The Sea of Love

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  "You have friends, Aidanna, even if you don't realise it. But I'm a stranger here, and must tread carefully, especially in Donal's own castle. He won't move against me while I remain here. It would be too obvious.

  "But if I were to head for Galway to see St. Leger, he would surely have me ambushed and killed. I must get more proof of his plottings if I'm to help you," he whispered, and Aidanna sagged against him in relief.

  "What will you do?" she asked, her grey eyes searching his golden ones worriedly.

  "Send that fool Sean to Galway. Then, if Donal thinks he's won against you, he'll let his guard down, and no longer watch me like a hawk. I can ask questions, find someone willing to tell the truth."

  Aidanna trembled. "How did Malachi die?"

  "He was strangled with a cord, and the two servants' throats were cut."

  "Who on earth would believe I could be responsible for such a thing?" Aidanna nearly wept in frustration.

  "I certainly don't, though the argument is that you paid people to do it."

  She looked up in surprise at his confident tone. "You don't?" Aidanna asked, taking in his powerful body clothed in an expensive black velvet doublet with flaming scarlet slashed sleeves, elegant black trunk hose, ornamented codpiece, and the finest sword she had seen in years, "Why do you not take their part in this matter? You would gain nearly all of the land from Galway to the north coast of Connaught. You would have been lord of all if you had let me fall to my death just now."

  "He didn't want you to die, not yet, anyway, just miscarry," Declan said quietly.

  As if feeling their contact to be too intimate all of a sudden, he released her and stood distantly, his expression closing up, so that Aidanna could no longer read his thoughts.

  She stared at him for a few moments in silence before remarking quietly, "All the same, you have no reason to help me. I am grateful, even if a bit suspicious."

  "Let's just say I heard what you said to your maid. You wouldn't have said it if you had been guilty."

  Aidanna nodded and sighed, and turned to look out the tiny grate at the top of the twenty-foot wall.

  "I shall wait for word from you, and in the meantime, may I have some food and some sleep?"

  "Of course, my lady. Pray excuse me for being so thoughtless as to keep you standing here talking," Declan said gallantly, taking her hand as if to kiss it, before springing away almost guiltily.

  "I will see you again soon, I promise. Take care, and rest," Aidanna heard him say in the distance as he disappeared into the gloom.

  The guards clattered down the stairs with a small wooden tray, and Aidanna found herself once again locked in her cell. She sat huddled in the corner, fighting the aches in her jaw and body as she ate her scanty repast and then struggled to fall asleep on the small bale of straw Declan had so kindly prepared for her.

  She turned over the recent events in her mind once more, but willed herself not to dwell on them. She would need all the strength she could muster to defeat Donal. She lay her head down, and tried to think of happier times. The thought of Malachi brought tears to her eyes, but a fire to her belly as well. Whoever had killed her son was going to pay. It was only a matter of time.

  She prayed Declan Burke was as much of a man of honor as he seemed. He was her only ally. She wasn't sure she could trust him, but what choice did she have?

  She was also unsure whether she could even trust herself around him. For she had to confess to herself, that it was damned bad luck that the one man who had any chance of saving her life, also happened to be the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Aidanna awoke many hours later, when a shower of small stones landed on her. She started up, and saw that both guards had left. Then she called softly, "Who's there?" as she squinted up into the pitch blackness, trying to make out the small grate above her.

  "It's me, pet!" the deep voice called.

  Aidanna practically wept for joy as she realised her cousin Conn had come for her.

  "Conn, you mustn't stay! What if they find you?"

  "I had to come. I'd heard all sorts of rumours of trouble a-brewing. That's why I came to fetch Aine away the other day. But you wouldn't come, nor would Diarmuid, and now look what's happened."

  "You should have told me!"

  "Well, someone had to protect Malachi! I thought you could save him from the poison, but they killed him anyway," Conn said in a tone of abject sadness.

  Aidanna knew Conn was right. Her step-son had not been ill at all. They had been poisoning Malachi, and she had been too trusting to see it. "Diarmuid, where is he?"

  "Rosa brought him, but it was too dangerous to take him to Kilgeever. I've sent him to Inismuc with Tomas O'Donnell. Your uncle will hide him in the monastery there, have no fear."

  "Thank god for Tomas." She paused. "Does he believe I'm innocent as well?

  "We all do, pet, all except your father. I'm sorry, Aidanna, but he's told everyone not to assist you in any way. But the O'Donnells are our allies. They won't turn their backs on you, not when the Burkes stand a chance to inherit everything the O'Flahertys have worked so hard to build. We'll free you, never you fear."

  "But if even my own father thinks me guilty, where can I go?" Aidanna said with a sigh.

  "I have another O'Donnell ship standing by to sail you out to the island, but you can't stay in the monastery. Go to the hideaway, and stay there until I can get some proof of your innocence."

  Aidanna was relieved to know her cousin was also trying to help her, but she did not underestimate the danger. Conn was also unacquainted with the fact that she had gained an unexpected ally in Declan Burke. Aidanna quickly told her of the court depositions she had made.

