14
~ The Witch's Hammer ~
Inside the cottage the others could hear voices raised in anger. Moira excused herself and went outside to find out what was going on.
"What're ye lot blubbering about now!" she demanded, hands on her hips. "This is a funeral not the pub now calm yerselves down!"
"Miss Moira, it's that loon Hepzibah!" Tam informed her. "Babbling like a loon he was talkin' o' witches an stirring up the younguns, angering the spirits of the dear departed too no doubt. And accusing the good Father of…."
"Of what? Spit it out!"
"Well….ahhh…he accused the Lady Belle of witchery and ye…ye of fornicating wi' Father Bryce!" The old man blushed. Moira glared at all of them.
"If any of ye idjits believe one word of that nonsense ye're as loony as that miserable lout!"
"But the younguns believed, Miss Moira, and they've gone with him to see the bishop!"
"Dinna fash yerselves. The good bishop will never believe a word he says," Moira said breezily yet in the back of her mind she feared for her young mistress and Archie whose credibility with the people in the parish would be in tatters if the bishop believed he was under a witch's influence. "Do any of ye believe the Lady Belle is a witch?" she demanded of the group.
"Nay!" they chorused.
"And in case any o'ye are thinking it, the good Father and I are not doing anything inappropriate, not that it is anyone's business but mine and his!"
She spun on her heel and returned to the cottage. Donal and Sorcha were being comforted by Rab and Belle, Belle was entertaining little Sorcha with stories about Rumple and they'd given the child the doll Rab had been awake most of the night making and even allowed Belle to help him with some of the stitching when he had difficulty keeping his eyes open. Donal was much calmer now, claiming that his Maggie had visited him in his dreams, pleading with him that no one was to blame for her death but she was at peace now and would see him again one day in Heaven.
"Archie, I must speak with ye," Moira whispered in his ear.
"Now? Lass, it isna a good time…"
"Now dinna be stubborn wi' me! I wouldna interrupt ye if it wasna for a good reason!"
Archie excused himself and allowed her to lead him outside to the rear of the cottage. He crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at her. "Lass, ye ken well I dinna like it when ye interfere when I'm tending to my parishioners! Now what is so important?"
"That idjit tutor Rab sent packing is accusing the Lady Belle of witchcraft and me of….of…bedding ye!"
"What?" he cried.
"Aye…babbled on to most of the parish and he and some of the young ones have gone to fetch the bishop! Archie…ye ken well that the bishop will want to examine the lady and…he doesna know about us…does he?"
"Aye but he doesna like it, Moira," Archie confessed sadly. "I canna lie to the bishop about anything, ye ken that."
"We need to tell Rabbie and her ladyship before they come back."
"Aye…that fool Stuart. The bishop does not take accusations of witchcraft in this parish lightly nor will the Church allow him to."
"But it is all lies!"
"Ye ken that and I ken that but remember lass, there are some in this parish who still dinna like the Frasers, ordered by the Queen's command to a truce or nay and the Lady Belle will have to be examined."
"Ye are not going to take part in this….this foolishness, are ye?"
"Nay!"
"Ye know what they may do if ye refuse…"
"The Lord will understand. I willna persecute an innocent."
Moira wrapped her arms around him. "I dinna want ye being persecuted Archie," she said fearfully. "And if that fool Stuart has his way we'll all be burned at the stake."
"Have faith in the Bishop lass. He isna easy swayed."
She only hoped he was right.
In the cottage Donal was seated at the kitchen table sipping a cup of kaffee Rab brought along with him and eating some of Missus Mike's scones with Sorcha on his lap holding the doll. Donal glanced down at the doll and smiled faintly. "She does look a wee bit like my Maggie…ahhh she was a spirited lass and I dinna like angering her but oh how I did sometimes….not always meanin' to ye ken?"
"Aye," Rab murmured.
"And och how I felt her wrath if I dinna wipe my boots after she washed her floors!" He laughed. "I'd been out hunting in the rain and my boots were dirty and there comes my lassie screaming like the banshees at me because my feet made a dirty path on her floor. I was changing and she told me I had to wash the floors myself starkers! And I did it! The things a man will do for his lass, eh?"
