Page 45 of A Constant Blaze

Relieved, she turned from him, searching the room for inspiration. Until she saw the laundry pole. “Grizel! They’d let you out to do my laundry, would they not? You could even go outside to dry it.”

“Perhaps,” she agreed hopefully.

Mairead swung on Muiredach. “What if Grizel then escapes? Another distraction to keep the guards away from her and let me climb down the wall. Then we flee.”

Muiredach considered. “Maybe,” he said, doubtfully. “But we’d have to do it in the daytime, which means I’d have to bar the window again when I leave tonight, in case anyone notices. Then I’d have to climb up to release you, and we’d both have to get back down, all unseen in broad daylight. It would have to be a spectacular distraction.”

He paused suddenly, staring at her, though she had the uncomfortable feeling it wasn’t her he was really seeing.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No. And yet…”

“You’re making no sense,” Mairead said a trifle tartly.

“Oh, I know.” His eyes refocused on her. “Tell me about the castle.”

For the next ten minutes, Mairead answered his questions about the castle layout. She even helped him draw a plan on a folded-up piece of parchment, with a sliver of lead he always carried.

Then he threw the lead on the floor, frowning. “It’s all too blatant,” he said in frustration. “They’ll be in pursuit in no time, and sooner or later, I’m afraid they’ll catch us. Is there no one close by whom you would trust to hide you? And us.”

“There’s the priory at Restenneth,” Mairead said thoughtfully. “Prior Robert is a good man, and he has no great love for my husband since he spends everything trying to turn this house into a castle and nothing on endowing the priory, which is really quite poor.”

“Can we trust him?”

“Entirely. Just warn him in advance.” She laughed and removed Adam’s ring from her finger yet again. “Give him this as a token of my plea,” she advised. “He will recognize it.”

He took it from her, lifting his direct gaze from the ring to her face.

“What?” she asked.

“Don’t you mind giving away Adam mac Malcolm’s token?”

She smiled. “You are a romantic, Muiredach the harper.”

To her surprised pleasure, his fair skin actually flushed. “What do you expect in my profession?” He rose to his feet in one smooth, fluid movement. “We need to time this perfectly.”

*

By the timeMuiredach reappeared at their little camp, Halla was so pleased to see him that she didn’t even mind that he was alone.

“Could you not see the Lady Mairead?” she demanded, leading him to the still-glowing fire. Astrid ladled the leftover stew into a cup and held it out to him.

He crouched down to take it. “Oh, I saw her, and she didn’t seem to doubt her ability to climb down the way I went up. But she would not leave without her maid. She’s afraid her husband would kill the girl if he thought she was in league with Mairead’s…intrigues. She’s probably right, judging by the ugly bruise I saw on Mairead’s jaw.”

Halla gave a quick frown of distaste. “Then it won’t be as quick and easy as we hoped,” she said restlessly. She supposed Mairead was being foolish about the servant, but against her will, she rather admired her for it. “I’m not sure how long we can skulk here without drawing attention to ourselves.”

“Mairead said there is a priory to the west which would be safe for us. In fact, I’d suggest we all hide there for a few days once we get her out. Wait until they think she must be halfway across Moray or far out to sea before we move.”

Halla could see the sense in that. “But we still need to extract her—and the maid—from the castle.”

“We need a distraction for the guards and for the Lord of Kingowan himself.”

“What could distract him from his wife’s misdemeanors?” Halla asked dryly.

Muiredach grimaced and drank some of the still-steaming soup. “I wondered that. And then I thought…you.”

“No,” Astrid said in tones that brooked no argument.

“No,” Muiredach agreed. “But if someone of the lady’s demeanor claimed to have seen Adam mac Malcolm in the village, wouldn’t they at least check?”

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