Chapter 16

I vor carried his and Marsi's things out to the barn, where he found Aodán brushing one of the horses. Quickly explaining the

situation and learning that neither of their other two men had shown his face, let alone reported riders, Ivor handed the

bundles to Aodán for the sumpters and began bridling Marsi's horse.

"If Will could see riders," he said, "surely one of our men would have, too."

"Ye'd think so, aye," Aodán said as he shouted for help to ready their other horses. "Mayhap someone surprised them. Should

I send someone to have a look?"

"Send one of Muir's lads," Ivor said. "We must warn them that trouble may come. Marsi and Mistress Hetty will come with us,

so I want you to look after Hetty, the baggage, and the other horses. I'll take Marsi with me and ride on ahead."

Dryly, Aodán said, "And if there be riders coming—Albany's men, say—"

"Then you abandon the other horses but not Mistress Hetty," Ivor said dryly.

He spoke to Aodán's back, though, because the other man was already saddling Ivor's horse and issuing orders to the three lads who worked in the barn.

Seeing Marsi hurrying across the yard with a sack in hand, Ivor finished with her horse, accepted the reins of his from Aodán,

and led the pair outside to meet her, adjusting his sword as he did. His bow was strapped to his saddle, his dirk at his side.

"What did you learn?" he asked as Marsi handed him the sack that she was carrying, which smelled deliciously of baked oatmeal.

"Those are fresh bannocks," she said. "The boys said naught to Martha, but she said they came downstairs in a hurry, snatched

up some bannocks, and ran outside."

"How long ago?" he asked, tucking the free end of the sack under his belt.

" ‘Nobbut ten or fifteen minutes,' Martha said. I told her what to tell your men and also that we feared that the boys might

have gone on ahead of us." She paused there, then added, "Martha said that the woods are boggy and gey dangerous, sir, and…

and she hoped they'd have sense enough to follow the fisherman's trail."

"Where is that trail?" he asked, forming a stirrup for her with his hands.

"The track by the barn will take us to it," Marsi said as he helped her mount. "But hurry, sir. Martha also said that with

the snow melting so quickly, those woods are nearly all bog these days. I'm afraid that something bad may happen and…"

"We'll find them both," he said, mounting his horse. "And something is going to happen to them, lass. I'll see to that."

Hetty was emerging from the alehouse as they rode out of the yard, and Marsi was glad to see her. She knew that Aodán—with

their extra horses, Hetty, and all—would soon be close behind them.

Ivor opened the sack and handed her a bannock, taking another for himself.

They rode as fast as they dared, but although the track to the nearby woods was clear, as the forest thickened around them,

they had to take more care. Marsi followed Ivor, munching her bannock and thinking about the boys.

There were patches of snow everywhere, a few drifts on the narrow track and others beneath openings in the canopy. The light

was dim, although the sun had been peeking through a dip in the hills to the east as they'd left the yard. They were higher

than they had been then, but she saw no sign of sunlight now.

Water gurgled downhill to their left, but they heeded Martha's warning and kept to the mucky path. Sheen on its boggy surroundings

was warning enough of the danger that stepping off the path might bring to a human or a horse.

As the horses picked their way through an icy, half-melted snowdrift that sprawled across the path, Marsi listened for sounds

of movement or talk ahead, although she knew she was unlikely to hear the boys over the horses' sloshing. She also watched

for footprints in the muck and the snow. But everything was watery. Even the horses' hoofprints vanished almost as soon as

she looked back at them.

Then they came to a snowy patch that sloped upward from the path to their right and then downward along a fallen log. Reining in, Ivor gestured to it.

Small footprints followed the log, and Marsi knew he was as certain as she was that they were Jamie's and Will's, and was

as relieved as she was to see them.

He picked up the pace, and Marsi urged her mount after his, trusting the two horses to avoid the bog. It grew less boggy as

they climbed.

When they crested a hill, despite encroaching shrubbery, the path widened enough on the curving downward slope for her to

ease her mount up beside Ivor's.

