Chapter 19

Hugh did not realize how terrified he was for Jenny until relief flooded through him when he saw her emerge from the crowd ahead. Then anger surged, and he quickened his pace toward her, his two satellites hurrying in his wake.

He paid no heed to the crowd on the field, no heed to Fiona or Peg. He had eyes only for his disobedient wife. That she had dared to sneak out and—

She smiled, lifted her skirt a little higher, and ran toward him, heedless of the mucky ground. "I am so glad to see you," she said as soon as she was near enough not to shout. "Someone called our escort away. Then a man tried—"

"Enough, lass," he said, becoming aware again of the teeming throng on the field and unable to tell how far her words might carry. "We'll talk more inside."

Putting an arm around her and thus unable to resist giving her a little hug, he said for her ears alone, "I doubt you will want to hear all I have to say to you."

"I am sure I won't," she agreed, looking up at him. "But it can be no worse than what I have already said to myself."

"Sakes, Hugh, I hope you mean to do more than just talk to her?" Reid said. "If she were my wife, as she may still be—"

"Nah then, cease thy daftish jubber," Lucas muttered. "Tha art worse nor a clackin' hen!"

"Lucas," Hugh said warningly, although he'd have said much the same.

"T' silly gobbins be a-jubberin' that he'd leather her ladyship! But he's no—"

"Enough," Hugh said, quelling him with a look and putting a hand under Jenny's elbow as they led the others onto the narrow timber bridge. Looking back, he saw Lucas gesture to Peg and Fiona to go ahead of him and Reid.

Just then, Jenny raised her voice to say, "Reid, I saw your friend."

"Which friend?"

Noting wariness in his response, Hugh's interest quickened and he kept silent.

"The man you rode with for a time on the way here," Jenny replied. "The two of you forded the river to Threave's islet together."

"How can he concern you?"

"I thought he looked familiar and wondered where I'd met him," she said.

Hugh said to Reid, "I recall the man she means. Who is he, lad?"

Reid said dismissively, "Just a chap I know."

"Then you know his name," Hugh said, keeping tight rein on his patience.

"Sir Alard Bowyer," Reid said. "He's a knight from Roxburgh, I think. I met him at our feast, so I warrant he's a friend of Dunwythie's."

"I've never heard of anyone called Bowyer," Fiona said. "But I do not know many of my father's friends. Also, I did not see him riding with you, Uncle Reid."

"How could you?" he said testily. "You traveled to Threave by boat."

They were nearing the gate, and Hugh saw Jenny look back and put a finger to her lips. An acknowledging nod told him Fiona understood and would keep silent.

Catching Tam Inglis's eye as they passed through the gate, Hugh motioned the guard captain over and said, "My lady tells me you recalled the escort you'd sent with her, Tam. That crowd out yonder nearly swallowed her up as she and these other two lasses were returning."

Tam's face paled. "I vow, Sir Hugh, I never recalled those men. I saw they'd returned, but I'd stepped away, so I assumed your lady had returned with them."

"Where are they now?" Hugh asked.

"Yonder," Tam said. He sent a lad to fetch them, and the two men came running. "Why did you two return without her ladyship?" Tam demanded.

"Why, her brother told us we'd no longer be needed, sir," one said, glancing anxiously at his companion for corroboration.

"Aye, sir, that be the truth," the second man agreed.

Hearing a muttered epithet from Reid, Hugh said, "Her ladyship has no brother. What did this fellow look like?"

The spokesman of the two frowned thoughtfully, looked Hugh up and down, and said, "He'd be a nobleman an inch or so shorter than what ye are, me lord. He's none so broad across the shoulders but muscular withal. I'd warrant he'd be one taking part in the tourneys, and mayhap some o' his lads wi' him."

"He was with a party of men, then?"

"Aye, we saw four others awaiting him whilst he spoke to us, mayhap more."

"Are you sure he was a nobleman?"

"Seemed like," the second man said. "He wore a short blue-velvet cloak, a cap wi' a fine plume, and leather boots that looked costly despite being all mucky."

Thanking the guardsmen, wondering what sort of nobleman would play such a trick but unwilling to discuss it there, Hugh urged his party toward the keep.

When they were beyond earshot of the guards, Jenny said, "Prithee, sir, I'd like Reid and Peg to discuss the incident with us after we see Fiona to her chamber."

