Tangled (Handfasting) (8 page)

Images
of a broken child flew through her mind as she raced to stave off the danger. The
great door was swinging closed when she reached it. Weighted to be kept closed
it took the strength of worry to push it open and slip through to the top step.
 Exhausted she took deep breaths and watched little Eba run safely back around
the castle toward the kitchens.  Standing at the top, seeing the long drop, and
wondered who Eba had followed out.  The mite was lucky to be alive.  Even
standing there, close to the wall, took Maggie’s breath.

She
chuckled at her foolishness, lifted her skirts so she wouldn’t trip on them as
she turned when something hit her shoulder hard, sending her off-balance
against the steep open steps. It happened so quickly she spun with the
momentum, reeled.

She
landed, without grace, on all fours as though climbing the stairs, far too
close to the edge. The corner of a plaid caught her eye, nearly caught in the
closing door.

Had
the door taken so long to shut or did someone hold it open?

Bruce
shouted from below.

 “Are
you all right Lass?”  He raced up to help. “You needs be careful on these.”

With
the hesitation, the push to follow halted, she sat, not at all certain her legs
would hold her. “Yes, rattled but fine.” She hesitated. “Did you see?”

Bruce
reached her side. “See what?”

“Did
you see anyone behind me?”

He
frowned. “No lass. Saw you down, not the tumble. You aren’t thinking someone at
Glen Toric would topple you on these stairs.”

“No,”
She rose, using the wall for support, refusing to start her first day throwing
accusations around. “Of course not. I was looking for Eba. She ran out here.”

“Eba? 
Diedre’s child?”

“I
followed her, that’s what brought me to these wicked stairs.”  She chuckled on
a sob, determined not to show just how upset she was. “Nearly swallowed my
heart when I heard the door open.”

“You’re
telling me she ran for the door?”

Of
course it sounded ridiculous, but it was the truth. Maggie knew it was the
truth.  She forgot all about the fear she’d just faced and took the stairs to
the castle entrance.

Bruce
reached it first, risking the long drop to step past her, to open it for her.  She
stepped inside, He followed and the massive door swung closed.

Maggie
watched, aware that the movement meant something but still too unsettled to
realize just what.

 It
was a solid thing, sturdy oak, thick as the length of her fingers. Far too
heavy for a child the size of Eba.

Bruce
scowled. “You are saying Eba ran to this door, opened it without a struggle and
ran down the steps.”  He stood in front of the closed door. “When you followed
you were pushed?”  He didn’t look at her, kept studying the door. There was
doubt in that.

“Of
course not.” It didn’t make sense.  “I think she followed someone out.”

He
stepped back. “Open it.”

She
reached for the massive iron ring and, with both hands, barely managed to turn
it. The turning pushed the lever up out of its slot. With an umph, she pulled
the door inward. Unwieldy for an adult but possible. Not so for a wee lass.

“Could
it have been left ajar?”

Bruce
shook his head, guided her away.  Immediately, the door swung shut on its own. “It’s
designed to fall closed. That’s a defense as well as protection.”

“The
child could have been crushed.”  

“Did
you see anyone else?”

“No.” 
She hadn’t been looking, too focused on saving the child. Maggie didn’t blame
Bruce for doubting her.

“Please,
don’t say anything to the Bold.”

“He’s
the laird, you’re his lady. He needs to be told.”

“I
could be wrong, confused. The stumble frightened me.”  She explained, not
believing a word of it. She could take care of her own safety. There was no
need to make a fuss.

“You
believe you were pushed.”

“No.” 
She lied, for she was pushed, she was certain of it. Whoever pushed her had
opened the door for Eba. They couldn’t have known Maggie would follow. It couldn’t
have been planned..

She
had to find Eba to learn who had let her out that door.

“No.” 
She told Bruce. “It was just the surprise of it. No one wants to think they’re
clumsy.”  She lied again.

“Are
you sure, lass?  Because if you are not, this is no light thing you speak of.”

“I’m
certain as I can be.”  And she was, certain she had been pushed.

“Then
I will give you a chance to tell the Laird yourself. If you don’t tell him in
good time, then I will. That’s my duty.”

“Fairs
fair.”  Maggie nodded. She just had to find Eba and the whole matter would be
settled.

*************************************************

With
the quiet at this time of day, he had no trouble moving through the castle
ground.  Head bent, the kerchief hiding the sides of his face, he shortened his
stride rather than get entangled by the volumeof fabric.  How did women
manage?  Not that he cared.  After today he wouldn’t risk getting caught on the
castle grounds.  He just wanted to get close enough to see this Maggie MacBede
from himself.

He
smiled when he pictured her stumbling on the stairs.  It hadn’t been planned,
just being in the right place at the right time and a little shove.

He
found the tower of baskets right were the lass said they would be. Good.  It was
tall enough to hide his face when moved past the guard to the store rooms.  He
thought about killing the guard, but that would alert them to his presence, to the
chance that he could breach their defenses.  He didn’t want them to be that
wary.

For
now, he knew how to get through the caves to the castle.  He knew the
weaknesses in their defenses.  Soon he would come in, with all his men, and
take over.

But
not now, not yet.  He wanted to see the Bold crushed, first.  Then Glen Toric
would be his.

Bold
couldn’t find Maggie. Naill and Sim had been spotted riding hard for Glen Toric
and he wanted to know where she was when he heard the report.

It
was his own fault When Deidre suggested they do their best to ensure his
handfasted enjoyed the MacKays he never thought they would keep her from him. They
played that game last night.

