshee. He'd made friends with several lads his own age, and together they roamed the grounds, stealing cakes from the kitchen, chasing sheep in the wide outer bailey and climbing the trees in the small orchard behind the keep. Most often, however, he could be found in the stables petting Turval's foal.
Before he left, Lion had told her he would send the horse to Paddy when he was old enough to ride it. The prospect of seeing her son—their son—mounted on his father's horse, carrying the huge Sutherland claymore that would also be his someday, brought tears to her eyes.
They belonged together, Lion and Paddy.
Just last night, Paddy had asked her, "When is Lion coming back? I miss him. He laughs with me, and he shows me things, and he doesna yell if I make a mistake. He's my bestest friend…next to Flame." The orange cat.
Rowena had smiled with him, then cried bitter tears into her pillow. The Gunns were right to fear she'd not keep her vow, because she did not want to. She did not want to at all. But she had no choice. Glenshee's priest had told her, glumly, that such an oath was binding unless the church lifted it. Which it would be unlikely to do just because she had now been reunited with her son's father and wished to be absolved of the vow.
Rowena sighed and looked up in time to catch Dun's intent stare, so piercing and scathing it seemed he must guess her thoughts. If so, he'd know how anguished she felt. A heavy, leaden weight seemed permanently lodged in her chest. The only thing that gave her joy was Paddy. Not even today's bright sunshine, or the feel of the soft breeze on her face, or the cheerful sounds of the birds winging through the meadow they passed could lift her spirits. "We might as well go back," she said glumly.
"I thought ye wanted to see the loch," Dun exclaimed, sounding oddly alarmed.
She shrugged. "It doesn't much matter."
"Well, I've a notion to look at it, and it might ease ye to walk along the water," he added.
They rode in silence, past the field where ten days ago the earl had been brought low by his own sins. Had he not made an enemy of the Rosses and Lion not befriended them, Fergie Ross wouldn't have arrived in time to save the Sutherlands.
"When I received word that the Wolf was marching on Glenshee, I called up every Ross I had to hand," the old man had later explained, sprawled in a chair beside Glenshee's hearth. "I ken ye told me to stay at home and keep safe, but had ye done that, Iain and wee Colin would have been lost to me, too. I couldn't let ye face that madman alone."
Lion's grin had lit up the great hall. " 'Tis glad I am you are a stubborn man, Fergie Ross, else I'd not be here today."
The memory of that triumph made Rowena smile. Lion had refused to take any credit at all, insisting that they had been saved by two brave, canny ladies. She and Glenda had been the heroes of the feast that evening, not Lion and not the men who had fought so gallantly against the earl's troops. His generosity of spirit had amazed Glenda, but not Rowena.
Lion was a man among men.
If only she had not heeded Padruig's offer six years ago. If only she'd been brave enough to face her mother's scolding and her kinsmen's scorn. If only she'd waited, Lion would have regained his senses and sought her out. They would have wed.
"We are here," Dun grumbled.
Rowena blinked. Sure enough, the horses had stopped at the edge of the loch. It stretched out before her, a huge expanse of water reflecting the deep blue of the sky, bounded on all sides by steep mountains. The only signs of habitation were a huddle of cottages at the crest of the nearby hill and the five fishing skiffs pulled up on the beach.
"It—it is breathtaking." Rowena slid from the saddle without waiting for Dun's help. Slowly she picked her way among the rocks to sit on one at the loch's edge. The water lapped against the shore, a gentle, calming slurp. She bent to dip her fingers in. "Oh, it's as cold as winter's snow."
"Aye." Dun came to stand behind her. Arms crossed over his chest, thick legs braced among the stones, he stared out over the loch. "A body'd not last ten minutes in such cold."
"I suppose not." She gazed up at him, feeling a bit more in charity with her solemn guard. He was only doing his best to protect his clan's interests. "Thinking of taking a swim?"
"Nay," he muttered, his expression even more foreboding. Truly he was a man who hid his thoughts well. Imagine having known about Paddy all these years and given no hint of it.
Rowena slanted him a wry smile. "Will you not at least sit, Dunmore? It is hard to relax with you hovering over me like a great, scowling giant."
Remorse flickered across his weathered face. Bending, he picked up a large rock. She supposed he meant to toss it in the water, as Paddy might. "I am sorry for this, my lady. Ye've always treated me decent like, but I know of no other
way to make sure the old laird's wishes are carried out."
Rowena grunted as the stone collided with her head. She tried to cry out, to shy away. But the pain exploded inside her, and the darkness sucked her down…down…
It was just past noon when Lion rode in through Glenshee's massive gates. The road to the keep was lined with cheering Sutherlands, soldiers and crofters alike.
"Lion! Lion!" they chanted.
"Ach, there's something about coming home a hero that makes all the fighting worthwhile," Red Will said, his left arm still in a sling from catching a Stewart blade.
"That it does," Lion's smile dimmed as they rode into the courtyard and he did not see the one person he craved above all others. Had Rowena gone back to Hillbrae? She'd said she would remain till he returned from delivering the Campbell letters, but he'd guessed Finlay would try to persuade her otherwise. It looked as though the old man had prevailed.
Well, he would just have to go after her, Lion thought. He'd not come so far or gone through so much to lose her now. His parents were prepared for the fact that their son might be dividing his time between Hillbrae and Glenshee. They were not well pleased with the idea, but the bitter was tempered by the very sweet notion that they had a wee grandson. In fact, they would have returned with Lion had Lucais not feared to leave Edinburgh till parliament's warrants against Alexander were signed, sealed and sent off.
"Did they put the Wolf to the horn?" Micheil called out.
"Aye. The king was aghast at his brother's perfidy, but it was parliament that insisted the earl be brought in for trial," Lion replied. Dismounting to the cheers of his clansmen, he handed his horse's reins to a stable lad. Though he doubted the king's brother would hang, at least Alexander was no longer in a position to wreak harm on the Highlands.
"Let us broach a keg of ale to celebrate," Lion shouted. That was greeted by a roar of excitement, and the throng surged up the steps into the keep. Micheil had the ale open by the time they reached the hall. Cups were filled and toasts drunk to Lion, the clan and Fergie Ross.
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