"Why did you wash the floor starkers? She hid yer clothes, dinna she lad?" Malcolm asked with a smirk. It was something Ceri would've done.
"Aye."
That was how he, how all of them wanted to remember Maggie. Young and full of life. Everyone in the room all had a story to tell of the girl who touched their lives in one way or another. As he sat with Donal and listened, Rab recalled Archie's words to him after his mother's passing.
Tis the celebration of a life we have on such a day, Rabbie. There will be tears yes but ye must always remember the joyful times ye had for those are what will carry ye through the sorrow, lad.
"Lady Belle, do ye have another cat?" Sorcha was asking Belle.
"No, we just have Raine and Rumple but once in a while a stray cat may come to visit."
"Can I come to yer castle and see Raine and Rumple?"
"Of course you can, if your father allows it."
"Ye're both more than welcome at the castle," Rab informed them. Sorcha smiled. She wanted a cat of her own but she didn't want to ask her father yet, fearful that he would be upset with her.
"I'm gonna call my doll Maggie after Mama," she murmured.
"That's good lass, that's good," Donal said, brushing tears from his eyes.
"Donal lad, I'll need to be heading home but if ye need anything Rabbie will see to it," Malcolm assured him.
"Thank ye, my lord."
As soon as Malcolm stepped outside Archie and Moira approached him, both of them worried.
"Now why d'ye have the look of ones who've seen the end of days, dearies?"
"That fool Stuart is accusing the Lady Belle of witchery!" Moira blurted before Archie had a chance to. The laird's eyes narrowed to slits, images of mounting the idiot on his wall flashing through his mind. Oh, how he wished now he'd been there when the fool dared to thrash his boy!
"And where is that wastrel? I'll gie him something more to fear than a witch!"
"Gone to fetch the bishop, lad," Archie sighed. "And ye ken the bishop doesna ignore any claims of witchery."
Malcolm's hands clenched in rage, recalling another witch hunt that had been held in the parish years before. A local midwife had been accused of consorting with the devil by the parish physician when one of her patients died of childbed fever. His Ceri had been outraged, the woman was a dear friend of hers and she'd almost been taken for an examination herself until the bishop concluded the physician's claims were nothing more than professional jealousy. When he was a lad he recalled that five more people had been accused of witchcraft but there had been no burnings in Bishop Gillespie's time. He hoped this would not be the first.
"Aye. And did any of these idjits believe?"
"Nay but he's got the young ones stirred up," Moira replied.
"Ye go on and tend to Donal and his puir lassie Father but send Rabbie and Belle out to me and I'll talk to them about this. Damned Stuart!"
"I'll go wi' Malcolm Archie," Moira informed him. He kissed her cheek affectionately. "I'll see ye at Mass."
"Uncle Malcolm," Ailsa came up to them, her young face grave. "I just heard a disturbing bit o' talk. Some o' the lads an' a few o' their lasses were talkin' about . . .about how Lady Belle was . . .practicing witchcraft on Rabbie's mare Auriel. 'Tis ridiculous!"
"What?" He shook his head.
Ailsa frowned. "T'was a few o' the troublemakers, Uncle Malcolm. Ye ken the ones who are always carousing an' lookin' for a reason t' speak about other people. Gossip mongers. They claim that the Stuart man said Lady Belle was a witch!"
"Papa, ye ken that's no' true!" Neal cried angrily, having heard their speech as he was going by with Winter at his heels. wanting to show Sorcha the collie. "An' that muckle idjit Stuart is just mad 'cause Rabbie threw his arse outta the castle!"
"Aye but we'll fix him, laddie!"
His worst fear was that the bishop would summon Cardinal O'Malley. The cardinal had burned many people over the years for witchcraft and it was suspected he accused his own enemies to dispose of them. He was known as 'the witch's hammer'.
"I just hope he doesna send for that zealot O'Malley," Archie muttered.
"Aye," Malcolm agreed. They barely avoided the cardinal's interference years before.
"Who is O'Malley?" Ailsa inquired.
"The cardinal lass and unlike His Grace the bishop, the cardinal would be more eager to condemn a puir soul to the fires," Archie answered.
"We gotta warn Rabbie and Belle, Papa."
