“I'm very tired and plan to retire early. Whatever you have to say, say it and leave me to my rest.”
“Very well,” the friar said. “I object to you using yer black magic on our clansmen. I'm sure Laird Jared would not approve if he were here. I beg you to stop or face the consequences.”
“I have only medicines, no magic. They are remedies passed down in my family for years. I'm sure my husband would support the use of my skills to help his people.”
“They are poison for the soul,” the friar railed.
“I have no poison among my cures.”
Toby ran to stand between Asilinn and the friar. “Lady Asilinn is not a bad person,” he said. “She didna mean to kill my puppy.”
The words shot through Asilinn like a knife. “Toby, what are you saying? Your puppy is fine. Look he plays by the fire.”
“My father gave me a new puppy after the other one died. But, Lady Asilinn, you didna feed the poison to him. He just ran over and drank it. I know you didna mean to kill him.”
“No, only to kill Wynne,” Osred said.
Asilinn went pale and gripped the table, her world swimming in fear and confusion. “I will discuss this whole incident with Garrick in the morning. Right now, I must go lay down. I'm too sick to continue this….”
Friar Hogan turned to Flanna. “You will mention this to no one until Lady Asilinn has a chance to see Garrick,” he ordered. Giving Osred a sidelong glance, he left the room.
Asilinn got up with her hand to her mouth and started out of the room. She was so dizzy she clutched the wall while she struggled up the narrow winding stairs to the tower. She could hear someone approaching from below. Tears streamed down her face as she fought the wave of nausea threatening to erupt. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. They had tried to poison her.
A strong hand grabbed her arm. Her eyes fluttered open to look into the black, lifeless eyes of Osred.
“Lady Asilinn, let me assist you,” he said, guiding her to the tower door. “Would you like me to call Ivy to sit with you?” The look of horror on her face at the mention of Ivy told him all he needed to know. His expression grew flinty when he gripped her arm.
Asilinn pushed him away and entered her room shoving the door closed in his face and bolting it. She heard him mutter a curse under his breath. His footsteps echoed through the stair-hall as he made a rapid descent. He and Glenna were in this up to their ears. Asilinn was sure but she was too sick to find Garrick now. She had to lie down awhile and pray for the sickness to pass.
***
Glenna was startled when Osred burst into her cottage in frenzy. “The bitch knows!” he cried. “We must act swiftly, tonight—it must be tonight. She has told everyone she is sick.” He paced the floor.
Glenna got up from her chair by the fire. “Settle down,” she chided. “How could she know?”
“Toby's dog drank the milk and died. That's why she was still alive this morning. You did not have the dose wrong. She did not drink it. She knows and tomorrow she will tell Garrick unless we do it tonight.”
“The other plan?” Glenna did not like the way this was going. If she was discovered it meant certain death at the hands of her former lover.
“It is the only way. We must appear above reproach. We'll take her tonight and pray we receive good news from Edinburgh before Laird Jared arrives home to save her.”
“She has gained much support among the people,” Glenna warned. “If we openly arrest her for witchcraft, I'm not sure they will stand for it.”
“We aren't going to,” Osred said. “Everyone knows she has been ill because of the baby. Tonight we'll hide her in the dungeon and tell everyone she is too ill to receive visitors. They will think she rests in the tower room. We'll need Ivy's help with this, but I wager she'll be more than willing.”
“We'll say she is in danger of losing the baby and only Ivy can tend her,” Glenna suggested.
Osred shrugged. “We have no choice.”
***
Asilinn lay on the bed shaking until she regained her composure. She managed to avoid losing her dinner to the chamber pot but the knowledge Ivy had tried to poison her weighed heavily on her mind. Osred and Glenna were involved in the plot against Jared and she had no way to warn him. They had expected her to be dead. That's why they were in her room.
