When he opened his eyes again, Gawain was secured and one of his men examined the gashes on his shoulders.
“You look unwell,” Colin said. “We need to get moving before we lose our light.”
“Aye, let’s go. I want to be rid of this business and off home.”
“Any particular reason you’re in such a rush?”
Fergus grinned. “Lowland air makes me sick.”
“Sick indeed. Perhaps you are homesick for a certain black-haired lass.”
“Your sister has nothing to do with my anxiousness to return home.” He had no intention of discussing Nessia with her brother, or anyone else for that matter.
Colin put his hands up in surrender. “Oh aye, Fergus, I believe ye. No need to be defensive.”
Colin helped Fergus up and onto his horse to begin the trek back to Peebles. Gawain was tied to a crude litter and carried by two men. He moaned and mumbled all sorts of nonsense. After a few hours of this, combined with Fergus’s fatigue, Fergus had endured enough.
“Someone shut him up!”
No one moved to carry out the demand, he was after all, tied to a wooden plank.
“You can do it you know.” Gawain spoke his only sane words of the day. “You can kill me. It’s what I deserve.”
Gawain’s sober statement caught Fergus off guard. What he said was true, Fergus could kill him and no one would question it. This was why Aileana hadn’t wanted James involved in this capture and she had been right, James wouldn’t have resisted. What would Nessia think if Fergus killed a defenceless man?
Fergus stepped toward Gawain and his men stepped out of the way. They knew he was capable of snapping the man’s neck like a pheasant bone.
“You don’t deserve death,” Fergus said. “You deserve no less than to live with what you’ve done and the knowledge that James and Aileana MacIntosh will live a long and happy life at Chattan Castle.”
“Tell Aileana I’m sorry.” A tear slid down Gawain’s cheek.
* * *
James sat at a table with his head hung low while Aileana paced. He was angry with her still, but she had made the right decision. If she had to live with the consequences of his hurt pride then so be it. The thought of being apart from him made her chest constrict.
Aileana had made a choice. She could either endure his anger or endure his imprisonment. She had made the right choice. Of that she had no doubt.
Fergus swung the door wide, dripping crimson splatters as he entered the tavern and interrupted her inner musing.
“Fergus! Oh! Gwen, get some cloths and water! Hurry!”
Aileana grasped his arms and guided him toward the fire. Once Fergus was seated, Aileana removed his shredded shirt and assessed his wounds. Gwen returned with the items she had requested and Aileana set about cleaning the angry gashes.
“You’d better go get the healer” she said to Gwen. “He’s lost much blood and is in need of stitching.”
As she examined Fergus’s arms, James paced behind them. The day had been torturous for everyone, but she spent hers wondering if James would ever forgive her for denying him his vengeance.
“We found him,” Fergus said. “He’s secure and here in the town prison.”
The weight of many sleepless nights lifted from her body. She turned to James, who would still not meet her gaze, but instead stood frozen staring at the back of Fergus’s head. He had not spoken to her since that morning and she found herself searching for the right words to say to him. Fergus found them for her.
“James, you would have killed him. You would have had to. He begged to die.”
Aileana watched the conflicted emotions cross James’s face before turning back to Fergus and whispering ‘thank you’ over and over. She was racked with guilt from having asked him to go instead of James.
James was by her side as she finished dressing Fergus’s wound. She gave the man a much needed drink of ale and helped him stretch his long legs onto a stool and covered him with a blanket. Fergus was better off sleeping where he was than risk stumbling on the stairs.
James’s expression was filled with pain. He shifted his weight and frowned at her. Fine. Let him lament his wounded pride. Gawain was caught and James would not swing for it. That knowledge was enough for her and she would make it enough for him too.
James remained silent, but eventually met his wife’s eyes. He nodded once and Aileana rushed into his arms. For a long while they held one another. His forgiveness was worth more than a king’s ransom.
The next day, Aileana watched from the tavern window as a wedding procession make its way through the town. Three days had passed since she had been found and she was impatient with her slowly returning memory. She’d recalled bits and pieces of James and Gwen but not as much of Calum. It was enough for her to decide that everyone’s lives had been held up long enough because of her, especially with Gawain no longer a threat.