“Nay!” she cried.
“Yer sister, Blaine, and brother, Newell, are safe at the MacKeefe camp.”
“What about Mother?”
“I’m sorry, lass,” he told her. “It seems she took her life when she got the message from the Highlands that ye were dead.”
Tears ran from her eyes and Ailsa leaned her head back on the wall. “It was all that bastard’s plan.”
“Ranulph?” he asked. “What do ye mean?”
“He wanted my father to think I was dead and that he killed me.”
“Och, nay. Why would he do such a thing?”
“Because he knew my father would want revenge. He said something about a sword that was stolen from him and that the English had it. He told my father he wanted it in trade for the baby. He thought my father would get it and come after him in anger. Drummond planned to steal it back.”
“The Sword of Triumph,” said Logan with a stiff upper lip. The sword had caused so much trouble that he was starting to wonder if it was really lucky at all.
“Aye, that’s the one,” she said, seeming too tired to even lift her head now.
“I dinna understand, lass. Why did he beat ye and imprison ye?”
“Because he knows Lockie isn’t his. My father betrayed him with the betrothal.”
“Aye, I understand that. What I mean is – and forgive me for soundin’ so blunt – but why didna Drummond just kill ye?”
“Because he . . . wants me alive. He planned on stealing the sword and then asking a ransom for me and Lockie.”
“But why did ye beat ye?”
“I tried to escape. Many times,” she told him. “He was afraid I would convince someone to help me. So he . . . did this to me. And told his clan . . . I am dead. Only the guard knows I am still alive.”
“Damn him!” Logan banged his hand against the bar and started pacing back and forth. “Dinna worry, Ailsa. I’ll save ye and yer baby. And I’ll save Rhoswen as well, because I love her and will never let that bastard go through with marryin’ her.”
“He’s marrying my sister?” Her one eye opened and she looked at him in confusion. “But he’s still . . . married to me.”
“That’s right,” said Logan excitedly, hoping he could use this to his advantage. If the priest knew Ailsa was still alive, he would refuse to wed Rhoswen to Ranulph Drummond. Now, all Logan had to do was get the hell out of here so he could do something about it.
He heard a conversation outside the block of cells, and thought he recognized Bug’s voice. Stretching his neck, putting his head up to the bars, he was able to see Bug on the other side of the door made of bars, talking with the guard.
“No one sees the prisoner but me,” snapped the guard. “Give me the food and I’ll give it to him.”
“All right, but I’m in charge of the food and the plans for yer laird’s weddin’,” Bug told him. “Ranulph Drummond told me to give the food to the MacKeefe myself because he thinks MacKeefe will kill anyone who gets near his cell. MacKeefe is kent to be ruthless and also very cunnin’. But if ye want to take it, it would possibly spare my life since he’s angry with me as well, so please do.”
“Hmm,” said the guard. “What kind of food do ye have there?” The guard eyed the covered basket.
“Well, let’s see.” Logan saw Bug taking things out of a basket. “I have some things I’ve traded for in my journeys. Rabbit stew made by the laird’s wife of the MacInnes Clan, fruit pastries filled with gooseberries and currants that the laird’s daughter gave me when I visited the Campbells, and then there’s this.” He put the food down on the bench and held up a bottle. Logan watched the guard pop the cork and take a sniff.
“It’s whisky,” said the guard.
Bug chuckled. “I should say so, but it’s no’ just any whisky. It’s some of the most sought after, coveted whisky in all of Scotland. It’s called Mountain Magic and is brewed by Auld Callum MacKeefe. It’s said to be an elixir to anythin’ that ails ye as well as being the juice of immortality.”
“Immortality?” asked the guard. “How so?”
“Well, look how auld Callum is. It’s said that for one to drink Mountain Magic, it is like addin’ years onto yer life.”
“Give me that,” snarled the guard, ripping the bottle from Bug’s hand and taking a swig. He coughed and looked at the bottle and then smiled. “I think it’s workin’ already,” said the man. “Do I look younger?”
Bug made a face and shook his head. “Nay, no’ yet. If ye want it to work ye’re goin’ to have to drink more than just a swig. Mayhap even the entire bottle.”