They
could not play the game in his chamber.  Temptation and caution tangled in the
game they played with each other but he had won, if sharing a bed was the
prize.  He still played the price of caution, furthered by watching her slip,
naked, from the bed.

Temptation.

Soon,
he would make her his wife but first he had to find out who was working against
the clan.  

William
caught up with him at the bottom of the castle steps. "Is it Naill and Sim
do you think?”

 “Aye,
and none too soon."  He had been waiting for them too long already.

"This
is the first you’ve heard of them since they set off?”

Talorc
nodded. Sim, their best tracker, along with Naill, who was a wily fighter,
pursued the men who attacked Maggie on the road to Glen Toric.

"I
thought we might have lost them.”  Talorc admitted with a deep sigh. “I was
about to send you and Bruce out to look for them." 

Bruce
strode into the courtyard as the two weary riders came into sight. Their horses
lathered and steaming, the men looked no better. They greeted with familiar
grunts, nods, and slaps to the back. The only words spoken were swift and short.
"Ayes" in response to Talorc's, "You're fairing well?" and
then Niall's, "Your handfasted still stands?”

"She’s
a harder noggin than that.” he gave a curt nod. “But let's get inside. You men
have words to give us."

"That
we do, laird," Sim shook his head, "and not good ones either." 

The
riders handed their horses off to a lad, as the five men headed for the keep. By
the time they reached the fire, a pitcher of ale and a plate of cheese had been
set out on a table. The bustle of the great hall quieted, cognizant of the riders’
importance, though none left.  People milled about in small groups, whispering
and waiting to hear what was found.

Sim
did not so much sit as collapse at the table, his head bowed low. Niall stood
to the fire, hands out. "They know our lands, laird." Curt and to the
point, he didn't look up with the telling. "They led us straight into our
own lands, quick as you please. You would have thought they knew the way better
than we did."

"They
ne'r tried to hide their tracks. Bold as you please, they were. They took us
through MacKay land, then turned, like they were going to go to Gunn territory.
So we followed."

"Could
you name them?"

Niall
turned around, used his knife to cut a hunk of cheese. "They’re not Gunns,
Laird, for they went into Gunn land and played some mischief. We don’t know
what for sure, but, well . . ."

"They
disappeared."  Sim finished. "I lost the track because I was
distracted, see, by the Gunns, or true Gunns, if you will."  He shook his
head slowly. "It doesn't make a wee bit of sense, does it?  These men
played a trick on the Gunns and then the Gunns retaliated against us."

Talorc
held up his hand. "It makes sense, alright. It’s the first thing to make
sense in these past few years, why the Gunns have been picking fights.”  He
caught the eye of each of his men as he admitted. “We’ve not been dealing with the
Gunns. They’re not the ones who have been playing us false. It’s renegades set
on causing trouble.”

Such
a simple thought.

Naill
and Sim looked to each other. “But there are so many of them, all together.”

“They’ve
no honor,” Bruce spit at the ground, “despicable is what they are, too depraved
to live with another.  How could they band?”  Bruce argued

“Aye,”
Talorc explained, “their crimes may be inconceivable to us, so despicable we
cast them out.  But I wonder if they don’t boast among each other.  Hearts of
thieves.”  

Naill
shook his head, “They had naught to lose, but they’ve always been too busy
fighting amongst themselves to be any sizeable threat.”

 That
they banded together to cause mischief, was a fearsome thought.  Bold thought
of the altars, of the way they tried to get Maggie and scanned the room to see
that she was there, that she was safe.

The
danger made too much sense. If the renegades had come together, they did so
with a strong leader. A man Talorc should have killed himself, rather than ban.

So
what had they done, what contemptible act on Gunn land, brought retribution on
the MacKays? “You said retaliation, did you not?  What do you mean?  What
retaliation are you talking about?"

"The
one that sent us back here, before tracking those men again."

"So
you said, but vengeance for what?"

Both
men halted, looked to each other, then at their laird. It was Naill who finally
said, "Old Micheil has been taken."

Talorc
froze.

"Taken?"
Bruce bellowed. "What do you mean, taken?"

"Our
whisky man's been taken and all his supplies, or what they could carry. What
they couldn’t take,” Naill’s eyes filled with tears. “They smashed to pieces,
laird. Nothing left of all you planned. Nothing.”  And he hung his head as
Talorc looked from one man to the other.

“Everything?”

“Aye.” 
Naill acknowledged. “Sim tracked the kidnap, that's why we didna’ finish
tracking those others. Sim knows where Old Micheil is."

Cold
ran down Talorc's spine. Old Micheil kidnapped along with his whiskey making
equipment. Not an easy task. The master distiller, and their new scheme, was
the most closely guarded secret of the clan.

Stunned
he looked up and there she was, Maggie, at the threshold of the great room with
Deidre’s daughter, Eba. He hadn’t told her what they were about because he
wanted to show her, to take her around the MacKay’s land and show her. There
had been no time.

Now,
their plans had been destroyed. Someone outside of the clan had known where the
whisky man lived and what he was about.  

The
MacKays were a taciturn lot, stingy with words that needed saying-- let alone
those forbidden to be said. It was against their nature to share a secret. Kill,
thieve, be a scoundrel, yes, but a traitor, never. It was contrary to who they
were. Loyalty was taught from birth. A clan was family, their bond meant
sustenance for more than food. It was a tightly woven support system. Who would
betray that or even want to?

“What
about the guards?” 

“There
was a skirmish, it drew men away.”  William cursed, but Naill stopped him. “Patrick
stayed behind but was overtaken, a rock to his head, much as your handfasted. He’s
up and about now and with the others. They’re bringing Old Micheil’s family to
the keep.”