Chapter Eighteen
Days went by and they heard nothing from Anthony.
After he’d left, Megan had been nervous, jumping at every sound behind her.
Daniel assigned one of his warriors to stay with her all day.
Gregory had forbidden her from leaving the castle, and she was not allowed to go to the vendors when they came unless she had no one but Gregory at her side.
Having all these restrictions made her more nervous because there was no way for her to forget that the king ordered her to marry The Gunn.
If there was a way to have her marriage annulled, she was certain Anthony would find it, even though it had been blessed by the Church and duly consummated.
He seemed almost desperate to have her marry The Gunn, and she would love to know what his reward was for this.
Today she was resting in Beth’s solar with her. Beth was beginning to develop a little belly bump and she found it hard to make it through the day without a nap. Luckily, her appetite was now normal.
It was right after the nooning and they would go over the tasks in the keep and who would take care of which one. As Beth moved farther into her condition, with her fatigue and occasional stomach upset, Megan had been taking on more of the duties.
Beth laid down the embroidery she was working on and studied Megan for a minute. “Ye seem nervous, Megan. Ye surely ken that Gregory and Daniel willna let ye go.”
Megan nodded. “Aye, but I feel as though I’m bringing trouble to yer clan.”
“’Tis ye clan now, Megan Makenzie,” Beth said softly.
She couldn’t hold the tears that sprang to her eyes. Aye, she felt as if this was her home. Robert had left her alone so much that she never really felt as though she was accepted at Sinclair Castle.
Anthony had pushed her away once he took over the lairdship, and Robert had spent his time training on the list and visiting the pub with his friends.
It had been a lonely life. The only time her husband had sought her out was when he wanted to attempt once more to get an heir from her.
Always after lovemaking and the pain she endured as he entered her, he would remind her there was something wrong with her.
She spent the day remembering how unhappy she’d been then, and realizing how happy she was now.
She went about her chores, not realizing she was smiling until one of the maids mentioned it to her.
A few hours later, “Raise the drawbridge,” echoed through the outer bailey.
Megan and Beth jumped up. “That doesn’t sound good,” Beth said.
They both hurried from the solar and made their way downstairs.
It appeared Daniel and Gregory had called half the men from the lists inside, leaving the other half to guard the outside of the castle.
*
“Do they really believe they can breach our castle?” Gregory asked Daniel.
“Come, let us go up to the ramparts and see what they’ve brought with them.”
The two men made their way upstairs. “What does it look like?” he asked one of the men on duty.
“A large group to be sure, laird, but nothing we canno’ handle.”
Gregory stepped up to the wall and looked down. “I doona see any of King George’s men.” For that, he was grateful since they would not be waging a battle with the monarch which could be verra bad for their clan.
“I have an idea, laird,” Gregory said. “Once we dispatch these men, I will take Megan to the Mackays until this is o’er.”
Daniel hesitated for a moment, then said, “Aye. ’Tis a good one. If the lass isna here, there would be no reason for their return once we send them on their way now.”
Anthony, with The Gunn standing next to him, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “We come in peace.”
Daniel and Gregory looked at each other and laughed. “Indeed,” Daniel called down to them. “If ye come in peace, why do ye have triple the men ye had with ye the last time ye tried to snatch Gregory’s wife?”
The Gunn shouted, “Once ye send my betrothed down to me, we will be on our way.”
Daniel sighed. “We doona have a betrothed of yers here. We have been over this before. If ye are referring to Megan Mackenzie, she is wife to my cousin and second-in-command, Gregory Mackenzie. Her home is here with the Mackenzie clan. ’Tis sorry I am for yer trouble, but ye can be on your way now. ”
The Gunn waved the parchment in his hand, his face as red as a summer rose. “I have an order signed by King George II.”
Daniel rested his forearms on top of the battlement and grinned. “So ye have said. And we have a marriage certificate signed by a priest. I believe God outranks the king.”
The Gunn grew even redder in the face and shook his fist. “Her uncle, Laird Anthony Sinclair, signed a legal betrothal agreement between him and me, agreed to by the king.”
Daniel shrugged. “So marry Sinclair then.”
The men behind him snorted.
“And,” Daniel continued, “the last time I heard, the Church dinna allow a woman to marry two men.”
The Gunn nudged Sinclair in the ribs. He mon looked up. “I am the lass’s uncle and responsible for her. I demand ye send her down here.”
“Ye are no’ the lass’s uncle. Ye are her deceased husband’s uncle. The only mon responsible for Megan Mackenzie is her husband, Gregory Mackenzie.”
Daniel turned to Gregory. “I grow weary and ’tis close to the time for the evening meal.
