Highland Healer (27 page)

“No,” Aileana said, and repeated it over and over as Toran raged. “No, that’s not it; that cannot be.”

“No, Aileana? Are ye so certain?”

“You must be wrong. Colbridge would never hurt me. He’s trying to get me back…”

“Unless he thought ye could be used against him, against his men, to keep another army at fighting strength. He has to have realized by now that ye can be a danger to him.”

That stopped her cold. “Oh, no.” She turned away from him, unable to look at him and think at the same time. And she needed to think.

Toran came up behind her and turned her to face him. “Ye saw what he’s done to Ranald. There is no way ye would be safe again in his camp. I will not allow ye to go. I canna.”

Aileana stared, stricken with fear at this new world she found herself in. Nothing had been the way she thought. She’d been a fool, all that time. She had thought herself at least safe there, guarded by her Talent and Colbridge’s need for it. But that had never been true, not when he threatened her now. And Ranald, if he survived what Colbridge was doing to him, he would never forgive her for the agony he had suffered because of her. He was the last of her kin. If Toran’s anguish meant he was turning against her, too, she really would have nothing, and no one.

The only thing she had left was her Voice—a talent that Donal would greatly fear if he knew of it. It would only take a touch, and the right suggestions.

She could go to Ranald and heal him. She could walk out though the postern, or she could have Toran escort her out the front gate, and forget he’d done it. She could control Colbridge with a touch and a word, something she’d never dared before because there’d been no threat from him to cause her to try it.

But could she really do this? Toran would never trust her again. She did not want to leave him. She wanted him. For God’s sake, she’d married him, and she wanted the home with his clan in the Aerie that she had begun to love. She had fallen in love with him, deeply in love, even before she had given herself to him. Her breath caught. Oh no, had she come to this knowledge just in time to lose him?

No, it wasn’t her fault that Toran had grabbed her and stolen her away, but she was glad that he had. Nor was it her fault that Colbridge was a brute bent on destroying everything and everyone that he encountered, but she could do something for Ranald. She bowed her head as tears sheened her eyes. She had no choice.

Toran reached for her then and folded her in his arms. “I promised not to make ye cry, and in my fear for ye, look what I’ve done.”

“But I…” Aileana murmured against his chest. She had to tell him. Before she left. Before she disappeared from his life, possibly forever, if Colbridge caught her.

“Hush, it doesna matter,” Toran said, soothing her.

“But, Toran, it does. Ranald is my half-brother. I don’t want to leave you. I love you. But I have to save him,” Aileana said, looking up into his deep blue eyes.

As he leaned down to kiss her, his churning emotions washed over Aileana. The connection between them waxed stronger since he’d taken her, no, since he’d awakened her, loved her, made her his. But what he was feeling—shock? Joy? The mix of emotions running through him confused her. It was almost too much to bear, knowing how she must hurt him to save her kin.

“Aileana,” he vowed against her hair. “it matters no’ who he is. Ye canna go into that camp. It isna safe. Ye are mine. Forever.”

“And a day, aye,” she whispered. If only that could be true, she thought as he attacked her defenses with his mouth. But no, she could not make love with Toran while Ranald suffered because of her. Nor could she let even a hint of the anguish that plagued her over what she was about to do leak through to him.

“Toran, please,” she protested. “Let me rest.”

“Aye, lass.”

He left her after one more gentle kiss, after gazing at her as if she was the most precious thing in his world, after gently trailing his fingers down her cheek, then pulling her again into his embrace, the only place where she was warm and safe. Aileana stared at the door to her chamber after Toran closed it softly behind him and wondered if she would ever see him again.

****

Aileana waited until the clan settled down for the night. It was late, very late, when she ventured quietly from her chamber. The door closed silently, but the barely audible click of the latch stopped her. She breathed in and out, once, twice, three times, trying to slow the pounding of her heart. So far, she’d done nothing wrong. She simply needed something from the herbal to help her sleep after a trying day. That was all.

