“We’ve no other choice,” she said. “If we’re not there, Grant will believe Kenneth is dead. Do ye want him to attack Castle Leod while Rory and half our men are gone?”
“We can’t leave the castle undefended, and we don’t have men to spare to escort a funeral cart.”
“Aye, we need a different plan,” she said. “Rory sneaked me out of my brother-in-law’s castle rolled in a blanket. We can do the same with Kenneth.”
“Rory would never allow you or Kenneth out of the castle without a guard.”
“No one will know it’s me and Kenneth,” she said. “We’ll say Alex was worried about his wife, who’s ready to deliver her babe, and begged ye to take Grizel to her. I’ll dress as a servant and cover my head in a hood.”
“There’s no need for you to go at all,” Malcolm said.
“If his grandson arrives without Rory and with only one man for protection, Grant will be insulted. He’ll believe Rory just wants to be rid of the lad,” she said. “But if I come in disguise and with no guard, he’ll believe our situation was desperate.”
“I don’t like it,” Malcolm said. “It puts both you and the lad at risk.”
“This is where he’s not safe,” she said. “Someone here wants to kill Kenneth.”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that ye waited to suggest this until Rory was gone.”
Of course she had. Rory would not have let her take the risk, and she’d have no chance of convincing Malcolm to go against a direct command.
Sybil turned to find Grizel and Catriona behind her, listening in on their conversation.
“The lass is right. We need to get Kenneth away,” Grizel said. “I’ll gather my things and get him ready.”
“What about me?” Catriona asked.
“Stay here and make certain no one comes into this chamber and finds there’s no dead body,” Malcolm said. “And if Rory returns before we do, ye can tell him where we’ve gone.”
“Ach, he’s going to be furious,” Catriona said.
“Beauly is not far,” Malcolm said. “With any luck, we’ll return long before he does.”
In the trunk in their bedchamber, Sybil found the tattered cloak she had worn on the long journey to the Highlands. Luckily, she had been unable to bring herself to throw it away. When she put it on, she was flooded with memories of their journey.
Since their wedding night, they had wasted precious time because they failed to trust each other. Last night had gone a long way toward healing their hearts, but she wished she could leave Rory a message to tell him how much she loved him and to ease his worry for her, in case he returned before she did. If only he could read. With a sigh, she started for the door, then stopped.
Rory knew the pendant from her mother was her most prized possession. She unfastened the clasp from her neck, kissed the stone, and left it on his pillow.
CHAPTER 43
He was too late.
Curan’s sides heaved from the hard gallop to reach this valley to stop the ambush. Rory was filled with rage and sorrow as his gaze traveled over the hillside, which was strewn with the headless corpses of slain Munro warriors.
“Rory,” Alex called up to him from the base of the hill, where there was a natural spring that was well known as a holy well. “Ye need to see this.”
Rory dismounted when he reached Alex, and they walked through the tall grass to the spring. His stomach turned at the sight that greeted him. Heads of the dead Munros had rolled down the hill and filled the spring.
“God forgive us.” He knelt with his brother and made the sign of the cross. “Hector and his men have shamed the MacKenzies this day.”
“As long as there are Munros in Scotland,” Alex said, “this holy well will be remembered for this terrible deed.”
This was a disaster in every possible way. The Munros were favored by the crown, and their young chief was expected to replace his father as the crown’s justiciar for the region. In addition to making the Munros bitter enemies, the unprovoked nature of the attack could bring the wrath of the crown down on them.
And yet the massacre would be hailed by Hector’s followers as a cunning attack that would serve as a warning to the clan’s enemies. Hector fabricated threats, whipped up fear, and presented himself as the great war leader who could protect them.
As Rory looked at the grisly sight in the spring, he felt weighed down by the part he had inadvertently played in this atrocity. Hector had done this not to protect the clan, but to serve his goal of taking the chieftainship from Rory. If he had let Hector have what he wanted, these men would be alive.