On his horse and keeping to the rear of the crowd, Beagan watched as the men, upon hearing Eoghan’s accusation that she was a pagan witch, threw the poor lass into a pit.
Thatbrought Beagan up short.He knew Ailith.He had worked with her brother and conversed with her and seen her by Seocan Gordon’s side.She was a good woman, even if she was wild, as described by her brother.But Beagan had traveled the length and breadth of the Highlands and seen many a wild woman, women who might truly be called pagan witches.
Ailith was not one of those.She might be a clever woman who knew her mind and liked to follow her older brother around, as nearly every little sister did.She might be on the willful side, but Beagan was convinced she was no witch.Something more was going on in the Grant lands.
And chieftain James Grant was not present to oversee it.Thatfact concerned him even more.
Beagan flicked his gaze to the abbot.Though the man was difficult to see in the rain and flickering torchlight, Beagan could make out the look on the abbot’s milky face.Pride.Contempt.Not a proper look for a man of God.
That man had no care if Ailith was a pagan or a witch or not.
He planned to use her as an example, no matter what.
And that pride, Beagan could not abide.As the crowd stepped back, he whipped the reins against his horse’s mane and led his beast to the main road leading toward Glenbervie, which would be quickest.If Ailith had until morning, he could race to Gordon Tower, inform Seocan of what had transpired, and her brother could be here before light sliced the horizon and the village awakened.
When he reached the edge of the village, another man waved him down – Paden MacDougal.
“What’s happened?”he asked as Beagan slowed.Worry lines plagued his face.“I saw the crowd.”
“Ride for Drumoak.Tell William that Ailith Gordon has been taken by the Grants under the guise of witchcraft.”
Paden’s face twisted in his angered confusion.“Witchcraft?Why are the Grants doing that?Where is James?”
They did not have time for this conversation, but Beagan bit back the harsh comment.“I believe the abbot means to use her as an example of what to do with non-believers.And if these Grants here have some other quarrel with the woman, they are using this as an opportunity.I’m for Glenbervie to inform Seocan.Now if ye dinna want the lass wounded or worse, ride to Drumoak and retrieve her husband!”
The man asked no further questions and leaned over his horse’s neck, following Beagan as they raced away from the Grant lands.
Seocan was roused from a dead sleep by a pounding on the door, followed by muffled shouting.Unlike him, Mairi roused quickly, as she often did for the babe, and she shook Seocan until he fully woke.
“Hurry, before he wakes the babe.”
In that second, Seocan realized something was amiss and shot off the bed, grabbed his sword from the sheath hanging next to it before he rushed the door.
Daniel’s voice spoke from the other side.
“Seocan!We have a messenger!”
He looked back to Mairi.
“At this hour?”she whispered in the darkness as her eyes focused on the cradle near the bedframe.Fortunately for them, the babe slept on.
Leaning his sword against the stone wall, Seocan opened the door.Daniel rushed in, his hair disheveled and his tunic crumpled.His own sword, however, was strapped to his hip at the ready, making Seocan second-guess leaving his weapon by the door.
Daniel bowed briefly to Mairi before turning to Seocan.
“What has ye in such a state at this hour?”Seocan asked.Mairi rose and drew a bed robe around her dusky léine.Something dire, Seocan ascertained from Daniel’s appearance and late-night arrival.
Dire enough to yank a man from his bed in the wee hours of the night.
“Beagan MacIntosh.He’s just come from Grant lands, where they have taken Ailith.”
Mairi gasped and clutched her bed robe at her neck.“Taken Ailith?What do ye mean?”
“Takenher.The abbot there, and William’s kin, Eoghan.They believe her to be a witch or the sort, using her powers against Christians, and Beagan said he believed they intended to make an example of her.”
“An example?Of what?How?”
Daniel shook his head and pursed his lips.“That he did no’ know.But he said the abbot and the small crowd exuded anger and seemed to lay blame for their anger at her feet.”
