Chapter 21

G iff and Ranald shouted orders to their men, and both ships turned quickly, with oarsmen on one side backing water while those on the other pulled hard. Within minutes, her sail full, the Serpent was heading back toward the Inner Sound.

As they emerged from Kyle Akin, the narrow passage between Loch Alsh and the Sound, Giff knew that men on watch at Duncraig could see them but would not realize they were under pursuit. And when they did, there would be naught they could do, because without a galley in the noust, they were stuck where they were.

Others might also see, but if Donald had sent for Mac-Lennan of Duncraig, he had sent for other nobles, too. In any event, one could not expect any Islesman not threatened by the Lord of the Isles to attack him or to defend anyone under his attack.

“Will Donald pursue us?” Sidony asked, startling him out of his thoughts.

“I don’t know,” he said, trying to sound confident. “I think not. Ranald will do what he can, and he wields strong influence with Donald. I think he’ll persuade him that I’m no threat, and they’ll let us go in peace. I’m more worried about Fife.”

She was looking past him, and her expression suddenly changed. Turning, he saw two ships emerging from the shadow of an islet at the narrowest part of the Sound.

“Those are Fife’s longships, aren’t they?” she said.

“Aye,” he said, and for the first time since the earliest days of his training, he felt fear that chilled him to the bone, fear for her. The longships were too close to allow him to return her to the safety of Duncraig.

“If Duncraig is impregnable . . . ,” she said.

“There’s no time now, sweetheart.” He fought to sound calm.

“Not even to get us all inside? I ken fine that you want to protect the . . . the cargo, but surely all these people are more—”

“When I said ‘no time,’ lass, I meant the people. Remember, those ships are lighter than ours and much faster. Moreover, the wind is coming at us broadside, which also favors them. They would be upon us before we could get this ship into the noust, let alone get all of us into the castle.”

“Then, what—”

“I need to think, not talk,” he interjected. “I want you to go into our cabin with Jake and bolt the door. When the fighting starts, I want you both to get into the hold where I found you, pull the trap shut, and stay there until I come for you.”

“No, I’ll not—”

“You will, or when this is all over, I swear I’ll teach you to obey me in a way you won’t like,” he said fiercely, terrified by the images flitting through his mind.

She did not say another word, just turned on her heel and walked away.

Although he wanted nothing more than to call her back to him to hug her, hold her tight, and assure her that everything would be all right, he watched her instead until she remembered Jake and called the lad to her.

Satisfied that they would be safe as long as he won the forthcoming battle, and trying to persuade himself that neither Fife nor de Gredin—if by some horrible mischance they won—would have cause to harm either Sidony or Jake, he turned to issue orders to Maxwell and the men.

“What’s this, then?” Jake demanded as Sidony bolted the cabin door. “I dinna want to stay in here. I want to see what happens. Sakes, I’m old enough to fight, too, if they need me,” he added stoutly.

The top of his head barely reached her shoulder.

She said calmly, “I’m sorry, Jake, for I’m sure you’re right. But I know that if they do start fighting, I’m going to be scared out of my senses. I’ll need you then, and Sir Giff very kindly said I could keep you with me because you did such a good job looking after me before, during the storm. Still, if you want to go and tell him that you’d rather fight, you must do as you think best.”

Jake stared at the bolted door as if he could see through it, grimaced, and turned back to say casually, “I expect I’ll stay then, so ye needna fear nowt.”

Deciding it would be best to get the worst out at once, she said, “He did say that when the fighting starts we should hide in that wee hold where you found me.”

Jake’s eyes grew big. “Nay, then, there’s boggarts down there!”

Feeling much the same way, if not utterly revolted by the thought of returning to that dark, uncomfortable hole, Sidony said, “We need do nothing until they do start fighting. Mayhap we will feel differently about it then.”

“Nay, then, we will not,” Jake said firmly, glowering at the trapdoor. Then, abruptly, his gaze shifted to the open porthole over the table. “D’ye think I can see them ships from yon hole?”

