Castle Macnab, page 15
‘We’d still be outgunned,’ said Leithen. ‘Besides, we don’t want to get into a shooting war.’
‘They’re shooting already,’ I pointed out.
‘Just to keep us pinned down, I think,’ said Leithen. ‘They know we’re unarmed and I think they’ll still baulk at gunning down their own countrymen.’
‘Suppose we make a break for it?’ Archie suggested.
‘We’d never make it unless we left the Kaiser behind,’ I said. ‘And Captain von Ilsemann isn’t going to abandon him.’
The young German crawled over to us on his belly. ‘What do we face now?’ he asked.
‘Four or five men, including Kildennan himself, all of them armed with rifles,’ I told him.
Leithen’s brow creased in thought. ‘Look, Archie, you and the captain keep down out of sight,’ he advised. ‘They probably don’t know you’re here.’
I grasped what he was driving at. ‘Yes, let them think there’s only the two of us,’ I said. ‘If they don’t know we have a strategic reserve, that could be our ace in the hole.’
‘I’ve never been much use at cards,’ Archie grinned, ‘but I think I can hold my own in a scrap.’
‘You can also count on me,’ Ilsemann assured us before scrambling back to his master.
I was taking a swallow from the water bottle Archie had given me when I heard a booming command.
‘Hannay! Leithen! Show yourselves!’
It was the deep, scornful voice of Kildennan. I peered over the edge of the castle wall to see him looking up at me from the top of a bare hillock about fifty yards off. He stood in the commanding pose of a general with a rifle cradled in his arms.
‘You’ve led us a merry dance, Sir Edward,’ he called, ‘but I’ll have done with this business by whatever means are required. Send the German out to me now and I’ll leave you to depart in peace.’
Signalling Leithen to keep out of sight, I stood up so that our foe could see me. I trusted that the laird would not sink to the infamy of shooting me while we spoke.
‘Kildennan, you’ve already pushed this as far as it will go. You’ve mistreated and terrorised an old man and threatened violence against your own countrymen. Let it rest. Don’t carry this affair so far that matters can never be mended.’
‘I’ve let your friend Leithen have his say,’ Kildennan retorted, ‘so I’ll not stand here and let you preach at me. If you can’t bring yourself to throw the German out here on the ground, then you can save some face by simply withdrawing. I offer a truce for the two of you to depart by whichever route you choose. I give you my word you will come to no harm and I will make no move to stop you.’
His arrogance added fire to my defiance. ‘Are you saying we should simply abandon this man to your nonexistent mercy? Are those the sort of cowards you take us for?’
‘Whether you go or stay,’ said Kildennan, ‘it makes no difference. He will not leave this place alive. A wise man would cut his losses and make the best of it.’
If he was prepared to stand there and bluster, I was ready to spin out our dialogue. Certain that Lamancha and Palliser-Yeates must be be rushing to our aid, I knew it was in our interests to delay for as long as possible.
I answered him, hoping his men were listening. ‘A wise man wouldn’t hazard his daughter’s future and the lives of his followers to fulfil his obsessive desire for revenge.’
Suddenly I heard Leithen address me with alarm in his voice. ‘Dick, why is he wasting so much time on talk? Where are the rest of them?’
My heart lurched. Cursing my stupidity, I spun round to face the interior of the castle.
While Kildennan kept us distracted the three ‘jurymen’ had crept through the undergrowth and clambered stealthily up the loch side of the castle crag. Now they came vaulting over the fallen walls and charged us with a wordless battle cry like clansmen of old.
Somewhere in the course of their manhunt they had armed themselves with crude cudgels fashioned from broken tree limbs. Leading the way, Mackinnon took a swing at me but I managed to dodge below his club and drive my shoulder in his midriff. He staggered back, winded, but when I tried to follow up my advantage he landed a crack on my knee that almost felled me. Ignoring the pain, I dived for his legs and brought him down in a rugby tackle.
