Chapter 19 #2
“I’m here to get ye out, Jamie.” She put the torch in a holder and rattled the keys, trying one after the other until one finally fit and turned. “Thank God,” she breathed, and pulled the door open. Jamie stepped out and took her in his arms.
“For ye, aye, I’ll thank him every day.”
He lowered his head and claimed her lips with a kiss so sweet, Aftyn never wanted it to end. But they had to go.
“Lass, he’s stirring. Get ye gone!”
“The guard!” Aftyn whispered, and led Jamie quietly past Braden, grasping his hand as they went. “Thank ye,” she mouthed.
Jamie helped her up the stairs and out into the night air, Braden on their heels. The bailey was quiet. Aftyn hugged Braden and Jamie gripped his arm in thanks.
Hamish stood by the stable entrance holding the reins to Jamie’s mount.
Jamie lifted Aftyn onto the saddle, grasped Hamish’s arm, then swung up behind her. Hamish handed him a hooded cloak and Jamie donned it and wrapped it around Aftyn.
“Yer sword is rolled up in the plaid affixed to the saddle.” He handed Jamie a dirk. “Go with God,” he whispered and made the sign of the cross.
Jamie tucked the dirk in his boot, then reached down and clasped Hamish’s shoulder in thanks.
Aftyn lifted a hand in farewell and they rode to the gate.
Jamie signaled.
Aftyn held her breath, fearing they’d be discovered, but the guards opened it.
Aftyn couldn’t believe they could leave this easily, but whatever Hamish told the guards worked.
She prayed they all got back to their chambers without being noticed.
They all risked punishment, but Braden had risked his future as laird, perhaps even his life, if their father found out who helped her and Jamie escape.
In moments, they were riding toward the abbey. Once they entered the woods, Jamie circled around to where he said he expected his men to be waiting. A break in the trees showed him the moon just rising. They were on time.
“Jamie!” Bhaltair’s voice penetrated the stillness.
“Here. Coming to ye.” Jamie turned and rode toward where Bhaltair and Fearchar waited.
“Thank God,” Fearchar said. “We saw ye when the gate opened. Now we can go. I’m about to freeze my… ach, Aftyn. I didna see ye there. Good evening.”
Aftyn smothered a laugh, her first in days, behind her hand. “And to ye, Fearchar. Aye, let’s go.”
They’d gone only three or four miles before they met a Lathan war party. “Turn around,” Jamie told the Lathan war chief. “We’re free and eager to return home.” And a show of force would only add to the trouble with Keith. He filled the man in on their escape as they rode into the night.
But they didn’t get far before a group of riders intercepted them. Jamie tensed. These had to be Keith warriors. He hoped they were some of Braden’s men still searching for Aftyn’s attackers.
Then Aftyn gasped in his arms. “Da!” She didn’t shout. Her exclamation more closely resembled a mouse’s squeak.
Jamie couldn’t believe what came of out of the darkness.
The Keith and a patrol numbering roughly half of the Lathans’ group approached.
So much for his hope a peaceful conclusion to this encounter.
Jamie leaned down and spoke softly. “Quiet, lass. We dinna want them to find out ye are here.” With luck, the Keith had not heard her, and with their greater numbers, they would be allowed to pass without incident.
When she nodded, he pulled Hamish’s cloak more fully over her and the hood further forward to hide his face and slumped.
In the dark, if they were lucky, they’d be mistaken for a fat friar.
“Who goes there on Keith land?” That wasn’t her father’s voice. One of his guardsmen, then.
“Who’s asking?” The Lathan war leader was no fool.
As soon as they identified themselves, they’d be in a fight.
Jamie wanted to keep Aftyn out of any battle.
But he couldn’t ride away from the safety of their greater numbers.
Nor would he put her down and hope by hiding, alone and small in the dark, she’d stay safe.
Nay, he’d protect her with his strength and his weapons.
“A Keith patrol on Keith land,” her father’s voice rang out.
