Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy (8 page)

“ ’Cause flocks o’ gannets fly forever round that great rock and leave a middeny mess,” the boy said, his nose wrinkling at the memory. “Me shoes stuck wherever we’d go. I’d wager Orkney hisself preferred the basket tae them gannets.”

Alyson smiled. “I think you are right, Will. Orkney pays great heed to how he looks.
And
he likes silken shoes. Such shoes would
not
like gannets’ messes.”

“Does he truly wear silk ones?” Will asked. “I ha’ seen him only in boots. Will they be safe, d’ye think, him and Jamie?” he added with a worried frown.

Tempted though she was to assure him that they would, and hoping that Ciara was safe, too, Alyson said, “We must pray that all of our people are safe, Will. But their safety will depend on why the pirates took them.”

Will’s face crumpled and he looked away.

A strong gust ripped Alyson’s hood from her grasp, and she realized they had moved beyond the shelter of the ship. Looking back as she readjusted her hood, she gasped to see the
Maryenknyght
slowly, inexorably tilting nearer the sea. Abruptly, her railing and masts dipped beneath the surface and her keel turned upward.

“Coo,” Will muttered beside her. “All them smelly hides and bales of wool be a-going tae the bottom o’ the sea. Them pirates got nowt o’ them.”

The pirates had taken a much more valuable cargo, though, Alyson thought.

Mist and rain closed off their view. Ahead, she could see only more rain-filled mist on endless gray sea. Hoping that Mace’s—and Will’s—trust in Jake was well deserved, she wondered if they were even heading the right way. And, if they were, she hoped the sea and the rain would not swamp them before they reached shore.

So focused was she on concealing her fears that Will’s voice startled her when he said, “When did
ye
meet him, then—Cap’n Jake?”

“It must have been just after you did,” she said. “He
was with my cousin, Sir Ivor, and another man called Fin Cameron. Fin is married to Ivor’s sister, Catriona.”

“Aye, I met Sir Ivor and Sir Fin, too,” Will said, pushing dripping hair from his eyes. “I were wi’ Sir Fin just a short time, though. I ken Sir Ivor better.”

“Captain Jake came with Ivor and Fin when they visited us in St. John’s Town of Perth last year,” Alyson said. “My Highland cousins visit us at MacGillivray House at least once a year and whenever the lords of Parliament meet. Sithee, Parliament meets in Perth more often than elsewhere.”

“I’d forgot ye was married till Cap’n Jake mentioned it,” Will said. “We saw little o’ your husband, ye ken. And now, them pirates…” He frowned.

“What about them?” Alyson prompted when he did not continue.

Clearly reluctant, the boy said, “They… they put some folks overboard when they didna move quick enough tae suit them. The captain o’ the
Maryenknyght
just stopped the ship when the cannon fired. I think he ought tae ha’ fought.”

Gently, she said, “He had to think of Jamie’s safety, Will.”

“Well, I dinna think he’ll be safe wi’ them pirates,” Will said gruffly.

More gently yet, Alyson said, “I am exceedingly grateful that you stayed to rescue me. In troth, I believe Jamie must be glad of it, too. Our prince may be young, Will. But he has an old head on his shoulders, and he will not be thinking of himself alone. He will be very glad that
you
are safe.”

Will’s frown eased, but his lips tightened before he
said, “Ye’ve the right of it about Jamie, m’lady, ’cause he
told
me tae find ye. And I’m no going tae say that I wish I hadna done it, ’cause that isna so. But, in troth, I’m nigh tae grieving, too, that I canna be wi’ him the noo. I
should
be, ye ken.”

“I do know what you mean, Will. I have had exactly those feelings—”

Breaking off with a cry when the boat topped a giant wave and careened wildly down into the trough between it and the next one with a huge splash, soaking her with icy water, Alyson tightened her grip on the mast and began to wonder if she might freeze to death before they drowned.

