Chapter 4

Macleod walked away, and Sorcha made her way to the wharf. When she heard her name called again, she paused at the side of the path to wait for Sidony.

"You had no chance to eat, so I brought you a manchet loaf and some sliced mutton," her sister said, handing her a small linen-wrapped packet of food.

"Thank you," Sorcha said, realizing she was hungry.

"What did Father say to you? He looked so angry, but he did not speak a word to me when he passed me."

"He is angry," Sorcha said. "I heard two women talking about horsemen with a woman riding pillion near Kinlocheil. One was Lady Clendenen's friend, Lady Gowrie. I'm sure they are the ones who took Adela, and Lady Gowrie said they were making for Edinburgh. Imagine what could happen to her in such a great town!"

"What?"

"Many things," Sorcha said darkly. "None of them good."

"But I thought you wanted to attend the royal court there! When Father said he was going with his grace, did you not say you wished we could go, too?"

"Aye, but those men are not taking Adela to court. They must want her for some viler purpose, or they would not have whisked her off as they did. Evil begets evil, you know. No good ever comes of it."

"But I don't understand why Father is angry with you," Sidony said.

Sorcha just looked at her.

Sidony shrugged. "I know he is angry that you slapped Sir Hugo, because you were wrong to do that, and you know it. But he did provoke you, so if that is all it was, why did Father still look so black just now? Once he vents his anger, he usually becomes docile again. And if you told him that you discovered where they are taking Adela, he should be grateful to you."

"Aye, well, he's not," Sorcha said. "He said that whatever part of it is not my fault, Adela brought on herself. Ardelve is sorrowful, he said, but I wager Ardelve does not want her now. He is certainly not here, or if he is, I've not seen him."

"Nor I," Sidony admitted. "But mayhap he rode after Adela himself."

"Lord Pompous? I don't believe it. He wanted her only because she can run a large household. He won't bestir himself to fetch her any more than Father will. And like Father, I warrant Ardelve thinks folks are laughing at him."

"Well, some did cheer her abductors in the kirkyard," Sidony reminded her. "Ardelve cannot have enjoyed hearing that. Doubtless, he believed, as we did, that their leader was Sir Hugo and that Adela wanted to go with him."

Sorcha grimaced. "Siddy, no one is going to stir a step to help her, and I cannot stop hearing that horrid man bellow at me that it is all my fault."

"That was a wicked thing for him to say! You were only trying to help Adela—and him, too!"

"Even so, I begin to think he spoke the truth."

"I don't believe that!"

"What if whoever took her got the idea from hearing about my messages to Sir Hugo? What if it was someone who wants Adela for himself and knew he could not win her? Sakes, what if he just wanted one of the pretty Macleod sisters?"

"But could they have learned about the wedding so easily?" Sidony asked. "You did not set up a hue and cry, after all. You sent messengers only where one might expect to find Sir Hugo. They would not have spoken to just anyone."

"You know as well as I do that most of Glenelg and nearly every guest knew about it. We made no secret of it, after all, not after you told Adela what I'd done."

Sidony hung her head. "It just slipped out because she was looking sad. You promised you were not angry with me."

"I wasn't, and I'm not. I was going to tell her as soon as I'd had word from him, because I could scarcely not tell her. But I thought he would come or reply straightaway, and when he did not, I was afraid he might leave it to the last minute."

"Aye, many men seem to do that with everything."

"They do, and I did not want to fling it at her the day before her wedding. When it happened, I was glad we had warned her. And Father is right, you know," she added. "Adela did not cry out, Siddy, so I'm sure she was glad to believe Sir Hugo had come for her. How could she not have been?"

"She won't be glad to have found it was someone else, however."

"She must be terrified. That is why, if no one else will find her, I must."

"But how can you find her by yourself?"

"I don't know. But someone simply has to follow them to Edinburgh."

"Faith, you've never even been there! How would you know the way?"

"I'll ask people, or take someone with me who does know. Father has gillies who have traveled to the lowlands. I'll take one of them. And I've heard that one may stay at friaries or nunneries when traveling a great distance. I'll do that."

"But what if the riders Lady Gowrie mentioned were not the right ones?" Sidony said. "What if Adela's are not going to Edinburgh? Even if they are, you cannot go alone, Sorcha. Father would never allow it. Indeed, you could not do such a thing without hurling yourself to ruination right along with Adela."

