The Sinner

by Margaret Mallory

“I’ll find her,” Glynis said. When Bessie hesitated, Glynis pushed her. “I can’t be worrying about you as well, so go!”

  When Glynis reentered the castle, she was met by the sounds of battle—the clank of swords on the top of the walls and the steady pounding of a battering ram reverberating against the front gate. Bang, bang, bang.

  “Sorcha, Sorcha!” she called, as she ran through the keep, pausing to look behind doors and under benches and tables.

  Where was the child? God, please, I must find her.

  Glynis ran up the stairs. If Sorcha was hiding somewhere else in the castle, Glynis was losing precious time. The shouts of men fighting came in through the windows as she ran by them. The sounds were far too close—some of the attackers must have made it over the wall and into the castle yard.

  “Sorcha! It’s me, Glynis,” she called out, as she searched the bedchamber she shared with Alex. She snatched her dirk from the side table, then dropped to her knees to look under the bed. Sorcha was not there. Time was running out. As she got up, her gaze fell on the chest at the bottom of the bed.

  She rushed to it and threw open the lid—and saw Sorcha’s shining head of hair. Her daughter was tucked into a ball with her head down, and she was shaking violently.

  “Sorcha, love, I’m here,” Glynis said, resting her hand on her back.

  The child looked up at her with Alex’s green eyes. Then she sprang to her feet and threw her arms around Glynis’s neck. Glynis held her tight. Praise God, she’d found her.

  Glynis jumped at the sound of wood cracking. It was followed by a roar of voices. She rushed to the window, carrying Sorcha with her. Ach, no. Pirates had broken through the gate and were pouring into the castle yard below.

  It was too late to escape.

  The scene below was chaotic, with men shouting and swinging their claymores. Glynis could not tell who was winning—or even who was on which side.

  And then she saw Magnus, and the breath went out of her.

  He stood alone in the middle of the yard, ignoring the fighting that was going on all around him. His claymore was drawn and ready, but he stood still, scanning the castle grounds with his black eyes. A chill went through her.

  Magnus was looking for her.

  When his gaze turned toward them, Glynis jumped back into the shadows with Sorcha. As he started toward the keep with a determined stride, Glynis forced back the urge to run blindly. They were trapped with nowhere to go.

  She had to think. She must find a way to protect Sorcha.

  “Ye found the best place in the whole castle to hide,” Glynis said, running her hand over the girl’s hair. “I’m going to put ye back inside the chest and cover ye up.”

  Sorcha shook her head and dug her fingers into Glynis’s arms.

  “Your da needs ye, so ye will do as I say and be a brave lass,” Glynis said in a firm voice. “No matter what ye hear, ye must not come out until these bad men are gone.”

  Loud male voices sounded in the hall below.

  “Ye must do this for me,” Glynis said, holding Sorcha’s face.

  Glynis heard boots coming up the stairs and dropped the child into the chest. Her heart pounded in her ears as she flung off her cloak and laid it over Sorcha.

  “I love ye,” she whispered, and closed the lid an instant before the door burst open.

  When she turned, Magnus Clanranald filled the doorway.

  “Glynis, my dear wife,” Magnus said, “ye have much to answer for.”

  CHAPTER 50

  Damn, where are they?” Alex said, as he scanned another empty bay. After finding the MacNeils safe and sound behind their castle walls, they had sailed into every inlet and loch on Barra.

  “We’ve been led on a merry chase.” Duncan slammed his fist against the rail. “I’d wager Hugh put the word out that he intended to raid Barra to divert us from his true plan.”

  “And he succeeded,” Connor said with his gaze fixed on the horizon. Someone who did not know him well would not guess from his calm exterior that the chieftain was as angry as Duncan. “We have little chance of finding Hugh until he strikes again. He and his men could be hiding in any of a thousand inlets in the Western Isles.”

  “They could have gone to North Uist.” Alex’s heart started pounding as the thought struck him. “While we sailed south, along the west side of the islands, Hugh and his men could have sailed north on the east side.”

  “Alex, they could be anywhere,” Connor said.

