Prince of Danger

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Isobel heard the familiar voice distantly and rose reluctantly to consciousness, blinking against the brightness spilling through the upper half of the doorway. “Adela, is that you?” she murmured.

“Isobel, what are you doing here, and who is this man?”

“Man?” Rubbing eyes sticky with sleep, and wholly disoriented, Isobel wondered why she was apparently lying on a hard-packed dirt floor.

Memory flooded back on a wave of dismay.

Sitting up so quickly it made her woozy, and peering groggily toward the doorway, she could discern the outline of a hooded figure—then a second, taller one—against the brilliant sunlight.

She heard Michael’s quiet voice saying, “Be at ease, my lady. No act worth your condemnation has occurred here. Lady Isobel took pity on an injured man and attempted to help him, little knowing that she risked danger to herself thereby.”

“But if she has put herself in danger, how can you say that naught has occurred to cause alarm?” Adela asked.

Wondering what Michael would say to that, Isobel pushed hair out of her eyes, knowing she must look as if someone had held her by her feet and shaken her, and knowing, too, from experience, that Adela would condemn her appearance if she condemned nothing else. Surreptitiously, she tried to straighten her skirts, but they had twisted around her legs, and her movements drew her sister’s attention.

“Bless me, Isobel, did you sleep with this man?” Adela demanded as she pushed open the lower half of the door and entered without further hesitation. “What Father will say to this start, I do not want to imagine!”

“Where is he?” Isobel asked. “And why are you here, Adela? You are the last person I expected to see this morning.”

“Two strangers came to Chalamine,” Adela said, her voice dripping disapproval. “They said they sought a man wanted for many crimes, and the man they described could easily be this fellow standing here,” she added, gesturing at Michael. “They did not mention, however, that he lacked even a shirt to his name. They did say he had run off with a woman claiming to be our father’s daughter.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them nothing. I am not one to speak to strangers when Father is home. Had it occurred after his departure, I should not have known what to say to such men.”

“Well, since you and the girls would have gone with him, you would not have had to say anything,” Isobel said. “You are going to Orkney, are you not?”

“I’ve not decided,” Adela said. “Sidony and Sorcha must go, of course, if Sorcha can manage not to infuriate Father before then, and I think that our aunt may go. If she does, then she can look after them. I thought I might visit you at Lochbuie instead, since you have not said yet what you mean to do, but we need not discuss that now. Indeed, if this business redounds as badly to all of us as I expect it will, both Father and Hector Reaganach will doubtless forbid me to visit you.”

Isobel’s eyes had adjusted to the light, and she saw that Ian MacCaig had stepped into the doorway to stand by Michael. Adela, she decided, was right about one thing. It was no time to discuss future events that would have no relevance if the villains found and murdered them first.

For Michael’s benefit, she said, “Many Islesmen are traveling to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands next week to attend ceremonies at the great cathedral there for a Scotsman being installed to a Norse princedom. I believe that even the Lord of the Isles means to attend. But Adela is wise to remind us that we must deal with the present before we need worry about the future. What are we to do?”

Adela snapped, “Sakes, Isobel, would you ruin yourself? You will come home with me at once, of course!”

“I cannot,” Isobel said. “Did Ian not explain how we came to be here?”

“He sputtered some nonsense or other about men hunting you, and said that you wanted Father to send an armed escort to protect you. But then he said that the two strangers were doubtless your hunters and that we must do naught to draw their attention. Not only did an army seem excessive to protect you against two men but so many men leaving Chalamine at once would certainly have drawn notice, and since Ian would not answer any question I put to him—not sensibly, at all events—I made him bring me here to you.”

Deciding that her position on the floor put her at a distinct disadvantage, Isobel stood and shook out her skirts. But although she felt less vulnerable to Adela’s displeasure now that she was standing, she still had no idea what to do.

To Ian, she said, “Did the strangers take any interest in you?”

