by Clare Wilson
‘Torean?’ Adaira asked manically through her tears. ‘What shall we do? I can’t lose him. Not after Abhainn. Not again…’
‘We’ll get them back,’ he said firmly. ‘They've taken the boys in order to lure me in. If they want me to come to them that's exactly what I’ll do.’ He took Adaira in his arms and stroked her hair. ‘Don't worry, I will get him back. I’ll get both boys back, and I’ll make every last one of them pay.’
Adaira rocked back and forth in his arms mumbling over and over to herself. ‘I just want him back. Please bring him back. I can’t lose him too. Can you bring him back?’ She was like a distraught child.
Torean knew there was nothing he could say to her just now. He needed to give her time to take in the news, he needed some time himself. Then they could decide what they should do next.
Chapter Fourteen
A Prisoner of Fortune
It was late afternoon and Tom and Aneirin were being led down the hillside towards to village. Lady Naithara stopped the group at a safe point before they became too close to town to have a short rest. ‘Stop, men. We can rest here before finishing our journey. I think we should cut off at the first fields and go around the village. We don’t want too many questions asked regarding these two,’ she said, pointing at the boys dismissively as though they were an inconvenience.
‘You won’t be able to hide your evil long, witch!’ Aneirin spat at her.
Again the Provost struck Aneirin across the face. ‘Silence, you wretch!’ he said spitting at Aneirin’s feet. ‘Do not speak of things you know nothing about. You will be snuffed out soon enough, and no-one will ask any questions. You are worth nothing, never forget that.’ He turned away from Aneirin, deliberately standing with his back to him to show that he no longer wished Aneirin to feel he had the option to address the group.
Tom turned to Aneirin and quietly said, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get out of this, just keep your head down.’ Looking round to be sure that none of the men were listening, he continued, ‘If they take us back to the Laird’s house we’ll be able to make contact with your friends. Surely they can help us.’
Aneirin shot a glance at Tom, ‘I hope you’re right.’ Spitting blood onto the ground he continued, ‘If not, you’re going to have to figure out a way to get that staff back. We’re powerless without it.’
Tom looked up at the man carrying the staff, frustrated. It was amazing that the staff had been part of Tom’s life for such a short time; still it filled him with bile to watch someone else manhandling it. It was as though someone had taken away something which was now an essential part of his being. It had been passed to the Sheriff to carry on the way down the hill as the Provost had been put off by the way it had reacted to Naithara’s touch. For a moment he panicked as he noticed that the Sheriff was looking at him as well. Had he been listening to the boy’s conversation? Looking into his face he realised the Sheriff was not looking at him with the same hatred and distaste the others did. He looked scared, almost as if he wanted to help them. Tom broke his eye contact with the Sheriff and looked at Aneirin. ‘That may be possible. I’ll need to work on it, but there might just be a way.’
Aneirin looked confused, but didn’t have a chance to question Tom further, as he was then dragged to his feet by one of the men and they continued their journey back towards the village. Neither of the boys had been offered any water throughout their journey and were both starting to feel weary with thirst.
In silence, the two boys trudged along, while Tom was trying to rack his brains to think of a way to communicate with the Sheriff without the others noticing. Torean had mentioned a way of communicating with others through thoughts, which worked in a similar way to that of communicating with animals. But he would need to be in possession of the staff to be able to do this. It was so frustrating.
At this they reached the entrance to a field which Tom knew to be close to the village. He somehow felt safer knowing he was in familiar surroundings.
The group paused and Lady Naithara said, ‘I think we should split up. We’ll look rather conspicuous walking through the village in such a large group. It would be impossible to get the boys through the village unnoticed as we are.’
‘What do you suggest, my Lady?’ the Provost asked hopefully. ‘I will gladly take charge of the boys.’
