Chapter 34

DUNVEGAN CASTLE - SEPTEMBER 27, 1385

A ngus's bìrlinn pulled into Dunvegan at the same time as Calum's vessel. Eoghan leaned forward and put a hand on Léo's shoulder. "Did you rest at all, lad?"

Face puffy with grief, he shook his head.

"Come on, let's get inside. We're going to need rest."

Eoghan put a hand out and Léo could only stare at it.

"Come on, lad."

Putting his head back down into his arms, Léo shut him out. Longing to shut out the demons of the horrible night, to forget the feeling of her springing off him through the heather, he squeezed his eyes shut. Tears escaped and a sob as he remembered her golden hair catching the moonlight as she made it to the clearing, the guards swarming her and crashing his little bird to the ground.

Hot tears rolled down his cheeks and he bit into his fist to keep from screaming. He'd drawn his estoc and taken one step into the clearing when he'd been tackled by Angus and Eoghan. Savage loss filled him as they dragged her toward Niall, toward her punishment, toward her death.

Screaming against the hands around his mouth, pain filled his chest as it hadn't since Théa died. He'd met her clear eyes for the last time and saw their love blazing in them. She had given her life for his.

A shadow covered Léo but he didn't move. A large hand touched his arm, but he didn't look up.

"Brother?"

The distinctive guttural voice penetrated his fog of loss and he looked up into Hector's face, a new wave of anguish hitting him as stared at his brother, and hers. A large hand came to the back of his head.

"Angus says it's Moira?"

Pain shot through his heart, and he shook his head, knowing how the truth would hurt Hector far worse. "Aileen."

Hector's spectral eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Reaching inside his doublet, Léo pulled out the squashed letter and handed it to him. Tears filled Léo's eyes afresh as he saw his name scrawled across the front in Aileen's out-of-control handwriting.

Hector took the correspondence, eyes moving over her words. His voice wavered. "Good morning, dolphin…" A look of astonishment moved over his features, and then desperation as he continued to read. He shot to his feet. "Murdoch, Calum!" The same terror Léo felt shattered in Hector's voice.

Steps thundered up the dock and hit the deck of the bìrlinn. Thunder and Lightning, Sea, and Rock. His heart crumpled as he looked at them, her childlike sign names screaming at him.

Calum looked at him and then Hector. "What's happened?"

Angus stepped forward. "It's Moira. Léo tried to convince her to come home last night but she refused to go. Seems she saw some information in Niall's solar indicating there was a catapult and one hundred enemy caterans waiting on Scalpay. She tried to get Léo to go with her to destroy it before our attack, but he refused. He made her promise not to take the risk. She agreed, but Léo discovered she snuck out a short time later."

David shook his head. "Léo was right. We shouldnae have let her go back to Dun Ringill two weeks ago."

Angus nodded. "He came to Breacais and got Eoghan and I, and we went after her. We almost made it in time…" He cleared his throat. "But the caterans saw Léo. There was only six of them, and Niall MacKinnon. No catapult. It was an ambush. Moira could see it from the trees, but we couldn't. He tried to duck out of sight, but it was too late. She—she jumped down and ran into the clearing. She gave herself up in his place."

Murdoch made a sound of disbelief.

Angus continued. "It gets worse. She left a letter for Léo and told him who she really is."

Iain's eyes grew wide. "What do you mean? Who is she?"

Hector finished reading, folded the letter and handed it to them. "Aileen. My sister. She doesnae know it. She only knows her name is Aileen."

The three men crowded together, reading her words.

Hector's voice spoke with a measured decisiveness. "Iain, I want you to take Murdoch and Calum to Duart immediately. Tell my brother he is needed for the assault on Dun Ringill after all. Give him the letter. Then get him back here as fast as you can. How long do you think it will take?"

Iain looked at the position of the sun and held his hand up to the wind. "Twenty-four hours of sailing. Plus the amount it takes him to be ready."

"That puts him here a day before the uprising," said David.

Hector nodded. "Gather what you need and go quickly. Let Calum sail some of it. You'll need your rest."

The three men acknowledged the order, and Hector put an arm around Léo, lifting him to his feet. "Come on, we need to get you off the bìrlinn."

