Chapter 123

They went to his room and Teárlag went to the desk to get her map. It was in his drawer, but the drawer was ajar and Teárlag would have sworn she fully closed it. Perhaps Thorburn got something, but why wouldn't he have taken the map as well. Oh well, perhaps he didn't see it, even though it was right on the top. Or maybe she was mistaken and didn't close the drawer fully. She shrugged.

Ailene asked, "Is something the matter?"

"I thought the drawer was closed, but I must have been mistaken."

Ailene escorted Teárlag to the kitchen, Isobel following behind. The men were already there, piling food on their plates. Without a word, Teárlag handed the map to Thorburn, then got a plate for herself.

"Get some food," Ailene said. "Some decisions have to be made."

Everyone procured food and found their way to the basement. Teárlag took less as she'd eaten later and not worked as hard as the others. The men checked to ensure no one else was in the basement as before, then they all went into the strapping room as Bjarkë stood guard outside. Nobody said anything for awhile as they ate the first of their food, slaking the first pangs of hunger.

Frang started off the meeting by telling Teárlag she needed to decide what she wanted to do next. "We interrupted your plan to leave the country. I don't know how this affects you. You're faced with several choices. I apologize for asking since I realize how distasteful it's been for you, but we were hoping you could stay and get more information from Blackthorne for us."

"Not just distasteful," Isobel said, "horrible. I, more than anyone else, know how unspeakably vile your meetings with Blackthorne have been. I do not wish to ask you to do more, knowing what you've gone through, but I do agree we need help which we might not get any other way. It must be your choice. I would not force any woman to this, but if you can tolerate another few hours with Blackthorne, I would ask anyway. If you choose otherwise, I understand completely and will not think less of you. If your wish is to leave, we will help as you require. We can let you return to Dervaig until the next ship or you could stay here and we would escort you aboard a ship going anywhere you wish. We'll pay for the ticket so you may keep what funds you have to support yourself until you find something."

Teárlag looked at the earnest faces around her. Even Thorburn, standing across the room, with only glares of hate for her now, was looking at her with a plea upon his face. She did not want to do this. She would rather the ground open up and swallow her whole than spend another minute with Blackthorne. He was so perceptive when he questioned her, she wondered if she could even fool him. He was not the trusting sort who accepted what you said at face value.

"If I returned to Blackthorne, how would you know I would not reveal all to him. I'm not sure I can deceive him, he notices the smallest slip of the tongue. He looks for treachery everywhere because he expects it from everyone. If he put me to serious question, I would spill all, probably faster than Màiri even knowing it would do nothing to stop the torment."

"I'm not sure you could reveal more than us being aware of your treachery," Thorburn said, "and we now know about his secret passage. I'm not sure you would care to share this information with him as we all know he would treat the information you betrayed him much worse than we did."

Thorburn was right. Anything she revealed would only increase the risk to herself. Please don't ask this of me, she prayed. I'm not strong enough, nor brave enough, nor fearless enough to do this. She wanted so much to ask them to send her away; far, far away, where she could slowly forget everything Blackthorne had ever made her do. She closed her eyes, but even after they were closed, she saw their faces imploring her for help. It would be so much easier to say no if she were not so guilty for all she'd done to them, despite their acts of kindness and love.

She opened her eyes again, saying, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll stay and see what I can do."

Isobel and Ailene both hugged her. Teárlag stood there, scared beyond words, unable to move now the words had left her mouth.

"Thank you," Stuart said. "I agree, thank you," Frang added. Thorburn said nothing but the look of relief on his face was palpable.

"What should I say to him?" Teárlag said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Do you have to say anything?" Ailene asked.

"He knows I've come here and spent at least a night. He'll expect a report on what was said and any changes I've noticed. I have to tell him something. When Frang noticed my servants coming and asked me aloud to come, he said Thorburn had a big announcement. I have to say something about what the announcement was. If I'm to do this, I need some information to give him and the more important sounding it is, the better it will be."

"I've told you we're building a new house," Frang said, "closer to the Keep. You could tell him that."

"It's your news, not Thorburn's. It would not explain Thorburn's big news, nor be of particular interest to Blackthorne."

"What if you told him we were combining the properties into a single estate," Stuart said, "one rivaling his in size, and the reason why Frang's building a house closer to the Keep, so we can support each other and combine our defenses. It would make it harder to get rid of us all at once, yet provide for mutual support."

"Much better," Teárlag said. "I could sell that to him. I'm sure he's going to know you're being more secretive than before. Meeting in protected locations. What should I say about it, especially as I've been invited to these meetings. What are you discussing here and why?"