Aneirin noticed the Provost had a glint in his eye when he said this, it made him think that it wouldn’t be good for either of them if they ended up alone with this man. He looked as though he had been waiting for an opportunity to torture them like animals. He could almost imagine the Provost as a child, torturing small rodents. This was a man who hadn’t needed Naithara’s power to be seduced. He was already evil.
‘No,’ Naithara said, smiling. ‘Although thank you, Hamish.’
The Provost’s face dropped, he wasn’t going to get to have his fun.
‘I believe,’ she continued, ‘the easiest way to deal with our little guests until nightfall would be for the Sheriff here to take the boys and the staff and lock them in one of his cells. No-one would question the Sheriff leading the two boys back through the town.’
The Provost was obviously angry at the thought that Lady Naithara wished to put the boys into the Sheriff’s care. ‘My Lady, the Sheriff has done nothing but cause problems. Are you sure he is capable of such an important task?’
‘Hamish,’ she said, touching his shoulder. ‘I know you wish to protect me. Even so, don’t forget that it was Michael who suggested we go to Devil’s Ford where we did in fact find Torean and his family. I believe his position does make him better at thinking and communicating with such types.’ She turned to the Sheriff. ‘Michael, do you think you can manage this?’
The Sheriff, who looked rather forlorn at the thought of being given any form of task, stumbled slightly over his response and then said, ‘Of course, my Lady.’ He would have quite happily agreed with the Provost on this count if it would have gotten him out of such a responsibility. Just when he thought he was going to get away from this situation he ended up being dragged back in. In spite of this, without another word he took both of the boys by the shoulder and began to lead them away from the group. Somehow, even now, when he felt nothing but fear for Naithara, he could not deny her.
Lady Naithara shouted after them in what Tom thought was a strangely innocent tone, considering what they had been discussing. ‘Midnight, Michael, bring them at midnight to the usual place.’
The Sheriff raised a hand into the air to indicate that he had heard her instruction and carried on walking without looking back. Somehow, it made him feel more detached from the situation.
The Provost watched them leave and was livid that such an important task had been given to such a fool. He could have gotten information from the boys if they had been entrusted to him, and had a little fun along the way. The Provost hoped the Sheriff would lose the boys before midnight. Maybe then Lady Naithara would see that he was useless. Maybe then she would let him dispose of the fool in the way he had been desperate to for days now. He would like to see the look in Michael’s eyes when he throttled his fat little neck, eyes bulging.
Michael and the two boys made their way into the village and towards the Sheriff’s offices at the far end of the town. Tom could not believe their luck. If any of Naithara’s men was going to help them get out of this, he thought that this Sheriff would. After much consideration he ventured to speak to the man. ‘Sir,’ he said, testing the water.
The Sheriff made no response.
‘Please don’t do this,’ Tom continued. ‘We’re only children, we don’t know anything.’ He sounded as sincere and childlike as he possibly could.
‘Don’t speak, boy!’ the Sheriff snapped. ‘It would be easier all round if neither of you spoke!’ He didn’t want to converse with the children. He didn’t particularly like children as it was, and definitely didn’t want them trying to convince him of their innocence. He just wanted this over with.
Tom and
Aneirin looked at one another. The way the Sheriff had spoken to them was different to the way the other men had addressed them. His words sounded as though he was a man full of despair; a man who was trying to blank out exactly what he was being expected to do. Tom thought that this made him more like a man that could be worked upon.
After a short walk he led them into his offices and up to the front desk where a young man in a crisp shirt and tie sat. The boy wore spectacles and was avidly reading from some papers he had in front of him. Tom thought he couldn’t be any older than twenty, and looked as if he believed his position to be very important.
The boy looked up as they entered. ‘Sheriff MacDonald,’ he said, rising from his chair. ‘I was starting to worry that something had happened to you.’
‘Don’t worry, David,’ said the Sheriff impatiently, waving his hand to indicate for the boy to sit back down. ‘I was out apprehending these two young scallywags. They were causing trouble on a farm up by, goading a poor dog on.’ As he said this he waved his hand vaguely in order to negate the need to specify exactly where this had taken place. ‘I think some time in the cells would make them consider the error of their ways. Don’t you, boys?’ He was now looking at them, obviously terrified that they might not go quietly.
