Highland Fire (Guardians of the Stone) (26 page)

As he lay there studying the perfect arch of his wife’s brow and the fullness of her lips, he was startled by an urgent knock at the bedroom door.

The sharp sound of rapping boomed through the chamber.

Startled as well, Lìli bolted upright.

The hour was late, and the urgent sound could only mean one thing: Something terrible had happened. She gave Aidan a questioning look.

Aidan arose from the bed and Lìli scrambled for the covers. Without bothering to dress himself, he went straight for the door, cracking it open to peer outside. She heard a fervent female whisper, but couldn’t make out the voice or comprehend the fevered words spoken so low. Her husband turned to pierce her with a look that sent a cold shiver down her spine. “Dress yourself!” he commanded, and then threw open the door, completely unmindful of the woman who stood outside—or the one in his bed.

But his sister Lael was hardly concerned with her brother’s state of dress. Her gaze sought Lìli’s and the fury Lìli spied there shriveled her tongue. She might have asked what was wrong, but before she could even pull herself together, Lael spun and walked away.

Aidan dressed quickly, eschewing the tunic and simply wrapped himself in his breacan. He followed his sister out the door, but not before retrieving his claymore from where he’d hung it upon the wall. “Get dressed,” he demanded again, this time without bothering to look at Lìli. Neither did he bother with his boots, or spare Lìli another glance to be sure she complied. He left her there with the door open wide to the cold, wondering what could have possibly happened. Apparently, he intended for her to follow, so she hurried to retrieve her clothing and dressed as quickly as she was able.

“T
hey discovered him near Caoineag’s Pool,” Lachlann revealed when Aidan entered his brother’s room.

Una was already at Keane’s bedside, examining the wound on his head. “He is quite fortunate,” she said gravely. “He has already awakened once, though just for an instant.”

“Did he say aught?”

Lachlann shook his head.

“Who found him?”

“Meara,” Lael replied, entering behind Aidan. “She couldn’t find him at the bonfire, and went searching where she'd spied him last.”

Aidan frowned.

“Apparently, he was watching the women bathe,” Lachlann added.

Aidan shook his head and sighed, blaming himself for being so pre-occupied with his Scoti bride that he had completely neglected the safety of his family. He sat at the edge of his brother’s bed, setting the claymore down at Keane’s feet. “Where is Cailin?”

It was Lael who answered. “I sent her home with Fergus and Meara—to question the lass if she could. Meara was beside herself with grief after seeing so much blood, and since she saw naught, I dinna believe it was in her best interest—or Keane’s—to allow her in his room.”

Aidan sighed again, the sound weary, as though he carried the burden of the world upon his broad shoulders. “What else do we know?”

“No’ verra much,” Lachlann replied. “I took Glenna and her son home. As I returned, Meara came shrieking like a banshee from the direction of the loch.”

Aidan stared at his brother’s still form, trying not to allow fear into his thoughts. Keane’s body was bruised and bleeding, and he had a cut and whelp on his forehead nearly the size of Una’s
keek stane
. But his breathing seemed stable. Keane was his only brother, but more than that, for the time being, he was Aidan’s sole heir as well.

Aidan raked a hand through his hair, considering the tale Lachlann relayed. His brother had always been surefooted. That he would have slipped and fallen down any cliff was certainly possible, but not probable. “No one saw anything more?”

He was vaguely aware that all eyes turned toward the door, and no one answered him at once. He turned to see that Lìli stood in the shadows of the hall, wringing her hands. She didn’t speak, and for an instant, she didn’t seem able to make herself enter the room, though thankfully Aidan didn’t read any guilt in her vivid blue eyes, only dread and confusion. That fact eased him somewhat. He didn’t want her to be involved in this.

Lìli lingered in the doorway.

Even before she saw who it was in the bed, she feared the worst, realizing it must be one of Aidan’s kin to have been brought within the
crannóg
. Even after her husband waved her inside the small room, she hesitated.

His eyes did not accuse her, but the energy in the room was black. Lìli was very sensitive to the auras of others, for she was often sustained or diminished by them.

Una stood at the bedside, mumbling in the old tongue as she traced circles upon the boy’s forehead. “Mother of all, we are One,” she whispered. “Cease his pain, gi’ him none.”

By the light of a single fat pillar that was seated in an iron brace above Keane’s bed, Lìli spied a glimpse of his bloodied face, barely recognizable for the swelling.

If they would allow it, she might be able to help. She had worked very hard all her life to become more than simply a lovely face—the victim of some silly curse. She was well versed in the simples, but she had also studied the old ways and even had a rare manuscript of Byzantine medicines brought back by her grandsire from the Crusades.

“May I help?” she asked.

Lael’s head turned in her direction. “I believe ye may have helped quite enough already!”

Aidan threw up a hand. “Enough! She has been with me all this night.”

“Aye, and what of her companions?”

Aidan’s gaze swept up to meet Lael’s, one brow lifting. “What of them?”

Lachlann shook his head, denying the accusation. “They have all been accounted for all day and all night as well. Between the lot of us, we havena let a one out of our sight.”

Aidan peered up at his sister, his voice brooking no argument. “Never make accusations without proof, Lael.”

“Somehow I
know
they are responsible!” Lael persisted. “Keane is not a clumsy dolt, Aidan! He has climbed those bluffs a hundred times and more!”

Aidan turned to wave Lìli into the room again, peering up at his sister, his mouth set in grim lines. “Nevertheless, I’llna allow ye to gainsay me. Show me proof, or gi’ my wife the respect due her.”

