Chapter 15 #3
“Aye, but no’ ye. Someone else. Murdo, or even Tasgall, if ye think they can be trusted.”
“I wouldna have brought them to meet ye if I dinna believe they could be.”
Anders reached through the bars and lightly stroked her cheek. “If only ye wished …”
She leaned her head into his hand and wrapped hers around his. “What? If only I wished what?”
“Never mind, lass.” Anders gestured with the apple still in his other hand. “Do ye need help with the harvest? I can think of more than a dozen here who would enjoy a day in the orchard.”
“And out of the dungeon. Aye, they would. I’ll speak to Cook and see if she can convince Raghnall to allow them to help.”
“If a few of his men are there to ensure the work gets done, why no’?” Anders mused aloud.
How many guards would Raghnall insist on? And would Raghnall agree to devote men to guard them when he had to keep sufficient men posted to watch the force outside Sinclair walls?
A few men could be overpowered. Or he might instead tell Cook rather than having to stand guard while their prisoners did the work, his men could do it without the Sutherlands’ help.
But would they? Aye, if it meant fresh fruit for the table and sweets made from the rest of the late harvest to sustain the clan a while longer, they would.
“Have ye a story for us?” Anders finally asked, discouraged at the turn of his thoughts.
Ailsa let go of his hand and he watched her with sadness as he withdrew his inside the iron bars.
“I do.”
She turned away from him, and he wondered how many more times she would do so before he was ransomed. Or before it became necessary to help him escape to save his life, and she watched him walk away from Sinclair before turning away from him forever.
He forced himself to set aside those thoughts and watch her.
“Are ye ready for a new tale?”
A chorus of ayes answered her.
“Verra well. Do ye ken the tale of the Dwarfie Stane on Hoy?”
“Nay, tell us,” one of the men replied.
She smiled. “’Tis said ’twas the home of giants.”
Anders soon lost the thread of the tale, but didn’t care. He could hear her voice and see the magic she wove for his men. She had begun to regale the group with tales she’d learned during visits to Orkney, so each time she came, she told a new one.
Anders’ heart swelled every time he watched the way she did what she could for his men.
Food was being rationed, but she snuck down extras when she could, like apples as they ripened.
He knew her largesse couldn’t go on for long, but it impressed him that she tried, and that she still cared enough about him and his men to see to their comfort when she could.
While the rest focused on Ailsa, Anders and Stellan talked quietly. “Ye have strong feelings for that lass. I can feel them. Our twin connection becomes more intense the longer we are together,” Stellan told him.
“Proximity does seem to fortify it, but so does powerful emotion,” Anders reminded him.
Stellan nodded. “Do ye remember finding me after Alber MacKay nearly killed me?”
Anders thought for a moment, picturing seeing his twin on the ground, bleeding. “Aye. Yer emotions were strong enough for both of us that day.”
“If we are separated again, we’ll at least have that connection for comfort.”
“That is nay a comfort I want to need,” Anders said.
Stellan studied Tasgall and the two other Sinclairs in the dungeon with him. “I’ve gotten friendly with a few Sinclair guards as well as Ailsa’s friends. Despite the hardship of the siege, I see their sympathies growing for the Sutherlands in their care.”
“They are good people,” Anders agreed.
“But they are Sinclairs,” Stellan had said quietly. “I am no’ foolish enough to think they would betray their clan and help us escape.”
Had Stellan heard what Ailsa offered? Did that make Anders a fool? He had pinned his hopes on that very thing.
“They have the same concern we have about starting a clan war. If we were no’ here, there would be naught to fight over.”
“Except perhaps one left-behind Sutherland birlinn,” Stellan groused.
Anders grinned at that, glad to see that his humor relieved Stellan somewhat.
Tasgall approached them. “Ye might like to ken that along with the MacKays already here, Clan Rose warriors have been spotted flanking the Sutherlands outside our walls.”
Stellan nodded. “Does that concern ye?”
“Truthfully, I hope their presence brings a quicker end to the siege. I will deny saying this, but if it convinces the laird that he canna win and he will release ye, their presence is welcome.” He nodded, then moved away to watch Ailsa tell the rest of her story.
Stellan and Anders exchanged a look. Their allies had arrived. Things were going to change. If only they knew how. “’Twould be good if Tasgall was right,” Anders said. “And if his laird willna back down, he decided to help us.”
Stellan nodded. “But we canna count on that. If Tasgall does as ye suggest, he could be executed as a traitor.”
“Aye, but I worry how long the Sinclair will wait to start killing us, one by one, as he threatened, to hurry things along.”