My Highlander: A Cree & Dawn Novel, page 12
Sloan nodded and took his leave.
Cree made his way to Elsa’s cottage. He wanted her to hear about Ann from him, no one else.
Cree spotted Neil stepping outside the cottage door and giving a stretch, wincing as he raised his one arm. He had been one of Cree’s seasoned warriors, having fought bravely in endless battles. After his injury healed, his arm never regained the strength to swing a sword the way it once had.
Neil went to greet Cree with a smile and stopped when he caught a seriousness in Cree’s dark eyes that he did not often see.
“What is it?” Neil asked when Cree stopped in front of him.
“Ann was stabbed to death.”
Neil stared at him a moment, then shook his head slowly. “She was a good soul.”
The partially opened door swung open and Elsa said, “Who was a good soul?”
Both men looked at her.
Elsa paled. “Please do not tell me it was Ann.”
Dawn hugged the tankard with both hands that Lucerne had given her but had yet to drink from it.
“How horrible for Ann,” Lucerne said, a tear falling from her eye. “She was such a giving person. She would take the time to answer my questions about various plants. She had gained so much knowledge from Elsa.” She gasped. “My lord, what will Elsa do with both her helpers gone?”
Dawn looked over at her and shook her head, her heart going out to Elsa. Whatever would she do without the two women to help her, two women who had become her friends. Cree may have told her not to blame herself, but she did. She should have gone and freed Ann from the stocks like she had done for Dorrie that one time. The problem was that she had agreed with Cree. Ann had deserved some punishment and at the time the stocks seemed the least harshest.
Never had she expected her punishment to turn deadly.
“Cree is right. It is not your fault,” Lucerne said. “Ann should have spoken up when you were thought drowned. It might have helped find you and spared everyone the pain, especially Cree. And now with her death, it seems that there is more to your abduction than thought.”
Dawn was so distraught over Ann that she had not given thought to what the woman’s death might mean. Why was she killed?
Lucerne answered her unspoken question.
“Ann must have been silenced for something she knew or could reveal.”
Lucerne was a far different woman then when Dawn had first met her. She had complained, cried, screamed like a spoiled noble, and though she had been promised to Cree in marriage, an arrangement made by the King for Cree to secure the Carrick lands, she had not wanted to marry him. Thankfully, it all worked out, but at the time Lucerne was her bitter enemy, not so any longer. Dawn had been thrilled when Sloan and Lucerne had finally gotten together and was even more pleased that they were expecting their first child.
And now she was grateful that Lucerne had got her thinking about Ann’s murder. There would be time to grieve. Now it was time to discover who did this horrible thing to her.
“With the Macardle troop just arriving and a few travelers stopping, that big, bearded stranger everyone whispers about being one of them, there are numerous men it could be, since I cannot believe that anyone in the clan could do such a terrible thing to poor Ann,” Lucerne said, wiping at the tears that threatened to fall.
Dawn had to agree with her assumption. She just wished there were not so many possible people who might be responsible.
“I want to see her,” Elsa said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Once she is out of the stocks,” Cree said.
“No!” Elsa shook her head and marched past Neil and Cree. “I will see her now.”
“Please, my lord, let her have her way with this,” Neil said when Cree went to stop Elsa.
Cree reluctantly nodded, seeing no point in making it even harder on Elsa, and followed after her with Neil.
Two men were at the stock, getting ready to slip out the metal pin and lift Ann out of it when Elsa approached.
“Stop!” Elsa shouted as she rushed toward them. “I will see to her first.”
The two warriors looked to Cree and at his nod, they stepped aside.
Elsa cringed when she saw the young woman, her head and hands hanging lifeless. She went to her and slipped her hand under her chin… and heard a low moan.
“She is not dead! Hurry, get her out! Get her out!” Elsa yelled.
Cree and Nell ran forward to help.
Cree was the one to lift Ann and, following Elsa’s orders, hurried to the healing cottage with her.
“Place her on the bed, on her stomach, and hurry and send for Lucerne. She has helped me before,” Elsa instructed, then leaned down and gently pushed Ann’s hair away from the side of her face to tuck behind her ear. “It is all right. I am here, Ann. I will help you.”
Cree ordered one of the warriors to fetch Lucerne and told him to let Lady Dawn know that she was to come as well.
The warrior rushed to Sloan’s cottage and when the warrior standing guard saw the urgency on his face, he opened the door.
The warrior braced his hands against the frame of the door as he tried to slow his breath and hurried to speak. “Ann is alive and Elsa requires your help, Lucerne. And you are to come as well, Lady Dawn.”
Both women rushed out of their seats and quickly hurried out of the cottage, the warrior who stood guard keeping pace behind them.
“How can I help?” Lucerne asked as soon as she entered the Elsa’s cottage.
“Fresh cloth and water,” Elsa instructed while cutting away Ann’s garment. “She has been stabbed more than once and I need to clean her back of the blood so I can see the wounds and determine how much damage she has suffered.”
Dawn stepped forward, looking to Lucerne and patting her chest and pointing to Elsa.
“Dawn wants to know how she can help,” Lucerne said and received a grateful nod from Dawn.