“Not that one,” she said. “I’ve not tried to look out, but they were off the larboard side before, and that hole is on the steerboard side. Also, your da’ may see you there if he looks back.”

“Nay, for he’ll be a-watching o’ them ships,” Jake said. “But one o’ the oarsmen might see me, I expect. Still . . .” He looked at the other port, over the washstand. The stand itself was only a shelf big enough to hold the basin, with a pocket to hold the ewer. When not in use, the basin hung on a hook beside it.

Sidony said nothing. In truth, she wanted to know what was happening as much as he did. The logical thing was to open the cabin door, but she wanted neither to bring Giff’s wrath down on the two of them nor to distract him from the forthcoming battle just as, or when, it transpired.

“Could ye look out that one?” Jake asked. “Ye’re taller.”

She opened the shutter and latched it to the wall. “I can see straight out,” she said. “But, with the shelf in the way as it is, I’m not tall enough to see much ahead.”

“Can ye boost me up there?” he asked. “I could look out if ye’d hold me.”

She was not sure the shelf would hold him, but she could hear a commotion now, with Giff’s voice roaring “Weigh enough,” as others shouted in a din of unrecognizable voices. In the end, curiosity outweighed caution.

“I’ll try,” she said. “Take care, though. It may be too weak to hold you.”

She made a cup of her hands and let him step into it, but as she straightened to lift him, the shouting grew louder and, with a cacophony of scraping, crashing noises, the entire ship jolted to a halt and shuddered, flinging them both sideways.

Jake had his hand on the rim of the porthole, so when Sidony let go of him to keep herself from crashing into Fife’s kists near the door, the boy was able to push himself away from the shelf and land with astonishing lightness on his feet.

As Sidony straightened, she saw the bow of a longship gliding alongside and quickly moved to shut the shutter.

“Did anyone see you?” she asked.

“Nay, nor I didn’t see any o’ them,” he said indignantly. “What were ye thinking to let go o’ me all in a blink like that?”

“I couldn’t help it, but they mustn’t see either of us, Jake. Only think if someone decided to threaten us in order to make Sir Giff give them this ship.”

“Ye’re no’ going to make me get into yon hole,” he said.

“We’ll open it,” she said. “Then if we do change our minds—if someone tries to kick down the door . . .” She let him fill the rest in for himself.

Nodding, he moved to open the trap as pandemonium erupted outside.

Until the last moment, Giff had harbored a faint hope that Fife and de Gredin would hesitate to attack in MacDonald’s waters, but the two longships had flanked the Serpent , coming right alongside her, barely giving the men time to ship their oars. Then, using grappling hooks, the enemy began lashing the boats together.

Giff’s best warriors were at the bow, swords already drawn. As he drew his, he saw that others had bows and arrows, stones, whatever they had thought to bring aboard as weaponry. But, in truth, he knew they would depend more on their swords and hand-to-hand combat. They were not his own lads, but they were Sinclairs and thus utterly proficient, and he knew they had trained just as he and his men had.

His sword at the ready, he moved swiftly onto a bench, fighting his way steerboard toward what had been the lead longship, looking for Fife or de Gredin. He had cut down three of the enemy without seeing either of their leaders.

Rob, who was one of the finest swordsmen he knew, had said the earl was a fine one, and Michael had warned him not to think de Gredin would be any less. Seeing neither man, he wondered if they could be on the second longship.

Men kept coming, keeping him busy, but his own lads were holding their own. Seeing Hob Grant engaged against two from the second longship and Wat Maxwell wielding his sword like a fiend against two others, he grinned, thinking back to all the earlier concerns about Maxwell’s trustworthiness.

Even heavily outnumbered as they were, Giff’s men had one big advantage in that their gunwales were three feet higher than the others. As long as they could keep most of the enemy on their own ships and diminish their numbers, they had a chance.

Sitting on the lower bed, covering her ears against the din, and staring at the floor in an attempt to calm her nerves, Sidony sensed movement to her right and looked up to see Jake on the table, his wiry body halfway through the porthole.

