“Aye.Cannae ye see it? We would begin the game all o’er again. If we take a Kerr forransom then we all return to where we started.”
“Nay,then we begin that nonsense again. Ruari will have to pay a ransom—“
“Nay,he willnae, for we will allow ourselves to be caught.”
Sorchadid not appreciate the way Neil was looking at her, as if she had gone mad.Poor Margaret just looked confused. It had all seemed so simple to her. It wasthe perfect way to give the power back to Ruari. They would grab the first Kerrthey could, be captured while committing the crime, and then Dougal would beforced to deal with Ruari again.
“Yeare utterly mad,” muttered Neil. “Mad as it is, however, it could weel work.”
“AsI see it, the verra worst that can happen is that we will fail, Dougal willdiscover our plans, and he will be furious with us.”
“Heis already furious with us for pestering him about changing his mind,” saidMargaret.
“Exactly,”agreed Sorcha. “So the worst that can happen is that nothing changes.”
“Buthow do we get hold of a Kerr?” asked Neil.
“Thatis the one weakness in my plan,” Sorcha admitted.
“Onlyone?”
Sorchaignored that. “All I can think of is that we must lurk about Gartmhor until onerides by.”
Shewaited patiently while Neil laughed. It was a fairly large weakness in herplan, so she could understand her aunt’s amusement. It was the only plan anyonehad devised in a fortnight of hard, continuous plotting, so despite itsflimsiness, she felt sure that Neil would agree to it.
“‘Tisone of the worst plans I have ever heard,” Neil said, her voice hoarse andunsteady from laughter. “Howbeit, ye are quite correct about one thing. If wefail all we need to suffer is Dougal being even more furious with us than he isnow. I am certainly willing to risk that.”
“Becauseye ken that, if I succeed, I will have indeed put the power back into Ruari’shands.”
“Aye.We will need more than the three of us, however.”
“Iken it. I thought ye might choose a few of the older men besides Robert.”
“Nay,ye cannae take Robert. Ye cannae take any of the older men who were here topledge themselves to your father and then carry that pledge to Dougal when hebecame the laird. For all they may wish to help you and feel that Dougal isbeing unreasonable, ye would be forcing them to break an oath they have abidedby for most of their lives. I will find a few of the younger men, ones whohavenae become knights or are still young enough to be forgiven or to have itconsidered an error in judgment. All I ask is that ye give Dougal one morechance.”
Sorchaargued that request for a quite a while, but finally gave in to her aunt’sdesire. They needed a little time to gather their small group of kidnappersanyway. She had to reach deep within herself for the patience, however. Nomatter what approach or argument had been used, Dougal would not be swayed, andnow that she had a plan, she wanted to act upon it. In her opinion, trying totalk to Dougal again was simply a waste of precious time.
Herteeth so tightly clenched that her jaw hurt, Sorcha scowled at her brother. Shehad come to the great hall to break her fast with him, only to find him in aparticularly foul mood. Yesterday afternoon Neil had adamantly insisted that shetalk to Dougal one more time, yet she noticed that her aunt and Margaret werenowhere to be seen. She had been left completely alone to try to talk somesense into an already ill-tempered Dougal.
“Dougal,we need to have a talk,” she said, not surprised when he hissed a curse andglared at her.
“Yehave done nothing but talk since ye were brought back to Dunweare.”
“Aye,and ye havenae even tried to listen. I dinnae think I have been able tocomplete more than one full sentence ere ye start bellowing and then leave.”
Toher astonishment, he said nothing, just stared at her for several minutes witha look of concentration on his face. Some of the anger eased out of hisexpression. He looked ready to listen to her, but she did not let her hopesrise too high. Listening to her did not mean he would agree with her.
“Iken what ye are going to say,” he finally argued in his defense.
“Aye,there is a good chance ye do, yet that doesnae mean ye shouldnae do me thecourtesy of listening to it anyway,” she said.
“Weel,then, say it and be done with it.”
“Ifthat is how ye mean to act, then I need not pretty the words up. It is wrong ofyou to keep me, Neil, and Margaret from the men we love and who want us.”
“‘Tismy right as your laird to decide who ye can and cannae marry.”
“TheHays havenae been that strict since long before our father’s father’s time.”
