Exiles in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (13 page)

“
I’m wearing a dress today.
Lord Graham won’t turn me away,” she said.

Callum couldn’t tell if she was
deliberately misunderstanding his question or really thought that a
dress would take care of any threat.

“
Let me do the talking,”
Cassie said. “You’re dressed all wrong. They’ll know you for
English just by looking at you.”

Callum opted not to mention the bow
along her back, which surely showed her for being out of the
ordinary too. “I speak Gaelic and medieval English,” he
said.

“
Oh.” Cassie looked Callum
up and down, as if seeing him for the first time. “I’ve been
treating you as if you were a child. I’m sorry.”

Callum laughed. “I didn’t notice. Up
until a month or so ago, everyone treated me that way. It’s easy to
confuse ignorance with stupidity, especially when a man can’t speak
the language. People have a tendency to talk louder, as if I were
deaf or a difficult three-year-old.”

“
It’s more than that. You
don’t project yourself,” Cassie said. “I’m not used to
it.”

“
I don’t
understand.”

“
Men in Scotland are taught
to fill up every room they’re in,” she said. “They’re forceful and
loud. You’ll have to be careful that they don’t confuse your lack
of bravado with weakness.”

“
I don’t mind if they do,”
Callum said. “A man viewed as weak is a man underestimated.
Currently, I’d prefer to come across as your companion rather than
as a threat to Lord Patrick.”

Cassie actually laughed. “You want him
to see you as my sidekick?”

“
I’d choose to be your
protector, but I don’t think you need one,” Callum said.

Cassie ignored that. “How much do you
want me to tell him about you?”

“
What if you were to say
that I’m a Mackay, from the far north, and that I’m sympathetic to
the Scottish cause, whomever they choose as king? Would he believe
it?”

“
Only if you could name
your ancestors,” she said.

“
Donald,” Callum said.
“Every single Mackay is named Donald or Hugh.”

She pursed her lips. “That you speak
Gaelic will help, but I wouldn’t mention how or why, or where you
come from in Scotland. If King David really doesn’t care who gets
crowned king of Scotland, it would be better just to say so. You’re
here as his representative, not your own.”

Callum nodded. He would rather not
lie, but he happened to be good at it, a product of working for
MI-5 for four years after he came home from the war.

Cassie led Callum through Mugdock’s
village, no more than a cluster of huts that huddled at the base of
the mound upon which the castle was built. With darkness nearly
complete, except for some stars that blinked in and out from behind
the clouds, the only light came from a few open doorways and the
torches at the castle gate.

Cassie marched right up to the doors.
“I’m here to see Lord Patrick,” she said in Gaelic.

“
Nobody in or out after
nightfall, those are our orders,” the man said.

“
I’m not nobody,” Cassie
said, rendering the double negative even in Gaelic, completely
flummoxing the man.

“
Lord Patrick will want to
see us.” Callum stepped closer to Cassie and into the light. “I
guarantee it.”

Whatever Cassie thought about the
conceptual space Callum took up, he did have size to his advantage.
The guard at the gate was eight inches shorter and had to look up
at Callum. They exchanged a long look before the guard took a step
back, pushing with his shoulder at the door behind him to open
it.

Inside the palisade, the bailey showed
evidence of night coming on. A few people trotted here and there,
but the blacksmith works were dark, with just a dim glow from a
banked fire. The door to the inner bailey was open, revealing
bright lights within. From the sound of voices beyond it, the
evening meal was in progress.

“
What is this? You were
told to let nobody in tonight.” A man of obviously higher rank and
authority stalked towards Cassie and Callum.

“
They insisted—”

The second man cuffed the first man
upside the head. “Get back to your post.”

“
Yes, sir.” The underling
obeyed, though not without shooting a glare at his superior from
behind his back.

Cassie watched the guard go and then
said, “Hello, John.”

John grunted. He seemed to accept that
Cassie wasn’t going to call him ‘sir’ or ‘my lord’ or whatever the
man might be used to from other people. “What do you want, Cassie?
You shouldn’t be here.”

“
I brought someone to whom
Lord Patrick will want to speak,” she said.

“
He’s busy.”

“
With the same business as
this, I think,” Cassie said. “When he finds out that you sent me
away, which he will eventually, he’s not going to be happy with
you.”

That sounded good, but Callum was
feeling more nervous by the second about how easily Cassie sashayed
in here and said what was on her mind. He hadn’t heard anyone—much
less a woman—make such bold statements about what she wanted since
he’d come to the Middle Ages. Well—apart from David, who could say
whatever he pleased. Though even he could take lessons in
assertiveness from Cassie.

While Callum wore a sword and Cassie
held her bow (a goddamned recurve—Callum still couldn’t believe
it), neither of them could hold off the dozens—maybe multiple
dozens—of men currently filling Mugdock Castle. Callum made sure he
didn’t reveal his uncertainty by shifting from one foot to another
and instead stood staunchly beside Cassie as she gazed steadily
into John’s face.

John, however, didn’t blink. “All
right, then. But not in the hall. You can wait in the south
tower.”

John led the way up the hill to the
inner gate, set in a stone curtain wall with four towers that
protected the keep. They climbed the stairs to the main floor of
the tower to the left of the gatehouse. John pushed open the door,
revealing a single square room. A stairway went around the exterior
of the tower, rather than around the interior. Once John closed the
door on them, if he chose to bar it, Cassie and Callum would have
no way out. Callum glanced at Cassie, but she seemed unperturbed by
their accommodations and entered the room.

Mistrusting where trust didn’t seem
warranted, Callum didn’t follow her. Instead, he leaned against the
frame of the door and folded his arms across his chest. John opened
his mouth to speak, closed it, and then said, “You might have a
long wait.”

