“Thank you, Lachie,” Fraser said, politely but firmly. “But I need trained soldiers for this mission, and you will only get in our way. These bandits are ruthless, and will not hesitate to kill you just for sport. Stay here with your family. They need you more than I do.”
“But M’Laird, I owe ye everythin’!” Lachie was almost weeping. “I—”
Fraser took him by the shoulders. “Thank you Lachie, but no,” he said firmly. “That is my final word.”
Lachie tried to catch him by the arm and Fraser rounded on him, almost snarling in fury. “You are not coming!” he roared. “Do you understand?”
Lachie staggered back, terrified.
Then Fraser strode away to assemble his soldiers. Lachie stood and watched him sorrowfully for a while, then turned away.
Abi was frozen with terror. She could not think straight as she saw all the men leering at her, waiting for her to undress.
“If ye don’t start strippin’ Abi,” Danny said menacingly, “I will have tae help ye!”
Abi began to weep tears of fear. She could not have moved even if she had wanted to.
Suddenly Leana, always calm in a crisis, stepped forward. “I must warn ye, if you are thinking of raping my daughter, Mr. Devine, that she has a disease—a very catchin’ ane.”
“Aye, nice try, hen, but I dinnae think so!” He laughed scornfully. “Ye’re makin’ that up!”
The men erupted into a chorus of jeering laughter, but Leana stayed calm, even though her heart was racing. She was still scratching her spots, and she was about to take the biggest gamble of her life. Leana pulled up one side of Abi’s dress all the way to the top of her thighs, stopping just short of her private place. There was a big patch of inflamed and painful-looking blisters there that matched the ones on their face and arms. They had received these ones by falling in a nettle patch, and they had been quite upset at the time, and cursed all the way home, but now they were glad of the rash, because it added to the authenticity of their disguise.
“My daughter an’ I hae this sickness a’ ower our bodies. I am the same, an’ we got it fae my faither, her granda, who is lyin’ in bed ower there. We hae been nursin’ him, an we caught it.” She pointed to Joe, who was lying on his back with his face screwed up in pain and scratching himself bloody. Leana was desperately sorry for him, and furious with the bandits for making her put her already frail father through all this agony. She pulled her own dress up to show even bigger patches of blisters on both legs. “My faither”—she pointed to Joe—“wis hale an’ hearty three weeks ago, then he started wi’ these spots. Noo look at him. An’ my husband, God rest his soul, died o’ it last week.” She put a hand over her eyes as if to stop herself weeping, looking every inch the grieving widow.
The outlaws gaped at them, aghast.
“Wid ye like tae see my back?” Leana offered. The answer was a collective rumble of refusal, but just to make sure the point had been driven home, she went on. “My faither, in the bed there, cannae walk withoot a stick, an’ he is a wee bit doo-lally.” She touched her forehead to the side of her head. “Doesnae knaw his ain name sometimes.” She sighed resignedly. “But there are six o’ yous an’ only two o’ us, so take yer chances.”
Danny stood up and circled around the women like a bird of prey. He looked them up and down, inspecting them minutely, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Hmmm...” He frowned, then smiled. “Ye knaw, they are both beauties. Look at thae green eyes!” His dark gray eyes stared into Leana’s for a moment, then he hooked his forefinger into the front of her dress and pulled it away from her body so that he could look down the front. “Nice duddies!” he said with an admiring whistle. Leana felt sick, but she held back her disgust so that she would not antagonize the outlaws any more. They were unstable enough already.
She put her arm around Abi’s trembling shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.
“How much dae ye think we wid get if we sold them?” Danny asked.
“Ye cannae sell them!” Lonnie pointed out. “They hae a’ thae things a’ ower them!”
“Pfft!” Archie flapped his hand. “Get big Angus drunk enough an’ he’ll buy onythin’! Onyway, he cannae even see his ain feet!”
“That’s because he’s as fat as a pregnant sow!” one replied, and they all began to howl with laughter.
Danny did not seem to be at all concerned. “Ance we get his siller* in oor hauns we can laugh at him!” he said contemptuously. “He will only use them for a coupla weeks onyway. Efter that they’ll prob’ly die.” His tone was so casual that he might as well have been talking about selling a horse.
This time all the men came up to wander around them, grinning, pinching, touching, and feeling, and Leana and Abi were both trembling with fear and loathing.
Presently the bandits all sat down again and asked for more ale. Several of them relieved themselves in the corner near her bed and Leana decided never to sleep near that spot again, for no matter how hard she scrubbed, she would never get rid of the stench of evil.
Leana scratched one of the spots on her arm and made it bleed into the beer that she was pouring for Danny. He did not see it, but it gave her a savage satisfaction to know it was there.
Eventually he finished the blood-laced beer and stood up again. “Noo, gentlemen,” he said grandly, “if this goods wis perfect, how much wid ye pay for it?”
“Ten pounds for the big yin!” someone shouted.
“An’ twelve for the wee yin!” called someone else. There was a chorus of ribald laughter.
“Ten pounds an’ twelve pounds it is then!” Danny called. “Noo lads, time tae set oot for our wee hidey-hole. Slow an’ careful noo. We dinnae want tae damage the goods.”
