Page 16 of Laird of Sighs (His Highland Heart #5)
CHAPTER 16
A t supper that night, Ailsa quietly ate her meal while her brother Boden prattled on about how Sutherland was spoiling Sinclair ground, and Sinclair ought to do something about it. Their father listened, but didn’t engage until Boden, seeing he was making no headway, mentioned how often Ailsa was being seen crossing the bailey to visit the Sutherlands in Sinclair custody. And why were they still cosseting Sutherlands in the dungeon with good food and blankets and visits by the laird’s daughter?
“If ’twere up to ye,” she bristled, “they’d be dead by now, and we would be at war. I’m doing what I can to prevent that.”
“Ach, ye? Stop a war between clans? Dinna make me laugh, Sister. If no’ for ye, we wouldna have these men inside our keep and Sutherland wouldna be camped outside our walls.”
“Where would they be if ye had been here?” Despite her better instincts, she challenged him. She knew picking a fight with Boden was dangerous, but she’d heard enough of his war lust and wondered why their da didn’t interrupt him and tell him to cease.
“They’d be in the bay, where they’d never be seen again, and this problem would be over, Sister. ’Twould never have started. This is all on ye, letting in the first one. Coddling them. ’Twas foolish. It still is.”
“Being kind and showing hospitality is foolish?”
“To our enemies, aye.”
“They werena enemies when we took them in. They were strangers. Anders was injured. What ye propose, Brother, would weaken any chance of alliances among the clans forever.”
“Is that what ye are after, Sister? An alliance with Sutherland? Through what? Trading hostages? Or do ye have a betrothal in mind?”
“What if I did?”
Boden laughed and shoved away from the table. “Ye have lost yer mind.”
“I willna agree to a match with that Sutherland,” their father announced.
Ailsa’s heart sank.
“We’re under siege by his clan, Daughter. Whether ye thought them simple strangers or nay, ye now ken they are no’. They are members of a hostile clan. With enmity of long standing.” He waved off Boden as his heir began to speak. “I still favor the Norse for many reasons. They are strong and important as a bridge between us and the rest of the far north. Sutherland has no similar standing.”
Lady Sinclair chose that remark to enter the fray. “An alliance with Sutherland is better than all-out war or a never-ending siege, Husband. This is an opportunity. Dinna dismiss it out of hand.”
Ailsa was glad her mother had spoken. Her father’s expression had smoothed at her words. She could always make him reconsider. Make him think. Her brother was young enough to be all for the fight, but her father had years more experience and should know what Boden’s tactics would cost. Sinclair lives.
“Damn it!”
Ailsa jumped in surprise at her seat next to her father in the great hall the next morning. Someone had just handed him a missive of the sort he and the Sutherland had exchanged for days, most of which he tossed aside with a muttered oath. The negotiation was not going well. They’d spent the past week dithering about the force camped outside their walls. They’d sent messages back and forth that did nothing to end the siege or to satisfy her father’s ransom demands. The Sutherland force grew by the hundreds as more of its Rose allies joined the siege on land as well as posting its ships off Sinclair’s coastline.
Clearly, he liked what he read this time a good deal less than he liked earlier communications from Laird Sutherland. “Da?”
“The Sutherlands have captured the Sinclair hunters who didna make it back inside our walls before the invaders arrived. The Sutherland wishes to barter them and sends an offer of trade.”
Ailsa leaned toward her da and read over his arm. Sutherland basically said Ye’ll get them back when we get all our men back—all of them . Well, that would not make her da any happier about this whole situation. Worse, she knew what her brother’s reaction would be when he heard about this. He’d be ready to start sacrificing the Sutherlands in his lust for battle. That idea appalled Ailsa, and she feared his influence on their father was growing. She still believed there were other ways to end this standoff than bloodshed. But as the siege dragged on, she knew her da was starting to wonder if she and her mother were wrong about using diplomacy, and that working toward an alliance was a waste of time.
“What are ye going to do about them?”
“Naught,” he said and set the missive aside. “They’ll be safe where they are for now.”
