“I’ll take care of this,” he said, then looked at her and smiled maliciously. “So you are saying that although we had a deal, you didn’t trust me?”
“I – I never said thet.”
“So, if you trusted that I’d set your sister free, then where is the stone?” he growled.
“I dinna think she kens where it is,” Tasgall interrupted.
“Aye, I do,” she said, still holding her hands in front of her.
“Let’s find out the truth, shall we?” Lord Ralston motioned to one of his guards. “Get the girl out of the cage and bring her to me.”
Effie was happy he was taking her sister from the cage. She figured she would make up a place where the stone was, and it would buy her some time until she could think of a plan.
The guard lowered the cage with the ropes and pulley, and took a key from his waist and unlocked her sister’s cage. Then he reached inside and pulled her out roughly, throwing her on the ground at Lord Ralston’s feet.
“Now, let’s find out where the stone is.” Lord Ralston grabbed Coira by the hair and shoved the sharp edge of his sword under her chin. Coira’s eyes closed and she whimpered.
“Nay, dinna hurt her!” Effie took a step forward, but stopped when Lord Ralston scraped her sister’s skin and blood trickled down her neck.
“So, tell me where the stone is, and my guards will go get it. But if you lie, then both of you will die.”
“It’s . . . it’s . . ” she was trying to decide just what to say, when a low voice from the top of the battlements called out.
“She disna ken, becooz I was the one te steal it.” Aidan stood atop the battlements with his hands on his hips. A ray of sun broke through the clouds just then, illuminating the area around him, making him look like Effie’s guardian angel.
“Aidan,” she said softly, knowing that what he was doing was mad. There was no way he could take on an entire English army, and though she was happy he’d returned to help her, he was going to get killed in the process.
“If ye want te ken where it is, ye’re goin’ te have to catch me te find out.”
“Get him!” shouted Lord Ralston, letting loose of Coira, and walking toward the battlements. “Bring the bloody Scot to me anon.”
A chase broke out, the guards running in a frenzy toward the battlements, and for the moment forgetting about their prisoners. Effie saw Aidan’s head disappear behind the tall merlon of the wall as the guards shouted and rushed up the steps. Lord Ralston was making his way over there as well, and she knew Aidan was doing this to distract them so she and her sister could escape.
“Get up,” she told her sister, pulling her to her feet.
“Who is thet, Effie?” asked Coira, shading her eyes and looking upward.
“No time te explain,” she said, dragging Coira across the courtyard, and toward one of the guard’s horses. “Can ye ride?” she asked.
Her sister stumbled and Effie caught her. She could see how weak she was, and knew this wasn’t going to be easy.
“I can barely stand,” cried Coira. “Save yerself, Effie, dinna worry aboot me.”
“Nay. I’ll ne’er leave ye, now put yer foot in me hand and get atop this horse and make it quick.”
Aidan looked down from the battlements, seeing Effie and a girl that he guessed to be her sister getting atop a horse. So she hadn’t lied to him about that part after all.
He had followed the wagon for the last two days, and hid the stone where nobody would ever find it. He decided he couldn’t leave Effie with those English curs after all, even if she had betrayed him. He’d watched at night to make sure the guards didn’t accost her, and all the while he’d followed in the shadows, struggling with what to do. Before he knew it, they were at the castle. There was no way Effie would be allowed to just walk away with her sister, even if she had delivered the real stone to them. No English lord who was deceitful enough to steal the stone in the first place would keep any promises he’d made to a Scottish lassie, whether she was betraying her country or not.
He was glad Effie figured out what he was doing by distracting them. Now he just needed to make sure the English didn’t look away from him until the girls were out of there and riding to safety.
An arrow whizzed past his ear and he stepped to the side, watching it bounce off the stone wall just behind him. “Is thet the best ye can do?” he called out, hopping over the wall of the battlements just as the guards rushed him.