He glanced at her as she did and smiled reassuringly.

She managed to smile back, and rounding a curve, they almost ran into the boys before they saw them. The two had their backs

to them and had hunkered down behind the tall bushes at one side of the path. Beyond them lay a clearing.

The shrubbery was tall and dense, the ground dryer, and hoofbeats approaching from ahead and to the right suggested that they

had reached the Stirling road.

Ivor motioned for Marsi to stop, and they saw a pair of horsemen ride by at a trot. Neither man as much as glanced their way.

When the hoofbeats faded away and the boys straightened, preparing to dash across the road, Ivor said, "Stop right there!"

When the two startled lads whirled as one to face him, he added, "What the devil do you think you're doing here?"

Straightening and meeting Ivor's gaze, Jamie said, "We're going tae Kincardine, sir. We couldna wait at the inn, because whoever

came would want one of us, and we didna—neither of us—want tae go with them. So we thought we'd hie us tae my uncle at Kincardine instead. Now, belike, we can all go together."

The sense of guilt that had plagued Marsi since the moment she had deduced the boys' plan increased tenfold, stirring her

temper as it did. Fighting to suppress both emotions, she said in a carefully even tone, "Jamie, did you and Will do this

because I wanted to go to Kincardine?"

Eyeing her warily, Jamie said, "We did follow your plan, Marsi, but we had tae go somewhere, and we didna ken where else tae

go. Ye've said yourself, though, that if one wants a thing and others disagree, one must see tae it oneself. Sithee, we did

nae more than ye'd said we all should do."

Marsi shut her eyes briefly, then forced herself to look at Ivor. He was watching her, but as their gazes met, he cocked his

head slightly, listening.

"Riders," he said then. "Above us on the trail."

"We must cross the road then," Jamie said. "We're too close tae it for safety, and it will be easier tae conceal ourselves

in yon glen across the way."

Ivor glanced at Jamie and said, "Wait, lad." Then turning back, he gave the piercing birdcall that he and Aodán often used.

When an echo of it came back to him, he said, "It is only Aodán and Hetty with the horses. We'll wait for them."

Marsi said, "What if the other riders are right behind them?"

"Aodán has just come over the crest, lass. He'd have seen or heard them, and if he had, he'd have returned a different signal. We should be safe enough for the moment. However…" He looked at Will. "Tell us about the men you saw,

lad."

Will's blue eyes widened at his stern tone, and his cheeks reddened. He glanced at Jamie, but Jamie was watching Ivor.

"Will?" Ivor said. " Did you see anyone?"

Redder than ever, Will said, "Aye, sir, and I did go tae look for our two men, but I never saw them." He drew a breath, then

added determinedly, "Them others were no pelting along like I told Mistress Hetty, neither. They had stopped, or mayhap even

had camped there for the night and were but breaking their fast. I couldna tell what they were a-doing from where I was on

me hilltop."

"That doesn't matter, and we won't speculate about what they might have been doing," Ivor said. "How many men were there?"

"Nigh a dozen or so, like I said. So I hied me back tae tell Jamie." He paused and then said bluntly, "Are ye going tae leather

us for running off as we did?"

"I have not decided what I will do," Ivor said, looking from Will to Jamie. "Both of you knew better than to leave, and if

you believed that danger was approaching the alehouse, you should have warned the rest of us."

Jamie said hastily, "We were sure that it was Master Lucken coming for Will or Albany coming for me. Sithee, what we believed

was that if we weren't there, ye could just deny being anyone they might ha' been seeking."

"I see," Ivor said. More sternly, he added, "I am truly to believe that you ran off for our benefit and not because you want to go to Kincardine. Is that right?"

Jamie flushed. "You do like tae put words in a chappie's mouth," he said.

"What words should I have used?" Ivor asked him.

This time Jamie looked down at his feet. When Ivor just waited, he soon looked up again and said, "You are right, sir. We

should have told you."

"Actions have consequences, my lad. If you learn from those consequences, then the actions will not have been in vain."