  “Hugh has gone to attack my home.” The certainty of it settled over Alex like a cold, heavy fog. “We must go back at once.”

  Connor did not look convinced, but he signaled to the men to turn the ships north.

  “It does make sense that Hugh would attack Dunfaileag Castle,” Ian said. “It would be his way of thumbing his nose at ye, Connor. Your uncle knows ye have too many loyal men at Dunscaith now for him to take it, so instead he lures ye to the outer isles. And then, while he has us looking the other way, he takes the one castle we hold here.”

  Hugh would enjoy making Connor look the fool by raiding Dunfaileag Castle while Connor—and his castle keeper—were close by with two war galleys full of men.

  “I left my wife and daughter unprotected,” Alex said as he stared north at the endless sea.

  He had feared all the wrong things: that he would not know how to keep Glynis happy, that he would hurt her, that she would steal his heart. All those things had come to pass, but they were nothing to this. In his vanity, it had never occurred to him that he would fail to protect his wife and daughter. That was the one duty a man had above all others.

  Duncan came to stand beside him at the rail and rested a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Even if Hugh has gone to Dunfaileag, he doesn’t have enough men to take the castle.”

  * * *

  From the corner of her eye, Glynis saw her dirk on the bed, where she must have set it when she went to open the chest. When Magnus took a step toward her, she lunged and grabbed it. Then she jumped back, holding it in front of her with both hands.

  “Stay away from me, Magnus,” Glynis said. “I’ve knifed ye once, so ye know I have the nerve to do it.”

  “I was dead drunk at the time—and fool enough not to expect my own wife to take a blade to me,” Magnus said. “I’m neither now. Put the blade down before ye get hurt.”

  If it were not for Sorcha, she would have fought him anyway, as hopeless as that would be. But Glynis did not want her daughter to hear her being hurt.

  “I’ll put it down,” she said, “as soon as ye tell me why ye are here and what ye plan to do with me.”

  “Ye belong to me,” he said. “I’m taking ye away from your false husband.”

  “But why? Ye never liked me.”

  “What has that to do with it?” Magnus said, his face turning an ugly red. “Ye are my wife, and ye don’t leave unless I say so.”

  She had been desperate at the time, but Glynis could see now that she should have found a quieter way to leave him. Cutting Magnus with a blade and stealing a boat was as foolish as poking a mad bull with a stick.

  “Alex will find me and bring me back,” she said, trying to keep up her courage.

  “No one has found us yet,” Magnus said with a sneer. “Our camp is hidden away behind an island on Loch Eyenort on South Uist.”

  “Leave me here.” Though she knew pleading never worked with Magnus, she could not help herself. “Ye don’t want me for your wife. Ye never did.”

  “Aye, I don’t want ye—you’re too dirty for me now,” he said. “But I will enjoy watching the other men share ye.”

  Magnus would do it, too. He hated her that much.

  “Put down the dirk, or you’ll die in this room,” Magnus said. “Make your choice quickly, for I’m sorely tempted by the notion of Alex MacDonald finding ye dead in a pool of blood on his bedchamber floor.”

  Alex finding her would be bad enough, but it would be Sorcha who saw her body first. Glynis let her dagger c
latter to the floor.

  “Ye weren’t quick enough.” Magnus took two long strides toward her and put his boot on her dropped blade. “I saw how Alex MacDonald looked at ye—at my wife—and I want him to come home to find his bed soaked with your blood.”

  The venom in Magnus’s black eyes made Glynis’s heart freeze in her chest.

  “He might not recognize ye at first,” Magnus said, fingering the blade in his hand. “But eventually, he’ll know ye by the ring on your finger or a lock of your hair. And then he’ll spend the rest of his nights imagining how your screams filled his bedchamber.”

  CHAPTER 51

  Alex stared at the outline of Dunfaileag Castle in the distance. A thin reed of smoke rose from behind its walls. He tried to tell himself that there could be a dozen causes of fire in a castle—a turned lamp in the stable, a grease fire in the kitchen—all of them easily controlled and put out. And there were no ships in sight. Surely that was a good sign.

