Both women were silent as they concentrated on negotiating the slick stairs and both sighed in relief when the tight walkway opened up into a large cavern.
"I'd forgotten how snug and spooky that secret passage was."
"'Tis amazing that a man of Robbie's size can get through it," Kyla murmured, peering about the cave as far as the light reached. It was surprisingly large. They stood on a solid rock platform several feet wide. The rest of the cavern seemed to be made up of open water from what she could tell, though she couldn't even guess the width and breadth of that in this light. With the tide out, the water was a good ten feet below the top of the platform. Moving to the edge, she could see a set of steps hewn into the rock that led down to a second platform where several small boats bobbed. They were each moored to one of three poles that descended into the water directly beside the platform. The poles were smooth and the ropes tied loosely enough that they simply slid up and down with the water, allowing the boats to ride up and down unfettered.
"Well," she murmured, glancing back at Aelfread. "Is this not handy?"
"Aye." Setting the torch in a holder along the wall, she walked over to join Kyla, her own gaze moving to the narrow but high opening of the cave.
"The water rises that much?" she asked with disbelief.
"Aye, and lowers that much."
"But what do they do when the tide is in?"
"Robbie says if we needs must use the cave at high tide we must swim for the beach. They also keep boats there, hidden for just such a purpose. Someone checks on their upkeep every month to be sure they are seaworthy."
"Swim for it?" Kyla sounded as doubtful as she felt. "I do not think I could hold my breath that long."
"'Tis no' that far. Ye can't tell because this passage curves to the left, but 'tis quite short really and the curve makes it near invisible from the outside--even at low tide."
Kyla merely nodded at that. It explained why she could see the beginnings of light, but the light did not illuminate the cavern. Grinning suddenly, she glanced toward Aelfread. "I do believe having you for a friend will be quite fun, though I fear our husbands will not agree."
Aelfread chuckled softly, then sighed. "We will be in trouble should they discover us not in our beds."
Kyla nodded solemnly. "Is a day on the beach worth it?"
Aelfread grinned. "To me 'tis, but then I haven't as much to lose as ye. The worst that could happen to me is that Robbie finds out and is angry with me."
Kyla started down the stairs toward the lower platform, waving her hand vaguely. "'Tis all that could happen to me as well...Galen's finding out I mean."
"Nay," Aelfread argued, following her. "There is still the threat of the MacGregor for ye."
"Honestly, you are as bad as Galen. I do not understand why you all keep harping on about this MacGregor. There is naught he can do. I am married to Galen. 'Tis that simple. MacGregor cannot marry me now. If he is smart, he has forgotten all about me and found another poor, unsuspecting girl to wife."
"Scots don't forget, Kyla," Aelfread told her carefully. "'Tis not in their nature...Or at least if they do forget, they don't forgive. Some feuds have gone on for six or seven generations. No one is quite sure how they started or what they be about, but they still hate their enemies."
Reaching the platform, Kyla turned wryly to her friend. "Well, I fear that just seems plain silly to me."
"Silly or not, the MacGregor won't simply accept yer being stolen away."
"Well he cannot marry me," Kyla pointed out reasonably.
"Nay," she admitted with a worried frown, but as Kyla started to turn away, she blurted, "He killed Galen's last wife."
"Who is it?" Galen asked Tommy as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"'Tis a party from Forsythe."
Pausing, Galen turned to frown at his First, noting as he did that Morag had gone still where she sat by the fire. "Is Kyla's brother among them?"
"Nay. Neither is his wife." Shifting uncomfortably, Tommy glanced toward the servant. She was now straining to hear all they said. He murmured in a barely audible voice, "They are asking to see Lady Kyla, but I wasn't sure--"
"Ye did right. I would see who 'tis ere we inform Kyla," he assured Tommy quietly, then ignored the now obviously anxious woman by the fire and continued on to the trestle tables. Once both men were seated there, they each poured themselves a mug of ale and peered into them silently.
"'Tis most like 'tis not good news," Tommy muttered suddenly when the silence had dragged on. "Her brother would come himself should he be able."
