Highland Avenger (10 page)
“Aye. Dinnae worry. If ye can slip out of town without them seeing ye, ye should be safe for a while. Sent one of my lads to tell a few maids that there was a party of rich Frenchmen here. I am thinking those men will soon be too busy to come a-hunting ye and the lass.”
Brian chuckled and began to lead Arianna on a winding route that kept them sheltered by the buildings. As long as he and Arianna could get away without any of Amiel’s men catching sight of them, they would have time to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. He was a little surprised they had stopped for a rest when it was so early in the day. It was an action that confirmed his fear that Amiel knew where he was headed, was not tracking them as much as hoping to get between them and where they needed to go. The man was treating it all more like a journey to visit someone than the hunt it really was.
When the line of buildings ran out, Brian paused, leaning over the neck of his mount to look up and down the street. They would be in the open for a while and he needed to make certain none of Amiel’s men were on the watch for them. What he saw made him grin.
At least eight women, dressed in all the finery a poor whore could afford, were gathered near the stables, flaunting their wares. The men who had not yet entered the inn were all watching the women, some already making their choices clear. Brian just wished the women would get the men inside the inn quickly.
“Are they watching for us?” asked Arianna.
“Nay. They are watching the women Molly sent her son to fetch. A bonnie little flock of birds. I but wait to see if they can get all the men to go inside the inn. If they dinnae do so soon, we shall have to take our chances and go that last distance to the trees anyway.”
“I ne’er would have thought of such a thing as a distraction. Especially not when ’tis barely the middle of the day.”
“Time doesnae matter to a hungry mon, lass.” He grinned when she made a soft sound of disgust. “I but keep wondering why Amiel has stopped so early in the day.”
“He probably just wants a good meal and a bath. Now that he kens who ye are and where ye may be going, he thinks he can take this journey at a leisurely pace. Amiel ne’er liked to do anything that appeared to be work.”
“Ah, one of those men who craves the title but expects everyone else to do the work that comes with the privilege. It looks as if the lasses have finally convinced the men that they will get better service inside the inn. I suspicion Molly told her lad to ask the ladies to do that.”
“Why would she have to ask? Where else would they be able to service the men?”
“In the stable, in the stable yard, in the alley, or near anywhere else where they might stand, sit, or lie.” He glanced at her blush-reddened face and grinned. “I think ye have been verra sheltered, love.” He looked back toward the men. “The last of them has been dragged inside. Best we move. I would love to just gallop out of here but there may yet be one sharp-eyed fellow amongst Amiel’s men, and two people galloping out of town would draw attention.”
The next few minutes were the longest Arianna had ever suffered through, at least since she had been in the water clinging to a keg. She sat tensely on her mount, expecting a cry of discovery to go up every step of the way. By the time they reached the shelter of the trees, she ached from sitting so stiffly in her saddle. She gritted her teeth when Brian began to kick his mount into a faster speed, and followed his lead. Galloping over the countryside was not what she had planned to do today but she would endure.
She prayed those women kept Amiel and his men very busy but did not suffer for doing so. If Amiel even thought he had been tricked, he could turn vicious, and attack the women, Molly, and her sons. It would be a sad way to reward Molly for all her help.
The thought of those women made her recall what Brian had said about where the women could entertain the men. Arianna began to realize that, although her kinswomen had hid nothing about the ways of men and women in marriage, she had been allowed little other knowledge. She had known that her brothers and male cousins went into the village to dally with the maids, but the few times she had thought on it, she had envisioned rooms and beds as the places where the dallying occurred. It was obvious that she still had a lot to learn about the world.
It was late in the day before Brian allowed them to stop for a rest. He had wanted to use the hours Amiel and his men might spend at the inn to get as far away from the man as possible. It would be better if the man decided to stay the night at Molly’s inn but Brian knew he could not count on that. Amiel could have simply stopped for a meal or an ale before planning to continue on. There was only one thing Brian could be sure of and that was that Amiel would get no useful information from anyone at Molly’s. Even if the woman did not have some affection for his clan or Sigimor’s, she would never betray regular paying customers.
He watered the horses and then took out the small sack of food Molly had stuck in his pack before joining Arianna where she had collapsed on the ground beneath a tree. “Nay much farther, love, and ye will be able to rest for more than a night.”
“In a true bed?”
“Aye, in a true bed. And ye can have yourself another bath without worrying about leaving some of the heated water for me.”
