Highland Wolf (18 page)

When both men strode toward the door, Annora thought they had completely forgotten her. Then Donnell turned as he opened the door. He looked her over and his face twisted in an expression of distaste. Annora decided she must look very bad indeed if it was enough to trouble Donnell.

“Dinnae try to leave Dunncraig again, Annora,” he said. “We arenae through asking ye questions.”

She stared at the door for a long time after it closed behind Donnell and Egan. As she sat in the chair and tried to fight back the pain she was in, Annora wondered what she could do next. At the moment, she was not even sure she had the strength to get out of the chair.

The door slowly opened, and Annora frowned. It could not be Donnell or Egan, for they had no reason to enter the room in a secretive manner. The person who slipped into the room looked familiar, but her vision was so blurred by pain that the person was within a few steps of her before Annora recognized Big Marta. The woman was right by Annora’s side before Annora saw that the strange lump to the right of the woman was a bowl of water and a little sack full of what she assumed were supplies to help heal all the wounds throbbing on Annora’s body.

“Do ye think they broke any bones, child?” Big Marta asked in a voice that was surprisingly gentle for her.

“Nay, but I dinnae think there is one tiny spot upon my body that isnae bruised,” Annora replied and decided her own voice sounded odd because her lips were swollen. “What is happening?”

“Meggie is in the nursery and Annie has finally managed to get the child to sleep,” Big Marta said as she began to clean Annora’s face. “I fear the true laird is hanging in chains in the dungeon, just where too many other good men died when that bastard cousin of yours took o’er Dunncraig. And MacKay and his men are haring off across the countryside trying to catch and kill MacLarens.”

This was an opportunity to do something, but Annora found all of her thoughts and strength consumed by Big Marta’s care of her many bruises and scrapes. She was fighting hard to stay conscious by the time the woman had spread salve on her bruises and wrapped her badly bruised ribs. Simply loosening her gown and dropping it to her
waist, then putting it back on again had been pure torture.

“I must go find Tormand Murray and Sir Simon Innes,” she said as she struggled to sit up straight.

“Lass, ye are so badly beaten I doubt ye can get to a piss pot without help,” said Big Marta.

“I have to go to the village. Has the fight with the MacLarens gone beyond there?”

“Aye,” Big Marta replied as she helped Annora stand up and then steadied her when she swayed on her feet, “the fools are chasing them all the way back to MacLaren lands.”

“I pray the MacLarens win that race if only because they have given me the chance I have been hoping for.”

“The chance to do what? Kill yourself by trying to do too much when ye should be lying abed?”

“I
must
go find Simon Innes and Tormand Murray. I can get them into the keep without being seen.”

“Ah, of course. The lad took ye out through the secret ways, didnae he?”

“He did and I mean to bring some help back through the same way. Will ye watch Meggie for me?”

“Of course I will. I will make certain that she isnae caught up in any fight that happens.”

“Thank ye. I believe she has seen enough of that for now, aye.”

As Big Marta walked her to the door, Annora tried to push aside all her pain and steady herself. She would do no one any good if she fell facedown in the dirt before she even reached the village. She took each step very carefully and by the time she reached the door leading to the outside, she felt she could walk without any assistance.

“Mayhap I should help ye get to the village,” Big Marta said as she looked around at the nearly deserted bailey. “I dinnae think MacKay realizes that he has left this place so empty.”

“Good. He was in a rage and rages make him stupid. James is being guarded, though, isnae he?”

“Och, aye, by six burly fellows who wouldnae let me near the lad e’en though I told them I was to see that he didnae die of the bleeding from his head. Told them the laird would be most unhappy if the mon died, for then he wouldnae be able to torture him, would he?”

“And that didnae work?”

“Nay, they said they already kenned that the mon wouldnae die so why didnae I get my skinny arse back to the kitchens where I belonged? I will play the game again later and it may work then.”

Those men would be lucky if they were not poisoned at the very next meal they sat down to, Annora thought. “Watch Meggie, Big Marta. She will be scared and Donnell might e’en try to hurt her if he sees that he is about to lose everything.”

“I swear to ye, lass, that child will be safe. Just ye worry about yourself.”

Annora almost nodded but then feared that moving her aching head like that could be just enough to send her into the unconsciousness that was beckoning at the edges of her mind. Instead she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. She grew a little more steady on her feet as she moved along, but her pace was slow. Annora
suspected she looked much like a bent old woman as she walked, but her appearance was the least of her worries.

As she reached the edge of the village, she felt someone take her by the arm and looked up at the person now walking by her side. “Ida, it isnae safe to be seen with me right now.”

“It isnae safe to be living in Dunncraig right now,” Ida said. “I dinnae ken where ye think ye are going but I couldnae abide watching ye hobble along looking as if ye were going to fall into the dirt for one minute more. Where are ye going?”