“Nay, m’lady. I wandered about looking like me dad does when he wants folks t’ think he’s daft, and they left me be. We—Lady Adela and me—slipped down t’ the loch gey early this morning whilst the mist were still in, then walked over the ridge, past Glenelg village, and came here. Nae one caught sight of us.”

Isobel looked at Michael, who had not said a word since telling Adela to rest easy, even to explain why she should.

He met her gaze silently.

“We certainly dare not go to Chalamine now,” she said.

He nodded.

“What about Mackenzie?” she asked. “We could go to Eilean Donan.”

“Aye, we’d be welcome, and my man is there,” he said. “But ’tis a fair distance without ponies, and the difficulties we discussed yestereve remain. Waldron is certain to have left men to challenge anyone approaching Eilean Donan. Lady Adela, you said two strangers visited Chalamine. Are you sure ’twas only two?”

“Two who came to the castle,” Adela said. “But one of our lads said two others had stayed behind to watch the track through Glen Mòr. That is why Ian and I slipped away as we did in the mist and chose the route we did.”

“If they learn that you left in such a sly way,” Isobel said, “they are bound to challenge you on your return and demand to know where you have been.”

“I’d not tell them anything if they were so insolent!”

“Sakes, Adela, they would see in a trice that you were hiding something, and they’d soon have it out of you.”

“They would not!”

Isobel shook her head, saying more gently, “You are wholly incapable of the simplest prevarication, my dear, let alone of uttering falsehoods.”

“But my business is none of theirs, and so I would tell them.”

Gesturing toward Michael, Isobel said, “When I first came upon them, they were beating him with a whip. What if they did that to you?”

Adela turned pale but muttered staunchly, “They wouldn’t dare.”

“You would do much better to avoid them, my lady,” Michael said. “They have small respect for the fair sex. She accounts for only four of them,” he reminded Isobel. “So of the ones we saw, two are missing. In truth, we don’t even know how many there are altogether, only that we have seen six.”

“If you think they might be waiting at Chalamine to challenge Adela, they’ll certainly have set one man or more to guard against your return to Eilean Donan.”

“Aye, and at least one to watch the … the place where they caught me.”

“But who are they?” Adela asked with a sharp look at him. “They told us only that they hunted a dangerous criminal. How am I to know they spoke falsely?”

He met her gaze with his usual calm. “I can offer you only my word for that, my lady. I have no idea how I could prove such a thing to you when I do not even know what charges they might lay against me. I have done naught.”

“But I do not even know your name! Why should I trust you?”

“Because he is a gentleman, a guest at Eilean Donan,” Isobel said. She had been thinking as they debated, and an idea took form while her sister digested the information that Mackenzie would speak for Michael. Softly, barely realizing that she spoke her thought aloud, she said, “We’ll go to Lochbuie.”

“How could you get there?” Adela demanded. “And how would you dare?”

“I do wish you would stop asking how I can do this or dare that, and predicting my ruin,” Isobel snapped. “Getting to safety is the only necessity now, and necessity acknowledges no law except to prevail.”

“I doubt that Hector Reaganach or our father would agree,” Adela said dryly. “But I know you, Isobel. You will do what you will.”

“Lady Adela does pose a good question,” Michael said. “How would we reach Lochbuie? The boat that carried me to Eilean Donan lies in harbor there, effectively unreachable, and I think the sooner we can elude them, the better.”

“A boat is the least of our difficulties,” Isobel said. “We have only to cross the Sound from Glenelg Bay to Kyle Rhea, where kinsmen of MacDonald’s, who are also friends of my father, will see us safely to Lochbuie. Adela can tell Father where we’ve gone, and mayhap Ian can go to Eilean Donan for you and tell them.”

“Aye, m’lady,” Ian said eagerly. “I can do that. Likely, me dad willna be back wi’ the beasts till this afternoon, though, and I shouldna leave here afore then.”

“That will be soon enough,” Michael said. “It would be as well, I think, if we create as little dust as possible, and Lady Adela must keep safe, too.”

