They were silent for a while, then Gowan said: “I think it would be better if you stayed here and did not go to the castle. Please promise me you will not.”
“I can't promise that,” she replied. “And you have no right to ask that of me.”
“Do I have the right to stop someone from killing themselves?” he demanded. “Or walking into a trap? Do I not have thedutyto stop them?”
“You don’t know if I am walking into a trap,” Minna replied furiously. “When I am in the castle there will be many people there to protect me.”
“And, as I think I said before, dozens of guards!” he pointed out. “All loyal to your brother!”
“I have ways of entering the castle that you don’t even know about!” she replied hotly.
Gowan threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I wasbornin Cairndene Castle!” he reminded her. “I know every inch of it - probably better than you do, Minna Darroch! It is my home - my rightful inheritance, so please don’t tell me I don’t know it!”
His face was flushed with anger, and for a moment Minna was afraid of him, then he turned away. He poured himself a cup of ale and drank it in one draught without offering any to Minna. Then he tore off a hunk of the loaf of bread, which was now almost stale, and stuffed it in his mouth, before giving Minna one venomous glance and leaving.
As the door closed behind him, Minna heard the bolt on the outside click into place and felt a surge of fury rise up inside her. He obviously thought her very stupid!‘Well,’she thought,‘I am many things, but stupid is not one of them!’
She made the same simple breakfast as Gowan had, then set about breaking open the door, which took her less than a minute. She broke off a thick splinter of wood from one of the logs in the fireplace, inserted it into the gap in the door, then raised it so that the outside bolt lifted, allowing her to push the door open.
Minna took a last look around the little hut and smiled. Whatever happened to her now and in the future, she knew she would remember this tiny house with great fondness. She had experienced her first real kiss here, had woken for the first time in the arms of a man, and been treated with decency and even admiration. She had also encountered one of the most remarkable people she had ever met, who had introduced her to sensations she had never felt before. She was sorry to leave it.
Minna ventured outside into the howling wind, thinking regretfully of her newly-combed hair, and how upset Lorna would be if she could see her.
Lorna! Minna gasped as she realized how worried her friend would be.
In fact she would no doubt have come to the conclusion that Minna had died at the hands of her brother or was lying seriously injured somewhere. Lorna had a very vivid imagination.
Perhaps she thought that Minna had been injured by wild animals or taken by bandits. Minna knew the way Lorna’s mind worked, and she knew that her friend would have thought of all of them by now, and had no doubt crafted some hideous nightmares about them.
For that reason she was even more determined to reach the castle and reassure her - if indeed she was still there, and if Jamie had not thrown her out by now. Lorna had no family and nowhere else to go. What would happen to her?
Minna plowed on, tormented by her thoughts, into the teeth of the gale, and soon she saw the castle looming over her as it sat at the top of the hill like a huge, ugly sentinel. She tried not to look at the loch, but her eyes were drawn to it anyway, and she stopped in her tracks, frozen with terror as she recalled fighting for her life in the depths of the frigid water.
With great difficulty she turned her gaze away and resumed the trek towards her destination. All of a sudden she saw a figure sitting on a rock, a little way away from the water, looking into it despondently.
“Lorna!” Minna cried.
17
As Minna had suspected, Lorna was devastated. At first she had been anxious, then frightened, but after a few days of trying to keep her hopes up and fending off her fears, she had almost given up. She was terrified, too, that she would lose her home, since she no longer had employment as Minna’s maid. However, Jamie was not interested enough in his sister’s doings to even notice her existence, so Lorna merely kept to Minna’s quarters and stayed out of his way.
She was unable to even ask about Minna’s welfare for fear of giving herself away, so she sat for days fretting and worrying, making up dark, gloomy scenarios in her mind during the day and enduring nightmares in her sleep. When she had finally endured almost three days of this, she decided that she needed some fresh air and exercise, so she crept down the servants’ stairs past the stables and made her way down to the long slope of grass that led down to the loch.
It was around midday, the wind had died down, and the clouds were giving way to a bright white haze that was neither cloud nor sunlight. Lorna had made her way down to the loch and was sitting by the side leaning her head on her knees. She had prayed until her knees were on fire and her head ached, but with no result. She told herself to accept the inevitable; Minna, her best friend whom she had served for years, was gone, probably at the hand of her vicious brother.
Lorna could not continue skulking in the castle for months, and she had nowhere else to go. Without Minna, she had nothing to live for. She laid her head down on her knees and sighed, seeing no hope for the future.
That was when Minna caught sight of her. “Lorna!” she cried joyfully. “Lorna!” She picked up her pace and rushed to her friend’s side, then almost hauled her to her feet. “I am so glad to see you!”
For a long moment Lorna froze, completely astonished, then she cupped Minna’s face in her hands, staring at her in disbelief, then kissed her. “Minna!” she cried, her eyes filling with tears, “Oh, darlin’, I thought ye were dead!” She wrapped her arms around Minna’s waist and burst into tears. “I thought I would never see ye again!”
By this time Minna was weeping too, and the two women clung together for a long time before drawing apart and looking at each other. Lorna shook her head. “It’s well seen naebody has been lookin’ after ye!” she said, smiling. “Your hair looks like a bird’s nest!”
Minna giggled, then kissed her friend’s cheek. “I am sorry, Lorna. I will try to do better. I have never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life. I am sorry you were so worried.”
“What happened?” Lorna asked, mystified. “I was worried sick.”
“I am sorry, Lorna, but it was truly not my fault,” Minna replied. “Jamie pushed me into the loch.”