The Campbell Trilogy (31 page)

Realizing how ill he was, she released him gently. Her eyes traveled over him, taking in every detail of her brother’s bedraggled appearance: the thin, dirty face, the arm in a sling, the bloodstained bandage wrapped around his head.

She turned to Niall. “What’s happened? What’s the matter with him? We must get him help.”

Niall shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to say anything in front of the lad.

Caitrina looked back down at Brian, but his eyes were closed. A pang struck in her chest. Seeing her must have sapped him of his strength. She adjusted the plaid around his shoulders, making sure he was warm, and then leaned down to place a kiss on his head.

Tears glistened in her eyes again. Her throat grew thick with happiness. It was unbelievable. Niall and Brian both alive. She looked around, half expecting to see …

Her eyes met Niall’s. He must have guessed her silent question and shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not, Caiti. Malcolm fell not long after Father.” His face hardened, becoming unrecognizable. “At the hand of Campbell of Auchinbreck: your husband’s brother.”

A chill went through her. The happiness she’d found with Jamie suddenly felt wrong. His eyes pinned her as if challenging her to deny it. She winced at the silent accusation. “Niall, I can explain—”

“You will, but not here.”

She took a few more minutes with Brian, simply savoring the sight of him. Though weak and clearly dangerously ill, he was alive. She smoothed her hand across his warm, clammy forehead. God, how she’d missed them.

Knowing that there was nothing more she could do for him right now, she gave Brian another kiss on the head and
followed Niall back toward the larger chamber near the mouth of the cave.

Niall pulled up a dried-out log they’d been using for a stool. “Sit.”

She did as ordered, and he took a seat beside her.

“I know you have many questions, and I’ll do my best to answer them. But then you will answer some for me.”

Caitrina swallowed, not liking his tone. She lifted her chin. He had much to answer for himself. For months she’d suffered, thinking them dead. How could he not have sent her word? “Very well.”

Niall cleared his throat and began recounting his version of what had happened the day of the attack. “After the first wave of fighting, it was pandemonium. The Campbells had taken the castle, and women and children were pouring out of the keep. Father and Malcolm had fallen, and I was trying to organize what was left of the men.” He paused. It was clear that remembering what had happened that dark day was difficult for him. “At that point, I knew there was no chance we would retake the castle; my main concern was saving as many of our people as we could, leading them into the hills, and regrouping to fight another day. But before I had a chance to come after you, we were attacked again and I lost even more of my men. By that time they’d lit the fires.” He looked into her eyes. “I can’t tell you the agony I felt when I realized you and Brian were still inside.”

Caitrina felt tears burning her eyes, remembering as well.

Niall continued, “It was a living hell. I’ve never seen so much blood. My men were being slaughtered left and right. Auchinbreck gave no quarter, intent on taking no prisoners. Knowing we would all die otherwise, I ordered the rest of my men into the hills and decided to go after you and Brian myself. I was doing my best to stay out of sight when I saw a couple of soldiers dump Brian on a heap of dead
bodies they were piling in the
barmkin
to burn. They were laughing and joking, and I heard your name. They said it was a shame they hadn’t had a chance to”—he caught himself—“violate you before you’d died.”

An anguished sound escaped her.

Niall’s gaze turned harder than she’d ever seen it. “It was the last thing they ever said.”

Caitrina nodded, understanding. After a minute she said, “So you thought I was dead?”

“Otherwise nothing would have made me leave you. The tower was aflame, I never thought anyone would get out of there alive.”

Yet somehow Jamie had managed it.

“Brian was in a bad state, barely breathing when I got him out of there. The blow to the head nearly killed him.”

“Did you hide in the hills with the MacGregors?”

He shook his head. “Nay. I knew the Campbell scourge would be hunting us—and I’d seen the Henchman riding in as we left. If we led them to the caves, we’d lead them right to the MacGregors. What was left of my guardsmen sailed in
birlinns
to Eire. We thought it would be safer for those left behind not to have to hide us.”

She couldn’t hide her amazement. “You went all the way to Ireland?”

“For a while. Until Brian and the other injured men recovered enough to return. My men were anxious to have word of their families. Some had been forced to flee before they’d learned of their safety.”