"I don't care about that, but I shan't go alone," Sorcha said. "Did I not say I'd take a good stout gillie? Moreover, I was hoping…" She paused meaningfully.

"Oh, no!" Sidony looked aghast. "You cannot mean to make me go!"

"Will you not aid me in this, Siddy? I was sure that you would."

"You know I'll do anything you ask of me. But this is madness, surely. Whatever will Father say? And how do you think we can slip away from Lochbuie? We are to stay there for an entire month."

"No, we aren't," Sorcha said. "At least, I am not. Father is sending me straight home from here in disgrace. You may go to Lochbuie without me, of course, to visit with Cristina and Isobel. But since I cannot go, I mean to rescue Adela even if I do have to do it alone."

"I could not enjoy myself at Lochbuie without you," Sidony said, looking sad. "But I doubt I'd like going to Edinburgh in such a reckless way either. Indeed, I do not know what I should do."

"You never do know," Sorcha said with a fond smile. "But I won't try to talk you into something you do not want to do. You'll have to decide this for yourself."

"But I cannot ask Father or Cristina for advice, because I know what they will say. Oh, Sorcha, do you not think perhaps Hector Reaganach might rescue her? He is very powerful and commands hundreds of men."

"But his men serve the Lord of the Isles, as he does," Isobel said. "Not only will his grace require many of them to accompany him to Edinburgh, but such a force is too vast and important to send after one missing Macleod sister. Nor would Father seek their aid. He is so angry that he is behaving as if Adela arranged this all by herself to inconvenience him. Or, worse, to make him look foolish."

"Well, I do not know what to say, but I'll do as you ask me."

Sorcha shook her head. "When I know the course you should take, I don't mind telling you, but don't you see, Siddy? If you make me decide, you lay all the burden for the consequences on my shoulders. I do have a conscience. I cannot press you to go when I have no way to know what the outcome may be."

Looking stricken, Sidony said, "If you go, I must go also."

"Then we must make a plan, and quickly, because Father will order his helmsmen to take us straight to Glenelg. If Adela's abductors are making for Edinburgh, every mile we travel north will take us farther from her."

"But do we not have to follow from where we last saw her?"

"To do that would be to have Father on our trail in a trice. For that matter, the abductors are already into their third day of travel, so we would be too far behind ever to catch up with them."

"Then we cannot do it," Sidony said, making no effort to hide her relief.

"When one must do a thing, one can always find a way," Sorcha said firmly. "The trick is to discover it."

True to his word, Macleod put Sorcha aboard one of the two longboats, and true to hers, Sidony insisted on going with her, as did the maidservant the two shared. When Macleod, as predicted, ordered both boats straight to Glenelg, the only salve to Sorcha's frustration was Cristina's pledge to try to persuade him to search for Adela.

"If Isobel and I cannot persuade him," Cristina said, "then we will press Hector and Sir Michael to do it. If only we could know who took her!"

That was the rub, Sorcha thought with a sigh as she bade her elder sisters farewell and settled on the larboard-side seat near the high prow of the lead boat. Leaning her head back against the polished wood, she shut her eyes to think.

She could hear Sidony and Una MacIver, their maidservant, talking as the helmsman shouted commands to their oarsmen, but soon all she heard were waves hushing alongside the boat, screams of gannets and gulls overhead, the creaking of the lines holding the mast, and the flapping of the lugsail as men hoisted it.

Their lack of speed seemed at first to be in her favor, because she needed time to plan and feared she would not have enough. The wind still came from the northeast, but now, instead of speeding them along as it had that morning, it seemed determined to push them right back to the Isle of Eigg. Before long, the boat began pitching on larger waves, making it more difficult to think.

Una laughed after a contrary lurch of the boat. Her laugh was a high-pitched squeal, more akin to the screech of a gull than to feminine laughter. Sorcha opened her eyes. The laughter stopped instantly, and Una looked abashed.

"You laugh just like your mother," Sorcha shouted with a smile over the noise of the wind and the sail. She remembered buxom Bess MacIver fondly.

Una blushed. "Me da says I sound like a corncrake. I didna mean t' wake ye."

"I wasn't sleeping. I was trying to think how we—" She stopped short, scarcely able to breathe as she examined the idea that had so abruptly come to her.

