Chapter Eighteen
After the wee Henry weasel left, Fraser glared at the cell door, then muttered a string of curses. If only Cyrus hadn't sent Irving and MacNeil, those two would yet live and Fraser would be nearly to Castle Rebbinglen by now.
Of course, Cyrus had only wanted to protect him.
Maybe Fraser should blame himself. His brothers had always told him his risk-taking would get him into trouble. He didn't want to believe them. He never felt more alive than when he was on the edge of disaster.
But now he was fully immersed in disaster. Cyrus didn't have enough men left to lay siege to this castle. He'd be forced to buckle under the bastard's demands. He and the two MacKenzie guards may have killed two of Henry's men, but the man had at least twenty to thirty more, that Fraser had counted.
He sat down on a rectangular stone block in the corner. This dungeon cell was cool, dank and musty. The only light came from a tiny window in the corridor. 'Twas far too small for a man to fit through.
Hell, what if he didn't survive this? He never thought about his own mortality. As far as he was concerned, no one could bring him down. But mayhap he'd been wrong.
The lovely face of a dark-haired lass popped into his mind. Would he ever see Lady Talia Murray again? He had not seen her in a long while. And as he'd told Cyrus, she was likely married to one of the MacKay clansmen. After all, she'd moved to their castle when her sister, Seona, had married Keegan MacKay.
Talia had only been eighteen summers when he'd last seen her, too young for him to dally with, especially with her being a virginal lady. Though Keegan was a good friend, he would've likely throttled Fraser if he'd seduced the lass. Or Keegan might even try to force Fraser to marry her.
Fraser admitted he had been a bit disappointed when she hadn't traveled with Isobel and Dirk to Castle Rebbinglen. But why would she? If she wasn't yet married, she'd likely stayed by her sister's side. And if she was married, she might have a bairn by now.
He arose and paced across the packed earth floor. Nay, he would focus on seducing other lasses and push Talia from his mind, as he had been doing for two years. He didn't want to be tied down with only one woman, at least not until he was thirty or thirty-five. He vowed to be the last of his brothers to take a wife. As long as Cyrus would marry and sire a few sons, Fraser had no need to.
However, when he had sat alone, observing his brother Shamus with his bride, Maili, he'd experienced a strange twinge. He was uncertain what it was—envy, loneliness? He shrugged, annoyed because 'twas an emotion he hadn't felt when he was younger. He had truly thought Keegan mad when he'd blatantly admitted that he wished to wed Lady Seona because of his deep feelings and devotion to her alone. But now, Fraser felt a hint of understanding.
Still, what did it matter at the moment? Imprisoned, he could do naught about going to visit Talia. He didn't ken how the present conflict would get resolved. No doubt Cyrus would protect him at any cost, 'haps even risk his own life in a rescue attempt. Fraser prayed it didn't come to that. The clan needed Cyrus far more than it needed Fraser or any of the other MacKenzie brothers.
∞∞∞
The next day, Cyrus checked on James multiple times. Although Mistress Almsly had removed the arrow from his thigh and stopped the bleeding, James was fevered and in great pain. The various herbal tisanes she forced him to drink helped him sleep through most of it.
Cyrus had spent the rest of the morning in the gatehouse or courtyard, strategizing with the few able-bodied guards he had remaining, while Elspeth was doing some sort of bookkeeping in the study.
During noon meal, Reid rushed in the front door and toward Cyrus where he sat at the table with Elspeth. "Chief! A small army is approaching."
Cyrus shot up from his chair. "The MacKenzies?"
"Nay. Lowlanders."
"Damnation." Cyrus strode out the door and down the steps. "How many?"
Reid followed closely behind him. "At least two dozen."
"Hellfire." 'Twould be an uphill battle, being so outnumbered. Cyrus had faced similar odds before, but never while protecting a lady. He paused and glanced back to see if Elspeth was close-by. Indeed, she was only a few paces behind him. "Take your staff into the cellar as we discussed, including your two guards. Neither are recovered enough to fight."
"Of course." Elspeth rushed back inside, while he continued toward the gatehouse.
Mistress Almsly already knew, at the first sign of trouble, she was to bar the door of the room where she was tending to James. Moving him would cause him great pain.
In the gatehouse, Cyrus peered out at the road in the distance. "'Tis a larger force than we have."
Reid nodded. "'Haps four or five times as many."
Muttering a curse, Cyrus looked around for the bow and quiver but remembered they were in the hall. The quiver didn't contain enough arrows to kill all those men, anyway. He would have to use another tactic. His and Elspeth's cellar idea was probably the best one, fighting two or three men at a time in the narrow corridor.
"Reid, I want to post you and Norval by the gates. Keep an eye on the wood across the road, too. He could've divided his forces."
"Aye, Chief." Reid left the gatehouse.
A moment later, Elspeth ran up the steps.
