Blood of the Clans Ch. 21

The trip back from Paris, left Therese with the first chance to understand what her freedom was. She sat in the carriage happily smiling, looking out at the countryside passing by and began to realize what Leon St. Gilbert's hanging truly meant to her. Her life was now free of danger, no more did she have to worry about being killed, no more did she have to worry about losing her beloved Chateau and estate and no longer did she have to dread spending her life with Douglas Wallace, fourth Earl of Huntly.

She was more than thrilled to actually meet Princess Marie, who presented her with her title and charter. Her afternoon with her was the highlight of the entire event. To know that her seal of approval was still in effect gave her heart more than enough peace to know all would be well.

She held the charter, declaring her title and possession to Chateau de Trecesson in her hands and felt the comfort of the words written on it. The air smelled sweeter now, than the ride into Paris, the sky bluer and the sun shone brighter. The more she thought about her life now, the more it seemed a dream come true. Her smile never seemed so full on her face, as she touched her cheeks and felt the delight in being alive, truly alive.

The carriage turned onto the bridge over the moat and Therese waved to the men guarding the entrance. The men saluted her at attention, performing it in perfect unison, yet smiles were seen on their faces. The whole of Trecesson was jubilant at Therese's success. The carriage pulled to the entrance of the hall and stopped. Giles, the head of staff for as long as Therese could remember, came and helped her alight from the carriage.

"Welcome back, Lady Therese." his smile prominent, as he bowed to her.

"Oh Giles, it is good to be back. I have missed this wonderful place and all of you. I am going to change and go for a ride and see the estate. Please have Estelle made ready and I will be back shortly. Merci, Giles." Therese found it hard to command her people, and treated them more as her family members.

"As you wish Lady Therese, it will be my pleasure."

Giles bowed in his most gracious manner, as Therese hurried inside to change. As she disrobed, she caught her reflection in the full-length dressing mirror. There, just starting to fade was the outline of the bull's head on her calf. She stopped and placed her fingers to her lips and gently touched them to it. Therese could feel her heart fluttering at the thought of being with Garreth MacLeod, being his wife and bearing his children.

She dressed in her bright, green riding dress and matching wide-brimmed hat, wanting to make sure she wasn't exposed too much to the hot sun. She checked herself in the mirror once more and walked briskly back outside. Giles was standing ready with Estelle, her light, brown mare, as she came over to them. She patted her muzzle and cooed to her softly, enjoying the closeness to her. Estelle snorted softly and nuzzled against her, enjoying her Mistress' presence again.

"She's missed you M'Lady. She's longed for you to be riding with her again." Giles informed her, as he helped her mount up.

Therese brushed the well-groomed coat of Estelle's neck with her hand and loved the feeling of the strength in muscle, but truly enjoyed her gentle nature. She climbed the short booster stairs and sat upon her sidesaddle, horse and rider enjoying the feel of each other again.

"I'll be back for a meal around dusk, Giles. Have the staff meet in the hall at that time. I wish to speak to everyone and let them know of the plans I have been thinking of." Therese told him and as he bowed his head to her, she started off out the courtyard.

She turned left and rode along the road, back the way she had come, wanting to see the how the vineyards were doing this year, the vinegars and oils being a large portion of her income. Estelle cantered along the road, taking Therese along familiar routes, knowing the way without being led.

The galley had landed early that morning and the two lieutenants made their way into St Brieuc. They purchased horses at the livery, as well as directions to Campeneac, their mission for the Earl underway. They followed the route towards their destination, unable to stop looking at the splendour of France. For all its beauty though, they were focused on what they had to do.

As Therese rode north towards Mauron, on her way to the next vineyard, the lieutenants were just just making their way past it, riding on the same road towards her. Therese stopped, when she saw Pierre St Germain, the head of the vineyard, coming out of the fields. While she talked to him about how the crops were doing this year, the two lieutenants passed her.

The one soldier closest to her, recognized her and turned to his partner, to let him know they had just passed her. They rode on a bit further and rounded a bend in the road and stopped, as soon as they were out of sight. They kept an eye on her to see where she went to afterwards. Their goal was to get her, with no knowledge she had been taken. With the time then being late afternoon, this would make their escape with her easier, under the cover of night.