  Conn exclaimed disgustedly in fluent and colourful Irish over the complete flouting of their Gaelic customs and laws by the Burkes.

  Aidanna argued in English, "It could be the only way to save me, or at least get me some outside help, unbiased by all these local clan feuds and jealousies. Declan is writing down all the testimonies, and sending Sean Burke as magistrate to present these proofs to the Lord Deputy at Galway."

  "When?" Conn demanded excitedly.

  "Tomorrow, I suppose." Aidanna frowned into the darkness. "Why?"

  "No matter, my dear girl, just wait patiently. I'll rescue you if I have to kill the entire Burke clan to do it."

  "Conn, you must be careful. I don't know what Donal's plans are, but as soon as he's secure in the Burke domain, he'll move against our family."

  "Don't worry, cousin Morgan is rousing the sept quietly, preparing them for action. I'm getting all the ships ready. I don't trust Donal one jot, and if the English in Galway become involved, we may be in for a huge fight to hold what we have."

  "And I'm stuck here in this stinking dungeon!" Aidanna complained angrily, slapping the wall in frustration.

  "Don't worry, you'll be free soon enough. Take care of yourself until I can free you, a thaisce," Conn called softly, using his pet name, ‘my treasure,' in Irish, and then she was alone again.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Aidanna saw no one the day after her cousin's visit, nor the next, and it was only at the end of a week of cold damp imprisonment that she heard several men trooping down the stairs. Surprisingly, Donal was not amongst them, but Aidanna knew at once from their mannerisms that something was desperately wrong.

  She dusted off her gown and cloak, and ran her fingers through her matted hair, which she tried to pull back out of her face. But her wrists were seized and manacled, and then she was yanked up the stairs and brought into the great hall of Carrickmore castle.

  The room was packed, and Aidanna recognised many of the Burke kinsmen flanking either side of the room. At the top of a long table, Declan Burke sat with a mountain of papers and a huge wooden seal.

  Aidanna noticed that not one O'Flaherty was present, but she took heart when she saw Tomas O'Donnell and another tall man swathed in a long monk's habit, his cowl pulled
up, standing beside him near the main door.

  Before she could catch a glimpse of the monk's face, Declan banged the seal down on the table three times.

  Aidanna turned to face him at last. Though she had searched the entire room, Donal Burke was nowhere in sight.

  Declan intoned in English, "Aidanna O'Flaherty Burke, widow of the late Angus Burke, you are hereby charged with the murder of your stepson, Malachi Burke, tanaist of the Burke clan, on the night of July sixteenth in the year of Our Lord 1546. How do you wish to plead, guilty or not guilty?"

  "I am innocent, my Lord Burke," Aidanna's voice rang out, but it was followed by many hostile murmurs all around the chamber.

  "Silence in this room!" Declan demanded, thumping down the great seal once again.

  His incredible golden eyes rested upon her inscrutably for a moment, and Aidanna's breath caught in her throat at the intimacy of the contact. She felt her entire soul bared, and tried not to tremble with fear.

  The spell, however, was soon broken, for Declan stated flatly, "You are perhaps unaware, Madame, that the previous magistrate, Sean Burke, was killed on his way to Galway by persons unknown. As the deputy magistrate, and also member of the Duke of Norfolk's household in England, I am now the judge in this case."

  Aidanna's heart sank. She had had little hope of fairness from Sean, but Declan's attitude had been one of protection and help. Now he had absolute power over her destiny, and the destiny of her whole family. How could he swim against the tide of the entire Burke clan and their allies, even if he wanted to?

  She looked over at Tomas, her foster brother and one-time suitor, who gave her a small smile and nod. Had they killed Sean in the mistaken assumption they were helping her?

  Declan Burke's voice intruded upon her worries. "I have taken the depositions myself, and read them through carefully. There certainly has been a weight of evidence against you, but the one very obvious factor which has come to my attention, is that with only one exception, your maid Rosa, all of the other O'Flaherty clansmen and servants who accompanied you here are dead. Rosa herself is missing."

  Aidanna gasped and paled. She swayed for a moment, but her pride refused to allow her to appear afraid or defeated in front of the Burkes.

  "Therefore, I will allow the accused to say some words on her own behalf in front of you all, since she has no one else to speak for her."

  "Is there as priest present? I wish him above all to hear my confession," Aidanna asserted boldly, turning to the cowled man by the door.

  At these words, many of the Burke clan began to gloat, thinking she had just made an admission of her guilt. The tall robed figure stepped forward, and a deep voice emerged from the cowl.

  "Tell me what you wish, my child, so that all the crowd here assembled as well as God himself will hear you," he commanded majestically.

  Aidanna pulled back from him slightly as she recognised Conn's voice in spite of the disguise. He was not her uncle the priest, as she had hoped.

  But all eyes were upon her, and in her heart she knew she was telling only the whole truth.