Easing out of bed, Asilinn slipped on her heavy robe. She sat down at the desk and recorded the events of the past several days. She wanted an accurate record for Jared when he returned. She wrote awhile and read it over. Her uneasiness would not dissipate in spite of the heavy bolt that now kept out unwanted intruders. Perhaps she should dress and try to find Liam. What if she was wrong about Liam and he was behind the whole thing? But she had to tell someone.
Knowing she couldn't wait until morning, she went over and dressed in the men's clothing she had used to retrieve Jared from Burnum Woods. At least if they spotted her, from a distance no one would realize who she was. She hated the thought of going into the passageway alone, especially at night. But there was no choice. It was her way out. She walked back over to the desk, shoved her writing materials into a small leather pouch, and stuffed it into the large side pocket of the leather jerkin she wore.
She went over to the main door to the chamber and opened the bolt so she had a direct route in if things went awry. She would go out through the passageway, but she may not want to come back that way. At least with the door open she had another option.
Lighting a torch from the fire, she opened the door to the secret passage and listened for any noise from below. It was silent as a tomb, perhaps her tomb. She shoved the thought aside and headed down the winding stone steps. It was her destiny to survive this threat and give birth to Jared's child in the tower. She kept telling herself that as she went deeper into the bowels of Dunbocan Castle.
Asilinn had determined to try to find her way to the exit near the east gate. She knew Liam resided in one of the cottages near Glenna's and she had made up her mind he would be her confidant. She peered through the peephole which gave her a view of the large hall near the dungeon. No one seemed to be about. She shoved the lever to release the door. It stuck stubbornly refusing to budge. She tried several more times before it finally swung open with a loud groan.
Terrified by the noise she made she stepped out into the hallway, shoved the door closed, and leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She heard footsteps coming from the direction of the dungeon. There was no time to duck back in the passage. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she walked rapidly toward the entrance to the next secret passage. She hoped whoever was coming would take her for a servant and pass by.
The footsteps quickened when they rounded the corner. She knew they could see her now. Keeping her back to them, she hurried on her way. “You there!” a voice shouted from behind her. “What are you doing down here?”
Asilinn turned to come to face to face with Osred and Glenna. There was no use pretending. It was obvious they recognized her. Osred gave her a devilish sneer. “What are you up to, Lady Asilinn?”
“She's come to meet us halfway,” Glenna said with a cruel laugh.
“I think our plan was meant to be successful,” Osred said, grabbing Asilinn roughly by the arm. “Come with me, Lady Asilinn, we just finished preparing your room.”
“Take me back upstairs,” she ordered. “I demand to see Garrick.” Glenna's malicious laughter filled the hall.
“Shut up!” Osred snapped at Glenna. “We're not safe until we get her tucked away.”
Asilinn struggled against them but they gagged her when she sought to cry out and dragged her down one hall after another until Asilinn knew she was in some remote corner of the dungeon. Cobwebs hung in every corner and the terrible musty odor assailing her nostrils almost made her retch. It looked like no one had been down these passages in years. Eventually they jerked her into a small low-ceilinged cell and ripped off her gag.
“You can scream all you
want now,” Osred told her. “No one can hear you.” He shoved her to the floor and chained her to the wall with manacles. “If you're lucky, we'll be back to feed you,” he said with a wicked smile. When he left, he withdrew a large key from his pocket and turned the rusty lock.
The sound echoed through Asilinn's brain when the lock fell into place. She heard their footsteps fade into the blackness surrounding her. An endless void enveloped her, sealing her in a curtain of terrifying sightlessness. She screamed for Jared knowing he was miles away. Leaning her head against the cool stone wall, she gave way to her churning emotions. Sobs wracked her body while she clung to the hope her vision of the birth of her child was true and not some cruel picture of what could have been.
Chapter Twenty
The tall gray walls of Cairngorm Castle rose out of the mist ahead. Jared watched Skye's eyes follow the lines of the eerie structure perched on a mountaintop high above the valley. She studied the sheer cliff-face bordering one side of the manse.
“You climbed up that?” she asked incredulously. Jared had been happily recounting the kidnapping of his bride.
