Page 76 of Tempting the Highland Devil
“Arran…” she called out in a panicky tone just before he kissed her lips.
“Lily will join ye with Amelia, Elspeth, and the bairns. I dinnae ken what is happenin’ yet, but I will handle it.”
“Isabella too,” Yvaine muttered, and when Arran nodded, she added, “Be safe,” just before he turned and marched away while barking orders in Gaelic to the guards running around.
Yvaine followed the guard leading her to safety and tried to keep her heart from pounding out of control. The castle’s warning bells were rarely ever rung, and whenever it rang, it only meant one thing.A front-line attack on the castle.
40
Arran and his men were in front of the castle while the others he had sent out to check why the bell was rung from the watch tower returned.
“There isnae a threat in sight, me laird,” they reported to him.
A frown crossed his features. “What are ye talkin’ about? The warnin’ bells went off, and everyone is prepared to defend the castle. What do ye mean there isnae a threat? Who then rang the bell?”
“When we arrived the watch tower, the men were all knocked unconscious. We believe someone else went there and rang the bell to cause chaos.
“But to what end?” Killian murmured as he also glanced around them. Too many oddities occurred in his clan these days, and it unsettled Arran that he did not have control of these events.
“Fall back!” James ordered the men that were all charged up and ready for battle behind Arran then he stepped forward and bowed to Arran. “Allow me to show ye to the prisoners I captured yesterday; they might tell us what this was about.”
“Lead me to them,” Arran answered, and James led the way while he walked with Duncan and Killian to get to the dungeons.
“The ladies and bairns are safe in the crypts,” Arran said to ease their minds. “Lily is with them to keep them safe, and once we find out what is happenin’, we will go to them.”
“What will we do?” Duncan asked. “I think we should move on with the feast as normal and celebrate the harvest. If this chaos was created by the Laochra leader, then I am sure he is up to somethin’, and we will find out what it is soon.”
Arran agreed with Duncan’s point, and so he nodded. They reached the dungeons, James let them past the first doors then the other then into the lower parts where they kept prisoners who committed or attempted treason.
“They are gone, me laird,” one guard suddenly yelled as they opened the gates, and Arran saw his men tied up on the ground on the dungeon floors, stripped of their clothes and swords.
“What is goin’ on here?”
James released one of them, and he spoke rapidly in a rushed tone. “The prisoners were helped to escape as the guards hurried away to defend the castle. They beat us up and tied us down here. They escaped with the help of two men, me laird, and they were nay part of our guards.”
“Can ye describe any of them?”
James was busy freeing the other two men while Arran questioned them, and one of them dropped to his knees quickly before he bowed his head and said, “He had one eye, me laird. He almost seemed inhuman.”
“Search the castle grounds and every corner of this clan. I want those prisoners found and the ones who helped them arrested right now!”
His men spun into action, and Arran marched away from the dungeons, heading for the crypts to find Yvaine and the others.
When he successfully brought them to his study with Killian and Duncan’s help, he faced them and announced his next line of action.
“We have a feast to plan. No matter what happens, we must nay let our enemies suspect that we are rattled by these recent turn of events. At this feast, I am sure they will attempt somethin’ again, and this time, we will stop them.”
He faced Elspeth and Yvaine, who already had pleased smiles on their faces. Planning feasts was Elspeth’s passion, and Arran knew she would make it grand.
“I will work on the list of invites,” Yvaine said with a nod.
“I will work with you three to strategize on securin’ the castle and its grounds,” Lily chirped, and they all agreed on what they needed to do.
* * *
They spent the next few days planning for the harvest feast. Yvaine joined her mother in the grand hall as the servants decorated the space.
“It’s goin’ to be the first feast MacGregor has hosted in a while. We need to make it grand, so that all the Highland lairds will come and celebrate.”
