“Ifail miserably at everything I try to do,” said Dougal in a heavy tone as hedismounted and allowed his men to lead away the exhausted horses.
Preparedfor such black humor Neil urged him to a seat and poured him a tankard of alefrom the jug she had kept ready. “Ye did your best,” she assured him as she satdown next to him.
“IfI had done my best, they never would have been taken.”
“Mayhapnot today, but at some other time or place. I believe Sir Ruari has plannedthis little act of revenge for a long time. We should have paid his threatsmore heed.”
“Hethreatened to do this? Why wasnae I told about that?”
“Becausewe all felt his anger would ease, that he would forget all he threatened. Ithas been months, plenty of time for the heat of anger to cool.”
“Yekeep saying he was angry. He could hurt Sorcha and Margaret.”
“Never,”Neil said firmly, and realized she wholeheartedly believed her assurances.
“Noteven if I cannae raise the ransom he will demand?”
“Nay,not even then. If naught else, he owes them his life and he kens it.”
“Ifhe kens that, then why has he done this? ‘Tis an odd way to show his gratitude.”
“Weel,he was furious about the money. The mon heartily resented his coin entering ourpockets. He wants his money back.”
“Ican understand that. What concerns me is what he will do when he finally kensthat I cannae give it back, that I dinnae have it and have no way to raise it.”
Neilpatted him on the back in a silent gesture of sympathy. “Trust me, laddie. Thatmon will ne’er hurt our lasses. Now, I should like to be the one who deals withhim.”
“Ye?Why should ye wish to go? ‘Twill mean a great deal of hard riding betweenGartmhor and Dunweare,” he warned her.
“Iken it, but I want to go. I ken the mon, ye dinnae. He kens me. I dinnae meanto give ye an insult, but because your sister had to save your hide, he doesnaehold the highest opinion of ye.” She watched anger tighten Dougal’s fine features.“No one else faults you. Weel, not much.”
Dougallaughed, a dry, bitter sound. “Ye are ofttimes a little too painfully honest.”
“Mayhap.And ye are ofttimes a little too hot-blooded. That would not help the lasses.”
“Nay,it wouldnae. All right, ye may deal with the Kerrs in my stead. Howbeit, yewill make it verra clear that, if any harm comes to my sister or my cousin, Iwill hunt the mon down and take great pleasure in killing him.”
“Yewill have to move fast or I will surely steal that privilege.”
Sorchawinced and decided she could easily grow to hate horses. Although she had sleptsoundly for several hours when they had made camp, it had not been enough tobanish her bone-weariness completely. When Ruari pointed out Gartmhor in thedistance, Sorcha almost welcomed the sight, for it meant she would be able toget off the saddle she had ridden for two days.
Herfirst sight of Gartmhor made her uneasy. It was a huge, thick-walled keep on arocky hill. Although it did not look as impregnable as Dunweare, it certainlylooked as if escape would be difficult, if not impossible.
Asthey rode through the thick iron-studded gates of Gartmhor, Sorcha shivered.She prayed that was not some sort of premonition. One thing she had not beenconcerned about was that she and Margaret were in any sort of physical danger.She did not wish to be proven wrong.
“Weel,what do ye think of Gartmhor?” Ruari asked when they halted in the inner baileyand he moved to help her dismount.
Shecould hear the pride in his voice and wished she could see some glaring problemwith his keep, but there did not appear to be one. Wriggling free of his lighthold, she looked around. Everywhere were signs of Ruari’s wealth, from thelarge number of well-armed men to the clothes everyone wore, and Sorcha felther anger return. He was going to make poor Dougal work frantically and worryhimself sick trying to gather money Ruari did not really need.
“Ican see how destitute ye were made by the ransom we took from you,” she said,glaring at him, thinking that Dougal might have been right to say she shouldhave demanded more.
“Simplybecause I have money doesnae mean I must sweetly accept others helpingthemselves to it. ‘Tis mine. I worked hard for it.”
“Aye,ye look worn to the bone by your many labors.” She knew it was not really fairto make his wealth sound like a crime, but she was too angry to care aboutfairness.
Hegrabbed her by the arm and dragged her toward the keep. “I will show ye to yourchambers—“
“Myprison.”