Lael threw her hands into the air. “Ach, ye’re thinking with your willie no’ your head, Aidan! One night spent in that witch’s arms and already she’s turned your brain to mash!” Clearly angry, she marched past Lìli and out the door, bumping Lìli’s shoulder angrily.

Lìli said nothing. She let the girl pass, and all the while Una listened quietly, watching everyone. Now she too urged Lìli to come closer to the bed. This time Lìli did as she was asked.

At the sight of Keane up close, she gasped. The left side of his head was distended and purple. His left eye was swollen closed and his hair was caked with blood. More blood was seeping from his nose.

“The injury to his head is grave,” the old woman said softly. “I dinna believe he cracked his skull, but he has lost much blood. Come,” she demanded. “Your healing skills are far greater than mine.”

Lìli wondered how the woman could possibly know such a thing.

Una merely smiled as though she’d read Lìli’s thoughts, and waved her closer still. “Take a look, lass. Tell us what must be done.”

Lìli hesitated, uncertain. She looked to Aidan first, to be certain he approved. Once he nodded, that was all she needed to know. As though she were suddenly possessed by someone else, she immediately set to work. Gone was her apprehension, all her timorous thoughts. In her place was the healer who had seen far worse than a boy with a bloodied head. She had seen a husband with an arrow through his eye, clear through his skull. She had sawed off arms and legs and had watched babes die whose bodies were covered with bulbous. She was hardly squeamish. She demanded hot water, blankets and needle and thread. She ordered the hefty Lachlann to help her strip Keane’s clothing, and she urged her husband out of the way, making mental notes of all the herbs she must retrieve from her chest.

Aidan watched his wife work, marveling in the sudden change in her demeanor. She was suddenly far bossier than both Lael and Una put together. But he realized she was trying to help and she clearly knew what she was doing.

There was little he could do here but be in the way, so he left his brother’s care to Lìli and to Una, bidding Lachlann to come along once he was through divesting Keane. Finding Sorcha worrying in the hall, he sent his youngest sister into Keane’s room as well, determined now to find out what had happened to his brother.

Lael was standing out upon the pier as though to bar the entrance within to any who might dare try. Her back was rigid and tense, and he made himself known as he came up the walk behind her, lest she spin about and cleave him in two with one of her angry blades. Her eyes slayed him though her hands remained clenched at her sides. “How can ye leave that woman with our brother?” she demanded at once.

“
That woman
is my wife and ye’d best come to terms with it.”

“Ach, Aidan! How can ye trust her?”

“Una trusts her,” Aidan countered, “That is enough for me.”

And yet it wasn’t, he realized, for if that were truly the case, he would not have sent his sister Sorcha into the room to watch over them. Despite that he had witnessed with his own two eyes what Lìli could do—what she had been willing to do for a stranger on the first night of her arrival—he still did not trust her explicitly.

Doubts crept into his head, but he shoved them away.

On the beach, the bonfire raged, and many of his kinsmen lingered, despite that the revelry had long ceased. Now it seemed they were huddled about the fire, simply waiting for word from within.

Aidan ordered Lachlann who walked out of the
crannóg
, “Set guards upon the hall, then
escort
our
guests
to their beds. Assign as many men as can be spared to guard their door. Wherever they go—whatever they do—I want to know. I dinna want any o' them pissing without my knowledge!”

“What of the maid Aveline?” Lachlann asked.

“The
siùrsach
as well!” Aidan snapped, slipping past his sister. “You come with me, Lael!”

Grudgingly, his sister left her post and followed him down the narrow dock. With his sword, he snuffed the torches one by one as he passed, leaving the
crannóg
in utter darkness save for the faint light that emanated from within. From the shore, unless you knew precisely where the dock entrance was, it was impossible to find it without revealing your presence to the guards. “Where are we going?”

“To inspect the pool where Keane was found. I would know from whence he fell—and how.” And aye, superstition or nay, some part of him must know if he could hear the Weeper’s wail. He could not bear to lose Keane now.

He was just a boy.

Sensing Aidan’s distress, Lael’s temper eased, trusting him to do what he must. She grudgingly admitted, “I too was watching the Scots. ’Tis true enough what Lachlann says. They were all accounted for, but one of them could have slipped away during the games?”

“Unless we can prove it,” Aidan persisted, “we cannot risk the consequences were we to accuse one of David’s men.”

“Since when do you care about alliances with David?” Lael asked, keeping pace behind him as he left the dock.

His eyes cut through the darkness, spearing her. “You mistake me, Lael. I care no’ one whit about alliances with David or anyone else. But I do not intend to bring war into this vale. There is too much to lose, lest ye forget?”

The stone.

They both understood that’s what he was speaking of.

It had been their duty all these years, not to rise above other tribes, but to safeguard the stone, for inasmuch as it held the power to unite nations, if it fell into the wrong hands, its possession would only lead to more bloodshed. Many would covet it, only one could truly wield it.

Lael fell into silence at his side.

W
ith Sorcha and Una’s help, Lìli cleansed Keane’s wound as best she could, then stitched it and applied salve. As she had for Duncan, she burned juniper to ward away infection in the air, and then she sent Sorcha after
vin aigre.
Leaving Una alone with Keane, she went after her medicines herself, wholly aware of how close she had come to being discovered last time. Particularly now with suspicion hovering like a shadow over them all, she could not risk that someone might discover the ring. Returning to the room, she overheard a snippet of conversation from the hall.