“
Fine,” Callum
said.

John shot a look at Cassie,
who had unslung her backpack from her back and was inspecting the
arrows in her quiver. Then he looked at Callum. He didn’t speak,
just gave a quick jerk of his head and departed. Callum had the
sense that what he would have said, if he’d said anything,
was
better you than me.

Damn straight.

Cassie moved to stand in the doorway
with Callum and they looked out on the activity in the inner
bailey. “The MacDougalls were here but I’m not sure they still are,
and I don’t get the sense the prisoners are here
either.”

“
Why would you say that?”
Callum said.

“
I recognize that man.” She
lifted her chin to point at someone just entering the great hall.
He looked an awful lot like the last soldier Callum had fought at
the ambush site, before he’d been felled by that unseen assailant.
“The other men are all from Graham lands. It looks as if Lord
Patrick called them here as a precaution, to help fortify
Mugdock.”

Callum and Cassie waited a long time,
maybe because Lord Patrick really was busy, or maybe because he was
that reluctant to meet them. In that time, nobody who went in or
out of the keep looked at them. It was as though they were
invisible, and maybe they were, since the candle that had lit the
little room had gone out within five minutes of their arrival.
Callum took the wait as an opportunity to ask his new friend a bit
more about herself.

“
You haven’t told me the
truth, Cassie,” Callum said.

“
What do you mean?” she
said. “The truth about what?”

“
Yourself.”

“
I have no idea what you’re
talking about.”

“
You pretend that you’re a
simple girl, raised in the woods,” Callum said, “but you’re not.
You’re well-educated; you speak elegantly and with a sophisticated
vocabulary. And how does a simple girl learn Gaelic and medieval
English so fluently, even if she’s had nearly five years to do
it?”

Cassie looked out at the bailey, not
answering. Callum thought she wasn’t going to answer, but then she
said, “Indians aren’t savages, Callum. Or stupid. I told you that I
went to college.”

“
I-I-I didn’t mean that. I
meant—I just—”

“
Really?” Her chin jutted
out and her eyes flashed. “Maybe you should stop talking
now.”

Callum snapped his mouth shut, knowing
he’d bolloxed that up beyond measure. To his regret, Cassie went
quiet and Callum didn’t restart the conversation. If he had his
way, she was coming with him wherever he went next, no matter how
low her opinion of him. That meant he’d have plenty of time to drag
her story out of her.

“
I don’t like this plan
anymore,” Callum said. “I think it’s time we made a new
one.”

“
Give him a few more
minutes,” Cassie said.

Half of Cassie’s face was in shadow,
but Callum could see enough of it to know that she remained
relaxed. “You seem very sure of him. Why?”

“
He’s—” she
stopped.

“
What?”

But then Cassie didn’t have to answer
because at that moment, John came out of one of the lesser
structures built into the curtain wall and hurried towards them.
Another man strode beside him on longer legs, dressed in mail and
cloak like the other soldiers. Lord Patrick Graham. Callum knew it
without having to ask. Given his grey hair but relatively young
face and well-muscled stature, Callum put him in his late
forties.

“
Christ on the cross,
Cassie!” Lord Patrick said, even before he’d come halfway up the
stairs to the tower room. “What are you doing here?”

Cassie bowed her head about three
millimeters. “We need to talk.”

Lord Patrick let out a sharp burst of
air and then transferred his gaze to Callum. “Who is
this?”

“
The personal emissary of
King David of England,” Callum said, not giving Cassie time to
answer first.

Lord Patrick’s lips thinned into a
line. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Cassie leaned in. “Do you realize that
King David was supposed to be in that party the MacDougalls
ambushed, and that Bishop Kirby, the former regent of England, is
dead? Do you understand what the MacDougalls have done and how much
danger you’re in? What are the chances that their sins will spill
over to you?”

“
I have no idea what you’re
talking about. I sheltered my kinsmen. That is all.” But Lord
Patrick’s nostrils flared and Callum saw something that looked like
fear in his eyes.

“
What about the survivors
of the ambush?” Callum said. “You’re saying that the MacDougalls
didn’t bring them here?”

“
We know they kept some men
alive. I watched them march away,” Cassie said. “Please say
Alexander MacDougall didn’t order their deaths after
all?”

Lord Patrick clenched his teeth. “I
had nothing to do with any of this.”

“
How are you going to prove
that?” Cassie said.

“
To whom should I have to
prove it?” Lord Patrick said.

“
How about the King of
England?” Callum said.

“
You have called in every
able-bodied man from your lands,” Cassie said. “You’re saying
that’s for no reason?”

By way of an answer, Lord Patrick
grabbed Cassie’s arm and pulled her into the darkness of the tower
room. Callum followed. “Rumor has it that if King David decides not
to take the throne for himself, he will choose Robert Bruce to be
king.”

“
That’s where you’re
wrong,” Callum said. “King David had decided no such thing. With
this act, however, with the MacDougalls seeking his
head—”

“
I know.” Lord Patrick ran
a hand through his hair. “They have forced King David’s hand. He
will come with an army. He cannot let this act go
unpunished.”

“
Your own Guardians
promised safe travel for the king’s party,” Cassie said. “If this
can’t be resolved quickly, Scotland may find itself at war with
England.”

A shout came from the battlements.
“They’re coming!”

“
You need to leave. Now.”
The words came out in a whispered hiss, though the only member of
the garrison who could have heard him was John.

“
If you tell me what’s
going on, I can plead your case to King David,” Callum said. “I can
tell him you helped us.”

That was exactly the wrong thing to
say. Lord Patrick pulled away from Cassie with a jerk and put his
nose into Callum’s face. “The day I need the King of England’s
assistance is the day I lose my honor.”