“I left word for my father that I’d be away most of the day, visiting tenants,” Adela said. “I doubt that I would be in any real danger, in any event, since those men do not know me. When they arrived, they demanded to speak to Father. And when he told them Isobel had gone riding early and had not yet returned, they said they’d wait. They spent the night, but they must have gone by now.”

“I think we should leave at once,” Isobel said. “It must be well past the hour of Terce, so the morning is departing, and we still have to find a way across the Sound.”

“Beg pardon, m’lady,” Ian said. “I ha’ been thinking since ye said ye’d seek help from his grace’s kinfolk on Skye. Me dad’s got a wee fishing coble ye could use, wi’ four oars and a lug sail. ’Tis beached betwixt the bay and Ardintoul.”

“Do we not have to go through Glen Mòr to get there?” Michael asked.

“Nay, sir, for just north o’ here a rough track leads right down t’ the bay. ’Tis a bit steep but it be how me and me dad go, most times.”

“But surely they’ll be watching for us to cross the Kyle,” Michael said.

“They’re less likely to see us than if we traipse through Glen Mòr,” Isobel said impatiently. “We won’t be on the water long either, because we’ll cross at the narrows north of the bay. The current is vicious enough there to sweep us right into Loch Alsh if we don’t take care, but the wind is blowing as hard today as it did yesterday, and from the north, which will help.”

“But won’t they just follow us?” he asked.

“Matthias’s boat is beached near the narrows, so we should be able to get on the water without anyone noticing. They might see us and give chase, but they won’t have horses on Skye, and we will. We’ll also have his grace’s kinsmen to protect us.”

“Aye, but …”

“Faith, sir, those men cannot expect to continue riding all over the place unchallenged, particularly on Skye or on Macleod and Mackenzie lands. They’ll draw more attention than they can possibly want as soon as they leave Chalamine, and if only two are lying in wait for us there, they’ll not risk angering my father.”

He frowned, then nodded. “We’ll do as you suggest, lass. Ian, mayhap you can describe exactly where to find your coble. We don’t want to leave Lady Adela alone here whilst you take us there.”

Adela looked mutinous. “I’d be safe. No one would dare harm me.”

Michael’s frown deepened, making Isobel instantly recall the look that had reminded her so unnervingly of Hector Reaganach in a temper.

She gritted her teeth and strove to control her impatience as she said, “Adela, everything that we’ve said is true. We’re all in danger. Those men think Mich—”

“It may be better if she goes with us,” Michael interjected. “Or, perchance she’d not mind going with Ian to Eilean Donan. I’m thinking she looks a lot like you, Lady Isobel, and if the ones who’ve seen us should recognize her as your sister—”

“But, as you said, we’ve no horses here,” Isobel pointed out. “Adela would have to walk all that way and back again to Chalamine.”

“Now, lass, you cannot think Mackenzie would make her walk back,” he said with a smile. “She’d be safe there and would be more likely to pass watchers there unchallenged than any she meets returning to Chalamine from here.”

“It is still too far. Moreover, my father is going to think his daughters are all deserting him,” Isobel added with a wry smile.

“She is right about that, sir,” Adela said, clearly having not considered Macleod. Isobel noted, too, that her sister had unconsciously addressed Michael more formally, just as she herself had instinctively done from the start.

“Father will be angry,” Adela added unhappily.

“He’ll be angrier if anyone harms you,” Michael said.

A whistle sounded in the distance, and Ian turned alertly. “That be me dad wi’ the beasts,” he said, adding with a look at the sun, “He’s come afore his time.”

Isobel’s gaze met Michael’s.

“Matthias is trustworthy,” she said. “I have known him all my life.”

“I, too,” Adela said, clearly relieved. “Matthias will know what to do, and I doubt that he will approve of your going off anywhere with this man, Isobel.”

Isobel sighed, knowing that Adela was probably right.

A few minutes later, they saw the flock, two dogs dashing and wheeling along its flanks, and the wiry shepherd with them. He waved to Ian, who ran to meet him. Leaving the boy with sheep and dogs, Matthias strode toward them.