“I would like to sleep, just sleep, for a few days.” She sat up straighter and began to eat the food he had placed in her lap. “S’truth, I have badly wished to do that since I first kenned that my lads were in danger on Tillet’s ship and began keeping a close watch on them.”
“Ye can get some sleep at Dubheidland although I am nay sure it can be several days’ worth.”
“Are ye certain your cousin willnae object to our staying there, especially when we are bringing this trouble with us? This isnae his fight.”
“Lucette wants to kill two bairns simply to fill his purse. Trust me in this, Sigimor will want the mon dead for that alone.”
Arianna nodded. She recognized such a man. Her kinsmen would feel the same. It would not even matter if the man were an ally or an enemy, simply that he meant to hurt children because of greed. She had heard a few odd tales about the laird of Dubheidland, ones told her kin by her cousin Alanna and then told to her in what few letters she had received from her family. At least the Lucettes had allowed her to receive those letters, she thought bitterly, wondering if they had read them all and then destroyed ones they didn’t like, just as they had done with the ones she had tried to send those she loved.
Then she tensed. “Brian, I think I have an idea on how Amiel kens where we might go, how he might not need but a whisper of our passing to ken who we might try to get help from.”
“I suspect it is because he has the coin to loosen a few tongues. I fear there are many in this part of the country who ken us weel, the MacFingals and the Camerons.”
“Do ye recall how we thought the Lucettes read the letters I wanted to send to my kin, destroying any they thought were too critical of them?” Arianna could tell by the dark look growing on Brian’s face that he was already seeing what she just had. “What if they also read all the ones my kin sent to me, if only to be certain they destroyed any they believed could cause some trouble for them? Ones that might ask me to come home for some reason or ones asking when they might visit me. Or they looked for information on my family, mayhap to find a way to get some more money from them.”
“And thus they would ken every place ye had kin or allies, or nearly so. That is, if the ones who wrote to ye would speak of such things, tell ye what tales they have heard of concerning other kin and allies.”
“Ye mean they would gossip.” She grinned briefly. “’Tis what it is. And, aye, near all my kin love to tell tales. That is another reason your name and the Camerons seemed so familiar to me. The MacEnroys, as weel.” She sighed. “My family wished me to ken where everyone was and so ’tis verra possible that whoever read my letters has learned it, too. A lot of information about my clan and all we are allied with was in those letters. Amiel was always around and, as Claud’s affair with Marie Anne continued, the elder Lucettes became more and more disgusted with their heir. If Amiel began to aid them in keeping a close eye upon what news passed between me and my kin, then ...”
“Amiel learned about us all and but needed a few clever judgments as to who ye were with.”
She rested her head against the rough trunk of the tree. “I suppose Amiel could have a cunning that I ne’er noticed before.”
Brian nodded and finished his food as he thought over the possibility that the men hunting for Arianna and the boys had come with knowledge of the places she would try to run to. If Amiel had had a plan to murder his brother for a long time, it made sense that the man would learn all he could about his brother’s wife. Yet Brian did not think Amiel had plotted against his brother for that long. The man he had watched in the inn did not have that sort of patience. That meant that Amiel had simply taken advantage of information already collected on Arianna and the Murrays.
The reason for the collection of such information on allies was varied and none of them revealing anything laudable about the family Arianna had married into. None of the reasons mattered at the moment, either. All that was important was that Amiel and the DeVeaux knew too much. He and Arianna could evade the men pursuing them, but never fully shake free of them.
“Ye are verra quiet,” she said, watching him closely. “I am sorry. None of us saw any reason to be verra cautious.”
He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “Ye have naught to apologize for. The Lucettes are allies and ye all thought the family of your husband would be safe. Why wouldnae ye be free in what ye said to each other?”
“In a way I can understand why they carefully watched what I said to my family, mayhap e’en why they watched what my kin said to me. Yet, why make a record of it all as I begin to think they did? What need would they have had to keep such information at hand?”
“They may nay have had any true plan for its use, just a wee thought that it might be useful at some time. Whatever plan they had doesnae matter now. ’Tis Amiel’s knowledge of it all that we must consider now.”
“We cannae lose him. I suspicion your kinsmen cannae lose the ones after them, either.”
Brian wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. “My kinsmen will be fine. They may ne’er lose the ones on their trail, but they can and will evade and outrun them. As can we. My kin have something we dinnae have as weel, something that gives them an advantage.”
“Oh, aye? And what would that be?”
“More men.”