Tom could not see any sense in making a scene at this point. He doubted that the young man David would be able to help them very much, or would even believe them if they did tell him their fanciful tale. He simply nodded.
Aneirin, seeing this, looked at his shoes, trying his best to look penitent.
‘Shall I take their details?’ David said eagerly, he was now excited at the thought of getting his hands on a pair of criminals. It didn’t happen very often in the small village.
‘No, boy, that won’t be necessary,’ the Sheriff said, again feeling impatient at David’s lust for detective work. ‘I have already taken the details of their parent’s names and will be informing them in due course.’
Dejected at the thought of not getting to apprehend two criminals for questioning, David went back to reading through the papers on his desk. Perhaps I should have tried to gain a position in a bigger town. Nothing ever happens here. The fool McDonald is only the Sheriff because his father was before him, he thought to himself.
The Sheriff led the two through towards the back of the offices and put them inside a cell. Motioning for them to sit down, Tom and Aneirin sat on a long bench at the back of the cell.
‘Look boys, I know this is hard,’ he said, wringing his hands, ‘but if we all just do what we’re told I’m sure everything will be fine.’ He wasn’t sure whether he really believed what he was saying, but what else could he say to the children.
‘That’s easy for you to say,’ Aneirin said sarcastically, obviously not convinced by the man’s statement.
‘Being cheeky is not going to help things, you little whelp!’ the Sheriff replied angrily. He was trying to be patient with them, but what did they expect? Didn’t they understand the position he was in? He couldn’t simply open the door and tell them to leave.
‘I believe what my cousin is trying to say,’ Tom motioned towards Aneirin, ‘is that we are prisoners here. We haven’t done anything wrong, Sheriff, as you know. You seem like a good man, you could let us go. We would disappear. Your mistress needn’t hear from us again.’
The Sheriff stared at the ground, ‘Look young man, do not call her my mistress. This situation is complicated. I can’t let you go, if I did then…’ he trailed off.
‘We could find a way to protect you,’ Tom said kindly
‘You protect me?’ the Sheriff laughed darkly. ‘You’re children. What could you possibly do to protect me?’
‘Perhaps you don’t need to do anything. All you need to do is to leave the staff within reach.’ Tom added nodding at the staff the Sheriff still held in his hand.
The Sheriff suddenly looked at the staff as though he had forgotten he had been holding it at all. What use was the staff to this boy? he thought. They were children, what could they possibly achieve with the old man’s staff?
The boys looked at one another, several moments had passed and the Sheriff was still standing looking at the staff blindly. Aneirin shuffled his feet which seemed to break the Sheriff’s daze.
‘Boys,’ he said, pausing. ‘I don’t want any harm to come to you. But I can’t let you or this staff out of my sight. I’ll ensure you’re fed, and I’ll take you to Lady Naithara this evening as instructed. You’ve had a long day; I would suggest that you both try to get some sleep. Aren’t you tired?’ He didn’t wish to carry on this conversation; he was starting to feel sick.
With that he swept out of the cell and closed the door. As they heard the lock turn in the door Aneirin looked up at Tom. ‘Great work, I think we’ll be out of here in no time.’
Tom looked at the ground. Aneirin’s attitude wasn’t going to help them. ‘I thought perhaps we could convince him to help us. I know from the way he’s behaved that he doesn’t believe in Lady Naithara’s cause the way the others do. I think he just feels trapped and now can’t think of a way out.’
‘So what do you suggest?’ Aneirin snapped, getting more frustrated. ‘You saw the way he reacted. He doesn’t believe that two young boys would be able to protect him from the wrath he would face if he let us go. To be honest, I have no idea how we could protect him either!’
