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"Here," she whispered, sliding two or three of the large stones toward Alpin.
"Ye've made a hole," Alpin said with hushed excitement.
"How big is it?" she asked worriedly and tried to feel for herself to see. "Could ye get through it?"
"Nay," Alpin said, then peered up from where he lay with a frown. "I'd no' leave ye here alone anyway."
"Ye could go bring back help," she pointed out, though the truth was she'd rather he went and hid somewhere than risk getting caught trying to escape.
"Aye!" Connor snapped suddenly, drawing her attention back to the two men again. "Or mayhap I'll just kill ye and take me chances that ye've hidden it so well no one would ever find it anyway." When Montrose merely stared at him wide-eyed, apparently at a loss for how to respond to that, Connor stood abruptly and started toward the back of the barn, pulling his sword from his waist as he snarled, "I grow tired of this. Surely they've given up the search by now. 'Tis time we take care of these two."
"Nay!" Montrose rushed to follow. "You said you just wanted to convince her to back up the will. I will not be a party to murder."
Connor paused and gave a barking laugh as he turned to face Montrose. "Ye will no' be a party to a murder," he assured him, and then added, "Ye'll be a party to several."
Montrose sagged unhappily. "Ye did kill Beathan."
"Me uncle?" he asked on a laugh. "Of course I did. Did ye think I'd have ye switch the will and risk his discovering it?" He let that sink in and then added, "I killed his sons too."
"Ye killed Colin and Peter?" Murine cried in shock, her hand closing around one of the stones behind her.
Connor turned to sneer at her. "Aye. Although, I suppose taking credit for that is not right since I merely hired mercenaries and bandits to do the actual killing." Scowling he added. "Ye were supposed to die too, leaving Uncle Beatie heirless, but they bungled the job. I killed them for that though, and to keep their mouths from ever flapping." Glaring at Montrose, he continued, "I should ha'e gone ahead and killed ye meself like I planned, but then Monti came to me with that damned idea of his. Switch the will, he says. He'd get control o' ye and yer dower estates and I'd get everything else."
Murine turned a hard gaze on Montrose at this news. The way he avoided her eyes told her Connor was telling the true version of events.
"So I thought, what the hell. That works nicely too. But then I go to switch out the wills and the original is gone. He'd taken it of course, to blackmail me from now till judgment day, the bastard."
Montrose shrugged. "I just wanted to ensure--"
"What about the fire at the Buchanan hunting lodge?" Murine interrupted grimly, not caring one whit what her brother wanted.
"Aye. That was me," Connor admitted without shame. "Killing ye seems the best way to deal with MacIntyre wanting to see the will."
Murine's mouth tightened. "And the arrow--"
"Aye," he interrupted, and then added, "And I hit ye in the head when ye slipped away from camp on yer way to Buchanan. I'd ha'e stabbed ye in the chest then but the Buchanans came rushing out and I had to flee." He scowled at her with displeasure. "Ye've been damned hard to kill, Muri."
"Don't call me that," Murine said sharply, not liking him using the nickname her friends and family had always used.
"Why not?" he snapped. "Everyone at Carmichael does. It's always Muri this and Muri that. Oh how we miss our Muri," he said bitterly. "I am sick unto death of hearing it." Turning sharply he thrust his sword into Montrose. As Monti stared blankly down at the blade that disappeared into his chest, he added, "And I am sick to death of you using that damned will to bleed me dry."
The minute the last word left his lips, Connor withdrew the sword and then watched dispassionately as Montrose wavered briefly, then dropped to his knees before falling facefirst onto the dirt floor.
Caught by surprise, Murine simply gaped down at her half brother and would have been skewered next on Connor's sword if Alpin hadn't suddenly lunged up from where he lay and pushed her to the side. Knocked out of her shock, Murine glanced around wildly as she fell, relieved when she saw that Alpin had managed to avoid the blade even as he saved her. She also saw that Connor was now raising his sword, intending to bring it down on them.
As she hit the ground, Murine recalled the stone she held and immediately rolled onto her back to hurl it at Connor. The melon-sized stone hit him in the forehead and Connor bellowed with pain and rage as he stumbled back a step. But he recovered quickly and stepped forward, raising his sword again and then froze as the tip of a blade suddenly pushed out of his chest.
Blinking, Murine leaned to the side to peer around Connor, and saw Dougall standing behind the man, his sword buried in Connor's back.
"Ye're not m'laird," Alpin said with disappointment and Murine glanced around to see that he'd crawled over beside her to look around Connor and see who had saved them.
"Nay," she said on a relieved laugh. "This is me husband, Dougall."