He gripped on to a banner hanging down the side of the castle, and used it to slide to the ground. Once there, he picked up a torch stuck into the wall, and spying a small fire in the courtyard, he rushed over and dipped it in. Then, looking around, he spotted a wagon full of hay and threw it in, catching it afire to cause a bigger distraction.
Once the fire took the attention of everyone and they rushed around trying to put it out, he knew the girls must have had enough time to make it out the gate. He’d left the horse he’d pilfered from the guard hidden just outside the castle in the woods, and he would just sneak away now and join Effie and her sister.
He turned to go, and was met by the end of Lord Ralston’s sword.
“Going so soon?” he asked. “I think there’s something you need to tell me first.”
Aidan swiped the man’s sword away with his bare hand, getting cut in the process, and grabbed his own sword from his weaponbelt quickly. His sword clashed with Lord Ralston’s as they fought each other, and then to his dismay, a dozen guards rushed up with weapons drawn and he knew there was no way he was going to escape.
“Drop the sword, Highlander,” said Lord Ralston, “and mayhap I won’t kill the girls.” Aidan’s eyes shot upward to meet Lord Ralston’s, and the man lifted his mouth in a half smile. “Aye, I knew what you were doing the moment I saw you atop the battlements. Did you really think you’d get away with this?”
Then two guards pulled Effie and Coira forward, and Aidan’s heart dropped in his chest to think they hadn’t been able to escape after all. He didn’t want the girls’ lives endangered, and so he threw his sword to the ground.
“Aidan, I’m sorry,” said Effie.
“Nay, it’s me fault,” said her sister. “If I wasn’t so weak and frail I’d have moved faster and we’d have gotten away.”
“Effie, I’m sorry I that didna believe ye aboot yer sister,” Aidan told her.
“Enough with all the sentimental rubbish,” snapped Lord Ralston. “Now put them all in cages until we can put out this fire and get things back in order. Mayhap after hanging there like carrion in the sun, the Scot will tell us what we want to know.”
“I dinna care what ye do te me,” said Aidan, “I will ne’er tell ye where I hid the stone.”
“You know, I changed my mind. A cage is too good for you. Put him in the stocks instead,” he commanded his men. “Then, come morning, you will be in a wonderful position for watching as I take the lives of one girl and then another, until you decide to tell me the location of the Stone of Destiny.”
Aidan was grabbed on all sides by several guards as they pushed him forward toward the stocks, holding his arms behind him. He stopped when he got to Effie, and could see the tears streaming down her face. They just looked at each other and he knew he might never have the chance to hold her in his arms again. She hadn’t believed that he loved her, and though he knew he had often said it in the throes of passion, this time was different. This time he knew it was love. If it wasn’t, he never would have followed and be willing to lose his life to save Effie – his dream angel.
AIDAN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Looking down from her hanging cage, Effie’s heart about broke seeing Aidan bent over and locked into the wooden stocks. His hands through two holes, and his head through another, he couldn’t move. After awhile, it would be hard to stand in that position as well.
It was night now, and some of the English soldiers had been drinking, when one of them came by and threw his tankard of ale
in Aidan’s face. She saw Aidan flinch and close his eyes and grit his teeth, but he didn’t say a word. From her position in the cage she could see a muscle in his jaw twitching in anger.
“What’s the matter, are ye still thirsty?” laughed the guard, slapping Aidan across the face. Once again, he stayed silent, but Effie knew if she didn’t intervene, something bad was going to happen.
“Excuse me,” she called down to the guard. “Can ye go inside and find me and me sister a scrap te eat?”
“You don’t deserve anything for what you did.” The guard was going to torment Aidan again, so she stood in the cage and hiked up her skirt, knowing full well the man would be able to see underneath.
“Are ye sure ye couldna find me a little . . . somethin’?” she asked. It worked. The drunken guard stumbled over to her and stood just under the cage, staring upward, his eyes fastened on her legs. “I’d be e’er so grateful te ye once I get outta this cage, if ye ken what I mean,” she said in a husky voice.
“Aye,” he said smiling and wiping his nose on his sleeve. “I’ll get you something, now just stay right there and wait.” Then he started laughing at his own jest and hurried off into the keep.
