The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (6 page)

"And what did Alex say?"

"I canna use the same words to ye. Let's just say he told Malcolm that he dinna believe him."

"What did Malcolm say?"

"We dinna give him much chance to say anything. We listened to what he had to say and Alex told him only the one thing and then we walked out. It's only after everything else that I wonder what would have happened if Alex had gone alone."

"And after that you never saw him again."

"No," he said heavily and shook his head. "I saw him again. Ye remember we were at Lachlan's house and got the letter?" I nodded. "When we thought on it we kent it had to be Malcolm. No one else coulda kent exactly where we'd be. Only a MacGannon would ken we'd spend the night with Lachlan on that route. Only a MacGannon would ken where we'd
harbour
a ship. No one else would ken our habits, and there was only one MacGannon unaccounted for."

"You think Malcolm wrote the letter."

"It's no' his writing but I think he's behind it."

"And Robert was with him. Are you sure?"

"Aye. When the message came we questioned Lachlan and the boy who brought it. Lachlan swore he knew nothing and the boy said only that a man had paid him English money to deliver the message. A Scot, with soldiers."

"So you went to see for yourselves."

He shot me a sharp look. "Aye, that we did. We retraced our trail and found them about three miles from us in a small spot with a
croft house
. It was like a bowl, where they were, and Matthew, Alex, and I crept up to the edge and waited for daylight. And at last we saw him. With Robert Campbell. They were looking at a map and Malcolm was waving his hand off to the west. We crept back away and rode some miles away. Then ..." His mouth twisted in a
wry
smile. "Then we argued. Alex wanted the rest of us to go on and he would go back and wait for them to find him. I wanted him to come with us to the Margaret and get home or else fight them there. We argued for a vena long time and heatedly." He sighed and rubbed his chin. "And then he said he was ordering me as my chief to go. And I laughed at him, Mary. I laughed and I told him that he was but Alex and he couldna tell me what to do. I told him I wouldna go without him. He was quiet then for a long time and at last he said, 'Angus, let's go home.'

"I believed him because I wanted to believe him. In the end I did what he wanted. Willing or no, wittingly or no, I did what he wanted and, I suspect, we all did what Malcolm wanted." He took a deep breath. "If no' for that letter Alex wouldna have thought of giving himself to them.
Malcolm knew that Alex would do exactly what Alex did.
So now I'm here, safe and he's..." His words trailed off as he rubbed his hand over his face. "I dinna ken what he was doing until it was too late. If I had known ..."

"Why did you not fight Robert?"

His head sank onto his chest for a moment. With a visible effort, he lifted his chin. "Robert has over a hundred men with him, Mary. We had twenty- two. Alex dinna like the odds."

I nodded. Nor did I. "So Alex went back to the barn?"

"No. We were hours from the Margaret, back around the loch and then some. Alex said we'd all go to her. When we got to the eastern shore of the

loch we ... found ... some boats. It took two trips to cross the loch. I went with the first group. Alex said he'd stay with the second and I dinna question it. We often split ourselves like that so one of us would be guarding each end of the group. And when they came without him I was furious." He stared through me. "He told wee Donald that I had agreed that he would stay. He knew Donald wouldna argue with him. I would have, and Gilbey would have, but Alex made sure we'd gone together. I should never have left him. I should have kent what he would do. And none of us knew where Matthew was." He rubbed his eyes. "So we went back looking for them. The English camp was all but empty. No Alex. No Matthew. No Robert. We looked for hours. We went back to Lachlan's house and found it burning and Lachlan gone, but no bodies, so we think Lachlan lives. Then went back to the English camp and back to the boat, but we couldna find a trace of them. So we came home. I dinna know what else to do."