“Ah, true. Would it help if we hired more men? I can afford it. Weel, once I am back with my clan and can get some coin in my hands, I can.”
“I did think on that, but nay. We are verra close to Dubheidland. Best if we continue as we have. I still believe we have a better chance of slipping round these bastards if we are alone. I will be rid of the third horse once we reach Sigimor, though. I dinnae believe it fools anyone any longer.”
“If they can send word to each other and ken all else we think they do, then nay, it doesnae fool them at all. They ken where the boys are being taken by now.”
She shivered, and the way Brian held her a little tighter only slightly warmed the chill of fear. It was a fear that ran too deep to be banished. With each passing day, each new scrap of information on their enemies, her need to see Michel and Adelar grew until it was a sharp ache inside her. It was not just because she missed them, which she did, but a need to see with her own eyes that they were safe. She also needed to see that Scarglas could keep them safe. Although she trusted in Brian’s word on that, her heart needed the proof her own eyes would give her.
“Dinnae worry so, love.” Brian brushed a kiss over her mouth and stood up.
“Easier to say than to do,” she muttered as she took hold of the hand he held out to her and let him tug her to her feet and into his arms. “’Tis hard for many to understand considering who Michel and Adelar are, but they are
my
boys.”
my
boys.”
“Ye had the raising of them, fostered them in many ways.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then led her over to the horses. “Ye also have a heart too good to hold the wrongs their parents did to ye against them. It will nay be long now before ye are with them again, a sennight at most. There may e’en be word about them waiting at Dubheidland.”
Arianna prayed there was. It would be enough for her to calm her fears about the boys for a while. Her arms ached to hold them, but if she knew for certain that they were safely behind the walls of Scarglas, she could endure their absence for a few days more.
Chapter 8
“Wait here, lass.”
Arianna frowned at Brian as they both dismounted. “What do ye plan to do?”
“Slip into that wee village ahead and find someone to take word to your kinsmen,” he replied.
“Ye think that must be done now?”
“Aye. There are ten men after us, lass. Ten. If they have sent an equal number in all three directions we tried to lead them in, then we have a small army running about the country hunting those lads of yours.” He winced when she paled and wished he had held to his decision to keep that information from her.
She gasped and grasped him by the arms. “Michel and Adelar?”
“Are better protected than we are and, ye must trust me in this, lass, my family kens weel how to sneak about and hide themselves and anything of value they have, including other people. I can promise ye that verra soon after my kin rode away from that beach those lads wouldnae have been recognizable e’en to you and a plan was already made to hide them if the need arose. And do ye ken what else my kin can do verra weel?”
“What?” Arianna desperately wanted to believe him if only to push back the fear that was now making her thoughts scatter and her heart pound. “What can they do?”
“Fight.” He kissed her on the forehead. “We survived for years surrounded by enemies, which my fither was verra skilled at making. Some of those enemies were verra determined to see us all dead. They failed. As my fither liked to say, he may nay have been the best of fithers and was a worse husband, but he had done a fine job of teaching his lads how to survive. And he did. We are all verra, verra good at it.”
She rested her forehead against his chest for a moment as she finished beating down her fear for her boys. His plan had been a good one, still was a good one. The fact that there were a lot more men hunting her, Michel, and Adelar than they had believed did not change that. The utter confidence underlying his words helped her get control of her fear as well. She recognized that sort of arrogance for her kinsmen had it. Brian knew his strengths, his abilities, and those of his kinsmen. It was a good arrogance, too, for it was one that would not blind him to what he could
not
do, to what would be just reckless to even try.
not
do, to what would be just reckless to even try.
Stepping back a little and releasing him, she took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and nodded. “Go then. Since I am nay sure of exactly where I am, I am nay sure which of my kin is the closest ...”
“I am. Once Fiona let us ken who her clan was allied with, we found out all we could about them.” He gave her a quick kiss. “I willnae be gone long.”
“Just be careful.”
She watched until he was out of sight. The ease with which he disappeared into the shadows of the scattered trees gave her even more confidence in his assurances that he and his kin had the skills she and the boys needed to stay alive. It was not easy to understand the life he had led for it was so vastly different from anything she had known, but she could see that he spoke the truth. MacFingals knew how to survive and treated a skill at stealth as just one more weapon. Although her family had known a reasonably peaceful life during much of her growing years, she suspected they had such skills as well.
