He shook his head and sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair. “I’m not. But you were right, we were unable to find any sign of him after Selkirk. Archie isn’t usually so careful, and it bothers me.”
She’d thought the same thing. “Perhaps you could use a different tracker?”
Jamie quirked his mouth in a half smile. “I used the best. Trust me, if Lamont can’t pick up his trail no one can.”
“Then what do we do?” She started to pace in front of him. “We can’t just stay here and do nothing.”
“We aren’t. I’ve sent a few men back to Blackhouse to see if he’s returned there, Lamont and MacLean are still out searching for signs, and a couple of friends have ridden to Edinburgh to fetch someone who might be able to help find out more information.”
“Lachlan MacRuairi?”
“Bloody hell, Ella, just how often were you listening in on my conversations?”
She decided it prudent not to answer that question. “It’s not exactly a secret. MacRuairi was named as one of Bruce’s Phantoms years ago.”
Jamie wasn’t fooled. “Aye, well, that may be true, but not everyone knows why I might have sent for him.”
“So you did send for him?”
He shook his head. “You are incorrigible. I almost pity Randolph.” His wicked smile, however, suggested otherwise.
“When will you know more?”
“I hope by tomorrow.” Sensing her distress, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a comforting squeeze. “I know it’s hard, but try not to worry too much, little one. For all we know, Archie decided to return home, or he took a wrong path and is turned around.”
Neither of them believed that. Something was wrong, and they both knew it. But Jamie was right. It wouldn’t help to imagine all the horrible things that could have happened. They would have to wait for his “friends” to return with information.
Until then... she had to resist the impulse to run straight to Thommy.Thom.
It wasn’t easy. The next twenty-four hours were some of the longest of her life—especially after MacKay and Sutherland returned from Blackhouse Tower the following morning to report that Archie hadn’t returned there. It was Lachlan MacRuairi they were waiting for now, and it wasn’t until after the bells for vespers had rung that he finally rode through the gate with a handful of the other Phantoms.
They looked like they’d been in the saddle for hours, and if the grim expressions on their faces were any indication, the news was not good.
The men immediately retired to the king’s solar with Jamie—the same room where she’d met with him yesterday. Jamie posted a man outside the door, but she’d noticed the day before that the room also had a fireplace with a chimney, which was shared with the room above. Before the castle had been taken, the third-floor chamber would have been occupied by one of the English nobles—or perhaps noblewomen—in the castle, but fortunately for her, it was empty. She had no intention of waiting for Jamie’s edited and condensed version of what the men had to tell him. It was a little smoky with her head almost in the chimney, but due to the late hour and lack of noise in the yard she was able to hear most of the conversation.
She almost wished she hadn’t.
“An English patrol of men wearing De Beaumont’s arms was seen rounding up men suspected of being rebels near Selkirk and Jedburgh on Wednesday morning after news reached them of the attack on Roxburgh.”
Her heart sank hearing the words from the man she assumed was MacRuairi.
She heard her brother use a vile curse she’d never heard him use before. “Was Archie among them?”
Another man spoke. “We can’t be sure, but it seems likely. The timing fits and the lad’s tracks disappeared not far from where the patrol was seen.”
“They will have taken him to Jedburgh,” Jamie said. “It’s one of the only castles in the area we’ve been unable to take.”
“Aye,” the man she’d identified as MacRuairi said. “That is what we assumed as well. But there’s more.”
Elizabeth braced herself, gripping the edge of the bench she was seated on until her fingers turned white, sensing that what he was about to say wasn’t going to be good.
It wasn’t.
MacRuairi explained how he was able to get inside the castle with a group of villagers and merchants that morning, but there was no sign of the prisoners. Unable to find out any information, he’d had to ride to their contact at Carlisle Castle to learn the rest.
Elizabeth wasn’t surprised they had an English spy, but she was surprised when MacRuairi referred to aher.
“She was able to find out that the men were taken to Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland for imprisonment.”