"Aye Neal lad we do but let's wait until he comes out."
Belle and Rab hated to leave the young widower and his daughter but they knew they needed to. They made their excuses and went outside to join the rest of the family while Archie stayed behind. They noticed that some of the villagers were giving them the strangest looks and barely spoke to them but they tried to not to dwell on it. It was a sad day for everyone, especially Donal and Sorcha. Even their own family members were silent during the ride back to the castle. Once they were assembled in the main hall Rab approached his father, frowning.
"Papa, what is going on? Ye've all been silent as the grave."
"Yes best sit down, laddie. This willna be easy to hear."
"What?"
"That idjit Stuart hae accused Belle of witchcraft!" Neal blurted.
"That's insane!" Belle cried. "I am no' a witch."
"Stuart got some of the other lads and lasses to believe it and they've gone to fetch Bishop Gillespie," Malcolm said. "They've even claimed ye've used witchery with Auriel."
"That bastard!" Rab raged.
Belle was frightened. She too heard the stories of what transpired during an examination of a witch and the sorts of things clerics considered evidence of witchcraft including unusual marks on the skin and the mark she had on her lower back would certainly be one of them.
Rab was furious as he'd ever been. He was now sorry he hadn't beaten the snot out of the tutor and driven him from Carlyle lands permanently as a landless exile. "Miserable Lowland scum!" he spat, his eyes amber with the heat of his rage.
"How do we stop him?" Belle asked.
"By using logic and witnesses, dearie," answered Rab. "We must prove he is naught but a jealous carping crow out to stir up trouble. And prove all his "evidence" is naught but lies and fabrication."
"But I have a...a mark...and they'll use that as evidence!"
"A mark?" her husband repeated. For a moment he didn't know what she could be referring to.
"It's been there since birth...just a spot but Mama calls it a birthmark."
"Ah, I ken now what ye are referring to," Rab nodded in understanding, now recalling seeing a small brown mark shaped like a heart close to her left buttock when he had bathed her for her fever back at the Fraser keep.
"But that sod O'Malley would call it the devil's mark," Moira snorted.
"Not if he dinna see it," Rab retorted. His clever brain was already coming up with a preparation that would hide the mark, a bit of cosmetics he had learned while treating patients for unsightly blemishes back when he was a student to Azhir in Edinburgh.
"If he canna find it then we dinna have to worry eh?" Malcolm asked his son, grinning.
"No," Rab agreed. "Though we may not anyhow, since 'tis doubtful the cardinal would come all the way t' the Highlands if the bishop doesna summon him."
"I've heard what they do in those examinations and I canna endure that Rabbie!"
He gently stroked her cheek. "Hush, mo cridhe. Ye willna have to endure any o' that. The cardinal willna examine where he has no proof and no evidence."
That made her feel at ease for the moment but she would be able to rest easier when she was certain the bishop would not examine her.
Rab steepled his fingers on the table. "Neal do ye ken what became o' the note ye gave Stuart? That's an important piece o' evidence to show that he wasna doing his duty an' disregarded my orders as laird."
"Aye it's here somewhere. I dinna see him take it."
"Well, I'll hae tae find it," Rab said. "An' I need ye to provide evidence that Stuart was no' a good tutor. An' I'll speak tae any other lads down in the village who knew Stuart by his wenching and drinking o'er at the tavern."
He looked over at Moira. "Moira, I'll need ye an' Ailsa an' Missus Mike an' Lily as well as Devon an' Titus down at the stables t' be character witnesses to Belle attesting to her Godliness an' good works. Father Bryce as well."
"Archie will be happy to vouch for the lass as will I."
"Papa, ye must speak too since ye are laird here," Rab said. "An' ye hired Stuart as well as agreed to the match with the Frasers."
"Aye and twas a mistake that I did hire that arse."
"Papa, ye could hardly be blamed for following Jamie's recommendation, aye?" Rab said comfortingly.
Malcolm sighed. "Aye yer brother thought Stuart was a good man but he dinna see what we did."
"Jamie felt sorry for the bastard," Rab snorted. "An' seein' as he used tae be a comrade in arms, he asked for ye to hire him. I think Jamie didna fully ken who Stuart really was. He was always generous to a fault, my brother."
