The Key (21 page)

She had hoped that someone might find reason to be in, or enter, the hallway as they moved
through it. However, they reached the room without incident.

The bedroom she had slept in on first arriving at Dimbar was now mostly empty, and a sooty
mess. Her chests were a chaired mass at one end of the room, the floorboards around and
beneath them half-eaten through by fire. The other end of the room was empty but powdered
with soot everywhere except for a

large square where the bed had been, and four small squares where the legs of the bedside
table had been.

Pausing, Iliana turned to face the Englishman as he pushed Janna in behind her and slammed
the door.

“Over there. Beside the fireplace.” He gestured with his sword, and the two women moved
dutifully toward the wall. Following them, Greenweld's man kept his sword slightly up and
pointed toward them as he felt along the wall. It was only then that Iliana noticed that
some of the soot had been brushed away, obviously during an earlier search he had made,
and she wondered briefly why he had not simply made his escape then.

“He said 'twas to the left of the fireplace. A stone would move under pressure and the
wall would open.”

“Who said?”

He opened his mouth as if to answer, then caught himself and turned on her shaiply. “Very
clever, my lady, but I think I shall keep that information to myself.”

He continued his search then, and Iliana glanced at Janna. She wanted somehow to prepare
her for an escape attempt, but the other woman was staring wide-eyed at their captor.
Before she could get her attention, he gave a cry of triumph that chew her gaze back to
him as the stone his hand pressed on began to slide backward with a heavy, low, grinding
sound. The wall followed suit a moment later, opening into what looked to be a black hole.
Greenweld's man frowned into the darkness unhappily, and Iliana could almost read his
thoughts. He had not thought to bring a torch.

Taking the opportunity while he was distracted, Iliana leapt forward and gave him a shove
that sent him stumbling into the darkness with a shout. Whirling, she gave a stunned Janna
a push as well, this one sending her stumbling toward the doorway leading to the hall.

“Go!” she cried, harrying her forward. Janna regained herself enough to obey. Leaping at
the door, she dragged it open and flew through it. Iliana was directly behind her when
Janna crashed into her mother and Angus. It appeared Angus was prepared to return to the
wall, for he was armed. Despite his weakness and having the woman slam into him, the man
managed to keep his feet, and Iliana began to relax, thinking she was safe, but even as
they all turned to look at her, she felt a hand catch in the short curls on the back of
her head. When that hand yanked viciously, wrenching her head backward, she came to an
abrupt halt, wincing as the icy edge of a blade was raised to her throat.

For a moment there was silence. Iliana could hear her captor panting by her ear. She
herself was breathing heavily as well but tried to control it, for each time she sucked in
air her throat rose slightly with the action, pressing the sharp blade farther into her
neck. Angus was the first to regain himself.

“Let her go,” he ordered grimly, pulling free of Lady Wildwood's panicked grasp and taking
a step toward Iliana and her captor.

Greenweld's man stepped back at once, dragging Iliana with him, and she winced as the
sword edge pressed tighter to her throat

Angus stopped at once. “There is nowhere fer ye to run. Let her go unharmed and I'll make
yer death quick.”

Iliana closed her eyes at that. Had Greenweld's man not known of the passage, Angus's
offer might have

held sway, but he did. Death was not his only option. She was not surprised when he gave a
dry, breathless laugh and merely pulled her back into the room, cautiously backing toward
the passage. Angus followed. Both he and her mother noticed the passage a moment later.

“Nay!” she cried, hurrying into the room. “Take me. It is me Greenweld wants. Take me.”

Her captor stopped at once and Iliana felt his indecision. “Get her out of here!” she
yelled at Janna. “Tie her up if you have to, but do not let her go.”

Janna's eyes widened; then she nodded with determination. She and Lady Wildwood were of a
size, but the Scot was stronger from years of heavy work. She had no problem removing
Iliana's struggling mother.

Once they were out of the room, Angus closed the door. “Let her go and fight like a man,”
he demanded grimly, pulling his own sword from its sheath.

“Another time, old man,” Greenweld's man muttered, backing toward the passage again. “Stay
where you are or I'll kill her.”

Expression grim, Angus stopped, turning his hard gaze to Iliana. “Don't fret, lass. We'll
get ye back.”

Iliana just managed a nod before she was dragged into the dark passage and the stone door
slammed closed.

They were entombed in cool, black silence.