Arianna turned her attention to the horses. It had been a long, long day of riding hard, taking tortuous routes, and hiding until it was safe to continue traveling. The time taken to send a message to her kin was dangerous as they could not be certain just how close their enemy was, but it was necessary. They were going to need all the help they could get to stop these men.
It appeared that Amiel and the DeVeaux had brought a small army to hunt down her and the boys. She should have known that but had never taken much notice of how many men Amiel had with him the few times she had seen them. Even if she and her allies were able to cull those numbers, Amiel and the DeVeaux had undoubtedly brought enough coin with them to pay others to fight for them. There were always plenty of men around with no loyalties and an eagerness for coin.
The fact that she had dragged the MacFingals into this battle made her feel so guilty it hurt, but she had had no choice. She believed Brian’s assurances but, even knowing that the men were more than willing to help, it did not ease the guilt by much. If not for the children, she would have just fled on her own to her family. Unfortunately, the boys were the very reason she was even in this fight.
She also knew that, if caught, she could be used in an attempt to draw the boys into Amiel’s hands. Everyone at Claud’s holdings had known that she was more of a mother to those two boys than Marie Anne had ever been, in the eyes of Michel and Adelar as well as her own. Amiel gained nothing from hunting her save to use her as bait to entrap the boys. She doubted that the fact that the DeVeaux wanted her to exact an old vengeance against her family would matter all that much to him. The way she had thwarted his plans to kill the boys from the very beginning undoubtedly had added her to his list of ones he wanted dead, however.
It was difficult to understand the man. If he had just had a little patience she was certain the elder Lucettes, his and Claud’s parents, would have succeeded in having the marriage of Claud and Marie Anne annulled, robbing the boys of all chance of inheriting anything. They just needed to pay the right people to see it done. The distaste many of the aristocracy would have for heirs who carried such common blood would also aid them. All Amiel had had to do was wait.
Unless, she mused, the man could not afford to wait. It all came back to whether or not Amiel was in debt to the DeVeaux. Those men could well have pushed him to act immediately once Claud was dead. That was somewhat reckless of the DeVeaux, who usually preferred more subtle, and deadly, ways of gaining what they wanted. Hunting two boys and a woman like hounds after a rabbit was not very subtle.
None of that mattered, she decided with a sigh. Once the game had begun it could not be ended. The crimes of Amiel and his DeVeaux allies were rapidly adding up. It was not easy to gain any justice when one accused a highborn man or woman of a crime, but the DeVeaux were no favorites if the king and the murder of a
comte,
an heir to even higher titles, was involved. Accusations, especially one of the murder of a very highborn Lucette, could prove costly to them. There was also the matter of sinking a ship.
comte,
an heir to even higher titles, was involved. Accusations, especially one of the murder of a very highborn Lucette, could prove costly to them. There was also the matter of sinking a ship.
Arianna cursed softly and rubbed her fingers over her temples. Just attempting to puzzle it all out was enough to make her head throb. Even though she saw it all as senseless, needless, and reckless, there could be any number of reasons for their actions, which Amiel and the DeVeaux would consider quite reasonable. In the end it did not truly matter why they were so intent upon killing two innocent children, just that they were. Every thought she had about being the DeVeaux’s latest prey should only concern how to keep Michel and Adelar safe, as well as all of those who sought to help them.
Sitting on the ground near the horses, she decided that Brian’s forays to look for the enemy or do something that might turn them off their trail were becoming more difficult to endure. Arianna did not like being left behind with the horses. She did not like being left alone while Brian was slipping about through the wood or creeping through villages doing what was needed to keep her alive and get her to a safe place. Arianna was not accustomed to feeling so helpless, so much like some useless, delicate maiden who could do no more than sit and wait for a man to save her. Or so much like a burden, she thought, wincing.
If her brothers or cousins found out, she would be tormented and teased by them. A Murray woman did not sit about like some helpless, spineless female without the wit to lace up her own chemise. Murrays were strong women, women who fought beside their men. They did not allow others to fight their battles for them while they huddled safe and hidden with the horses, she thought, leaping to her feet.
After taking three steps in the direction Brian had gone, Arianna cursed again and sat back down. Murray women also knew when to sit and wait even if they did not like it much. She had to just accept the fact that she did not have the skills that Brian did. Even more important, Amiel and the DeVeaux knew what she looked like and had undoubtedly described her very well to each one of their men. All they would need would be one glimpse of her and she would become no more than a sword at Brian’s throat.
