Highland Grace (33 page)

“Aye.”

He entered her with a hard push, not stopping
until he was fully sheathed. “Oh, God, Jesslyn. You, Alleck, our
babe—you are everything to me. Everything.”

* * *

As the white and gray frost of winter slowly
melted into the lush green and vibrant color spectrum of spring,
Jesslyn and the ladies prepared for the birth of her babe while
Bao, Daniel, and their soldiers continued preparing for the
possible invasion. With a bit of difficulty, due to a late
snowstorm, the barbican was completed and the final defense
requirements were met. Tho’ there had been hope that the babe would
be born prior to the arrival of the army, it was not to be so.

On a bright April morn, only three sennights
before the babe was expected, the Maclean scouts arrived with Reys
ap Gryffyd bearing news that Llywelyn and his army were only days
behind and would make camp on the other side of the wood while the
required truce conditions were being considered.

* * *

“So this is my answer, then?” Bao said
harshly to Reys as the man was finally allowed to enter the great
hall. Bao and Daniel had left him to cool his heels in the
antechamber while they consulted with their scouts.

Reys held his hood in his hands, twisting it
slightly. “Yes. I’ve spent these past moons seeking to turn my
cousin from his purpose, as you and I agreed, but the effort was in
vain.” Reys looked from Bao to Daniel before saying, “He’s quite
adamant that Branwenn must return with us to Gwynedd.”

“—Nay!” Daniel said.

“—That will not be,” Bao said at the same
time.

“The betrothal contracts have already been
signed,” Reys continued doggedly. “She is to wed Gaiallard de
Montfort, nephew thrice removed to Guillaume le Maréchal, Earl of
Pembroke as soon as possible.” He slapped the woolen hood against
one palm before grasping it once again in a tight fist. “My cousin
wouldn’t even allow more than a few days lead time for me to meet
with you prior to his arrival here.” Reys looked from one huge,
fierce warrior brother to the other and waited. They stood silently
glowering at him like one massive wall of human flesh and bone,
their legs spread and their arms crossed over their heaving
chests.

Without moving his eyes from Reys, Bao called
out, “Steward Ranald!”

When the steward appeared in the doorway, Bao
said, “Have the ladies’ things packed immediately for a long visit
to the Donald holding.”

The portly steward nodded once and quickly
departed.

“Branwenn cannot leave here,” Reys said
anxiously, “else there will be no negotiations. Llywelyn will
strike forthwith and he will show no mercy.”

“So be it,” Daniel replied solemnly.

With a curt nod, Bao reiterated, “Aye, so be
it.”

“Be assured, he will attack the Donald
fortress as well,” Reys warned.

“Then he will not find out,” Bao said
forcefully. He was behind Reys in two strides and, before the man
could know what Bao intended, he had looped his arms through Reys’s
and pressed his forearms against the back of the man’s head,
forcing it forward in an unnatural position.

Reys’s arms flailed out to the side. “Wha—!”
he wheezed.

Bao had locked the man inside a human vise.
“You will be our prisoner, it seems, until this is finished,” he
growled through clenched teeth.

* * *

Intent on finding out what her fate would be,
Branwenn rushed into the chamber and came to an abrupt halt. “Bao!
What do you?” she shouted.

Bao tightened his hold.

“Aaargh,” Reys cried out.

“I only seek to make our
guest
comfortable, as he will be staying here for quite some time it
seems,” Bao replied.

Reys lifted his foot and slammed his heel
down hard on Bao’s toe, grinding it in for good measure.

“Yeeowww! You spawn of a cur dog! You’ll
think twice before trying that again!” Bao swore, then he tossed
Reys to the floor and sat down on him, hard, knocking the wind from
the other man’s lungs with a loud
whoosh
.

Spurred into action by the struggle, Branwenn
flew over to the two men and yanked on Bao’s upper arm. “Release
him this instant! Are you addled?” she asked hoarsely, winded now
from her own exertion.

Daniel let out a loud whistle that nearly
broke all of their eardrums.

The tussle came to an immediate end.

“Get up Bao,” Daniel said shortly.