While we grappled on the ground, I saw Leithen take a painful whack on the head from the man Anderson’s cudgel before Archie grabbed the lanky attacker from behind and wrestled him down. Peter Strachan – Roddy’s grizzled father – was holding back to look for the Kaiser. He was more than surprised when Ilsemann came at him in a formal boxing stance and landed a hard blow on his chin.
Reeling from the hit he had taken, Leithen did his best to help Archie subdue and disarm Anderson. That cadaverous man landed a couple of good punches and scrambled out of their grasp. As soon as he got upright, Archie closed with him again, catching him in a headlock.
Dropping his cudgel, Mackinnon fought his way free of me and sprang to his feet. As I started to rise he treated me to a vicious kick in the ribs that knocked the wind out of me. Before he could follow up, Leithen caught him from behind with a punch to the kidneys that brought a malicious oath to his lips.
Strachan had abandoned his fight with Ilsemann and pulled Archie off Anderson. He bundled his two companions ahead of him, jumping the broken wall to rejoin their chief.
‘There’s too many!’ he cried to his friends. ‘Get out of here!’
As I clutched my aching ribs, I saw Kildennan clambering up the slope below with the rifle in his hands. Strachan pelted down towards him at the head of the routed party. He grabbed the laird’s rifle and pushed him back down to the foot of the crag.
‘Not now, sir!’ he gasped. ‘It’s not time for that yet.’
With a growl of frustration Kildennan let himself be dragged away and the whole gang disappeared into the trees to lick their wounds.
We had taken enough knocks ourselves to make it feel like something of Pyrrhic victory. I checked that there were no broken bones and saw that the Kaiser, shocked by the sudden assault, had retreated deep into his corner and curled up into a tight ball.
While Ilsemann tended to his master, the rest of us discussed our situation.
‘That man Strachan may be misguided,’ said Leithen, ‘but I think he’s doing his best to keep things from getting completely out of hand. They left their guns down below so there would be no shooting.’
‘Perhaps they were afraid we’d wrestle the guns away from them as we did with these,’ said Archie, proudly displaying a captured cudgel.
‘Kildennan’s not going to settle for fists and clubs next time he comes at us,’ I said.
‘Maybe we can set up some snares or rig up a slingshot,’ said Leithen. He gave weary smile. ‘Who’d have thought this old place would be the scene of another battle, or that we’d be holding our ground for the sake of a man who was once our greatest enemy?’
‘I think that’s where the heart of a soldier really rests,’ I said. ‘In one small patch of ground or with one person.’ My mind went back to still-vivid memories of the last year of the Great War. ‘From the moment I first met Mary in the garden at Fosse Manor, I knew what I was fighting for. Not for cause or country but for that house, that woman, and the future we would share together.’
‘You found your promised land then, eh?’ said Leithen. ‘That holy ground the Greeks called a temenos.’ I guessed from his expression that he had some special place of his own in mind. ‘I rather think that’s true of all of us: we all have some sacred spot from which we draw strength, whether a memory of the past or a vision of the future.’
‘It seems to me that we can make even the scraggiest bit of earth a sacred place by our willingness to make a stand there,’ said Archie, ‘even this old ruin.’
‘That’s very well put, Archie.’ I couldn’t help but smile. ‘I think that wife of yours is turning you into a bit of a philosopher.’
Archie groaned. ‘Oh, please don’t say that. All my other pals would give me the most brutal ragging if they heard that sort of talk.’
At that moment a fusillade of rifle fire sent bullets smacking into the stonework all around us. We were now truly at war.
22
THE WATCHERS
________
Janet and Christina rode out from Castle Kildennan, driving their horses as hard and fast as the steep and boggy terrain would allow. The young Lady Kildennan was mounted on her favourite, a powerful, impatient black stallion named Rinaldo. Janet had been given Britomart, a nimble chestnut mare who was far more amenable. She was an accomplished horsewoman, but she could tell that Christina exceeded her in skill, if not in her determination to reach their goal.
They were within sight of Castle Crachan’s jagged walls when a volley of gunfire split the air. Both women reined in their mounts. Christina turned in the saddle and spoke firmly.
