“Where is Jamie?” Jack asked they searched the dark hallway and continued toward the exit. He stopped in his tracks when he heard soft sobs, and something twisted deep in his gut.
“I hear someone crying,” Jack said to his brother before he spun around to search around him. He took the first right corner he saw, then saw the shadow of someone crouched into a corner. “Who is there?” Jack thundered as he moved closer to the source of the cries.
“It’s a person,” Elliot said behind him and matched his steps.
Jack put a hand on the sheath of his sword then moved closer. He took his hand off when he saw the woman crouched on the ground, her hands tied, and eyes shielded with a black sack cloth.
He bent and took the covering off her eyes. “It’s her,” he said to Elliot. “Who did this to ye?” he asked the woman as he untied her hands and helped her to her feet again. “Who brought ye down here?”
She wobbled, so Jack lifted her off the ground. “I dinnae see his face, My Laird,” she replied amid her tears. “He covered his face and wore a cloak. He bundled me and was about taking me out of the Castle, but he dropped me here and fled when he realized the guards were searching for him.”
“Ye are safe now,” Jack said then lifted her into his arms and took her away from the dark tunnels.
When he returned to the healing chamber, he sent Elliot to inform Aideen that he had found the woman in the lower escape grounds.
“Whoever tried to take her must have abandoned her in the lower grounds because they couldnae get out in time,” Jack said to Isla as he lay the woman on the bed again.
Moira came marching into the room and began feeding the woman a tonic to calm her down because she was sobbing hysterically.
“Did she see who?” Isla asked in a strained voice.
Jack shook his head. “She dinnae. I intend to find this person myself,” he said with more determination. “It has to be someone right under my nose.”
Aideen returned with Elliot, and Jack frowned when he didn’t see Jamie with them.
“Where is Jamie?” he asked Aideen.
“I havenae seen him, My Laird,” Aideen answered.
“Gather a council meetin’,” Jack said. “It is time we became better defended against our challengers. Any who thinks our clan is weak will have what’s comin’ for them.”
“Ye think this is an act of war?” Elliot asked.
“Someone is stirring thin’s up to get a response from my councilmen. We've seen it happen before. The second the safety of the village became uncertain; the councilmen started to worry and murmur. Soon they will deem me unfit to lead them. I cannae let that happen.”
Jack knew this game too well. During his father's reign a faction of councilmen had been so dissatisfied with his ruling, they had instigated riots among the people and caused chaos.
If people continued getting hurt in his Castle then it would send a message that his security was weak, and it would give his enemies leverage to invade their Clan.
Even though his father had refused to acknowledge their cries for him to forfeit his seat as Laird, Jack had known what the councilmen wanted.
He never considered his father a competent leader. Jack bore the marks of his father’s constant incompetency and it made him vow to become a different ruler. His need to conquer lands had turned him into something else and nearly ruined them all.
“Find me Jamie,” Jack told his brother before he went into his study and carried on with reading his reports until time for the council meeting came.
Once he was seated in the Great Hall with his men, he finally saw Jamie come in.
“Where have ye been?” he asked.
“I had somethin’s to settle in the village, My Laird,” Jamie replied to him before taking his seat by Jack’s right hand.
The meeting proceeded after that, and Jack listened to his councilmen voice their dissatisfaction at the recent murders.
“This makes the villagers feel unsafe,” one of the councilmen complained. “It is unlikely that they will be happy to stay in a Clan where people get murdered like flies.”
“Watch yer words, Sir Michael,” Aideen warned after the man’s fierce words.
“I speak the truth, General,” the man countered. “What happens if someone tries to steal our gold? We cannae defend ourselves from an inside enemy, so how do we fight the external one?”