Bao looked over at Daniel, his hands still
clenched around Reys’s skull. “What be the problem, brother?
Surely, you do not expect me to allow this whoreson to leave here
now?”

“Nay, I do not. However, we are not going to
abuse our guest while he is here, either,” he replied.

Bao reluctantly rose to his feet and aided
Reys to his as well before turning to Daniel. “He’s not to be a
part of the negotiations, either. I do not want this prince to
learn Branwenn is no longer here.”

“Agreed.” Daniel replied with a nod.

Branwenn looked at Reys. “Why are you being
treated like this?” she asked in confusion. She turned then to her
other two brothers without waiting for a reply. “Why are you
treating him in this manner?”

“Because,” Bao snapped, “I do not trust him
to keep our confidence. He has informed us that Llywelyn will not
negotiate, will begin the siege immediately, in fact, should he
find out that you have been allowed to flee.”

Branwenn’s heart pounded in her chest. She
turned back to Reys then. “So he is still insisting that I wed this
relation to one of the Norman march lords?”

Reys pressed his lips together and nodded
once. “Yes. He will not be thwarted, it seems.”

“And would you? Would you tell Prince
Llywelyn that I’ve fled?” Branwenn asked. Now that the time had
come to surrender herself to this stranger, she found she couldn’t
do it. As it was, she didn’t want to be wed, but the thought of
doing so with none of her family around petrified her. Was it
so
terrible to allow her mighty warrior brothers to fight to
keep her with them? After all, Maryn had told her that Daniel never
lost any battle—and she, herself, knew that Bao was the bravest,
smartest, most unbeatable force of any of the king’s soldiers. And
the two of them
were
quite determined that they could win
this thing.

Reys nodded his head grimly and she was sure
she saw regret in his eyes when he said, “Yes, I would. I must. For
he is my sovereign lord and it is my duty.”

Words flew from her mouth with a force of
their own before she’d fully realized she’d made her decision.
“Then there is naught for it but that I flee and allow my brothers
to use their skills and their might to push the man back from
whence he came. For, be assured, I
will not
return with
him!”

“I think it be time that we show our
guest
to his new lodgings,” Bao said snidely and then he
called out to the two scouts he had told to remain outside the
doorway earlier. “Take him to the upper chamber of the donjon and
lock him in. Make sure there is no means of escape and keep a guard
outside his door at all times,” Bao instructed.

After the scouts had departed the hall with
Reys in tow, Daniel said, “Once our family is safely at the Donald
keep—and now, I wonder if they shouldn’t be sent even further, to
the MacLaurins at least—and the villagers who do not travel there
as well are safely behind these walls, we’ll send a missive to
Llywelyn informing him that we keep Reys with us as our guest. Any
negotiations will be done in the glen, with only the two of us
meeting with him. Reys will not be allowed an audience with his
cousin again until after the siege is done.”

Bao nodded. “We must send the women and
Alleck from here. Now. Before another minute has passed. I shan’t
be able to think clearly while their lives are in danger.” He
turned to Branwenn. “Make haste to the Donald holding. Go!” He
said, turning her and slapping her on the behind as he had so many
times when she was a wee lass.

“Ouch!” Branwenn yelled dramatically as she
scurried toward the door.

“That didn’t hurt and well you know it!” Bao
called out to her retreating form, finding his first smile since
Reys’s arrival. His heart ached at the thought that she might be
lost to him for evermore if Llywelyn discovered their deception.
Sobering he looked at Daniel. “I fear Jesslyn and the babe are in
no condition to travel as far as the MacLaurin holding now. If we
can hold our secret, and hold our fortress, until after the babe’s
birth, then they should be able to travel there soon after, as long
as the weather permits.”

“Aye, I had not thought of that. You are
right, Jesslyn cannot travel such a distance just now.” Daniel
sighed and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “We’ll hold our own,
fear not. Not only until our wives and family can get to my
MacLaurin clan, but until the other clans have arrived to set upon
our adversaries’ hind shanks.”

“Aye, but before that can happen, we must
inform
them of such,” Bao reminded him. “And I think it best
that we send six messengers in just as many directions. The prince
will be expecting us to gather our allies, and I fully expect him
to attempt to stop the missives from getting through. However,
he’ll not expect he’ll need to hinder more than two, I’d
wager.”

