Читать книгу Her Enemy Highlander - Nicole Locke - Страница 16

Chapter Eight

‘She sleeps?’

Caird moved his horse to allow Malcolm to ride beside him on the narrow trail.

‘Aye, for some time.’ Caird adjusted Mairead in his arms. ‘But she is too restless. She talks...angrily.’

‘I am not getting the impression she goes willingly and our cousins are too observant.’

Caird looked behind him. ‘Are they still hunting?’

‘Nae, they are skinning by the stream we found over there.’ Malcolm pointed off to his right. ‘It will be dark in a few hours.’

Caird looked through the trees and saw no one. They would have no better privacy than now.

‘We need to talk.’ He slowed his horse even more. Malcolm followed suit.

‘About the woman?’

Caird glanced at Mairead. She curled into his chest and her head rested on his outstretched arm. There were dark circles under her eyes and her weight against him was heavy. She still slept.

As much as he wanted to, they couldn’t talk of Mairead. They were in too much danger.

‘Nae, it is the gem,’ he answered.

‘You do not actually believe it’s hers?’

Caird shook his head. Not hers, never hers. ‘It’s not about Mairead. Or the dagger. It’s the gem...the jewel. Doesn’t it look familiar to you?’

Malcolm’s smile was wolfish. ‘Is it ours?’

‘Nae. It belongs to everyone. It’s legendary, Malcolm.’

‘Legendary?’ Malcolm looked behind him, his movement exaggerated. ‘My brother makes colourful descriptions? You often doona speak at all.’

The trees and path showed no sign of his cousins; Mairead’s weight did not shift, and her breath remained even. This conversation must not be overheard.

‘The gem is not usual. Half-polished, half not. The size so large it barely fits in a man’s hands. Think, Brother. There’s only one jewel fitting the description.’

Malcolm started. ‘It cannot...be,’ he whispered.

Caird remained silent while Malcolm gathered his thoughts. It had taken him hours to accept the jewel’s existence. As long as the conversation remained with the jewel, he would give this time to his brother.

When his brother realised they travelled with a Buchanan, his judgement would cloud.

‘Do you believe this?’ Malcolm continued after a while. ‘It’s a legend, a myth. It doesn’t exist.’

‘I doona believe in legends and this one was always too exact.’

‘If it is that jewel—’

‘Then kingdoms are at risk,’ Caird interrupted.

‘I cannot believe it.’

Caird lifted his hand to silence his brother. Mairead’s legs and arms were moving, subtly, but he felt their insistent quiver. Whether she was experiencing dreams or nightmares, he didn’t know, but her breath quickened, and her brows drew down.

They had long passed the spot Malcolm indicated where Camron and Hamilton would be skinning, but Caird kept his horse moving.

Malcolm looked questioningly at Caird, but kept his silence.

Caird hoped Mairead kept sleeping. There was still much to discuss with Malcolm. Even so, he fought the urge to wake her. Her restlessness...disturbed him somehow.

Eyes narrowing, Malcolm gazed at Mairead. Caird lowered his hand. It would not be long before his brother asked more questions about her, and he would have to tell the truth. Until then, he must use the jewel as a distraction.

‘I believe we have the Jewel of Kings in our hands.’ Caird turned his horse around on the path.

‘It was a tale told to us as children. Something we used to play.’ Malcolm adjusted his horse to follow his. ‘I cannot count the fights there were over the pretend jewel.’

‘Imagine the wars if the jewel was real.’

‘If the legend is true, it can make kings,’ Malcolm said. ‘Real kings. It is too much power. Too much responsibility. Too—’

‘Unbelievable it surfaces now,’ Caird said, feeling the restlessness of this conversation. ‘’Tis nae accident.’

‘What are you saying?’

If he was restless, his clan and so many others were shaking and cracking with unrest.

King Balliol rebelled against King Edward’s rule and the English king’s retaliation had been swift and vicious. The defeat at Dunbar in April had crushed any hope of freedom and only left unrest in its wake.

‘Someone was moving it,’ Caird said.

‘Someone? Mairead?’

Caird held Mairead closer and brought her arms and legs into the warmth of his cloak. ‘Nae, not her; not the thief either.’

‘A clan?’

‘Too many people. Our clans fight. It would have been put to use.’

‘To create kings,’ Malcolm said.

‘More like to declare one true king.’