‘Stay back here, Janet. There isn’t any way you can reach your people without drawing fire and your presence might just make things worse. Let me go to my father alone and see what I can do.’
Much as she would have liked to dispute the point, Janet knew the other woman was right. Gritting her teeth, she said, ‘Go then!’, the words bursting out as though they had been ripped from her by force.
Christina was gone in an instant. Battling a sense of frustration, Janet swept her gaze over the surrounding terrain. Her eye was caught by an unexpected flicker of light on a wooded hilltop to her left.
She knew at once that someone was up there. The sun had caught the lenses of the field glasses through which that person was observing the whole scene around Castle Crachan. Instinct more than reason spurred her on and she set off at a gallop towards that vantage point.
When she arrived on the height she saw two men. A pair of Highland ponies were tethered close by and a long-barrelled hunting rifle had been left leaning against a tree. As she slid down from the saddle the men swung round to face her and she recognised one of them at once, for the newspapers carried his photograph almost every day.
‘Prince Edward,’ she greeted him without deference.
Surprise at the approach of the young woman melted into a winning smile on the prince’s handsome features as he laid his field glasses aside. His companion was a squarely built man with a large head of dark hair and an expansive brow. He studied Janet with the intelligent air of one who was scrutinising this change in the situation and reviewing its possibilities.
Janet narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You must be Mr Warren Creevey. Lord Lamancha told me he’d met you both.’ She turned back to the prince. ‘He advised you to leave.’
There was an amused twinkle in Edward’s eye. ‘Oh, I’m never the first to leave the party. Besides, Mr Creevey and I had already arranged to go for a ride. When we heard the shots, we simply had to see what was going on.’
‘Yes, I’m sure you were curious,’ Janet responded curtly. Her mind was racing as she took in this new twist.
‘I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance,’ said the prince.
Janet lifted her chin. ‘I’m Janet Roylance. My husband in Sir Archibald Roylance.’
‘The local MP,’ Creevey supplied.
‘I’ve always found politics a bore myself,’ Edward spoke with mock sympathy, ‘but I suppose you get used to it.’
More scattered shots rang out below. Janet fixed an accusing glare on the prince. ‘You! You are responsible for what’s going on down there.’
Edward raised an ironic eyebrow. ‘And what is that exactly?’
‘You know that perfectly well.’ Janet’s voice had a sharp edge to it now. ‘The former Kaiser of Germany is in that ruin, surrounded by men who mean to kill him. He would never have dared to come here without some guarantee from you. You are to blame for all of this.’
‘This?’ echoed the prince, casting a sardonic gaze over the scene below. ‘This, no. I came up here for a chinwag with some old friends and a bit of a family reunion. We were going to chat about some future opportunities we might all benefit from. It’s turned out to be rather a disappointment, hasn’t it?’
He aimed a sidelong smirk at Warren Creevey, who did not appear to share the prince’s flippancy. ‘There have been some unfortunate developments,’ the financier commented drily.
‘My husband is down there along with some other brave men,’ Janet told them. ‘They have placed themselves between your German cousin and Lord Kildennan who might murder them in pursuit of his own warped justice. Are you going to just stand here and let it happen?’
‘I never foresaw any of this,’ Edward assured her, ‘and I couldn’t possibly get involved now. Lord knows I’m in enough trouble as it is. My father will be furious if he finds out.’
‘You must go down there,’ Janet informed him sternly. ‘Kildennan will have to desist if you tell him to.’
‘I’m sorry, but it is simply unacceptable for the prince to compromise himself any further,’ Creevey stated dispassionately.
‘Quite right,’ Edward agreed, turning towards the ponies. ‘In fact we should make ourselves scarce before things get any uglier.’
Janet reached the rifle in two swift strides and snatched it up. She levelled the weapon at the prince with shocking composure. ‘Damn you, man, you will do what’s honourable or I’ll shoot you where you stand.’
With a menacing snap of the gun’s steel bolt, she rammed a bullet into the chamber.
Edward met her gaze and saw two eyes that were as hard and unyielding as sword points. He swallowed and a cold sweat broke out upon his brow.
‘I am your future king,’ he reminded her.
