"For the best. Things are nay right here as yet. Now what?" he grumbled as a boy walked into the hall and headed straight for Sigimor. "Who are ye, lad?"
"I am Aiden, the cook's nephew. I have a letter for ye." He thrust it toward Sigimor.
"What does it say?"
"I dinnae ken. Cannae read, can I. Ye can. Ye are a laird."
"Who sent it?"
"A lady. Our laird has put her in the dungeons."
Sigimor just grunted as he watched Jolene hesitate briefly in the doorway before she walked toward him. "A lady in the dungeon? Hurry and read it, Sigimor." She smiled when the boy bowed to her, then she sat down next to Sigimor and whispered to him, "Why is there a scullion boy in here?"
"Brought the letter," he whispered back, and kissed her ear. "After I present ye to these two fools so they can sit down again. Jolene, meet Niall and David Ogilvy, Mora's brothers who couldnae seem to find their way out of France."
"Oh! Mora will be so delighted!"
She pretended not to notice the little boy had slid onto the bench next to her and was filling his plate with food but handed him the right utensil as he studied all that was standing around the plate. Jolene knew she should be outraged and order him to leave, but he looked like he could use a good meal, so she said nothing, just made certain her skirts were well away from his clothing.
Then she studied Mora's brothers. Both were tall, lean, and handsome enough to draw many ladies to their side. The one called Niall had brown hair, but it was liberally sprinkled with red and some gold. David had dark red hair. She could actually see a small similarity to Mora in them, especially in the blue of their eyes.
"Uh, Sigimor, she is English," said Niall as he sat down, and earned a slap on the back of his head from David.
"I ken it but I decided I would forgive that flaw," he said, and leaned out of reach when Jolene tried to hit him. "Let me read this letter, woman!"
David watched as Sigimor read the letter and his expression grew darker and darker. He suddenly understood why the man's name could be enough to unsettle people. That was the face of a man who would ride into a gathering of the enemy and cut them to pieces, then go home, wash the blood off, and bed his wife with no lingering remorse about what he had done.
"Sigimor, what is wrong?" Jolene asked, and lightly rubbed his arm.
"I believe ye will see your sister soon," said Sigimor, and handed David the letter before turning to his wife. "We will need to ride within the hour."
Jolene nodded slowly, realizing he meant they might have to fight. She was about to ask some important questions, such as who, why, and where, when there was a sound in the hallway that drew her attention. Several men walked in and she wondered why so many people were coming to see Sigimor so early in the morning. It could not be good.
Her eyes widened as Gybbon, Harcourt, a young boy, and a few MacFingals walked into the room. The MacFingals were the ones who seemed to have made Sigimor's home theirs, yet they stood with the two Murray men looking as deadly stern as the Murrays did. She did wonder who the young boy was until he squealed and raced toward the two Ogilvy brothers. The Murrays also looked as if they had ridden hard to get to Sigimor. Jolene was getting a very bad feeling about all of this.
"Sorry to disturb ye so early," said Gybbon.
"Ye didnae rouse us out of bed, so no bother," said Sigimor. "Lost your lass, have ye?"
"How did ye ken that?"
"She wrote to me. Though it isnae addressed to me, so she may have just been writing to anyone who would be taken the letter. Seems her uncle didnae feel inclined to hear bad things said about his wee boy. He ne'er has listened to any bad said about that son. Sit. Have some food. We will leave, as I have said, within the hour."
Gybbon sat, setting Mora's bag down next to him and opening it so Freya could slip out. "Are ye sure we should wait?"
"Aye. Old men do nothing fast. Mon probably hasnae e'en got out of bed. Robert willnae do anything because he obviously would prefer his father to take any blame that might come. Aye, we have time to finish breaking our fast." He glanced at the MacFingals, who were already devouring full plates of food. "And ye need to let those lads eat or they might be too weak and frail from hunger to fight. And mayhap the boy should go to bed, aye?"
"Can I take the cat?" he asked when Jolene walked over to him.
"Of course ye can. I will see to a box for the animal," Jolene said as she led the boy away.
When the MacFingals merely looked up from their food and smiled, Gybbon felt a smile tugging at his lips as well. Sigimor did have a skill of making one feel less frantic. He noticed a dark, furious look on the face of one of the young men who had been there when they arrived. Curious as to who they were, although Andrew's reaction made him strongly suspect they were the long-lost brothers, he looked at Sigimor.
"Ah, forgot to introduce ye. Lads," Sigimor said to the two young men, "meet Harcourt Murray, Laird of Gormfeurach, and his brother, Gybbon. Harcourt, Gybbon, these two fellows Andrew latched onto are Mora's long-lost brothers."
"Why did they ne'er hear from ye?" asked Gybbon, as Jolene returned, having left Andrew in the capable hands of her maids.
"Because someone tried to kill us, almost from the moment we got there. Nearly succeeded once with me. And we wrote. The letters were clearly caught and tossed away before they reached my parents. We ne'er got word from them."
"Ye didnae question that?"
"Oh, aye, we did. Constantly, but we couldnae find any way they were doing it. When I healed from the third … "
"Fourth," muttered Niall.
" … attempt to kill me," continued David, "we decided to start to make our way home. The attempts to end us continued and I pray it cost Robert a lot of his money. We did get a few men hanged for what they did, but it didnae stop the attempts."
"Even tried once to get us locked up and hanged," said Niall. "Fortunately, David was charming the daughter of the mon who would have come after us and she gave us enough warning to get away. Along with some weeping and wailing." He flinched when David elbowed him in the side.
"Robert has been a verra busy boy," muttered Sigimor. "Mon is more clever than I thought."
"And now," David said in a hard voice, "he plays much the same game with our sister."
"Which would leave Andrew with no one," said Niall.
"And there he finally makes his mistake," said Harcourt.
"What do ye mean?" asked David.
"The lad is nay alone. He has the Murrays."
"And the Camerons," said Sigimor. "Nay, the boy willnae be alone. He will also have his sister back soon." Sigimor looked at the MacFingals, who made a noise that indicated insult over not being included. "And I guess he has these fools, too. Sweet Mary help him."
"An impressive guard for a small lad," murmured Niall, obviously moved by the show of support. Then he grinned and looked at the MacFingals. "I think he would really like the MacFingals."
"Not if he has a horse he favors," drawled Harcourt.
Ned tossed a piece of bread at him, but he caught it. Then Jolene started to lecture them on table matters. Gybbon watched Mora's two brothers calm and held his hand out to them.
"May I see the letter?"
"Why?" asked David even as he held it out.
"To see what trouble she has gotten into, her view of it all."
"How can that help?"
"She is inside. We are not. She has spoken to the old mon. We have not."
When David frowned and nodded, Gybbon took the letter and looked at it. She had a very neat hand, he thought as he began to read:
Greetings! I am in the dungeon in my uncle's keep.
The bed is hard and the blanket is thin. Uncle is
better in body, but I worry about his mind. He is
very angry and he refuses to believe any wrong about
Robert. I pointed out that several questions should be
asked, that the answers would prove Robert was
lying, even asked them myself, and answered them,
questions that show Robert's tale is nonsense, but he
bellowed at me that I lied just as my mother had.
That made me angry, but I could see then that he
will just not listen. And so, I am locked up and
Manus has the keys. Robert came by to gloat and
sneer and tell me I am to be hanged and said that he
will be in the fore of the crowd watching it. Hilda
believes this letter will help, but I cannot see how.
Who can she give it to? I hope Freya did not cause
Annys too much trouble and that someone can take
care of her. Tell Gybbon I am sorry I did not heed him
about this. Please watch over Andrew. Ink is done.