Chapter 4

T
o gain speed, Jake had let the wind and waves carry them southwestward away from the
Maryenknyght
. But, nearly certain that the pirates had headed back to Flamborough Head, he hoped to beach the coble nearby.

That meant they had to turn north. Shouting to Mace to take the tiller, he noted the
Maryenknyght
’s fate with only a brief glance. Having expected it, he did not let it trouble him but fixed his attention on what lay ahead.

According to his rutter, both sides of the great headland had harbors. With winds from the northeast, the pirates would make for the primary harbor on the south side of the headland in Bridlington Bay. That harbor would offer more shelter than the one on the headland’s north side, in Filey Bay.

Sheltering from wind as one made landfall was always good. But it would matter more to large ships than to the oared coble. The lead ship of the group that had captured Jamie was as big as the
Maryenknyght
if not bigger.

The smaller harbor on the north side of the headland would do for the coble. Just to get that far would tax it enough. Trying to make it any farther in the fifteen-mile, wide-mouthed Filey Bay would be foolhardy against the
winds and seas that they were experiencing. As it was, every time he tacked into the wind or turned away from it, he risked swamping the coble or rolling it.

Plowing over waves and plunging down as they were while he fought the sail to tack northward, and tied it off, he knew they’d be safe enough even if wind ripped the sail. The journey would take time in any event. But if the sail ripped, they’d have to land wherever the waves took them, because he and Mace would not be able to row long against such weather. However, barring a reef they failed to see or some unexpected freak of nature, he was confident that they would not sink.

He was soaked. But so were the others, and from where he stood, he could quickly ease strain on the sail if need be. He was also blocking some of the wind and rain from the two sitting low in front of the mast. He saw that they had their heads together and hoped they were managing to keep warm.

He did his best to watch the waves around them through the increasing murk, paying special heed to waves rolling landward. The course he had set was holding, and if he had not mistaken their current location, he ought soon to make out the shape of the two-hundred-foot-high headland.

He had mixed feelings about the increasing darkness, recalling that his rutter warned that the north harbor lay deep in a small inlet. However, he knew that folks ashore would soon light candles and lamps, which would make it easier for him to judge distance and discern the inner curve of the bay. Continuing his vigil, he tried to imagine all that might go wrong. On the positive side, the mast was sound, the sail held strong against the wind, Mace
was skilled at the tiller, and the two of them had sailed cobles together in rough seas before.

Alyson and Will held an oar across them that Mace had given her in passing, to hold in case Jake needed it. Mace kept another near himself. Chiefly, what threatened them were the unknown factors. A dangerous reef shot out from Filey, so what if there were others unknown to the rutter? Or lone, unnoted boulders?

Aware of a continued murmur of voices from the lad and Alyson, Jake’s thoughts shifted to what he knew about her. Although he had met her only once before, his memory of her slender, curvaceous body; smooth, almost silvery blonde hair; and a certain mysterious faraway look in her eyes was clear.

His memory of her cousin Ivor was even clearer.

He had known Ivor Mackintosh and Fin Cameron from their boyhood days together at St. Andrews Castle, where they had studied under the tutelage of Bishop Wardlaw’s predecessor, Bishop Traill.

Jake had stayed at MacGillivray House only one night before going home to Duncraig, on the west coast of Kintail. The news of Traill’s death reached him a month later, and his grief had been almost as great as if he’d lost his father.

Captain Wat Maxwell, Giff MacLennan, and others had taught Jake all he knew about sailing. But Traill had taught him things that were just as important, if not more so, primarily the value of strong friendships.

Although the wind still howled around them, Jake had reached that familiar state of sensing the movements of a boat without thought and recognizing intervals needed before resetting the sail. He hoped to be north of the
headland before it came into view and thus avoid anyone’s seeing them from the south harbor or town.

However, the chalky whalelike shape of Flamborough Head loomed out of the murk ahead portside with some distance still to go. He was sailing as near to the wind as he dared, but the coble was out far enough for them to pass the head safely. Also, the murk had thickened in Bridlington Bay. He could not see the harbor, which meant that no one in the harbor could see them.

