And on those words, he rode away.
Gilby could not wipe the grin off his face.
“It’s so lovely to see ye again, miss,” he said, “when ye both did nae follow me home, I kent something were wrong. So, I told the auld Laird to send word to our allies, and then we just sat back and waited to see which way the wind blew.”
Emer tried to sound casual when she replied, “The wind did indeed blow, Gilby, but it was more like a gale from the northern lands across the seas.” She could not stop her voice from quavering when she thought back over the last three days. In such a short time, it felt as though her whole life had flashed past her eyes.
“Did anything tip ye off?” Emer wanted to know as they entered the tower.
Gilby, keeping a wary eye on Emer as she climbed up the spiraling steps leading up to the observation post at the top of the tower, waited until they had safely reached the parapet before replying, “Losh! Where do I begin? Caillen finally put it all together. His logbooks showed a connection between the messengers arriving at our neighbors’ gates to offer them another enticing deal and Campbell or Gawain leaving the keep. And the number of times Gawain or Campbell left the castle compared to everyone else – well – it was as obvious as the nose on me face.”
Thinking back, Emer realized Gawain was probably not aware of how his actions and orders could be so easily traced. He must have presumed everyone went in and out the gates as frequently as he did himself.
Gilby shuffled his feet a bit before continuing, “I told him to act immediately, now that we had proof, but it was as if he could only concentrate on one thing. So, off we went to Nethy...,”
Emer said nothing. She stared over the battlements, her eyes sightless and her mind turning cartwheels. The safety of the clan and castle as opposed to finding her – and Caillen had chosen to follow her. His decision had nearly cost them everything. It made no sense.
“I ken what ye’re thinkin’,” Gilby said, “and I thought it too until I realized this is the first time in his life Master Cai has followed his heart and nae his head. It had to happen sooner or later. He’s had eight and twenty years, miss, and nary a one o’ them has seen him turn his head to the side for any woman. I guess we were due a brief moment o’ madness.”
“I guess both of us were due one,” Emer said sadly.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Caillen met up with his brother, out of sight of the keep walls, inside a dilapidated croft. It had long been their safe house; as children, they would run there and hide when their old nurse wanted them to take a bath or study their books.
The inside of the croft was surprisingly cozy. At the back of the gable, the windows had been boarded up, and there was a strongbox full of supplies pushed against a neat table and comfortable chair. Gawain was perched on it but got up and offered it to Caillen after giving him a Highland greeting. The meeting was not awkward; Gawain had ridden to safety at his brother’s command because the clan and Lairdship had to be kept alive at all costs.
“What next?” was all he said after Caillen had sat down.
“Gilby ordered a messenger to come here. Let’s pit our message against the one Sutherland wrote.”
The brothers sat in companionable silence as they waited for the messenger. After a while, there was a disturbance outside, and Buidheach came in. He was no longer dressed in armor or wearing the insignia of a captain.
“I’m playing messenger today, me Laird,” he said sternly.
“Ye’re to hand this to me faither directly,” Caillen ordered, and then sat at the table and began to write, using a quill and ink from the strongbox.
“Dearest Father and true Laird,
Gawain has been a fool but has come to his senses. He is to accompany the one who carries this message back, as he has one of his own to give. We must make the Sutherland nest of vipers believe they are free to enter the keep.
To this end, ye must send the Sutherland messenger back to the lodge bearing the keys to the castle and a note of most humble submission – and that’s not all. Gawain will tell the messenger to bear his own letter too. In it, he claims no abhorrent conduct on Flora’s behalf will ever stop him from loving her, and to prove this, he will show evidence of my death. He will claim to have assassinated me during our escape, saying she must take it as proof of his undying love.
Fear not that this is beyond belief – Miss Flora is used to thinking men are willing to die and kill for her.
Gawain is going to wrest the Lairdship from you and send for Flora and Sutherland to come. Just go along with it, dear Father. The end is nigh and rightly just.
Your affectionate son,
Clln M -”
“Have ye got yer letter, brither?” Caillen asked.
Gawain did not bother replying. He patted the breast pocket on his jerkin. Both men had cast off the caps and cloak from the Sutherland lodge as soon as the sun had risen in the sky.
“I want nothing from that wretched place touching me skin,” Gawain had spat out.
“Come along, me Laird,” Buidheach said to Caillen, and the three men walked out to where two horses waited. One horse carried a stretcher – the same one on which Gawain had been carried.