“Aye, that be a sound plan. We must not tarry
another moment.” Daniel called for the steward to gather six of the
fleetest messengers and then quickly wrote out the missives and
stamped them with his seal.

“It is done,” Bao said finally when the last
messenger scurried from the chamber a quarter-hour later.

“Aye, it is done. And now we wait.”

Hearing his wife’s voice just outside the
doorway, Bao replied, “Nay, and now we say our farewells to our
women,” as he rushed from the chamber.

* * *

Jesslyn lay curled on her side on the bed
late that night in the chamber she’d been given at the Donald
holding recalling the scene in the courtyard earlier that day. Bao
had made her vow that she would be careful these next days until
the babe was born. She’d grown quite round and her movements had
become ever more lumbering with the added weight. He worried that
she would not be able to climb and descend the stairs without
falling, but she’d assured him that his worries were for naught,
that tho’ her movements were a bit slower than before, she was
still quite strong and capable of carrying herself up and down
stairs as needed. When she’d arrived and attempted just that,
however, she’d been shocked to find that one of Laird Donald’s men
had been instructed to
carry
her to her chamber! She
chuckled and shook her head. She’d relieved him of
that
notion soon enough.

She smiled. Bao had been in such a state,
worrying that she would be afraid to deliver her babe without him
by her side as he’d promised he would be. And no matter how much
assurance she’d given him that she no longer felt so fearful of the
childbed time, that she looked forward to it now, that she was
past
ready to be done with her childing state and hold her
babe in her arms, he would not be settled.

Jesslyn sighed and sat up with a bit of
difficulty, dangling her feet over the edge of the bed and resting
her palms on the mattress at her side. Her breathing was somewhat
labored from the effort, but she was growing used to that effect
now that her childbed time was drawing near. She arched her back in
an effort to ease the ache in it.

A knock came on the door and she called out,
“Enter!”

Maryn opened the door a crack and peeked
inside. “How feel you? Need you a cup of warmed wine?”

Jesslyn motioned for her to come inside and
rose from her place on the bed. “My thanks, but nay, I need no
wine,” she said, answering the last question first. “My back aches,
but in all other respects, I feel quite fit.” She toddled over to
the chair by the hearth and slowly levered herself into the seat.
“You cannot sleep either, I see.”

“Nay!” Maryn said anxiously, settling in the
seat opposite. “I cannot stop worrying about my husband’s
safety—and Bao’s as well, of course.”

Jesslyn had been fighting back the panic each
time it threatened to rise in her breast, but with Maryn’s words,
she lost the battle. Clasping her hands together, she began her old
habit of twisting her fingers together. “Aye, and there is much to
fear. Of which I have personal experience, as you recall.” Her eyes
pooled with tears. “Oh, Maryn! What if Bao is killed? I cannot bear
to lose another husband! And this time, I shall have
two
bairns to raise on my own!”

Maryn took Jesslyn’s hands in her own. “I
shouldn’t have voiced my foolish worries to you. For foolish they
are,” she said soothingly. “You must remember that Daniel and Bao
are seasoned warriors who have fine, tactical minds. They’ve
thought of every ploy this Prince Llywelyn may try and will
overcome each of them. You will see. And you must not forget that,
even now I wager, Callum and his clan of MacGregors as well as the
MacLaurins are preparing to counter the prince’s strike with one of
their own.” She sat back and smiled, though it didn’t quite reach
her eyes. “Why, ‘twouldn’t surprise me in the least if this whole
mess was over and done with before
Bealltainn
.”

Please, let it be so,
Jesslyn prayed
silently. An image of Graeme unfurled once more in her mind’s eye.
Dead, battered, one arm gone, he had been soaked in blood from the
sword wound that had sliced through the links of his mail armor
into his neck, nearly severing his head from his body. They’d laid
him out on a stretcher and carried his body home to her. She
shuddered. “You are much too innocent in the ways of war if you
believe such,” she replied sadly. “Nay, we shan’t see our husbands
again for many moons, if at all.”