Chapter Twenty-Eight
Connor
“Northeast, aye?” Connor asked, looking to Alasdair, who nodded.
They ran into Alick a quarter hour later, and Alasdair updated his cousin on the situation. “I’ve got two score guards not far, Chief. I sent the other two score home. How many do you want to take with you?”
“Two men. Five of us will be enough. I don’t want to be too obvious. I hope we’re back by the end of the day, and if our mission is successful, you can head back to Grant land.”
“Tora is well? And the others too?”
“Aye, wee Tora is tough like her mother. The two lads were more shook than either lass, but Tora told me she could see me nearby, so that calmed her.” Connor shrugged. “If I must say, Astra was happier to see Tora than anyone else. She felt responsible because they rode the horse together.” He knew how soft Astra’s heart was, so he guessed she’d be returning to Grant land when he and Sela did. Wee Tora had the constitution of her mother and then some. He didn’t understand his daughter’s special talents, and now that his granddaughter demonstrated similar abilities, he understood it even less.
“Anything you wish for me to report back when I go, Chief?”
“I’m sure Sela will not allow me to return for at least a fortnight, but Alasdair I’ll send back in a sennight unless we need him to stay. It shouldn’t take us long to find these fools. We have plenty of men searching for them.”
Alick nodded. “Godspeed with you. I’ll not be far when you return.”
They waited for the two men Alick chose to join their party, then headed out, explaining exactly what they were looking for.
Connor said, “Logan, you take the lead since you have the best tracker skills. Know you anything about this area from all your spy days?”
“Aye. I know of a kirk or two, but the one I’m thinking of is larger and has buildings behind it. Meg’s description fit with what I recalled about it.”
“What village?” Alasdair asked.
“Taynuilt. There’s a chapel nearby, and it’s about two-and-a-half days’ travel by foot, so it would fit with their timeline.”
“What about the cave? We could find it along the way. At least we’ll know we’re going in the right direction.” Alasdair’s gaze scanned the area. “Any passing knowledge about caves, Logan?”
“MacVey told me where it would be. Follow me.”
They’d only been traveling for about an hour when Logan put up his hand. “Hold.” He pointed off in the distance to a group approaching.
Connor pulled his horse abreast of Logan. “English? I think those soldiers are English. What the hell are they doing this far north of the border?”
As soon as the lead man of the English group caught sight of them, he waved to Logan, calling him over.
Logan approached but kept his distance. “What do you want? Are you not lost?”
The head of the small cavalry said, “I speak on behalf of Baron Neville de Wilton. We are searching for his betrothed who was stolen from her home. Have you seen a young lass held captive by anyone?”
“Nay. Go back to the Borderlands.”
The man glared at him but turned his horse around and headed toward Oban.
“Who was that?” Alasdair asked. “I couldn’t hear him.”
Connor said, “I don’t think I wish to hear your answer, Logan.”
“I believe that was Meg’s betrothed. Looking for a lass who was taken captive. Said she was the baron’s betrothed. I hope they don’t travel to Mull,” Logan said, watching the group as they took their leave.
Connor said, “Naught like a score of Englishmen to convince MacVey to stake his claim.” He grinned, and Logan snorted.
“Could be good if he went to Mull. I think we all know that MacVey will never let her go.”
Alasdair said, “The baron’s men are on the move. We need to make it back to Mull before they decide to head there. Let MacVey know he’s coming for her. And let Meg know too. I wouldn’t let her go with him. Arrogant bastard didn’t even have the bollocks to speak himself. Made his second speak for him. I knew it was him hiding behind the others.”
“Da would never have done so,” Connor said. “He believed in leading his men wherever they went.”
“That’s why your sire has the reputation he has, and that fat arse couldn’t even move his mount forward to speak with us.” Logan spit off to the side. “Do you think he has anything to do with the bairns?”
Connor and Alasdair answered in unison. “Nay.”
Connor continued, “He’s only got one thing on his mind, and it’s getting Meg with child. We have to warn Meg. Move along, Logan. Finish what we came for, then we’ll deal with the baron and his men. If I need to send the rest of my guards after him, I’ll do it before we cross the firth again.”
The group headed northeast of Oban and found the cave without any problem.
Logan said, “It’s exactly where MacVey told me it would be. I see evidence of bairns in the area, grass trampled in clumps. Bairns always move close together.” Once they left, he added, “Remember, they were on foot. We should be there by the end of the day as long as we don’t take many wrong turns.”
“Agreed,” Connor said.
They followed just off the main path, Logan tracking for heavily trampled grass and small broken branches about the height of the bairns. There hadn’t been much rain since then, only drizzle, so he could still see where they’d traveled.
Just after high sun, the odor of a dead body reached them. Logan pointed to an area behind a group of trees. “There. The bastard is in there.”
Connor dismounted and headed in that direction. Logan said, “I’ll stay mounted. Check him up close to make sure he looks like Hairy.”
Connor led the way, his nephew behind him, but neither were prepared for what they found. Connor hadn’t seen anything like it before, the axe sticking straight up from the dead man’s forehead. “Damn, but that lass can shoot an axe.”
“She left it too,” Alasdair said.
Connor snorted. “I couldn’t hit a man like that if I practiced for two moons. What the hell? I’m impressed.”
Alasdair chuckled. “MacVey better make her his soon. If he doesn’t, someone else will be looking to take her as a wife. Any Highlander would steal a feisty lass like Meg for a bride. He better not let Broc get to know her.”
They headed back to Logan, Alasdair explaining the best he could. “Axe planted right in the middle of a forehead, with long hair sticking up, down, and everywhere. And aye, I checked the ears. I’m quite sure he’s Hairy Herbert.”