Therese bid Pierre a farewell and started off up the road again. The two soldiers waited until Pierre was back in the fields again, before riding back past him. They stayed behind Therese, just out of ear-shot, waiting until they were away from anyone seeing them. As they neared the village of Mauron again, they knew the road and the route to get back to the galley. Up ahead was a grove of oak trees lining the road, providing a perfect place to grab her unseen.

They urged their horses to a gallop and were upon in her in a minute. Therese was unaware of their approach, as she looked ahead and day-dreamed of her new plans for the estate. They came up on either side of her, as the one on her riding side caught her attention, the other took the reins from her hands and broke them into a full gallop again.

With no way to stop them, she clung to Estelle and started to scream out in terror, the memory of her prior attack still vividly fresh in her memory. With the need to be as quiet as they could about their kidnapping, the soldier holding the reins, reined back and stopped them. Without anymore thought than the need for silence, the other drew his dirk and used the heel of it to club Therese hard over the back of her head, her screams ending immediately.

Therese fell forward and the other soldier caught her and pulled her face first over his legs and held her.

"William, are ye mad? The Earl will ha'e yer head fer this. She was'ne tae be harmed." his face a mix of anger and worry.

"And what are we supposed tae do, John, ride back tae the galley wi' her screaming like that?" he said back with indifference to his worries.

John thought about it momentarily and shrugged his shoulders, knowing there wasn't any other choice to be made. They started off again, taking as much care to avoid being spotted by anyone. The setting sun cast long shadows over the landscape, a beam made it through the trees and illuminated the bright green riding hat laying on the road.

Estelle stayed with the other horses, keeping as close to Therese as she could. The soldiers broke her away from them, beating and kicking at her, as she bit back at them. Estelle stopped and stood in the road, looking at her Mistress disappearing over a rise, the slowly turned and trotted back towards the chateau, a route she knew all too well.

As night was approaching, the gates at Trecesson opened and a riderless Estelle trotted back in and stood by the stable, stamping her hoof on the ground. The livery hand rushed across the courtyard and yelled into the chateau's large hall for Giles. Hearing his approach, he relayed what had happened. They both came out to see Estelle in a frantic state, clearly in distress about something. Giles hurried to her and with a gentle knowing hand, calmed her enough to stand still.

"Where is your Mistress, Estelle? Where is Lady Therese?"

Estelle responded, as if she understood and pulled on the reins for Giles to go with her. Giles sensed what she wanted him to do and mounted her, letting her lead on. Estelle rode back along the road she had come and in less than an hour, was stopping beside Therese's hat, lying on the road. Giles dismounted and picked it up, seeing a few drops of blood on the underside of the brim.

His heart sank in great despair immediately, knowing something dire had happened to Therese. He frantically searched the roadside and into the fields on both sides, before he continued riding along the road, hoping to find Therese up ahead. He stopped and asked everyone he met if he they had seen her, showing them the hat and asking if they had seen a lady in a matching coloured dress. No one had seen her and his hopes were sinking in finding her. Giles continued on, eventually coming upon workers, heading back to Chateau de la Touche-Trebay, carrying their tools home from the fields.

"Have you seen a lady wearing a dress in this colour come past?" he asked them frantically.

"Oui, I saw a woman lying over the back of a horse, with a dress like that. Not more than two hours ago, heading towards St, Brieuc." one worker told him, pointing in the direction they were headed, the others nodding in agreement with what he said.

"Merci, merci beaucoup." Giles thanked him quickly and sped off now towards the coast.

The fourteen mile ride was made with all haste, arriving in the village well after light had gone. He rode to the coast and searched at every turn, to catch a sight of Therese. As he passed a fisherman mending his net by lantern light, he saw him look hard at the hat he was carrying.

"You there, do you recognize this hat?" Giles asked with hope that he did.

"Oui, Monsieur. I saw a lady wearing a dress of the same colour, being brought onto a galley, not more than an hour ago. She was not awake from what I could see. It sailed away towards the coast of Brittain." he told Giles, relating all he knew.

"Did you see who it was that took her? What did they look like?" Giles asked. desperate for any and all information he could get.