Leaping to her feet, she grabbed him and pulled hard.

He slithered back inside, his eyes alight with excitement. “They be fighting summat fierce, me lady, and I can near touch yon stempost. Ye should see ’em!”

“Did anyone see you?”

“Nay, they be looking to nowt save other men’s swords or fists. Arrows and stones be a-flying, and they’ve lashed the boats together, this side at least. I’m guessing the other is the same, and they jump about from boat to boat.”

“Did you see Sir Giff?”

“Aye, he dropped about ten o’ their lads wi’ just a few strokes o’ his sword.”

“Ten?”

“Mayhap no’ so many as that, aye, but a fair lot o’ them. I’m going to look again . . . unless ye want a peek yourself,” he added with visibly reluctant generosity.

She did want to look, but she shook her head. If the enemy saw Jake, they were unlikely to act, but if any of them saw her . . . She shut her eyes at the thought.

Returning to the porthole, Jake slid his top half out again, but a moment later, he popped back in. “Me lady, his lordship’s yonder.”

“Do you mean Lord Fife? We know he is there.”

“Aye, but he’s lying all folded up by one o’ their bow kists, which is what I’m a-looking down at, ye ken. He looks like a bairn hiding when his da’s got a belt in hand. Sithee, his arms be over his ears, only . . . I think his hands be tied together.”

She had heard men speak of Fife’s cowardice on the water, but she had never heard any suggest that he was a coward in battle—a bad tactician, yes, but a skilled and formidable swordsman. Doubtless, to be in the thick of such pandemonium with one’s hands tied would terrify anyone, but stirring up sympathy for Fife was difficult.

“We can do naught to help him, Jake. Perhaps you should come back inside.”

“Did I no’ tell ye I can near reach their stem? If ye’ll steady me, I can get to him. By me troth, I can. He were kind to me. I dinna want them villains to kill him.”

“They may kill you instead. Did you think of that?”

“Aye, sure, but nae one’s looking, nor will they care if they do. Every one o’ them be too busy amidships now, looking out for hisself. I’m going to help him!”

He turned back and was two-thirds of the way out before she collected her wits, but as she grabbed one leg, he got the other foot on the rim of the porthole.

Remembering how heavy he was, she realized as he pushed forward that if she held him she could lose him. Letting go, she scrambled onto the bench instead, meaning to help all she could, but she dared not put her head out as he had. She could only watch as he leaped to the stempost of the longship and scrambled down.

When he landed she could still see his upper half, so doubtless he had jumped down onto the bow locker he had mentioned.

He looked back then and pointed. It took a moment to grasp his meaning, but she realized he was pointing toward the cabin door and could not get back in any other way. He vanished seconds later, clearly confident that she would help.

Fife had never known such terror. It had been frightening enough to wake up and find his men all dead and himself in the clutches of a madman, for surely de Gredin had to be mad to have done all he had done. But his men were no mere mortals, either, for no mortal could have rowed as hard or as long as they had and still stand to fight the way they fought now.

Lying there by the forecastle storage locker, helpless, with the odor of smoke from a hastily covered firepot assaulting his nostrils, his only hope was to make them all think he was just another dead body in the gory chaos erupting around him.

“Me lord, be ye dead or still a-breathing?”

The youthful voice sounded close to his head. Easing away the arm covering that ear and then that eye, he found himself looking at young Jake Maxwell.

“Bless us, what are you doing here, lad?”

“I’d ask ye that, too, me lord, but I’m thinking we’d best get away from here afore we chat. I’ve me wee knife if ye’ll let me at them ropes.”

Fife did not argue. Getting away sounded like an excellent idea, especially as he had no idea what had happened to his sword and had no other weapon to defend himself. As it was, a stray arrow or rock could mean the end of him.

He could scarcely believe that none of the men fighting wildly around them were paying either of them heed. But the lad remained as cool as if he were in a cottage somewhere about to have his supper.