Hugh looked at her, wondering what she was up to now and meaning to tell her in no uncertain terms that he and she would talk first, privately. But she gazed back at him, her expression so speaking that he glanced involuntarily at Reid.

His brother looked stunned, his face drained of color.

"You'll come with us then, lad," Hugh said to him. "You, too, Peg."

Surprising him, Reid said, "Aye, I think I must."

Peg said nothing.

Neither did Lucas, but Lucas would follow them with or without an invitation.

As they crossed the great hall toward the stairway, Jenny glanced at Peg. But Peg's brow was furrowed and she stared at the floor, apparently lost in thought.

Hugh's hand remained firm on Jenny's elbow until they reached the spiral stairway, when he urged her and Fiona to precede him. She was conscious of his presence behind her all the way upstairs but for once drew little comfort from it.

She could not blame him for being angry with her. She knew he fumed as much because she had left him sleeping while she went to the minstrel camp as from any fear that she might have met with danger.

He was unlikely to accept her need to find Peg as an excuse. Moreover, she admitted to herself that fortuitously meeting Fiona and her own impatience to see Peg and the others, rather than any need, had spurred her outside to the camp.

She was glad on two counts that he was letting Reid and Peg come with them. Not only did she hope they could help her explain what she suspected had happened but their presence might also shield her for a time from his anger.

That she and Hugh were again to take supper at the high table should shield her for an hour or two, as well. But she would have to face him alone eventually. And heaven knew what he would do or say then.

They came to Fiona and Mairi's chamber, one landing before their own, then went on as soon as Fiona had stepped inside. Peg, Reid, and Lucas followed them.

At their own landing, Hugh reached past Jenny to push open the door and entered ahead of her to hold it. When they were all inside, he shut it with a snap.

Jenny realized she was holding her breath, waiting for him to speak. Forcing herself to breathe slowly and deeply to calm her nerves, she wondered if he was doing likewise as he stood silently and looked at each of them in turn.

When his gaze met hers, he said, "Well, lass, what have you to say?"

She looked at Reid and said, "I mentioned your friend earlier because I thought the description the guardsmen gave us…" She paused, hoping Reid would feel obliged to supply the rest himself. But he just looked steadily back at her until she added, "I think the man you call Sir Alard Bowyer sent them away."

"I call him! Sakes, do you think that is not his name?"

Hugh said grimly, "Does the description fit him, Reid?"

"Aye, it does," Reid said. "Just as it fits half the other noblemen here."

"Then, why did you say you thought you should come up here when Jenny asked for you do so?"

"Because I'd feared…" He paused then until Jenny wondered why Hugh just seemed to hold his gaze and did not urge him to get on with it. But at last, Reid said, "He does fit their description. At least, he is wearing a short blue cloak, a plumed cap, and Spanish leather boots. So I did think I should tell you more about him."

"I think you must," Hugh agreed.

"At our feast, he introduced himself by asking me what I thought of the minstrels. He was looking to hire some to entertain at his place and had not done so before. I said I thought they were some of the best I'd seen. Then he wondered if I'd heard of a rash of thefts occurring at other houses where minstrels had performed."

"Thefts, eh?" Hugh said. "That is interesting."

"Aye, but I hadn't heard of any thefts then, and he did not suggest that the minstrels at our feast were responsible. In fact, he said he knew nowt of them. I knew little myself, but I said I'd heard that such folk were usually honest."

Jenny said, "When you left the table at the feast, you said you had to talk with a chap. Was that when you met Sir Alard Bowyer?"

He gave her a look. "I said that because I was tired of sitting there, ignored by the lass I was supposed to be marrying. I did meet him soon after that, though."

"Did he ask you anything else?" Jenny asked.

"Only if we'd taken precautions. I told him that Dunwythie, being a cautious man, had given orders to search anyone lacking first-head privileges or personally unknown to our guards. Bowyer agreed such precaution was wise and might avert trouble. That is all I knew of him till I met him again at Castle Mains."

Hugh thought he had heard more than enough about Bowyer until Reid added, "I did think it odd when he turned up at Castle Mains."

"Why?" Hugh asked.

