Page 43 of The Black Wolf's Captive

‘Your best men are left behind eh? That worries me for I have just received alarming news from an informant in the Sinclairs’ camp. They know of your visit here and when you return home there will be an ambush on the road. They mean to kill you, thereby weakening Clan Campbell by removing its best fighter.’

Duncan gave his uncle a sharp look. ‘You trust this informant?’

‘As much as I trust any turncoat; he seems reliable. After all, his life depends on it. You know what happens to people who abuse my trust.’

‘Aye, I do. Why would the Sinclairs risk such a strategy? Even if they kill me no one could ever think of you as weak, it would not be the end of us and you would seek revenge.

‘Robert MacLeod rides with them and they seek to reinstate him as laird. If they succeed Cailleach will be as good as in their hands, a great stronghold from which to wage war on us.’

‘But an ambush? Are they aware that I am travelling with Ailsa? Surely Robert would not risk his sister getting hurt?’

‘The fool will stop at nothing to gain his land back and we both know he is easily led. Alex Sinclair will have given him assurances as to her safety that he probably has no intention of honouring. But no doubt, if Ailsa survives, she will be married off to one of his clan, if not Alex himself, to legitimise their alliance.’

Duncan felt an implacable hatred rise up in him at the thought of it. Hugh continued, all the while watching his nephew’s face intently.

‘Now listen, the Sinclairs have already dispatched their best men to cut you down. They will be lurking somewhere on the road back to Cailleach, armed to the teeth and ready to fight.’

‘Then we must not disappoint them. I need time to gather some good men and then I will leave in a day or two and when the Sinclairs attack they will be met with a far greater force than they were expecting and one that is prepared for them. The trap will be sprung.’ Duncan was quiet for a moment, adjusting to this new reality. ‘So…spies in the Sinclair camp eh. You are a wily old goat uncle.’

‘Yes, I am. There’s little that escapes me.’ Hugh paused to pour another drink for each of them. ‘Remember when you returned from Cailleach Duncan after you had caused all that trouble with the Sinclairs?’

‘As you knew I probably would.’ Duncan felt the warm bite of the whisky in the back of his throat and stared thoughtfully into the fire his mind already focussed forwards on how he was going to win this fight.

‘Aye, the Sinclairs had been nipping at my heels long enough,’ Hugh continued, ‘and old MacLeod was beginning to lose his grip. Matters had to be brought to a head and I know I can always rely on your fondness for starting a fight.’

‘Aye, and your damned plan for me to spark a quarrel with Sinclair almost cost me my life. What of it?’

‘Remember how you raved about the beauty of his daughter, the lovely Ailsa. Lord how you sang her praises, you wouldn’t shut up about her though you knew she could never be yours.

‘The lass saved my life.’

‘Saved your life! Bah, that is not the reason you acted like a love-sick fool for weeks upon your return, pacing the castle at night, drinking to all hours, picking fights and rutting all over the place. Don’t play the reluctant suitor to me, laddie. That slip of a girl had your balls in a vice from the minute you saw her and that hasn’t changed has it?’ Hugh suddenly became more serious. ‘You know you are as a son to me Duncan. You would be even if Angus hadn’t passed.’

‘Yes, I know. He was as a brother to me and I miss him still.’

‘Aye, ‘tis a terrible blow to lose one’s child, one’s heir. Now you are all that’s left of my blood and you must continue our line. If the girl gives you trouble deal with her or cast her aside.’

‘I have no wish to cast her aside, she is a good wife.’

‘I’m sure she is in some respects,’ said Hugh lasciviously. ‘But think on this. Her brother still fights against us with the Sinclairs. Perhaps this is what she has been waiting for, a chance to get rid of you and win back her birthright. She is her father’s daughter, strong and cunning like him and make no mistake, she will never relinquish her old loyalties for your pretty face Duncan.

‘She hates the Sinclairs almost as much as we do.’

‘But that does not mean she can be trusted.’

‘Only a fool would trust a MacLeod…or any woman for that matter and I’m no fool. When I go to face our enemies Ailsa must stay here and I must trust you to keep her safe uncle. Promise me this.’

‘Don’t worry yourself, laddie. Your little dove will be safe with me.’

As the hours wore on and Duncan did not return Ailsa, stranded in the great hall, was left at the mercy of the formidable Mairi Campbell. Fortunately, she turned out to be warm-hearted and friendly, eager to take a younger woman under her wing and Ailsa soon made an ally of her. Big-boned and turning to fat and, Ailsa suspected, slightly in her cups, she had declared that she was already upon her third husband and constantly scoured the room as if trying to sniff out a fourth.

She was also shockingly indiscreet, a self-appointed authority on Campbell history, and set about telling Ailsa everything about everyone in the room. Her comments about the various shortcomings of her clan were sometimes unkind.

‘There’s Donald over there with his young wife Coira. He’s ugly as all hell and impotent I hear, lucky for her some would say, but he’s rich of course which makes up for it.’

‘Does it?’ asked Ailsa appalled at the thought of such a match.

‘No, not really but it was her choice to marry for love or marry money so she chose him. If she’s lucky he won’t last much longer and then she can marry where she likes. Probably that one,’ said Mairi pointing to a huge blonde fellow who was staring with naked longing at the girl.

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