Only that wasn’t all. From there, she would make her way down into the caves. If her luck held, she’d find a torch still burning that she could use to light her way. If not, and she didn’t kill herself falling down the long flights of stairs in the dark or get lost on a side path that she didn’t remember, she’d leave from the postern gate and be on her way to save Ranald. If all went well, she might be back with him before daylight. Toran would be furious both at what she’d risked, and at bringing Ranald back through the postern, but she didn’t have any other choice. The guard on the main gate would raise an alarm if she returned that way, not that Ranald’s sudden presence in the Aerie wouldn’t cause alarm. Maybe she could hide him, at least until she could explain to Toran what she’d done.

There was little chance of everything going perfectly, she despaired as she crept down the main stairs into the Great Hall. She hadn’t counted on anyone sleeping there, but several men were sprawled on pallets near the hearth, most snoring, loudly or softly. Their noise was good cover for any sound she might make as long as it didn’t awaken one of them. Two hounds raised their heads to regard her briefly, startling her and giving her a bad moment until they put their heads back down and sighed. She supposed by now they recognized her as belonging here. Heart pounding again, she went carefully on her way down the long hall toward the kitchen, Senga’s herbal, and the stairs she needed. There was no one to delay her progress as she took her first hesitant steps down to the storage caves and below.

The first stairs were easy despite the lack of illumination. She’d been down those to the area where Senga stored the bulk of her dried herbs many times. But below that, she’d only been once—the day she’d been brought down to heal Jamie. That trip down had been so hurried, she’d scarce noticed any details. And she’d swooned after she’d finished, so that Toran had carried her back up, and she’d seen nothing.

She kept one hand on the wall beside her as she carefully edged down. Finally, the blackness was pierced by a dimly guttering torch set into a bracket, and Aileana took it to light her way. The flickering flame quickly died to embers, but it provided enough illumination to allow her to see the next tread. Once she startled a sleeping ginger cat, a mouser, she surmised, slacking at its duty. It gave her a one-eyed glare and a twitch of its tail, then settled back to its nap as she passed.

It seemed to take hours, though she knew it couldn’t have been more than minutes, before she reached the bottom step. The last faint glow from her torch chose that moment to die completely.

The darkness was absolute. Across the wide floor of this cavern waited the gap that led to the postern. It would be hard to find if she tried to cross the open floor. But if she kept one hand on the wall and went around, she’d come to it, she was sure. She didn’t recall anything being stored here, but there had been so many people surrounding her as she worked on Jamie, that she couldn’t be sure.

She smelled horses and heard their faint whickering from far away—another cave? Should she try to take one? No, that would make too much noise. Someone might hear and come to investigate what was disturbing them. She’d stick to her plan and go afoot. So she set the now useless torch on the ground then placed her hand on the chill rock beside her. She walked slowly and carefully, fearing the fall that could result from tripping over something in the dark.

She’d already passed several cracks no wider than a handspan when she finally came to the one she expected to find. She could smell fresh night air and feel a slight breeze as she reached it, but because of the way it angled, she could not see outside. Emboldened, she quickened her pace and turned into the corridor. But only three steps beyond, she found herself sprawled, half on the cold, rocky floor, and half on a large, warm body. Wide hands suddenly gripped her. As he stood, her captor pulled her to her feet.

Even in this deep blackness, she knew who now kept her from her mission. Toran! She’d know his scent anywhere, the feel of his big hands, his sheer size.

“I thought ye might try something like this,” he began, without preamble, knowing full well whom he had captured. He’d expected her, lain in wait for her to arrive, that was plain. And though she could not see his face, she could sense anger coursing through him. “I told ye I could not let ye leave the Aerie,” he said, gripping her shoulders and shaking her gently, like one would do to command the attention of a child. “Ye canna defy me, Aileana. No’ in this.”

“I must,” she replied, struggling to escape his iron grip, and knowing it was futile. “I cannot leave Ranald to suffer an agonizing death at Colbridge’s hands. You must let me go. I can heal him, bring him back with me.”

“Aileana, ye canna ken that.” He sighed. “If Ranald is injured as badly as he looks, healing him will use all of yer strength. If ye collapse, as ye did after healing Jamie, ye’ll be at Colbridge’s mercy. And even if ye do no’ faint, if someone discovers ye, the result will be the same.”