She quickly scanned the grounds below, not seeing any other guards at the moment. There were a couple atop the battlements, but by the way they were laughing and out of sight, she figured they were well in their cups and probably playing cards or dice.
“Coira,” she said in a low voice, “are ye all right?”
“Oh, Effie, I dinna ken if I will live another day. I am weak and hungry and I think I am fallin’ fast te a fever.”
“Dinna worry. I’m sure Aidan has a plan.”
“Is he the Scot in the stocks?” she asked.
“He is,” said Effie. “He is a wonderful man. And I willna let him die trying te help us.”
Aidan heard every word Effie was saying to her sister. He licked his lips, trying to get the last drop of ale that slithered down his face after the guard threw it at him. Parched and hungry, his skin felt burnt from the hot sun earlier that day. His legs were cramped from standing in this position, and to make matters worse, his nose itched and he couldn’t reach it.
“Effie?” he called up to her in a soft voice. “I’m sorry aboot all this.”
“Nay, it is me fault, Aidan. I only wish I could change it all and be back in yer arms at the MacKeefe camp right now.”
“Ye do?” he asked.
“Aye,” she said. “I miss ye, Aidan. I miss yer friends and yer sister and even thet pesky little squirrel o’ yers, too.”
“He has a squirrel?” asked Coira.
“Aye, and his friend, Onyx, has a wildcat,” Effie told her. “If we ever get outta here, I’ll tell ye all aboot it and ye can meet them all.”
“Effie, we are goin’ te die, arena we?” cried her sister.
He looked up to see Effie reaching out of the cage and trying to touch her sister. Their fingers almost reached, but just fell short.
“Dinna talk thet way, sister. We’ll survive. Somehow.”
Aidan could see the love between the two girls, and also that Coira was not faring well from being in the cage in the elements for days now. He thought it was ironic how Isabel MacDuff was put in a cage for helping Scotland, and now her granddaughters were in cages as well, but for helping the English this time instead.
He kept thinking of his dream with Effie and the English soldiers, and how she’d had a tail. He should have realized right then and there that she was trouble. But if he had realized it, then he wouldn’t have gotten to spend time with her. He still didn’t trust her any further than he could throw her, but he knew that she and her sister didn’t deserve to die for what they’d done. It did seem now that Effie was only trying to steal the stone to save her sister.
Coira started crying again, and Effie tried to calm her. Aidan decided he’d had enough of this, and knew it was time to do something about the situation.
“God’s eyes, Effie, keep her quiet or the guards will be breathin’ down our necks again.”
“Dinna be so insensitive at a time like this,” she snapped. “Ye have no idea what me sister’s been through.”
Aidan looked around and when he knew no guards were watching, he shimmied around in the stocks, twisting and bringing his foot up to his hands. He had his dirk hidden in his boot and the fool guards hadn’t thought to check him for it.
“What’re ye doin’?” asked Effie.
“Haud yer wheesht, before they hear ye. I’m workin’ on getting’ us out o’ here.”
His fingers stretched toward his raised foot, and he could just reach it, but not the dirk inside. So he put his leg back behind him and raised it up high backwards so the dirk would slip to the top of his boot. Then he tried once again and was able to just reach it, pulling it from his boot and holding it in his fingers.
The lock to the stocks was just next to his hand, and with nimble fingers, he picked it, and it snapped open. Then he used the tip of the dagger to open it and flip it away, and it landed with a thunk on the hard ground. By using his shoulders and hands, he pushed against the wooden yoke, and it opened as well. He slipped out of the stocks quickly, and made his way over to Effie and her sister.
“Ye did it,” said Effie. “I canna believe what I jest saw ye do.”
“There’s many things I can do thet ye’ve no’ seen yet, lassie, and some o’ them I think ye would really enjoy.”
“Aidan, no’ now,” she said, scowling at him and nodding toward her sister, not wanting to talk about coupling in front of her.