Fixing her gaze on Una, she said, "Your mother and Ranulf now live in North Morar, at Glenancross, do they not?"

"Ye ken fine that they do, m'lady. The mendicant friars bring word o' them whenever they pass through Glenelg on their way to Eilean Donan."

"Aye, sure," Sorcha said, moving to sit beside her so they need not shout.

Sidony, on Una's other side, eyed her sister warily. "You look as you always look when you are plotting mischief," she said. "You have a plan."

"I do," Sorcha said, leaning across Una to prevent her words from reaching any oarsman's ears. "Now, listen carefully. I know just what we must do."

Hugo stood staring into the distance at the weird volcanic mass the people of Eigg called the Sgurr. It was the most notable feature on the south half of Eigg.

Tall and narrow, not quite a column, and visible for miles, it provided a landmark for sailors and landsmen alike. He admired its strange beauty and could easily imagine ancient folk treating it with awed reverence. Staring at it was not helping him much at the moment, however.

He felt guilty, and the feeling was not a familiar one. Not that he never made mistakes, for he did. And when he did, Michael, Henry, or his own father would be quick to tell him so. But although it annoyed him to be called to account, his mistakes were rare, and he had long since come to realize that the men he respected most also respected him. They merely did their duty when they pointed out his errors. And since he was not careless or incompetent and his errors were honest ones, he rarely had cause to feel guilty.

But he felt guilty now, and he didn't like it. Nor did he like the fact that the lass had shown no respect for him, not one whit.

Damn her and all her relations! He decided to damn Michael, too, while he was about it, for nudging his thoughts in this uncomfortable direction.

Knowing only too well what his cousin would say if he were foolish enough to repeat his curses aloud, he smiled at the image that leaped to his mind.

"Something about that pile of rock amuses you?"

Hugo started and turned, instantly on guard when he saw that Hector Reaganach was addressing him.

"Stand easy, lad; I won't eat you," Hector said. "I would know more about this business with Lady Adela."

"Apparently, four men abducted her from her wedding, sir," Hugo said, knowing that he had better tread lightly.

"Macleod tells me that his next-to-youngest daughter, Lady Sorcha—" Breaking off, he added with a wry smile, "You've met the lass, I hear."

"I have," Hugo said dryly.

Hector's blue eyes twinkled. "You'll be relieved to know that her handprint is no longer visible on your cheek."

Hugo groaned. Doubtless, that handprint had been visible for at least an hour if not longer. He had thought the quickly hidden smiles he'd seen were merely hints of the amusement others had felt at seeing him smacked.

"I mean to improve my acquaintance with her at Lochbuie," he said.

"Then I'm sorry to tell you she won't be there," Hector said. "Macleod ordered her home, and the lady Sidony insisted on going with her. But he tells me that like their sister Isobel, whom you know well, our Sorcha is a spirited lass with a mind of her own. She is also, he said, deeply concerned about Adela."

"I did observe that," Hugo said, surprisingly disappointed to learn that he would be unable to cross verbal swords with her again at Lochbuie.

Hector nodded. "Then you'll understand Macleod's concern that, left to her own whims, she might impulsively set out to find her sister."

"Surely not!" For once in his life, Hugo was truly shocked.

Shaking his head at him, Hector said, "You have much to learn about women, lad. I've no doubt that Cristina and Isobel are even now urging Macleod to go in search of Adela, and that before any of us are much older they will be exerting themselves to send his grace's entire armed force to find her. To be sure, if we knew who had taken her, or where they were headed, I'd have men after them now."

"If only Macleod had set someone on their trail straightaway!"

"Aye, but recall that as he thought you were the abductor and she went willingly he had no good reason to follow. Moreover, he was furious with the pair of you for stirring scandal."

"He did have cause," Hugo admitted ruefully. "The lass was right to say I should have replied to her message. At the time, I thought she had no business interfering in her sister's affairs, let alone mine, and did not deserve a reply. I never expected anything to come of it other than Adela's marrying Ardelve."

"An outcome, apparently, that caused you no distress."

In light of Hugo's recent recognition of his own arrogance, Hector's gentle tone did not deceive him. But he had no desire to share his new awareness with the older man, who would doubtless disapprove of it even more strongly than Hugo did himself. Neither, however, would he prevaricate with a man he greatly respected.