Galen's only answer was to grunt.
Sighing, Tommy swirled the liquid in his mug glumly. "Lady Kyla talked about her brother an awful lot while feverish. She seems mighty fond of him."
"Hmm." The MacDonald nodded wearily.
"She will be sore distressed if he is dead."
"Aye," Galen sighed. The keep doors opened then, and he straightened as he recognized the man entering with Gavin, Angus, and Duncan.
"Lord Shropshire!" Morag hurried forward at once. "Ye were to stay with Johnny 'til--"
"He is recovering nicely," the English lord interrupted reassuringly. "I left my First and three men-at-arms with him until I return and things are sorted out."
Morag relaxed at that, relief evident on her face. She had briefly feared the man dead.
"I would speak with Lady Kyla," Shropshire announced.
Nodding, Galen turned to Tommy, but was forestalled when the old witch headed for the stairs.
"I shall fetch her."
He killed Galen's last wife.
Every hair on Kyla's body stood on end at that announcement. She could feel every inch of skin that covered her bones as if a small lightning bolt had somehow filtered down through the very rock surrounding them to shock her with its power. Turning back slowly, she met Aelfread's anxious gaze with blank amazement.
Seeing her expression, Aelfread released the breath she had been holding. "I feared ye didn't ken," she admitted with a sigh.
"Galen's last wife?" Her voice was husky with disbelief.
"Aye."
She was silent for a minute, her mind in an uproar, then it settled into dead calm and she raised hollow eyes to Aelfread. "Tell me."
"I ken only what I was told."
"Tell me."
"They were married only six months. She was pregnant. Galen had business at court, but Margaret--that was her name--Margaret was five months along in her pregnancy. Galen didn't want her to risk the babe by bouncing about on a horse all the way to court. She stayed behind. She became bored and restless after a week or two of his absence and wanted to go visit her cousin who had married one of the outlying MacDonalds."
"I thought Galen did not want her traveling and bouncing the baby about."
"Aye. I guess that was what Jamie said, too," Aelfread agreed with a sigh.
"Jamie?"
"Galen's cousin. He was First here then. Robbie thinks Jamie was sweet on Margaret, but whatever the case she begged and pleaded with him to let her go until he gave in. Since he was only crossing MacDonald land, he only took himself and his brother, Lachlan, and set out to visit Margaret's cousin. They were to be back the next day, but instead a neighbor of the cousin arrived with the news." She paused then to run her tongue around the inside of her dry mouth. "Margaret had been in the barn with her cousin, keeping her company while she milked her cow when a raid started. The MacGregors rode through, throwing torches on the house and the barn--"
"Why?"
Aelfread blinked at the interruption. "Why what?"
"Why would they set fire to the house and the barn?"
Aelfread shrugged. "'Tis generally what they have been doing lately when they raid. Set fire to the barn and house, then make off with the livestock. The people are kept busy trying to douse the fires and can't go after them right away. 'Tis slow to move cows, ye ken."
"I see," Kyla murmured with a sigh.
"Anyway, the
y set their fires, rounded up the cattle, and rode off. Had things gone as usual, Margaret and her cousin would simply have run out of the barn and all would have been well, but Margaret went into early labor from the scare. Her cousin came running out of the barn screaming for help, saying that Margaret couldn't walk. The barn went up in flames so quick that 'Twas like one big bonfire when the woman came running out, but Jamie, Lachlan, and the cousin's husband charged in after Margaret anyway. None of them came back out. Eventually, the neighbors were drawn by the sight of smoke in the air. They found her cousin sitting on the ground between the burning house and barn in a daze. When they realized that their mistress had perished in the fire, they came straight away with the news."
"So, Galen returned from court to find he'd lost his cousins, his wife, and his babe," Kyla murmured sadly.
"Aye."
They were both silent for a minute, then Kyla glanced at her sharply. "He blames the MacGregor. That is why he attacked our party. A wife for a wife."
Aelfread nodded reluctantly. "That was the plan as Robbie told it to me."
