His smile was faint and fleeting. “It still wasnae right. For that unkindness, and for this, I beg your forgiveness.”
“Then ye have it. And, I am sorry about Walter, David. I ken that ye loved and trusted him. What will ye do now?”
“Weel, it seems that, because I turned him in as a traitor and helped them catch so many of the others, I will retain most of Walter’s property. The king rather liked Walter’s father and doesnae want it to leave the hands of a Hepbourn.”
“Walter’s mother must be stricken with grief.”
“She is and she has already left for her sister’s for she says she cannae stay here while they murder her son and she cannae stay in the same house with the mon who handed her bairn over to the king as I did. There are a great many things she said but a few made me certain she kenned exactly what Walter was doing and approved. She thought Walter deserved to be a king.”
“But, it wasnae Walter who was to be the king, nor did he particularly wish to be.”
“She willnae heed that and it doesnae truly matter.” He glanced over his shoulder and then gave her a faint smile. “I had best go for they all ken where I am and someone may soon come hunting me down. I would prefer to return to where I am supposed to be without help or an escort.”
“Did ye happen to see Simon?” she asked, inwardly cursing the weakness that made her utter the words.
“Aye, he has just met all three of his younger brothers. ‘Tis quite a reunion, although they had to endure some verra harsh words from Henry. I think I always kenned that there was something wrong with Sir Henry but I could ne’er decide. So, as always, I followed Walter’s lead.” He bowed to her. “Ye will be out of here soon and back with your family. I will see what I can do to send ye some reparations for all the trouble the Hepbourns caused.”
Ilsabeth did her best to dissuade him of that but he would not listen. She decided he needed to do it for his own peace of mind. Although it was difficult to completely forgive him since he was one who helped put her in this cell and send her family into hiding, she did feel a little sorry for him. He had been Walter’s pet and Walter had betrayed him. Not only had the man dragged David into something that would ruin the younger man if it did not kill him, he had turned his back on David in his time of need.
She started pacing again and wondered if she was suffering a like fate. The battle was obviously over, Walter and Henry had been sent to the king and would await judgment, and Simon was meeting his younger brothers for the first time since they had been children together. As far as Ilsabeth could see, she was the only one who was not doing anything. Was it not time for her to be released?
Simon winced as Henry scolded the king for harnessing a great man like himself. He had the feeling that Henry had finally taken that last step into a madness so deep it was no longer possible for him to hide it. It was both humiliating and frightening to watch.
Just as he was about to suggest gagging his brother, for he had already said more than enough to get himself convicted of treason three times over, three young men walked into the main hall. Simon stared at them, sensing that they were familiar, yet not recalling ever seeing them before. It was not until they stopped directly in front of him that he saw the familial resemblance. The gray eyes, the black hair, the bone structures were all Innes.
“Kenneth? Malcolm? Ruari?” When the three young men grinned and nodded, Simon ran his fingers through his hair and just kept staring at them in disbelief. “But Henry said he had killed ye. I began to think the occasional whisper of news about ye was actually about someone else.”
Malcolm hastily told the tale, shocking the king and his ministers. “I confess, it bred a deep fear that we have only just been able to shake free of and come out of hiding.”
“Ye should have stayed in hiding, ye miserable little bastards,” said Henry.
“Nay more a bastard than ye are,” murmured Ruari. “Ye dinnae look so verra threatening now. Dirty and chained, ye are, and I find that most soothing. E’en if we hadnae come looking for Simon and found ye here like this, once I heard of it I couldnae stay away.”
Henry started cursing them and when the king reprimanded him, Henry returned to scolding the king again. Simon directed his brothers to his home for he knew they would not be able to have any sort of reunion with Henry there. As soon as his newfound brothers left, Simon turned his attention back to Henry and vainly tried to shut the man’s mouth. The king finally signaled for the prisoners to be removed.
When a weeping Walter and a still scolding Henry were taken away, the king waved Simon over. In the man’s eyes, Simon could see the same unease, even fear, that he suspected was lurking in his own. There was something about looking into the face of such madness that had one wondering how easily it could affect oneself.
“He made no attempt to deny what he had planned,” the king said.
“Nay, for he thinks he had the right and that we should all see that.”
“That is what is so puzzling. How can he think that? That is where the madness is, isnae it?”
“Some of it, aye. As I think on it, Henry has always been that way, always felt that he was right and everyone else should understand that or be made to. The brutality may come from that, too. I dinnae ken. All I do ken is that he has taken that last step into utter, easily seen madness.”
“He will be punished as the traitor he is despite that. He wasnae always this clearly insane so one cannae say he didnae ken what he was doing. Walter is a different matter. His mother has already begun petitioning the court. She doesnae openly ask for the property back, but makes some wild accusations about David Hepbourn plotting all this so that her poor son would suffer and David would get everything.”
“David couldnae plot his way down the street,” muttered Simon, and the king grinned.
“Nay, he couldnae. He is a follower. I shall just make sure he has the right mon to follow now. And, now, let us speak on the men with Henry and Walter. We didnae get all of them, did we?”
“Nay, sire.” Simon did not really like this particular line of questioning. “Some escaped.”
“Because of the lax attitude of three of my best men?”
“Nay, sire. We were all verra busy subduing Walter and Henry.”
“Of course ye were.” The king sighed. “I am pleased with the ending of this even if I think mercy may have been taken too far. But, the common soldier pulled along into the wrong battle because his laird has ordered it is of no real importance to me. And set that poor lass free.”