Dazed, Léo allowed them to walk him from the dock into Dunvegan. Vaguely, he recognized the sound of Eilidh crying. He remembered climbing upstairs, and being pushed into a bed.

Hector drew the curtains around the bed, speaking to him in his native tongue. "Sleep. You need to sleep. I'm here this time, and I'm not going anywhere. I'll take care of everything. Close your eyes. When you wake, we're going to get her."

Léo's whiskered cheek scratched against the velvet coverlet as he nodded. He wasn't alone. Hector would handle the burden. Sleep. Then they would get her back .

Fatigue pulled him under.

Fire and flame leapt and Léo found himself on top of Dun Ringill. Niall ran toward him with his sword and Léo ran through the garret, racing to the solid stone parapet. A hand slid into his own, and he found Aileen next to him. Face shadowed with bruise, lip cut, nose and jaw swollen. Fear seized him, but her thoughts were audible to his heart.

"I'm here Léo. You're not alone."

He turned and watched the familiar scene as Dun Ringill crumbled, sending Niall into the leaping flames below. He turned back to her. "Are you alive, Aileen? Or am I supposed to say goodbye to you?"

She squeezed his hand and then signed. I love you, Lion.

Turning, she ran down the parapet, toward the leaping flames.

"No Aileen, no!"

Launching into the air, she tumbled, turning over and over, descending into the holocaust.

"NO!"

Léo sat up in bed, sweat drenching his tunic. Room closing in on him, he ripped open the curtains surrounding the bed and saw the sun breaking over the horizon. He wandered to the window and sucked fresh air into his heaving lungs. Looking below, he saw Iain's bìrlinn docked in the loch below. How long had he slept for?

Racing down the stairs in his bare feet, he sprinted down the corridors, looking for his team. Wrenching the door open to Iain's solar, he found Lachlan and Hector sitting in front of the fire. They startled as he burst into the room, and he knew he must look mad.

"Léo." Lachlan got to his feet; his eyes filled with grief.

Léo's voice was dry and ragged. "When did you get here?"

"About an hour ago. "

Léo staggered forward and took a seat beside them. "How did he get you here so fast?"

Lachlan's eyebrows knit together. "Fast tailwind off the coast of Coll. MacLeod ran the bìrlinn like a maniac to get back. Didnae sleep a wink. He made the roundtrip in nineteen hours."

Léo rubbed his hand over his face, wiping the groggy vestiges of sleep away from him. Eilidh appeared from the back of the room and silently filled a cup with liquid from the kettle nestled in the fire. She handed it to him and sat down on the floor beside Hector's chair.

Léo blew on the steaming drink and brought it to his lips. The comforting taste of mulled wine eased his soul and soothed his gravelly throat. "Thank you."

Eilidh nodded, a look of heartache in her eyes. Léo looked away, unable to bear it. "Has there been word?"

Hector nodded. "We've had word from Mowbray MacKinnon at guard change last evening that Aileen is in Cràdh."

Potent relief flooded him and he put his head in his hands. "Thank God. She's alive."

Hector's voice didn't carry the assurance he hoped it would. "Aye, she is alive. But Fingon and Niall are with her. Mowbray's been unable to get to her. Yet."

Fear like a rushing wave swept back over him as quickly as it had gone out. If they were with her, they were torturing her. He hung his head. "Saints."

Hector shifted in his chair. "The scheduled shipment of food is to land at Cràdh tomorrow morning. Calum will drive the merchant vessel in as planned. You'll be on board, along with Lachlan and myself and a contingent of our guard. A message was passed at guard change this morning to Mowbray that we'll begin the attack there at prime tomorrow."

Impatience curled around him and he couldn't remain sitting. He rose and paced the room. "Why not today? Why not right now?"

Lachlan leaned forward. "Rushing into an attack is what landed her in Cràdh to begin with. We need to be ready and prepared."

Léo blew out a breath and continued pacing the room like a caged animal, longing to hunt those who harmed her. "By now they'll have noticed that I'm not there anymore. Niall is sure to use our love against her. They'll keep going until she gives something up, and she'll never do that. What if she doesn't make it until the morning?"

The room fell silent and they all looked at each other. For Aileen, the decision to die was easier than betraying her conscience and those she loved.

Eilidh took his hand. "We must pray."