Page 97 of Hold Fast

Una nodded, scrubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms.

“Until then, best you keep to this chamber. I dinnae trust Giffard with you in any time, but especially nae when his master is away. Bar your door and dinnae open it for anyone but me.”

Una nodded and tried not to despair, but her heart felt heavy. Maddie helped to pass the clean shift over her head. The dry wool made her body feel better but did nothing to quiet her racing thoughts.

In the louder-than-normal voice she had employed earlier, Maddie said, “There now, lass. Rest. I’ll return later with your supper.”

Una mouthedthank youto the woman who had been such a good friend in this place. The heavy door closed behind her, and Una hurried to slam the bar down. On shaking legs, she shuffled to the bed and climbed onto it, bringing the covers up to her nose as she lay on her side.

She refused to allow the memories of this room to take over and instead thought of Ewan. She thought of him lying on his back by the loch, his hair an unruly, wavy halo around his head. His eyes were closed, and he was smiling. The sun was warm, the day was calm, and all was as it should be.

Exhausted and imagining the warmth of the sun on her face and Ewan’s body at her back, Una fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER43

“Every able man is to meet me at the keep!” Ewan bellowed as Calman galloped down the road leading through the crofts. “Your lady has been kidnapped!”

He did not stop to answer questions. When they had reached MacDonald land, Ewan and David split up to reach more of his clansmen. His cries brought people out of their cottages, and an organized chaos ensued. In his years as laird, he had never issued a call to arms, and in his lifetime, he only remembered one of this magnitude. His father had worked hard to broker peace where he could and avoid warfare whenever possible. Always prepared, but always seeking another way. But there was no other way. Cameron would not accept diplomacy, and Ewan would tear down the Cameron stronghold stone by stone with his bare hands if that’s what it took.

Blood pounded like a drum in his ears as he rode. Sweat coated Calman’s flanks and neck, and Ewan felt his own perspiration sliding down his back as they sprinted through the cold air. He did not look behind him, but he knew that the men he had passed would be in short pursuit, following their laird to the keep.

Ewan heard shouts from the top of the wall as he neared the skirt, the gate opening at his approach. He leapt off Calman’s back before the horse came to a full stop, and a stable lad took the reins, leading the horse off to a well-deserved dinner and cooldown. Angus and Kenneth ran to him from the steps of the gatehouse and Rabbie from the stables. It was early morning and the bailey was full of commotion and shouting as people flooded out of the keep and the other buildings within the wall and others poured in through the gate.

Ewan jumped onto a wagon so that he could be seen above the crowd. “Una has been kidnapped.” The MacDonalds roared. Over the outrage, Ewan yelled, “By Malcolm Cameron.” Impossibly, the noise escalated.

Ewan shouted above the din, and the crowd went silent as he spoke. “Every man who is able will meet me in the Great Hall at dusk, armed and ready. Their families will come to the keep and stay behind the safety of the walls. Go now and make your preparations. We will leave for the Camerons tonight.” With that, he waded through the crowd and up the stairs of the keep, his brothers and David close on his heels. As he entered the Great Hall, Cat and Fiona ran up to him, tears in their eyes. Joan stood back.

“It cannae be true, Ewan!” Catriona cried.

“Aye. She has been kidnapped by the Camerons.” Over Catriona’s shoulder, Ewan met Joan’s gaze. Her brows knit together, and she bit her lower lip.

“What can I do?” Cat asked.

Fiona chimed in, “Aye, what can we do? Give us a task, m’laird!”

“We need to make the Great Hall ready for a great number of people. And be sure there is food for all prepared.”

“I shall go speak with Fenella. It will be done, m’laird,” Fiona said before rushing away.

“And me, Ewan? What can I do?”

The ghost of a smile tugged at his mouth as he looked at his sister. “Cat, you can do what you do best. Make people feel safe and at home and welcome. There will be dozens, perhaps more, within the walls in the coming days. They will look to you for comfort and guidance.”

He felt a stab of guilt, noting how grown up she looked. He’d asked the impossible of her a year ago in tasking her with piecing Connor back together and, in doing so, had yanked the last bit of her childhood away. And now he was asking her to do the job of someone twice her age.

But she did not look afraid. If anything, she stood taller, pulling her good shoulder back and lifting her chin. “Aye, Ewan. I can be the lady of the keep until our Una returns to us.”

He swallowed against the rising lump in his throat and nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, Ewan noticed Joan slip through the door to the buttery. “I’ll come find you before we leave in a few hours,” he said and Cat hurried away.

“M’laird,” David said, striding across the rapidly filling hall. “Any changes to the plan?”

Ewan shook his head grimly. It wasn’t so much a plan as a choreography. They would leave when the moon was high in the sky. Ewan and David would lead, and the men would follow in groups of twenty, moving as quietly as possible. Ewan couldn’t afford for Cameron to realize that the entire MacDonald clan was on its way, and he knew that the bastard would have watches placed throughout the woods surrounding his land.

Any Cameron man discovered was to be subdued or, if it was not possible to subdue them, dispatched. The MacDonalds would stay behind the tree line for as long as possible, and only when the forest ran out would they march en masse on the Cameron keep.

It was not a particularly finessed plan, but there wasn’t time for one. The element of surprise was their best weapon. Cameron did not keep a standing army, and Ewan’s men would outnumber his readied forces. They would cut down trees for the battering rams when they arrived.

David began grouping the men into twenty-man packs, trying to disperse them by skill, age, and weapon so there was balance among them. Ewan turned to his brothers.