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“I want my horses,” Fiona said coldly.
“Ye are in no position to make bargains with me, lady,” he snapped.
“My liege”Fiona said in a firm voice,“I want my horses.”She drew in a deep breath to calm her thundering heart. “Ye canna send me and my servants out upon the high road totally destitute and without our horses. Look at my bairns! They are no more than infants. Do ye expect them to walk all day? They will die before we reach safety. Colin MacDonald broke his faith with ye, but I have not done so.”
“My lord, ye will not appear weak if ye offer the lady Fiona her horses,” Duncan Cummings said. “Ye are burning her home and the bulk of her possessions. She is widowed, her bairns orphaned. A tiny modicum of mercy would not be taken amiss. Indeed, ye would be thought a just king for this show of leniency toward a helpless woman whose ungrateful husband rose in rebellion against ye. The church, I am certain, would approve yer actions.” He nodded at James Stewart.
“Aye!” his two companions agreed in unison.
Fiona kept her eyes lowered. She fell to her kneesbefore the king in a gesture of submission. Would he refuse her? she wondered, truly frightened. She desperately needed those horses; Holy Mother, let him say aye!
“Very well, madam,” the king finally agreed. “Ye may have yer horses, but yer cattle and yer sheep are forfeit along with the rest of yer goods and chattel but that which ye can carry.”
“Oh, thank ye, my lord!” Fiona cried. Catching his hand, she kissed it gratefully, scrambling to her feet as she did so.
“One hour, madam,” he said sternly.
She curtsied, then slowly withdrew from the hall, the children following behind her. The four men watching her go were impressed with her dignity. She had accepted the punishment upon her husband's family honorably. So many wives of the defeated howled and fussed.
Ian was waiting for her outside the hall. With a nod he took Johanna from her and signaled to Alastair and Mary to follow him. Fiona hurried to her own apartment, where Nelly and Roderick awaited her.
“We have the horses!” she said triumphantly.
“I'll ride his lordship's stallion,” Roderick Dhu said. “Ian will take my animal; Nelly, the white mare; and ye, the gray gelding. Young Nairn will have his pony. I took the two beasts we will use for pack animals down into the forest behind the castle this morning. They are fully loaded with the items ye and Nelly packed early yesterday.”
“I've packed plenty of food from the kitchens,” Nelly said briskly. “We'll not have to exist on oatcakes forever. I've cheese, bread, and apples that Ian and I gathered from the orchard, salted meat, and a fat goose I roasted this day!” she finished with a grin.
“I don't know what I would do without ye two,” Fiona said gratefully. “I could not do this without ye. When we are safe at Hay lower, ye are free to leave me for Brae should ye choose. I can ask no more of ye than ye have already given me.” Fiona took the hand of each servant and squeezed. “Thank ye.”
“We'll not leave ye, lady,” Nelly said in a determined voice.
“Ye have not seen my wee tower,” Fiona said with a small laugh. “After Brae and Scone and Nairns Craig, it will seem a verra poor place.”
Roderick Dhu patted her shoulder. “Lady, we will survive together. I would not leave young Nairn as I did not leave his father”
Fiona felt the first twinge of guilt in many years at Roderick Dhu's words. Like everyone else, he believed Alastair to be Colin MacDonald's son and heir. She wondered if she would ever be able to tell her child the truth, or if, perhaps, it would be better left unsaid.
“We will take the horses through the inner passage that opens out into the forest,” Roderick Dhu said.
“Where is the entry?” Fiona asked him, surprised.
“In the stables, lady. When the passage was first excavated, it was thought better that it open into the stables rather than into the castle itself. That way, should an enemy discover it, that enemy could not enter the castle directly. Before I left with my lord, Ian and I inspected the passage carefully and swept it free of debris from creatures. Ian has kept it during my absence. Also, I oiled the lock and the hinges on the door at the end of the passage that will open out into the forest.”
Fiona nodded. “Yer have prepared well.”
“We canna ride our beasts through the passageway, as the ceiling is but a wee bit above my head,”Roderick Dhu explained. “Let us go then, for Ian will be waiting for us with the bairns.”
The two women donned warm wool cloaks over their garments. Fiona looked about the rooms where she had lived with Colin MacDonald. But for the children, it almost seemed a dream now. She followed Nelly and her husband from the apartment, dry-eyed. She had no time for weeping now. She had to think of the children.
They crossed to the stables. The courtyard was quiet, as the king had not yet allowed his soldiery in to loot Nairns Graig before he fired it. The horses were saddled and waiting, as were Ian and the three little ones. Roderick Dhu went to the back of the stables and opened a door. Lighting a torch, he showed Fiona the passageway, which slanted downward like a ramp.
“It goes beneath the walls and down the hillside,” he explained to her. “We will have to carry torches to see the way. I hope the bairns are not fearful, for ‘twill be darker than night.”
Alastair was mounted upon his pony, and insisted on taking his sister Mary up behind him. The little girl grasped her brother about his middle, hanging on for dear life. Roderick Dhu went first, carrying a large torch to light the passage. Behind him and the stallion came Alastair and Mary, who could ride the pony without fear for their heads in the low passage. Fiona was next, leading the gelding with one hand, holding a torch with the other. She was followed by Nelly, who had Johanna upon her hip and led the white mare. Last was young Ian, who after carefully closing the door behind them and bolting it from the inside, picked up the reins of his father's horse and his torch to bring up the rear.
They moved slowly, carefully down the tunnel. Itwas dank and chilly within the passageway, but they knew the outdoors would be no more welcoming. The torches flickered eerily along the stone walls; the light they gave was almost ominous. To Fiona's surprise the children were very quiet as they traveled the length of the underground corridor. Finally, to everyone's great relief, Roderick Dhu said, “Ah, here's the end.” They heard him fit the key in the lock of the dark wooden door. There was an audible click, and then the door swung open, revealing a tangle of brambles. Roderick Dhu sliced through the growth until they were able to lead their horses through. Free of the blackness of the stone walls, they all breathed easier.
Roderick Dhu helped his lady and then his wife into their saddles. Nelly had Johanna before her. He transferred Mary from her brother's pony to his son's mount, stilling the children's protest when he said, “We have a long way to travel today, and the wee pony will be tired enough at day's end just carrying young Nairn, Mistress Mary. Ye would not want to kill the poor beastie, would ye?”
