“Nay, Laird, I do not.”
“Gertie,” Mairin choked out. “Ewan, she’s injured.”
Ewan motioned for Gannon to see to Gertie, who still lay on the floor a short distance away. Gannon lifted Gertie in his arms and carried her from the larder. She was already coming around and protesting loudly that she could walk under her own power. Ewan turned to Mairin, who shook like a leaf against Caelen’s side.
“Tell me what happened, lass.”
“He cut my dress,” she said, as she held up the tattered material of her skirts. “He threatened to cut the babe from my womb if I didn’t cooperate.”
Alaric stared at her in astonishment. “If he held a knife to your belly, how in God’s name did he wind up unconscious on the floor with your dagger in his belly?”
“I took a page from Ewan’s book,” she said primly.
Ewan raised an eyebrow and exchanged glances with Caelen.
“This I’ve got to hear,” Caelen muttered.
“I kneed him … down there. And well, I plunged my dagger into his belly at the same time. When he fell, I wanted to make sure he didn’t escape, so I bashed him over the head with a pot.”
Alaric winced. “I don’t think he was going anywhere, lass.”
She shrugged. “ ’Tis the truth I wanted to kill him. He threatened my child.”
Caelen chuckled. “I don’t think Crispen or your other children will ever have to worry about coming to harm, Ewan. Your wife will single-handedly take on any threat to her young.”
Ewan pulled Mairin against his side and kissed the top of her head. “Are you all right, sweeting?”
“He didn’t hurt me.”
He took his hand away from her arm and frowned when he saw blood on it. “Then what is this?” he demanded.
She shrugged, remembering now that Diormid had cut her in the scuffle. “ ’Tis naught but a scratch, Laird. I will wash it later.”
“What’s to be done with Diormid, Laird?” Cormac asked from the doorway.
Ewan’s expression blackened, but then he glanced at Mairin, likely remembering her aversion to having Heath killed for his infraction.
“I think he should be fed to a pack of wild wolves,” Mairin muttered. “Perhaps tied between two trees and left to bleed to attract predators.”
Ewan and his brothers gaped at her in astonishment.
“Or we could simply drag him behind a horse for a few miles?” she asked hopefully.
Caelen died laughing. “Bloodthirsty lass. I love it! She’s fierce, Ewan. I like your wife very much.”
“You would,” Ewan muttered.
Ewan looked at his wife in exasperation. “I was going to suggest we kill him and get it over with since he’s not going to survive your dagger to the belly anyway.”
“ ’Tis too quick a death,” she said with a sniff. “I think he should be made to suffer.”
Ewan frowned and she relented with a sigh. “Oh, very well. Kill him quickly. But he’s not to be buried on McCabe land. You can feed his corpse to the buzzards, can’t you?”
Ewan shook his head and laughed at her hopeful tone. He gathered her in his arms and squeezed her until she couldn’t breathe.
“Aye, lass, we can feed his corpse to the predators. Will it make you feel better to imagine his eyeballs plucked from their sockets?”
Her stomach recoiled at the image and she put a hand to her mouth to staunch the urge to retch again. Then she glared up at her husband. “You did that apurpose!”
He grinthen turned to his brothers. “See to his body. I’m taking my wife back to the hall.”
Mairin let Ewan guide her away but then she stopped and called back. “I’ll be wanting my dagger returned, Caelen.”
Chapter 39
“Laird! Laird! The king approaches!”
Ewan dropped Mairin’s hand and hurried into the hall where Owain was shouting for him. The young man had obviously run the entire way, for he stood panting for breath as he frantically searched the hall for Ewan.
When he saw Ewan, he hurried over and once again repeated his announcement.
“Hold!” Ewan bit out. “Tell me all. How far is the king? Does he ride with his army?”
Before Owain could answer, another of Ewan’s soldiers ran into the hall. “Laird! McDonald rides through our gates!”
Ewan stalked toward the courtyard, Mairin on his heels. He got to the steps as Laird McDonald slid from his horse. Beyond the gates of the keep, what looked to be McDonald’s entire army spread out over the terrain.
“Ewan!” McDonald called. “My men brought news that the king’s army approaches.”
Not a moment after Laird McDonald’s pronouncement, the McDonald army parted to allow Laird McLauren to ride over the bridge and into the courtyard. In the distance, McLauren’s army gathered at the rear of McDonald’s men.
“Ewan,” McLauren greeted as he approached the two lairds. “I came as soon as I heard.”
Ewan looked at the two men in surprise. The sight of so many soldiers on horseback was an impressive sight, spreading as far as the eye could see.
“Do you realize that by your actions, you actively rebel against the crown? You’ll be branded outlaws,” Ewan said.
Laird McLauren scowled. “ ’Tis wrong what he did, Ewan. If he takes a man’s wife, what’s next? His lands? I stand beside you, as do my men.”
Laird McDonald nodded his agreement.
Ewan grasped the forearm of Laird McLauren and then turned to do the same to McDonald. Then he threw his fist in the air and gave a war cry that was picked up by his men and spread to the McDonalds and the McLaurens. Soon the hills surrounding the keep echoed with the sound of impending battle.