"I dinna like the sound of that," Jamie muttered.

"I don't suppose you do."

Marsi said, "We can hardly turn back now, sir, not knowing who the men are."

"Agreed, lass. Nor can we take the Perth road. But if my ears do not deceive me, Aodán, Hetty, and the other horses are about

to join us."

Moments later, they could see them, Hetty in the lead and Aodán behind her, leading the boys' horses and the sumpters in a

string behind him. No one else.

His suspicion that something untoward had happened to his other two men grew to a certainty. Unable to do a thing about it

then, he checked the road in both directions to be sure that no one would see them, then hurried the others across.

Although Marsi had expected to see Sir Malcolm's guards soon after they crossed the road, they saw none. Nor did anyone challenge

them as they made their way down the slushy path into the steep-sided depths of Kincardine Glen.

The path ran dangerously close to Ruthven Water, a burn that had clearly begun as a narrow spring from the hill they had descended to reach the road and, full of snowmelt

now, tumbled swiftly over and among icy rocks and boulders. It ran all the way down to the village of Aberuthven, she knew,

and beyond to the river Earn.

Trees and shrubbery grew thick on the glen walls despite their increasing steepness, so guards could be anywhere. When they

at last rounded a curve, Marsi looked back to see with relief that they were at least out of sight from the road.

Ivor and Marsi led with the boys behind them, then Hetty and Aodán.

The narrow path forbade riding in pairs, and the rushing of water deterred quiet conversation, but Marsi found herself wishing

that Ivor would say something. Instead, he was scanning the steep slopes on both sides of the burn.

When the trail flattened out for a time and widened enough for her to move up beside him, she said, "Do you truly have so

little trust in my kinsmen, sir, that you keep watch so cautiously as we go?"

"It is not your kinsmen I distrust, lass, just the one who has the honor to have been brother to her grace, the late Queen.

Sithee, if Sir Malcolm is trustworthy and so certain to stand with her grace's sons against Albany, then why did his grace

send for me and not for Sir Malcolm and a Drummond army to protect Jamie?"

"I cannot answer that," she said, wishing that she could.

"Nor can anyone else," he replied, urging his mount forward when the trail narrowed again.

Ivor kept his eyes on the hillsides, but he knew that such a small party as theirs could do nowt to prevent mischief from

anyone concealed there.

His instincts were alive and sending warnings through his body. He had his dirk in its sheath and his sword across his back.

His quiver and bow were strapped to his saddle, but neither would be of use to him in a surprise attack.

They were well into the glen with no sign of guards, and turning back was not an option. Ivor reminded himself that Sir Malcolm

was unlikely to let harm come to either James or Marsi, especially on Drummond land, so attack was unlikely.

The trail widened again, enough for two, and he glanced back at Marsi. She had been unusually silent, and he saw now that

she was brooding about something.

"What is it, lass?" he asked, motioning her forward.

Urging her horse up near his again, she said, with a wry grimace, "It was my idea to come to Kincardine. Jamie and Will acted

as they did because of that, and because of what I said about doing things yourself when others say no. They lied to Hetty,

too. I did not think that Jamie would ever tell a lie, sir."

Fighting off a sardonic smile as he recalled her previous insistence that she had not lied about being a nursery maid, he said gently, "If I understood them correctly, Will told the lie, not Jamie. You should

appreciate that subtle difference."

She gave him a look, then said, "Perhaps I should, but that only makes me feel worse. What if they had run into Albany's men?

What if whoever is coming from Blackford had arranged for others to approach from the Perth road? Jamie and Will would have run right into them. If harm had come to

them because they'd decided that I was right about Kincardine, it would have been my fault, sir. I do see that."

Gently, he said, "It is not your fault that the lads came this way. They may have chosen sides between us in the discussion

we had on that subject, but they are the ones at fault, lass. I do believe that they were frightened, and trying to protect

themselves and each other. I also think that Jamie wanted to take some control over what was happening to him."

She looked at him then. "But you are gey angry with them."

"Nay, this is mild, believe me, and they should have wakened us."

