“And where is this hidden treasure? More exactly,” Niall asked.
“More exactly is hard to say, but ’tis somewhere beyond the firth of Moray.”
“Moray? A good sennight ride away! Well, then, let us go and get this treasure.” Niall’s face mottled again, his tone hardened. “Ye try my patience. Ye truly do.”
Lachlann scoffed. “I didna say ’twould be easy.”
No doubt they’d find great humor in the fact that Father Michael had joined in the convincing. That alone should have made Lachlann refuse but, damn it, it was the noble thing to do. “Where is yer sense of adventure, my friend? Sister Elizabeth trusts us. She knows what we are able to accomplish unlike yer uncle. This will be a small matter, finding the silver—”
Niall’s snort interrupted him momentarily.
Lachlann refused to be discouraged. “A damsel in need who has no one else? The bards will sing of our adventure.”
Aldred chuckled. “Even the bishop pays the priory little mind, preferring to visit the areas with a greater population and more influence with our king.”
“She has no one else,” Lachlann said, “and she is willing to pay us. Handsomely.”
“Handsomely?” Niall’s nostrils flared “Are we for hire now? And what exactly is our worth?”
Niall was serving no purpose with this belligerence. Lachlann clamped his teeth tight. He understood his friend’s struggles. Even with his father in a drunken stupor, brokenhearted over the loss of his wife, he had been a far better leader than Garnait. That fact always made Lachlann question the events that caused him to be replaced and shunned. Now, Niall was at a disadvantage, always shoved to the side so his cousins and his uncle could shine.
Lachlann squared his shoulders. He needed to confront this stubbornness head-on.
“The clan yer uncle claims as his own was stolen from yer father, Niall. We all know that. Short of fighting him directly…” Lachlann forced himself to pause, his chest tightening with the effort, then forced out the words. “If ye’ve decided to confront him, then let us wait no longer. Say so now and I will be at yer side as I always have been.”
The silence hung there between them so thick that even Aldred remained motionless. It wasn’t that Lachlann minded confronting the chieftain. He didn’t. Not at all. But Niall’s own father had never done so. He never set things right and now, the rest of the clan knew only what had been told to them. Their allegiance would be questionable at best.
The small shake of Niall’s head released the tension. Air whooshed from Lachlann. Aldred’s shoulders rounded in relief. Speaking in a lighter tone, Lachlann said, “Then make yerself known. Make alliances. Mayhap even find a wife of yerownchoosing. Does that not sound like a better option than waiting around for your uncle’s blessing? For some acknowledgement of yer importance—our importance—to the clan?”
Niall’s brows were furrowed in concentration, but at least the bright red had faded from his cheeks.
“How much will she pay?” His voice was quieter.
“A portion of what is found.” Lachlann dared not look away. “A finder’s fee of sorts.”
Niall pressed his lips together, but there was now a definite curl to them. “Ye dinna know the value.”
“Truth be told it may amount to nothing. Then we will have wasted our time, buttheywill know for certain ’tis gone, and we shall regale the multitudes with our stories.”
“So, tell us of this great adventure ye would take us on.”
“The nuns found a journal. It tells how to find the silver hidden in some cave. It was hidden by a monk.” He explained to them what Sister Elizabeth had said. “They have the proof. The coin was intended for the church. We have only to retrieve it for them.”
“But yer uncle will have yer head for abandoning him.” Aldred made no attempt to hide his irritation with the situation. “He makes his own plans. Daily.”
Judging by the sudden tightening of Niall’s face, Aldred’s matter-of-fact tone was not lost on him.
“His plans. Not mine. He’ll have a hard time catching that head once we’re gone.” Niall smiled, his eyes creasing. “But as ye say, Lachlann, ‘twould be for the church. A work of great value.”
“He could say, ‘Not at this time.’” Lachlann added this fact with great reluctance as it had just occurred to him. “Going without his leave is burning bridges.” He didn’t like the idea of disappearing without a word to their leader, no matter how bad a leader he was. “Never good for a battle plan when ye might need to return the same way.”
Lachlann had a thought. “Think ye he may give his blessing if he believes ’twill profit him?”
The three exchanged glances and burst into smiles. Garnait was the greediest man alive with no feelings of guilt. How he was able to take communion without choking on the host was beyond Lachlann.
“At least three clans along the way may be happy to receive gifts and salutations from our mighty chieftain.”
Niall’s expression darkened.