"I did not recognize them, but they were Ecossais. I heard them speaking to one another, as they boarded. They came and left with all haste." he told Giles, with a dawning he was privy to something of great importance.

"Is there anything else you can remember, anything that can help me?" Giles pled with him.

"Non, that is all I remember of them." he told Giles, sorry he couldn't be of more assistance to him.

Giles thanked him and turned Estelle to go, after looking out at the sea, hoping to catch a glimpse of a sail.

"Excuse-moi, Monsieur, un moment, the boat they were sailing was a galley, with a dark blue sail, with two gold stripes down each side." He offered up with hopes it meant something.

"Merci, merci tres beaucoup, Monsieur." Giles said with great thanks and rode back into the village.

"Bon chance." the fisherman called after him, hoping what he knew, would help him save the Lady.

He rode to the local Sheriff's office, only to find it was closed. Frantically he looked about for a direction to go. He stopped a villager on her way home and asked where the Sheriff lived. She pointed down the road and gave directions to the house he lived in. Giles

thanked her quickly and sped off in the direction given. He found the house as she described and rode straight for the door. He dismounted quickly and left Estelle untethered, as he pounded frantically on the door.

A sour-faced Sheriff Louis Ugliat opened it, bothered by the intrusion to his personal time.

"Oui, what is it you want?" he asked Giles, a look of annoyance to him.

"I must make a report of my Lady being kidnapped, Monsieur. Not more than an hour ago, she was seen by a fisherman being taken aboard a galley and sailing for Brittain. She is in great danger and you must help me get her back." Giles told him in breath-less desperation.

"How do you know she was kidnapped? She could have left on her own." the Sheriff queried, wanting to have proof of his claim.

"Look, Monsieur, there is blood on her hat, here." he told him, pointing to the blood drops on the brim.

Ugliat had all the evidence he needed to believe Giles' claims. He ran back in and collected his arms and official jacket, not bothering to do it up properly. They mounted their horses and were soon riding back to the coast. Giles saw the fisherman at his boat, putting the mended net back into it. The Sheriff hailed him as he rode up. The fisherman came to them, recognizing Giles and Louis.

After a thorough questioning and a repeat of what he had told Giles already, Louis and Giles turned and rode back to his office. He asked Giles all he knew about the events leading up to her kidnapping, wanting to know who could be behind it. Giles related all he knew from the attempted over-throw, to Lady Therese's telling of her stay in Scotland and her break in engagement to the Earl of Huntly. Hearing of her recent title and status, it became a grievous matter of the utmost importance to him. Knowing it was a matter that needed to be handled by someone above his station, he summoned a deputy to him, from the back by the stable.

Ugliat hastily wrote up a dispatch and instructed him to ride through the night with all speed to his superior in Rennes, Ormand Moreau, almost sixty miles away. He knew this action to warrant the attention of the King and also wanting help in handling it.

Therese came to and stirred, the rocking of the boat bringing her around. At first she was confused by everything. She was in complete darkness and then held her hand out and felt the tarpaulin over top of her. All she could hear was the splashing of waves on the bow and the wind pushing the sail. Trying to gain her wits, she struggled to remember what had happened. In an instant, the large bump on the back of her head started throbbing and she reached back to touch it. She cried out in pain, alerting the two soldiers to her awakening.

"Ye didn't kill her, William. At least ye won't hang." John told him, upon seeing the movement and hearing Therese's cry of pain. "Ye'll be lucky if yer not in jail tho'. Did ye ha'e tae bash her so hard?"

"Like I said, John, did ye want her screaming all the way tae the galley? What was I tae do instead?" William retorted, supporting his decision.

William sat at the helm and guided the boat along the coast of Wales to starboard and ignored John's looks of upset at him. John pulled the tarpaulin off of Therese and helped her to sit up.

"Are you alright M'Lady? Are ye hurt bad?" John asked her with a concern in his tone.

"My head is pounding in pain. There is a bump on my head as well." Therese told him, feeling the back of her head. She brought it around and a small smear of blood was on her fingers. "I am bleeding as well. Messieurs, what are you doing with me? Why have you taken me from my home?" Therese looked at both for answers as to what was

happening.