Malcolm nodded in agreement.
"But he woulda walloped him for hurting Neal friend or no."
"Aye, I ken that," Rab asserted. "Though mayhap Stuart wouldna been so quick to disregard his orders over mine."
"He's no' gonna bring this family down!" Malcolm said firmly.
Rab was pleased to hear the pride in his papa's voice again. As well as the determination of a leader. This was how he recalled Malcolm when Ceri was alive, and Jamie also. It seemed that this betrayal from Stuart as well as the Father's retreat and sweating of toxins from his Papa's system had recalled the laird back to his best self.
"Tavish! Where are ye mon!" Malcolm bellowed.
A burly man on his fifties stepped forward. "Ye called, milord?"
"Aye. Go into town, scout the taverns and see if that wastrel has gone to the bishop yet."
"D'ye want me to bring his arse here?"
"Aye if ye see him. I'll have a talk wi' him myself."
And he was going to be a sorry fool when the laird was through with him.
Tavish and several other Carlyle men were saddling their horses when they spotted a mob of people coming toward the castle and at the front of the crowd was Hepzibah Stuart carrying a torch. "Bring them out! Bring the witches out!" he shouted.
Tavish turned to one of the young men in their group. "Go and tell his lordship those idjits are here. Move lad!"
Fortunately the others heard the commotion. "Lasses, ye'll be staying in here. Neal...get yer dirk lad and yer bow. Anyone tries to get in here ye shoot, aye?"
"Yes, Papa."
"Rabbie, ye might want to arm yerself too lad," Malcolm advised his son. "I ken it'll take more than talkin' tae get this lot to leave."
Rab went upstairs to get his rapier and his handheld crossbow. He hated fighting, but he would not permit his wife to be taken for a crime she had never committed. He came down wearing his sword and his cuirass of boiled studded leather. His crossbow was in his hand and a bandolier of bolts across his chest. His hair was bound by a braided leather headband.
"Rabbie, be careful out there," Belle pleaded.
He moved over to her and took her in his arms and kissed her. "I shall be, my heart. I dinna plan on dying before I have even lived, sweetheart."
"I'm so sorry...I got you into this..."
"Nay. 'Twas petty and nasty small minded men like Stuart who hae done this, no' ye, Belle. If it wasna ye they targeted, it would hae been someone else. Like me. Why, they hae even targeted the good Father an' Moira!"
"And I would be out there giving his arse a good wallop if I could!" Moira snarled.
Rab smirked. "Keep yer broom handy, Moira, dearie. Ye may need to beat some manners into a fool's head."
"Aye and I can do that well!"
"BRING THE WITCH AND THE WHORE OUT!" Stuart yelled.
"Form up!" Malcolm called out to his clansmen, and he drew his sword, waiting until the house guards had arrayed themselves in formation behind him before he strode to the doors of the keep and yelled, "STUART! YE MANGY SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YE FOMENT REBELLION ON MY LAND?"
"Ye're harboring a witch and a whore, Carlyle an' we'll no' have them in this village. Send them out for the bishop and the cardinal to examine or we'll come and take them ourselves!"
"Over my dead body will ye take my wife, ye miserable jealous bastard!" Rab shouted. "Ye coward! If ye hae any balls, Stuart, ye'll meet me in the circle an' we'll settle yer false accusations with a duel! Or are ye too craven? Perhaps ye only hae guts to beat wee boys?"
"Aye!" Malcolm yelled. "An' lest ye forget, YE are no' a member o' this clan, Stuart! I am laird here an' YE are here only upon my goodwill. For which ye hae just exhausted! So if anyone is tae be sent anywhere, 'tis YE into exile!"
Little did they know that Stuart arranged for several boys to sneak into the castle while the rest of the crowd distracted the men outside.
Stuart stood his ground. "Ye'll be laird o'nothing when the bishop and the cardinal find the witch's mark on the Fraser bitch and the MacNamara will burn for her corruption of Father Bryce."
He smirked. "And where were ye when this was going on...in yer cups and ye'll no' be denying it Malcolm Carlyle."