"I don't know," Reid said. Faced with Hugh's skepticism, he added with a grimace, "It just seemed odd that he would be so delighted to see me on such a brief acquaintance, especially as I knew I'd been gey drunk when we met. But the reason I knew I must talk to you now is that I was sure Jenny had seen me with him."

"She said she had," Hugh reminded him.

Jenny said, "I think he means today, sir, out in that field."

"Is that it?" he asked Reid.

"Aye, I saw him at the same time I saw Jenny, before I came looking for you. But I swear I thought nowt of his being there until those guardsmen described the clothes he was wearing. If he told them he was her brother to deprive her of their protection… But why he would, I swear to you, Hugh, I cannot imagine."

Hugh saw Jenny catch her lower lip between her teeth and give Peg a long look. And Peg, who had remained silently thoughtful for some time, looked even more so as she met Jenny's gaze.

"I wondered why anyone would send that escort away," he said.

"Aye, but there's more," Reid said. "When you and I were looking for her, and that crowd around her suddenly thinned so we could see her, I saw him. He was hurrying away from her with a number of others."

Hugh said, "Did you see him, Jenny?"

"Nay, but…" Looking as she did at Peg then, and back at Reid, she might as well have voiced aloud her desire to speak privately with Hugh.

He said, "Reid, you and I must talk more later. We all need to change for supper, and I have much yet to say to these two. But you and I will put our heads together on this. Whatever comes of it, I thank you for coming to fetch me."

Reid glanced at Jenny as if he would say more but left without doing so.

"D'ye want me to go, too, mistress?" Lucas asked with unnatural diffidence when the door had shut with Reid on the other side of it.

Jenny hesitated, glancing at Peg. Hugh was about to tell Lucas they could do without him when she said, "Nay, Lucas. I doubt I'll keep many secrets from you."

"Is it a secret, lass?" Hugh asked.

"I doubt I'll keep any at all from you, sir," she said with a little smile. "If I'm right, I have already told you about the incident in question, but I'd liefer not tell Reid." She turned to Peg. "What did you see after that man grabbed you out there?"

"Grabbed!" Hugh exclaimed.

Without taking her eyes from Peg, Jenny held up a hand to him. "What, Peg?"

"It wasna so much seeing, mistress," Peg said. " 'Twas hearing his voice first and seeing his face after."

"Ah," Jenny said. "I, too, heard a familiar voice but did not believe my ears."

"Nay, for what would one o' them be a-doing here?"

"Who?" Hugh demanded.

Peg looked at Jenny. "Did ye tell him about them, mistress?"

"Aye," Jenny said. "So tell us who you saw today."

" 'Twas one o' them English from Lochmaben, me lord. The ones…" Again she looked to Jenny for reassurance.

Hugh said, "The men who accosted the two of you by the garderobe?"

"Aye," Peg said, looking relieved that he did know. "The one who grabbed me today were one o' them for sure."

"And the man calling himself Bowyer is the other one," Jenny said. "His face has been teasing me since I first saw him with Reid. But at Lochmaben he was just another man-at-arms, one who did not talk much. And although I fear you will say I am still dreaming, I think his may be one of the voices in my dream."

Hugh said, "Have you heard his voice since, to compare?"

"I don't know, but just before the man who grabbed Peg spoke to her, I heard a similar voice yell, ‘Beware ahead, lads, let be!' Reid said he saw Bowyer rush away from there, so he may be the one who shouted. You did suggest that the voices in my dream may have been English, sir, like Cuddy's. What's more, Cath said Cuddy's cousin Drogo is here somewhere, and he is also English."

Peg said, "But why would that Bowyer warn anyone that Sir Hugh were coming? Them English canna ken that ye be married to him."

"You forget, Peg, that Lochmaben is where Hugo and I first sang together," Jenny said. "The way we sang the love song was one of the reasons you and the others thought we'd make a good match. Moreover, I am wearing the same kirtle I wore then, and Sir Hugh is wearing breeks and a jack-o'-plate that any Borderer might, with no sign of his rank. He needed only look as if he took interest in us to scare them away, particularly if they harbored ill intent toward us."

Peg raised her eyebrows at that. "He did look right fierce, mistress."

