Page 26 of The Bells of Triumph (Highlands’ Lost Valley #3)

25

THE RACE AGAINST THE STORM

T he castle was a flurry of activity. News that Seamus had retaken the clan was starting to spread beyond just the nearby villages. With every passing hour, more well-wishers and those wanting to join in the fight made their way to Murray Castle and filled into the Great Hall. Over and over again, people offered Seamus their loyalty. It was a moving scene each time, but Flora had other things to think about.

“Any word on Iona or Finn yet?”

Flora looked at Connor and shook her head.

“Nay. We have had guards out all night searching for them. At one point they thought they found a trail, but it got swept away in the wind. We dinnae have so much as a clue as to where they were headed.”

“Now is nae the time to think about that,” Liam scolded them both. “We have a courtyard here full of clan members who wish to join in the fight should Campbell come back and try to attack us. We must be ready for that. Their training must begin now.”

“Aye, it is just still so odd to me that they have both disappeared,” Connor remarked.

“Errik is out looking for them right now,” Liam said with a bit of an edge. “He is the best tracker I have ever seen. If there is anyone who can find them, he can. We must let him do his job while we do ours. So, if ye please.”

Gesturing to the men gathered in the courtyard, Flora and Liam fell back into step as the training began. The three of them had done this with so many men over the past few months that she didn't know how she would fill her time once the army was trained. Liam and Errik would see to the maintenance of everything, and she would be expected to be the Lady of Murray Castle.

“It will nae be long before ye are stuck inside with Seamus, listening to people drone on and on about their complaints,” Connor teased as they demonstrated the defensive maneuver Liam was teaching.

Normally, she would have retorted with something sharp and witty. But there was too much truth in his words for her to think of anything. She couldn't imagine what her life would be like once everything was over with Campbell. And the job Seamus currently had held no appeal for her.

“He is trying to hear them out, to get a better understanding of the state of the clan,” she told Connor. “When all of this is over, when Campbell is dealt with, we will have to focus on rebuilding the clan. We cannae do that if we dinnae ken what the weakest parts are. And it is important that we ken where we are weakest so we can strengthen them before Campbell attacks.”

“I was only teasing ye, Flora. Ye look so worried that I was hoping to lighten yer mood.”

She heard the sincere defeat in his words as they continued bringing their swords together slowly, letting Liam walk them through a fight. A twinge of guilt went through Flora that she didn't see Connor's motives sooner. He was a good friend trying to make a difficult situation a little easier. With only a smirk for warning, Flora sped up her moves, wrenching Connor's sword from his hand while pointing hers at his neck.

“If ye wanted to cheer me up,” she told him with a grin, pulling away, “then ye should have offered to duel with me. Ye ken how much I love besting ye.”

He laughed as he took his sword back from her.

“I will be sure to keep that in mind next time. And I would like to point out that ye only won that one because ye caught me by surprise.”

This time, Flora was ready with a quip, but the lookout horn sounded, cutting her off before anymore could be said.

“Errik is returning!” the guard shouted down from the ramparts.

“Open the gates,” Flora ordered.

The men who had been training scattered, leaving room for Errik to come running in. She had never seen him enter a courtyard so quickly. Before he could dismount and explain his haste, another horse followed in after him.

“Finn! Iona!” Flora greeted in disbelief. “Where have ye been? What is going on? Why are ye both covered in blood?”

As if they had not realized their current state, both Finn and Iona glanced down to find their sleeves and shirts coated in different spots of red.

“We need to see Seamus,” Finn told her as he jumped down from the saddle.

He turned and hoisted Iona out of the saddle too but didn't let her out of his grasp.

“Immediately,” he added firmly.

“We will explain everything then,” Iona told her a bit more gently but with all the same urgency.

“He is in the Great Hall. This way.”

Flora led Finn and Iona inside with Connor, Liam, and Errik trailing after them. She heard the servants whispering as they walked through the hallways. By the time they made it to the Great Hall, Brid had made it there too and Seamus had stopped hearing the clan members' complaints.