“Take that food in to the prisoner, but leave the Mountain Magic with me,” said the guard in a gruff voice.
“Aye,” said Bug, packing up the things while the guard raised the bottle to his mouth once again. “Ye’ll need to open the door,” said Bug.
“Aye,” said the man, pulling the ring of keys from his side and putting the key in the lock. He opened the door for Bug, leaving the keys hanging from the lock. “Go on in, and hurry up about it,” said the man.
Logan paced back and forth again, trying to come up with a plan. Bug walked up to the door, looking back over his shoulder at the guard, downing the rest of the contents of the bottle.
“Logan,” whispered Bug, handing something to him through the bars. “Here, take this, quickly.” He looked over his shoulder once again.
Logan looked down to see the ring of keys dangling from Bug’s fingers.
“Find the one that opens the cell, and give me the ring back before the guard notices it’s missin’.”
“Bug, why are ye doin’ this?” asked Logan, taking the keys and finding the one that fit the lock. He slipped the key off the ring and handed it back to Bug. “Ye shouldna risk yer life to help me.”
“I’m doin’ it for Rhoswen, too,” said Bug, pulling something out from under his cloak and slipping it through the bars.
Logan looked down and smiled. “That looks like Rhoswen’s sword,” he said, taking it from him. “Where did ye get it?”
“I found it in the back of my wagon and thought ye might need it.”
“I’ll say,” said Logan. “It’s no’ my sword but it’ll do in a pinch.”
“Hurry up,” called the guard. “What are ye doin’?” His voice sounded garbled as if the whisky was starting to affect him.
“Ye’d better go back before ye’re caught,” whispered Logan. “I’ll wait for the whisky to knock him out and then I’ll bust out of this place. Put the rest of the keys back in the lock so the guard doesna ken what ye did.” Logan slipped the key to the cell into his sporran and tucked Rhoswen’s sword through his belt. “I wish they hadna found my hidden dirk earlier because I could use that, too, right about now.”
“How about this?” Bug reached down and pulled a dagger out of his boot. “I always keep one handy since I never ken if a Highlander is goin’ to turn against me.”
“Ye are the best, Bug. Now, go on and get out of here. I’ll bust out of here soon.”
“Who are ye?” came Ailsa’s voice from the cell. She pulled herself up and, holding on to the bars of the cell, she walked over to her cell door.
“God’s eyes!” Bug jumped in surprise, not hearing her but seeing her. “Where the hell did she come from?”
“This is Ailsa, Rhoswen’s sister,” Logan told him.
“I thought she was dead,” said Bug.
“So did we.”
“Hey! I told ye to get out here, little man,” shouted the guard. “Dinna make me come in there and get ye.”
“The guard is callin’ ye,” Logan told him.
“I’d better go,” said Bug, but Logan stopped him.
“Wait! I have an idea. Let him come get ye, and we’ll speed this process along.”
“What are ye sayin’?” asked Bug, sounding terrified.
“I have a plan.” Logan used the key and unlocked the cell door.
The guard stormed into the dungeon
with his sword in one hand and the bottle of Mountain Magic in the other.
“Didna I tell ye no’ to pay . . . sssstay . . . here too long?” His speech was becoming slurred, and Logan figured the whisky was working fast. As soon as the guard walked in front of the cell door, Logan threw it open, hitting the man hard. The guard fell to the floor, dropping the bottle as well as his sword.
“What is goin’ on?” From the floor, the guard looked up, dazed and confused, doing nothing to collect his sword. Logan could already see his eyes rolling back in his head.
“Kill him!” shouted Bug. “Hurry.”
“Bluidy hell, I canna kill an unarmed man. I’m no’ a murderer, Bug,” said Logan. “I only kill in self-defense.”
“Well, do somethin’.”
“Och, sorry about this,” said Logan, hitting the man over the head with the hilt of Rhoswen’s sword. The man’s eyes closed and he lay there, unconscious. “Put him in the cell and lock the door,” said Logan. When he saw the worried look on Bug’s face, he added, “He willna hurt ye. He’s dead to the world from the amount of Mountain Magic he drank and willna wake until mornin’.”
