Highland Master by Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online Page A

the things, and they were doing what they thought would help Banuilt. I but wish I could ken how they are all doing, for they have been gone, oh, eighteen months or so, and there hasnae been any word.”
    “Mayhap we can think of some way to find out how they fare. Go rest, m’lady. We can tend to ourselves.”
    She nodded and went to her bedchamber. Her whole body ached with weariness, and even the fact that five strong men had just said they would stay and help her battle Sir John did not ease it. Morning was going to come all too soon, and she had so much work to do. A few more hours of rest was more important than thrashing out a plan at the moment.
     
     
    “There is something she isnae telling us,” said Harcourt as soon as Triona was gone, the doors to the great hall shut behind her.
    “I ken it, but she will eventually, or we will discover what it is,” said Brett. “I have a suspicion or two.”
    “Care to share what they are?”
    “What is the easiest way for a mon to get his hands on a woman’s lands?”
    “Ah, of course. Ye think he wants her to wed with him and thus make himself laird of it all. Why wouldnae she just say so?”
    “Many men would tell her, bluntly, to cease making her people pay for her reluctance and marry the mon. I suspect she has been told just that, too often, since her husband died. She doesnae ken us weel enough to ken if we are of that ilk or nay. Most of the people here are young or female, so her resistance doesnae trouble them. Mayhap they agree in part because they dinnae like Sir John. It may be an idea to try to get some knowledge of the mon. She could be fighting to keep her people out from under a bad laird’s bootheel as much as she is fighting an unwanted marriage.”
    Uven nodded. “I think he would have to be a mon that would make a bad laird, simply because of what he is doing to get what he wants. Especially since what he wants isnae due him, as he believes it is. But working to starve people, mostly women and children, into making the lady wed him? Cannae think that any mon who would do that could be a good mon.”
    “I think she forgives her garrison a wee bit too quickly as weel,” said Harcourt. “They deserted her and took horses and weaponry she could have made good use of.”
    Brett nodded. “I wouldnae be so forgiving, either, but they may have done it for just the reasons she said. After such a disease devastates a place, things can be verra bad. When so many fall ill there are a lot of tasks that cannae be done, and if many die, then there are nay enough people to ever catch up. The idea comes along that money could be made by selling one’s sword for a while, and there is the solution to the trouble, the hunger, and the care their families need. Foolish, mayhap, and nay so weel thought out, but nay such a crime. I just wonder if that is what truly happened.”
    “What do ye mean?”
    “I ken that a lot of men cannae write, but they always find a priest or monk to pen some word to their kin when they travel. These men have been gone for near to two years and there hasnae been a word? There hasnae e’en been a body sent home to be buried, or wounded sent home to be tended by their kin? Or e’en gifts bought with the coin they are supposedly earning?”
    Harcourt rubbed his chin and frowned. “That is odd. Nay e’en word that they arrived safely and found work. Aye, ye are right. There is something verra odd about that.”
    “And who would benefit from the loss of the weel-trained garrison?”
    “Dear Sir John, although he hasnae attacked the place, so that cannae be why he would want them gone. As Lady McKee said, he cannae just take the place by force or he will bring a fair load of trouble down on his own head. It has to be given, sold, or married into.”
    “But no garrison means it is easier to play this game of burning fields and stealing stock and trying to starve the people into submission. Who is here to stop ye save women, bairns,