To Isobel’s astonishment, he did not seem surprised to see his visitors. “Bless us, my lady, I’m that glad t’ see ye safe,” he said, casting a curious glance at Adela and a more searching one at Michael.

“Sakes, Matthias, how could you know I was in danger?”

His pale blue eyes twinkled under bushy, grizzled brows. “Ye’ve lived here and about all your life, so ye shouldna ha’ to ask that question. I met a lad walking up from the glen as I were coming down from high pasture. He said he’d heard strangers be seeking Macleod’s daughter and another stranger in the glens. The only one o’ Macleod’s daughters as goes about by herself these days be yourself, m’lady, and I thought ye might ha’ come here t’ me shieling, did ye ken they was seeking ye. I own, though, I were that surprised t’ see Lady Adela. He didna speak o’ her.”

“She came to find me, Matthias,” Isobel said. “We were hoping you would lend us the use of your coble to get us across the Kyle. We mean to ask his grace’s kinsmen at Kyle Rhea to take us to the Isle of Mull, where we’ll be safe.”

“Aye, ye would be safe there,” he agreed. “The wind be picking up, though, so I’m thinking ye’ll do better wi’ two strong oarsmen than one.”

“Do you mean to send Ian with us then?” Isobel asked. “I own, I was wondering how we’d get the boat back to you.”

“Och, lass, ye needna ha’ fretted about that, because Gowrie o’ Kyle Rhea would send it back t’ me,” Matthias said. “Still, I’m thinking I’ll go m’self an ye’ll allow it. I’ve another suggestion as well,” he added, twinkling again. “We’ve extra clothes in yon kist. Ian should ha’ given ye a shirt,” he said to Michael, “but ye can take one o’ mine. And if her ladyship willna be vexed, I’m thinking she’ll draw less notice on the water an she covers that hair o’ hers and dons a pair o’ Ian’s breeks.”

“Isobel, you’ll do no such scandalous thing!” Adela exclaimed.

Had Isobel required encouragement, those words provided it.

“Don’t be a noddy,” she said. “’Tis an excellent suggestion.”

“Aye, sure, I ken fine it’ll no be the first time,” Matthias said, grinning.

She grinned back at him. “You ken too much, old man. That kist?” she added, pointing to a wicker chest against the wall opposite the doorway.

“Aye,” he said, “and dinna forget t’ take out a shirt for your friend.”

Michael extended a hand to Matthias. “I’m Michael,” he said, “and I am most grateful for your help.”

The shepherd wiped his own hand on his thigh and gripped Michael’s.

Smiling, Michael said, “I’ll not forget this, Matthias MacCaig, nor what young Ian did for us, either.”

“Lady Adela should bide here wi’ the lad until we’re well away,” the older man said. “We’ll see her home again safely, the two of us, when I return.”

“My man, Hugo, is at Eilean Donan,” Michael said. “I must get word to him that I’m safe, and let him know where to find me.”

“First, we’ll get the pair o’ ye beyond the strangers’ reach,” Matthias said.

Michael nodded, took the shirt Isobel handed him from the kist, and put it on. Matthias found a leather jerkin for him, and the two of them went outside so that Isobel could have privacy to change her clothes.

Tight-lipped, Adela helped her. “I do not know what you deserve for this,” she said. “You will never get a husband, Isobel, if you continue to behave so.”

“I don’t want a husband, as you know perfectly well,” Isobel said. “I mean to play Aunt Euphemia to your children when you finally have some, Adela.”

Adela had knelt to tie the breeks’ lacings for her, but at these words she looked up, bit her lip, and then burst out laughing.

Pretending outrage, Isobel said, “What? You do not think I’ll make them a good aunt? I’ll have you know that my nieces and nephews think I’m splendid.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Adela said, gasping. “But that you could compare yourself to our meek, even scholarly aunt in such an absurd way …” Still chuckling, she shook her head and bundled Isobel’s skirts and bodice into an untidy roll, tying it with twine from a ball she found on the floor.