"What I thought at the time bears no repeating, sir," he said, meeting Hector's stern gaze and feeling guilt wash over him again. With a sigh, he added, "Meeting Lady Sorcha has had a salutary effect on me. I own, sir, I am not proud of my actions or their lack."

"Good lad," Hector said, clapping him hard on the back. "You must be sure to thank her for the lesson when next you meet."

"I'd rather wring her neck," Hugo said with feeling.

Hector laughed. "I've felt that inclination myself with more than one Macleod sister."

"I'll warrant you have," Hugo said, aware that Hector was not only married to Cristina but had fostered Isobel. "So what is to be done now?"

"We'll wait until we know more," Hector said. "As doubtless you are aware, my brother, the admiral, is the best-informed man in the Highlands and Isles, thanks to his vast network of informants. He has made it known that he seeks information about this business, so we should have news in a day or two."

"Can we do nothing straightaway?"

"As to that, Sorcha told Macleod she overheard Lady Gowrie of Glen Finnan mention well-equipped men riding through the clachan of Kinlocheil with a beautiful woman riding pillion. They apparently said they were riding to Edinburgh."

"Macleod got no more details?"

"As you may suspect, he is angry with Sorcha, and with Adela, too. He told Sorcha he did not want to hear more about the matter. I'm guessing he feels a fool for allowing them to ride off with Adela. Any man would. Moreover, he wants to avoid scandal, since he means to take a new wife soon."

"One, I surmise, who also dislikes scandal."

"No one likes it," Hector said. "But Gowrie and his lady had departed by the time Macleod shared that information with us, so if you are eager for action, you might seek her out to discover what more you can learn."

"I'm told that news flies quickly hereabouts," Hugo said. "Tracking a rumor to its source could eat up a great deal of time."

"A good point," Hector agreed. "I prefer to let Lachlan call the tune myself, because the more information one has the less likely one is to dash off in the wrong direction, and his men provide him a continuous flow of news from all over Scotland. Still, I understand your impatience, and if Lady Gowrie knows anything more, I warrant you'd get more information from her than even Lachlan's minions could."

"I'd certainly try, sir, but I must consult with Michael first, because my first duty is to him."

"He is on the wharf," Hector said. "I told him I'd find you, but as everyone is trying to leave at once, there can be no hurry. If you want to stand here staring at that rock for another half hour, I am sure he will not mind."

Hugo grinned. "If that is your belief, you don't know him at all."

They strode down to the harbor together, and as Hugo had expected, found Michael impatient to be off. Hugo soon cleared their way, and as their oarsmen rowed out of the harbor into the stiff wind, he looked northward, realizing that like themselves, Lady Sorcha was unlikely to reach her destination before nightfall, although Glenelg lay much closer than Lochbuie.

The pitching and rolling of Macleod's longboats on the windblown waves had increased so much that when Sorcha threw up nearly all the bread and mutton Sidony had provided her over the polished oak decking of the lead boat, she could be nearly certain that no one had seen her stick a finger down her throat.

Sidony shouted for the helmsman to put in to shore quickly.

That worthy signaled to his counterpart on the second boat, and at speed, both longboats made for the North Morar coast of the mainland.

While some men moved to help the stricken Sorcha, and others to clean up the mess, Sidony said anxiously, "What are we to do? She is very sick!"

Una, quick upon her cue, said, "My mam and da live nearby in Glenancross. Mam will know what to do for her ladyship can we but get her to their croft."

"Aye, sure, we must go there, Una," Sidony said, having learned her lines just as efficiently. To the helmsman, she said, "Bess and Ranulf MacIver will know what to do for her ladyship, but they cannot accommodate all your men."

"But, my lady, your lord father did command that we take ye straight to Glenelg. He'll be gey wroth that we've stopped at all."

"Nay then, he won't," Sidony said. "You ken well that Bess took care of us before she married Ranulf MacIver. Afterward, too, till one of our horses crippled him and she brought him here where her family can help her look after him. My father would trust Bess to know what to do, and you can see for yourself how sick the lady Sorcha is. Do you think my father will be pleased if, by following his instructions and dragging her all the way back to Chalamine, you let her die?"

"Nay, m'lady, I never said that," the helmsman said.

"Then what do you suggest?" Sidony asked.