  But as they sailed closer, he saw the broken boards of the gate. The pirates had been here and gone.

  Duncan pushed the man at the rudder aside and guided their galley in with his sure hand, while Ian and Connor stood on either side of Alex without saying a word. And still, it seemed to take half his lifetime to sail the remaining distance to shore.

  “Look,” Ian said, pointing. “There are women on the beach.”

  Alex’s knees felt wobbly with relief. Tormond must have had time to send the women to hide in the hills. Slowly, Alex let his breath out.

  Before the boat scraped the bottom, he was over the side and running to shore. The women surrounded him. None seemed hurt, but they were all talking at once. “Pirates! Pirates were here!”

  Neither Glynis nor Sorcha were with the women, so they must be up at the castle. Several of his men were coming down the rock steps. Tormond, who was in the lead, was limping and had a long gash down the side of his face and a bloody sleeve.

  “Ye did well to get the women out,” Alex greeted him. “Did we lose many men?”

  “We fought as long as we could, but it was clear we couldn’t hold the castle,” Tormond said. “Once I thought the women were well away, I surrendered in the hope of saving as many men as I could.”

  “Ye did right.” Alex started up the steps. He was anxious to see with his own eyes that his wife and daughter were safe.

  Tormond followed behind him. “The pirates locked us in one of the storage rooms along the wall while they looted the castle.”

  Alex reached the top and saw the smashed gate. Getting oak boards to replace it would take a long time, but there were worse things. He stepped through the gaping hole into the castle yard.

  “How many attackers were there?” Alex asked, but he was wondering why Glynis and Sorcha were not running out to meet him.

  “There were three ships, each full of men.”

  “Three?” Alex asked, turning back to Tormond. “Who were they?”

  “Two belonged to Hugh Dubh and his brothers,” Tormond said. “The third was Magnus Clanranald’s.”

  Magnus’s? Alex felt as if the ground were sinking under him.

  “Where is Glynis?” When Tormond did not answer right away, Alex grabbed him by his torn shirt and shook him. “Where is my wife?”

  “We’ve searched everywhere.” Tormond could not meet Alex’s eyes. “But we couldn’t find her—or your daughter.”

  * * *

  Glynis’s spirits sank lower the farther they sailed into Loch Eyenort. God protect her, for it could be weeks before Alex found her. Loch Eyenort had so many bays and islands that even if Alex came here on his search, he could easily miss her.

  Glynis rubbed the blood on her forehead with her sleeve. At least she was not on the same boat as Magnus.

  “If ye leave that cut alone, it might stop bleeding.”

  Glynis looked up to find Hugh Dubh standing over her. Though Hugh’s weathered face made him look older than his thirty-odd years, he had the powerful build of a man in his prime.

  “If ye are worried I might die on ye,” Glynis snapped, “then ye should give me something to bind this wound.”

  All she’d suffered was a nick—and a long moment of terror in which she believed she would die at Magnus’s hands. Hugh had pulled Magnus off of her just in time. In the argument that ensued between the two men, Hugh had taken the position that a live hostage was of greater value than a dead one.

  “Ye could show a wee bit of appreciation after I saved your life,” Hugh said, giving her what he must have believed was a charming smile.

  “Ye didn’t do it for me,” she said. “Ye did it for the gold my husband and father will give ye for my return.”

  “I’ll be getting more than gold for ye, lass,” Hugh said, as he leaned back against the rail and folded his arms across his broad chest.

  Hugh was baiting her. Glynis knew it, and yet she had to ask. “What else?”

  “I want vengeance, just as Magnus does,” Hugh said. “But Magnus is a simple man, sorely lacking in patience. Unlike him, I’ll enjoy the game, get my revenge on my nephew, and end up with the gold as well.”

  Hugh was vain. If she could prick his pride, he might tell her what this game was.

  “Ye believe ye can get the better of Connor?” Glynis asked. “They say he is verra clever.”

