Highland Master (40 page)

“Why such hurry?” Fin asked him. “We’d return tomorrow in any event.”

“Them bloody Comyns, sir. They killed three o’ our men ashore, and Himself did hear that a large force o’ Albany’s be gathering this side o’ Perth and mayhap a Douglas army near Glen Garry. He thinks they be meaning tae join wi’ them Comyns to try and take Lochindorb Castle and mayhap even Rothiemurchus, too, if the Comyns did tell them that three great lairds all be there.”

“What has he done with our noble guests then?” Fin asked.

“Donald o’ the Isles did leave yestermorn afore word o’ the army at Perth did reach Himself. But the Duke o’ Rothesay do be there still.”

“And the Lord of the North?”

“Him, too, aye. He and your da were talking o’ sending for more men when I left, but Himself did say that the Laird o’ the North should no leave the island until they kent that he’d be safe. He said they should send Sir Ivor
tae fetch men from Lochindorb, ’cause the laird’s men do ken Sir Ivor fine and trust him well.”

“If Sir Ivor left when you did, he should be at Lochindorb, for ’tis nigh the same distance that you’ve come,” Fin said. “I have few men here, though.”

“Himself said tae leave the Moigh men here, and that Ewan Cameron should choose what he’ll do. But he said also that wi’ ructions threatening, mayhap Ewan Cameron should be away to warn Lochaber that uproar in Strathspey may hearten Donald o’ the Isles to attack them in the west. Who might this Ewan Cameron be?”

“This gentleman here,” Fin said, gesturing. “He is my brother and a chieftain of Clan Cameron of Lochaber. You’ve done well, laddie.”

“Aye, sure, but I did wonder about Ewan Cameron, ’cause Himself did say that if he be still here, ye should tell him the lot and then let him choose how.”

“I’ll do that, but you go and get yourself some food now,” Fin said.

“Don’t leave the dais yet, Tadhg,” Catriona said, gesturing to a gillie. “You may sit here at the high table and tell me the news from Rothiemurchus whilst we wait for them to bring your food. You deserve a treat if you ran all
that
way.”

“Hoots, m’lady, I didna run but from yon boat landing up to this hall, ’cause Aodán let me ride a garron. He said it would be safer and more like tae get me here.” But he took the seat she indicated, grinning, clearly delighted to sit at the high table.

Fin left them chatting and bore Ewan outside to tell him all that he had not yet revealed to him about Rothesay’s presence in the Highlands.

When he had finished, Ewan said, “I must get back then.
With Alex and Shaw at Rothiemurchus, ye’ll have men aplenty without me or mine, and Mackintosh is right. I must let men in the Great Glen and west of it know what is happening. Donald uses the same network of informants as his late father did, and he is sure to see Albany’s invasion of the Highlands as an occasion to make mischief himself.”

“Donald and Albany are competitors for power, not allies,” Fin said.

“But Donald will seize any opportunity that offers gain to him,” Ewan said.

Catriona was still talking with Tadhg when Fin and Ewan returned. Greeting them, she said to Fin, “I must tell Ailvie and Ian to pack our things at once.” But when she began to rise, she saw that he was shaking his head.

“You’ll stay here, lass. You will be much safer so.”

“Don’t be daft, sir. Of course, I shall go with you. I must.”

His expression altered to a sternness that shot a thrill up her spine. But after a glance at Tadhg he said, “You’ll do as I bid, Catriona. I am not leaving you with strangers. You know your grandfather’s people as well as you know your own.”

“Ye canna leave her,” Tadhg said earnestly. “Himself did say he’ll put lights on the ramparts for ye tae see when ye top the ridge. A host o’ them if all be well, three if there be Comyns about, and nobbut one should ye no come down at all.”

“I can remember all that without her ladyship, however,” Fin said.

“Mayhap ye will,” Tadhg replied with a near cheeky grin. “But Himself did say that ye’d be less likely tae be doing aught tae make her a widow if she be with ye. So they’ll no
put any boat in the water nor open the gate till she makes her owl’s cry like she used tae do tae waken yon echo. But ye’d best bestir yourselves,” he added, glancing from one to the other. “There do be black rain clouds rolling in.”

Catriona nearly offered a smile to match Tadhg’s but thought better of it when Fin frowned at her. Soberly, she said, “Truly, sir, I won’t slow you down.”

Still frowning, Fin said, “The Mackintosh leaves me no choice but to take you, lass, so tell Ian to see to our things. Tadhg, you find the kitchen and tell them to put up food for us. Come, Ewan,” he added. “We’ll collect your gear and your lads. Then I’ll go across in the boat with you to speak to Toby.”

Catriona waited until they had left the dais before quietly sending the gillie who had served Tadhg to fetch Ian Lennox and Ailvie.

When she told them to pack and explained why she and Fin were leaving, Ailvie said, “What about us then, mistress?”

Ian said, “Sir Finlagh will take Toby and me, lass. So I expect that he’ll take you as well, unless you want to stay warm and dry here instead.”