Malcolm laughed. "But I DO deny it, ye scurvy wretch! I was in retreat wi' Father Bryce an' no' a dram o' whiskey hae passed my lips since I hae gone into retreat. Drunk? Fool! I hae been praying for the Lord tae help me repent o' my former ways. But ye, dearie, YE were drunk when ye were supposed tae tutor my son, an' all o' us here in the keep ken it, Stuart!"
"Listen to the lies roll off his tongue. Clearly they are all under the witch's spell!" Stuart announced to the crowd.
"Clearly ye are drunk an' hallucinating!" Rab called back. "Why just last week, ye came to me babbling that ye seen a ghost in yer room . . .an' when I checked do ye ken what I found? I found yer bedhangings flutterin' in the breeze from yer open window! An' ye were like a wee bairn hidin' under the covers!"
Several of Malcolm's men whooped and started laughing mockingly. "Ooo! I am soo scared! Save me, Mummy!"
"He willna meet ye in a duel ,Rabbie. Ye'd have his ballocks on a plate," Tavish sneered.
Even some of the people in the mob were laughing.
"What ballocks, dearie?" Rab sneered. "I think he's got less than Auld Bessie the ewe!"
"Aye...and he'd piss hisself if he had my sword at his throat."
Tavish began baaing, eliciting more hysterics.
Stuart glanced up at one of the windows of the castle, smiling in satisfaction when he saw two of the young boys enter in search of Belle and Moira.
Soon he would have the last laugh.
But he had forgotten that people weren't the only ones inhabiting the castle. It was also home to several hounds, cats, and one very intelligent and alert collie.
Winter had been asleep in Neal's room when the ruckus began, and he awoke just as the boys climbed into the window. In a room down the hall, were two huge deerhounds, the hunting companions of two of Malcolm's house guards. They also sprang up and stalked towards the hallway where the two boys were slipping through the windows.
Winter shoved open the door with his nose and then padded into the hall, his ruff bristling. He growled low in his throat and then barked loudly in challenge, his curved eyeteeth showing.
"Shite!" one of the boys cursed.
The deerhounds appeared behind the collie, two massive gray beasts, named Zeus and Apollo. They too lowered their heads and snarled in warning.
"I'm no' gettin' my arse chewed to bits by those mutts!"
Winter, who could smell fear upon them, bounded forward, intending to chastise the boys with sharp nips to their ankles and backsides, much as he would a misbehaving sheep.
"They don't scare me." The other boy held a club. "Well come on then ye mangy mutts!"
One of the deerhounds leaped gracefully over Winter and grabbed the club in his jaws and bit down. The wood splintered and broke.
"Ye idjit, let's get outta here!"
The two boys ran for the window and as they were about to climb out Winter leaped at them and bit both of their backsides.
"Yeeouuucch!"
Zeus barked thunderously, his teeth closing upon one of the boy's breeches, and ripping a large chunk from them.
"Git off!" he yelled and kicked the dog's snout.
Winter barked in reproof and nipped his ankle hard.
Neal, hearing the hounds' barking followed the sound to the east wing window and burst into laughter when he saw the two boys at their mercy. "Now that's a bit o'sport for ye, eh?"
"Dinna stand there! Help us!" wailed one, clutching his backside.
"Nay since ye came here t'harm one o'mine yer on yer own!"
"But . . .they're gonna eat us!" bawled the other one.
"Nah...ye'd gie them bellyaches quit snivellin an take yer punishment like a man."
"Billy, let's hie ourselves outta here!"
"Finally ye found her brains! Was thinking ye shite them outta yer arse!"
Winter barked angrily and went to nip at them again as they scrambled through the window sill.
Neal waited until the boys were back on the ground then called the dogs to him. "That'll be the last we'll see o'them. Good job lads!" He walked down the hall to Belle's chamber where she and Moira waited anxiously for the other men to return. "T'beasties put the scare to those idjits but Papa's having a bit o' trouble getting Stuart and his ilk to leave."
Belle sighed. "He will not be satisfied until he has us both before the clerics."
Outside Stuart seethed with anger seeing one of his plans foiled but he was not about to give up yet. He craned his head toward the back of the crowd where two more boys stood with lighted torches. He nodded in their direction and they set off for the rear of the castle and the stables.