"Oh, I guess that's all right then," the lad muttered, blushing when she slid an arm around his shoulders and hugged him to her chest.
Murine smiled, then glanced around with a start as Connor crashed to the ground in front of them. Dougall had withdrawn his blade, she saw as he set it aside and moved quickly to drop to one knee in front of her.
"Are ye all right, love?" he asked, his hands sliding over her in search of injuries.
"Aye," she whispered, then glanced to the boy beside her and added, "But Alpin is in a bad way. He needs Rory."
Dougall nodded and immediately turned his attention to the boy. A frown claimed his expression as he looked him over, and then he scooped him up and stood.
"Do ye have a horse?" Murine asked worriedly as she followed him the length of the barn. "I can walk if ye ha'e only the one. Alpin needs--"
"'Tis all right. I came on foot, but the others were arriving when I rushed in here," Dougall said soothingly.
"The others?" Murine asked and then followed him outside and stopped dead, her jaw dropping open. The sun was setting on the horizon, half hidden by the hills, but there was still more than enough light to see that the field was awash with men on horseback. Murine could even make out the four banners snapping in the early evening breeze.
"I gather we're a little late," Greer said dryly, dismounting and moving quickly toward them.
"That's all right, m'laird. Lady Murine's husband saved us," Alpin said as Greer took him from Dougall.
"Did he now?" Greer asked gruffly, his concern obvious as he took in the boy's various injuries.
"Only after Alpin saved me wife," Dougall said solemnly. "Thank ye fer that, lad."
Alpin shook his head and said miserably, "She would no' ha'e been there at all if no' fer me." Turning an earnest face to Greer, he added, "I tried no' to tell him how to get into the passage, m'laird. I swear I tried ever so hard, but--"
"Hush," Greer growled, carrying him back to his mount. "Ye did well, better than well. We need to get ye back to Saidh now. She's been fretting something awful."
Dougall slipped his arm around Murine and they watched as Greer passed Alpin to his first, Bowie, so he could mount his horse. Once in the saddle, he quickly took the boy back, arranged him carefully in his lap and then broke from the group and rode back toward the castle with several of his men following.
"Danvries and Connor's bodies are inside," Dougall announced as he urged Murine toward where Aulay, MacIntyre and Sinclair were now dismounting.
"I'll have some men collect them," Aulay assured him.
"So, they were in on it together after all," MacIntyre said dryly, and shook his head. Glancing to Murine he asked, "And the will?"
"Fake," she admitted on a sigh. "Montrose kept the original though. I imagine it's somewhere at Danvries."
The old man nodded. "I'll take me men and ride there first thing on the morrow to fetch it. But I ken what it'll say. Beatie would have left everything to you, lass."
Murine mer
ely shrugged unhappily and then blurted, "Connor killed Father, and hired the men who killed Peter and Colin."
MacIntyre closed his eyes and sighed wearily, then shook his head before opening his eyes again. Expression solemn, he said, "Don't let that taint Carmichael fer ye, lass. Remember the good times ye had there, and think on the people there who need ye. Connor was a ruthless bastard, I doubt he showed the clan much care."
Swallowing, Murine nodded and then glanced to Dougall when he touched her shoulder. Alick had brought his mount and Dougall was already on him. Now he leaned down and lifted her up in front of him.
Once she was settled sideways in his lap, Murine glanced back to MacIntyre. "Are ye coming up to the castle?"
"Aye. I'll visit fer a wee bit ere I head back to camp," he said with a smile.
Murine nodded, then glanced to Campbell Sinclair and smiled before asking hopefully, "Is Jo here too?"
"Are ye jesting? I could no' keep her away," he said with a smile. "She's up at the castle showing off little Bearnard. She'll be happy to see ye well and safe."
Murine nodded, then leaned back into Dougall with a sigh as he turned his horse to follow the path Greer had taken back to the castle.
They rode swiftly out of the clearing, but once they'd left the field and the men behind, Dougall suddenly slowed his mount to a standstill. Surprised, Murine straightened and turned to peer at him in question, but he didn't look down at her. Instead he stared over her head at the road ahead as he asked, "Do ye want an annulment?"
"What?" she asked with shock.
Sighing, Dougall finally looked at her and said, "Ye only married me for protection from yer brother. But now ye're safe, and ye're no' longer a dowerless lass. In fact ye're rich. Ye've Carmichael and probably Danvries too, and could marry anyone ye like. If ye want an anul--"
"Nay," she interrupted sharply, and then frowned as confusion filled her mind. "Do ye want to annul our marriage? Is that why ye asked? Ye only married me to save me. Do ye want--"
"Nay," he assured her solemnly, then raised one hand to clasp her cheek and said, "I love ye, Murine."