Elsa turned and Dawn could see she was ready to refuse her help. Dawn lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes, daring Elsa to refuse her.
“You have a gentle touch, help me with her garments,” Elsa said. “The rest of you, please leave.”
Cree had been ready to forbid Dawn to help, but when he saw her raise her chin and the resolve in her eyes, and knew the guilt she felt, he could not refuse her.
“I will be outside. Keep me abreast,” Cree said and he and Neil stepped outside.
Neil stopped Cree from closing the door. “Elsa will need all the light she can get, even with the gray skies. If you need to attend to anything, my lord, I can send word to you as soon as something is known.”
Cree did not want to leave his wife, but with Neil and a warrior standing guard, she would be safe, and he wanted to see if Sloan had discovered anything.
“Do not let my wife leave here without a guard,” he ordered.
“I will make sure she is protected.”
Neil had proven that he would protect Dawn with his life, so Cree had no trouble taking his leave.
Cree found Sloan talking with Tannin, a troop of warriors standing ready for the young warrior’s command.
“Ann is not dead. Elsa works hard at trying to keep her that way. Lucerne and Dawn help her,” Cree said, stopping in front of the two men.
“That is good to hear,” Sloan said.
“Why are you here with Tannin instead of finding that bearded stranger who gives a false name?” Cree asked.
“Tannin came to me with news before I could see to that. It seems Evin left before sunlight and the Macardle troop left shortly after daybreak.”
Cree turned to Tannin. “Evin said nothing of this to you?”
“Not a word, my lord,” Tannin said. “My thought is he wants to get a head start on reporting back to his chieftain. I think James Macardle caught wind of Evin’s departure and took his leave sooner than he had planned. There was much rushing around in their camp this morning from what the sentinels have told me.”
“Or perhaps there was another reason the Macardle troop rushed out of here,” Sloan said.
Tannin voiced Sloan’s concern. “You think they could have had something to do with Ann being stabbed? What could possibly connect any of them to Ann?”
“Perhaps nothing or perhaps everything,” Sloan said.
“Wait no longer, be on your way, Tannin, and find out all you can about both clans, and the dissent between them,” Cree ordered.
“Aye, my lord,” Tannin said with a bob of his head and turned to his troop. “Mount, we leave now.”
“Did you send men to follow and take count of the Macardle troop?” Cree asked.
Sloan nodded. “I did. We will know if anyone joined them while here or was left behind.”
A rider approached and Cree saw it was Leith, the messenger he had sent to inform his sister that Dawn was alive and healing from her ordeal. It surprised him that his sister and her husband Torr were not trailing behind him. He had thought for sure his sister would insist on seeing Dawn for herself. That she had not come, caused him to worry that something was wrong.
“My lord,” Leith said after dismounting. “Your sister sends word.”
Cree nodded for him to continue.
“Your sister is beyond thrilled that Dawn is alive and has returned home. She wishes she could travel here immediately, but her son is ill as is Torr’s father and she cannot leave them. Besides, she feels it is best you have some time with Dawn and says she will let you know when all is well and she is able to travel.”
“How ill is my nephew and Torr’s father?” Cree asked concerned for both.
“She said to tell you that neither are in danger of dying, but that might change if the two do not behave better while recovering.”
Cree chuckled. “And Torr? Did he have anything to say?”
It was Leith’s turn to chuckle. “Only to tell you that he wished he was returning with me.”
Sloan laughed along with Cree.
“Go get food and some rest, Leith” Cree ordered.
“Thank you, my lord, I have been thinking of Turbett’s delicious food the whole trip home. There is no cook as good as Turbett.”
“Tell Flanna that and Turbett will no doubt reward you with a special treat,” Cree said.
Leith grinned and wasted no time in hurrying on his horse and taking off.
“Sometimes I wonder if my warriors remain faithful because of Turbett’s skill with food,” Cree said with a shake of his head.
“Could be,” Sloan said, grinning, though it faded slowly. “But I would think they are faithful to you since after years of fighting alongside you that you have provided them with a permanent home, a clan… a family.”
“We all worked and sacrificed for that together,” Cree reminded him.
“But you made it happen.”
“Now it is time to make sure everyone stays safe. I need to talk to the bearded stranger,” Cree said and the two walked off to find him.
They had not gotten far when Old Mary called out to them.
They walked over to her as she shuffled slowly toward them.
“You look for that big, bulky stranger,” Old Mary said.
Cree was used to Old Mary’s knowing, not so Sloan. He seemed uneasy with it.
“You know something, Old Mary?” Cree asked.
“I do,” she said with nod. “I saw him before daybreak. He looked like he was sneaking out of the village, wanting no one to know he was taking his leave.”
Chapter 13
“You are not going anywhere but to bed,” Cree ordered, pointing to the bed behind Dawn.
She pinched her lips shut and crossed her arms over her chest as if stopping herself from arguing with him, though she did narrow her eyes at him.