She accepted that silently, neither angered nor injured by the truth. Kyla had not been foolish enough to believe that Galen had espied her from afar and fallen madly in love, desperate to have her. She had known their marriage was due to a feud. She just had not realized she was to replace a dead wife and child.
Did it matter? Kyla considered briefly, an image of her brother Johnny and his wife Catriona coming to mind and making her grimace. She had been much luckier in marriage than Johnny, for certain. Galen never tried to harm her--and he even treated her well and pleasured her in bed. She still had much to learn about him, but thought that what she had seen so far, she quite liked. It was no small matter that. There were many young women at court who not only disliked their husbands, but actually detested them, loathing their very presence in the same room, let alone their touch. Aye, she was lucky. Mayhap that was why she had not dug too deeply to find out the exact reason why Galen had married her. She had not wanted to be disappointed.
Now that she knew that reason, she understood his behavior a bit more. He had probably loved this Margaret a great deal, and if he sometimes seemed cool or detached with her, it was most likely because he was still aching from his loss. Mayhap in time he would grow fond of her, learn to love her. Her brother had always said she was the type to grow on a person.
Sighing, she glanced curiously at a worried-looking Aelfread. Giving her friend a reassuring smile, she asked, "How long ago did Margaret die?"
"A little less than nine months, I think. 'Twas about six months ere I married Robbie."
Kyla frowned at that news. That was not long ago at all. Her ghost would still be fresh in his mind.
"Do ye see now why he worries so?" Aelfread prompted.
"Nay." Kyla glanced up, wry apology on her face. "I fear I do not. Surely Galen realizes Margaret's death was not deliberate? The MacGregor could not have known she would go into labor. You said yourself that normally she and her cousin simply would have run out--"
"They most like didn't even ken she was there," Aelfread interrupted. "And Galen knows that. 'Tis why he didn't simply kill the MacGregor. Both sides have been staging such raids for decades. 'Twas a tragedy, not deliberate murder."
"Well then, I do not see why you all seem to think that the MacGregor is a threat to me. He did not kill Margaret deliberately. In fact, he most like feels awful about her death. He is hardly likely to come to kill me."
Aelfread peered at her as if she thought her daft. "'Tis not to kill ye we think he will come, but to retaliate."
"Retaliate?"
"Aye. For Galen's stealing ye."
Kyla rolled her eyes at that. "How on earth could he retaliate?"
Aelfread shrugged. "Any number of ways. He may just ransom ye back, but if he took a shine to ye--"
"Aye?" Kyla prompted, when Aelfread cut herself off.
"He could use ye and send ye back shamed," she pointed out reluctantly.
Kyla stiffened at that suggestion, her face paling. "He would not."
"Ye were supposed to be his," Aelfread pointed out reasonably.
"Aye, but I am married to Galen now. We are legally married."
Aelfread shrugged. "Law doesn't mean as much to a Scot as right does."
"And 'tis right to rape a woman?" Her voice rose with disbelief.
Seeing that she was getting upset, Aelfread frowned. "Mayhap we should forget about a picnic on the beach and return to the keep."
"Nay!" Pausing, Kyla took a couple of slow breaths, then shook her head. "Nay. We will continue. It may be dark, damp, and gloomy in here, but 'tis sunny and lovely outside. A picnic, then a wade on the beach is just what I need right now." She said the last with grim determination as she turned to survey the small boats bobbing beside the platform. "Which of these shall we take?"
"Mayhap we shouldn't go," Aelfread repeated tentatively. "Now that we've talked about MacGregor, I'm not sure 'twould be wise to go off on our own."
Kyla rolled her eyes in exasperation. "'Tis no less safe than 'Twas when we planned it last night," she pointed out. "You said yourself that the beach is surrounded by cliffs that are impossible to scale. Why would MacGregor land there?"
"Aye, but--"
"Nay. No buts," Kyla interrupted firmly. "'Tis just the gloominess in here affecting you. You shall feel better once we are out in the fresh air. Think of the feel of sand under your feet," she added for incentive, then peered over at the boats again. "Why do we not take this one?"