“Not if you come with me,” she said, giving up struggling in Toran’s arms as the idea suddenly occurred to her. “You can cut him down, keep watch while I heal him. If need be, you can carry me back.”

“Ye and Ranald both? Ye heard what Colbridge said. He’s crippled both of his legs now. He won’t be fit to walk, much less run, if someone hears us.”

“Then bring Donal, too. Or Kyle or Jamie, or all of them. I must not let Colbridge continue to torture Ranald. He’ll kill him.” Tears gathered in Aileana’s eyes and slipped down her cheeks. “I must free him.” She choked on a sob as she insisted, “Colbridge is doing this because of me.”

Toran wrapped her in the comfort of his strong arms and wiped away her tears, but voice was resolute when he told her, “Nay, Aileana. I’m sorry. Truly I am, but it willna work. ’Tis no’ yer fault. Colbridge’s doing this because he’s a crafty bastard. And because he thinks that if he can lure ye out, he can lure me and my men out, too. Even for yer brother, I canna allow it.”

“We left the Aerie for the MacAnalen. It can be done.”

“Nay, lass. We didna try to go right into Colbridge’s camp, under his very nose, fer God’s sake. And we had enough trouble with his patrols when they didna expect us. By now, they’re looking for us even harder. It willna work.”

Aileana realized he would not be swayed. Desperation seized her. If he would not be convinced to help her, then she could only do one thing. Now that they were married, she hated to use her Voice to compel him, but without it, she would not be able to get free of Toran and the Aerie to save Ranald. The risk was great. If he resisted, and if he realized what she was doing, he would gather his defenses and just might be able to prevent her. But she had to try. It was the only weapon she had left.

“Let me go,”
she commanded, and sighed in relief when his arms dropped from around her. Now what to do? She reached out in the darkness and took his hand as another complication occurred to her. She was a fool not to have thought of it before.
“Is there a gate at the end of this passage?”

“Aye.”

“And another guard?”
A guard would add to her problems. She’d have to control both men at the same time. She hoped she could do it.

“Nay, I took his place. There was only me to await ye.”

“Is the gate locked?”

“Aye.” How could one syllable sound so satisfied?

“Do you have the key to unlock it?”
she asked, suddenly sick at heart. Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner? If he did not have a key, they would have to go back upstairs to get it. And she’d have to count on her Voice to keep the one man who could withstand it under her control all the way up the long, dark steps.

She felt more than saw his nod, then heard him grunt his “Aye,” as if he struggled against telling her.

“Give me the key,”
she demanded, eagerness lending more power to her Voice than she had ever used before. He used his free hand to pull it from wherever he had carried it and held it out to her.

She took it, nearly fainting with relief when he complied.
“Go upstairs to your chamber,”
she told him.
“Forget you have seen me. Lie down on your bed and go to sleep. And when you wake up in the morning, you won’t remember that you saw me here or even that you came down here.”
A wrenching sense of loss nearly undid her, but she stiffened her resolve, bending only to make a promise to Toran that she truly hoped she could keep. “I will return. I will.
Now go.
”

Aileana let go of Toran’s arm and held her breath as he turned away. She listened to him walk across the cave and released a sigh of relief as he started up the stairs. Then his steps hesitated and her breath caught in her throat. She waited, hands clenched in front of her, trying to hear what she could not see in the blackness of the cave. Was he resisting her commands and coming back for her? “No,” she murmured under her breath. “Go, go on. Leave me alone.” The silence lasted for another moment, then the sound of his footsteps continued up the stairs.

Aileana strained to hear the noises he made as they faded away up into the darkness. Then she resolutely put Toran out of her mind and moved quickly down the twisting passage until she encountered the thick iron bars of the gate. She fumbled for the latch. The key turned easily, and the gate swung open on well-oiled hinges. Quickly, Aileana locked it behind her and secreted the key in a crack in the rock face where she could find it again. She congratulated herself on her presence of mind not to take the key with her into Colbridge’s camp. If worse came to worse and she was captured, they would not find it on her. She might be forced to tell Colbridge about this way into the Aerie, but she would not make it easy for him to breach it.