"Aye, sure, but even if they had, with those men between us and Blackford, and your men not warning us, would we not still

be where we are now?"

" 'Tis likely we would be," he admitted. "But—"

He got no further, for they rounded a curve just then to find armed riders blocking the trail ahead of them. Others swiftly

surrounded them.

"Sir Malcolm Drummond sends his greetings, sir," their leader said to Ivor. "If ye'll follow us, we'll take ye to him."

Marsi recognized none of them, nor did any speak to her, but she reassured herself with the fact that had they meant anything

other than to escort them to her uncle, they would have demanded Ivor's weapons, and Aodán's.

They traveled more swiftly after that and soon reached Kincardine Castle, a formidable quadrangle that crowned what in ancient

days had been a promontory jutting into Ruthven Water, which had widened considerably in its journey down the glen. A nearly

sheer cliff loomed above the castle.

In time, men had dug a ditch to separate the castle from the cliff and the path through the glen, so that the Ruthven Water

forked around it to form a turbulent moat. From the path, Marsi could see that the drawbridge was down.

They crossed it, their horses' hoofbeats muffled by the noisy water, and passed through an arched tunnel into the castle courtyard.

When Ivor helped her dismount, she slid her hand into his and followed the man who had greeted them to the entrance. Jamie

and Hetty followed, leaving Aodán and Will to deal with their horses. Marsi did recognize the elderly porter.

"Follow me, if ye please, m'lady," he said, leading them up the narrow, spiral, stone stairway. "Sir Malcolm awaits ye in

the great chamber. He told me t' say he be gey pleased t' receive ye"—he cast a swift glance over Sir Ivor, Hetty, and James,

who scowled at him—"and your escorts, as weel."

Exchanging a look with Ivor, Marsi followed the old man, only to stop short when he stood aside to let her cross the threshold

into the great chamber alone.

Her uncle sat in a two-armed chair near the huge fireplace halfway along the wall to her right. Sir Malcolm was a slender

man in his fiftieth year and of average height. His brown hair had grayed at the temples, thinned at the crown, and was longer than fashion decreed. He did not rise when she entered.

The only other man in the room stood by Sir Malcolm's chair. He was solid looking with dark, curly hair, of similar age to

that of his host, and richly garbed in a crimson doublet and silk hose. He did not speak, nor did Sir Malcolm present him.

But something in the bold way that the stranger gazed at Marsi gave her pause.

Recovering her wits, she curtsied, saying politely, "Good morrow, Uncle. I hope we have not disturbed your peace by coming

here unannounced."

"You are welcome here as always, my dear. But I will say I could not credit my ears when I learned of your arrival in such

small company. How do you come to be traveling all the way from Turnberry so, my dear, at this season or any other?"

"With good reason, sir," Marsi said, hurrying lightly toward him, smiling in the way that had so often won favor from men

in her life… before Ivor. "Sithee, sir," she added, "we act to fulfill a promise that his grace made to Aunt Annabella on

her deathbed, and we are traveling so by his grace's own command."

"I do not know what you can be talking about," Sir Malcolm said. "Sakes, but that is James with you, is it not, and Henrietta Childs?"

"Jamie is with us by Aunt Annabella's wish and his grace's command," Marsi said. Aware that Ivor had moved to stand beside

her, she added, "His grace asked this man to take Jamie to a place of safety, and we require shelter along the way. I assured

him that Kincardine is just such a safe place, because I know that, as Aunt Annabella's brother, you will do all that you can to protect her young son."

"Aye, sure, I will," Sir Malcolm said, standing at last. "Indeed, I am glad that I came here, although I did so only because

his grace summoned Parliament to meet as soon as possible. I suspect, however, that you've not heard that he means to see

if its lords are willing to extend Davy Stewart's provisional term as Governor. The three years that they granted him to prove

his ability ended two months ago."

"But Davy remains Governor of the Realm until they unseat him," Marsi said. "And they may not. Forbye, should it not be Davy who summons them?"