"Bowyer also knows Reid, and he was with me," Hugh reminded them, knowing how fierce he must have looked even before he had seen Jenny. "If they are up to mischief here, they doubtless recognized you two from Lochmaben and tried to grab you to keep you from identifying them as English men-at-arms."

Jenny explained her suspicion to Peg that someone was plotting mischief or worse against Archie the Grim. "I did not tell you before, because I could not explain why I felt as I did, and I could not chance spreading such a rumor."

"And ye ken fine I'd likely ha' told Bryan," Peg said. "If that Drogo be involved in summat that's wrong, Cath willna be surprised. But Cuddy?"

"That is another odd thing," Jenny said to Hugh. "Although the two men who escorted us to the minstrels' camp said the one who had sent them away told them he was my brother, Cuddy told us that another guardsman had come to say they were needed on the field because the men at practice would be stopping soon for dinner and were all armed. They did stop to eat, sir. So who lied?"

"Cuddy," he said without hesitation. "The two guards-men had no cause to lie and reason to think the truth might help them avoid their captain's wrath, and mine. I'd guess Cuddy heard what Bowyer said—if it was Bowyer—and doubting you had any brothers here, altered his description and tale to something you would believe."

That statement reminded him that he still wanted to know why the devil she had not asked a couple of stout lads from the camp to see them back safely.

"Nah then, if ye want any supper, sir, ye'll 'ave to stop maulin' this about till later," Lucas said with a shrewd look as he moved to one of the kists containing Hugh's things. "And ye'll 'ave to bestir yourself, Peg-lass, or our mistress will look a proper sloven at t' table. Ye'll find a screen ye can drag out for 'er by t' window."

Jenny looked at Hugh and saw his chiseled features form an expression of uncharacteristic indecision. She knew he itched to scold her, but she doubted he would do so while Peg and Lucas were there unless he meant to scold Peg, too.

It occurred to her only then that he might have words for Lucas, too, for leaving the landing after Hugh had told him to stay there. But although he had told Reid he had much to say to her and to Peg, she could not imagine what Peg might have done to incur his displeasure.

Therefore, she was not surprised when he murmured agreement with Lucas and told him to bestir himself as well. After that, they all hurried.

While Peg got the screen and set it up, Jenny slipped her dirk and its belt and sheath from one of her kists and concealed it by wrapping it in a fresh shift. Behind the screen, she grinned when Peg's eyes widened as she uncovered the weapon.

Peg only shook her head and helped Jenny dress. But when Jenny told her she would wear only a lacy veil and pin up her plaits beneath it, at her nape, Hugh said firmly from the other side of the screen, "Wear a proper caul as well, lass. I'll not tell you to pluck out your eyebrows or shave your forehead, because I like your own look better. But recall that the minstrels will perform tonight. I'd liefer none recognize you at the high table."

Jenny opened her mouth to protest, but Peg spoke first. "How can they not, sir?" she asked. "They'll see Hugo on the dais, and ye'll no be wearing breeks and a jack there. Ye'll look much as ye do in your troubadour's garb, and ye canna pretend to be any man save yourself at high table. Also, for all that she'll be on the ladies' side, them in the company will be amazed to see ye there, and they'll ha' only to look to guess who ye be with. A caul doesna change her that much."

Jenny had given thought to the Englishmen again. "I'll wear the caul, Peg," she said calmly. "It will not fool the minstrels, but it might keep Bowyer and his men from recognizing me if they are also in the hall."

"It may at that," Lucas said wisely with a look at Hugh. "Men see what they expect to see, aye, laird?"

"They do," Hugh said. "Do you mean to stand holding my doublet all evening or may I put it on?"

"Nah then, hold your whist. I'm movin' as quick as a man can. How many d'ye think yon English be? Could they seize this great castle from within?"

"Their number is something we'd be wise to discover," Hugh said. "But I doubt they can seize the castle. Most of those banners outside are as familiar to me as the people flying them are. And most of them are strong Douglas allies."

"They clearly are not all Scots," Jenny said. "And if his grace is coming—"

"Nay, then, he is not," Lucas said. "I did ask, sithee, and they say his grace the King sent his thanks for the honor but excused hisself from the occasion."

" 'Tis just as well," Hugh said. "I doubt Archie expected him to attend, for he has not mentioned it. He was bound to invite him to celebrate the anniversary of his own coronation, but the Kirk will offer masses in his honor all over Scotland."