He would burn the witches himself.
Several more men separate from the crowd carrying more lighted torches.
A short distance from the castle the Carlyle kinsman Neddy was tending to his injured master. "Father, I dinna wanna leave ye!"
"Ye must lad!" Archie insisted. "Any moment now those fools will reach the keep!"
"But..."
"The Lord will look after me now GO!"
Neddy scurried off in the direction of the Carlyle castle. Archie reached into the pocket of his cassock and pulled out the letter to Cardinal O'Malley Stuart had written. Father Bryce was not one who condoned violence but he hadn't been afraid to strike the insane lout a vicious blow with his umbrella when he learned Stuart was enroute to Edinburgh to fetch the cardinal himself when he discovered the bishop was not at home.
Once they had the letter, Neddy stole Stuart's horse and the two of them rode off to the castle to warn the Carlyles the mob was coming but the horse had gotten spooked and thrown them, injuring the elder Father worse than his altar boy.
Neddie rode like he was being pursued by the Furies, praying he could reach his kinsman in time.
At the castle, two men crept into the stables bearing torches. One of them smiled as he approached Auriel's stall. "Aye, there's the devil's beastie. Let's burn 'im first!"
"Careful ye idjit...it may hex ye!" the other cautioned
Suddenly Rumple leaped from the straw bed he had been curled up inside the mare's stall and hissed and puffed up his fur, frightened and agitated by the strangers. His green eyes glowed like marsh fire in his small face.
In the stall, Auriel laid back her ears and neighed angrily, baring her teeth.
"What was that?"
"Nothin...let's just get it done!"
Rumple's tail lashed and he meowed harshly, like a baby crying . . .or an angry spirit.
"I'm tellin ya...they're summoning the devil!"
One of the man's hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold his torch. His companion glared at him. "Stop whinin' like a baby and start burnin' or I'll gie ye somethin' tae whine 'bout!"
Rumple leaped onto the partition, growling like wee fiend, his eyes glowing in the torchlight.
The men screamed when they saw him.
"The witch's familiar!"
They dropped their torches and fled in terror.
The dry straw in the stable soon caught fire and flames began to slowly crawl up the sides of the building.
A frightened Rumple managed to paw loose the latch on Auriel's door, and the terrified mare stampeded through it, with the kitten perched upon her back, running like the hounds of hell were at her heels, out of the burning stable and into the yard.
Other horses still trapped inside began screaming and whinnying and stamping the floor.
One of the stable lads who slept in the loft woke and peered down, and saw the horrible glow from the fire.
"Fire!" he screamed. "Fire!"
He slid down the ladder like a slippery eel and ran to the pump outside with a bucket.
His shouts roused the other grooms, who yawned and then bolted into action when they realized their peril.
"...Fire...Fire!"
Belle jumped off the bed and peered out the window. "Moira...Neal...the stable is on fire!"
"What?" Neal cried.
"Auriel...we have to get her and the rest of the horses out of there!" Belle cried frantically.
"Lass dinna fret...the grooms will be able to put the fire out," Moira assured her.
"If they're not already dead...this is Stuart's doing!"
In the courtyard, Rab heard the frantic yells of the grooms and then the loud claxon that was only rung in case of fire, flood, or invasion.
The Carlyle tanist went pale with rage. "Ye bloody bastard! Ye hae set fire to my stables!"
"Let all witch sympathizers burn!" a woman screamed.
Stuart smirked with satisfaction. "Now see what I can do t'ye Carlyle."
Auriel bolted into the yard, froth flying from her mouth, and she thundered onto the cobblestones, her hooves striking the ground and making sparks fly up from her shoes. She raced towards Rab, snorting, and people threw themselves out of the way.
Stuart was so busy blathering threats he didn't notice the panicked mare until she was upon him.
Her shoulder slammed into him and he measured his length on the cobbles and then her hooves came down on his legs and chest.
The others looked on in horror as the former tutor was trampled and many of them backed away in fear. They dropped their torches, pitchforks and axes and fled into the night as Neddy rode past them. He dismounted from his horse and ran toward them. "Rabbie, Rabbie!" he called out.
