Her Healing Touch.

Chapter 18.

Under the cover of night, Rickard Baldie approached the main gates of the McKladdon keep. He made sure that he and his men were not seen by the sentries that patrolled the walkways high up on the walls. His thoughts on how he was to get further inside, were interrupted by his arm being nudged by Angus.

   "Laird! It's too quiet. Most keep's this strong, would never have their gates wide open..., do you suppose that we have walked into a trap?"

Rickard elbowed him in the gut and smiled when he heard Angus grunt in pain. "Don't be a fool. It just means that the McKladdon laird is an idiot and he has made it a lot easier for us to fetch Bella from his grasp. Now I want you to split up the men, take half of them and scale the walls, where I will lead the other men to the postern gate and sneak up on the inhabitants inside." 

Angus rolled his eyes. This plan was going to fail. He had a gut feeling, that they were walking into a trap. He wished that his stubborn Laird would just listen to him for once! He was about to turn away and do his laird's bidding when he noticed that Robert was missing from their ranks.

  
"Laird! Robert is missing. Do you know where he might be?"

Rickard shrugged his shoulders and began easing his dagger from his belt and shouted quietly to his first in command. 

   "I care not, where that idiot has wandered off too. Now, are you going to adhere to my commands? or do I have to kill you and promote Fergus to first in command and take your place?"

Angus swallowed nervously as he eyed the dagger. He then turned away and gathered his men and made his way to the western side of the wall of the keep, and instructed his men to throw their ropes over the wall quietly. As they began to climb, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

Reign, who was dressed in Bella's clothing and arranged her hair the way that Bella had, sat before the hearth in the great hall. She made sure that she had her two daggers concealed within her cape, as she crouched over the flames. She looked over her shoulder and was glad to see, Laird McKladdon's shadow hovering near the stairwell, awaiting the arrival of the enemy. She wondered if Rickard Baldie would be an idiot and fall for their trap. Before they even acted upon Bella's plan, Reign was impressed with Bella's forward thinking. How a healer would know anything about war strategies was amazing in its self, especially for someone so young. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the sharp prick of a dagger that was pointed in her back.

     "You can't escape me now, Bella. The McKladdon Laird was a fool for leaving his postern gate wide open, now I have the upper hand, and he will die. If you come with me quietly, I promise that I won't hurt you. And when we get back home, you will wed me, do you understand?" 

When she pretended to cringe in fear in disgust, Romona was relieved when she felt him ease the dagger away from her back. In her sweetest voice, that she could muster, Romona tried to mimic Bella's voice.

"Pig! I would never marry you." 

He tightened the dagger against her back again, then as he spoke to her, and his hot putrid breath flowed down her neck. 

     "I don't see how you have any say in the matter, you are trapped, and are in my custody, and the McKladdon Laird is nowhere near you!"

     "I beg to differ, Baldie," Cambryn said as he held his sword to Rickard's neck. 

    "You fell right into my trap. Did you really think, that I would allow you to enter my keep without being accosted? If you did, then you're an even bigger fool, then what I have heard." 

Rickard snarled and whipped himself around to face Cambryn. He then eyes the laird and laughed.

    "You say that I have fallen into a trap?" 

Rickard shouted then proceeded to laugh loudly. He then grabbed a hold of Reign's dress and brought her to his side, wrapped his arm around her neck and pointed his dagger to her neck. When he saw the smirk on Cambryn's he felt confused. 

"What's got you smiling McKladdon? I have the upper hand now, and nothing you can do will stop me!"

Cambryn put away his sword and folded his arms across his chest. He didn't say anything, in response to Rickard's threat, he just waited for the idiot to notice that he wasn't holding Bella, but someone else.  Reign then took out her daggers that were hidden in the folds of her Cape and thrust her first dagger into his chest and smiled when she heard him gasp in shock and pain. Whispering in his ear, Reign removed the dagger and thrust it in further again.
 

   "That is for my husband! Who you murdered in cold blood. I promised him, that I would avenge him, and I have. My darling Dare can rest in peace now.

She said, as she pulled the dagger out of him, and watched him crumple to the floor. Rickard's body twitched for a few minutes and then laid stiff. As she and Reign stood over his body, they were relieved that the attack didn't come to fruition. Now all that they had to do was go ahead and fetch Bella from her father's keep.