“For how long? Until we or they do something to end this?”
“I ken what ye and yer mother advise, Daughter. Dinna lecture me.”
“I dinna mean to, Da. I only wonder how this is going to be resolved.”
“Likely nay in any way ye will approve.” He shrugged, grabbed the missive, stood and left the table before Ailsa could say another word.
His response, or lack of one, worried her. His frustration was growing, Boden was spending more time with him, and she didn’t know how much their mother was able to contradict or balance the laird’s plans against what her son proposed. The only thing she was certain of was that Anders and the other Sutherlands in their custody were in greater peril every day.
The next day, Ailsa’s expression when she arrived at Anders’ cell door told him something was very wrong. “What fashes ye, lass?” he asked as he stood to greet her. He nodded to the strange guard who’d taken up a station near the stairs. He would hear if the guard moved closer. The guard would be able to hear their voices, but he hoped not what they said.
“I’ve learned something I fear to tell ye, but ye must ken and tell the others,” she said softly. “Thanks to my brother, the Sinclair has begun to think more seriously that he has enough Sutherlands to sacrifice a few. He can not only use ye for yer worth, he can kill ye one by one to force Sutherland to yield, until perhaps not the heir, but the spare becomes be the final inducement.”
Anders’ belly hollowed at the news. He had been expecting this, but had also begun to think that Sinclair had tolerated the siege long enough he wouldn’t take this final and devastating step. This news, along with the feelings he had for Ailsa convinced him it was time to reveal his thinking to her.
“He canna kill these men. He will incite the war that we have hoped to avoid. The war we have hoped by his patience he was wise enough to avoid. Sutherland will pull down Sinclair’s walls. Ye say Sutherland has been joined by allies. How many men? Can ye guess?”
“A thousand wouldna be too many.”
“More than Sinclair can defend against if they breach its walls. Many will die on both sides. And for what? Does yer da ken why we were in the area when the storm hit? Do ye?”
“Ye never told me.”
“There’s a lad at MacKay who needs a certain herb to help him breathe. MacKay’s healer asked for help. She was nearly out of it, and next year’s harvest is long away off. Sutherland had the herb in plenty. So, Stellan and I devised a race to see who could reach MacKay the fastest. Stellan did, and the lad will be well. Thanks to the storm, I ended up here. This was all done for good. To help another clan’s bairn. Does that no’ seem a better way for clans to live side by side than the way Sinclair and Sutherland are now aligned?”
Ailsa’s eyes filled. For his misfortune or the ill lad’s rescue?
“I’m so sorry it turned out this way,” she said, “though I canna be sorry for meeting ye.”
“Nor I for meeting ye, lass. But now that yer father will turn to killing my clansmen, I must do more.”
“What can ye do? And how can I help?”
Anders was glad they’d kept their voices down. He heard footsteps in the hall above the stairs, and someone greeted the guard, who answered. That told him where the man stood. He was still far enough away not to overhear them as the footsteps went on their way.
“My men and I must escape. Can ye steal the key to the cells? Is there another?”
“I dinna ken, but Tasgall will. But even if I could, ’twillna be easy to escape the dungeon, especially with so many men. Perhaps if ye and Stellan could get out?—”
“Unless we have help, lass, ’twillna work. We must all go. It does nay good for any to leave without all the others. Those men left behind would still be at risk. We must all escape together, or none of us will.”
He could see the effort she was making to take it all in, to understand why he was so intent on taking action, and on how anything he might do would affect Sinclair. And affect her. “I want ye to come, too, Ailsa. We can be wed at Sutherland.”
“Da willna accept that. He will come after me, and make war on yer clan and yer allies. Nay, ’tis better if ye go without me.”
Anders suddenly knew how a heart shattered, and how breaking into pieces could slice the inside of the body to ribbons. His chest hurt. His gut, too. “Can we never be together?”
She shook her head, tears glimmering and threatening to spill over once again. “I dinna see how.”
“We must find a way, Love. We will.” Or he would die trying.