Emerging from behind the screen, Jenny said thoughtfully, "If his grace is not coming and the English cannot seize this castle, why are they here?"

"I suspect the commander at Lochmaben has simply sent a few of his lads to take a close look at Threave's defenses," he said.

"But someone told me, when we were there, that the Annandale men kept the English pent up in Lochmaben," Jenny countered.

"Aye, sure," he said. "They keep them from sending out parties to harass the surrounding countryside. But it can be no great feat for a few determined men to slip out now and again. 'Tis dangerous business, to be sure, but danger is rarely a deterrent when a commander demands information."

She knew he spoke from experience, but she did not see how an English plan to have a look at Threave—even to send spies there—explained the feelings she had had while she traveled with the minstrels. Nor did it explain the attack on the knacker or the missing jewelry.

That last thought reminded her that Bowyer had been at Annan House, and Cuddy's cousin had been there, too, for Cath had told her so. She turned to tell Hugh. But they had no more time for talk, because he was opening the door and murmuring last-minute orders to Lucas. She'd just have to keep her eyes open.

Having decided to watch Cuddy and to keep an eye out for Bowyer and his henchmen, Hugh had asked Lucas to do likewise. Believing the Englishmen could hardly present themselves as close friends of Archie's, Hugh expected them to take their meals outside the castle gates. He said so when Jenny asked him as they left their chamber if he would tell Archie the English were so near at hand.

"I'll tell him," Hugh said. "But I warrant it won't trouble him. I expect he'll say their presence just proves that his tournament is serving its purpose, which is to show off the strength of Threave. But that's enough about all that for now, lass. We'll talk more later, when we're alone."

He saw her nibble her lip and knew she had taken his last words as a warning and not just a promise. So be it, he thought.

She wore a gown of soft, rose-colored, branched velvet with elaborate—and enticing—gold front lacing. Over it, she wore a long particolored and embroidered mantle of lavender and pale green silk, held at her shoulders by clasps at each end of a narrow jeweled band. Her caul and the long veil at its back were lavender.

The din of conversation in the hall made Hugh's head begin to ache again. The noise was so loud he could barely hear the musicians in the minstrel gallery.

He and Jenny no sooner reached the dais than blaring horns announced the entry of carvers and their carts of beef and venison. Hastily escorting Jenny to her place near the end of the ladies' side, he found his next to the last one of the men's.

He had known he would not sit near Archie, because the gathering at Threave included many nobles of higher rank than himself, not least of whom was the gray-haired Bishop of Glasgow, sitting at Archie's right. Casting a glance in that direction, Hugh looked next for Dunwythie, then for his family and Reid, wondering as he did if Phaeline might yet manage to secure an annulment.

He let himself hope that the distance between him and Jenny would prevent anyone from linking them, but it also made it nearly impossible for him to keep an eye on her. Having given Lucas orders to keep his eyes open and to get Peg to help him, Hugh hoped he had done enough.

He knew he was not thinking as clearly or as quickly as usual. He knew, too, that he had been glib in answering Jenny's question about the English presence at Threave. He tried now to imagine why that should seem important.

Jenny, sitting between two much older ladies who apparently knew each other, offered to change her seat with the one who sat at the end of the table as soon as the bishop had spoken the grace before meat. Responding politely to the woman's gratitude, she turned her attention to the minstrels and to the pompous ritual accompanying meals served to the Lord of Galloway and his guests.

Service was quick on the dais. And once the carvers had finished and the meat platters at the high table were full, other carts moved toward the long trestle tables standing perpendicular to the dais, and serving continued. As it did, jugglers ran into the U-shaped space formed by the dais and the four tables flanking it, two to a side.

As Jenny ate, she watched the entertainment idly until she realized that Cuddy was not with the musicians in the gallery. He strolled along the aisles between the trestle tables with Cath, Gerda, and Gib the gittern player instead, all smiling and chatting with folks as the jugglers performed nearby.

When the jugglers ran off, Gawkus and Gilly ran in. Smiling at their antics, Jenny looked for Cuddy and saw him palm a brooch or pin from a lady's coif. His victim, laughing at the fools, started when he touched her shoulder. As she turned, Cuddy seemed to pull her jewel from the ear of the gentleman sitting next to her.