‘Perhaps,’ Tom said thoughtfully. ‘But that doesn’t mean we still can’t use this situation to our advantage. We’ll see him again when he brings our food. I doubt he’ll let anyone else have contact with us in case we decide to start shouting about why we are here. I also don’t think he’ll use a great deal of force if we try to escape.’
‘We’ll need to get your staff back if we do. We won’t be able to defend ourselves out there without it,’ Aneirin added.
‘You’re right, we’ll need the staff,’ Tom said dejectedly.
Several moments passed in silence as the boys tried to come up with an idea which would help them to get out of this situation. They needed to find a way to escape and get the staff back.
‘There’s a window in the door,’ Aneirin said, pointing to a small square window inset in the cell door. ‘If you go up on my shoulders you could look out to see if you can see the staff anywhere in the main office.’
‘Good idea!’ Tom replied. ‘Please, let the staff be visible from here,’ he said to himself. ‘If we can’t locate it before we make our escape things could become very difficult.’
Aneirin went over to the door and crouched down to allow Tom to climb onto his shoulders. Once they were sure that Tom was in place he slowly stood up, using the door to help support some of the weight. Standing up fully, Tom quickly scanned the room through the small window. He could just make out the desk at the front of the station where the young man was sitting. Tom noticed the boy had nodded off, that could be helpful. Looking in the other direction he saw the office which Sheriff MacDonald occupied. Just inside the door, which was lying open, he could see the staff sitting inside an umbrella stand. ‘Aneirin, you can put me down now,’ he whispered.
‘What did you see?’ Aneirin asked expectantly.
‘He has the staff in his office. It’s just left of the room across the hall. The door is lying open, we just have to hope it stays that way when he comes in here later on.’
‘Did you notice anything else?’ Aneirin asked, obviously hoping that there had been some more information which would aid their escape.
‘The man on the front desk is asleep,’ Tom said excitedly. ‘If we could incapacitate the Sheriff somehow and if we could do it quietly, we may be able to escape past him without attracting too much attention.’ Tom, even as he said this, had a puzzled expression on his face. How were they going to incapacitate a grown man when they had no weapons?
‘The only thing we have in here is the bench and that bucket over there,’ Aneirin said, pointing towards the make shift toilet in the corner.
‘I suppose that’ll just have to do. It’s a long shot, but we can’t just sit here and wait to be taken to Lady Naithara this evening. Can we?’
* * *
When Torean and Adaira had finally received the news about what had happened to the boys it had been mid afternoon.
Adaira, who was frantically untying the horse said, ‘We must go now! I cannot wait here while they have my son Torean.’ She had a crazed look on her face.
‘Adaira, stop,’ Torean said, now looked extremely drained. The old man had been racking his brains, trying to come up with their best next move. ‘I don’t want to sit here and wait either, but we’ll never make it down to the village before nightfall.’
‘What are you suggesting?’ Adaira barked angrily, her voice hoarse from crying. ‘That we camp here and risk losing them in order to save our own skins?’ She was starting to cry again now.
‘Of course I’m not suggesting that, Adaira.’ Torean hated seeing her this way, the whole situation was his fault. ‘Remember, we are no good to the boys if we’re dead. If we set off now, we could be back at Devil’s Ford by nightfall. At least then we’re cutting some time from our journey back into the village.’
Adaira wasn’t happy at the thought of them only completing such a short leg of their journey when her son was in dire peril. But she at least felt comforted by the fact that they were going to get moving immediately. She hated the thought of sitting still and worrying about where her son might be, considering what may be happening to him. The whole situation made her feel physically sick.
The two headed off down the mountain side with Torean leading them and Adaira following behind leading Onero down the rocky path. Neither of them spoke to one another on their way down the trail. There seemed to be no words to communicate how they were both feeling. Adaira had thought things could not get any worse after losing their home. The thought of losing Aneirin was unbearable. If she lost him, then the last part of Abhainn she had left would be gone.