“I did nae want to believe it when they said ye had returned,” Seamus greeted, stepping off the dais to shake Finn's hand. “Get them some food and drink while we hear their tale.”

“There is nae time for that,” Iona argued. “Ye must hear us now.”

“I am listening,” Seamus told her, his brows furrowed.

“Ye will want to sit for this.”

Heeding Finn's advice, Seamus moved back to his seat on the dais. Flora went to his side, taking up the chair beside him. Iona and Finn followed, standing in front of the dais, while the others gathered on either side of the couple.

“I dinnae ken where to begin,” Finn admitted. “This is nae an easy story to tell.”

“Start at the beginning,” Flora nudged.

“That is with me, then,” Iona spoke up. “I ran away, and that started all of this.”

Flora watched how Finn squeezed Iona's hand, as if to reassure her.

“As ye all ken, I ran from my father and Laird MacKenzie. They had arranged a marriage for me to a man who I found deplorable. I thought running away would solve my problems. But the longer I stayed and watched the selflessness that ye and Flora have led this clan with, the more I realized that I was only making my problems yers. I kent it was only a matter of time before my father blamed ye for my disappearance and attacked the Murray Clan. I could nae be responsible for such a thing. So I lied to Finn, making him think that I was returning to Glenkirk Castle as a favor to ye. When I thought everyone was asleep, I stole a horse and started to make my way back to MacKenzie lands. Luckily, Finn was still awake, pouring over plans to protect the clan from Campbell.”

“My men informed me that Iona had fled, so I went after her.”

“He tried to convince me to come back and talk things through with ye, but I would nae listen.”

“So we continued on towards MacKenzie Castle together. I thought that if that was truly what Iona wanted, I could, at the verra least, see to it that she made it there safely.”

“Then why are ye nae there now?” Seamus asked, growing more confused the longer their explanation went on.

“We found someone,” Finn told him evasively.

“It is yer mother, Seamus,” Iona admitted, her eyes full of tears. “We found her bleeding in the forest an hour's ride from Drummond Castle.”

“My mother? What is she doing in Murray lands?”

“That is what we wanted to ken as well. She told us that Campbell has invaded MacKenzie Castle. He slaughtered my father and grandfather and claimed their army as his own.”

Gasps went out from those in the Great Hall listening. It was all Iona could do to finish her story. Flora listened in horror.

“She told us that he is planning to attack here soon. She fled the castle as soon as she could so that she could get word to ye of his plan. She was gravely injured in her escape.”

“She insisted that we leave her at Drummond Castle,” Finn finished, “under the care of the healer there so that we could both ride to ye and pass along her message.”

“I have to go to her,” Seamus announced, standing and frantically searching the room. “I have to see her.”

Flora reached out a hand and stopped him, calming him with her stillness.

“We must think through this, my love.”

There were tears gathered in his eyes to match the ones streaming down Iona's face. But unlike Iona, Seamus was the Laird. He had to act accordingly.

“Drummond Castle is the closest stronghold to MacKenzie lands. If Campbell is planning an attack, that is surely where he will go first. Ye cannae travel there in haste, unarmed and alone. Ye will be caught by Campbell, and he will kill ye without a second thought. Then all of this will have been for nothing.”

“Flora,” Seamus' voice shook, “she is my mother.”

Stepping closer, Flora clasped Seamus' cheek.

“I ken, and I am nae suggesting that we dinnae go see her. I am merely saying that we must be smart in the way we do so. We must think these things through.”

“She is right, ye ken,” Errik said, stepping up. “Drummond Castle is how Campbell was able to invade us the first time. There is nay doubt he will do so again.”

“Be that as it may, I cannae sit by and wait for something to happen. My mother is there. If Campbell gets there before we do, he will kill her.”

Finn cleared his throat uncomfortably, drawing Seamus' attention.

“What? What more are ye nae telling me?” Seamus demanded, growing more irritable by the second.

