18
The longboats cut through the firth water like predatory marine animals. They had been twenty men on their journey outward, but now the boats bristled with over forty soldiers. Some men had joined their cause in Burwick; others were injured men who had healed well enough to make the crossing. Those still too sick or crippled to fight had been left behind to await a better opportunity.
Finlay peered out into the darkness; he had waited for an overcast and moonless night to make his return. They would be docking their longboats as close to the castle as possible. There would be no more tramping through the undergrowth on the way home. With this many men under his command, he had decided to row further out and then cut back to the rocky beach on the northern side of the castle at an angle where he knew the watch guards would not be able to see their approach. He knew his castle like the back of his hand, and he was prepared to use this to his advantage.
“Och Fin!” Alex had griMced after hearing the plan. “The fouterin’ privies drain into that side o’ the castle seawaters, ye ken.”
A few loud bellows of laughter greeted this observation.
“Alex! What reelin’ are ye preparin’ to go to afterward, ye dandy! Are ye afeared yer lace undies will get all ruined?”
Alex, who never wore anything under his plaid if he could help it, lifted the back of his kilt and bent over. “Kiss me arse, lads! I’ll swim through any water if it means seein’ the sweet green grass o’ Dougal land again!”
He had also picked that place to land the boats because, for some strange reason, Master McDonnell had volunteered to fight with him.
“If ye’re goin’ to reconquer that castle o’ yers, sir, I’m comin’ with ye. I want to see this adventure through to the end.”
Finlay had thanked him. “Master, ye ken that every extra sword gives us a better chance at winnin’ the day.”
“The only request I make in return, sir,” Master McDonnell continued, “is for ye to allow Isla to come with me. She must stay in the boat an’ wait for us there, but I cannae leave her all alone on the island.”
Finlay was torn. He could not turn down the blacksmith’s request to join the fight, especially after the kind man presented him with a sword of his own, so beautifully crafted that it felt light in his hand while being strong enough to remove the head off of a man’s shoulders with one blow, but he was unsure about Isla coming with them.
He was concerned for two reasons: Isla was a maiden and did not belong anywhere near warfare, and she had been acting strangely toward him since they had found the treasure together.
The day after finding the chest, Finlay had gone to the forge to see if Isla was feeling better. Master McDonnell had sighed and gone to his daughter’s bedchamber door once more.
“Er…Isla? The laird’s son is back an’ wants to ken if ye are still peely-wally? Isla?”
Silence. The only sound to be heard was the squeaking of the bed-frame straps as Isla shifted on the mattress.
The blacksmith had sighed. “She’s a wee bit fragile right now, sir. It might be that she has one o’ the many ailments that afflict women at various times.”
Finlay had to double check what had happened during that never-to-be-forgotten night back at the bothy. They would have to get married as soon as the Dougal flag was flying over the castle again. For one moment, Finlay was lost when the wonderful vision of a nursery full of wee bairns filled his mind. He decided then and there that even if Isla was not pregnant, he still wanted to marry her as soon as possible.
“Will she be feelin’ well enough to accompany ye on the boat, Master?”
The blacksmith assured him she would be, and then Finlay left to go back to the harbor. The men would be rowing in shifts, and he needed to calculate how long the shifts should be to reach the castle at the right time—just before dawn.
Not long after, a loud horn was blown to summon the men to the boats. The laird’s son was too busy checking the arms and weaponry to welcome Isla onto the boat, and by the time he saw the blacksmith had sat down next to one of the oars with Isla seated on the aisle walkway bench beside him, it was too late for Finlay to ask her to travel with him. Her doleful face and wan complexion gave him pause, but he put it down to the illness she reportedly had.
Sometimes during the arduous journey, Finlay had found his eyes wandering over to the other longboat, searching for the outline of Isla’s shape against the lumination of the black waves, but her back was always turned toward him, and she did not seek out his face in the same way. He pushed away the thought that maybe he had lost all of her respect when he had asked her to pay for the boatload of wheat; he was a battle-hardened warrior with over ten seasons of war under his belt. He could not afford to lose concentration on the task at hand. He bent over his oar and pulled harder.
In the blackest part of the night, the longboats came close enough to the shore to see if the guard beacons were still burning. A faint light shone out from the castle’s four battlements.
“Ye did well, men,” Finlay whispered, while they waited for the other boat to draw alongside them. “The fires burn low. This means the watch guards have been on duty for nigh on seven tolls o’ the bell. They will be tired an’ hungry.”
The anticipation coming from the men in the boats was palpable. This was the turning point for the Dougal clan. By sunrise, they would know if their attack was successful or if they were doomed to die by the sword at dawn or hang on the gallows in the morning.
As previously agreed, one man would swim to the shore and check that the dungeon’s secret tunnel was still open. Alex handed Finlay his sword after placing a long knife in his mouth so he could use his hands to swim. He had removed his heavy woolen plaid and replaced it with plain wool breeches.
“If I don’ come back or spark the flint, turn back and return to the island, Fin. Ye’ll have to think o’ another way to do it,” Alex said to his old friend. “An’ don’ worry yer head about me.”
It was a stressful wait. The men strained their eyes to see the sparks Alex would send up from the flint he had tied up in waxed leather and tied to his belt when he found the secret tunnel open and unguarded. It was an anxious time because they expected to hear the bell toll for the changing of the watch guards at any moment.
Finlay searched for Isla’s face in the darkness. He would have given his best sword to be able to hold her hand right now. Would she allow him to go into battle without a kind word of hope after all they had gone through together?
When he found her sitting next to her father in the other boat, he was comforted to see she was looking at him, but when their eyes connected, she turned her face away from him, but it was only because the puffing breath of a swimmer was coming back toward the boats.