” He looked down at the two men. “We will discuss this no further. Be off with ye, or I will have my men escort ye off Mackenzie land.” With those words, Daniel turned toward the door to the steps, with Gregory following him.
’Twas a few hours later when shouting and the sound of swords clashing drew the attention of the men sitting at the dais table, drinking mugs of ale.
Daniel, Gregory, and Evan jumped up, drawing their swords and raced towards the keep door. Daniel looked over his shoulder and spotted Megan and Beth. “Off with ye both. Go to Emma’s room and help her prepare for injuries.”
“What about the servants?” Beth asked.
“Send those who are too nervous to help to the basement.”
*
Megan and Beth hurried to Emma’s bothy located in the corner of the keep, and found her pulling bandages and clean linens from her shelves.
She turned to Megan. “Can ye crush these herbs?” She handed her a bundle of herbs wrapped in a cloth.
“I had intended to do that today, but one of the clan member’s lads fell from a tree and scraped up his leg and arm. ”
“’Tis all right, Emma, I’ve done this many times before.”
Megan sat and started pounding the leaves into powder. The warm scent of the familiar herbs actually calmed her.
As time when on they could still hear the sounds of battle but they were all certain The Gunn and Sinclair would be dispatched in due time.
Beth and Emma moved around the space, wiping down the surfaces of the tables and counters. “The lad bled a bit on this table, and I doona want to have a dirty place to put an injured warrior.”
The noise of the battle never grew, but after about a half hour a warrior was brought in from the Gunn clan. He was cranky and insisted on being released to have their own healer deal with him.
“Yer clan healer is nowhere near us,” Emma said to the grouchy warrior. “I doona care if ye are a Gunn, Sinclair, or Makenzie. I am a healer and ye are here, with messed up legs, and I’m going to patch ye up.”
She looked at his injury and shook her head. “I doona think ye will be leaving anytime soon, mon. What happened to ye?”
“No’ yer business. Just send me back out to my clan.”
She placed her hands on her hips and sighed, as if speaking with a young lad.
“Ye canno’ walk, or do ye no’ remember being carried in?
I certainly can’t carry ye and I have no intention of going out to the battle and finding someone to move ye.
And tell me, what good would ye do for the battle if ye can’t even stand?
” She bent over and got in his face. “Now will ye tell me what happened to yer legs?”
The warrior spewed out a stream of language that should not be used in front of a lass, but Megan knew pain could do that to a man. “One of the Mackenzie horses, whose rider could no’ control, fell on my legs.”
Emma seemed unmoved by the outburst, and said, “Once I examine ye I can let ye ken how soon ye would be able to leave. But,” she held up her hand as he started to speak, “if ye doona follow my directions ye might be here until yer old age.”
He snarled.
Emma shrugged and just went on with her work and began to gather the things she would need.
Things grew quiet and all three women looked up. “It sounds as if the battle is over.”
“Let me up, so I can join my clan,” the mon lying on the table said.
“Nay,” Emma said.
“Do I need to fight my way out, lass?”
Emma bent over him and said, “I wouldna try that if I were ye.”
“Why?” He growled.
“Because. Ye. Canno’. Walk.”
Emma took a cloth and placed it over the mon’s face. Within seconds he was out as if someone had hit him over the head.
“What was that?” Beth asked.
“My little secret,” Emma said. She grinned.
“’Tis a way to settle someone. I learned this from a healer who had spent time in Prussia, where it was first used to control spasms, but it tends to knock people out, too.
Especially if they are no’ used to it. But ’tis necessary to be verra careful with it, so I seldom use it, but this—” she motioned to the patient—“was a necessary occasion.”
Just then a warrior entered the bothy. “I was sent by Gregory Mackenzie to escort Megan Mackenzie to where he is.”
Megan stood and brushed off her hands. She looked at the warrior. “Is Lady Mackenzie also needed?”
“Nay. Yer husband only requested ye.”
Megan left the room with him and followed along the back wall of the keep. “Where is he?”
“No’ far, just a few more steps.”
Just as she was about to turn back, someone grabbed her from behind and placed a heavy hand over her mouth and wrapped a solid arm around her middle.
She was dragged, struggling all the way, to an opening in the castle wall she’d not seen before.
A man on the other side of the gaping hole grabbed her by her chin and pulled her through after placing his other hand on her mouth and nose.
She panicked, thinking she would suffocate, and began in earnest to attempt to release herself.
“Stop wiggling, or I will have to knock ye o’er the head, and The Gunn will no’ be happy about that,” the man on the other side groused. He held her close to his body, his arm of steel wrapped around her, his hand over her mouth.
The Gunn? Good Lord I’m being kidnapped!