When Fife was free, Jake said, “Ye can get onto the Serpent just yonder easily enough by climbing up from the longship’s gunwale and over hers. I think her ladyship’ll let ye into the master’s cabin then, and I’ll be along directly, m’self.”

Keeping low, Fife moved with alacrity toward the gunwale. Most of the fighting had moved amidships and sternward, and if anyone noticed him, he saw no sign of it. Even if someone did, nearly everyone would recognize him and as he was unarmed, none were likely to concern themselves with him.

Stepping to the longship gunwale, he leaned forward to grab the first step of the Serpent ’s and hoisted himself up and over.

When he saw Captain Maxwell lying near the helm, clearly injured or dead, he hesitated briefly, then hurried to the cabin door and knocked on it.

At the first rap, Sidony shot the bolt back and lifted the latch. Seeing only Fife in the doorway, she said anxiously and without ceremony, “Where’s Jake?”

Fife looked back and said, “I thought he was right behind me. His father is hurt, yonder. No, don’t go out there, mistress. We can accomplish naught thereby, and someone might decide we’d make fine hostages.”

“But Jake!” When she tried to push past him, he stopped her.

“He’ll come if he’s coming, for he’s a brave lad. I don’t know what kept him, for no one heeded us whilst he released me. But we cannot count on that now.”

He stepped inside, and as he did, she whisked past him, disgusted with him and thinking only that if Maxwell was hurt, Jake might refuse to leave him.

As she stepped outside, Jake jumped over the gunwale from the longship and ran toward her, casting anxious glances forward as he did and muttering, “Get ye within, me lady. Sir Giff will flay us both if he sees us!”

He hadn’t seen his father, and knowing in that instant that Fife had been right to insist they keep out of sight of anyone who might think a hostage could aid him, Sidony grabbed Jake by the arm and hauled him back into the cabin.

She said, “I was looking for you, you wretched bairn. What took you so long?”

“I were just tidying up so they wouldna think o’ his lordship right off.”

“Bolt that door again, will you, lass?” Fife said from the table nook. “I’d as lief we receive no unwelcome visitors.”

Obeying but knowing she would be unwise to trust him no matter how badly he’d been treated, she said warily, “How came you to be tied up as you were?”

“They killed all my men at Wick Bay after some of our ships grounded,” he said. “Since then, I’ve been a prisoner on that longship. I should tell you whilst I can that I had naught to do with your abduction, my lady. De Gredin simply seized what he saw as an opportunity to further his own cause. You see, although he told me he serves the Pope, apparently he serves other, much more villainous masters.”

Surprised but still wary, she said, “He told you that he serves the Pope?”

“Aye, he sought my aid to help him restore something his holiness believes belongs to him. De Gredin’s group has been looking for it now for many years, and I agreed to help them in the hope of finding a sacred item that I’ve been seeking.”

“I see,” she said, believing he spoke of the Templar treasure in both cases but knowing she could not say so in front of Jake—or indeed, at all—and wondering why Fife had called it sacred.

“Those men are killers, Lady Sidony, every one of them. De Gredin told me each of his men will die for him or for their terrible organization. If one of them failed to obey him, de Gredin would kill him without compunction. I thought I was a ruthless man, but these—they call themselves ‘assassins.’”

“I’ve never heard that word before,” she said.

“’Tis an old word from the Crusades, de Gredin said. It refers to a group formed to kill heads of tribes or states that displeased its leader. Since the only way one could get close enough to kill such powerful people was to die in the attempt, they were, and still are, promised great rewards in heaven just for trying. If they win today, I fear we are all doomed. They will not care that you are a lass or that I am who I am. Bless us, though, I should be out there with a sword in hand.”

“Don’t be daft,” Sidony said. “Both sides would believe you their enemy.”

“Are you looking for me, monsieur ?”

Whirling, sword slashing upward, Giff deflected a savage blow before he recognized de Gredin behind it. The man had come upon him from behind, taking advantage of the exact moment that Giff dispatched an opponent, to attack him.