So she would sit and wait. And pray, because each time Brian left her sight she feared he would be hurt. Arianna did not want to think too hard on how she would feel if that happened, but did not really have to. The way her heart clenched at the mere thought of it told her all she needed to know.
She was falling in love with the man, or already had. It was not something she wanted to look at too closely. Brian was kind to her, made love to her as she now knew a man should make love to a woman, but he spoke no words of love or even hinted at a future beyond that of getting her safely back to her kin.
For a moment she wondered if his kindness and the passion he made her feel were why she imagined herself in love with him. She had never experienced such things in her marriage and could be fooled. Then she shook her head. It was more, much more. What she was feeling for him went deep. Arianna feared that when he left her with her family and walked away he was going to be taking her heart with him.
Brian ignored the sultry invitation of the tavern maid as he made his deal with the young shepherd Tam. It had taken him longer than he liked to find someone he dared trust with a message to Arianna’s kin. He had almost decided to wait until he got to Dubheidland. If Lucette and his men were not so close or so certain of where he was taking her, he would have. He suspected his family may have already done so but he could not be certain of that.
“Dinnae worry, mon,” said Tam, who would be taking his wool to market soon and so made a perfect choice for a messenger. “I will be leaving here ere the sun rises and I will see that this gets into the hands of a Murray. I have dealt with them before, ye ken. They deal fair and always pay what be due me.”
And that, thought Brian, was why he could trust this man. Such things were important to someone with goods to sell. A bribe came only the once but a man who bought your goods every season and paid well was not worth risking for that one brief moment of having a heavy purse. He gave Tam the message and counted out the coin promised into his dirty, heavily calloused hand.
“Beware Frenchmen,” he warned again as the man gulped down the last of his ale.
“Wheesht, only a fool wouldnae do so.”
Brian was still chuckling when the man left and the tavern maid sidled up to him again. She was pretty enough, fairly clean, and buxom, but he had no interest in her. He made that clear as gently as possible but there was still the hard glint of anger in her eyes when she finally walked away. As he finished his ale, he prayed Lucette did not stop here. Brian was not very concerned about his ability to evade the man but the maid had watched his dealings with the shepherd. He could only hope she had some loyalty to those in her own village.
He was slipping out of the village as easily as he had slipped in when he saw the shepherd ambling toward a small, worn cottage. After one quick glance at the man, which Tam returned with the same subtlety, Brian drawled, “I am thinking the maid in that tavern doesnae like to hear the word nay from a mon.” He could tell by the way the man’s body tensed that Tam understood the warning.
“Nay,” replied Tam, never taking his gaze from the dirt path he walked. “My cousin is a vain bitch. Best someone reminds her what a sin that is.”
Brian was a little surprised when Tam turned around and headed right back to the inn. He felt a little guilty that the girl might suffer from a harsh hand just because he was a suspicious sort, but shook the guilt aside. Tam had not questioned what Brian had meant and the man knew his cousin better than Brian did. And, if the woman said too much to the wrong people, it could not only put Lucette hard on his trail but it could get Tam killed.
He quickly continued sneaking out of the village, eager to get back to Arianna. It would be the last time he left her alone, he thought, even though he knew that might be a very hard vow to keep. Brian did not like leaving her behind with the horses, always too aware of how easily Lucette or one of his men could find her. Arianna was not completely helpless but she would be no match for a grown, armed man intent upon capturing her. Unfortunately, he could not take her with him on these small forays because she might be seen and her looks were the type people noticed and remembered.
Which made it so difficult to understand how she could have come to believe all the poisonous lies Claud had told her. Brian had to admit that he did not understand women very well. Arianna was beautiful yet saw nothing but faults when she looked at herself. It was similar to what his brother Ewan’s wife Fiona had suffered. With her honey-gold hair and violet eyes, Fiona was a beauty yet she had fretted endlessly over the small scars marking each cheek. Ignorant men were the reason for that for the same ones who had once wooed Fiona had quickly turned from her when she was no longer perfect. With Arianna it had been but one ignorant man who believed he had the right to punish her for his own weaknesses. There were a lot of men out there who would be better for a sound beating, he decided.
Other books
Schindlers list by Thomas Keneally
Bullied by Patrick Connolly
Mortal Fear by Mortal Fear
Love's Second Chance (Second Chances Series) by Dover, L.P.
Good Girls Don't Die by Isabelle Grey
The File on Angelyn Stark by Catherine Atkins
Death Dance by Evans, Geraldine
Arms and the Women by Reginald Hill
Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier
Threshold by Sara Douglass