To the inn. To James’ brother and that Sir Simon Innes.”

“Weel, ye are in luck for they but just returned to their rooms. They heard what had happened and I think they are trying to make some plans. Dinnae ken what they think they can do. E’en now, with most of the fighting men riding o’er the countryside screaming for the blood of the MacLarens, it wouldnae be easy to get the laird out of those chains.”

“Nay, for Big Marta told me that there are six verra big men watching him and there is nay telling when Donnell and his dogs will return. A plan more clever than just running o’er there now and trying to free James has to be made. I but hope this Simon and James’ brother are clever men.”

“Och, aye, lass. They are verra clever. Havenae they been sitting here right under MacKay’s big nose for days now and doing so without MacKay catching wind of it?”

That gave Annora hope as she looked at the stairs inside the inn and felt every ache in her body cry out in protest at the mere thought of going up them. Then Ida slipped one strong arm around her waist and Annora started up the stairs. With each step she took her bruised ribs sent pain throbbing through her body. Annora knew she never would have made it up the stairs without Ida’s help and suspected poor Ida was nearly carrying her by the time they reached the top. Ida kept a firm grasp on her as she rapped on a door at the top of the stairs.

A tall man opened the door and asked, “What is the trouble, Ida?” A harsh curse escaped the man and Annora felt a strong arm encircle her shoulders. “Who is this woman and why have ye brought her here?”

This is Annora MacKay, Sir Innes,” replied Ida.

Another tall man appeared in the doorway and Annora asked, “Tormand Murray?”

“Aye. Jesu, what happened to you?”

“I was asked a few questions about your brother’s attempt to flee Dunncraig.”

“Why have ye dragged yourself here? Ye should be abed.”

“Later. Is the king’s mon ready to help James in more ways than just gathering information?”

“Aye, he is,” said the shadowy form that Ida had addressed as Sir Innes.

“Oh, good, for I can get ye into Dunncraig so that ye can get him out ere Donnell cuts him into small pieces just for the joy it would bring him.” She felt as if her knees had turned to water. “Although I think that may have to wait just a moment.”

The last thing Annora heard was a deep voice curse and then say, “Catch her. She doesnae need any other bruises.”

Pain was the first thing Annora was aware of as consciousness returned. Then a cool wet cloth moved over her aching face soothing some of the pain there. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. They did not open very much but, recalling why she was in such pain, she was surprised they opened at all. A handsome face with mismatched but very beautiful eyes appeared in her narrow field of vision.

“Tormand Murray?” she asked, remembering what James had said about his brother’s eyes. There could not be another man at the village inn with one green eye and one blue eye.

“Aye, and ye are James’ Annora,” he said.

“Oh, that sounds nice.” She blushed when he grinned, for it had been a foolish thing to say. “How long was I unconscious?” she asked.

“Five hours.”

“Nay!” she cried, terrified that they had lost the chance to help James. “Why couldnae ye have woken me up?”

“We did try from time to time but then we decided we could make some preparations while ye rested for a wee while.” He slid his arm around her and helped her sit up. “We are ready now for ye to lead us into the place where they are holding James. S’truth, without that wee rest ye took I dinnae think ye would have been able to do it.”

“I am astounded that ye made it to the village,” said the man standing at the other side of her bed, drawing her attention, and then he bowed slightly. “Sir Simon Innes, mistress. At your service.”

“Only the two of ye?” she asked as Ida nudged Tormand out of the way and helped Annora drink some mead.

“Nay. As ye rested we gathered some men,” replied Simon. “It wasnae hard to find ones eager to rid Dunncraig of your cousin. Was he the one who beat ye so badly?”

It obviously troubled Sir Innes a great deal to see a woman beaten so badly, and Annora felt that was a good sign. James had said that the man could be trusted, but she was feeling very wary of everyone at the moment. Unfortunately, James did not have the time to wait while she decided who she could trust.

“Nay, he had his mon Egan do the honors,” she replied. “Egan was most eager to do so as James had beaten him rather badly just before we fled Dunncraig. Did Donnell slaughter any MacLarens? That was what he intended to do when he left me.”

Tormand shook his head. “Nay, they got away. A few have slipped back, though. Simon felt they might prove a good source of trained fighting men. We will need such men to take Dunncraig back from MacKay.”

“Of course ye will and the MacLarens will be more than eager to help ye. Donnell did a verra thorough job of ridding Dunncraig of all the men loyal to James. So, when do ye wish me to lead ye inside Dunncraig?”

“In one hour.”

Annora slumped against the pillows Ida had placed at her back. “Then give me a cold wet cloth again so that I might put it o’er my eyes. It will help me to see more clearly where I am going when it is time to leave.”

“Do ye think an hour will be long enough?” asked Tormand as he gathered what she had asked for.