"Please," Sorcha said weakly, "do whatever you must, but do it with haste. I think I am going to be sick again."

"Nay, then, you won't, my lady," Una said. "We'll have you in a warm bed with Mam looking after you in no time. We will, aye?" She glared at the helmsman.

Defeated, he said, "I'll ha' me lads carry her ladyship to yon croft o' the MacIvers then, but ye'll ha' to show 'em the way, Una MacIver."

"I'm going with her," Sidony said, her tone firmer than usual.

"Aye, m'lady, it wouldna be right for ye to travel alone wi' us men. But what'll I do about me lads? We didna plan to spend the night on the water, ye ken."

Sorcha felt obliged to take a hand again, sure that making two decisions in a row would confound her sister. "Go on to Glenelg, of course. You cannot expect the folk here to feed and house you, and you can be home in a few hours. I warrant I'll be quite well again in a day or two. Then you must come back and collect us."

"Aye, sure, we can do that," he said. "But I'm thinking I'd best fetch ye tomorrow, since we'll ha' to take ye back to Glenelg afore we can collect the laird."

"You must do as you think best," Sorcha said, knowing if she insisted on two or three days to recover, he would suspect the worst, because she was never sick. "Do recall, though," she added, "that he means to stay at Lochbuie until his grace departs for the court at Edinburgh. You'll be left to kick your heels until then."

"Aye, 'tis true," he agreed. "But the laird will no be happy do we keep him waiting, and I'd as lief no ha' to answer for a longer delay."

"Indeed, m'lady," Una said, "ye'll surely be well again by morning."

" 'Tis right, she is," the helmsman said. "I ha' never known ye to be sick for more than a few hours. We'll fetch ye in the morning then."

Knowing better than to argue, Sorcha leaned heavily against Sidony and said she was feeling worse. She was sorry and a little amused moments later when she realized the man carrying her feared she might be sick all over him at any moment.

At the MacIver croft, Una took charge, finding her mother and quickly explaining that Lady Sorcha had fallen ill on her return journey from Eigg.

That spurred Bess MacIver to inform the boatmen sternly that they could take themselves off to Glenelg at once and return for her ladyship when she was feeling better. If they chose to come back the following day, that was their business.

"But ye ken fine," she added, "that I'll no let her ladyship go anywhere till she be feeling gey hardy again."

After that, the helmsmen seemed happy enough to depart, leaving Sorcha and Sidony to Bess MacIver's capable ministrations.

"We've only the one bed, m'lady," Bess said. "But we'll ha' ye in it in a trice, tucked up wi' a hot brick to warm ye, for I warrant ye're chilled through after being out on the water in this oorlich wind."

Peeking through the tiny window in the main room of the croft to be sure the boatmen were gone, Sorcha said in her usual crisp way, "No one is going to take your bed, Bess. I am perfectly stout, I promise you."

"Bless me, then, what is this?" Bess demanded, looking at all three young women in much the same way as she had when Sorcha and Sidony were children in mischief. "I'm thinking now that despite your ages, all three o' ye want skelping, so ye'd best tell me what ye're up to. And be gey quick about it, too."

The long hours of silent riding had given Adela time to think. Although she still took care not to think of his lordship by name even when that name floated near the surface of her mind, fearing still to anger him by speaking it aloud, she had recalled another detail about their meeting at Orkney. He had seemed then to ally himself with the Green Abbot of Iona, a fierce enemy of the Lord of the Isles.

For years, her sisters Cristina and Isobel had warned her that the abbot, once an ally of Macleod's, was evil and a sworn enemy of Clan Gillean and the Lord of the Isles. Her captor was certainly wicked to have abducted her, but even after more than two days in his company, she had persuaded herself that he was not truly evil.

To be sure, he had struck her the first day without real cause. But she had not known then how angry an oblique response to a question could make him. She knew now that he expected honest, direct answers, that equivocation infuriated him. She had seen that more than once.

For the most part, he had been kind enough yesterday, and so far today. He had even allowed her privacy to relieve herself, although he did surround the area with his men each time, and had said he would kill her if she tried to escape.

He had made that threat so often that she had come to hope he used the words without thought or true intent to do harm. Still, his men were afraid of him, and she wanted to survive. If she remained calm and submitted to his will whenever she could, surely she could hold out until an opportunity arose for escape or rescue.