Laird of the Wind Read Free Page B

outer gate, and their archers had sent flaming arrows over the walls of Aberlady.
    Now a cool breeze stirred past as she stood on the high battlement, spreading her hair like a glossy black banner. She welcomed the effect, raising her chin, standing proudly. In the encampment below, English soldiers gazed up at her, while others practiced with weapons or packed the ditches leading to the castle gates with rubble and branches. A few men repaired the wooden framework of one of the two siege engines used to batter the thick walls.
    The delicious smell of meats roasting over English fires made her stomach rumble miserably. Chain mail glimmered in the sunset as the English ate and talked and settled for the night. In the morning they would begin another battle, she knew. But Aberlady's few defenders were weak from hunger and could not withstand another onslaught.
    Isobel looked around. The castle rested upon a high dark crag with cliffs on three sides, set on a vast moor, the place was said to be impenetrable, unbreachable. But they were not impervious to starvation.
    Isobel sighed, fingers touching gritty stone. She had been born here, and might die here. But not so soon, please God, not so soon.
    "Come away from the wall, Isobel." Eustace Gibson, the castle baillie, stepped out of the shadows, stretching out his hand toward her.
    "Stay back," she warned. "They will shoot if they see you."
    He smiled grimly. "They have tried, and I am still here. Come inside the keep." He guided her toward the steps, and Isobel heard the familiar whine and thwack of an arrow bolt hitting the outer wall where they had stood moments earlier.
    Isobel turned back, determined, returning to the wall-walk. She pulled her white silk veil from inside her sleeve and leaned deep into the embrasure opening. With an exaggerated motion, she wiped at the fresh scar on the outer stone wall, shook the stone dust from the cloth and stood back. The breeze caught the black length of her hair again.
    Cheers and shouts rose from the English troops. Isobel lifted her head regally and turned to descend the steps. Eustace smiled.
    "Och, Sir John would be proud to see such wit in his daughter!"
    "My father would not have surrendered, and neither shall I." She walked down the steps calmly, but inside she trembled. The wit might be there, but she had learned to hide her fear.
    "Eustace, last night I dreamed that we walked out of here into freedom."
    "Is that a prophecy?" Eustace asked.
    "Just a hope," she answered. She looked up at the sky, where the sunset faded into indigo. The dream was not prophetic—the blinding burden of prophecy had not come over her, nor had it come for a long while. Yet a small, strange shiver rippled through her.
    She frowned, sensing a compelling new presence somewhere nearby. Fatigue was overtaking her, she told herself. She set a hand to the wall, paused.
    "There is some soup left," Eustace said. "Come eat."
    "I will." She had eaten little for three days; the thin soup of barley had to feed all of them. When the last of the grain was gone, they would face an enemy stronger than any. She could already feel the effects of starvation in a lingering dizziness and dull headache.
    "Isobel." Eustace sounded grim. "You must give the final order to surrender."
    "My father would not want that."
    "He would not want us to die."
    She glanced at him. Eustace Gibson had been part of Aberlady's garrison since Isobel had been a small girl. She had come to rely on his skills and his steadfast nature. She sighed.
    "Sir Ralph will be here soon—before the siege, he went to find my father. He will return soon with Sir John." She heard the brittle note of doubt in her voice.
    "We will not see that one soon," Eustace muttered. "Surrender, girl. The English will not harm you."
    "But they will harm you, and take all of us prisoner as soon as we set foot out of the gate. Aberlady will be made into a Southron stronghold."
    Eustace sighed. "We must put the torch to