“I have a half sister who married into Brae Aisir village, and she has not been as fortunate in her husband as I have been this day with ye. Her husband is a rough man-at-arms, and sometimes beats her. She came recently through the pass for a visit, and said he has been in a much better mood since his master returned, and they recaptured the keep. Have ye heard the tale, sir?”
“Nay,” Ewan Hay said. “I have been in England fighting with the Earl of Lennox. Wasn’t this keep defended?”
“Aye, sir, it was, and the drawbridge was up. But those attempting to steal the keep from its rightful owners did not know about the secret tunnel that leads beneath the moat, and up into the kitchen pantry. That’s how Brae Aisir’s rightful lord regained his property. He came through using that tunnel in the hillside beneath the keep. And the victory put my brother-in-law in an excellent mood, so he allowed my half sister to come home for a visit,” Glenda said. Then reaching up, she pulled his head down to hers and began kissing him with expert and tempting lips.
Ewan Hay almost jumped from his bed in delight. Now he knew how he could enter Brae Aisir’s keep and retake it for the Earl of Lennox. But first he needed to slake the lust building up in his body again. With his new knowledge, he might linger another day enjoying Glenda’s extraordinary charms. And when he had settled himself back at Brae Aisir, he would send for her. The thought of having the servant girl and Maggie Kerr both in his bed at the same time was more than exciting.
Glenda let him have his pleasure of her body one more time, and then the wine she gave him this second time held a sleeping potion. She waited until he was snoring loudly, and then dressing quickly, the serving woman left the bedchamber to hurry to find Rafe Kerr. Though it was past midnight, Rafe had lingered in the hall. His wife was with child for a fifth time, and she could not go to sleep if he was in their bed. So he waited. When Glenda hurried up to him, he said softly, “What news?”
“The secret’s out,” she replied with a mischievous grin. “He may linger a day to prepare, but before he fell asleep, he told me he would be leaving Netherdale Hall shortly.”
“Can ye continue to give him what he wants so he does not grow suspicious?” Rafe asked her. “Ye’ve done so much, I dislike asking.”
Glenda shook her head. “Nay, my lord, I will do what I must for Netherdale.”
Rafe released two pigeons at first light. He could not take the chance that the message to Brae Aisir not be received.
Maggie had put a watch on the dovecote. In midmorning a manservant brought her a message capsule. Opening it and unrolling the bit of parchment she read:
The bait has been taken. He leaves tomorrow. Be ready. Rafe
“Are we ready?” she asked her husband after reading him the message.
Fin nodded in the affirmative. “The rock is all in place, ready to seal the opening. Come, and I will show you how we have blocked the pantry door.”
They descended to the kitchens, through a pantry, and then down another small flight of stone steps into the cold pantry. The door that had once led into the tunnel was no longer visible at all. Fin pointed out to her where it had once been.
“We removed the staircase from the tunnel to this level,” he explained. “Then we sealed the door with wide strips of iron the blacksmith forged for that purpose. Then we closed the door off with stone on both sides. They cannot reach the door now, and if they somehow managed to get up to where it was, the door is secured by two stone walls and a wall of iron. Finding their exit gone, Hay and his men will return to the entry to find it blocked, thus preventing their escape.”
“What if they send someone through to reconnoiter?” Maggie asked.
“Then we will drive them into the tunnel before sealing it. I think, however, that not realizing we know he is coming, and knowing we used the tunnel in recent months, Ewan Hay will march straight into our trap, Maggie mine. His reputation is one for violence, not tactical skills,” Fin responded.
“So in a few days this should all be over,” Maggie replied.
“For us hopefully, but not for the Borders,” Fin said.
“How will we know when the Hay comes?” she asked.
“The watchtower guards will notify us. A lantern signal will be sent from tower to tower to tower. The last tower will send a man with the warning.”
Towards dusk two days later, a man-at-arms came from the last tower to warn them that Ewan Hay and his men were even now coming to the end of the Aisir nam Breug. Strategically placed men observed as the Hay’s men stopped just short of the pass’s end to dismount to lead their horses to a small wooded copse where they tethered them. Then the invaders came stealthily and on foot, circling around the village, for their purpose was to enter the keep, and take it, not battle the village.
While the residents of Brae Aisir had been advised of the impending attempt to retake the keep, they kept to their cottages as if it were an ordinary evening. If they saw a shadowy figure flit by behind their dwellings, they pretended not to notice at all. The Hay and his men crept up the hillside and after an hour or more of searching, found the entry behind a thicket of bushes. Darkness was about to fall as they discovered the door pulled easily open, and stepped into the mouth of the tunnel to light their torches where they would not be seen by accidental eyes.
“I think ye should send two men through to make certain the tunnel is clear,” Bhaltair advised the Hay.
“Nay, ’tis not necessary. They used the tunnel but recently,” Ewan Hay replied. He was eager to regain the advantage he had lost to Fingal Stewart; eager to see the look of astonishment and then fear on Maggie Kerr’s face when she saw him returned. He would have his revenge on them both. Tonight after all was secure, he intended having Fingal Stewart brought to the hall bound securely to watch while Ewan Hay raped his wife on the high board, and then allowed Bhaltair the same privilege. This time there would be no escape for the Kerrs of Brae Aisir or Fingal Stewart. And the Earl of Lennox would reward Ewan Hay generously for the capture of this keep, and the Aisir nam Breug. “Forward, men!” he instructed, actually leading the way for the first time. His torch cut the darkness as he hurried into the depths of the tunnel, and Bhaltair and the others came at a trot behind him.
When the sounds of their voices had faded, shadowy figures crept from the surrounding brush. The door to the tunnel was quietly closed, and then locked. Then the large boulders that had been disguised with greenery were slowly pushed into place until the old oak door was no longer even visible. There was not the tiniest crack or crevice available where the light might shine through. Ewan Hay and his men were firmly and solidly trapped in the tunnel. They would not ever escape.
Reaching the end of the tunnel, the invaders found nothing. There were no stairs leading up to a door. They could not even discover where a door had been. They wondered whether they had taken a wrong turn and missed another arm of the tunnel, but retracing their steps, they discovered the tunnel was but a single extension. Panic ensued. The men broke ranks, racing back to the tunnel’s entrance, only to discover the door closed upon them, and worse, it seemed to be locked tightly.
They attempted over the next few days to remove the door’s lock and hinges, but when they finally succeeded, they found themselves facing a wall of black stone. They would die within the darkness as their torches were slowly extinguished. Some of the men began to pray. Bhaltair sat down stoically to await his eventual death. Ewan Hay cursed and howled with both his fear and his fury at having once again been defeated by the Kerrs. When he finally lapsed into hysterical babbling and weeping, Bhaltair beat him into silence. He might have cut his throat, but Bhaltair decided that would have been too merciful a death for Ewan Hay. He would suffer with the rest of them.
The Earl of Lennox was on the move, coming into the southwest of Scotland to pillage its towns and villages, and burn its harvests so that the clan folk would starve in the coming winter. A small party of soldiers came to Netherdale Hall, seeking to use the Aisir nam Breug.
Rafe Kerr refused them. “The traverse is only for peaceful travel, my lord,” he told the nobleman who captained the soldiers.