Isobel was glad to hear Adela’s laughter and wished she might hear more of it. Having borne the burden of managing the household at Chalamine since Cristina had married Hector, Adela had aged beyond her years. Her laughter reminded Isobel that Adela was only four years older than she was.

“You must go to Kirkwall, Adela,” she said firmly. “I mean to, I promise you, for we shall never see such an event again in our lives. The King of Scots has said that a Norse prince, even one Scottish by birth, cannot demand royal treatment in Scotland, that here he will be just another earl. But in Orkney, he will be a prince, so I want to see that ceremony, and you must not miss it. Moreover, think of all the men who will be there, excellent prospects for husbands, every one of them! Except the married ones, of course,” she added conscientiously.

“I thought you didn’t want a husband.”

“I don’t,” Isobel said. “But you do, and you shall have one. You will make some man an excellent wife—a fine mother for his children, too.”

“Bless you, no man will want me. I’ve no looks left, and few social graces.”

Isobel made a rude noise. “You are as much one of Macleod’s beautiful daughters as the rest of us, my dear, and as to social graces, you lack practice, that’s all. Hector and Cristina are going to Kirkwall, as are Lachlan, Mairi, and Father. And you may be sure that Aunt Euphemia will go, too, for she says it is to be a grand historic event. Sakes, even Ian Dubh Maclean may go, because he will think the same as Aunt Euphemia, and he is quite mad about history.”

“Ian Dubh is Hector’s father, is he not?”

“Aye, and although he must be nearly as old as his grace, he is not decrepit. We shall make a grand party, I warrant, and travel in a most imposing flotilla!”

“We’d best be on our way, m’lady,” Matthias called from outside.

“We’re coming,” Isobel said, giving Adela a quick hug.

Michael hid a smile when Lady Isobel strode from the hut in Ian’s leather breeks and a shirt that looked several sizes too big for her. She had belted it with cording and had wisely retained her own well-worn boots. She carried her cloak over one arm and the rest of her clothing in a bundle tied up with twine.

He and Matthias had decided that for Adela’s safety and that of Michael and Isobel, Adela should retreat with Ian, the flock, and the dogs to the high pasture. Later Matthias and Ian would escort her home or to Eilean Donan when they delivered his message to Hugo.

Informing Adela of this decision, Michael added gently before she could refuse, “You’ll be safer with Ian, my lady. None will seek you there, and few will know you if they stumble upon you, particularly if you plait your hair and strive to act like a common lass. You must know how much you resemble your sister. I noticed it straightaway, and the ones who seek us may do so as well. I believe them capable of anything, and you must not risk your safety.”

“Then I should go with you!”

“Two men and a lad in a fishing boat crossing the Kyle will draw little notice,” Matthias said. “’Twould be a different matter an they see a woman wi’ us. Moreover, ye dinna want t’ go to Mull, and your father would be vexed if ye did.”

“But I could come back with you. Isn’t it just as dangerous for Isobel?”

“Not as dangerous as it would be with four in our boat,” Michael said. “We’ll make better speed with only three, my lady, and the men after us are inlanders. I doubt their skills can match Matthias’s against a strong current.”

“But what of your skills?” Adela demanded. “Do you ken aught of boats?”

“Enough, my lady, to do as Matthias bids me,” Michael said evenly.

She glowered at him but said no more about it. Nevertheless, she was still visibly fuming a short time later when Michael and Isobel left her with Ian and followed Matthias, who had slung Isobel’s untidy bundle over his shoulder.

Michael was surprised at the older man’s rapid pace. He seemed to make no allowance for the lass, nor did she seem to expect him to.

That she had not complained the day before about losing her horse and having to walk had impressed him. She seemed to view the whole situation as an adventure, and he realized that had she been more like her darker-blonde sister, he would not have considered anything more than finding somewhere safe to leave her while he took to the hills to hide until he could arrange to meet Hugo.