“You have spent nearly the entire day at Elsa’s cottage helping with Ann and with what little time you took for yourself, you spent with the twins. It is time for you to rest.” His hand went up when he saw her ready to protest. “You will be of help to no one if you exhaust yourself and delay your own healing.” He stepped away from the door he had blocked, keeping her from leaving, and took gentle hold of her shoulders. “You have been of substantial help to Elsa and she has told you there is no more that can be done for Ann today. She sleeps and God willing does not die.” He turned her around and marched her to the bed. “Into bed with you.”
Dawn sat on the bed, pointed to her husband, then patted the spot beside her.
“I will join you as soon as I finish speaking with Sloan.”
Dawn yawned and as much as she did not want to admit it, her husband was right. It had been a busy and challenging day and it had grown late and she needed to sleep.
Cree helped his wife slip into her night dress, then beneath the blanket, tucking it around her. He leaned over and kissed her lips lightly. “I better find you here when I return.”
Dawn covered her mouth as a yawn hit her and she nodded and patted her chest, then the bed.
“Good, I am pleased and relieved you will stay in bed. I am going to leave Beast here with you until I return. Then he can go to the twins.”
Dawn nodded.
Cree kissed her again. “You are mine, wife, and I love you.”
Dawn smiled, patted her chest and pressed her hand to his chest to let him know she felt the same.
“Guard Dawn, Beast,” Cree ordered before walking out the door.
Cree took the stairs down to the Great Hall his mind on earlier today. When Old Mary had told him that the bearded stranger had taken his leave, he had ordered Henry to track him. He wanted him found and he wanted to know why he had snuck away when he had one more day before Cree had ordered him gone. Why give up one more day of food and shelter, especially with the day that had promised a storm from the start?
Though it was late, he hoped there might be word from Henry and he also wanted to know if there had been any odd movements from a couple of travelers that had sheltered here for two days and would leave tomorrow. He had told Sloan to also keep watch for any travelers seeking shelter today. There was no better place for the offender to hide but then among his enemy.
Sloan was at the table by the hearth, getting warm, the storm having brought a chill with it.
“Any news?” Cree asked as he joined him at the table.
Sloan handed him a tankard of ale. “None from Henry on the bearded stranger and while two new travelers stopped here today seeking shelter from the storm, neither would be suspect. They are both clergymen. One is old, his hands gnarled, leaving him incapable of stabbing anyone. The other one appears worn and tired from the miles he has traveled. I also spoke with the men who patrolled the village last night and they saw nothing that gave them pause. One had stopped and given Ann water like you had ordered be done throughout the day. He told me that she was looking forward to sunrise when her time in the stocks would be done. He said she had appeared fine when his time had finished and the next sentries were set to patrol.”
“Which means that whoever did this was familiar with the timing of the guards’ rounds,” Cree said. “Someone who may have spent a few days observing our ways or someone already familiar with them.”
“You cannot think that someone in the clan did this to Ann?” Sloan asked shocked at the thought.
“I would be foolish to rule out any possibility.”
“You never did trust easily.”
“Only fools trust easily,” Cree said, “and I can see by your grin that you intend to remind me that I trust my wife.”
Sloan chuckled.
“The time Dawn and I spent in that small hut when I was held prisoner here gave me the opportunity to come to know her well as surprising as that might be since she has no voice.”
“It no longer seems that way—that she has no voice—most understand her hand gestures now. And I believe the clan remain grateful to her for having tamed the mighty Cree,” —Sloan held up his hand when Cree turned a scowl on him— “enough that they don’t fear you when you walk through the village.”
“It is better they fear me, then they will not fail to obey me.”
“That obedience was enforced with what happened to Ann. Everyone fears the stocks now.”
“The stocks are a good deterrent for minor offenses, though from now on when someone is placed in the stocks a guard will be stationed there the whole time.”
Sloan nodded. “I thought that may be your order. The clan will be relieved to hear that.”
“And you will be relieved to hear that we are done for the night since you must be eager to return home to your wife.”
Sloan grinned. “I never imagined marrying Lucerne let alone being content with her.”
Cree laughed. “You might not have imagined it, but most everyone else did.”
Sloan laughed along with him. “When I realized it myself, I wondered how I had not seen it sooner.”
“I think when we fall in love we are often the last ones to realize it or accept it. You and Lucerne fought it every step of the way, she insisting that she loved another and you, after proving the fool she believed she loved a rake, not admitting you did it because you loved her. I am just glad it is done and you two are together.”
“As am I,” Sloan said, standing. “I will bring word to you as soon as I get it.”
Cree nodded and continued to sit at the table well after Sloan was gone.
Something was disturbing him, something to do with his wife. It was easy for him to see when something troubled her. Her brow would knit and she would appear lost in her thoughts, troubling thoughts as she gnawed on her bottom lip, leaving it plumped and much too kissable. Though it was her worrying thoughts he wished to kiss away, but he always held his tongue until she finally spoke to him about whatever was upsetting her. This time, however, she had not done so and he wondered why.
She had yet to tell him about her time after escaping the men who abducted her and he wondered if it had something to do with that. If she did not speak with him soon about it, he intended to ask her. He did not like that she suffered alone in her worry. Or that she did not seek help from him. Which had made him begin to wonder if she feared telling him something.