He grinned at his little sister. “‘Twas not easy, but Asilinn was definitely worth it.”
“My poor half-wit, love-besotted brother,” Skye said as she burst out laughing.
Was he, he wondered? Did he love Asilinn as Skye accused or was he just content with their current peaceful arrangement?
Morven rode up to join them. “What is so amusing?”
Jared grinned. “Nothing Morven, my sister has just called me a half-wit, that's all.”
Asilinn was right. Skye was growing up. He gazed over at her while she dusted off her skirt. “Getting pretty for Ian?” he taunted.
Skye blushed crimson. “How dare you suggest I would be attracted to an Innes?”
“I thought you approved of my marriage to Asilinn. Why would you see harm in being smitten with her brother?”
“I like Asilinn, but her brother's too young for me. I think I’d like an older man too long in the tooth to tell me what to do, mayhaps someone your age.” Skye's eyes danced when she threw the jibe at him.
“I'm not too old to throw you over my knee,” Jared warned cheerfully.
Morven observed the two and shook his head. “This is a serious mission and you two are full of the devil.”
No sooner had Morven scolded them than a contingent of men rounded the bend in the road. Jared could see by their plaid that they were Laird Innes' men.
“Halt!” their leader called out. “Why do you come uninvited to Cairngorm Castle?”
“You have been watching us from the woods for the last day,” Jared said, eyeing the man. “I sent a messenger to Laird Innes a week ago declaring our intent to have a peaceful visit with him. Has no one arrived to give you warning?”
“Nay, Milord, there has been no messenger.”
Jared looked pointedly at Morven for an explanation. “Did you not send someone?”
Morven straightened in the saddle. “The man was dispatched as you ordered, Milord. Perhaps these Innes dogs sent him to his maker before they heard his message.”
Jared scowled at his cousin. “You will not insult these men. Your hard words will not aid our cause.” Turning back to Innes' men, he addressed their leader. “Tell Laird Innes Laird MacLean and his sister, and a troop of ten men request his hospitality. We apologize for catching Laird Innes at unawares and hope he will grant us an audience in spite of this surprise visit. We shall wait here for his response.”
Dispatching two of his men to the castle, the leader of the Innes clansmen pulled his men back up the road several hundred yards and settled in to await word.
“Trusting lot,” Morven quipped while the two sides watched each other warily. “Are you sure I was wrong about the fate of our man?”
“These are delicate negotiations, Morven. You cannot fling accusations about when you have no idea what happened to our messenger. If you canna aid me in my cause then keep a civil tongue in your head.”
Morven wheeled his horse and pulled away from the group riding up to a small knoll and looking out over the countryside.
Skye looked back and forth between Jared and Morven. “Stay here,” Jared ordered, riding after his second in command. He pulled his horse up next to Morven and watched his jaw flexing in anger. “Speak freely,” Jared said. “I would hear your honest opinion.”
Morven's eyes met Jared's with something akin to hate. “Asilinn Innes will be your downfall,” he said bluntly. “Her soft curves weaken your head until you grovel at her father's doorstep. They killed our man and you reprimand me for suggesting the obvious. I am insulted by your words.”
Jared stared at his cousin for a full minute before responding. “I'm sorry you feel that way,” he said. He spun his horse around and went back to join Skye and the rest of the men. Morven remained on his perch for a good half an hour before returning to the group in stony silence.
Laird Innes took his time responding to Jared's request for hospitality but eventually the two men sent to the castle returned and joined their clansmen. Their leader rode up to Jared. “Milord says you may enter,” he said simply, turning his horse and waiting for them to fall in behind him.
Skye looked at Jared and rolled her eyes at the grudging invitation to Cairngorm Castle. Innes' men and Jared's entourage rode together up the winding road to the castle. The structure almost seemed carved out of the rock face. Jared thought it hadn't been this imposing the last time he visited, but perhaps his mission blinded him. He noted there appeared to be only one main way in.