“When did you come back?”

“A couple of weeks ago, when word came that Alasdair MacGregor was going to surrender, we knew it was safe to come back. We took refuge in the hills near Loch Lomond.”

MacGregor country. “Why didn’t you return home to Bute?”

“I wasn’t sure what I would find. I suspected Campbells would have overtaken the place.” He gave her a grim look.
“I was right. What I didn’t expect was my sister to be leading them in. How could you marry him, Caiti? How could you marry the man who killed our father and brother?”

The betrayal in his gaze cut like a knife. She tried not to wither under its icy edge. “Jamie had nothing to do with the attack.”

He looked at her as if she were a fool. “You believe that? The only reason he came to Ascog all those months ago was to hunt the MacGregors.”

“A fact that I could never have known since no one elected to tell me that we were harboring outlaws,” she reproached him. “Surely Father knew the danger? He had to know what would happen if it was discovered.”

Niall flexed his jaw. “He had no choice. The obligation of hospitality is absolute. You know of our debt to the MacGregors—of the history that binds us together. Honor demanded he give them shelter. And Father was sympathetic to their plight.”

Caitrina sighed. “I know.” Though his motives had been noble, it was still hard for her to accept the futility of her father’s death. “But you are wrong about Jamie’s part in the attack. He had no knowledge of his brother’s coming to Ascog. Indeed, Jamie came to help as soon as he found out. It was Jamie who pulled me from the fire and prevented my being raped by one of his brother’s men.”

He studied her face. “You’re sure about this?”

She nodded. “I remember him carrying me out.”

Niall shifted his gaze, staring back into the darkness of the cave. “Well, then I’m grateful for that, but you did not need to marry him. Hell, Caiti, he’s not just any Campbell, he’s Argyll’s bloody Henchman.”

How could she explain? She twisted her hands in her skirts, trying to find the words. “He’s not like that. I didn’t know what else to do.” She relayed the events that had led up to his proposal, including her escape to Toward and the attempt to communicate with the rest of their clan at
Ascog. “I thought I was doing what was best. He and our uncle had been working for the peaceable surrender of Alasdair MacGregor, and Jamie offered marriage as a way for me to reclaim our home for the Lamonts. Our uncle not only supported but brokered the union. I had no idea that you and Brian had survived. So many weeks had gone by. Why didn’t you get word to me?”

“I would have, but I only learned of your survival when news of the banns reached me near Balquhidder. By then it was too late to stop the marriage. Seamus has been trying to tell you ever since you arrived at Rothesay, but you are rarely alone and it’s too dangerous to make our survival known.”

“How did you evade capture with Seamus and the others?”

“I had nothing to do with that. Brian and I arrived only yesterday. The rest of my men are still in the Lomond Hills, but Seamus came to Bute to tell you of our survival. Brian’s injury is the only reason I’ve risked bringing him here.”

“What happened to him?”

“The fool lad wouldn’t listen. I told him to stay out of the fighting, that he wasn’t old enough, but he’s as stubborn and proud as Malcolm and wouldn’t listen. He reinjured his head in the fighting.”

“What fighting?” She was almost too scared to ask. If her brothers were fighting in MacGregor country, that could only mean they’d allied themselves once again with the proscribed men.

Niall looked at her skeptically. “You don’t know?”

She shook her head.

“Alasdair MacGregor was hanged and quartered with eleven of his men a few days ago—including six men who’d surrendered as hostages and had no trial—at Market Cross in Edinburgh. More are scheduled to be executed in the next week.”

Caitrina shook her head, dumbstruck. “No. You’re
wrong. Jamie negotiated the MacGregor’s surrender under the explicit agreement that he would be taken to England. It was one of the reasons for our marriage—a sign of good faith, if you will. Argyll promised to take him to England.”

Niall’s lips curled. “He did. Argyll took the MacGregor to the border, set him down outside the carriage so that his feet could touch the ground, and then returned him to Edinburgh for trial. Argyll kept his promise—fulfilling the terms, but not the intent of the agreement. Thanks to your husband’s clever negotiating, Alasdair MacGregor is dead.”