Aelfread shrugged off her misgivings and glanced at the boat Kyla was pointing at. It was the one in the best shape, the paint nice and fresh. "Nay," she decided with a firm shake of the head. "The one on the end."
Kyla peered at the one Aelfread was now walking past her to reach and grimaced. It looked in desperate need of painting. It was also the smallest of them all. Kyla had spent little time in boats, but was sure the larger they were, the less chance they would capsize.
"It may not be pretty, but 'twill be easier for us to handle," Aelfread argued as if reading her mind.
Kyla grimaced at the sound argument as Aelfread moved carefully to board the vessel, but silently drew on her courage and followed.
"What mean ye, she is gone?" The MacDonald stared blankly at Morag, forgetting entirely the Englishman now seated at the table beside him.
"Just what I said!" Morag answered him irritably. "I went to your room and she's not there. Aelfread's gone, too."
Robbie stiffened at that, worry filling his face. "Aelfread is gone, as well?"
"Aye. Both of them have flown the coop."
"But Aelfread is--"
"In the family way. Aye." Morag pursed her lips and shook her head. "Really shouldn't be gallivanting about in that condition. Neither should Kyla, what with her back and all. Mind ye," she added now, glaring at both men, "neither of them would be doing such and the like had ye allowed them some freedom and not treated them like a couple of Sabine slaves!"
"A couple of what!" Galen roared, rising to his feet.
"Ye heard me," she snapped.
"Should I send some men out to look for them, me laird?" Tommy interrupted, drawing Galen's attention back to the matter at hand.
"Aye." MacDonald wasted a moment to glare at Morag, then turned to Tommy. "Aye. Search the island. Everywhere. They can't have gone far."
"Where is the beach?" Kyla murmured, peering around. All she could see was open water ahead and a wall of rock at their back as they drifted a little further away from the mouth of the tunnel.
"Just around that rock there. 'Tis not even far to swim. Not for a good swimmer," she added honestly.
Kyla pursed her lips as she peered to the right, the direction Aelfread was pointing. "It does not look like a very large beach from my chamber window. They could not hide many boats I am sure."
"There's a cave there, as well. In the face of the cliff. Directly below yer window. 'Tis small, th
ough. There's only enough room for one or two boats. But 'tis enough to take people to the mainland in shifts. Or they could wait and swim back for more boats at low tide if the cave isn't discovered."
Kyla glanced back the way they had come, a frown plucking at her brow. The cave entrance had already disappeared into the face of the cliff and they were only ten or fifteen feet away from it. "Where is the entrance?" she asked.
Aelfread peered back now herself. "Do ye see that pointed cliff? The one that looks almost like an arrow pointing upward?"
"Aye."
"'Tis just at the base of that. Directly below it."
Nodding, Kyla shifted to the center bench beside Aelfread, to help power the boat. "I have never rowed a boat before," she admitted as Aelfread took up her own oar and was surprised by a sudden laugh from her friend.
"Neither have I, but I'm sure it can't be too hard. We shall manage."
Sharing a smile, they started out. It wasn't that hard a task...but not that easy, either. They got the hang of it quickly enough, though, and were soon managing to send the boat sliding across the water in the general direction they wanted. A few moments later, they slid around the outcropping of rock and the beach came into view.
"I think it would have been easier had we swum for it," Kyla murmured wryly as she surveyed the beach and the distance they had yet to traverse to reach it. She could have crossed that distance in a matter of moments swimming. By boat, it would probably take them three times as long.
Aelfread gave a breathless laugh beside her, her own gaze sparkling as she peered over the sandy patch of beach surrounded by rock and cliffs. "Aye, but think of the fun we would have missed. 'Sides, we are getting the hang of this. Who knows when such a skill may come in handy?"
Kyla snorted and took up her oar again. To her surprise, they were much better at the chore of rowing than they had been on first setting out, and it really didn't take that long to reach the beach. Still, she was relieved when the grating of sand along the bottom of the small skiff rang in her ears. Both women dropped their oars with relief at that sound and the jarring that accompanied it. Sliding the oars out of their slings, they set them in the bottom of the boat and shifted to disembark.