Rab grabbed Auriel's halter and whispered soothingly in Gaelic. The mare was startled, but soon calmed at his touch and voice, halting and blowing agitatedly.
Malcolm glared down at the carcass of Hepzibah Stuart. "Get that out of my sight," he said through gritted teeth. They could leave it for the vultures to pick over for all he cared.
Belle limped over to her betrothed and threw her arms around him. "Rabbie, Auriel, thank God!" She glanced toward the stables where the grooms were leading the other horses out of the stalls and bringing the fire under control with a line of buckets.
The mare whuffed into her hair. Then there came a startled mew, and Rumple appeared from around the corner of the bailey, where he had jumped off Auriel as the mare made her mad dash across the yard.
"Rumple! So there you are! I was wondering where you got off to!"
The kitten came and rubbed up against her ankles and Rab's purring sweetly.
She scooped the cat up into her arms and hugged him.
"They come runnin outta there like the Furies an scairt those idjits off!" Tavish chuckled.
"Aye and that Stuart flat as a plank!"
"Tis God's judgment upon him," Neal declared. "For tryin' tae persecute innocents."
Two of the Carlyle men picked up the body and carried it away.
"Rabbie...thank God none o'ye were hurt but ye gotta come wi' me...Father Bryce..." Neddie began.
"What's wrong with Archie!" Moira cried.
"What happened, lad?" Rab asked. "Is the Father hurt?"
"Aye. We was comin' back from seein one o' the Father's parishoners when we saw that lout Stuart goin tae the bishop's house and he and the Father got in a row when Stuart called Lady Moira a whore and Stuart said he was sendin a letter to the cardinal to come here an burn her an the Lady Belle. Stuart started hitting Father Bryce but I jumped on 'im and knocked him off and the Father gave him a good knock with his umbrella. Then we rode for here but something spooked our horse and threw us. He sent me ahead to warn ye Stuart was gonna come here."
"How far, Neddy?"
"Just down the hill a bit."
"I'm going wi' ye!" Moira said firmly.
"Bring a horse for Moira!" Rab called, then he mounted Auriel bareback, having ridden her that way many times.
Neddy ran ahead of them hoping that Father Bryce was right and the Lord was looking after him.
Rab waited till Moira was mounted on a rawboned chestnut before he turned Auriel and the palomino trotted out of the courtyard.
Archie was sitting against the trunk of a tree praying softly when he heard the sound of hoofbeats on the trail and opened his eyes to find Neddy, Rabbie and Moira racing toward him on horseback and foot.
Rab brought Auriel to a neatfooted halt and jumped off, saying, "Father, where are ye hurt?"
"Oh my head aches and my back but..." he gestured to his leg. "I canna walk on it lad...might be broken."
Rab knelt, and felt him over. "Nay, it's no' broken, just sprained."
"Ye were lucky ye werna killed!"
"Moira, lass..."
"Stuart's dead, Father...got trampled!" Neddy said gleefully.
Archie frowned. "Then everyone is safe?" he asked Rab.
"Aye, the idjit didna harm anyone. Though they did set fire to my stables!"
Archie crossed himself. "Mad, the lot o'them." He handed Rab the letter he'd taken from Stuart. "At least this willna reach the eyes of that zealot O'Malley."
Rab took it, scowled, and said, "I'll burn this when I get back to the keep. Here, Father, let me help ye onto Moira's horse. I'll tend to yer leg when we get home. I assume ye'll be goin' back tae the cottage wi'my papa. I dinna want him in the hall wi' the drinkin' that's sure to be going on tonight."
"Aye. He doesna need to backslide now, lad."
"If I had MY way Archibald Bryce I'd be going wi' ye to make sure ye rest!" Moira snapped.
"Rabbie, how we gonna git him back to the castle?" Neddy inquired.
"On Janus," Rab replied, then helped Archie stand.
"I can still ride, lad and the pain's no' so bad...I've had worse thrashings from my da."
Rab scowled. Then he helped Archie mount the patient chestnut, one of his most reliable geldings.
"Thank ye lad."
Rab waited till Moira had mounted and then took Neddy up behind him and the group headed back to the keep.
A/N: Thanks to CJ for her ideas and help with this chapter! Hope you all like!