“Aye, though dinnae expect me to do any more than slump in a corner somewhere
once I get ye inside.”

“I will see ye safely set into one myself.”

She placed the cloth over her eyes, nearly sighing with pleasure over how good it felt, and then she heard the door to the room shut softly. “Ida?”

“Still here. Rest, lass. Ye will be in sore need of all the strength ye can muster to just get through the next few hours.”

“We will win this time, willnae we, Ida?”

“Och, aye, I dinnae doubt that for a moment.”

“I cannae believe she was able to e’en stand up let alone walk all the way here in search of us,” said Tormand the minute they entered Simon’s bedchamber.

Simon poured them each a goblet of ale and handed Tormand his. “She doesnae look as if she would have such strength, yet it took a great deal to do what she did. E’en her ribs are wrapped tightly, meaning they were badly bruised or worse. And I can tell ye that e’en breathing with such wounds can be an agony.”

“So, ye are nay longer afraid that she cannae be trusted.”

“Nay, but it really isnae because she came here all battered. Aye, that actually moves me to think she is a good woman, but nay, it was that look she got when ye called her James’ Annora. Despite all the swelling and the bruises, ye could see that that delighted her and then she said oh,
that sounds nice
.” He grinned briefly when Tormand laughed at Simon’s attempt to imitate Armora’s voice. “It held that almost too sweet note of a woman who believes she is in love.”

Tormand shook his head. “Ye are a cynic, Simon. A hard mon. Mayhap someday ye will tell me what has made ye so sour on such things as love and marriage and put that soul deep distrust of women inside ye.”

“Mayhap. Right now what I think of it all doesnae matter. I do believe that she feels she is a woman in love and she has done something extraordinary because of that. I just wish that James had told ye of the secret way in and out of Dunncraig and then that poor woman could have crawled into a bed where she belonged and had some maid tend to all her bruises.”

“Weel, James had intended to tell me, e’en draw me a map, but then everything went wrong at Dunncraig and he had to try and escape.”

“’Tis good the lass kens it, then, or your brother would have no chance of surviving this, and we both ken that MacKay willnae gift him with a swift, clean death.”

Tormand took a deep drink and then studied the wooden goblet he held. This is one of James’. One of his more simple designs. The innkeeper must have bought them for these, his best bedchambers.” He sighed and looked at Simon. “I ken weel what MacKay is. I ken that the moment MacKay rode back through the gates of Dunncraig my brother would soon be suffering a lot of pain. James will abide it if he must. He will wait for me to come to his aid but will ne’er fault me if I fail to save him. I dinnae think I need to say that I wish to save him any pain and save his life, but right now e’en that doesnae consume my mind the most. Nay, I wish to reach James before MacKay’s torture goes too far, before he ruins James’ hands.”

“His hands?” Simon looked at the goblet he held, a perfect match to the one Tormand held. “He does do verra fine work.”

“Ye dinnae understand. This isnae work to James. Aye, he can make money with
his skill, but he does this because he
has
to. James has always carved wood, e’en before our mother wanted him to be within yards of a sharp edge. He can stand before a piece of wood, stare at it for a while, and then abruptly start working on it. Sometimes he just sees a picture in the wood. Sometimes he scratches it out on a piece of parchment so that he can show someone else what he sees or just be certain that what he sees will work perfectly. It always does.”

“I fear I have ne’er really understood such things, yet ’tis all around me, from the weaver of a tapestry to the maker of jewelry. Yet, your brother is a laird.”

“It doesnae matter. If he was a king, ye would still be certain to catch him carving something out of wood e’en on the throne. Truly, he
has
to do it. If MacKay crushes that skill in James by hurting his hands beyond repair, it will destroy something in my brother, something I am nay sure e’en his Annora will be able to mend. I think it is the way of it for many people with such gifts.”

“Then we shall get him free of MacKay ere that can happen. If ’tis any comfort, for all of his cunning and brutality, I dinnae think MacKay is all that quickwitted. I dinnae think he will ken what your brother’s weakest point is.”

“I pray ye are right, for if MacKay does ken how important James’ work with wood is to my brother, those hands are what he will go for first.”

Cold water hit his face hard and James abruptly woke up. He felt as if his head was going to split apart. His body felt as if he had been thrown from a cliff onto the rocks—several times. MacKay had come back from trying to catch MacLarens, if James recalled what he had heard correctly, and he had been in a rage over his failure to kill even one MacLaren. MacKay had felt insulted by the MacLarens’ attempt to take Dunncraig and had wanted them to pay for that insult in blood. Instead MacKay had used James’ body to soothe his rage. It had been a hard punch to the face that had finally driven him into a very welcome blackness. It appeared that respite was over.

He looked toward where the water had come from and had to blink several times to clear his vision. No faces came into view until he looked down. Big Marta stood there holding a bucket of water, a tankard, and a sack.