No
.
It isn’t possible.
Jamie wouldn’t have deceived her so. He wouldn’t have tricked her into marrying him, intending all along that the MacGregor should die … would he? Had he something to do with this? She felt a flicker of uncertainty that she quickly tamped down. No. Not the man she knew. He wasn’t simply Argyll’s strong arm, he was a good man. “If what you say is true, my husband knew nothing about this.”

“I can assure you it’s true. There have been risings from Callander to Glenorchy to Rannoch Moor in retaliation for the treachery of Argyll. Your husband is a hunted man.”

A chill swept over her.

Niall looked at her as if seeing her for the first time and not recognizing her. He swore. “You care for him.”

Heat crawled up her cheeks in silent affirmation.

“God, Caiti, don’t you know what kind of man he is?”

Her eyes flew to his. “I do. He’s nothing like what they say.”

“You could wring more compassion from stone,” Niall said flatly. “The Henchman is ruthless in achieving Argyll’s pursuit of Campbell domination.”

Caitrina stuck up her chin. “You don’t know him like I do.”

Niall laughed, and it wasn’t pleasant. “You’re a fool, Caiti Rose.”

Caitrina stiffened at the insult. This wasn’t how it should be. Her brothers had returned to her from the dead, and they were arguing. “What can I do to help Brian?”

It was clear their conversation had upset Niall as well, and he was grateful for the temporary change of subject. “He needs more care than I have knowledge for. He needs a healer. Can you bring one?”

“Here?” she said, aghast. “You can’t mean for him to stay here?” He should be with her at Rothesay.

Niall’s mouth fell in a hard line. “What else would you have me do? He would not last the trip to Eire again. Nowhere else is safe.”

They are outlaws.
Just like the doomed MacGregors they’d tried to protect. But it didn’t have to be that way. “Let me tell Jamie when he returns. He can help. You are my brothers. You are chief by right. Perhaps he can get pardons—”

“You must be mad. Do you honestly think he wouldn’t throw us right in the dungeon?”

“He released Seamus and the others, didn’t he?”

“Because they had no claim to the land. He’s a Campbell; he’ll not willingly relinquish Ascog. And he need not look for an excuse. I’m an outlaw, Caiti.”

“You don’t need to be. What happened to Father, the attack on Ascog … Jamie never meant that to happen. I think if he knew the truth, we could trust him to be fair.”

“You’d trust him with my life? With Brian’s life?”

Caitrina bit her lip, ashamed for the shadow of doubt that crept into her consciousness. Niall’s news about the MacGregor’s death had shaken her but not changed her belief in her husband. She trusted him. “I do.”

Niall paused and regarded her thoughtfully. “What if you’re wrong?”

Caitrina met his gaze and swallowed hard. “I’m not wrong.”

“Well, I can’t trust him. Not yet, at least. You must promise to keep our presence here a secret, Caiti.”

“But—”

“I’ll leave here right now,” he warned.

“No! Brian can’t be moved.”

“Aye, it’s dangerous, but no more dangerous than relying on the Henchman’s sense of justice.”

Caitrina was torn. Loyalty to her husband warred with loyalty to her brothers—brothers she’d thought lost to her forever. She couldn’t lose them again so soon. And she couldn’t deny that news of the MacGregor’s death had stunned her. What if Niall was right? Had his feelings blinded her to Jamie’s dark side? No. But she would give her brother what he wanted—for a while. “Very well. But you will see when Jamie returns that he is not responsible for Argyll’s treachery. You will see that he is a just man.” If she knew anything, she knew that. Jamie was a voice of reason in the all too fractious disagreements between clans.

Niall looked at her as if she were sadly deluded, but he agreed. They turned their attention to Brian and bringing a healer to him as soon as possible. Caitrina would come to visit when she could, but she knew that she would have to be careful. If her disappearance was noticed, she could lead Jamie’s men right to her brother. Once Jamie returned, it would be even more difficult.

For now she would see them when she could, content in the knowledge that part of her family had been returned to her. But in the back of her mind was the recognition that if he ever found out about her deception, Jamie would be furious and she’d be risking the fragile life she’d built out of ash.