“Hold on, I’m going te lower the cage,” he said, getting ready to turn the pulley that held the chains securing the cages.
“Nay,” she warned him. “’Tis too loud and they will hear it. Pass up yer dirk and I’ll see if I can open the lock.”
He handed it up to her, just able to reach her. She took it and struggled with it in the lock, but couldn’t open it. Aidan knew this was taking way too long, and that they’d be discovered soon. He looked around quickly, checking for guards.
“Stand back, Effie,” he said, and leaped up into the air and grabbed onto the cage from underneath.
Effie was surprised when Aidan just jumped up and caught on to the cage. He grabbed a hold of the bars and pulled himself up to the outside of her prison.
“Hand me the dirk,” he said, sticking his hand through the cage. She did as he told her, and he picked the lock and had the door open in a second.
“Give me yer hand, Effie.”
With one arm he held onto the cage, and with the other he grabbed onto her and slowly lowered her toward the ground. “I’m goin’ te drop ye, so be careful.”
“I will,” she told him, hitting the dirt softly, looking around the courtyard, making sure nobody saw them. “Coira, get ready, ye are next,” she said in a hushed voice to her sister.
“I’m ready,” her sister answered bravely.
Then, Aidan used his legs to swing the cage he was on over to Coira. He grabbed her cage and repeated the process. When her sister hit the ground, Effie ran over to her and gathered her in her arms and hugged her.
Coira hugged her as well, and hid her face in Effie’s shoulder, crying softly.
With a soundless entrance, Aidan dropped to the ground next to them, and put an arm around them and hurried them across the courtyard toward the orchard inside the bailey. “Come on,” he said, “I ken a way out.”
Effie helped her sister as they ran quickly to the orchard and through it, and to the back wall.
“How are we escapin’?” she whispered to him.
“O’er the wall,” he whispered back. “There are vines we can climb. When ye get te the top, drop inte the moat and swim across and make yer way te the woods. I’ve got a horse hidden there. It’s only one, but ye two take it and I’ll follow on foot.”
“Swim?” asked Coira. “Effie, ye ken I canna swim. I’ll drown.”
“Thet’s right,”
she said. “Aidan, is there another way out?”
“God’s eyes, ye canna be choosey at a time like this. Now if ye want te live, ye’ll learn te swim. Up ye go.”
Before her sister could object, Aidan hoisted her up to the vine covered wall. Effie hurried behind her and climbed up as well.
“Ye need te move faster,” said Aidan. “It willna be long afore they realize we are gone.”
She’d left Aidan down at the bottom of the wall, but before she knew it, he’d climbed so fast, he was at the top of the wall and holding out his hand to help them.
“Give me yer hand, lassie,” Aidan said to Coira, and when she started to object, he just reached down and pulled her up.
“I’m afeard,” said Coira, looking over the wall. Before Effie knew what happened, she heard her sister gasp, and then a splash.
“Where’s Coira?” asked Effie, pulling herself up to the top of the wall.
“In the water.”
“She jumped?” asked Effie, surprised.
“Let’s jest say she had a little help,” Aidan answered with a slight smile.
Effie looked down to see her sister struggling in the water, being pulled under. She jumped off the wall to save her.
She had just hit the water when she heard a shout from a guard, and looked up to see Aidan in the moonlight, falling backwards off the wall with arrows flying all around him. He hit the water with a loud splash, and she saw him go under, but he wasn’t coming back up.
She got her sister to the shore and looked back, but still didn’t see Aidan.
“Come on,” said Coira, “let’s go.”
“Nay,” said Effie. “I need te go back and help Aidan.”
“But they’ll catch us,” said Coira, as the sound of the guards shouting was louder and she could hear the drawbridge being lowered. They would be out there looking for them at any minute.
“Go, Coira. Run te the woods and take the horse. Dinna wait fer us, jest get yerself te safety. I’ll try te stall the guards so ye can get away.”
“I’m no’ goin’ without ye, Effie.”
Box Set - Knights of Passion (7 Novels) Page 59
