Page 45 of Darach

“There’s nothing,” she finally said, and walked outside to take several deep breaths before she regarded her husband. “Ask someone in the kitchens to send a big jug of vinegar to the infirmary. I need to clean off their faces so we can identify them.”

As Taveon joined them, Luthias touched his wife’s shoulder. “You neednae do such. I shall ask Duine.”

“He’ll probably faint when he sees them,” Emery said, and sighed. “I used to love my work. Now sometimes I really hate it.” She patted his hand before she headed into the stronghold.

Luthias watched her go, and then turned to the war master. “I wish to ken how anyone could hide three dead in a granary under the noses of a dozen of our sentinels.”

“’Twas likely done at night, and with the bodies concealed in sacks, none would reckon such odd. We send grain to the mill but twice a moon, and that ’twas delivered a week past.” Taveon glanced up at the inner curtain wall. “I dinnae reckon the dead as our vassals or clan. We maynae miss one, but three? They’re villagers, mayhap.”

“Or Carack.” He thought of how Athdara Martin’s body had been left for Callum to find on MacRoss land. “I shall attend Emery in the infirmary. Send for Darach, and put guards on Mistress Walsh.”

“I shall fetch them myself.” The war master nodded to two of the guards, who followed him out through the gates.

Luthias found his wife donning an apron and gloves as his men left the infirmary. She had pushed together two work tables, on which his men had placed the dead, and draped the bodies with blankets from the neck down. Behind him a lad appeared holding a large crock.

“Bring that to my lady,” he told him, and the boy carried the vinegar inside.

“Put it over here on the bench, thanks, Tom.” Emery lit several lamps and brought two over to place beside the bodies. “Luthias, can you give me a hand with this?”

“I’ll aid you if I may, my lady,” Tom said. When she nodded, the boy put on an apron and the gloves she handed him. He paled a little as he glanced at the mortar-smeared corpses.

Emery removed the lid from the crock, releasing the sharp smell of vinegar, and then soaked two cloths in it before handing one to Tom.

“Dab the vinegar on their faces. It’ll help loosen the mortar so I can remove it,” she told him before meeting Luthias’s gaze. “This will take some time. We need to find out if any of our people have gone missing.”

“We’ve lost two men from the village, my lady.” Duine appeared in the doorway, and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve as he averted his gaze from the corpses and regarded Luthias. “Forgive me, my lord, but the headman came to the hall just now to ask our help. His blacksmith went to Dun Deigh to purchase ore yesterday and hasnae returned. A carpenter who oft works for the MacRoss also vanished while out marking trees for felling near the Carack boundary.”

“I’ve only got one male body here,” Emery said as she wiped her cloth over the dead man’s neck. “The other two are female.”

Duine flinched. “I’ve word from the Carack enclave that Lord Struan searches now for two maids and a trapper gone missing from his stronghold as well.”

“Two missing from our village, and three from the Carack.” Emery straightened and turned to Luthias, her expression grim. “Seems like someone is playing the Let’s Have a Clan War game again.”

“Go to Cook,” he told the sage. “Bid her account for all the maids or female vassals in the stronghold.” Once Duine hurried off, Luthias went to his wife. “Can you tell me how they died, my lady?”

“I need to complete my examinations before I can, but...” She hesitated, glancing at Tom before she drew Luthias out into the hall and closed the door. “The male only had a little mortar on his neck. I’m seeing what looks like rope burn and fingernail scrapes around a ligature mark under it, all indicating he was hanged. Both females have had their hands and hair cut off. There’s mortar inside their mouths, and from what I can see, their throats.”

His gut tightened. “Does that mean what I reckon?”

“The women may have been drowned in it,” Emery said, and leaned against him for a moment. “Someone executed these people like they were criminals, and then put their bodies in our granary, maybe to make it look like we were hiding them.”

“As ’twas done to make Athdara Martin’s murder appear a suicide.” Anger swelled inside him. “I must send a message to Struan and warn him.”

“Tell him everything, and ask him to look for our missing people,” his wife suggested. “Because if this plays out the way I think it will, he’ll find their bodies on his land.”

* * *

After he placed the Fire sword where Charlotte could easily look upon it, Darach spread his tartan on the grass for her. “You’re certain you wish to draw what happened the night you came to us?”

“I might rearrange the elements a little.” She glanced at the blade. “It was nice of you to bring the sword, but won’t the laird get worried when he sees it’s missing?”

“The guards shall tell him ’tis with me.” Darach sat down beside her as she began sketching the spring in front of them. He grew fascinated by how quickly she worked, and somehow made what should have been a jumble of lines into trees, water and rocks.

“You can talk to me while I do this,” she said, smiling a little. “I usually listen to music when I work in my studio.”

That startled him. “You hire musicians to play for you?”

“In my time we have wonderful things called sound systems and MP3 players that record musicians and play their music at the touch of a button, so we can listen to them over and over.” Charlotte turned slightly and darted some glances at him as the stick in her hand flew over the drawing. “Music always inspires me. So do gardens and fountains. Songs, the smell of flowers, and hearing the sound of water fill up my soul with beauty. When I draw or paint I just pour it all back out. Everything right here is perfect.”