Iliana stood completely still, waiting for her eyes to adjust, even as her captor did. It
took a few minutes before she realized that there was nothing to adjust to. There was no
light anywhere. They must make this trip sightless or return. Her captor cursed quietly
and relaxed his hold on her neck to drop his hand to her arm. When she heard the scrape of
metal on stone, she guessed he was using his sword to measure the width of the passage in
which they stood, and testing to see if the path held anything that they might stumble on.
Apparently assured that the way was clear, he began to move, dragging Iliana behind him.

Rabbie burst into the room, Janna directly on his heels. Pausing to catch his breath now,
he took in the grim expression on his laird's face and the way he glared at the wall
beside the fireplace and frowned.

“I was told ye wished to see me, me laird?” he said at last, when Angus did not
acknowledge their presence.

The Dunbar turned sharply at his words. He had been deep in thought and had not even heard
them enter. “What are they doing?”

Rabbie's eyebrows rose at the abrupt question. “Building another mangonel, I think, me
laird. They are cutting trees and pounding away at something.”

Angus turned back to the wall. “They must still be in the tunnel then.”

Rabbie blinked in confusion at that. “The tunnel, me laird?”

“Aye. A secret passage. The entrance is right there.” He gestured at a section of wall
that looked the same as the rest, then confirmed what Janna had said. 'The messenger has
taken me daughter-in-law

through it and is headed out to Greenweld's men with her. I want this passage blocked. Set
Ebba and Giorsal on the wall to watch the Sassenach, then fetch all the men who are left
and begin bringing boulders from the bailey up here."

“Boulders?”

“Aye. I would have this entrance and the one in me own room blocked. The English'll not
use it to sneak up on us.”

Nodding, Rabbie moved past Janna toward the door as the woman asked, “What of Lady Iliana?
Greenweld'll use her to try to force us to surrender.”

Angus was grim-faced. “We shall stall fer as long as we can.” “And when we can no longer
stall?” Rabbie asked from the door. “Then we shall pray. Do as I ordered.” Nodding, the
stablemaster left the room.

Her captor's curse was the only warning she got before Iliana found herself stumbling into
his back as he stopped. It seemed to her that they had been inching their way through this
hellish passage for hours. Completely sightless, she had stumbled along, dragged behind
the man by a hand on her arm. She had tried to come up with a plan of escape as they had
traveled. Unfortunately, nothing brilliant had come to mind. The floor, as far as she
could tell, was smooth, uncluttered by rocks or boulders that she might have used to club
him over the head. Not that he really gave her any opportunity anyway, not even when they
had traversed the set of slippery steps hewn into the rock near the beginning of this
journey. That had been a terrifying ordeal in itself.

Sighing, she straightened from his back and waited. They were near the end of the passage;
her nose told her that. The smell when they had first entered the tunnel had been stale
and dusty. But for the past several minutes that smell had given way to the rich, dank
scent of earth. She was positive that they were near the end of the passage, and she felt
a mixture of relief and anxiety.

She sensed her captor feeling around on the wall for something, and realized he must have
set his sword aside to do so. Before she could take advantage of that fact, a portion of
the darkness around them moved and light surrounded them. The light was like two arrows to
her eyes after the darkness they had endured for so long.

Squeezing her eyes tightly closed, she nearly groaned aloud at the pain shooting through
her head. Then she felt the hand on her arm tighten and was dragged, stumbling out into
fresh air. Unfortunately, she had not been prepared for the abrupt jerk forward, nor the
uneven ground that was suddenly beneath her feet. Crying out, Iliana stumbled and lost her
balance, instinctively throwing her hands out to cushion her fall.

Wincing at her stinging palms, Iliana blinked frantically, tiying to get her sight back as
she glanced about. They were in a small cave that opened out into bright daylight.

A muttered curse drew her head around. The Englishman was trying to hold the passage door
open, while stretching to retrieve a boulder a few feet away. But he could not reach.
Cursing again, he raised his head to glare at her. “Fetch me that damn rock,” he ordered
grimly.

Eyes widening, Iliana got carefully to her feet, hesitated, then turned and made a mad
dash for the entrance to the cave and the sunlight beyond.

Her captor began shouting at once, the sound bouncing off the walls and vibrating so that
it almost deafened her before she made the mouth of the cave and started blindly across
the clearing outside it. She had no idea where she was going. Truly, she had no idea even
where shewas , but fleeing seemed in her best interests. A plan started to form as she
ran. She would run all the way to Mclnnes keep and fetch help back. She would be able to
find her way, all she needed to do was stop and look for the towers of Dunbar to get her
bearings. Which she would do just as soon as she felt she had gotten a safe distance away
from Greenweld and his men.