That Isobel had been willing to help him and able to suggest alternative plans had made things easier. Indeed, had he been alone, cut off from Eilean Donan, he might soon have found himself at a standstill, but now she was determined to see it through and seemed eminently capable, so he was willing to let her take the lead. In fact, he would be reluctant to part with her, although he was fairly certain that his reception at Lochbuie would not be what she expected.

He was grateful that Matthias asked no questions about his identity. Having accepted the man’s help, he was reluctant to lie to him but likewise reluctant to share information unnecessarily. Having learned discretion from birth, he found it hard to break the habit at the best of times, which this certainly was not.

They had been walking for some time when Matthias slowed and muttered, “Four below, riding south, where this track meets the one along the water.”

“Keep walking,” Isobel said. “If they have seen us, our stopping will alert them. Can you tell who they are, Matthias? They may be Macleod men.”

“Nay, they carry twa banners, my lady, such as them the lad told me about.”

“Two?”

“Aye, he said he didna ken either o’ them. One bears a white cross.”

Isobel looked over her shoulder, her gaze meeting Michael’s. He said nothing, and the riders had disappeared toward Glenelg by the time their small party reached the shore. Turning toward the north end of the Kyle, they found Matthias’s boat beached under trees where the lush woodland met the high-water mark.

Across the water and to their left, the village of Kyle Rhea lay peacefully in the midday sunlight, no more than a few scattered cottages near the shore.

Tossing Isobel’s bundle into the bow of the coble, Matthias said in the same voice he used when he spoke to Ian, “Get ye in, lad, and be ready t’ hoist yon sail as soon as we launch her. Ye’ll ha’ t’ be quick, ye ken.”

Nodding, she obeyed without a word, moving agilely to the mast at the center of the boat. Noting Michael’s look of astonishment as he watched her, she grinned at him, pulling knots free on the furled sail as she said, “I’ve been out in boats since I learned to walk, sir, so don’t look so amazed. You can trust me to know what I’m doing.”

“’Tis a gey stiff breeze,” he said. “Blowing from the northeast, too.”

“Aye, but a strong wind is what we need,” she said, still smiling. “The current flows hard from the south, so a north wind will help us fight it as we row. Since we need go less than half a mile, I doubt we’ll be swept into Loch Alsh.”

“Keep your voice down, m’lady,” Matthias warned quietly. “Ready, sir?”

“Aye,” Michael said. “Let’s away with her.”

With that, they shoved the boat onto the water and jumped in, grabbing oars and using them to turn it toward the opposite shore as Isobel quickly hoisted the sail and whipped its line around the cleat. Getting in position to row was a scramble, but both men managed deftly and soon were pulling hard for the opposite shore. Each manned a pair of oars and put his back into his strokes, making Isobel wonder how Michael could stand such exertion when his body must still be fiery with pain.

She crouched between them by the mast in case the wind shifted and she had to turn the sail. The canvas billowed one moment and flapped noisily the next as the little boat tossed and rolled on the turbulent water, but they made steady headway.

Gripping the mast to keep from being thrown into the water, and despite the icy spray and seawater that spilled over the gunwales, soaking her each time the boat pitched, Isobel inhaled the fresh sea air and grinned wider than ever. She loved being on the water, danger or no danger. Moreover, she mused, if the outlanders were watching, she could be confident that they would not suspect any “lad” who had hoisted a lug sail so neatly of being anyone they sought.

The coble boasted a stern rudder, but without a fourth person to man it, it was not much use, although Matthias took the first opportunity to fix it to its peg and tie it in position. With the wind and current so strong, and both men clearly experienced oarsmen, the sail was more useful than the rudder for such a short journey.

The current was fierce indeed, pushing north harder than the wind pushed south, but it was nevertheless not long before they beached on the opposite shore.

Michael was first out and extended a hand to Isobel. As she grasped it and stepped onto the thwart to jump out, Matthias exclaimed, “Look yonder!”

Looking over her shoulder, she saw a boat coming toward them at speed from Glenelg Bay with at least four oarsmen rowing hard.