His sword! It was still wrapped and tied up behind him.
He twisted, got a hand on the hilt and gave it a tug.
It slid freely. Good. Hamish had anticipated he might need it and kept it accessible.
But he wouldn’t pull it yet. The Keiths would see the sudden appearance of his blade as a sign of aggression and attack.
“Stay low if fighting breaks out,” he murmured to Aftyn. We outnumber them. I’ll do my best to keep out of it.”
“Aye,” she whispered.
“We’re passing through,” the Lathan war party leader responded. “We mean nay harm. We’ll be on our way.”
“Answer the question,” the Keith’s deeper voice rang out. “Who are ye?”
Jamie tensed. His heart beat faster, heating his blood and readying him for the fight to come.
For once, he wasn’t eager to pick up his sword, not if it meant he might have to fight—and kill—Aftyn’s father.
There might be no love lost between him and his daughter, but that didn’t alter the fact that he was her father.
What sort of legacy would it be for their future children to find out he’d killed their grandfather?
Jamie almost snorted at the turn his thoughts had taken. He couldn’t let himself become distracted. If talking didn’t get them past the patrol, the fight would begin soon.
“A group of men escorting a friar from Dundee to Stirling.”
“A friar, ye say?” The Keith kicked his mount and moved closer.
“Peace be on ye,” Jamie intoned in as deep a pitch as he could manage.
“Show yer face, friar,” the Keith demanded.
Jamie heard swords sliding from scabbards all around him. Damn it. The Keith couldn’t help but recognize him. Perhaps he already had. Jamie lifted his head, but left the hood in place.
“Lathan,” the Keith barked. “Here they are, men!”
Keith’s men charged the Lathan warriors while the Keith made a grab for the edge of the cloak covering Aftyn. Jamie tugged his sword free as her father exposed her.
“Kidnapper! Unhand my daughter.”
“Now ye decide to claim me?” Aftyn’s voice rang out, loud and full of disgust. “Leave me be. I’m going with the Lathans.”
“Ye will come with me,” Keith demanded. “And him, too,” he added, aiming the point of his sword at Jamie. Then he made a grab for Jamie’s reins.
Jamie jerked his mount aside with the hand wrapped around Aftyn, wheeled and swung his sword with the other, aiming to miss her father, but to warn him off. Bhaltair rode up on the Keith’s other side, sword in hand, ready to protect Jamie and Aftyn.
The Keith’s mount reacted to being caught between Bhaltair’s and Jamie’s horses.
It reared. Aftyn ducked and screamed as the Keith fought to keep his seat.
Jamie turned his wrist to miss her father.
His horse came down too close to Jamie’s.
Jamie’s mount sidestepped and pushed it away, forcing the Keith’s hip into Bhaltair’s blade.
Blood sprayed. The Keith clung to his mount’s mane as Bhaltair’s horse danced away, then the Keith slipped to the ground.
Someone saw and cried out, “The Keith is down!” Others took up the call.
In moments, the surviving members of the Keith patrol threw down their weapons and two ran to their laird.
“Jamie!” Aftyn called.
He leapt to the ground and knelt by her father. The wound bad, but not fatal, as he’d first thought. Without thinking, he touched it and stopped the bleeding. He didn’t dare do any more with so many Keiths hovering over him. “Get him to Neve and Hamish,” Jamie growled. “Now!”
The Keiths helped their laird and got him back on his horse, another man behind him to hold him up. “Ye havena heard the end of this, Lathan,” he growled as they rode off, leaving his men to trail behind him.
Jamie watched him go until he disappeared into the darkness, then turned to Aftyn. She still stared after her father, eyes wide.
Bhaltair’s mount stayed close, Bhaltair watching for any Keiths lagging behind.
“Anyone else hurt?” Jamie called out.
“Nay,” the Lathan war chief told him, riding up. “Two dead Keiths, but we checked. No injured remain behind. We must leave the two for their clan to collect. I want more distance from here tonight.”