"His grace is still King, Marsaili. Davy has been ruling in his stead, to be sure. But Davy refuses to summon Parliament.

He fears that its lords will return the Governorship to Albany until he—Davy, that is— inherits the throne. But there, lass, I should not be boring you with politics." Glancing at the man beside him, he added with a smile,

"I am thinking that you do not recognize my guest, Marsaili."

A note in his voice made her focus keenly on his companion as she said, "I do not believe that we have met before, sir."

"Then I have the honor, my dear, to present to you your intended husband. This is Martin Lindsay, Lord of Redmyre."

Tension swept through her, but fighting to conceal her dismay, Marsi nodded to Redmyre as regally as ever Annabella had to

anyone. But she did not curtsy.

Redmyre made her a slight bow, saying, "The honor, m'lady, is mine own."

She swallowed hard. Since anything that she had thought about him would be improper to say aloud, she held her tongue.

Ivor stepped nearer, gently touching her back as he said, "You are misinformed, Sir Malcolm. No betrothal exists between Lord

Redmyre and her ladyship, nor can one ever exist. The lady Marsaili is my wife."

Redmyre bristled angrily. "What is this? Albany promised me—"

Sir Malcolm put a quelling hand on his shoulder and said to Ivor, "You are the one in error, sir. But my niece neglects her

duty. She has not presented you to me."

"I am Ivor Mackintosh," Ivor said. "I am a knight of the realm in service to the Lord of the North. My mother's father is

Captain of Clan Chattan. My father is Shaw MacGillivray Mackintosh, war leader of our confederation."

"So your grandfather is the Mackintosh himself," Sir Malcolm said, nodding. "Welcome to Kincardine, Sir Ivor. I do not know

why you pretend to be Marsaili's husband, though. It sits ill on your knightly honor to act in such a dis honorable way."

"By my troth as a knight, sir, we are man and wife in every way."

"Not so, I fear. See you, Marsaili is a ward of the Crown, and I know that she did not secure his grace's permission to wed,

so we can easily see to its annulment."

"You may try ," Ivor replied. "However, by law, every Scotswoman reaches the age of consent on her twelfth birthday and can marry the man

of her choosing. And she can do that without the consent of her parents or guardian."

"Aye, sure, but my niece is a considerable heiress. Doubtless, that is why you continue this charade. But when the lords of Parliament make Albany Governor again, he will arrange her marriage settlements. In troth, he wields power enough even now to overturn your marriage."

"Perhaps so. But, even he cannot force her ladyship to marry against her will. Scottish law plainly forbids that."

"Her ladyship will do as Albany bids," Redmyre said gruffly. "And if the Kirk be so misguided as to deny an annulment, he'll

not let you gain a groat from the Cargill estates. If you think otherwise, you're right daft."

"Her inheritance means nowt to me," Ivor said. "However, it does mean much to her ladyship, so we'll do what we can to settle

it suitably. Meantime, we will trouble you no further, Sir Malcolm. You make it plain that we are unwelcome here."

"Nay, now," Sir Malcolm said tranquilly. "I've said nowt about leaving, nor would I have you think me inhospitable. Marsaili

is my niece, and my sister loved her like a daughter. Also, James is my own nephew and a prince of this realm."

"Even so, sir—"

"I am no enemy of yours, Sir Ivor. If I have mistaken your character, I will apologize. In troth, my family has had cause

more than once to thank Clan Chattan, so I would be loath to make enemies there. I doubt that Redmyre wants that, either."

Redmyre grimaced, and Marsi muttered to Ivor, "We should not stay."

Sir Malcolm, evidently overhearing her, said, "My people have already told yours where to put your things, my dear." Then,

to James, he said, I hope you do not mean to run away, lad. It has been too long since last I saw you."

James did not reply, nor did his uncle press him to speak. Instead, to Ivor, he said, "We won't sup for an hour yet, but mayhap

you will honor me by coming down a quarter-hour before the others to take a dram of peace with me."

"I'd willingly take a dram with you, sir," Ivor replied.