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He was an affable type, the salt of the earth, and Murdina had warmed to him–if only there were more men like Alcuin in the world, perhaps it would be a better place. But men were fickle, hungry for power, and willing to do anything to gain it. The thought made her shudder, though it brought with it fresh determination. Murdina would not allow her sister to be ill-treated, not by Iver, not by Murdoch, not by anyone.
“There we go,” Kin said as he reached out his hand for Murdina to grasp.
He helped her up onto the steps, and she breathed a sigh of relief to be back on dry land. The sea was in her blood, but she was not a natural sailor, and the bobbing of the boat had made her queasy, her stomach churning, even as she steadied herself by Kin’s arm.
“Go well,” Alcuin said, waving to them as they hurried off along the harbor wall.
“We have made good time. The boat has cut off a considerable part of our journey. But we must be cautious now. Danger lurks all around us–your father’s men, for a start. Do you still have the letters safely with you?” Kin asked, and Murdina nodded.
She had hidden them in her undergarments. She knew what would happen if they were caught and that they needed to get back to the castle unseen if they were to stand a chance of proving the truth.
“Ye are right. Iver would have ye killed, I am certain of it. And perhaps Murdoch has even now wormed himself back into the favors of the Jacobite cause,” she said, shaking her head in disgust.
They had come to the end of the harbor wall, and a group of revelers had just emerged noisily from a nearby inn. Murdina and Kin hid warily in the shadows–the fewer people who saw them, the better. But the rest of the town was quiet, the inhabitants retiring early, it seemed, for dusk was falling, and only the occasional candle in a window showing any sign of life.
“Do you know the quickest way back to your father’s castle?” Kin asked, and Murdina nodded, pointing across the heathers towards the path they had taken several days before, though it now felt like a lifetime ago.
“This way, but we must keep off the path, as we did before. Ye are the spy; ye should know that,” she said, and he smiled at her.
“We are both spies now, and we have a cause–that much is certain,” he replied, offering her his hand, as they hurried off into the gathering gloom in pursuit of the cause which now they both shared.
