Page 70 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Chapter Five
Alex helped Isabelalong the wet path. They needed to reach the top of this embankment of rock before the sun rose or they would be seen. Exposure now meant death. Brodie led the way, testing each step and gaining a new foothold before moving forward. No one spoke aloud and, other than a few whispered words of encouragement, they climbed in silence.
Even though they’d left hours ahead of when they’d planned, it was taking longer than he expected it would to cross the rocks from the mouth of the cave to higher dry land. Still, they would arrive from the other direction and be able to approach the meeting place without coming through the village or from the keep. A good thing to be sure.
Finally, they reached the top and he supported Isabel while she caught her breath. She had not complained once, not even when his hold slipped and his hands pressed into her back. When they could stop, he would see the extent of the damage her father’s callousness had wrought. But for now, he simply held her and helped her take each step.
Her expression when she had asked about his family’s reaction to news of their marriage still haunted him. Alex would explain it all to her. And beg her forgiveness for not being at her side sooner.
“Alex.”
He stopped and waited for Brodie. The man had walked ahead of them to see if there was trouble. He appeared like a ghost out of the swirling mist that formed over the sea and rolled up onto the shore and out through the glens towards the mountains of Skye. Alex shivered at the sight, as though someone had walked across his grave.
“No trouble,” Brodie said in a quiet voice. The fog intensified sounds rather than muffling them, so they took care not to make too much noise. “The men are ready.”
“What will we do?” Isabel asked him.
“Your father will search for you first in the keep and then the village. If he does not find you, he will then expand outward to the nearby villages and towns. If someone, anyone, connects you to me and the MacDonalds, he will look to the sea and to the south towards our lands when he discovers you missing.” Alex pointed into the distance towards his home in Sleat.
“So where can we go?” He smiled at her question and nodded at Brodie.
“We go deeper into MacLeod lands.”
“Alex, no,” Isabel began to argue with him. “There is no place we can hide from him if we remain here.”
“Nay, not here, love. East and then north and west to the other part of Skye that used to be my clan’s. There is a place where Brodie can meet us once your father follows the trail my men leave behind.”
With the exception of this area and Sleat where his family lived, most of this isle had been fought over and changed hands for centuries. What had belonged to the MacDonalds was now controlled by the MacLeods and the opposite as well. Whether by fighting for it or being granted it by kings and conquerors mattered not and Alex had no doubt that it would continue to happen over the next generations of both clans. Castles, ports, lands and wealth moving back and forth as loyalties, feuds, battles, kingdoms and treaties continued to shift over and over. ’Twas simply the way of things here.
He led her over to the small group gathered by the path to the village. Brodie and three others waited with horses. A young woman who must be Lara stood there, very close to Brodie’s side, Alex noticed. The bag Isabel had packed was tied to one of the horses.
“Lara,” Isabel said as they approached. “My thanks for your part in this.” She reached out and hugged the maid.
“And mine as well, lass,” Alex offered.
“Yer lady mother was the one who sent me to find this one, Lady Isabel.”
Isabel startled at this news. With no knowledge of who had instigated the first contact, Alex would still never have guessed that Lady MacLeod would have helped.
“My mother?” Isabel glanced from Alex to Brodie and back again. “How? Why?”
“She heard ye whispering things in yer prayers those nights when she sat at yer bedside. Sent me to look for him,” she nodded at Brodie.
Of all the things the servant could have said, that news of her mother’s part in this shocked her. Never had she intervened on her daughter’s behalf before. If Isabel thought her mother’s revelation about the secret passage had been a significant thing, then this news was something even more impressive.
But then Isabel realized the scary possibility that she had not kept her own secret during those terrifying and tormented days and nights after the whipping. What else had she spoken during her fevered hours?
“How did she ken to send ye to me?” Brodie asked Lara. Isabel could tell his suspicions were raised now. He nodded to his men to mount up, clearly expecting betrayal or discovery.
“The lady said to look for a ruffian with red hair who stood waiting near the bay where the boats come in. She said ye would be wearing black,” Lara said. Her nervous gaze moved around those gathered there. “She told me yer name. Then when Lady Isabel asked for my help, I knew who ye were.”
“How in bloody hell would she ken so much?” Brodie whispered through clenched jaws.
“I told Isabel about you, Brodie.” Alex nodded at his friend, his very angry friend. “I told her if she had need of me to get word to you.”
“So, the damned MacLeods ken me and ken what I do here then?” Isabel stared as the huge man clenched his fists and tightened his body, preparing for a fight.
“Nay, Brodie,” Lara said, stepping right up in front of the warrior even as Isabel wanted to warn her away. “The lady and her mother and me. We are the only ones who ken ye.” She placed a small hand on his very large arm. “Ye can trust me.”