Logan grinned. “Then we’re headed in the right direction.”
Connor took the reins of Logan’s horse and led him to the right spot. “You have to see it for yourself. The lass has deadly aim.”
Logan whistled when he saw the body. “She must have had another axe. MacVey said she nearly hit him with one.”
Alasdair joined them. “MacVey got hit with a different kind, an arrow straight to his heart. My guess is he wants to make her his, but she’s too unsettled to accept him. Emmalin was the same after all she’d been through.”
Logan turned his horse and headed back toward the path. “I think MacVey will get exactly what he wants. My guess is he’s been waiting for her. You both know how chieftains are. Won’t settle for just a pretty face. Lasses would never guess that the way they fire an axe will get a husband faster than a pretty dress.”
“Or how fast they can fire five arrows.”
“Or the fact that they dare to stand toe to toe with a man and are not easily intimidated. Being as sickly as she was and still holding up the axe is a sign of a powerful constitution. Reminds me of Sela.” Connor smiled at the memory of his wife when they’d first met in Inverness.
“And Emmalin.”
“My Gwynie.” Logan smiled. “When you find a lass with that kind of internal strength, you cannot let her go.”
They moved on and made it to the chapel a short time later, where they dismounted and left their horses hidden. Logan nodded toward the church. “You wish to do the honors, Grant? She’s your granddaughter. You have rights.”
“I do,” Connor said, moving to the rear entry of the main kirk, and nodding when he saw the outer buildings. Returning to the front he added, “Knock on the front door, Logan. Alasdair and I will go around back to catch him running.”
Connor stood a horse length away from the door, his hand on the hilt of his sword. A few moments later, the door burst open and a man in robes flew out, looking over his shoulder at Logan behind him. He ran right into Alasdair.
“Going somewhere, Father?” Alasdair asked, holding the priest by the arm.
“Leave me be. I’m going to say my nightly prayers. How dare you stop a priest!”
“You aren’t going anywhere, Father, until you tell me where the pirate is.” Connor held his sword in front of him now, moving his arms to warm up his shoulders in case he had to defend himself. “Though I have my doubts that you are a real priest.”
“The pirate?”
Logan came up behind him. “Look, you lying piece of shite. You are not a priest, you take coin for selling bairns, and unless you wish me to hang you on that tree by the bollocks, you’ll tell us where the pirate is. The man with the patch over one eye who locked a group of bairns in that outbuilding over there. Shall I see how dirty it is? See any evidence of wee ones inside? They probably pished in a bucket that you haven’t emptied yet. You do recall how you took innocent ones captive? We could lock you inside while we’re looking.”
“Nay, please, nay. He forces me. If I don’t keep them for a night, he says he’ll kill me and our cook. He has no respect for the collar at all. I don’t want to do it. It’s why I kept that lass to be nicer to the bairns, but they ran away. Herbert never returned, but Ellis said he’d be back.”
“Does Ellis wear a patch over his eye?”
He nodded. “I don’t know where he is.”
The cook came out the back door and said, “I’ll tell you where he is. He lives on the other side of the village, a small hut at the end of a lane by the blacksmith’s shop.”
Logan grabbed the man by the neck. “If not for that collar, I’d hang you on that tree for lying. These are bairns, you sick, twisted bastard.”
He shoved him back, and the priest tripped over his own feet, landing face-first in the mud.
An hour later, the group located Ellis, but he claimed he knew nothing about what they spoke of. Connor tied him to his horse and made him run to see what had happened to his friend.
It wasn’t long before they came upon the body behind the trees. Ellis shook his head. “Nay. I don’t wish to see him again.”
“You knew he was dead because you followed him. See how he looks now. Surely you recall your friend, Herbert?” Connor asked, shoving him forward toward the decaying body. “I think you should bury your friend.”
“He’s not my friend. I only knew him for one night.”
“I don’t believe you, but I’m not going to mince words. Do you recall the girl with the white hair that you held against her will? She’s my granddaughter and I have two score men an hour away who are bored and would love to play hang and quarter with you.”
Connor got off his horse and strode toward him. Ellis turned to escape but ran right into Alasdair’s chest. Connor picked him up and tossed him over Alasdair’s head, and he landed in a heap with a groan. Connor set his boot on Ellis’s chest, the tip of his sword at his throat.
Ellis moaned, a wet stain appearing on his trews. “I didn’t know. I swear. I thought they were orphans. We were going to give them a home.”
“The chest or the throat? Make your choice because the next lie you tell will be your last. I promise you that.”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know. They don’t tell us anything.”
Connor grinned. “What do you recommend, Logan?”
“He only gets one chance. And if he doesn’t tell us what we wish to know, I’ll push your sword straight into his mouth until it comes out of the back of the fool’s head. One chance, arsehole. If you tell us who else is involved, we’ll not kill you and take you to the sheriff instead.”
“I don’t know.”
“Sure, you do. You know who gives you the coin,” Connor said. He placed his sword against the man’s belly and cut through his tunic. “Talk.”
“I don’t know.”
Connor pressed, thinking of poor Tora and Magni and Lia and Rowan. “Last chance.” He pierced Ellis’s belly enough to make him bleed but not enough to do much damage.
“Egan! His name is Egan, and he was at Loch Aline, but then he moved to Drimnin.”
Connor glanced back at Logan, who gave him a subtle nod, indicating he believed Ellis. “Bring him along. We’ll send him with five men to the sheriff in Oban. We’ll head back to talk with MacVey.”