"Aye," Iliana agreed quietly. "It would seem either Greenweld's man lied when he claimed to be alone, or Greenweld changed his mind and was on his way here and the fellow did not know."
"'Tis more like he lied. 'Twas just damn lucky for Greenweld that Duncan was called away. Too damned lucky."
Iliana stilled at that. "Think you the message was a ruse to lure Duncan away?"
"I do not know. From what he said, Allistair ne'er saw the message. He merely saw a rolled-up scroll, and that was gone by the time he arrived back."
"The Englishman could have removed it on the ride back without his noticing. They were both on the same horse."
"Where is the messenger now?"
Her eyes widened. "I had forgotten all about him."
"So had I. Check on him when ye leave me, and send someone back to tell me what is about. Ye might set a guard on him as well." Catching the worried frown on her face, he reached out to pat her hand reassuringly. "'Tis a spot o' trouble to be sure, but just a spot. So long as we keep them outside the wall, all will be well. Duncan will roust them when he returns."
"How long do you think 'twill be ere he returns?" Lady Wildwood asked, speaking up for the first time.
The way Angus hesitated over answering made Iliana a bit nervous. She understood why when he spoke. "'Tis four days' travel to reach Colquhoun."
"Four days?" Her mother was openly horrified at that news.
"Four days there, four days back, and however long his battle lasts," Iliana said morosely. "We have lost many of our men on the first day, my lord. I do not think--" She paused when she saw the exhaustion on the man's pale face. She could not burden him with her fears. Instead, she forced a smile and reassured him. "I do not think 'twill be a problem to fend them off for that long."
"Yer a braugh lass. I like that," Angus muttered, then closed his eyes.
Iliana peered at him silently for a moment, then glanced toward her mother when the woman murmured, "He'll rest now for a while."
"Aye." She frowned at the dark smudges under her eyes. "You should do so as well. You have been up here the whole day helping Gertie with him."
Lady Wildwood shrugged her worry away. "He would not have been harmed were it not for me."
Iliana had been about to walk past her to go check on the messenger when those words stopped her. "'Tis not your fault, Mother."
"Aye. 'Tis. Greenweld would not be here were it not for me."
"Greenweld is a selfish, greedy bastard. If you wish to blame him, then do. But do not be so foolish as to blame yourself along with him."
"We cannot withstand him for two weeks. We do not have enough men."
"We will do well enough."
An expression of despair crossed her mother's features. "I should never have come here. I knew he would follow. I came here and put my child and all of her people at risk," she muttered with self-disgust, then, "He would leave you in peace, did I but surrender to him."
Iliana felt a chill run up her spine at those words and her eyes widened in horror.
"You must see the truth of that, child?" she said pleadingly. "It is all he wants."
"Do not talk like that. You are here now and we shall find a way out of this."
"Even does it cause the death of every man, woman, and child within these walls?" she asked gently.
"It will not come to that," Iliana said firmly. "Now go get some rest. You will be of little to use to anyone without it."
Shaking her head unhappily, Lady Wildwood turned and left the room.
"Ye must watch her," Angus said, drawing Iliana's gaze. "Despite the time she suffered under him, I don't believe yer mother kens the kind of man Greenweld is."
"What kind of man do you think he is?" she asked curiously.
"Greedy," he said simply. "Very, very greedy. Even were she to surrender, he would not stop."
Iliana's shoulders sagged at that. "I hoped I was wrong in thinking that myself," she murmured on a sigh.
"You will have to post a guard on her."
"The men are too busy--"
"Then use the women."
Iliana nodded.
"Arrange that, then check on the messenger."
"Aye." When he closed his eyes again, Iliana left the room. She found Gertie, Ebba, Giorsal, and Janna in the hallway, trying to decide who should sit with Angus to watch for fever. When Iliana asked where her mother had gone, she was told she had retired to her room.
"Good. While you are trying to decide your schedule for sitting with Angus, you might as well decide who will stay with my mother as well. I would ask at least two of you to sit with her at all times. I fear, if left alone, she will convince herself to flee and perform the supremely foolish and misguided act of surrendering for our sakes."
While the other women looked stunned, Gertie nodded unhappily. "Aye. I feared she was thinking of something of the like."
"She is. And because of that, she is never to be alone. Even when she sleeps at least two of you shall be in her presence. Set a guard on her, or tie her up if you must, but see that she does nothing foolish."
She waited just long enough to see their nods of assent, then turned her attention to the matter of the messenger, asking where he had been put. She was told he was in one of the new rooms that had been built, and went to check on him. It was not a great surprise when she found the room empty, but it gave her something to think about. She returned to Angus to report the news but found him fast asleep. Leaving the message with Gertie, who sat with him, she returned to the wall to che
ck on the activities of Greenweld's men.
She could hear the banging and crashing going on outside the wall as she ascended the stairs. Anxiety flooding her, she rushed to Rabbie's side. "What is it? What are they doing?"
"Cutting down trees to build something," he announced as another crash filled the air.
"What could it be?"
Rabbie shrugged at that. "A mangonel, perhaps. Who can say? Ye should rest," Rabbie suggested. "If 'tis a mangonel they build, we'll need our wits about us on the morrow to deal with the blighters."
Sighing, Iliana nodded. A mangonel; tomorrow they'd be able to hurl missiles over the wall. "Call me if anything happens," she murmured and turned to leave.
Iliana was not sure at first what had awoken her. She opened her eyes to see the first faint streaks of dawn as they crossed the sky, glowing orange and yellow.... Those streaks were moving much too swiftly. 'Twas not dawn streaking the sky, she realized with sudden horror.
"Fire!"
That panicked shout brought her rolling onto her back to see a man standing over her. For a moment, in the half light, she thought her attacker had returned to finish the job he had started the night she was stabbed. But then she recognized the voice shouting at her as Elgin's.
"Rabbie sent me to fetch ye, me lady! That English bastard is shooting fire over the wall!"
Grateful that she had decided to remain fully clothed when she had retired, Iliana leapt from the bed and hurried toward the door. She had it open and was moving through it when she suddenly whirled toward the man following her.
"A plaid!"
Confusion covered Elgin's cherubic face. "Me lady?"
"My attacker. The man who stabbed me," she explained. "I just realized that he wore a plaid."
Elgin's eyebrows rose. "There was no plaid among his things, me lady. I was there when Laird Angus searched the body. He had naught but a few coins."
Iliana frowned; then her gaze moved to the window as another fireball flew over the wall and a wave of screams rose from the bailey. "Damn!" she murmured, hurrying from the room.
"What is it? What is about?" Drawn by the shouts and screams below, Lady Wildwood came rushing into the hall, Ebba and Janna on her heels. At the same moment, Gertie and Giorsal appeared in the door to Angus's room.