Her heart was already pounding fit to burst, but when her captor's shouts were finally
answered by others ahead of her and she realized she was charging straight toward the
enemy, her heart nearly jumped right out of her chest. Changing direction at once, she
veered to the left just as a man broke from the trees ahead of her. Iliana managed a
desperate burst of speed, but it did little good. Even as she sprinted toward the cover of
the woods, she was tackled from behind and sent crashing to her stomach on the forest
floor.

She started struggling at once. Bucking off her attacker, she tried to lurch to her knees,
but he had a hold on her skirt. Whirling, she turned onto her back to kick the man, and
that was her mistake. The sight of Allistair clutching at the plaid she wore made her
hesitate. Only a moment, but even that moment was too long, she realized, as he released
her skirt in favor of the ankle of her half-bent leg, preventing her from either kicking
him or fleeing.

“Ye don't look overly surprised to see me, m'lady.” Allistair was grinning as he eased to
his feet. Reaching down, he pulled her up to stand as well.

“Mayhap that is because I am not terribly surprised.”

His smiled slipped slightly, but he got no chance to question her, for Greenweld stormed
into the clearing just then, his bald head shining in the sunlight and his florid face
eager. That eagerness fled, replaced by fury, when he recognized Iliana.

Her captor came charging out of the cave just then and ran straight into the path of his
lord's rage. Catching the man by the back of the neck, he dug his fingers into the tender
flesh there and shook him violently. “What is this? I told you to bring Lady Wildwood, not
her whelp!”

“Mother was not available,” Iliana said with feigned sweetness when the man's mouth opened
and closed several times, but nothing came out. “He had to make do with me.”

She had expected her words to anger Greenweld; 'twas why she said them. Still, it took her
by suiprise when he suddenly released his man and swiftly closed the distance between
them. Iliana took an instinctive step backward as he approached, but she was not quick
enough to avoid the blow he gave her. He used enough force to send her stumbling backward
to the ground again.

“I shall take no sass off of you, brat! Do not make the mistake of thinking I will.”

Iliana drew a hand across her mouth, grimacing at the blood staining her fingers when she
took it away, then got slowly to her feet once more. Facing him again, she shrugged with
false bravado. “And you shall have neither Dunbar nor my mother. Do notyou make the
mistake of thinking you will.”

He drew his fist back again and Iliana prepared to dodge the blow this time, but Allistair
tugged her roughly to his side and out of reach before either could finish their action.
“Let her be. She is my problem. Treat Lady Wildwood as you will, but Lady Dunbar is mine.”

Greenweld glared at the Scot for his interference, then wheeled away and applied his fist
to his man instead, slamming it into his jaw and sending him stumbling backwards to the
ground. Bending down, he grabbed him by the collar of his tunic and jerked him back to his
feet, giving him a shake as he roared, “You were to open the passage yesterday.”

“I tried,” the man blurted quickly, forestalling the fist that was rushing toward his face
again. “Really, I did, my lord. It was his directions.” He pointed a shaking finger
accusingly at Allistair.

“I told ye 'twas the darkest stone to the left of the fireplace, Hugh,” Duncan's cousin
muttered with open disgust.

“They areall dark. They are soot-stained.” Greenweld raised an eyebrow at Allistair. The
Scot frowned slightly, then understanding came to his face

and he sighed. “The fire. I have not seen the room since the fire. He may be right.”

Grunting his disgust at that, Greenweld set the man reluctantly down, propping his
clenched fists on his hips as he questioned him. “He claimed the passage is straight with
no side trails to confuse a body; is that true?”

“Aye. Tis good it is, too, for things happened so quick, I did not manage to collect a
torch on the way. 'Twas black as pitch in there. I had to feel my way out.”

Gieenweld frowned at that. “We shall need torches then. I shall take half my men and go in
through the passage. The rest will continue to work on the new mangonel so that those
inside do not suspect anything.”

Iliana glanced toward the man named Hugh, fully expecting him to inform Greenweld that
their leave-taking had been witnessed, and that the passage was most likely blocked by
now. It seemed he was not eager to pass on that news, however, for he stood, pale,
trembling, and as silent as stone, his eyes locked warily on Greenweld's fists as he eased
carefully step after step away from him. Her gaze slid to Allistair as he nodded in
agreement with Greenweld's plans.

“You'd best move quickly. 'Twill not take long fer them to notice Iliana missing.”