‘Only for a few seconds more if you don’t do as I say.’
The blood of her warrior ancestors poured hot through Janet’s veins now, so that she blazed with an almost unearthly power. Neither of the men who beheld her in awestruck horror doubted that she would lay waste to whole kingdoms in defence of those she loved.
Prince Edward ran the back of his hand across his dry lips and his voice died in his throat. There was a long, tense silence which Creevey finally broke.
‘Perhaps it’s not too late to make an adjustment to the situation.’
23
ARMS AND THE MAN
________
Gradually the gunfire subsided. There followed an eerie quiet broken only by the dank wind whispering through the surrounding foliage.
Archie made a game attempt at good cheer. ‘Well, that’s not the worst bombardment I’ve been through.’
‘I think that was our last warning,’ said Leithen. ‘We’ve come to the edge at last.’
As if to fulfil his prediction, Kildennan’s voice boomed out once more.
‘I’m done with talking and fisticuffs. I give you five minutes to leave the field, then I’m coming for the old criminal myself and I’ll shoot dead any man that stands in my way.’
‘He means it,’ I said. ‘He’s going to shoot to kill even if his men don’t back him.’
‘I hope to God they don’t,’ said Leithen grimly. ‘Then at least we might have a chance of overpowering him.’
‘I’m going to sneak down there,’ I decided. ‘If I can get my hands on just one of their guns, I might be able to swing things our way.’
Leithen laid a cautionary hand on my arm. ‘That would almost certainly guarantee a shooting war, Dick. Perhaps we should stand our ground against him, unarmed as we are, and trust in the rightness of our cause.’
‘You may be right, Ned,’ I conceded, ‘Kildennan might baulk at the last at the prospect of wholesale murder. But frankly I’m afraid that whatever beast is gnawing at his soul is determined to have its way.’
‘I’ll come with you, Dick,’ Archie offered.
‘No, Archie, you need to stay here. If I don’t make it back, there will still be enough of you to mount a defence.’
I slid through a gap in the castle wall out of sight of the enemy and clambered down using boulders and bushes for cover. As I descended, I suddenly heard approaching hoofbeats and caught a glimpse of Christina Kildennan approaching astride a big black stallion. Reining in, she vaulted from the saddle and walked to where her father and his men were gathered.
When I reached level ground, I wriggled through the undergrowth towards them. My one hope was that they would not expect us to take the offensive and that I’d have surprise on my side.
Wet and muddy, I finally crawled into sight of Kildennan’s party on the other side of a dense hawthorn bush. Mackinnon, with his back turned, was only a few feet away from me with a rifle in his hands. I decided at once that he would be my target.
Further off, Christina was making a desperate appeal to her father. Her voice was pitched so low, I could not make out her words, but it was clear from her anguished expression that they were heartfelt. I was just as clear that they were falling on deaf ears.
As I watched, Kildennan gave way to his pent-up fury. ‘I’ll hear no more of this wheedling talk!’ he roared, and slapped her across the face with the flat of his hand. The young woman reeled back. Stunned more by the emotional betrayal than the force of the blow, she lost her footing in the wet grass and fell to the ground.
Her father made a move towards her, then checked himself. Strachan and Anderson helped their mistress up, but kept a grip on her arms to hold her back from any further confrontation.
Seizing on this moment of distraction, I jumped from cover and planted a mighty punch on Mackinnon’s temple. As he went down like a felled ox, I grabbed the rifle out of his hands. Before I could make another move, however, Kildennan rounded on me with startling speed. He slammed his rifle butt into my chest and knocked me flat on my back. The captured weapon slipped out of my numbed fingers and he kicked it away out of reach.
The laird loomed over me, gun in hand, and eyed me like a hunter sizing up his prey. ‘Hannay, will you never be done with standing in my way?’
With the wind knocked out of me, I could not even muster a word of defiance. I glanced towards Christina, who pressed a hand to her stinging cheek, her expression unreadable. Now that he had gone so far as to break the bonds of family, I feared that nothing we could do would restrain Kildennan from his intent.