John cut a swatch of tarpaulin away and soaked it in sea water. He handed it to Therese who applied it to her head and then screamed in pain.

"That hurts my head worse than the pain I am feeling." she said to him and threw the swatch overboard. "Where are you taking me?" she demanded again.

John looked at William for a decision to tell her and he just shrugged and left it to John to decide. John looked at Therese's questioning eyes and told her.

"We're taking ye back tae the Earl, so ye can be married. He was very upset at reading yer letter tae him. I have a contract here wi' me, that states yer intentions tae betroth his Lordship. It's signed by him and yer Mother, so it's a binding agreement." John told her straight out.

Tears welled in Therese's eyes at hearing of her destination and what lay at the end of her journey. Nothing could be more injurious to her mind, then being with that man another moment. All her dreams and hopes vanished like puffs of smoke, the reality now a grim reminder of the life she once dreaded.

As the galley made its way up through the Irish Sea in the late afternoon, the Isle of Man could be seen far off in the distance. John turned back after seeing it and smiled at William.

"That's the Isle of Man ahead, William. We pass that and we're in Scottish waters. We're nearly back already. We've had fair winds fer the journey back. If we're lucky, we should be able tae make the castle by mid-day the morrow, if we stop there and leave at first light. If we ha'e the same good winds as the noo, maybe sooner." John smiled at him, then saw the look of despair wash over Therese's face, as she head the news.

William found a chance to smile. He wanted nothing more than to stop sailing and put his feet on firm ground again. He had been sailing non-stop, as were the instructions to him by the Earl, since they left St. Brieuc. He knew enough to sail a boat, but he was a soldier, who enjoyed the feel of a horse under him, instead of water.

As dusk started to fall, they made their way to the north end of the Calf of Man and pulled into a sheltered inlet. It provided a safe haven from the waves, as well as privacy. No one lived on the small island, making it the perfect place to spend the night. They set the fore and aft mooring lines and secured the birlinn for the night.

The men pulled out robes that were wrapped in an oilskin, keeping them dry. They gave one to Therese and told her to make her self comfortable to sleep, as they wouldn't be leaving the boat. As Therese tried to lay on the hard wood bench and find some comfort, John took a length of rope and tied her foot to the mast. Therese wanted to rebel, but there was no use in trying to fight the inevitable. She closed her eyes and her mind seemed to play backwards, to her trip away from Scotland just a week ago. The feelings of leaving Douglas Wallace behind that made her happy, were now the feelings of dread, at spending her life with him.

As sleep finally came, her thoughts fell to Garreth and Arabella. How she wished for a miracle from God to see them both again. How she wished Garreth would sail up and vanquish her captors and rescue her. How she wished to see her friend and sister of her heart, Arabella.

Dawn had her awakened, to the feel of the rope being untied from her foot. She threw off the robes and sat up, her head still hurting from the blow. Her mouth was dry and her throat sore, from the salt spray.

"May I have a drink of water? I have not had anything to eat or drink since yesterday." Therese reminded them.

William handed her a skin filled with fresh water and she drank from it greedily, spilling

water down the sides of her mouth. She finished and crudely wiped her mouth dry, enjoying the feeling of slaking her thirst. The men took a long drink and took out some dried meat for them to eat. Therese took one bite of the salty meat and spat it back out and handed it back to John. The two men happily chewed away, as they readied the galley for the final leg of their journey.

"Just a little o'er two hundred miles and we'll be pulling intae Inverlochy. I'll be glad tae be back. As much as oor sail gives us protection in those waters we sailed, it affords us nothing, as we head north. I wish the Earl had gi'en us a boat wi' a plain sail no one recognizes. This is an royal sail we're flying and I worry about they Irish. They hate the Royals as much as the English and raid their ships constantly." William informed them.

"Stop yer worrying, William. Stay close tae oor side and we'll be alright." John told him, his words spoken with surety in them.

The galley pulled out of the small inlet and headed back to open waters and the strong channel currents and winds. Soon once again, they were making great speed towards home. The morning sun warmed their faces, as the cool winds chilled them. The narrowing passage between the two countries was just over twenty miles across and William was keeping too close to the Irish coast for John's liking.