"Aye, ‘tis her," Darren replied instead. "I am Darren Bruce, and these are me cousins, Fergus and Dirk. The others are warriors under the banner of our true king, Cailean McNair."
"And where is the king now?" Taran asked. He seemed to take the announcement in his stride; perhaps Delphine had already told him about the visitors to McKenzie castle. "Is he with ye?"
"Cailean McNair has been captured," Maeve told him. Her voice almost cracked a little, and she clenched her fists so hard that she felt welts in her palms. "He—they?—"
Taran's eyes darkened, and he exchanged a long look with his niece, then nodded. "Come in, then. There's plenty of room upstairs for ye tae sleep, if straw beds are good enough for ye. Come in and I'll get ye some soup."
Delphine nodded. "Go. I will scout a little further and join you all soon," she encouraged. She took Maeve's hand and squeezed it. "Stay strong, young queen," she said quietly. Then she dropped Maeve's hand and was gone, disappeared into the night.
"He's worse than a tyrant," Taran explained as he, Maeve, and Darren sat at his small table over cups of nettle tea.
Fergus and the others had retreated upstairs to rest at the insistence of Maeve, who wanted to make sure that the rebels—herrebels—had enough rest to make them worth their strength in the battle to come. They would save Cailean. They had to.
"What do ye mean?" Maeve asked. "What's worse than a tyrant?"
"An opportunist." Taran shook his head. "Me daughter is a Sparrow too, did Delphine tell ye that? We sent her tae warn ye of his treachery, tae prevent all of this." He sighed, looking out of the window. "Me Barbara never returned. I'd hoped she'd be with ye."
"I'm sorry. We didnae meet anyone until we reached here," Darren told him quietly. "I'm sure yer Barbara is safe. Perhaps she's at Bruce Castle even now."
"What do ye mean an opportunist?" Maeve demanded. "What treachery? What has he done?"
Taran sighed. "He is loyal tae nothin' and nobody. If the False King came knockin' at his door, I have nae doubt McKenzie would be willin' tae roll over if it meant he'd be closer tae his own goals. He has nae honor, nae regrets about actin' only for himself. I feel sorry for that daughter of his."
"So it was always a trap," Darren surmised. Anger flashed across his usually joyful face, and he slammed a fist down on the table, causing the teacups to rattle. "Bastard. Coward! The deceit of him and his clan kens nae bounds. How could he do this? What sort of a man?—"
"He's nae man," Maeve interrupted. Her voice was quiet, the burning fury inside her so hot that the flame felt almost cold. "He's a snake. A coward. A pathetic blight on the earth."
Darren put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get Cailean back. Ye ken I'll nae let him stay there a moment longer than he has tae. And he's strong."
"We need tae act fast. We can let the others rest a while, aye, but nae long. Every moment we let slip away is a moment Cailean is in danger," Maeve said. "Obviously, we cannae hope tae take on the entire strength of McKenzie Castle with eleven fighters in a full-frontal attack, but we've taken a castle back with such small odds before."
"We had men on the inside then," Darren pointed out. "We had me father's knowledge of the structure of the castle. And we had ye with knowledge of its workin's. Things are different here and now; we?—"
"Shhh!" Maeve urgently hushed him as a noise reached her ears.
They all fell silent and listened. Hoofbeats, approaching quickly.
"They've found us," Darren hissed.
Maeve grabbed her sword. It didn't sound like many people, maybe two or three, but even one would be dangerous when they were on the run. "Hide," she told Taran.
"I can?—"
"Please hide. I'll nae have ye in danger," she insisted.
Taran sighed and nodded. "I'll wake the others," he said, then hurried over to the stairs.
Maeve and Darren gripped their weapons and moved toward the door. As one, they opened the door to the quickly darkening night, ready to face down whatever threat might be here to hurt them once again.
But when the door swung open, there was no enemy there. Instead, Delphine stood with her hand poised ready to knock, and behind her were two very familiar faces.
"Bre!" Maeve exclaimed, and that was all she could get out before her sister charged forward into her embrace. The two of them held each other tightly, Maeve so relieved to see her that she didn't even question how she got there.
Something good had finally happened. Maeve could only pray that it was a sign that there was more good to come. It had to be.
"...and we found Delphine in the village," Eoin explained. He had just finished telling them the whole story of how they had ended up here, emphasizing Breana's bravery in a way that made Maeve's heart swell with love and pride. "She recognized ye inBreana's face, Maeve, and after she'd made sure of who we were, she led us here."
"She told us what happened with Cailean," Breana said, holding tight to Maeve's hands. She turned to Darren and Fergus, the latter of whom had come downstairs to investigate the noise. "Thank ye for gettin' me sister out of there." Turning back to Maeve, she said, "I'm so sorry we were too late. When the Sparrow, Barbara, arrived tae warn us?—"