  "I swear by Almighty God at the risk of damning my soul to everlasting torment, that I am completely innocent. I neither harmed my step-son, nor suborned others to kill him for me. I am completely innocent, and may God strike me dead if it is a lie I tell."

  Hostile growls filled the room, but Conn stood by her side, and in his disguise as priest demanded, "Well, Burke, head of this clan, and magistrate of this court, you have heard the girl's confession. If she is blameless, you must seek elsewhere for the murderer."

  The growls turned to angry shouts.

  Declan stood amid the clamor, and slammed down the seal with such force that the table buckled.

  "I am judge here! I am lord and master here, and what I say is the law in this land, as it is in England! I have heard the girl's testimony, and she has sworn her innocence before God in this court of law. I pronounce her to be not guilty. She is a free woman, and no one, no one, is to harm her or her family!" Declan thundered.

  All eyes turned upon him, silenced for a moment by their anger and dismay.

  "You cannot allow this insult to our people to go unpunished!" one of the younger men burst out.

  "You talk of Brehon law. This is English law, which we have all submitted to upon your agreement through Donal Burke! I have no cause to favour one side or the other. I am here as a representative of the king's justice. The girl has had a fair trial. She is free, as are the rest of her family. We must look elsewhere for the guilty party. This matter is now ended."

  Conn wasted no time pulling his lovely young cousin towards to door, but suddenly there was a commotion and Aidanna herself was grabbed once more and forced back away from her freedom.

  Donal came striding into the room with a sack over his shoulders which he threw down in front of the table.

  She heard a high-pitched wailing as Rosa was dragged into the great hall, and Aidanna's heart sank at the site of her once demure maid.

  Rosa was dirty, dishevelled, and one arm hung at an unnatural angle. She was placed in a chair because she could not stand.

  Aidanna shuddered to think how badly the girl had been beaten.

  But all eyes were on Donal as he opened the sack and dumped the small body onto the floor. The face was a bloody pulp, but the gash in the throat gaped like a second mouth.

  "We found the maid with her father's help," he said, pointing to Aidanna, "and the wench is willing to give testimony that she was suborned to murder both sons for her mistress."

  Declan's eyes bored into her own, as he trembled with shock and disgust at the poor body which lay between them like a chasm.

  "My lord Burke, I'm as innocent of this as of the other charges laid against me! That isn't Diarmuid. That boy had fair hair, but Diarmuid's is a black as yours!" she shrieked as all eyes turned to face her.

  Donal took a menacing step toward Aidanna.

  "Ask Tomas O'Donnell!" she argued desperately. "He knows Diarmuid well! It cannot be him!"

  Tomas stepped forward, and pushed Aidanna behind him, shielding her with his broad body. "She speaks true, my Lord Burke. This is not her second step-son. Diarmuid is dark-haired. This naught but a trick to make Aidanna O' Flaherty appear guilty."

  Donal grabbed Tomas by the shoulder of his cloak and shook him. "You lie because you're in love with her, and wish to marry her!"

  Declan stared from one to the other them accusingly.

  Aidanna shook her head quietly, her grey eyes, storm tossed as the sea, looking earnestly at her judge.

  Declan blinked once, twice, understanding Donal's last attempt to haver her found guilty for the ruse that it was. His his voice rang out once more, firm and assured. "Aidanna Burke has been tried, and found innocent of the death of her step-son, and since she has been emprisoned here for days now, she can have had nothing to do with that poor child's death. That corpse isn't even a day old. She cannot be tried again on false evidence, nor tried for the same crime twice. Aidanna O'Flahery Burke, this court finds you not guilty. You are free to go."

  Aidanna saw the effort it cost him to say these words, for she knew Declan's faith in her had been shaken by Donal's disgusting display and Tomas' defense of her. This body might not be that of her second step-son, but that was not to say she was completely innocent in his eyes. He couldn't know all the plotting and scheming in the region, and it was clear from the way he was looking at her that he was convinced she was guilty of something, he just couldn't tell what. But as a man of his word, he was forced to let her go.

  Donal, however, refused to accept the decision. "My lord, I protest—" He moved to grab her, but she was not going to let him lay a hand on her ever again. She shoved past him with all her might, and all was confusion as Conn the erstwhile priest threw off his cowl and pressed a sword into her hand before drawing his own out of its concealed scabbard. "We're leaving, pet, now!"

  Aidanna instinctively raised her weapon as Donal came
bearing down on her, and her elbow bent with the force of the blow as they locked swords. Tomas' huge fist hit Donal square in the jaw, and then he dragged Aidanna out of the hall and slammed the enormous oaken door on the angry mob.

  He quickly tied the bolt in place with a leather thong, and then they were running down the spiral stairs, with Conn cutting a path through any of the Burke guard who challenged them. They ran into the courtyard, and Aidanna parried and thrust her sword with both hands as they came under heavy attack.

  Tomas was able to mount Donal Burke's swift steed, and scooped Aidanna onto the saddle in front of him while Conn protected her. Then wheeled the stallion around so Aidanna could to fight the other men who threatened Conn while the horse's hooves trammeled their assailants underfoot.