An uneasy crowd gathered to gape when Jared and Skye passed through the foreboding gates. Laird Innes' clan seemed a far more bedraggled bunch than the peasants of Dunbocan. Asilinn was right. The war had been harder on them than on the MacLeans.
They were greeted at the door with the traditional offering of bread and salt washed down with a disproportionate taste of Meade. Their hostess was a slim older woman, probably in her mid-forties.
“Laird Innes awaits you in the great hall,” she told them. The woman kept casting her eyes down as if she were afraid to meet Jared's gaze. He was puzzled by her reaction. It was almost as if she feared his very presence. Surely, his reputation was not so foul the servants should fear him.
The woman led them to the great hall on the second floor of the castle. It was spacious, but not nearly of the magnitude of Dunbocan.
Laird Innes rose from the large chair at the far end of the banquet table that dominated one end of the room. “Laird MacLean,” he said, shooting Jared a cold glare. “This is unexpected. I see you bring a lady with you, but not my daughter.”
The situation was beyond strange. Why was Angus acting as if they had never talked? “May I introduce my sister, Skye,” Jared said, approaching Angus with Skye on his arm. She curtsied and flashed a brilliant smile at Laird Innes.
“I'm delighted to meet you, Laird Innes,” Skye said. “Asilinn has spoken of you often.”
Angus snorted and gave Skye a cursory nod, then turned his attention to Jared. “After what you have done, how can you come here?”
“I dinna understand,” Jared replied. “I thought you were warming up to having me as a son-in-law. You even gave me the chain mail which saved my life.”
A startled expression flashed across Angus' face but it vanished as quickly as it came. He perused the faces of the men Jared had brought with him. “I would speak to you in private,” he said. “Mary, see to the comfort of our guests. Laird Jared and I will rejoin the others for the banquet this evening.”
“Aye, Milord,” the servant said, bowing, and leading her charges from the room.
Morven turned and looked at Jared. “I'll stay with you, Milord.”
“No,” was Jared's short reply.
Laird Innes waited for all others to be gone before he led Jared to a smaller room off the main hall. “Sit.” He motioned Jared to a cushioned chair by the fire. “Are you not responsible f
or the havoc breaking out all over my holdings? You come in here as if nothing has happened. If it is not your men who attack my villages, who is it?”
“I was unaware of any trouble. On the way back from returning Ian to you, Asilinn's vision came to pass. I was separated from my men when the masked ones attacked us at Burnum Woods.”
“And you survived because of Asilinn's warning?”
Angus looked as though he wished that were not the case. “My injuries were severe, but not fatal. Asilinn herself came and found me, then nursed me back to health. I have only recently regained my strength. This is the first time I have ridden outside MacLean lands since the incident. If someone has attacked your villages, it was without my knowledge or consent.”
Jared met Angus' stare with unwavering eyes. “It must be the men who seek to end the peace negotiations, probably the masked riders who tried to end my life.”
Angus dropped his gaze to the floor and Jared thought he suddenly looked like a weary, old man. “If what you say is true, we must prove it. My council questions my judgment because of this and I canna honestly tell them whether or not you are deceiving me.” His gaze lifted again. “If you could bring Skye, why did you not bring Asilinn? I long to see her. Cairngorm Castle takes on a dreary atmosphere without her.”
“Asilinn is with child. I could not risk the baby with such a long ride.”
“Bloody hell, could you not keep yourself from her until we had resolved this issue between us?”
Jared let out a heavy sigh. “I had hoped for a happier reaction to my news. After Asilinn’s attempted escape, I was unwilling to keep myself from her and now she carries my child.”
“And now does she share herself with you?” Angus' eyes were icy.
“She willingly shares my bed for the sake of our child. The things you accuse me of, I did not do. I dinna want our child to witness the hostilities between our clans. I'd like to bury them before he is born.”
“You talk as if you were sure of a boy,” Angus said gruffly.
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