“Sorry, lass,” Bhaltair told Aftyn. “Ye ken I didna want to…”
“Aye, I do,” Aftyn said. “His hide is tough. Ye mustna have hurt him badly or Jamie would still be with him.”
“Let’s go,” Jamie said. The war chief was right. They were still a long way from home. The Keith could send more men after them. But after that unsuccessful show of force, Jamie wondered if he’d bother. He mounted up behind Aftyn, wrapped the cloak around them for warmth, and rode out.
Aftyn slept in Jamie’s arms for the rest of the night, and he woke her only when they stopped to rest the horses and themselves. Bhaltair and Fearchar still had the small supply of food and ale Jamie had found in the stable. They consumed it to break their fast once the sun came up.
While she slept, Jamie healed the visible bruises he’d left behind to convince her father the beating really happened, and made sure she had no other injuries he might have missed while they were in Mhairi’s cottage.
He knew better than to do too much. The ride was taxing, especially with the worry that Keith warriors might follow them, or that they might run across Aftyn’s attackers or another Keith patrol looking for them.
He didn’t want to have to fight again to escape capture.
Jamie had time to ponder the fact that the warrior side of him was eager to avoid a fight.
He’d even tried to avoid harming her odious father.
And he spent part of the ride continuing to heal Aftyn.
She changed so much about him, almost without him noticing.
When he first met her, Aftyn mirrored him—untrained and eager to do more, both for her clan and to safeguard her tenuous position there, and with a father who ignored her.
Jamie had a miraculous talent he took for granted, a home waiting for him, and a family who loved him.
She’d broken through his anger and made him see the good he could do.
Aye, he was still a warrior but he was more than that, too.
The changes in him were good ones, and he had much to thank her for.
The MacKyrie Seer had warned him not to be so certain he knew who he was.
She was right. With Aftyn’s help, he had found out he could be much more.
Exhaustion setting in, Jamie remained determined to get Aftyn to the Aerie where she’d be safe.
Even with their expanded escort, he took nothing for granted.
Despite his concerns, they made it to Lathan territory with no more incidents.
Back on familiar ground, they stopped at a stream to rest and refresh.
The midday sun high in the sky warmed them.
They’d be home before dark, and Jamie was eager to get there.
Aftyn went upstream to wash. Bhaltair and Rabbie stayed busy by the horses, further downstream, while Jamie guarded her. When she joined him, she looked refreshed. Her color had improved and she smiled.
“I’m sorry I didna agree to go with ye when ye first suggested it. We would have avoided so much trouble.”
“Ye were nae ready for such a big step. I should have tried harder to convince ye, and I’m sorry ye suffered as ye did.”
“I am, too, but at least I got to be a part of Neve and Hamish’s handfasting.”
“What? When did that happen?”
“While ye were in the dungeon. Braden officiated. He and his men will guard them. Now they are wed, they can be together day and night, so Hamish can keep her safe. They are very happy.”
“I’m happy for them,” Jamie told her. “And I want to be as happy with ye. Ye have come to mean so much to me, Aftyn. I canna imagine how it would have felt to have left ye behind.”
“I wouldna let ye. Nor will I ever again. Ye trusted me with yer greatest secret and ye have cared for me as no other. I’m yers, Jamie Lathan, if ye’ll have me.”
Jamie’s heart soared. “I love ye, Aftyn. I do trust ye, and I honor the changes ye have made in me. I’m a better man for having met ye.”
Tears gleamed in Aftyn’s eyes. “I love ye, too. I’m sorry I spent so much time being jealous and suspicious of ye. I hurt ye and caused ye so much trouble. I wish we could start over, but I’m glad we’ve come to where we are.”
“We can start over. At the Aerie. We’ll start a new life there, and see where it leads us. But wherever that is, we’ll go together.”
He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace as if she’d always belonged there. She was his, and once they reached the Aerie, they’d make it official, if they had to handfast first. “I’ll never give ye up, Aftyn. Never.”