Chapter 16 #3
The Trade Wind would continue on to
Sea Ridge, where her father made arrangements with Captain Wallis
to have the wool and whisky and other trade goods taken directly to
the palace warehouse to be traded for furs and worm weave, and for
the captain to receive a bolt of his choice as payment for letting
Alina sail on his ship.
Alina said her farewells to the captain and
Brady, and as soon as they’d oared their small boat away, Bors
brought his longboat alongside the Sea Eagle and bounded
onto the deck. Alina flew into his arms, laughing as he gave her a
big bear hug.
“Don’t you go scaring us like that again,
missy,” he mock scolded. “You left grown men in tears thinking you
were dead. Not me, of course, but others,” he said with a sniff and
a wink. “And poor Beast, the hound sat at the end of the dock and
wouldn’t leave for three days after you disappeared. He must’ve
followed your scent to where it ended.” He snuffled and wiped his
nose on his sleeve. “We followed the blood trail and searched the
forests and mountains for a fortnight, looking for any trace of
you.”
“I know what Leif and his men did with my
gown and cloak, and the pig’s blood to make you all think I’d been
dragged off into the woods by some wild beast,” she said, and saw
the deep shadows of grief flit across her uncles’ and parents’
faces. “I’ll tell you everything that’s happened to me, I promise,
but first, I have to ask, how did you know where to come looking
for me?”
“It was your mother,” her father said,
wrapping his arm around her shoulder and hugging her to him. “When
we couldn’t find any signs of you…” His voice, always so strong and
sure, broke. “Once the shock and grief of your supposed death had
ebbed enough to think and function again, she looked into the
scrying bowl.”
As far as Alina knew, her mother had only
looked into the scrying bowl once before, on the night before she
and her father were to have been married. What she’d seen there had
scarred her so deeply she’d never looked again.
“I wanted, I needed to see you one more
time,” her mother said, her voice, her smile, cracking. “I needed
to know if you were…at peace.”
“What did you see?” Alina squeezed out around
the lump in her throat.
“I saw an owl perched on a stag’s horns. The
stag was swimming into the sunset across a great sea, and then it
was walking through a thick wood until it came upon a lake of
silver waters. Two girls were playing at the lake’s shore, one was
you at eight years of age, and the other had long, white-blonde
hair and eyes that shone green as cut emeralds when she looked up
at me and told me to go where it all began.”
“Oona the Swan,” Alina whispered. “It was
Great-Grandmother telling you where I was.” She rubbed the
goosebumps that had risen on her arms. “I was there,” she said.
“Roark and I went to Silver Water Keep, where our cousin, Laird
Owen MacLeod, gave us shelter and found Captain Wallis to sail me
home to you.”
“Roark was there with you?” her father
said.
Alina nodded. “I’ve so much to tell you,” she
said with a catch in her voice, “and I will. I will tell you all.”
Well, almost all. “But first, can we start sailing for the Long
Firth? Now? There’s no time to waste.”
***
“This is Beasty,” Roark told Gare as he
handed the gelding’s reins over. Gare said nothing, though his
glare spoke plenty. “I didn’t kill Leif,” Roark said. “I swear it.”
He handed Etain’s reins over to Gare as well. “She gets along well
with Beasty,” he said, patting the mare’s sleek neck. “They’ve been
through a lot together. How’s the colt, Ash, doing?”
Gare’s expression softened. “He’s doubled in
weight since you and Alina’s been gone and is completely off the
goats’ milk.” He chuckled. “He and Smokey are pretty much
inseparable, the rascals.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“If’n you don’t mind me asking,” Gare said,
“where’s Alina?”
“Don’t know,” Roark told him, which wasn’t a
complete lie. He didn’t know exactly where the Trade Wind
was right now. “She and I became separated when we were attacked by
a band of brigands.”
“Brigands?”
“She and Artur got away,” Roark assured him
with another half-truth. “She rode north.”
“I hope she’s all right,” Gare said. “I
always liked her.”
Roark clapped a hand on Gare’s shoulder. “I
hope so too.”
Gare shook his head and started to say
something else when Scott called for Roark to follow him and his
men to the manor house. According to the men, Roger intended to put
Roark through a public trial before giving him a public hanging,
which meant Roark would be held prisoner at the keep until his
family and whoever else Roger wanted to witness the trial showed
up. Which they’d all agreed wouldn’t include Roark’s uncle, Bryce,
who not only wielded a great deal of clout as laird of the MacKay
clan, but had never liked Roger, and was why Niels and Grant had
ridden for Yew Tree Keep two days ago.
Roark had told Roger’s and Owen’s men about
everything that had happened to him and Alina since the day he’d
met her without going into the more personal details, and was
fairly certain they’d come to believe most of what he’d told them.
It hadn’t been difficult to convince them of Leif’s attempt to rape
Alina, and to a man they’d condemned his soul for it. They’d also
agreed not to tell Munroe or anybody else the babe Jenny carried
was Leif’s. Not until the trial.
They headed for the manor house as they’d
ridden, with Scott and Ross leading Roark. Douglas and Todd
followed behind.
The aroma of roasted meat and baked bread
wafted from the dining hall, making Roark’s belly rumble. They
stopped at the hall’s entrance, and one by one the voices quieted
as their presence was noted. Roark caught Craig’s and Peg’s quick
glances before Roger stood at the high table. Roark had been at the
receiving end of Roger’s rebukes through the years, but never had
he felt such white-hot hatred before. He reminded himself the man
thought he’d killed his only son, which didn’t absolve him of what
he’d done, and had intended to do to Alina.
“Take the murdering piece of offal to my
private chambers,” Roger ordered.
Roark sat on the bench between Scott and
Ross, the same bench he’d sat on beside Alina what felt like a
lifetime ago. Then, he’d had suspicions about Roger’s deceit and
lies. Now he had first-hand knowledge, if little actual proof.
He sat up straight and squared his shoulders.
Whatever Roger had in store for him, Roark would face it knowing
he’d gotten Alina away from the sick bastard and on her way back to
her family, safe and in one piece, if not a virgin. Yet she’d given
her virginity to Roark of her own free will. He hadn’t taken it, as
Leif had tried to do. Roark didn’t regret accepting her gift. He
could never regret loving her or her loving him. Even if it meant
his death by hanging for a crime he didn’t commit.
He sat stiffly as Roger entered the room
along with Donald and Munroe.
“Where’s the girl?” Roger demanded.
“We don’t know where the girl is,” Scott
said. “We were only able to take Roark.”
Roark clamped his jaw tight and looked
straight ahead at nothing. Scott hadn’t lied. He’d phrased the
truth in a way that would keep to the story they’d all agreed on.
One that would keep Scott and the others from having to explain why
they’d let Alina sail away, and keep Roger from putting all their
lives in more danger by preparing for a fight if and when King
Jerrik showed up at North Shore Keep. A fight that Roark had
convinced them they would not win and would do better to let Jerrik
deal with Roger.
Roger stepped in front of Roark and stood