Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Two nights later, just before daybreak, both guards drifted off to sleep with no notion they were being watched. With the light of one torch and the dimming fire to keep them awake, they could not be blamed. Besides, their charge was safely locked inside her comfortable cage.
Or so he thought.
When the old man’s snoring became regular, Kenna rolled off her warm bed and tended to her personal business one last time behind the privacy screen.
She caught up her sack of clothes to which she had added as much food as possible from the meals she was served the day before, then moved to the lock.
A couple of bent tines served just as well as a key, and within minutes, she was saddling a horse.
The sentries on the wall were looking so far off in the distance they did not notice her walking the beast out the postern.
And if they had, they chose to ignore her.
Everyone in Lochahearn knew what had happened to her, and she was counting on the sympathy of anyone who caught her in order to get away.
Fortunately, she did not have to convince anyone.
In the fairy light of the nearing dawn, she struck out, away from the outer wall, and headed home.
It was an hour later when Andrew and Jacob arrived to take over guard duty in the dungeon. Another half an hour before they realized the lump on the bed was not a woman. The pair rushed upstairs and hurried to the hall where Duncan was breaking his fast.
Andrew strode to the dais. “The woman is gone. Her cell door was open.”
“Our laird is a fool. That woman could likely fly if she put her mind to it.”
“But the laird took all the keys,” stated Mary as she paused with a trencher of food in her arms.
“Aye, I ken it. The lass must be a hand at a lock besides her other talents.” Talents she must have learned from the real Kenna Carlisle in order to convince them all she was the woman they sought.
Frazier arrived in time to hear the last. “Well? Do we not go after her?”
“Nay. I will follow a bit behind to make certain she arrives home safe. I should return before Tearloch. If I have not, ye’ll ken the lass did me in.” It was meant as a jest, but earned not a smile.
Andrew was taken aback. “Ye’ll not bring her with ye?”
“Nay. The lass is far more canny than our commander. She kens it will be best if he forgets her and turns his attention to his new wife. The new Lady of Lochahearn is bound to bore us to tears, though, is she not?”
“Ye ken what strikes me?” said Monroe, as he stared at the lass’ empty seat. “She never looked like a Fia.”
Duncan headed for the stables but was waylaid by two riders entering the outer gates.
He recognized them as the two MacCurrachs who had ridden with them to Carlisle Keep, the same two men Tearloch had left to guard Agatha Carlisle until the king dealt with her.
Duncan postponed his departure so he could sit with the men, share a drink, and hear the news.
Fia wouldn’t get too far in the meantime.
“It seems the king never got our message that ye were holdin’ Agatha Carlisle for him. Is that why ye are so long returnin’ home?” Duncan asked in between drinks.
“Nay, Sir Duncan. As it happened, the king sent a mon the verra next day. Someone must have nigh killed a horse or two gettin’ word to him, but that Gair Balloch was sent to execute the woman. He said the king was wishin’ he could wring the woman’s neck himself, he was that angry.”
Exasperated, Duncan barked, “Are ye daft? I just told ye the king never got the message.”
The two men looked at each other, confused.
“Gair Balloch. Gair Balloch?” Something was not right.
“Dinna move, lads,” Duncan yelled over his shoulder, ran up the stairs, and to his room.
On the floor next to his bed he found the king’s letter to Tearloch.
He did not read it again until he was back seated next to the MacCurrachs.
“From Carlisle Keep, how long would it take a mon to reach Edinburgh?”
“By sea, around the peninsula, it takes a mon a day and one half. If he rides on a fast horse, it takes a bit less, but then he must take a boat across the firth, or ride around it.”
“Splendor of God, brother, we handed the woman over to a mon that couldnae have been sent by the king…”
“Did he kill her?” Duncan asked.
“Aye. He cut her head off right on her own hearth, then he left. We lingered to help some, since the place was in such chaos and only women in the household. Young Carlisle, the vile woman’s nephew, is laird now, come from the village at the other end of wee glen.”
The brother chimed in. “But just two days ago, this Balloch returns with a decree from the king givin’ him the dead woman’s land and property in payment for some great deed he had performed for His Majesty. He did no’ wish to tell us what it was. But the seal was genuine.”
The first man shook his head. “Not the kind of man ye’d expect our Malcolm to rub shoulders with.”
“It had somethin’ to do with one woman lookin’ like another. His friend marveled at the man’s luck for finding a woman who looked so much like the first. I dinnae ken what he meant…”
Duncan’s stomach churned just as furiously as his thoughts. “And where is this Balloch now?”
“At Carlisle Folly, just where we left him, the same day he rode in and took the place out from under Laird Carlisle’s nose...”
Duncan didn’t hear anything more as he was running for the stables.
This woman, this Fia, who he suspected was the real Kenna, was headed straight for the devil’s lair.
Before charging out the gate, he found Leland.
“Leave Monroe in command and take the MacCurrachs to Edinburgh. Tearloch must marry no one until I get there. Do ye understand? Stop his weddin’ if ye must. Kidnap him, steal his bride. Whatever is needed. Do ye understand?”
As soon as Leland nodded, Duncan was off, praying every step of the way.
He was confident he could make up the distance and stop Kenna before she got as far as Gowry’s. Unfortunately, she rode as well as her brother, and Duncan never even saw her dust.