Assoon as Margaret left, Sorcha turned to the others. “Now, we willnae have verramuch time after she shows herself, so keep alert. And ye are to do your best tolet one or both of Beatham’s guards escape. After all, this plan fails if noone kens we have kidnapped Beatham or if Dougal finds us first.”
Everyonenodded, and she signaled them to move forward. She was impressed by the silentway they moved. At times she was tempted to glance back to be sure her companionswere still with her, but she kept her gaze fixed upon Beatham and the trail shehad to carefully wind her way along.
Themoment Margaret staggered out into the open, Sorcha and her group hurriedcloser. As predicted, Beatham recognized Margaret almost immediately. He criedout her name and started toward her. The full attention of his guards was thenon trying to stop him from racing headlong into a trap. They never saw the trapbeing closed behind them.
Asthey raced toward the three Kerr men, Sorcha realized that her little group wastoo successful, their surprise too complete. If one of Beatham’s guards did notact soon, all three men would be captured, and no one would be able to warn thepeople of Gartmhor. When she was just a few steps too far away to stop theolder, larger Kerr man from fleeing, she screamed out the Hay battle cry.
Theolder man cursed aloud in surprise. With but a few quick glances toward Beathamand the other guard, and then the advancing Hays, he made the judgment she hopedhe would. He turned his horse and galloped back toward Gartmhor. As they closedin on Beatham, the young man guarding him prepared to defend him then frownedin confusion as he recognized Sorcha and Neil. His battle stance immediatelygrew lax.
“Whatgoes on here?” demanded Beatham as Neil took his and the guard’s weapons. “Whyare ye disarming me and Artur? We arenae your enemies.”
“Beat ease, dearling,” Margaret said as she smoothed her hand down Beatham’s arm. “Sorchahas devised a plan that may help us be together.”
“Yearenae going to kidnap me again, are ye?” Beatham asked Sorcha.
“Onlyfor a wee while,” Sorcha replied as she looked toward Gartmhor and watched theguard disappear into the castle. “How long does it take your cousin Ruari tomount and ride when an alarm has been raised?”
“Onlya few moments.” Beatham frowned even as he slipped his arm around Margaret’sshoulders and held her close. “At times he and his men have not e’en taken amoment to saddle their mounts.”
“Good.‘Tis always wise to be at the ready. Iain, will ye and Gordon fetch our mounts,please? We will amble this way until ye can catch up with us,” she said as shepointed southward.
“Yedinnae have your horses with ye?” asked Beatham as Iain and Gordon strolledaway. “How could ye expect to escape with me and Artur?” His eyes slowlywidened as an expression of revelation spread over his face. “Ye dinnae want toescape.”
“Beatham,my dear boy, why would we go to the great trouble of kidnapping ye if we thenallowed ourselves to be caught in the deed?” She winked at her Aunt Neil when alook of utter confusion returned to the youth’s handsome face. “Now, we shallwalk a wee bit faster. We wouldnae wish to appear to be too easy prey.” Shesmiled at Beatham when he cursed softly, gently begged Margaret’s pardon, anddragged his fingers through his hair.
“M’lord,there is trouble!”
Ruarilooked up from the papers Malcolm had spread out before him as George, one ofhis more skilled men-at-arms, burst into the great hall. The man’s agitationindicated that something of grave importance had happened. Although he wouldnever wish anyone any harm, Ruari found the news almost welcome. He desperatelyneeded the diversion of a battle or a chase to turn his mind from constantthoughts of Sorcha, if only for a brief time.
“Arethe English raiding our lands again?’ he demanded.
“Nay,‘tis the Hays,” George replied and, filling a tankard with ale, started todrink, only to have Ruari snatch the heady drink out of his hands.
“Didye say that there are Hays upon Gartmhor lands?” Ruari struggled to control hisrising hopes, but his mind quickly became crowded with possibilities.
“Aye,Ladies Sorcha, Margaret, and Neil. They had but a handful of men with them.”George shook his head. “Margaret stumbled out in front of us, and of courseBeatham raced blindly toward her.”
“Ofcourse,” murmured Ruari, beginning to get an idea of Sorcha’s plan, yet notdaring to believe that she could have found the solution to their problem. “Theyused her as bait.”
“Thatthey did, and she proved a powerful lure for the lad. Artur and I didnae kenwhat was about and tried to stop the lad. Just as we drew close enough to turnhim from his headlong charge toward the lass, the others rushed up behind us.”He frowned and rubbed his hand over his beard-roughened chin. “‘Tis moststrange, but Artur and I didnae see the others and probably wouldnae have ifthe wee Lady Sorcha hadnae suddenly screamed the Hay war cry.”
“Whichallowed ye to avoid being captured, and thus ye could ride here to tell me allthat has happened.”
Georgenodded then took a long drink of ale when a grinning Ruari released his holdupon the tankard. A moment later, George cursed and slammed the nearly emptytankard down on the long table. “‘Twas no trap or abduction, but some game thelasses are playing with us?”
“Thereis a verra good chance of that, although I may weel be letting high hopes cloudmy good judgment.” Ruari clapped his stocky man-at-arms on the back. “Come, wewill climb upon the walls, and ye can show me where this abduction took place.”
Ashe and George ascended to the walls of Gartmhor, Ruari noticed that most of themen on guard there were looking south. There was no tense air of alertness ordanger, simply confusion and curiosity. When Ruari looked in the samedirection, he understood what had his men talking amongst themselves andneglecting their duties to some extent. Beatham’s and Artur’s kidnappers weremeandering along the open fields as if they were simple travelers admiring thecountryside and enjoying a rare sunny day. When their horses were brought tothem, they mounted as if they had no pressing need to go anywhere. Ruaristarted to laugh when it became obvious that several members of the party keptlooking back toward Gartmhor.
“Theyshould have been miles away by now,” murmured George.
“Aye,”agreed Rosse as he stepped up on the other side of Ruari and looked toward theHays. “If they dawdle much longer they may as weel run this way.”
“‘Tisprobably all they willnae do,” said Ruari.
“Arewe going to give chase?”
“Letus stand firm for a wee while. I am interested in what they will do if theythink we arenae going to come and retrieve Beatham.”