People nearby smiled, then returned their attention to the fools.

When Cath produced a scarf from thin air and handed it to another gentleman, Jenny watched more closely. They had not engaged in sleight of hand during the fools' turn at Castle Moss, Lochmaben, or in Dumfries market square. Could those be the skills, she wondered, to which Gib had referred when, thinking she was Cath, he'd shouted to know if they should try them on the crowd that night or wait for a larger audience? She wished she could discuss that question with Hugh.

A gillie whisked by close behind her, startling her. As she turned to watch, he vanished through the archway to a service stair near her end of the dais. Her gaze collided with Peg's when the latter peeped in from the landing.

Glancing around to make sure the two ladies to her right were still engaged in their conversation, Jenny got up and slipped out through the archway.

"What are you doing here, Peg?" she demanded. "Is aught amiss?"

"Ay de mi, but that Lucas will snatch me baldheaded," Peg said. "He said I weren't to let ye see me. But how I'm to keep me eyes on ye without looking, I canna say, and nor can he, I'll wager. Be Bryan and them out there now?"

"Nay, Gilly and Gawkus are. But Cath, Cuddy, Gib, and Gerda are performing sleight of hand, too, strolling behind people at the tables."

"May I look?"

"We'd be wiser to find another archway to look through," Jenny said. "I do think Cuddy's up to something though, and mayhap Cath and the others are, too."

"I dinna like to think they'd be doing aught that's bad," Peg said.

Jenny agreed, but her concern for them only strengthened her curiosity. "Do you know how to get to the main stairway from here?"

"Aye, sure," Peg said. "But ought we—"

"We'll say we're visiting the garderobe if anyone asks," Jenny said. "I just want to see what they are doing, and you said they were teaching you, so mayhap you'll see more than I will. They always fool me."

Peg led the way upstairs to the next landing, through an antechamber there, and onto a gallery that led to the main stairway. Hurrying down, they reached the great-hall entrance. A number of people stood watching the fools just inside the entry arch, and Jenny and Peg were able to slip in among them unchallenged.

Peg watched for only a few moments before she grabbed Jenny's arm and urged her toward the exit. On the landing, she murmured, "They be taking two items for every one they return. What d'ye think they'll be doing wi' the rest?"

"I don't know," Jenny said. "But we must tell Sir Hugh. If we return to the dais, I can ask one of the gillies there to take a message to him." She could also, she hoped, return to her own seat before Hugh realized she had been gone.

Reversing their route, they hurried upstairs and along the gallery to the anteroom. As Jenny entered, she heard a muffled squeak from Peg.

Turning, she found Bowyer right behind her. "So we were right," he said. "Now, what was a fine lady like you doing at Lochmaben with common minstrels?"

The man who had tried to grab Peg earlier—and had been with Bowyer when the two accosted them at Lochmaben—stood behind him with a hand clapped over Peg's mouth and his other arm tight around her waist. "Up or down?" he muttered.

"Up," Bowyer said, grabbing Jenny. "Fewer servants are likely to be on these stairs. We'll stow them in one of those wee rooms we found below the ramparts."

Peg struggled to free herself and managed to cry out before the man clapped his hand over her mouth again. But she fought so hard that they ended up with him holding her face down across a knee as he tried to right himself. Slapping her hard, he managed then to gag her before he picked her up again to carry her.

Bowyer was still holding Jenny tightly by an arm, and when she tried to jerk loose, he showed her a dagger. "I'd not want to mar that lovely face or put an end to ye, lass, but I'll not hesitate if I must. We want only to put ye somewhere safe where ye'll not interfere with our plans tonight. Mayhap ye can even help us see our plans through. Go quietly up the stairs, and we'll stay friendly-like."

She obeyed, hoping to find a better chance for escape. Peg was quiet, so all Jenny heard was the sound of the men's footsteps until a familiar voice said, "Nah then, where d'ye think ye be a-takin' them lasses, ye gallous knaves?"

Bowyer's henchman turned without hesitation and, hitching Peg higher in his arms, kicked Lucas down the stairs. Then, hurrying upstairs without meeting anyone else, the two men deposited Jenny and Peg in a dark, cell-like room under the ramparts—gagged, sitting on a hard timber floor, and bound to wooden posts.