Brian Murray came up behind them. “M’Laird, he is a bad bit o’ work, that man.” He shook his head sorrowfully. “He has been tryin’ tae overrun oor crofts for years, along wi’ the bandits.”
“When all this is over, I will help,” Clyde assured him grimly. “But first, we have to find him before the wolves eat him.”
“He would likely poison them!” Brian laughed.
Clyde turned to Cora. Heedless of their audience, he kissed her tenderly, then smiled into her deep blue eyes for a moment. “I will bring him back so that you can show your contempt for him,” he told her. “He will be very, very sorry that he meddled with us. I love you, Cora.”
“I love you too,” she murmured. “Come back to me, Clyde.”
Cora watched him ride away with a lightness in her heart. In a contest between Clyde and the baron, she had no doubt who would win, and it would not be Andrew Sutherland!
Clyde found Sutherland’s horse grazing under a tree at the edge of the pine forest, and he dismounted and left his own beside it. The baron’s estate was two miles to the west, but it was easy to become lost in the forest, especially for a privileged man like Sutherland. Clyde was an experienced tracker, however, and soon found his trail because of the crude path he had hacked through the undergrowth.
The baron obviously had no sense of direction, and he had made his way northward, and then curved gradually eastwards and south until he emerged from the forest a few hundred yards from where he had started. Clyde had been able to make much better time, since the baron had beaten an easy path for him, and stopped fifty yards behind him.The man is a hapless fool,he thought, watching Sutherland standing, looking helplessly around him. Clyde advanced stealthily, unsheathing his dagger as he went, and Sutherland heard nothing until the cold kiss of a blade against his neck made him freeze with terror.
“Going somewhere, Baron?” Clyde asked silkily. “If you are making for home, may I suggest you go that way?” He pointed a finger due west, but the baron was too terrified to move his head. Abruptly, Clyde spun the man around and pointed the dagger at his heart, then caught the back of his hair and tilted the baron’s face up to meet his angry, hate-filled gaze.
“You and I have much talking to do, Sutherland,” he growled. “If I were a lesser man, I would make you walk back, but since your horse has not strayed too far away, you may ride him.”
The baron said nothing as Clyde bound his wrists tightly with coarse rope, but he groaned with pain.
Clyde smiled at him. “Does it hurt?” he asked, as he helped Sutherland to mount.
“Yes,” the baron replied, gritting his teeth.
Clyde held the end of the rope and looked at Sutherland with a smug, satisfied grin. “Good,” he said happily.
19
Clyde and Cora, having eaten a sumptuous meal, had spent the evening lying on the sheepskin rug in front of the fire in the parlor, making plans to recapture her castle. Clyde abruptly changed the subject. “Our wedding is next week, Cora,” he reminded her. “Have you had a dress made?”
“I was not sure if there was going to be a wedding,” she pointed out, “but yes, there is a dress, and I think you will like it.”
He sighed contentedly, kissing her forehead. “Milady Cora, if you wore nothing but a sack, you would look glorious.”
“I doubt it,” she giggled.
“Only six more days ’til I can show you how much I love you.” He sounded wistful. “But before that, we must take your castle back. My garrison is back to full strength now, since I have the rest of Sutherland’s men fighting for me, so we should not have too much trouble, and I do not foresee any loss of life on our side, although I cannot speak for them.”
“They took my home,” Cora said angrily. “We should not let them get away with it. I would help you if I could”
“I know,” he said tenderly as he kissed her softly. “But this is man’s work, Cora.”
“I know,” she sighed, then frowned. “And I know it is wrong, Clyde, but but they invaded my home, they took everything from me”
Castle Inchrigg, Cora’s home, was not big, but its massive twenty-foot-high surrounding wall had been built to repel all comers. The only weak point was its gate, and that had been breached by the invaders without too much trouble. In the days following the attack, after her father’s death, Cora had spent many hours blaming herself for being unable to persuade him to fortify it. However, there was never enough money, and although it looked strong and impenetrable, a few rotten timbers had rendered the gate weak and vulnerable to attack. There had only been thirty guards to start with, and those who had not been overcome by the outlaws had escaped through the tunnels with the servants, as Cora had ordered them to. A building could be replaced, but lives could not.
The bandits, amazingly, had repaired the gate, but it remained the weakest part of the defenses and was easily breached by Clyde’s dozen horsemen and the aid of a battering ram. Once inside, they scattered all over the castle, into every storeroom and cupboard, stable and barn, capturing those outlaws who surrendered and cutting down those who tried to resist. The fighting skills of a battle-hardened soldier were far superior to those of an untrained criminal. Before long, there were only eight men left standing, all of them dirty and bloodied, more than half of them drunk. Clyde had lined them all up in front of him and walked along the line with his sword swinging in a circle from his right hand.
“I want the man who leads your band of thugs,” he demanded. “If he is not dead already.”
Without any hesitation, seven of the men pointed to a tall, strong-looking man at the end of the row, who glared at his fellows belligerently with dark, threatening eyes.
“What is your name?” Clyde asked, stepping up to the bandit so that their noses were almost touching.
“Angus Brown,” the man replied gruffly.
“You will spend the next fortnight in my custody, all of you,” he informed them. “Then you will be sent to the High Courts in Aberdeen, where you will be tried. After that, you will no doubt have your necks stretched, and the world will be a much better place without you. Until then, you will have the rats in my dungeons to keep you company. They are always very hungry creatures.” He turned to the captain of the guard. “Take them back to Rosnablane,” he ordered. “And have Brown put in the special cell by the drain—the dark smelly one that always has the most rats.”