“Aye. Take her to my tent and keep her out of sight. I shall order the men to make up
torches.”

Turning away, he left the clearing, and Iliana felt herself relax somewhat. While
Allistair was a traitor to his own blood kin, at least he seemed unwilling to beat her. He
had stopped the man from hitting her. That gave her some hope that There was a drop or two
of humanity left in him. Mayhap she could persuade him to switch sides again.

“Come.” Taking her arm, Allistair urged her from the small clearing, leading her through
thick woods to the temporary camp they had set up. There were three tents huddled close
together beneath the trees. Allistair ushered her inside the largest one.

Pushing her in the general direction of a pallet set up along one side of the tent, he
moved to a small table against the opposite wall and grabbed a dented and tarnished mug
from the tabletop. Dipping it into the open barrel of ale beside it, he raised the mug to
his lips and turned to eye her over the top of it as he diank.

After glancing with disgust at the rumpled pallet, Iliana had decided she would prefer to
stand. She faced him, waiting warily for what came next. At first, nothing happened.
Allistair leaned against the wobbly table and continued to drink, eyeing her thoughtfully
as he did, but after several moments he spoke.

“What meant you when you said mayhap you were not surprised?” The very casualness of his
tone told her that her answer was important to him.

“Just what I said. /was not surprised .” His month tightened and he straightened
impatiently. “Why?” “Because it was you who tried to kill me that night in the bedchamber.”

He paled at her words, and Iliana nearly sighed her disappointment aloud. She had been
hoping she was wrong, that selling out to Greenweld was his only sin. But from the moment
when Elgin had awoken her that morning, she had been fretting over the fact that her
attacker had worn a plaid. And when she had found herself confronted by Allistair in the
clearing, she had feared that he was the answer to everything that had been happening of
late. She had not wanted to believe it. He was Duncan's cousin. He'd shown his affection
for Seonaid openly. How could he betray them like this? Why?

“Ye kenned it was me that night?” The honor on his face gave way to sudden suspicion.

“Nay. Had ye kenned that, ye would have told Duncan and he would have killed me.”

“I did not at first recognize that it was you. It was not until this morning that I
recalled that my attacker that night had worn a plaid,” she explained grimly, her anger
finally coming to life. “Now, will you tell me why you would join with Greenweld to see my
mother dead? She has done naught to you.”

He waved her words away. “She was never really my target at all. Duncan was.” Iliana
peered at him blankly. “But the night I was attacked” “I meant to kill Duncan.” “But how
did you know my mother?”

“Was no longer sleeping there?” He smiled slightly. “I sat next to you at dinner. Don't ye
recall? I was on yer left, yer mother on yer right. I heard every word she said to ye that
night. And one of the last things she said was that she was vacating yer room so that ye
and yer husband could get to ken each other better. It was too perfect. No one else would
ken that. They would all assume that the attack had been meant for Lady Wildwood.” When
Iliana merely continued to stare at him blankly, he shook his head with mild disgust.

“Ye still don't understand, do ye? Ye disappoint me. I had not thought ye just another
stupid Sassenach female. Think. Had I merely set out to kill Duncan... well, and sure
enough it wouldn't have been hard to deduce who the culprit was. After all, why would
anyone kill Duncan? The only reason to do that was to”

“Take his place as heir,” Iliana realized suddenly as the answer clicked into place in her
head.

“There ye are! Now yer thinkin',” he applauded.

“But you are his cousin,” she protested at once. “His blood kin.”

“Aye.” He nodded calmly. “His father and mine were brothers, but mine was the younger.
That small fact cut me out from inheriting. So long as Duncan lived.”

Iliana shook her head at his deliberate misunderstanding of her meaning. “His father took
you in. He raised you alongside his own children. He”

“Tossed us crumbs from his table,” Allistair inserted coldly. “It was charity and we were
never allowed to ferget that.”

“Surely Duncan and his father would never”

“Oh, they never said as much. But others did, and the great Dunbars let us ken in other
ways. Fer instance, Duncan and Seonaid, as children of their father, had rooms of their
own in the castle. Do ye ken where we slept?”

Iliana blinked at that. “Nay.”

“In Giorsal's cottage. She was our mother's sister and we lived with her. Oh aye, we took
all our meals with the great laird and his wondrous children, but we were not good enough
to sleep under his roof with them.”

Iliana blanched and shook her head in confusion. That did not sound like the Angus Dunbar
she knew.