“I
want
to stay, sure enough,” Ailvie said with a grimace. “But me place be wi’ the mistress, come wha’ may, so I’ll go.”

Ian nodded, and the two packed the sumpter baskets. By the time Fin returned, all was ready for their departure.

To Fin’s relief, and somewhat to his surprise, the journey proceeded without incident, although darkness had fallen an hour before they forded the Spey.

There was no moon and only a sprinkling of stars, but he was sure that Rory Comyn would not expect them yet if he expected them at all. Just as Fin knew how long it should take Ivor to reach Lochindorb, gather Alex’s forces, and return, Comyn would know that, too, and would expect it to take at least until late the next day for any reinforcement to reach Rothiemurchus.

As they rode side-by-side through the woods in near pitch darkness to the top of the last ridge, Fin realized that Catriona was thinking along similar lines when she said quietly, “Do you think Rory knew we were going to Moigh when we met him?”

“I don’t know,” Fin murmured, as aware as she clearly was of how easily sound traveled at night. “But we’ll assume that the Comyns know we’re here.”

“Rory’s lads are not keeping a close watch
here
tonight, though,” she said. “There are many lights below on the castle.”

“Or the Comyns have somehow lulled the castle into a false sense of security,” he replied. “They could up to mischief, and no one from the castle has caught them at it. We should proceed as if that were the case. Recall that they have killed three of your watchers. I’ll wager that Shaw has put more lads out, doubtless two by two, to look after each other. But the long perimeter of the loch makes it impossible to secure entirely, especially on a moonless night like this.”

“At least, those clouds have yet to produce rain,” she said. “We have seen patches of starlight ever since it got dark.”

They had used torches at first, but Fin had ordered them doused as soon as they had safely forded the Spey. Nevertheless, instinct warned him that the Comyns had likely kept track of them both going and on their return.

Warning the others to keep a close watch as they guided their horses down the hill, Fin kept his right hand poised to draw his sword at a moment’s notice.

All remained quiet when they reached the shore. The host of lights on the castle ramparts should have reassured him, he knew. But they did not.

“Waken the echo, sweetheart,” he murmured.

With a low chuckle that stirred him to think briefly of more pleasant things, she hooted softly. When the echo failed to respond, she hooted again with more energy, and the sound echoed back to them. As it faded, another hoot sounded.

“That’s Aodán, not the echo,” she murmured. “Watch for the boat to come.”

The rowers made little noise and collected them swiftly. Fin told Toby, Ian, and Tadhg to remove the sumpter baskets and turn the garrons loose.

“Aye, sir,” Tadhg said. “They’ll find grass and feed on their ownsome.”

They made the trip back without a hint of trouble, and Aodán assured them that all had been quiet. “The laird do be away, gathering men to head for Glen Garry whilst Sir Ivor and the Lord of the North’s forces keep to the east,” he said. “But the laird left enough lads here to stand regular watches. We’ll be changing the guard in an hour or so, and we’ll ken more when our lads report aught they may have seen.”

“The Mackintosh is in charge then, is he?” Fin murmured.

“Aye, sir,” Aodán replied. “He said to tell ye, though, if ye did make it back here tonight, that although Sir Ivor and Shaw should be able to keep the trouble well east and south o’ us for a time, all here will obey ye as they would
Himself. And we will, sir. See you, he and the ladies be already thinking o’ their beds.”

By the time Fin, Catriona, and their attendants entered the great hall, it was plain that the ladies and the Mackintosh were ready to retire.

Fin talked briefly with Mackintosh, who assured him that their guards would give warning of any trouble in good time. Then, wondering if his usually reliable instinct for danger had simply misled him, Fin took his lady wife to her bed, lingered there most pleasantly with her, and slept until Aodán woke him.

“Them devilish Comyns ha’ captured our lads ashore,” he breathed in Fin’s ear. “Worse than that, sir, they’ve kept our last boat and mean to drown us all as we sleep, because they’ve dammed up the loch at the outflowing burn!”

When a wet paw stroked Catriona’s cheek, she awoke to find Boreas’s small shadow shivering on her pillow and Fin no longer lying beside her.

Rising and donning a robe, she gathered up the shivering kitten and, noting that its paws and belly were wet, cuddled it as she went to the window and opened the shutter. Instead of the rain she expected to see, she saw stars amid the clouds.

She could see only three lights on the ramparts, so the watchers had sighted Comyns, and Aodán had left a signal. She hoped it meant nothing worse than that.

Leaving the shutter open when she turned back, she could see that Boreas was not in the room and the door stood ajar. Through the crack, about the width of the kitten, dim golden light from a cresset on the landing peeked in.

Drying the kitten as well as she could and leaving it in her still-warm place on the bed, she grabbed her shift from the floor where Fin had flung it and took her old kirtle off its hook. Dressing hastily, she belted her dirk around her hips under her skirt, snatched a warm shawl from the same hook, and hurried downstairs.