He sighed heavily. "I left him there on the shore of the loch, Mary, and when we were halfway across I turned and looked at him. I dinna ken why I turned to look, but I'll see him standing there, watching us, until I die. When we got to the other side I realized Matthew was no with us. I thought he'd gone in the other boat. I could have sworn I saw him getting into one as we left the shore." He took a deep drink, then met my eyes. "And now we dinna ken where they are. As soon as I have ye ready here, lass,
I’m
leaving again to find them."

I closed my eyes. This is not true, I told myself, but the image of Alex standing alone on the shore of a loch, planning to surrender himself, was too difficult to bear. I opened my eyes and saw Angus's misery written plainly on his face. "If you had all gone back with him, there would have been a battle," I said. "If just Alex and Matthew go, perhaps there will be no violence. Alex knew what he was doing and Robert will
honour
the terms in his letter. No one will be hurt. Robert is an
honour
able man. It's not as though he's a stranger. Surely Robert can't really mean to keep Alex." "Ye canna really believe that, Mary." "Angus, it's Robert. He'll keep his word." Angus's expression was desolate. "Mary, we dinna have Robert's word. We have Malcolm's word. Robert dinna write the letter. We have no way of kenning what's in Robert's mind."

"Oh, dear God," I said, understanding at last. "Aye. And my son's with them too." I stared at him mutely.

We had sent runners out to the edges of Kilgannon land and the Margaret to Skye for news. We prepared for the worst. We slept fully dressed with weapons at our sides. Alex Is alive I told myself over and over, as if by mere repetition of the words I could make them real. And Matthew is with him and they will be home soon. Alex Is alive....

Two days later, as the last of Angus's preparations were being finished, a runner came with the news that Matthew was coming home. I waited with the boys while Angus rode out with Gilbey to meet his son, so I did not see their reunion, nor hear what Angus had to say about his
behaviour
, but when the three of them rode back into the courtyard Angus looked more at peace and Matthew remorseful. Matthew threw himself off the horse as the boys launched themselves at him, then met my embrace with a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, Mary," he said, his young voice harsh with fatigue. I froze in his arms and looked up at him. He nodded. "Aye, bad news. Alex has been taken by Robert's soldiers. And Robert's men are now coming to Kilgannon."

"Thank God," I said. "How can you call this bad news? Alex is alive. Nothing else matters. Alex is alive and Robert is bringing him home."

Matthew shook his head. "I dinna ken that Alex is alive for certain, Mary. There's a big man riding with them, covered with a cloak and hood. I dinna ken it's Alex."

I stared at him,
trying
to understand. Around me the voices rose as the people questioned him. Angus called for quiet, then gently took my arm and motioned for e
very
one to follow us to the hall. Matthew was fussed over and plied with whisky and food and asked a thousand questions while Angus stood next to me, waiting until his son had a bit of the liquor and a bite of the food. Then the three of us withdrew to the library.

"Tell her what happened," Angus said, settling into a chair. "Start from when ye deceived yer father at the side of the loch."

Matthew straightened his back and gave his father an unreadable glance before meeting my eyes. "Alex was no' himself, ye ken,
Mary
," he said. I nodded, wondering what was coming. "I dinna ken at first what he was planning but I had an uneasy feeling, so I got out of the boat and waited with wee Donald and the others. When Alex and Donald argued I realized Alex was going to stay and I hid in the trees with one of the horses we'd left there. I watched Alex watch the others row away. I kent my da would be furious, but I thought one of us should stay with Alex, and Da and Gilbey were gone. That left me."

"Brilliant thinking," growled Angus. Matthew glanced at his father and continued. "I followed Alex back to the clearing we had stopped in earlier. He had taken all the horses except for the one I had with me and he wasna paying close attention to anything, so it was easy to follow him. He dinna see me and I was careful. I thought if he kent I was there he'd send me back to my da."

"He probably would have," I said.

