AN - Hope you are enjoying the story so far. As this story will be finishing soon, I have started posting another. 'Silently Hunted', I'd appreciate if you could check it out. Thanks, enjoy...
Chapter 45
Camdyn ran. As he made his way thorugh the parting crowds, like the story of Moses and the red sea. His men seemed to sense the urgency and fell in behind him. He could not seem to go fast enough. Like a dream where no matter how fast and hard you run, you stay in the same place the whole time.
He thought back over what he knew of Iona. She was Minna’s cousin by their fathers. But her mother, her mother had been the bastard sister, of Toren. Not many knew that fact, he only knew it because his father had once told him before falling into a drunken stupor. It seemed blood was showing through. As a child she had always hung around him and his friends. Always in the background.
Then he thought to the time since he had brought Aislinn back to the Keep. She had been there the day of the mock battle. Introducing herself as a friend. Always one of the women in the groups that surrounded her. If he thought extremely hard, with the little oxygen he was receiving from his punishing run, he could remember something of the night of the posioning.
A flash of golden hair in his vision, just before Aislinn had started choking. There were others in the clan with such a colour, though most would have been with their husbands or serving further down in the main hall. Iona was one of the few Isla put to serving a the high table. Though that was usually on a rota, and he was sure it was not supposed to be her that night.
He thought of later, after the poisoning she was always asking after Aislinn. Was she asking to see if she had died? Would she have been glad of that? The poison Corey had told Hamish of was something that had to be treated with such care. And he remembered the female in rich clothing that had been spotted. With Minna’s access to the upper rooms, Iona would not have been out of place on the corridor if seen. She could claim she was looking for her cousin. And as Aislinn’s new friend, she could have said she ahd entered the wrong room. It was plausible for her to have taken soemthing from Larena’s extensive wardrobe.
It would not be, and was not missed. If it had been, then his sister would have kicked up enough fuss the whole village would have known about it.
Then there was the rumours. He remembered the tale of Iona being the one to apologise for the clan’s women. What a perfect way to deflect the root of the problem by being the one seen as sorting the problem out. Feeling guilty enough, or at least showing it, that no one would ever suspect her for being the cause.
Corey going missing. No one had really notcied. Now it made him think. If she had managed to start the rumour, with no one remembering who began them, then she could have been fully capable of trying to cover up Corey’s absences. She seemed to be blessed with a sliver tongue, which was to become the curse of the clan. Her family roots really were coming through now.
As he hit the village proper, he paused and turned. He did not know exaclty which cottage had been used for the preparations. That would slow him down, and this was not a time he could afford to lose seconds. Glancing back at the men who had assembled he sent them out in differing directions, making certain that they knew the signal if any sign was found. They would cover more ground that way. He took of at a run again, heading for the outlaying cottages, knowing the inner cottages would be the first searched.
He could not find any signs of life, his tracking skills exceptional, only they could not find anything in a well worn muddy path, that bore the life signs of every villager heading up to the Keep. There. On footprint, small, could be a slim woman. Heading opposite to the others. He could not call for backup, just incase he was wrong. He took off.
Aislinn was breathing hard. She had only just missed the edge of the balde as it came down towards her. Dodging and only just managing to get passed the raving woman before her. She could not turn her back on Iona, but she had to get closer to the door.
Iona came at her again, Aislinn had miss judged her move. Focusing on the blade she did not see the arm that came at her from the other direction. Both of them toppling to the floor. Aislinn’s back hitting the wooden surface, knocking the wind out of her. She could not move fast enough, in the dress they had placed her in. Now all the breath had left her body in a painful gasp, as her legs tangled in the volumtuous skirts. It gave her no movement with the lower half of her body. All this she realised in the split second before Iona came down on top of her.
Still trying to catch some breath into her starving lungs she had to also use vital energy to bring up her arm to hold off the blade. Only to feel the sting as it split the skin of her forearm. She could feel the blood well and soak into the slashed fabric around her wound. Just as she looked into the face above her and saw the utmost glee as Iona focused on the blood that had been drawn.
Still struggling to draw in her breath, she knew this could be the only opportunity for her to gain the upper hand. Reaching up she managed to grab a handful of sun spun hair. Pulling back harshly and pushing with her top half she managed to move Iona to the side slighlty. Even if it did come acommpanied by a deafiningly high pitched scream of rage.
Before she had another chance, Aislinn yanked again to the side with her hand full of hair. Both of them slid so they were facing each other side by side on the floor. The balde between them. Kicking her legs to free them, she tried to grab the wrist that held the balde. Only the blood was now seeping down her arm, and with the change in angle her grip soon became slippery as they fought for control.
Her lungs became less painful, but the air still refused to fully fill her body. Gasping for breath. The rolled each having the upper hand, and each losing it. Aislinn’s grip was becoming looser as the pain in her arm was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Aislinn was terrified, she was going to loose her abilty to hold Iona off in moments. Then it would be the ned of her, and she could not allow that to happen.
Managing to angle her hand in such a way that the knife was pointed away from both of them. Iona fought her the entire time, tugging it back into the position it was in preciously. It came too close. Glad she could not take a deep breath at that moment, she knew this would go one way or the other in seconds.
At that moment the door slammed open. It made both women jump, and with it came the scream of utter pain. Both women’s eyes wide as they stared at each other. The shock clear to see. Neither had truly expected it. The outcome surprising them both, as they finally released each other, leaving the knife embedded where it was. Both gasping for breath as they collapsed back to the floor beneath.
Hamish, had seen the direction Cam had taken off in and headed that way after him. After a nod from Cam, they both each headed over to a cottage of the four that stood before them. Taking the one closest to him. He found it empty. Nothing but the pride of a neat housewife left behind.
He was half way to the second house on his side, when the whistle speared the air. Cam and Hamish stared at each other. And ran in the direction they had heard the signal come from.