“The other man’s name is Gawain Chattan. He was imprisoned around the same time as Angus’s father. It appears Chattan is holding him, and expects Angus to help bring down the king.”
Graham’s brows shot up and his jaw dropped. “Chattan? I thought the man had perished.”
“Do you know of him?”
“Aye, there are not many in the Highlands who do not. He is a deranged madman who will stop at nothing to achieve his revenge.”
“Angus did not get a chance to tell me much about him, except that I needed to get away and come find you. Graham, I do not know where they are headed, but he was travelling with Camerons. Does that help?”
“Aye, Lady Annabella, that does help. Come, we must get you somewhere safe.”
Graham took her by the elbow and led her down the path toward his horse. The other men appeared surprised to see her. Among them were the men she had met in the great hall, the Ballochs.
“Where is Angus?” Iain asked.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Graham said. “Tell them what you told me, lass.” He then stepped away from them and back into the wood. She could only assume it was to get a better sense of whether they had been detected.
When Annabella recounted her story, the men all reacted in the same way Graham had—disbelief at first, and then wonder that Chattan had found a way to capture their laird.
“If ‘tis Cameron they’re in bed with, we can draw the rabbit from his hole easy enough,” Robert Balloch said.
“Aye, and then return this Chattan to where he belongs. No man should be allowed to live after what he’s done,” Neville Balloch said as he glanced Annabella’s way.
“What we need now is a plan,” Annabella said. “I watched them continue along this same road a ways ahead. Do you know this country well? They must be encamped somewhere around here, mustn’t they?”
“‘Tis too dark to do anything about it now,” Gregory said. “We must find a place to make camp and continue on at dawn.”
The thought of wasting hours did not sit well with Annabella. Were they not stealthy enough to continue on by the light of the moon? “Surely we can at least locate them, if not attack.”
“What a warrior you turned out to be,” Robert said, and laughed.
Annabella was in no humour for such jesting. “You may laugh at me all you like. I may not be a big, burlish brute like yourself, but I can tell you this, Angus and your laird are in very real danger and I cannot believe you could rest knowing they are in the clutches of a madman. You have said it yourselves, Gawain Chattan is a monster. I have looked into the man’s eyes, and if he thinks for one moment Angus and his father will not cooperate, there would be no reason for him to keep them alive. How will it sit on your conscience if we find the camp in the morning but their throats are slit?”
Annabella’s heart beat hard within her chest. She was riled up by this business, and could not believe the complacency she witnessed in these men.
“Lady Annabella is right,” Iain said. “We cannot waste time here. When Graham returns from scouting, we shall continue on by foot.”
Annabella nodded to him and smiled. The man was wise, and she had built a kinship with him at Finlaggan. She trusted him as much as Graham and Angus.
“We are all clear,” Graham said, emerging from the wood just behind Annabella.
She jumped.
“Perhaps your sons should return to Finlaggan with Lady Annabella,” he said to Iain.
“No!” As she said the word, all heads turned toward her. She would not leave until she was certain Angus was safe. “We had an agreement that I was to be escorted to Linlithgow Palace.” Perhaps that would buy her some time and allow her to remain with them for the time being.
“Considering that the point of you returning was to help locate our laird, and we now know who has him, your services there are no longer necessary. Until Angus says otherwise, you are still a prisoner of the MacDonald clan,” Graham said.
She could not believe her ears. “Angus had agreed to release me!”
“Aye, that he did, on the condition you would assist us in locating Alexander. That is no longer necessary, and it is not my place to determine what becomes of you next. Angus sent you back here to me, and in his absence I say you will return to Finlaggan where you will be safe, until he can decide what to do with you.”
There was no way she could possibly return there and wait until word came of his fate. They were not far from him; she could sense his nearness.
“We cannot waste time or men, Graham,” Iain said. “I do not believe this is the safest place for her, either, but you must agree, we have no choice right now.”
Graham cursed under his breath and raked his hands through his hair. He looked at her with a scowl. “You will wear a plaid to cover yourself, and you will obey me at all times. Do you understand? If I am to be responsible for you, then I must have your full cooperation.”