"Tell him we've discovered another spy," Isobel said.

"But not who, or even which estate they were on," Frang added. "Keep him guessing who it might be we caught and if we're now using them to pass false information since we haven't replaced anyone."

"Yes!" Thorburn said, getting involved. "And we release two kinds of false information, one here at the Keep, another at Lady Luck, and do something else entirely so he's not sure we haven't caught spies at both places and giving them all bogus information."

"Why would I be privy to your meetings?" Teárlag asked.

"Blackthorne wanted you to get close to one of us," Thorburn said. "Tell him you believe I'm going to propose to you and as a result you've been included in the inner circle. If necessary, we can provide you with accurate information which won't be helpful to Blackthorne because it will be too well defended, or the information too old, but will be the truth opposed to the false intelligence he's getting from his other sources, so he will truly believe you have access the others don't. It should make him trust you more and make you more valuable to him."

Teárlag looked at him, then down at the floor. Almost. Almost she could believe it might have happened. She would be planning with her future husband against an implacable enemy, working as one with his family against the evil forces arrayed against them, standing together, united and strong. She wanted to cry again, but she'd cried enough. It was spilt milk and pointless to consider anymore.

She looked up. "Aye."

"In line with that," Ailene said, "we should consider moving Teárlag here. It would promote the idea you're interested in making her your wife and given Blackthorne beat her less when he knew she would be seen by one of us, minimize the punishment she takes at his hands. An added benefit would be to minimize the spies Blackthorne has watching her. We have plenty of servants and she could get by with her personal maid only. Fewer of her spies being our spies as well."

"Thorburn?" Frang asked. "It's up to you."

"Aye," he said grudgingly, "it makes sense to do so."

"I appreciate your offer, but I should let Blackthorne make the decision if I should move in," Teárlag said. "It's not something I would do without his approval if he was still controlling me."

"What will you do if he doesn't let you move in?" Isobel asked.

"What I did before. Survive."

"Will you be reporting to him tomorrow then?" Ailene asked.

"I'd better. I'm already a day late and I assume I won't be leaving today. It's too late to go there and return tonight."

"If you go back to Dervaig," Isobel said.

"I have to go back regardless. If Blackthorne allows me to move here, I still have to get all the things I would normally take for such a move. I might even need to hire a wagon to bring my things. I have a reputation to uphold."

Thorburn said, "Leave Stuart and I down here and go do whatever else must be done around here. He and I have things to discuss. Bid Bjarkë remain on guard outside."

Frang shooed them all out and asked Bjarkë to stay until Thorburn was done. When they were gone, Thorburn showed Stuart the map prepared by Teárlag.

"You never left here and know the local area better than I might remember it. Take a look at this and tell me what you think and how accurate it is."

Stuart took it and looked it over carefully. "It's quite detailed, isn't it?" He said, while reading it.

"Seems so," Thorburn admitted.

"Of course, I've never been that familiar with Achnadrish. Only passed through it a couple times with father when he went to Tobermory on business, and it was several years ago. From what I remember, this may be accurate."

"How are your hunting skills?" Thorburn asked. "Especially at night?"

"Damn good," Stuart said. "Are we going hunting, big brother?"

"Tonight. Can you get us to a good location overlooking Achnadrish in the dark? We'll have to walk. We can't risk taking a horse and leaving the Keep through the gate."

"It's doable."

"We'll keep watch during the day tomorrow when Teárlag reports, make sure she goes in the right house. Look around for the guards she spoke about. Tomorrow night, we'll enter the house ourselves, check this tunnel out and see if we can get into the Manor from it."

"You don't plan on trying to attack him," Stuart said. "Just the two of us?"

"Nay, scouting only. Want to see if it can be done and how easily, if it can be done at all, or the information Teárlag gave is false."

"You still don't trust her, brother?" Stuart asked.

"I don't want to trust her," he admitted, "but it seems she's finally being honest with us. I don't want to commit to more without being sure."

"I'm sorry, Thorburn. I know you cared for her."

"I did once. No more." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "We'll need to bring enough food to last through to breakfast day after tomorrow. Dark clothes. Bring weapons but pray God we don't need to use them. If we leave dead bodies about, we're announcing we plan to come in that way. We'll leave about an hour after sunset, so if you plan on a proper farewell to Ailene, I'd see her now, then grab some sleep. I'll meet you at your room when it's time to leave. I'll have Isobel and Frang pack the food and put it with their own supplies so no one knows it's for us. I guess that's about it for now. I'll see you when it's time to go."