CHAPTER 28
KAITLYN
WELCOME TAE THE BALLOCH DUNGEONS
We got Wilfrey to a dungeon cell and dropped him onto a stone bench. He groaned as they put him down. “This is not comfortable, is it stone? And it is cold, is there no hearth?”
Through the open window rain poured down in a deluge.
Magnus stood in front of the door. “Lady Mairead, ye canna stay with yer husband long, we need ye tae come upstairs tae discuss the matter from yer perspective.”
Wilfred said, “Which is?”
“She was dreadfully insulted, and now she is terribly frightened, and we are all worried that ye will end up in the gallows.”
Wilfred gulped. “But I will not, we are clear about that, correct?”
Magnus nodded. “Aye.”
Sean spoke to the guards.
Magnus’s voice was clipped, I could tell he was very worried.
After speaking to the guards for a moment, Sean said, “Wilfred, can ye tell me again what happened, the guards want tae hear?”
Wilfred said, “I demanded an apology, but he kept… he kept insulting…”
Lady Mairead clutched his hand. “Tis his way. I told ye! Och, ye wouldna listen.”
Wilfred continued, “He grew angry because I… I told him that he was going to be in the history books as the Butcher of Glencoe, maybe that was unfair, but… he lunged at me. I swear he lunged first. I swear it… before I could even draw my knife he was on me.”
Sean said, “Seems clear Wilfred was defending himself, daena ye think, men?”
They nodded and said, “Aye.”
Magnus and Sean met eyes.
Lady Mairead smoothed his hair back. “Daena worry we will solve this.”
Sean said, “Aye, Wilfrey, everyone in the castle heard what he said about Lady Mairead. Dinna ye hear, men?”
The guards nodded again.
“He canna be blamed for goin’ tae the Earl and demanding his apology.”
One of the guards said, “He had tae.”
I held Magnus’s arm as we left the dungeon emerging into the courtyard, where it continued to rain. “What do we do now?”
“I daena ken.” We rushed into a covered passage for shelter. He said, “Will ye check on Lizbeth? I need tae gather the men in the Earl’s solar. We need tae see tae the body.”
“Is this going to work?”
“It has tae work or Lizbeth is goin’ tae hang.”
I gulped. “That’s terrifying.”
He turned and held my hand. “Aye, tis, check on her, she has tae be calm. She must be sensible. She has tae use her reason, I ken she is capable, she must do it. Tell her I will come speak tae her if she needs me tae. She must stick tae the story, Wilfrey has taken a huge risk tae save her life, we need her tae play the part.”