“You should have killed without warning me first,” Giff said, leaping to the attack with a daring thrust.

Parrying it with a blow hard enough to make Giff’s sword ring, de Gredin said, “Ah, but that would be unsporting, would it not? And I do so enjoy le sport .”

A shout from the bow raised other shouts, and Giff heard Hob Grant’s voice above the others, bellowing, “Ships ahead, sir!”

De Gredin glanced forward, and Giff took his moment, bringing his sword up under the other man’s with all his strength and sending it into the sea.

“Yield,” he snapped as de Gredin looked at him. Instead the man leaped at him, but Giff ducked, lowered his blade, and with the sword’s hilt still in one hand, threw both hands up and heaved de Gredin into the sea, as well.

All around him, men were looking at the ships heading toward them from Kyle Akin. One was well ahead of many others, and he narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the leader’s banner, hoping it was Ranald and not more trouble.

The banner was white. The device was red, a heart with a nail piercing it.

The MacLennan banner.

Sidony heard all the shouting but could make out no clear words.

Fife, still clearly recovering from his ordeal, sat on the aft bench with his forearms on the table, apparently contemplating his folded hands.

Jake stepped on the other bench and put his head out the porthole.

“Is that how the lad came to find me?” Fife asked Sidony.

“Aye,” she said. Then, realizing that she had not been treating him with the respect he doubtless expected, added hastily, “my lord.”

He gave her a wry smile. “My enemies would think this dreadful voyage no more than a salutary lesson for me. I’d not blame you if you were one of them.”

She thought it better not to reply to that.

Jake pulled out of the porthole. “There be ships coming, hundreds of them!”

“Hundreds?” Sidony said doubtfully.

“Aye, well, more than I’ve ever seen at once afore.”

“’Tis Donald then,” Fife said. “De Gredin will not wait to meet him with only two longships. The others he had all sank or wrecked in the storm.”

“Coo, the first one be a-flying a banner like ours from Sir Giff’s mam,” Jake said. “And them what attacked us be a-fishing one o’ their own out o’ the sea.”

Sidony had grabbed the bolt with one hand and the latch with the other before she recalled Giff’s threat to teach her obedience in some dreadful way if she and Jake did not hide themselves in the horrid little hold until he came for them.

As she hesitated, Jake said, “The one they fished out be the man as did come to the harbor wi’ ye that day, me lord.”

“De Gredin,” Fife said in a near growl. “I hope he drowns.”

“Aye, well, he might yet,” Jake said. “They be pulling him onto the boat ye was on, and they’ve untied it from this ’un. I think they’ll all be a-going now.”

Heavy pounding on the door made Sidony jump, but she threw the bolt and opened it to Giff. Catching her in his arms, he pulled her close, murmuring against her hair, “Mighty quick with the door for someone hiding under the floor, my lass.”

“Aye, sir,” she said. “Jake said that de Gredin fell into the sea and that the lead ship bears the MacLennan banner. Is it your father?”

“Sakes, it is well nigh every man in the Isles, I think, but my father is in the lead. What the devil is he doing here?” He pushed her aside and stepped between her and Fife, who had come to his feet.

“ Pax , MacLennan,” the earl said, extending a hand. “Although you don’t know it yet, I owe you a debt of gratitude, because de Gredin was holding me prisoner. Had Jake Maxwell not cut me free, I’d still be tied up on de Gredin’s longboat.”

“I see that I’m going to want to hear this tale,” Giff said with a look first at Jake and then at Sidony that boded well for neither. “Just now, though, my lord, if you truly want to express your gratitude, I’d ask you to come with me to the stern hold. This way, and quickly, if you please.”

Clearly curious, Fife followed him. Sidony and Jake followed, too, and she saw that both ships flanking the Serpent had pulled away. The one on the larboard side was in difficulty, having plainly sprung numerous leaks, but as its oarsmen yelled for help, de Gredin’s ship pulled rapidly away, raising its sail as it went.

