“Will someone else challenge ye? Will ye stand as Grandda’s second only to turn around and fight yer own battle?”
“If all happens as I think, nay Sinclair will fight today.”
“What do ye mean?”
“I didna understand why there were Macnaughtens riding with the others. I assumed it meant they nay longer sided with the MacDougalls, but I dinna think that’s the case. It wouldnae surprise me if it werenae the Macnaughten leader who urged them to ride here. I think he is delivering them.”
“Delivering them? To us or the English?”
“Either. Both. Mayhap he thinks the English will be indebted to him if he helps rid the English of their competition. Mayhap he thinks we’ll be indebted to him for being rid of the Gunns. I dinna ken, but—”
Bells rang, alerting people to the new arrivals. Greer gripped Thor’s arm, but he eased her hand off, forcing her to let go of his leine.
“Wee one, that isnae the alarm for an attack. It will alert the English, though. They willna ken what’s happening and will think it’s an attack.”
“Oh ma. Is the goal to have the English fight the Gunns rather than either of them fighting us?”
“Aye.”
“Is it safe to go to the bailey right now? I want to ken what’s happening. I want to ken if I need to—”
“Ye willna run without me. If I say we must go, then it’s together. Ye dinna leave ma side.”
“I’m too scared to go anywhere without ye.” Greer stood as Thor helped pull out her chair. His mother and aunts followed them off the dais along with his sister and female cousins. “Will they trap the villagers in the middle?”
“Nay,piuthar.” Sister. Shona looped her arm through Greer’s. “We usually have a full Great Hall, but there are far more women and children here than usual. They came in from the village an hour ago. The men have stayed to defend their homes. It willna come to that, but Grandda, Da, and our uncles like to be cautious.”
“Sister?” Greer heard the rest of what Shona said, but only that word registered.
“Of course. The balance is back. I have two sisters instead of one sister and two brothers. Now we outnumber them.” Shona grinned and squeezed Greer’s arm. She knew the younger woman was trying to ease Greer’s anxiety, and it worked.
“Dinna get ma wife in trouble with Mama. I already canna defend ye, Shona. I dinna need Mama angry at me because I canna control both of ye.”
“Control me?” Greer and Shona spoke together.
“St. Columba’s bones.” Thor shook his head and wished to swallow his tongue. “Ye ken what I meant. Come on.”
The trio followed the others out to the bailey. The portcullis was still down, and it would normally remain that way until at least sunrise. With two sets of enemy combatants outside the wall, it wouldn’t open until any fighting ended. Thor and the others stopped at the base of the keep’s steps.
“I’m going up to stand with Wiley and Kirk. I dinna want ye up there with me, Greer. Ye’ll be too easy a target. Stay with the others until I come back. If a single arrow comes over that wall, ye go to our chamber and barricade yerself into it.”
“Nay. She goes with Shona to yer da and ma chamber. Ye lasses shut yerselves in there. Ye dinna open the door unless it’s yer da, Thor, or me.”
“Aye, Mama.” Shona nodded and wrapped her arm around Greer’s waist as Thor kissed his wife’s cheek and hurried across the bailey. Greer watched as he bounded up the steps and came to stand between Wiley, with the Sinclairs’ chestnut hair, and Kirk, with his mother Isabella’s white-blond hair. His shock of strawberry-blond hair made the trio an impressive sight with their height and warrior builds.
Greer heard the soft murmur of women’s voices around her, but her attention shifted to looking out through the front gate. She couldn’t see much, but she caught glimpses of the Gunns and their allies approaching. Her eyes widened as a volley of arrows soared through the sky toward the unwanted Highlanders.
“What’s happening? Are the English attacking?” Greer spun to look at Siùsan.
“That’s what it would look like.” Siùsan grinned, and at first, Greer couldn’t understand the woman’s good cheer.
“Those arenae English arrows, are they?”
“Nay. But they came from the English side, and that’s all the Gunns and those shites need to ken.”
Greer looked up at Thor, worried that he would suddenly become a target when the Gunns, MacDonnells, and MacDonalds fired arrows back at their newest enemy. It took Greer a moment to realize that the first wave from each side didn’t send many projectiles toward the enemy. It was the second and third wave that announced the beginning of a battle. She longed to stand on the wall walk with Thor and see what was happening. She shifted anxiously, and her hands clutched her skirts.
The sound of pounding horses’ hooves filled the air before the melee began in earnest. The women watched a hoard of Highlanders surge forward, recognizing three different plaids. Swords clashed as metal ground against metal, and pain-filled screams rent the air. Greer shifted her gaze and shielded her eyes as the earliest rays of sun reflected off of suits of armor racing toward her former clansmen.