“I want ye to ken that I did everything I could. I tried when we found her in the forest, and I worked with the healer for hours. But she was already so weak. She lost so much blood.”

“I dinnae understand. What are ye saying?”

“She was shot with an arrow. It did nae hit anything inside of her, but she was bleeding for several hours before we found her. And it does nae look like it was a clean arrow. She has a fever. She does nae make sense most of the time. The healer said he would be shocked if she lasted through the night.”

Seamus sank back into his chair at Finn's frankness. Flora glared at the callousness of Finn's explanation, but Seamus' response left her speechless.

“Thank ye,” he told Finn, “for yer candor. It clears my thoughts.”

For a moment, no one said anything. It was no small feat to contemplate the survival of a clan and the death of a mother in the same conversation. Flora could see just how heavily that weighed on Seamus. She wished that she could do something, anything to help him, but she knew this was something he would have to figure out for himself.

“The first thing we must do is secure the borders. Focus on the land that abuts the MacKenzie Clan and work our way down from there.”

“I sent out a patrol as soon as I caught up with Finn and Iona,” Errik told him. “They gave me a shorter version of the story so we could have guards headed to the border as soon as possible. They have orders to send a messenger back as soon as we ken Campbell's exact location. We are also working on evacuating the villages closest to MacKenzie lands.”

“I suggest,” Liam added, “that we do what we can to fortify Drummond Castle. We ken that Campbell will most likely head there first. If we can stop him from getting a foothold in, I think we stand a better chance at defeating him.”

“I have nay interest in letting Campbell in at all. Nor do I want to stand by and wait to see what he will do.”

Seamus moved out of Flora's touch and rose to address the room. Pride bloomed in her chest as she watched Seamus transform. He wasn't a man who had lost nearly everything and was on the brink of losing his mother. He wasn't a man who had spent a lifetime under the thumb of a tyrant. He was a Laird seeking peace for his people, willing to do whatever it took to get there. At that moment, she fell even more deeply in love with him as he set his own desires aside and did what he knew was best for his clan.

“For too long,” he told the Great Hall, his voice echoing in the silence of the room, “we have stood by and waited to see what Campbell would do. We have given him our money, our crops, and our freedom. We have allowed him to make the first move at every turn. My father might have allowed him in, he might have told us all to stand down, to let Campbell do what he wanted. But I am nae my father.”

People began to rustle in their seats, stirring at Seamus' words.

“I will nae sit idly by while this man threatens our homes. He will nae take so much as an inch of our land.”

“What would ye have us do?” Errik asked.

From anyone else, the question would have been impertinent. But from Errik, she and Seamus both knew that he was giving Seamus the chance to declare himself. Flora sent him a silent look of thanks.

“We will gather our forces. We will protect our borders. And we will ride to Drummond Castle. I intend on meeting Campbell there.”

The rest of the room let out a cheer that was so loud, Flora couldn't hear her own thoughts for a moment. They all started to scramble into action, gathering their weapons and dividing themselves into groups who would go to different efforts.

In the midst of the chaos, Seamus turned to Flora, his blue eyes burning like fire. He gripped her arms as though he needed the tangible proof that she wasn't going anywhere.

“If what Finn and Iona said is true, then my mother only has hours left. I want to be there. I want to see her one last time. With the army close behind, there will nae be much danger.”

“Aye, but Seamus?—”

“Please, Flora.” The Laird was gone, and in his place was a simple man. “Would ye please come with me to tell my mother goodbye?”

She didn't have it in her heart to tell him no. Even if it was reckless, even if it was a dangerous task, she couldn't deny him this. As she looked in his eyes, she knew that it wasn't the fearless leader asking it of her, nor was it her husband, the man she loved more than anyone. She was speaking to the boy who had lost his mother without any explanation, who had grown up clinging to memories and wondering what she was like now. She sighed, deep and heavy, her heart breaking at the reality of the situation.

“Aye, Seamus. Of course, I will go with ye. I will nae leave yer side, now or ever.”