Adjusting course slightly to give himself more room to turn inland, he heard Will wonder aloud how much longer it would be. Jake realized that sitting as low as the two in front of the mast now were, they could not see what lay ahead. In the driving rain, they had probably stopped paying heed in any event.

Alyson glanced up, smiled, and his memory flitted back to the crackling fire in the comfortable hall and a distant clatter of some menial dropping a tray on the dais. The charming lass with whom he had been enjoying pleasant discourse had looked up from a more demure posture and smiled at him just so.

He had been flirting shamelessly with her at the time, and her smile had encouraged him. Then Ivor had joined them long enough to let him know that she was soon to marry, thus taking the wind from Jake’s sails.

Smiling at the memory, he recalled how Lady Alyson had seemed to be aware of what everyone in the room was doing and saying, even as she carried on her conversation with him. Twice, she had briefly disengaged to answer a question he had not heard and to inject a comment into another conversation. He had been astonished at how deftly she did such things without losing the thread of
what he—or, for that matter, she—had been saying at the time.

Once, when a dispute arose, the two most involved had soon drawn others into the argument. He had nearly grown dizzy looking from one person to another. But a quiet observation of Alyson’s had settled the matter in a trice.

He saw that she had returned her attention to Will. Her cloak was soaked, and she was still clutching her hood to keep it up. He knew few women who would not complain bitterly at finding themselves in such a situation.

“Do you know where we are, sir?” she asked, raising her voice in the apparent belief that he would not otherwise hear it over the wind.

“We’re approaching Flamborough Head,” he said. “ ’Tis the place from whence the pirates sailed. They appeared from behind the headland when we were north of it, so they had harbored in Bridlington Bay. I’m nearly certain they’ve returned to shelter there.”

“Then should we not head inland, to see where they go next?”

Will declared, “Aye, we should. We need tae see where they take Jamie.”

“If Mace and I were alone, I might risk that,” Jake said. “No one aboard those ships but Orkney would recognize us easily. He and Jamie are the only ones likely to recognize Will, Mace, or me. And they both have sense enough to say nowt. But everyone who was on the
Maryenknyght
would know you, my lady.”

“But Ciara—” She broke off, biting her lip. Then she said, “Nay, you are right, sir. Ciara would shout out my name the instant she clapped eyes on me.”

“Nay, she—” But Will, too, broke off whatever he had been about to say.

“What is it, lad?” Jake asked. “You may say what you like to us.”

Looking down, Will muttered, “Nay, sir. It were nowt.”

“Speak louder, Will,” Alyson said. “I doubt he could hear you.”

Sensing that the boy had thought better of what he had nearly said, and realizing that his silence might have something to do with Alyson, Jake said, “He can tell us later. Meantime, my plan is to find the north-side harbor, beach this coble, and seek shelter for the night.”

“Where?”

“Flamborough must be that clutch of lights atop the headland, and it looks big enough for an alehouse. Also, it lies too far from Bridlington to draw anyone from there in this weather. Still, I’ll wager that if we can find an alehouse there or nearby, we’ll soon hear news of those five ships.”

Giving him a searching look, her demeanor as serene as if she were sitting by her own hearth fire, she said, “I want to learn what they’ve done with my husband, sir. Will said the pirates threw men overboard if they did not obey fast enough. Niall is a complaisant man, so I doubt that he would be one of those. Even so…”

“I understand, my lady. Forbye, you must not show yourself anywhere near those ships. When we make landfall and get our bearings, we’ll learn what we can. You should know, though, that if those pirates discover what prizes they hold in Orkney and Jamie, they’ll guard them well.”

Will looked up at him, clearly about to speak again.
Then, tightening his lips, the boy looked away. They had rounded the headland, so although his behavior made Jake more curious than ever, he resisted the urge to question him and fixed his attention on finding the harbor.