Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Kenna felt it was dark enough to finally leave her ransacked haven.
Taking her store of food wrapped in a discarded shawl, she cracked open the door and watched for a long while before she led her horse outside.
There was a plethora of moonlight until she reached the treeline.
There, she rode the edge of the shadows while she put distance between her and the folly.
Where her cover ended, she stopped to take her bearings.
The tip of the shadows stretched toward her of a sudden, and took hold of the bridle.
It was a dark arm that belonged to a man who looked most pleased to see her.
His grin showed more gaps than teeth and dark grease was smeared across his bald head.
He was no more frightening than his peers, and she was quickly surrounded by half a dozen men in the same disgusting state.
She was treated to a barrage of horrifying suggestions as to what the new laird may have in store for her, as her newest set of captors led her horse back toward Carlisle Folly with her hung over the saddle and her hands tied beneath the animal’s belly.
Kenna felt strangely calm. The impossible acts described by these men were clearly intended to frighten her, but they failed to do so. Once they arrived, her hands were freed and she was led upstairs to her aunt’s bedchambers, where she was presented to the newest laird.
“We’ve a wee gift fer Yer Lairdship,” her captor announced.
The man at the window, looking out into the night, turned toward the candlelight and sneered. “You are never to enter the house again, is that clear?” His face twisted yet again, into a smile, when he saw her face.
The snake himself, Gair Balloch.
His gaze raked over her briefly, then snapped back to her face.
“You! But I thought…” His thought went unfinished. He took a deep breath, and much to the frustration of Kenna’s smelly captors, he ignored everyone and began to pace the width of the room.
Every few turns he would glance up at Kenna, revealing his immense pleasure at having her land in his lap, but he never slowed his pace or his mumbling. Even when a man came to the door to announce a wagon was ready, he could not seem to stop his frenzied marching.
Kenna struggled to keep her panic from her eyes. She tried to act as if she had come willingly in search of Agatha, which seemed reasonable. He would tell her the woman was no longer here and hopefully allow her to go on her way.
“Where is my aunt, sir?”
“Your aunt. My dear Kenna, your so-called aunt is dead. The king awarded me her properties for uncovering her deception. If your homecoming disappoints, I apologize. But your entire clan has fled.” He stopped pacing and came to stand in front of her.
She refused to take a step back and held her chin up.
“You owe me a boon, Lady Kenna, if you will remember.”
“I am no innocent child this time, Balloch.”
“No innocent… Not innocent?” He looked her over again, frowning. Then he seemed to see everything clearly. “MacPherson had you!”
“Nay, I was rescued from Gowry by a man name Tearloch, along with his company.”
“Tearloch MacPherson, you silly girl. The king sent him to fetch you, but Agatha had already sent you to hell.” He chuckled.
Kenna pushed the information aside for the moment. She couldn’t allow this man to believe he could hurt her.
“If he never told you his name, I wonder what else he failed to tell you.” Again, his eyes lingered on her pelvis. “Did you lie with him?”
Kenna gasped. “Certainly not!”
“It would be easy enough to find out.” Balloch took a step toward her.
Horrified at the possibility, she cried out, “I just told you I am not innocent!” The last thing she wanted was for this man to believe she had some value he could use.
“Was she alone?” he asked, still watching her. When the men confirmed it, he mused. “If you had wed the man, he never would have allowed you to return. So….no wedding. Hmm.” A knowing leer grew across his face like blood soaking slowly into a cloth. “Take her down with the others.”
Kenna lost count of how many times she stumbled as the men escorted her through the dark manse to the dungeon below the kitchens. The quiet of the empty house changed as she finally detected the women’s voices.
They passed through one sturdy door and into a large chamber, the walls of which were interrupted by doors every ten feet.
Small windows in the center of the doors were barred, but large enough to show that many of the cells were occupied.
Five women’s faces looked out at Kenna with pity before moving away from the doors.
Kenna had known of the place but believed it was never used. Her aunt had certainly never sent her there, no matter how angry she grew.
One of the men, indistinguishable from his cohorts, opened the door to an empty cell and gestured her inside. Kenna glanced around, judged her chances of escape, but decided compliance was the best choice for the moment.
A single torch was left in the main chamber. The men took the rest with them when they left. Kenna looked out between the small bars to catch a glimpse of her fellow inmates.
“My name is Kenna Carlisle. Pray tell, who are the rest of you?”
A sad laughter rang out from five other cells as the woman made their ways to their doors.
“Look here,” said one woman, “she’s already learnt her first lesson. Aye, lass, we’re all Kenna Carlisle.”