“Guid,” said Bug, rushing over to drag the guard by the feet into the cell. “Mayhap we’ll be out of this godforsaken place by then.”
“What about me?” came a small voice from the next cell.
“Dinna worry, lass, I willna leave ye to the wolves. Ye’re comin’ with me.” He opened the door and the girl almost fell into his arms. She looked too weak to walk. “Bug, where is yer wagon?” he asked.
When Bug didn’t hear him, he waved his hand to get the man’s attention and asked him again.
“Where is yer wagon?”
“It’s right outside the dungeon door,” said the man, closing the cell door and locking it, making sure to take the key. “Why?”
“I’ve got to save Rhoswen and the boy,” said Logan. “I’ll carry Ailsa to the wagon but I want ye to keep her hidden inside. Give her some food, but no Mountain Magic or she’ll pass out.”
“What if someone finds her? Drummond will have my head!”
“Hopefully, before that happens, I’ll have the gate up and the drawbridge down. I’m plannin’ on all of us ridin’ right out of here.”
“Och, Logan, ye are as mad as yer faither who is kent to be a Madman MacKeefe. It’s never goin’ to work. Drummond has guards everywhere. We dinna even ken where to find Rhoswen and the baby.”
“They probably took her to my solar to prepare for the wedding,” Ailsa told them.
“Guid to ken. Where is it?” Logan hoped it was nearby but, unfortunately it was the very last place he wanted it to be.
“My solar is at the top of the tower at the far side of the castle, overlooking the moat.”
“God’s eyes, why there?” asked Logan. The tower was too far away, plus he’d never be able to get up there unnoticed.
“You’ll save my sister and my son, won’t you, Logan?” Ailsa looked up with her one good eye filled with hope. How could Logan deny her request? He would finish the mission he came here to do.
“Aye, of course, lass,” he said. “Now, can ye walk?”
“I – I don’t think so.” Her legs trembled beneath her.
“Then I’ll carry ye,” he said, bending down and throwing her over one shoulder, hurriedly heading for the door with Bug right behind him.
Chapter 21
Rhoswen looked out the tower window, feeling now like it was a mistake to come here. It seemed there was little hope for escape. The moat lay directly below the tower, and it was a long way down. The battlements connected to each side of the tower, but were quite a ways below her room.
She couldn’t see the castle’s courtyard from where she was to know what was going on. Little Lockie cooed from atop the bed, and waved his arms and legs in the air. Rhoswen smiled and walked over, sitting down on the bed next to her nephew. The baby flipped over, and tried his hardest to push up to his knees. It wouldn’t be long now before he started crawling. She wished her sister were alive to see this precious sight.
“My lady, here is the gown ye’ll wear for the weddin’,” said Rona, pulling a garment out of a trunk and walking over to the bed.
Rhoswen looked up and her mouth fell open. “That’s my sister’s wedding gown!”
“Aye, yer sister looked lovely in it, and I am sure ye will, too.”
“Did ye ken Ailsa?” asked Rhoswen curiously.
“I did. I was her handmaid just as I will now be yers.”
“You are not a handmaid,” said Rhoswen, her eyes raking down the woman’s body. She could tell by the low bodice and the fact she didn’t wear hose that she was something other than a lady, indeed. “You are Ranulph Drummond’s whore, aren’t you?”
The woman’s smile faded. She looked down at the gown when she spoke. “I am,” she admitted. “But when I came to the Drummond Clan, I was promised I’d be a bride.” Tears filled her eyes. “I wasna always a whore. But Ranulph made me that way.”
“I’m sorry to upset you,” said Rhoswen, feeling bad for the woman who was also naught but a victim in this whole scheme. She stood up, putting her arm around the woman’s shoulders. “Mayhap if you help me, we can both escape this place together.”
“Oh, nay,” she said, shaking her head. “I dinna want to escape. This is my home.”
“Well, it’s not mine, and I won’t stay in a place where I’m kept prisoner, my sister’s been murdered, and my lover has been thrown in the dungeon and most likely condemned to death.”