“Good, ye are awake now,” she said as she set down the bucket of water and opened the sack.

“And ye think I should feel good about that?” If MacKay was soon to return, James thought he might prefer to be insensible.

“Aye and nay.” Big Marta looked all around before she started to wash the filth from his body. “MacKay will return soon and he intends to make ye beg for mercy.”

“He will be four score years buried and rotted ere that happens.”

“I wouldnae be so sure. He has broken many a brave mon.”

“My men, ye mean. Good men who wouldnae break their oath to me e’en if it would have saved their lives.”

“Aye, the weeks after ye left and MacKay claimed all of Dunncraig as his were verra sad days. But t’will soon all be set aright again.”

James stared at the woman standing on her tiptoes so that she could wash down his arms. “Do ye have the sight, then? Ye have seen me taken from this place and nay just as a corpse for the burying?”

Big Marta tsked her impatience over the cross cynicism in his voice. “Ye ken weel
that I have no skill or gift or whate’er ye wish to call it. What I do have is a pair of good ears and, at the moment, a wee bit more knowledge than ye do.”

“’Tis a wee bit difficult to gather knowledge whilst hanging from a wall and a mon is punching ye senseless.” James almost smiled at the creative curses Big Marta spoke. “What do ye ken?” he asked quietly, briefly looking round for any sign of his guards. “Do ye ken how Meggie and Annora fare?”

“Your lasses are fine. Meggie is a wee bit frightened and Annora a wee bit bruised.”

“Only a wee bit?”

“Weel, while MacKay was out chasing MacLarens she went to the village to find your brother and his friend, so how bad could she be feeling?”

James was not sure he believed her but decided there was no time to argue. She had said that both Meggie and Annora were alive and he would let that be enough for now. “Weel then, what do ye ken if nay information about their fates?”

“I ken a lot,” she said, using a very soft voice again. “Now your guards have left to find food and a garderobe. MacKay thinks I am safe enough in the kitchens although I dinnae think he understood that I wasnae
asking
to see ye, I was
telling
him that I would come and see ye. So I came down here, told those hulking great fools watching o’er ye that I was here to tend to your wounds, and they decided that was just fine with them.”

“And they didnae argue with that? I dinnae think MacKay often sends someone down here to tend to the wounds of his prisoners.”

A sigh escaped Big Marta. “He has done so in the past. He wanted to keep your men alive as long as possible, didnae he? There are things from those days that I still see in my dreams.”

“I am sorry ye had to see that. I shouldnae have left.”

“Wheesht, shake away that guilt, laddie. Ye had to leave to save your life and no one could have expected MacKay to treat your men as he did. Most expected he would command them to swear an oath to him or leave Dunncraig. There were some who had heard some verra dark tales about the mon and left as soon as ye did. A few others did swear fealty to him and stayed, although they have ne’er really mixed with the men MacKay brought with him. Their only thought was, and still is, to survive and stay close to their loved ones.”

“I hadnae realized that some of my men were still here. I had thought them all dead or gone. How many?”

“Oh, five, I think. They had lovers or family here and didnae want to leave. Edmund didnae ken all of your men weel enough to ken that. But they are ready now,” she said in a whisper.

“Ready for what?” James felt better after having been so thoroughly washed down and some of his wounds salved, but his head still throbbed so badly he was beginning to have difficulty following whatever it was Big Marta was talking about.

“For rescue, laddie. For rescue. This time the bastard willnae win.”

Before James could ask what Big Marta meant the woman was standing at the door to his prison. It was only a moment later that all of his guards returned. Big Marta was sent away and James felt himself tensing for MacKay’s arrival. This time the man would take his time.

A tremor went through his body, but James hid it from the guards by pressing
himself hard up against the stone wall at his back. Any sane man would be afraid of what MacKay might do to him, but James refused to let his fear show. He still had his pride, and if this was the time of his death, he wanted to meet it with courage and dignity.

He found his thoughts slipping to Annora and it felt as if his heart broke in his chest. At long last he had found that perfect woman he had always been looking for, his mate, and he was not going to be allowed the future he wanted with her. There would be no black-haired children with wide midnight-blue eyes. His little Meggie would grow to womanhood thinking MacKay was her father and there was a chance Annora would eventually be forced to marry Egan or flee to some relative’s home, yet another kinsman who did not care for her at all. James knew Tormand would do his best to protect both Annora and Meggie, but it might not be as easy as they had both thought it would be. MacKay now held both of his women in his grasp, and after their near escape he would be sure to tighten his grip on them.

What he ached to do was see Annora and Meggie just one more time, but he knew that wish would never be granted. It could also prove dangerous for Annora. If she had succeeded in convincing MacKay that she had been no more than an innocent victim of some madman, then she had a good chance of coming out of this adventure alive.