Matthew nodded. "Alex sat on a rock in the clearing for the longest time, just sitting and looking at the ground. I was about to show myself when at last he jumped up and leapt onto his horse, taking the other horses with him. I followed him to the English camp. First he rode close and dismounted and crawled up the hill where we had watched them before, then he went back down and got on the horse. He sat there for a bit, looking up at the crest. I guess he was judging when the guards wouldna be looking." He wiped his palms on his thighs. "And then he gathered up all the other horses, real loose, and he rode right to the top of the hill above the camp, right through their guards. I thought he'd go down there after Malcolm, but instead he rode above the hut, waiting there in full view so that they all saw him. I thought he'd gone mad. He was deliberately drawing their attention. And then, when they were all shouting and running for their horses, when Robert Campbell came out of the hut, Alex rode right down into the camp, right through the middle and he let the other horses go, so that they muddled everyone up. Then he spun around and jumped over a
campfire
and rode up the other side. He stopped at the top and waited for them to start after him."

I pictured it, Alex leaning low over the horse, his hair flying, his plaid a crimson slash against the horse's side. He'd known they'd follow him and he'd planned to lead them away from his men. Alex, I thought, my love.

"Did they follow him?" Angus asked.

"Aye. When they came to the top of the hill he was already in the trees, going toward Brenmargon Pass, with them like madmen after him. I rode to meet him at the other side of the trees and he saw me then." His mouth twisted. "He wasna pleased. He shouted at me to go. He was like a madman, too, and we rode toward the pass with him shouting at me. It's verra flat from the trees to the pass, all open moor and we kent they'd see us the minute they broke from the trees, and they did. We could hear them screaming. That's when we got through the beginning of the pass. There's a spot there that's wide and flat, with the rocks high all around, and the path is only wide enough for two horses. Alex told me to go ahead. He must have shouted it twenty times. He was spinning his horse around and looking behind us, telling me to go."

"
Did you? “I asked
.

He shook his head. "No' at first. Alex said he was a dead man already and that I had to go. He said my father would never forgive him if I were killed." We both glanced at Angus, who watched his son impassively. I said I couldna leave him alone, but he smacked my horse's rump with the flat of his claymore and she jumped out of her skin and ran into the narrow part. By the time I had her under control again he was turning back into the first of the pass to meet them."

"To meet them?" I whispered.

"Aye." His worried gaze met mine and he nodded. "Aye. He went back. And that's when they got him."

I gasped. "What do you mean 'got him? What did you see?"

"I was through that bit of the pass, so I went back over the rocks above to see what happened." He stared into the distance. "Alex was on the ground in the middle of a bunch of them, with Robert Campbell standing over him and shouting at the others. They were like a pack of wolves and Robert was holding them off."

"But Alex was alive?"

Matthew met my eyes. "I dinna ken, Mary. I couldna tell. Alex was on his back and there was so much blood I couldna be sure. Some was from the other man on the ground. He was dead for certain. But then Robert knelt down next to Alex and talked and patted his shoulder. I dinna think Robert would talk to him if he werena still alive. Then the others hauled Alex onto a horse and they were no gentle about it. He was either dead or unconscious then. There was blood dripping on the ground from him."

"And then what?"

"They took him back to their camp. They never even came looking for me. I followed them but I never saw Alex again once they carried him into the crofter's hut. And I never saw Malcolm."

"He was not with Robert?"

Matthew shook his head. "I only saw him the once, that morning with Alex and Da. He dinna show himself after that. I dinna even ken if he was still in their camp. I waited and watched them for days until they started to move west. I was afraid to leave for fear they'd go east and I'd not ken, but I couldna tell if Alex was alive. And when they started riding I couldna tell if the man in the cloak and hood was Alex. Or Malcolm." He sighed and rubbed his eyes like a small boy. "They left men at the crofter's hut, so I couldna search it. So I followed them. I thought they'd kill Alex or bring him to Edinburgh. When they headed west I kent they were coming here."

I nodded but it did not make any sense. Why was Robert coming here? To claim Kilgannon? Would he march on my home with brutality in his heart? I shook my head in frustration. "And now Robert comes here," I said. "I don't understand that."