By the time you get this letter, I imagine we’ll have reached Keep Grahame already, or so I hope. The Abbess has written letters to all the clan leaders and one to Astrid and Kyla. I only had time to write one, and I thought I would write to you, Una.
Things are bad, lass. I’m trying to stay positive—we all are—but it’s hard to see the bright side in a dark, dark situation. And I do mean that literally, as we’re leaving in the dead of night. The Abbess does not want our enemy to know that we have escaped.
I have to stop writing. The messenger is leaving with the letters now, and we leave within the hour. Wish me luck.
Your Friend,
Senga
Una rose shakilyto her feet, not quite aware of what she was doing. She gradually realized that there was chaos going on around her. Astrid, Kai, and others were huddled over a handful of letters themselves, reading in a panic. Kyla was sitting down, staring into space. She looked gray.
Una hurried over, waving her letter in the air.
“I take it that ye have all had similar messages?” she asked grimly.
Kai nodded, tight-lipped. “It’s no surprise that Laird Dickson has come for the convent, but I thought we had more time. It’s good that the Abbess has chosen to evacuate, but it’s bad news that she’s staying behind. Laird Dickson wantsher. He wants to make an example of her, to send a message to her allies.”
Una shivered, not wanting to think of what such a “message” could be.
“Let’s discuss this more privately,” Astrid spoke up, her voice clipped. “Come, there’s a hallway behind this room.”
She led the way out of the cavernous feasting room. Frankly, Una felt less comfortable in the narrow hallway than she had in the main room, but she didn’t complain. They had bigger things to worry about.
They gathered in a tight circle; Una, Kai, Astrid, Kyla, Thomas, and a few other important Kenneth men. Every face was grim and set.
“There is good news,” Thomas spoke up. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet over the past few days, and Una put it down to worry over Kyla’s sudden turn of bad health. “We know where the Dickson army is—this Mont Valley. Is it a good place for an ambush?”
“Nay,” Astrid spoke up. She, of course, had lived her whole life in the convent and knew the area like the back of her hand. “It’s a valley, sure, but ye must either scour rocky mountains to get over the ridges or go in through a narrow entranceway. It would be a bloodbath.”
Kai scowled. “We’ll have to wait for them to come out, then. Do they know of the evacuation?”
“In her letter, Senga said that they traveled at night,” Una spoke up. “She said that they wanted their escape to be kept a secret.”
Astrid nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. “This is good. If the Dicksons don’t know their quarry is gone, they’ll bring out their whole force to attack an empty convent.”
“Not empty,” Kyla spoke up. Her voice was wobbly. “The Abbess is still there. I don’t…” She paled further and stopped dead, clapping her hand over her mouth.
“Kyla, love?” Thomas spoke up, an edge of worry in his voice. “Are ye ill?”
She shook her head, then nodded.
“Excuse me,” Kyla choked out and went scurrying off back into the feasting room.
Una heard her retching distantly. Thomas went to go after her, but Astrid laid a hand on his arm.
“See to her later,” she said shortly. “This is important.”
Thomas flushed angrily at that but stayed where he was.
“We’ll post our forces around the convent,” Kai murmured thoughtfully. “Most of us can stay inside to hide our true numbers. We can ambush the Dickson army when they come to attack. Thomas, what do ye think?”
Thomas was not paying attention, shifting from foot to foot. His mind was clearly on Kyla.
Una bit back a sigh. Thomas was their tactician, and it was important he weigh in on this plan. He wouldn’t do that while worrying about his wife.
“I’ll go and see to her,” Una suggested. “Ye stay here and talk, Thomas.”
Thomas nodded, faintly relieved. Una turned and hurried through the doorway that led back into the feasting hall and nearly ran smack-bang into a figure.
