He heard muffled footsteps and assumed they were bringing him his first meal. But when a guard with missing teeth unlocked the iron grate to his cell, he was empty-handed.
“Ye have friends in high places,” the guard said. “Follow me.”
Alex leaped to his feet and nearly banged his head in his hurry to get out. Feeling like a rat, he followed the guard through the tunnel-like corridor between the cells. Impatience thrummed through his muscles as the guard fumbled with the keys at the last door. Finally, it opened, and Alex stepped out into a burst of sunshine that was like entering Heaven.
A tall, dark-haired Frenchman with a white scarf around his neck was waiting there. By the saints, it was the White Knight, Antoine D’Arcy, Sieur de la Bastie.
“You are free, Alexander,” D’Arcy said.
Alex didn’t quite believe it until D’Arcy signaled to a man standing behind him, who came forward to hand Alex his claymore and his dirks.
“God bless ye, D’Arcy,” Alex said, as he strapped on his claymore. “Ye can consider the debt ye owe me repaid.”
“Saving a man from prison is not equal to saving a man’s life,” D’Arcy said.
“It is to me,” Alex said and squeezed D’Arcy’s shoulder. “How did ye do it?”
“It was fortunate I was in the hall and saw the guards take you,” D’Arcy said, as they started walking in the direction of the castle gate. “I told the regent that you and your chieftain had fought the English with us in France, and so you could not be traitors.”
Why fighting the English should ensure their loyalty to the Scottish Crown was something of a mystery to Alex, but he didn’t say so. “The regent accepted that?”
“I told him I would defend your honor to the death.”
Despite all he’d been through, Alex had to fight a smile. D’Arcy lived for the old knightly virtues that seemed naïve to a Highlander.
“I suspect that your being rich, titled, and famous throughout France for your fighting skills may have been persuasive as well,” Alex said.
“Of course,” D’Arcy said without the slightest bit of humor.
D’Arcy had horses waiting for them in the castle’s lower courtyard next to the massive stone gatehouse. As Alex rode through the gate, he eyed the iron spikes of the raised portcullis above his head. He blew out his breath when he reached the other side.
“Albany asked ye to come to Scotland?” Alex asked.
“He needed help persuading the queen and her English faction to give up the regency,” D’Arcy said. “We had to lay siege to Stirling Castle before she would hand over the royal children.”
They continued talking royal politics as they rode down the hill. Even the city air smelled good to Alex.
“What will the queen and her new husband do now?” Alex asked.
The handsome Douglas chieftain had wormed his way into the queen’s bed in a bid for power almost before the king’s body was cold.
“The queen fled to England to her brother, King Henry VIII, but her husband…,” D’Arcy paused, lifting an eyebrow, “… accompanied her as far as the border and turned around.”
Alex laughed. “There’s true love for ye. I suppose the Douglas was afraid of being labeled a traitor and losing his lands.”
“I’m glad your clan is not part of this rebellion,” D’Arcy said. “I’d rather not face you and your cousins and that big fellow Duncan in battle.”
Alex grinned, recalling the last time they had practiced together. It had been a hard fight, but it had ended with D’Arcy on his back and the point of Alex’s blade at his throat. To his credit, D’Arcy had conceded with his usual grace.
“You’ll find that rebellions are like mud in the Highlands,” Alex said. “Everywhere ye step, more squishes through your toes.”
“Albany is intent on putting an end to them,” D’Arcy said. “He and the Council have appointed Colin Campbell, the Earl of Argyll, as Protector of the Western Isles, and they’ve given him authority to put down the rebellion ‘by sword and by fire.’”
“Ach, ’tis dangerous to give that much power to the Campbells,” Alex said.
“Albany is aware of the risk,” D’Arcy said. “But as the Scottish Crown has no army of its own, he must rely on chieftains who can command large numbers of men to enforce the Crown’s authority. In this case, that is Colin Campbell.”
Alex had come to Edinburgh to appease the Crown, but it was the Campbell chieftain who now wielded immediate power over the clans in the Western Isles. Fortunately, the Campbell chieftain owed Alex a favor for rescuing his sister. He hoped he could use it to benefit his clan.