  “He is that, but Connor also has a great weakness.” Hugh nodded to himself as he looked off into the distance. “Connor would give his life without hesitation for any one of those three—Alex, Ian, or Duncan.”

  That was true of each of the four men. Glynis wondered how Hugh intended to use Connor’s loyalty against him.

  “Everyone in the isles knew of Alex’s vow never to wed,” Hugh said. “So when I heard he’d taken a bride, I knew it could only be because Alex had found a woman he simply had to have or die.”

  “It wasn’t like that.” Glynis said, giving him a sideways glance. “Alex needed a mother for his daughter, and I was close at hand.”

  Hugh barked out a laugh. “‘Tis usually men who are the fools.”

  Glynis had been a fool, but she wasn’t admitting it to Hugh. “The opinion of a thieving pirate means less than nothing to me.”

  “Alex must like a sharp tongue.” Hugh was drumming his fingers on the rail, jarring her nerves. “I believe he’ll do anything to get ye back. And my nephew Connor would do anything for Alex.”

  “Connor is a good man,” Glynis said. “I don’t see how the two of ye can share the same blood.”

  “I confess I find it surprising myself,” Hugh said, scratching his beard. “Loyalty is a flaw in a Highland chief—and it will cost Connor his life.”

  Glynis turned to face Hugh. “His life?”

  “Aye.” Hugh had the golden eyes of a wolf. “And you, lass, are the bait in my trap. The four of them will come together for ye, and I’ll be waiting.”

  Hugh had planned it all along. He had lured Connor and the others to the outer isles for the very purpose of trapping them.

  “This is the perfect place.” Hugh pointed to a small island in the loch as they sailed into the narrow channel between it and the shore. “I’ll have half my men hidden on the island, there, across from my camp. We’ll have two chains below the water between the island and the shore that we’ll pull up to trap their boat in the middle so they can’t escape.”

  “They’re keen warriors—they’ll sense trouble,” she said, hoping it was true.

  “They’ll sail right into the trap when they see ye tied to a log on the beach, half naked,” Hugh said, smiling to himself. “Ach, that’s sure to drive Alex blind with rage.”

  “You’ve wasted your time. Alex won’t come for me,” she said, trying her best to keep her voice steady. “Ye know his reputation. He’s tired of me already.”

  “If that’s the case, I’ll be so disappointed that I’ll give ye to Magnus—after my brothers have a turn.” Hugh laughed. “But then, I’d planned to do that in the end anyway.”

/>   * * *

  The words were important. In the blackness, Sorcha practiced them over and over in her head so she would not forget them. Then she whispered them, testing the sounds with her mouth.

  She had almost forgotten the dark, dirty room with the big mice where her father found her. But the memory came back to her in this small, dark place and threatened to push the words out of her head again. She breathed in the smell of her mother in the clothes that surrounded her.

  She heard voices, but they were not her father’s, so she covered her ears and mouthed the words until the voices went away. Still, the pounding of her heart made it hard to hear the words.

  But she would be strong like the warrior queen, Scáthach.

  She would be strong like her mother.

  CHAPTER 52

  Your wife was taking the women out the back gate,” Tormond said. “I thought she was safe with the others.”

  “Glynis is probably still hiding in the fields,” Ian said.

  Tormond shook his head. “The woman Bessie said that Sorcha disappeared, and the mistress went back into the castle to find her.”

  Nay. It can’t be that I’ve lost them both. As Alex’s gaze traveled over the bailey yard, he saw dead and injured men—but no women or children. He tried to think. Where could they be?

  “We searched everywhere,” Tormond said.

  “Then look again!” Alex ran to open storeroom doors along the wall. He found sacks of grain torn open, and the wine and ale barrels were all gone.

  “Glynis! Sorcha!” he called again and again as he searched. He could not let himself consider that he might be looking for their bodies.

  Mary, Mother of God, protect them. He made promises to God as he searched for them. Take me—just keep them safe.

  Alex’s hands shook as he entered the keep. The weapons on the walls were gone. Tables were overturned. The hall was eerily quiet, except for the crockery crunching under his feet.