Malcolm’s horse suddenly stopped and Caird steadied his own.

Caird could not doubt Malcolm’s shock. Scotland no longer had the ability to make kings. The Stone of Scone now supported the rears of English kings.

He was surprised it had not cracked with grief.

Was it truly so much of a surprise that the jewel appeared now? This year had churned up too many conflicting and powerful emotions. Hope for freedom then crushing defeat as nobles, churchmen, burgesses and freeholders swore fealty to an English king. Balliol was even forced to the Tower.

Worse, their defeat was made official since King Edward recorded it on his Ragman Rolls.

Malcolm slowly turned his gaze. Fear and concern were never on his brother’s face, but there was no mistaking those emotions now.

This was more than a secret. More than a costly dagger and legendary jewel. This was more than he wished to be involved with, let alone to involve his brother and clan. King Edward ruled Scotland now, and Caird held the jewel with the power to make Scottish kings.

‘Aye, I’m speaking treason,’ Caird whispered. ‘To my brother.’

‘It must stay with your brother and go nae further.’

‘If this is true, it will go to all our brothers. All our family.’ His clan had enough worries now. Bram, his laird and brother, hadn’t participated in Dunbar and no one knew why. It had put their clan’s loyalty in question.

If his enquiries into the jewel took long, his clan would be in danger. Still, if he got the answers he needed, if they could keep the jewel a secret. If they could build the momentum behind it before the English were prepared—

‘You can’t mean to use it?’ Malcolm asked. ‘It’s too dangerous!’

Caird shrugged. Even as his heart swelled at the possibilities, his mind feared the consequences. With war between the two countries, whoever possessed the jewel could stop it. ‘Nae more than Dunbar,’ Caird said.

‘Aye, a thousand times more dangerous!’ Malcolm retorted.

If he could, Caird would stop the war. ‘Why not use any means I have, especially when it’s just been handed to me?’

‘Dunbar was a mistake,’ Malcolm said. ‘It shouldn’t have happened.’

Caird conveyed in one glance everything he felt about that fateful battle. ‘Nae, it shouldn’t.’

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t look away. ‘I owe you much, but I cannot allow this risk!’

Treason was the risk. But it was treason only if he wanted one side to win from the other. He had different plans.

The jewel could protect their clan. They’d have Scottish power and the English would want that jewel. It was like a doubled-edged sword, and razor-sharp. Yet, if they played it right, he could save all. He just wanted the conflict and bloodshed to end.

‘I will not risk much,’ Caird said.

Malcolm gaze strayed. ‘I cannot accept this. Maybe it is Mairead’s?’

If only that were true. She had acted sincere, but he knew what his brother did not. She was a Buchanan. None of what she had said could be true.

‘Do you believe that?’ Caird asked instead.

Malcolm shook his head. ‘Nae, but it would be easier if this was an ordinary, albeit valuable stone.’

Caird urged his horse forward again. He heard his cousins in the woods. They would emerge soon and would wonder at their delay. ‘It may be easy to find the thief.’ The thief might even be trying to find them.

Malcolm caught up. ‘If we cannot find him?’

‘We continue celebrating and go to the games.’

They needed to act like nothing was amiss. Caird thought to flush the thief out before then, but that was just the first step.

Ultimately, he knew what they’d have to do. They needed to go to Mairead’s family and her clan. She’d said the jewel was her brother’s. If that was true, he needed to understand how her brother had possession of the dagger.

Tracing the true owners of the jewel would be slow and arduous, whilst all the time unknown enemies could be circling. However, he was left with little option. He had to get answers first, understand who was moving it and why. If the jewel was a double-edged sword, he had to know how to wield it. Once he had all the answers, he would go to Bram, his brother and laird, and discuss with the council the jewel’s future.

Even that wouldn’t be easy.

Bram was not on Colquhoun land, but far south on Fergusson land, which was close to the English borders. It was too dangerous to bring the jewel there during this time. Dangerous, but perhaps necessary.

Although he sought answers to determine the best course of action, he would not presume the fate of the jewel alone. He had to involve the clan and its laird.

In the meantime, there was camp to set, food to eat and their absence to explain to his cousins.

This was no time to tell his brother the other, much more precarious, situation they were embroiled in. And the risk didn’t come from the treasonous jewel they carried, but from the traitorous Buchanan in his arms.