Giff motioned to two men to follow him and Fife, and shouted to Hob Grant, “Keep an eye on the men in that sinking boat and pull out anyone who needs help. Where do you think you are going?” he added sternly, looking at Sidony and Jake.

“With you,” she said firmly.

“Aye,” Jake said just as firmly.

Giff hesitated, then said with a gesture, “Jake, your father was injured, yonder. Men are seeing to him, and he said he just clouted his head, but you—”

He got no further, for the boy had spun on his heel and dashed away.

“Come on then, sweetheart,” Giff said. “My lord, I am Giffard MacLennan, and this is my lady wife, who is the daughter of Macleod of Glenelg.”

“I know who you are, Sir Giffard. Where are you taking me?”

“To see what I believe you have been hoping to see,” Giff said.

Sidony nearly gasped in her astonishment, but she followed them silently down into the stern hold, to the crate that had interested her so at Duncraig.

Giff told the two men who had followed them to open the stern port.

“Good,” he said, peering out. “Men can see us as clearly from de Gredin’s longboat as from Donald’s flotilla. My lord, we’d be glad of your help with this.”

“What do you mean?” Fife demanded. “What do you mean to do?”

“To push it into the sea,” Giff said. “It’s served its purpose, and as I am now a married man, I do not want the world hunting me to see what I carry on my ship.”

“But—”

“You there,” Giff said to one of his men. “Open the crate so his lordship can see for himself what it contains.”

Without a word, the man grabbed a pry bar and detached the lid.

Sidony, already biting her tongue, now held her breath.

“Bless us, but this is just rubble!” Fife exclaimed.

“Aye, sir, and I mean to tip it into the sea. Have you any objection?”

She exhaled, glad she had managed not even to squeak in protest.

“None, if it contains only what I can see, but where is the—?”

“This is the only large crate aboard,” Giff said. “You have my word that it is all we carry that might interest you, but you may search the ship for yourself if you like. As I said, I’d like to end this farce here and now. Will you help me?”

“Then it was a damned ruse,” Fife said with a grimace.

“Call it whatever you like,” Giff said. “I’m told that you and your men spent most of the past year making nuisances of yourselves to annoy a number of folks. Is it any wonder if some of the victims of that harassment saw fit to pay you back?”

“But what will you accomplish by pushing it into the sea?”

“Thanks to your pursuit, Donald has also taken interest in my cargo—”

“Bless me, we thought you were taking it to Donald!”

“I had no such intent,” Giff said. “But, knowing you were after us, he came to meet us, determined to see it. I turned back when I saw him, so doubtless he now thinks much as you did. If he sees you help me push it overboard, he is less likely to go on believing such stuff, whilst de Gredin will think I’m dumping it to spite him .”

“I’ll help,” Fife said. “Mayhap de Gredin will return and try to retrieve it from the sea. If his men want to die serving him, let them, or let Donald hang them all.”

Sidony said nothing, but she knew now why Giff had sent Jake away. The lad would have had no cause to conceal his shock at seeing only rubble in the crate.

“Fasten that lid down,” Giff told the man with the pry bar. “They are close enough to see what spills out.” A short time later, with a great splash, they sent the crate to the bottom of the Sound, then shut and locked the stern port.

As they made their way topside again, Giff said to Fife, “’Tis a fine ship, my lord. I expect you’d like it back again now.”

Fife winced. “I should hang you for stealing it, but in troth, I don’t want to spend any more time on the water than I must to get home,” he said. “Also, as I said before, I do owe you a debt of gratitude. Mayhap, you and I and Donald can draw up an accord that would allow you to keep her here in the Isles to serve Scotland.”

“Fair enough,” Giff said. As they stepped into the open again, he saw that his father’s longboat had come alongside and the laird was boarding the Serpent . “Are you acquainted with my lord father, sir?”

Before Fife could reply, MacLennan strode forward and gripped the hand Giff extended, only to pull him into a bearlike embrace. “Sakes, lad,” he said, “ye could ha’ knocked me down with a broom straw when I saw yon banner.”

