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Everyone looked at her with puzzled expressions again.
“Uhm. I just thought of something that we can use. In February 1307, James ‘Black’ Douglas went with a small raiding party to the Isle of Arran where Brodick Castle was, occupied by the English, of course. The underwarden of the castle arrived with a couple of boats from the mainland with provisions, clothes, and arms. About twenty Englishmen came to unload the boat, and Douglas and his men killed them all. The men in the castle came to their rescue, but Douglas killed them all, too. Then they gathered everything from the boat and camped nearby, waiting for Robert the Bruce to arrive.”
Raghnall winced. “How do ye ken all that?”
Oh, shoot! She knew from her research, of course. “My cousin James Douglas told me,” she said.
Raghnall’s smart, dark eyes bored into her. “Ye’re a wry one, are ye nae? ’Tis a peculiar thing that a woman would ken such military details. I understand why Angus is in love with ye.”
Her face fell. She went completely still. “In love?” she whispered. “Did he say that?”
“He didna need to. I ken him. And good for him for abandoning this evil bitch for ye. ’Tis long overdue he stopped protecting everyone and let others protect him.”
She swallowed hard. He loved her… But no, just because Raghnall said that didn’t mean it was true, right? And even if it was, there would be no future between them, no matter how much she wished otherwise. But even if she couldn’t be with him, she wouldn’t let him be kidnapped and held against his will.
“Anyway,” she said. “Could we do something like that?”
Oh God, she couldn’t believe she was suggesting killing twenty men!
“Maybe not kill them but just knock them unconscious and tie them up?” she said.
Raghnall nodded slowly. “Aye. We could. We could take their clothes and provisions and get into the castle carrying all that.”
“Wouldn’t the guards from the castle see that? Or hear us?” Catrìona asked.
“I think the beach is shielded enough from the keep,” Raghnall said. “But ye’re right about the sound of battle. And we still dinna ken who and how many men are on the birlinn. But it might just work.”
“So we wait for the ship to arrive and see who’s there?” Rogene said.
“Aye.”
When the ship arrived, it was already evening. The group went closer to the cliff and watched it dock. It wasn’t a trader. The ship belonged to the castle, and the captain with a dozen men went there directly without unloading.
“They’re leaving it for the next day,” Raghnall murmured. “’Tis already late.”
“So, what do you think happens next?” Rogene asked. “Do they unload it tomorrow?”
“Aye,” Raghnall said, his slightly slanted eyes glistening in the twilight. Something about his face gave Rogene the impression of a hawk. “They must have come a long way, and the ship is well loaded, as far as I can see. They want to rest first.” He looked at her. “I bet they’ll start in the morn, Black Fox.”
She frowned. “Black Fox?”
The men were settling around them to sleep on the ground, huddling in their heavy woolen cloaks. Not wanting to light the fire, they made a simple meal of bannocks and dried meat and fish. Catrìona sat at the base of a bush and looked into the night sky while chewing absentmindedly.
Raghnall chuckled. “Aye. Black Fox. They’re a myth. No one has actually seen one in Scotland. But folk claim that they exist, only disguised as faeries. They’re especially smart and especially precious.” He looked at her, his dark eyes piercing. “I’ve seen one, though. When my father chased me away, I traveled the world. Before I joined Robert the Bruce, I went to England, and France, and Flanders. Sleeping, just like now, on the forest floor isna new to me. Doing work both honest and…well…nae so honest.”
He picked up a piece of grass and put it in the corner of his mouth, chewing on it slowly.
“I woke up one night because I heard a sound. It was summer, and I’d just left Edinburgh and was heading north where I’d heard Robert the Bruce was gathering men to fight the English. My purse was full of provisions for the road. Cheese. Bread. Bannocks. I even had a small jar of butter. The moon shone brightly. And there it was. Black, its fur glistening like silver in the moonlight, its muzzle in my travel purse. I lifted my head, staring at it. I didna want to harm it and didna mind if it ate my food—I could always get more. But if it was a faerie, I didna want to get on its bad side.”
Rogene licked her lips. He was right about that. Contrary to all logic and reason, faeries existed, and her being here, talking to him, was proof.
“Then it finished and looked at me. Its muzzle glistened with fat—the wicked animal ate all my butter. I only chuckled and marveled at it. It was so bonnie, Lady Rogene. So…out of this world that I wondered for a moment if I was dreaming. Then, when it kent I wasna going to attack, the bonnie thing went into my purse again, grabbed a linen pouch with dried meat, and ran away.” He shook his head and cackled. “It ate everything I had except for my old bannock, which was as hard as wood. Trust me, I regretted nae shooing it away.”
He met her eyes and a corner of his mouth lifted. “Angus told me he wondered if ye were a thief or a spy, and I told him ’tis unlikely. But having met ye now, I dinna ken if I was too quick to come to that conclusion. Ye have a mystery or two of yer own, dinna ye? Ye’re like the black fox, are ye nae, Lady Rogene? Clever. Bonnie. A thing of myths and legends and mayhap nae of this world. And mayhap stealing a thing or two while we’re nae watching. The question is, will ye disappear in the darkness like that wee visitor, never to be seen again, and break Angus’s heart?”
Rogene didn’t dare to move, both shocked and mesmerized by his story. Raghnall, like Angus, was so much more inside than he let show on the outside. Raghnall wasn’t a rogue or a bandit. Angus wasn’t just a giant warrior. And her brother wasn’t just a boy with a learning disability. The three had more brains and wit than many people she knew.
She swallowed hard. “I assure you, I have no intention of breaking anyone’s heart. All I want is to free Angus.”
