Once a squire took their horses, Andrew escorted her to the great hall. For the time of day, an unusually large number of people were gathered inside. The laird’s high table was occupied by what Keely assumed were his captains. The lower benches were also filled with men and some women.
“What is happening?” she whispered to Andrew.
He shushed her. “Listen and learn.”
“We canna wait any longer to launch a counter attack,” a bearded man at the high table said, pounding his fist on the table for emphasis. “Didn’t the good Lord demand an eye for an eye? Well, I propose two Sutherlands for every MacKay that died.”
“Bloody cowards,” someone yelled from the lower ranks.
“Murdering women and children…” a woman added. “My sons are gone. I canna find my husband.”
Sutherlands?What little news from the outside world had reached her ears while in residence at Dunrobin, surely, she would have known if her host was at war with the MacKays. Servants had loose tongues.
“My daughters have been kidnapped.” An older woman stood up. “Both of marriageable age, both lovelier than any lasses a Sutherland devil could buy.”
The crowd responded loudly, and Keely couldn’t keep track of the many conversations going on around her.
“Where is the laird?” she questioned Andrew again. “Shouldn’t he be here?”
The answer came when Andrew pulled her aside to make room for the retinue of tartan-clad men to pass by. At first glance, Keely thought John was at the front of the line. But once the light-haired man took the laird’s chair at the high table, she realized her mistake.
Though Alexander Joseph MacKay favored his elder brother in many ways, his strong jaw and sharp eyes were unmistakable, even at a distance. She sucked in a shaky breath, her body quaking with fear—even the generous sized hall didn’t seem a big enough space for her to share with Alex. The gray stone walls were beginning to close in all around her. She struggled to stay focused.
“What is it?” Andrew gripped her arm. “Ye’re as white as an egg.”
“Am I seeing a ghost?” she asked. “Or is that…”
“Settle down,” Alex’s deep voice penetrated the room. “Speculation willna bring back our kinsmen.” He motioned for everyone to sit. Once the room quieted, he continued. “We’ve captured a half dozen Sutherland warriors. There is no mistaking their clan. But proving a direct link to the earl would be impossible.”
“And how did ye reach such a conclusion?” someone asked.
“Logic,” Alex offered.
“Logic? Ye’ve spent too much time with the philosophers in Rome,” the man shot back, obviously unconvinced.
Keely heard the men around her snicker.
“True,” Alex agreed. “But I’ve also learned to study my enemy’s motives before rushing to judgment. What would the Earl of Sutherland gain from this attack?”
“Satisfaction,” the man at the lower table offered.
“A plausible answer,” Alex said. “But wouldn’t he risk too much by acting so carelessly without cause?”
“TheBattle of Druim na coubis reason enough. The bastards have waited to avenge their clansmen.”
Alex stood and walked around the high table, then stepped off the dais. He approached the man he was speaking to. “Do ye no think I wish the reason were so obvious? Twould be a gift from God to have a justifiable grievance to march outside, climb on my war horse, and ride to Dunrobin at the head of our army—and take back the honor the Sutherlands have stolen from us. Answers to hard questions are rarely found in the open.”
“I can name three…”
“I’m listening,” Alex said.
“Neil MacKay, Morgan MacKay, and Angus Murray.”
Keely knew MacKay clan history well, for her father, Laird Oliphant, had pledged dozens of his own warriors to help defend the former MacKay chieftain from the attack perpetuated by his own cousins thirty-two years ago.
“The Earl of Sutherland dinna ride at the head of his army,” Alex pointed out. “He simply took advantage of a situation—pledging some silver and warriors to help stir the shite pot. What better way to defeat an enemy? The eastern princes saythe enemy of my enemy is my friend, so long as it serves their purpose. The earl wanted the MacKays to destroy themselves.”
The room grew eerily quiet.