“I was surprised to see you, too, sir, leading all the others. I’d thought—”

“I ken fine what ye thought, for your mam’s told me time and again, and I’m thinking we were both fools. But I were the worse one, for ye were but a lad and I ought to ha’ known better. As for being in the lead, I warrant Donald will say a word about that, but when Ranald told us ye meant to rescue his lordship here—”

“Rescue!” Fife exclaimed. “You knew de Gredin was holding me prisoner?”

“I believed it likely,” Giff said, thinking it more tactful under the circumstances to avoid mentioning that, even so, he had not thought for a moment about rescuing Fife. Therefore, he added only, “I knew you did not command your own ship, and we had seen de Gredin with you. Logan of Lestalric and the Sinclairs having dealt with him before, it seemed likely that he had played you false.”

“I see,” Fife said. “It is not my nature to act in haste, but he said he served the Pope, so I believed he had good cause to do all he had vowed. I have since come to wonder if he ever had aught to do with his holiness.”

“We may never know the answer to that question,” Giff said.

Ships from the Lord of the Isles flotilla now surrounded them, and for a time they kept busy helping haul victims of the sinking longboat from the sea.

“Coo, look there,” Jake shouted from near the helm, pointing at a billowing black cloud on the northern horizon. “Them villains must ha’ tipped over a firepot.”

Moving with Fife and Sidony to stand by Jake, Giff looked closely at him, then back at the smoke. “Looks as if more is burning than a tipped-over pot.”

“Aye, but fire on any boat be gey dangerous. Me da’s always saying that.”

“So he is,” Giff agreed. “Those men will have a long swim. The Sound is about seven miles wide at that point, and they’re in the middle of it.”

Fife’s face turned chalky. “Sir Giffard,” he said, “I owe more than ordinary gratitude now, as that lad clearly saved my life. He once told me he’d like to be a ship’s captain one day. If you will swear to see to his training, the Serpent is yours.”

Jake’s eyes grew wide. “Ye’d do that?”

“I am doing it,” Fife said. “You’re a fine lad and deserve a fine reward.”

“But I—”

Sidony clapped a hand to Jake’s shoulder, saying, “Remember your manners, Jake. Say thank you to his lordship, and we’ll go see how your father is doing.”

Giff touched Fife’s arm. “My lord, Donald’s boat is drawing up. I’m sure you’ll want to go with him. We’ll hand our prisoners over to him, as well, and he will do as he pleases with the survivors of that fire yonder, if there are any.”

“I doubt there will be,” Fife said. “De Gredin drove them so hard getting here, that I cannot think how they fought as well as they did. Then rowing away . . . Faith, they cannot have much strength left, no matter how well trained they are.”

He left at once to greet his nephew, and Giff engaged himself for the next hour in the business of thanking Donald and the others, and getting ready to depart. At last, he rejoined the small group at the stern to find Maxwell sitting with one arm bound and a bandage round his head but otherwise looking nearly fit again.

Dismissing the men who had aided the captain, Giff looked from Sidony to Jake and said, “Let’s have it now, lad. How did that fire start?”

Jake began to shrug, thought better of it, and achieved a wary but innocent air instead as he said, “Me da’ would call it sheer carelessness.”

“What would I call it?” Giff asked sternly.

To his surprise, the lad’s expression cleared. “Aye, sure, I ken that fine,” he said. “Ye’d call finding live coals by a storage locker full o’ tarry oakum the right moment t’ snatch for doing what needed doing.”

When Sidony choked on a bubble of laughter, Giff put a strong arm around her shoulders and said firmly, “You will come with me, my lass.”

Ignoring Maxwell’s chuckles and Jake’s visible bewilderment, he urged her inside the aft cabin, shut the door, and, grinning, took her in his arms.

“Now this is snatching the moment,” he said, holding her tight, savoring the way she melted against him, and knowing he would love her forevermore.