Yet not all the barons had fallen upon the steaming platters, nor all the warriors in attendance. A fair number seemed to be waiting for Gabriel to sit down after he had settled Magdalene into a chair, Seoras guzzling wine and thankfully not noticing.
Cora had noticed, though, seated to her husband’s right and making no move to reach for anything to eat or drink. At least not until Gabriel had taken a seat and reached for his cup, already filled to the brim with wine.
At once those that had appeared reluctant to begin their meal did so, which made Gabriel as certain as he breathed that he wasn’t the only one there who held ill will toward Seoras.
He had sensed it earlier just as he did now, an underlying current of barely contained resentment that seemed ready to boil over at any moment—if only the fire grew hot enough.
Those barons, too, had seen the rotting bodies alongside the road, Seoras savaging his own people.
Mayhap his treatment of Gabriel had turned their stomachs as well, for most of them had been present when he had agreed to wed Magdalene in exchange for coin to savehispeople.
No doubt they had wondered what bargain Seoras would demand of them if they ever needed to ask for anything—och, had they lost family members, too, to his heartless ambition?
“Eat, MacLachlan!” commanded Seoras, Gabriel seeing Cora flinch as if she couldn’t bear the sound of her husband’s raised voice. “We’ve entertainment tae follow the meal and I dinna mean your bonny bride!”
A great roar went up from his courtiers nearby who heard his pronouncement, a wave of excited voices reaching Gabriel.
“Did you hear? Earl Seoras is going tae execute the prisoners tonight!”
“All of them—or mayhap only one or two? I’d heard he planned tae burn them at the stake until the rainstorm came up.”
“Aye, I would have enjoyed hearing their screams—accursed traitors! If Robert the Bruce marches upon us, he’s sure tae find whatever’s left of his men hanging from the ramparts—”
“And their heads on pikes! Do you think he’ll want tae fight then? Ha! He and his men will turn tail and run and Earl Seoras will be right behind tae cut them down!”
“They deserve no less after that night raid on our forces—led by King Robert himself, if the rumor is tae be believed. He’ll not be king of Scots for much longer if the earl has aught tae say about it!”
Gabriel clenched his cup, for it was the first time he’d heard that Robert the Bruce had led the raid cited by Seoras’s messenger—yet how could that be?
Young Iain had said King Robert was among the men who had coursed up the mountain path only two nights past, aye, he’d heard others addressing him as such. Could it have been a ruse?
Gabriel had guessed they knew Iain was hiding behind the rocks, and he had thought they had simply spared his life. Yet what if such mercy had been for another purpose? An intentioned subterfuge for Robert the Bruce—who had already organized his forces deeper into Argyll than anyone had imagined?
“Gabriel,look.”
Magdalene’s voice barely a whisper, he followed her widened gaze to a line of six shackled prisoners appearing at the entrance to the great hall, surrounded by sword-wielding guards.
Two of the men appeared wounded and barely able to walk, while the other four had their heads bowed, their clothing ragged and filthy as if they had been thrown into the dankest of cells.
“Did I not say we’d enjoy some fine entertainment?” Seoras shouted above the crowd, shoving his plate away from him so abruptly that it clattered to the floor. “All of you seated in the center, stand up and pull back your tables! We need room!”
A great scraping across the stone floor sounded as people rose from their chairs and benches to oblige him, forming a haphazard circle.
Was Seoras going to have those men drawn and quartered right there in the hall? Gabriel suspected as much when some of Seoras’s men grabbed a shorter trestle table and planted it right at the heart of the room, while from a side door came two strapping executioners wearing black garb and hoods.
At once several ladies began to scream in horror while Seoras lunged to his feet and left the dais to stride toward the prisoners, Tavish following on his heels.
“Aye, scream! Better that than these bastards are free tae ravage Argyll and throw you in the dirt tae have their way with you! Kill your husbands, burn your homes! What more fitting diversion than tae witness their execution? MacLachlan, join me!”
Sickened that Seoras might wish him to participate, Gabriel pushed back his chair as other barons were summoned to view more closely the impending spectacle. The din had grown deafening from courtiers who jumped upon tables to see better and shouted insults and curses at the doomed men.
Yet he had no sooner begun to rise when Magdalene grabbed his arm, her face as white as death. He could barely make out her words, no more than a choked whisper.
“Gabriel, no, you canna do this! King Robert is one of the prisoners—aye, I swear it!”
Chapter 23
Gabriel felt the breath jam in his chest as he glanced from Magdalene to the prisoners, who were being shoved and kicked toward the center of the room.
