AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He was mad, dangerous…”
“I know that. He said some dreadful things to me whilst he held me captive, his account of what took place at Mortain. He said it was all Lady Joan’s fault because she fought him and screamed at him. My brother was a coward and a murderous devil. He was deranged, ‘tis true, but he was evil too and had you not accomplished what needed to be done I would have sought to kill him myself. I swore I would, when he threatened to drown my baby.”
She had said as much last night when he first informed her of her brother’s demise, and Roselyn had recounted Alan of Ingram’s demented justification for his brutality. Blair had listened, his jaw clenching as he’d learned of his sister’s final moments. He was proud of Joan and regretted nothing of his treatment of the perpetrator of such wickedness. Still, he could not be certain that his wife fully grasped what he had told her, the import of the deed he had committed against her kin. Emotions were raw, none of them thinking straight exactly. Now, in the cool light of this spring dawn, would she still feel as she had then? Blair was not finished yet so he ploughed on.
“It was quick, I could at least grant him that. But I could not, would not allow him to live. It was done for Mortain, for Joan and Edmund and their babe, and for you.”
“My lord, please let us not speak of him. He is gone, and I say good riddance. We are lucky he did not do us more harm, certainly he intended to. But we are safe, all of us, thanks to you and to Aiden.” She turned in the direction of the other man, silent thus far. “We owe you much, Sir Aiden. I cannot thank you enough for what you did. I… I thought all was lost, and then…”
“I am only glad that we were in time to intercept your brother on his flight back to England. It was an opportune moment, and we took it.”
“Opportune, my arse.” Blair fixed his loyal comrade with a look. “How did you come to be there?”
“You would have wished me elsewhere, Laird?”
“Do not test my patience. I was never so fucking glad to see anyone in my life, but I still want to know how it came about. You should have been a week’s ride away, in Mortain. What were you doing loitering on the shores of Loch Alsh and playing at being a ferryman?”
Aiden shrugged. “Very well, I shall explain. We arrived in Mortain about three weeks ago, as planned. I set the men to repairs, although the people who went there from Etal have made much progress and you will be pleased to learn that the keep is at least habitable. We planted some early crops which will feed the community by the early summer and I am confident within a year or two the estate will recover. Your bondsmen there told us that Ingram had been already to Mortain and had demanded their loyalty, but none were willing to return with him to Etal. There was no bloodshed and he left, but they knew it was not the last of it. Sure enough, he was back, five days after we arrived. This time he came with an English force of about twenty men, and had thought to lay waste to Mortain again. He had a shock when he met with us and we sent him on his way, his troops depleted by at least half.”
“Vicious bastard. He would never have left Mortain be.”
“Nay, Laird, I believe not. When he failed to take the castle itself he set to destroying the crops we planted. For several nights he and his remaining men would wreak what havoc they could, but Ingram was not satisfied with that. He came to our gates seeking to parley so I spoke to him. He accused you of abducting his sister, a defenceless woman, and threatened to mount a raid upon Duncleit to rescue his beloved sibling. Naturally, I told him he would be better advised to return to Etal and abandon all thoughts of further forays into Scotland. There was much swearing and bluster, but ultimately he rode off, his men with him. As you might imagine I despatched men at once to bring word to Duncleit.”
“None arrived,” announced Blair.
“No, I ken that. Jamie an’ Duncan were set upon by thieves afore they even got out of the border lands, their horses stolen.”
“Did they survive? Please, do not say that they perished…” Roselyn struggled to sit up, her expression stricken.
“Nay, we came across them on foot, at the head o’ Loch Lomond. They are wi’ our force. Luckily I had also planted spies in Ingram’s ranks…”
“Naturally,” agreed Blair.
“Quite so, and my efforts bore fruit. I soon learnt that the English bastard had hatched some hare-brained plot to ride to Skye with the intention of retrieving that which he thought was his. The matter was made more pressing for him when Northumberland turned down his requests for aid in effecting the rescue of Lady Roselyn and Sir John of Hexham threatened to commence negotiations to obtain a bride elsewhere.”
“But surely he knew of Roselyn’s marriage to me. The match to Sir John was no longer possible.”
“He did know that,” broke in Roselyn. “My brother said as much, but told me he had had our marriage annulled in England and that Sir John would still marry me.”
“God’s blessed balls, they are as mad as each other.” Blair would not have credited such idiocy, but then, he had met the man last night and was convinced Alan had been quite deranged.
“Sir John was waiting at the other side of the loch. He was to take me from there to England,” continued Roselyn.
“Well, that was your brother’s plan,” agreed Aiden. “Unfortunately for him, it was not mine.”
His companions remained silent, waiting for him to complete the account. Aiden continued.
“I gathered the force you see here, left just a handful at Mortain since I perceived the danger there to be at least temporarily suspended. We were a day or two behind Ingram and Hexham but we rode hard for the Highlands and arrived at Loch Alsh just a few hours after them. By the time we got there Ingram and some of the men had already commandeered boats at sword-point and crossed onto Skye, but we encountered Hexham and his group still on the mainland shore. They were easy enough to overpower, and took little persuasion to tell us the finer details of their leader’s plans. I got the impression Hexham was by no means convinced that the annulment was valid, and in any case he had been looking forward to a virgin bride—beggin’ your pardon, my lady—so he was right glad to be allowed to withdraw and return to England where I expect he is even now planning to petition Northumberland for the hand of his niece.”
“Bloody fool,” muttered Blair.
“Who? Northumberland?” enquired Roselyn.
“The whole fucking lot of ‘em,” Blair clarified. “So, Aiden, why did you not pursue Ingram onto the isle?”
“Aye, I could ha’ done so an’ I might have been able to prevent him ever laying hands on Lady Roselyn. I regret that I did not do that, but at the time I could only guess at his plans and might have missed him. Had he managed to seize her, and if he had clear passage back onto the mainland and then on as far as the border, we might not have caught up with them in time. As it was, I knew with certainty his intended route back once he had Lady Roselyn, so I opted to lie in wait for him and claim the benefit of surprise. The rest you know.”
“It was a quite splendid plan,” declared Roselyn. “It worked beautifully. He thought he had outwitted us all by lying in wait until I emerged from Duncleit, then he seized me at the first opportunity he had. He was sure he had bested us, and never suspected a thing. Neither did I, until I heard your voice. Meggie recognised you, of course, but she is a clever girl and remained silent.”