“Ye don't believe me.” He smiled slightly. “Well, ye can be askin' yer wondious husband
about it when he gets here.”

“Gets here?” Iliana's eyes widened in alarm.

“Aye. I told ye ye weren't the target and yer not, not fer me and not fer Greenweld. 'Tis
yer mother and Duncan who are really the ones we would see dead. 'Tis just unfortunate ye
got in the way. And that ye ken too much.”

Unwilling to consider the meaning behind his words, Iliana ignored them and muttered,
“Duncan will not come.”

“Aye. He will. When he gets to Colquhoun he will find out the message was a fake. If he
doesn't get hisself killed by attacking the Colquhouns without reason, he shall return.
When he does, it'll be to find ye've been taken. He'll come fer ye.”

“Nay.” Iliana shook her head.

“Aye. I ken me cousin. He'll come fer ye.”

“If ye heard so much that night at the table, then you also heard that all is not well
between my husband and myself. The reason he was not in our room the night you came for
him was because he was with his mistress”

“Aye. Kelly's also my mistress,” he told her with amusement, giving a name to the faceless
woman her husband had gone to that night. “Another one o' the great Dunbar crumbs that I'm
allowed to feed on. I ken he was with her that night. She told me all about it. It seems
ye've ruined him. He couldn't mount her no matter her tricks.”

Iliana was not sure whether she should be grateful at this news or not. On the one hand,
her heart nearly soared at the knowledge that Duncan had not been unfaithful to her. On
the other, it made convincing Allistair that Duncan would not come for her that much
harder. Especially since she herself very much feared he might do just that. She had
learned a great many things about her husband in the time they had been together. Not
least of which was the fact that he took his duty to his people very seriously. He would
indeed come for her. And when he did, they would both be dead, for he had no idea of his
cousin's treachery.

“Once Duncan is dead, I shall be clan chief.”

Iliana stiffened at those satisfied words. “You are forgetting Angus.”

“I forget nothing. Angus is old. Once he acknowledges me as his heir, 'twill be little
enough trouble to see he has an accident.”

“What of Seonaid?”

A slow smile spread across his lips at the question. “Ah, sweet Seonaid. She will be my
wife and rule beside me. She's a good woman, my Seonaid. I've loved her all me life. Never
met another woman like her. Strong. Fast. Cunning”

“And she loves her brother,” Iliana pointed out dryly. “I am sure she will not be pleased
to learn who his killer is.”

“She will never ken. No one will but ye and Duncan, and neither of ye shall be alive to
tell. I will comfort her in her sorrow and arrange the wedding as quickly as possible.”

Iliana gave a disgusted snort that brought Allistair's irritated eyes to her at once.
“Have you forgotten Sherwell? It seems to me you have gotten things in rather a muddle.
With Duncan dead, Seonaid shall be heir to Dunbar, and when she marries Sherwell, he will
be laird here.”

“That wedding shall never take place,” Allistair snapped. “Greenweld will see to that.”

Iliana felt a chill go up her back at that news. “And what must you do to earn that favor
from Greenweld?”

“What do you think?”

“My mother?” she asked faintly.

“Aye. Unfortunately, she'll not live to see me acknowledged as heir, but so be it.”

“So be it?” Iliana echoed faintly. “Are you mad? Your plan cannot possibly work. Angus
will not name his son's killer his heir.”

“He will not ken”

“So you keep saying,” she snapped impatiently. “Seonaid will not ken, Angus will not ken,
and Duncan will not ken 'til 'tis too late. Yet if I, a stupid Sassenach female,” she
threw the words back at him sarcastically, “if I can figure it out, they will also.”

When Allistair stilled at that, Iliana nodded with satisfaction. “You left many clues. All
it needs is piecing together.”

“I left no clues,” he denied with a frown. “Nay? What of the message?” “What of it?”

“ 'Twas just too convenient that Duncan should be called away the day before Greenweld
laid siege to the castle. And then there is also the question of how he and his men
managed to get all the way to the castle without news of his approach reaching us. Lady
Mclnnes told me that there is little if anything that the laird of a clan does not know or
learn about right quickly. Yet Greenweld marched across not only the better part of
Scotland, but the entire stretch of Dunbar land without anyone noticing. He must have had
help.”

Allistair smiled his relief at that. “He did. The messenger.”

“The messenger?”

“Aye.” His smiled turned wry. “Greenweld is as clever as he is greedy. He came across the
messenger while still in the lowlands. Recognizing the king's standard and suspecting the
message the man carried might have something to do with his wife_”