“I’m sorry,” said the woman, it now being her turn to apologize. “Ailsa was a kind lass, and very happy when her baby was born.”
“Tell me what happened,” said Rhoswen, taking the woman’s hand and pulling her over to sit on the bed. “I missed my sister so much. I’d like to know how she died.”
“I dinna ken exactly,” said Rona.
“Drummond killed her, didn’t he?”
“That’s what he said. She just disappeared one day and he announced that he’d killed her.”
“My mother was so distraught when she got the missive that she ended up killing herself.”
“How awful!”
“Then my father said we were coming to get little Lockie, but it seemed he was only interested in revenge.” She reached out and ran a hand over the baby’s back as the boy rocked back and forth on his hands and knees.
“Now that ye are to be Ranulph’s wife, ye will be Lockie’s mathair as well.”
“Nay, I will never be his wife,” said Rhoswen. “Now that I know that Logan really does love me, he is the man I will marry.”
“But he’s a prisoner and has been condemned to death,” said Rona.
“I plan on freeing him as well.”
“How?” asked the girl. “Ye are one lass up against a clan of Highlanders all with swords. Face it, Lady Rhoswen, ye are goin’ to be Ranulph’s wife and yer lover will be killed and there is nothin’ ye can do about it.”
“I hope you’re wrong,” said Rhoswen, wondering about Logan in the dungeon. Would he be killed because of her? This was all her fault. If she’d never have climbed into the back of Bug’s wagon, Logan never would have come after them and they wouldn’t be in this position. If only she could go back and change things, she would. “I hope you’re wrong,” she repeated, hoping for a miracle to get them out of this mess.
* * *
Logan emerged from the stable with a skein of rope and a grappling hook in his grip, having snuck inside and found it in a pile of supplies at the back of the barn. He needed to get up to the tower to talk to Rhoswen, but with all the guards Drummond posted, there was no way to do it without being seen. So the only way in as far as he could tell would be to scale the tower and go in through the window.
The guards on the wall walk were patrolling, but looking down into the courtyard in the opposite direction of the tower. If he could sneak up there, he might be able to pull himself up to the tower window on
the side of the moat. It wouldn’t be half as hard if he didn’t have to also save Ailsa and Bug now, too.
God’s eyes, where were his friends, Hawke, Caleb and Ethan? Hadn’t they said they wouldn’t desert him in his time of need? Of course, he was the one who deserted them by leaving the MacKeefe camp without telling anyone. Well, he’d just have to figure this out on his own.
There was a hustle and bustle in the courtyard since Drummond decided he wanted a wedding that no one – especially Logan – would ever forget. He heard the pounding of hammers, thinking they were building a wedding platform. But then he saw only one timber sticking up in the air instead of a wedding arch and realized they were building the gallows. For him, no doubt.
“Rhoswen, if we live through this, I swear I’m goin’ to strangle ye for no’ listenin’ to me in the first place,” Logan mumbled. The girl was trouble, there was no doubt about it. She had ideas in her head and no one was going to change them. Logan supposed her being headstrong was what attracted him to her since he was much the same way.
Managing to sneak up to the battlements unseen, he fastened the grappling hook onto the end of the rope and swung it in a circle, aiming for the tower window. The whizzing sound of air against the hook buzzed in his ears. It was a long way up, but he had a good arm. He tossed it, but came up short, hitting just under the window. He tried a second time and the grappling hook hit the ledge of the tower window with a loud clank. Then testing the rope and looking over his shoulder once more, he jumped off the battlements, and started to pull himself up.
* * *
Rhoswen heard a loud clink and looked over to see a grappling hook with a rope attached, trailing out the open window. She jumped up and ran to the window, leaning out and looking down.
“Logan!” she cried, so happy to see him.
“Hush, lass,” he said with a grunt, making it to the top and throwing one leg over the sill. “We dinna want anyone to hear us.”
“You are mad to climb up here,” she told him. “You could have fallen.”
Highland Steel: Highland Chronicles Series - Book 3 Page 17