Kenna was thoroughly confused but had no time to question the others as they heard someone coming and retreated once more. She couldn’t bare to do the same.
A large man peeked through the doorway and then entered. His stern face was the sweetest sight Kenna had ever seen.
“Duncan!” she whispered.
“Kenna! Oh, lass!” He went back to the doorway and looked out for a moment before returning to her.
“Is she?” someone hissed. “Is she truly Kenna Carlisle?”
“Aye, I am.”
“Then if he’s found the real one, maybe he’ll let us go.”
“Not bloody likely. Would ye expect him to leave witnesses to what he has done here?”
“Ye’ll all be leavin’ with us, now,” Duncan said, putting an end to it.
He produced a ring of keys that he sorted through gently to control the sound.
He tried a few in Kenna’s door before one did the trick, then he moved to the next.
“I suppose ye needed me not at all, lass, seein’ as how ye can unlock doors by yerself. ”
“Not wooden doors, Duncan. How could I reach the lock?” She helped the woman out as he unlocked each door.
“Are there only five of ye, then?” He asked, nodding to the other doors.
“There were six of us, until this mornin’,” one woman said quietly. “Now five.”
Kenna just then realized that they all had her same red hair. Some of them even looked quite like her, but none were as tall. She turned to Duncan and asked, “Why?”
Duncan was in no mood to indulge her. He shook his head and moved back to the entrance to the stairs. When Kenna reached for the torch, he whispered, “Leave it. We’d best feel our way. The light will only show them where we are.”
The women clung to one another as they crept up to the kitchens.
Duncan turned toward a hallway instead of the door, and Kenna knew where he was leading them.
The laundry had a window through which they could exit without needing to drop far to the ground.
It was near the end of the building and the edge of her aunt’s garden.
There were shadows a plenty in which to hide.
Kenna took the lead and left Duncan to bring up the rear.
The laundry was cold and quiet. Every careful step, every slide of a foot, echoed off the walls and tin kettles that were usually filled with steaming water.
A line of clothes were strung across one end of the room, but they failed to muffle much sound.
As Kenna moved to the open window, her greasy enemies eased out from behind the drying clothes.
Duncan didn’t see them as he backed into the room, his sword point even with Gair Balloch’s throat as he followed him inside.
Unfortunately, he had four large men behind him.
“Well done, Sir Duncan. At least you have saved my men from having to carry all these bodies up the stairs…”
“Wait,” Kenna snapped.
Balloch smirked, but allowed her to continue.
“Do you want me dead?”
“No, lass. You are the one that gets to live. My God, Duncan, does she know nothing?”
Duncan did not answer. He was still in his defensive stance.
“I know enough. It would suit your purpose better if I went willingly, would it not?”
“Yes. Make no mistake, you will go willingly.”
“Let them go.”
“Oh, my dear, you will be willing, eventually, whether or not I do as you ask.”
“I am not asking. I am warning. Go on, ask Duncan how much trouble I can be when I am unwilling.”
Balloch eyed the man for a moment, reading only bloodlust in the other’s eyes. He pretended to consider for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, they can go. But Duncan comes with us.”
“No. Duncan will see the women safely away, in that wagon they said was ready. Duncan, give me yer dagger.”
Her savior reluctantly reached back to hand her the weapon from his belt. It wasn’t possible to defend six women against twice as many men, so he had little choice.
She turned the blade on herself and pressed it to her belly, just beneath her ribs. Thankfully, Duncan couldn’t see it, but even in the dark, Balloch did. He inhaled slowly and held his breath.
“I will watch from the parapet,” she said. “If they all are not allowed to get over the hill to the west, I will jump. If anyone tries to touch me, this blade will finish me. It is an easy choice. You can have me alive and willing, and fight Duncan another day, or you can kill us all now.”
Duncan’s growl told her just what he thought of her plan. The older man’s upset seemed to please Balloch immensely.
“Agreed. But I will have your word that once they have cleared the rise, you will not jump and you will hand over the dagger.”
“You have my word.”
“Not good enough, lass,” Duncan said. “Ye will give yer word to me.”
Kenna knew what he meant. He was telling her he trusted her word if she would give it. “Aye, Duncan. I give you my word. I will not take my own life.”
“Yer vow. Say it.”
Kenna rolled her eyes. “As you please. Duncan…MacPherson is it?”
Duncan was physically jolted by the question. “Nay, lass. Duncan Keith.”
Kenna nodded. “Duncan MacLeish, I vow that, if you and the women are not followed and drive the wagon past the rise, I will not take my own life.”