Page 49 of Come the Morning

He inclined his head to her and offered her a wry grin. “The son of a nun from Iona.”

“A nun—”

“And a berserker. His mother was raped by a berserker. He grew up in the wilds of the Highlands, where his mother lived out her days in happiness, it is said, with her barbaric laird,” he told her. “Angus has followed Waryk since his family was slaughtered. A brave and loyal man, but a decent man.” He paused, studying the situation. “Aye, a decent man!” he said. Then he smiled at Anne. “Give me a few moments, then—scream.”

“Scream?” she said, looking at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“Scream,” he repeated. “As if all the demons of hell were after you. When he comes to your aid, tell him you were startled bysomething in the shadows. Keep him talking for a few minutes, charm him, stall him, and I’ll free Mellyora, and meet you at the southern archway, closest to the stables. We’ll gather helmets and cloaks and ride out like drunken soldiers.”

Anne moistened her lips. She opened her mouth to speak, but trembled instead.

“It can work, Anne.”

“I know.”

“One man—and woman—can often win where an army cannot.”

She nodded again.

“Can you do it?”

“Aye. It—it can work.”

He squeezed her hand, and slipped back down the corridor to approach Waryk’s chambers from another direction.

“It can work, but what then?” Anne said softly aloud. But he was gone, and she had her part to play. She was terrified, wondering if she could manage to scream in all her fear. She tried once … and all she got was a breathy sound that would not carry two feet. She tried again …

And her piercing cry echoed off the hallways.

She closed her eyes, listening as footsteps came pounding down the corridor.

She opened her eyes, her mouth dry, her lips forming words she couldn’t speak.

Angus had come. Bald, scarred, as hardened a warrior as she could imagine. She didn’t think she’d ever been so scared in her whole life. He would see right through her. They would discover that Daro had set out to free Mellyora, and they would all be accused of treason …

Racked, disemboweled, hanged, beheaded …

“Are you all right? What has happened? You are white as parchment, speak to me, lass, what has happened?”

The man looked like a maddened berserker, but he spoke with a gentle enough voice, and his eyes were full of concern.

“I’m—I’m so sorry!” she stuttered, and it was the truth. She was very sorry and very afraid. “I—I thought I saw something in the hallway. It was nothing more than my own shadow, an illusion created by the torch burning there.”

The man looked around. “Aye, lass, there’s no one about here.” He frowned. “Who are you, and what are you doing up and about so late?”

“Ah, sir, I’ve been with an ailing friend, and now I’m making my way to my own bed. I tell you again, I feel a complete fool to have disturbed you.” The lies were coming more and more nimbly to her lips. But did he believe a word she was saying?

“I’d see you safe to your room, lass, but I’m afraid I must remain here. You’ll be safe enough. There’s really no danger here in the king’s hall at Stirling.”

“No. No, of course not,” Anne agreed. She smiled. “I scared myself, sir. A flight of fancy. My friend is Irish, and you know how superstitious the Irish can be, what tales they tell about pookas and ghosts and banshees wailing in the night.”

“Go on, lass. There are no pookas haunting these halls.”

She smiled at him radiantly and fled down the corridor.

Mellyora had been beside herself, trapped with a growing sense of fear and dismay, when she heard the sound of the heavy bolt rising from the door. Afraid that Waryk might be returning, she backed away from the door. But when it swung silently open and she saw Daro standing in the hallway, she uttered a little cry of joy. He quickly brought a finger to his lips. “Come now, niece, if you want no bloodshed—and not that I’d mind shedding a bit of blood in my present state of mind!—we must leave quickly and quietly.”

Mellyora didn’t need to be warned twice. She sped out the door and waited while he closed it and slid the bolt back into place. She started to ask him a question; he brought his finger to his lip once again and took her arm, indicating that they must move down the corridor. She nodded, and fled silently along at his side.