The Firebrand (43 page)

“‘Tis over, Benedict,” Nichola repeated.

The monk pulled out his dagger and drove the blade under the lid of the casket, wrenching the top open.

“I’ll not give it up!” he screamed. “I’ll destroy it first.”

Benedict looked into the charred wooden box. It was empty.

Wyntoun stepped forward. “Your own villainy has entrapped you.”

As the monk threw the casket at the knight’s feet, the circle around him shrank. He whirled around, flashing his dagger at his enemies.

“Yield, Benedict,” Wyntoun said. “Yield and you will find mercy yet. ”

The monk’s gaze went from Nichola to Adrianne, and then fixed on Wyntoun’s face for a long moment.

“Never,” he rasped, turning the blade on himself and plunging it into his own heart.

****

Adrianne watched the mask of death steal over Benedict’s face. Silently, they all watched him die, and then she saw her mother turn away from the corpse.

The circle of warriors appeared to come alive instantly, but the young woman’s gaze remained fixed on Nichola’s face and on the tears that were glistening on her cheeks.

Nichola opened her arms, and Adrianne moved into her embrace. As she held her mother, memories of her father drifted through her consciousness. Edmund Percy had died for his beliefs. The evil of this one man, Benedict, had only hurried the process along.

But that was over now. Her mother had insisted on being here. Nichola had insisted on facing the monk and hearing his words. And now it was over.

As Wyntoun had explained to Adrianne as they had waited, Sir Peter Wrothsey had always been true to the Knights of the Veils. Just as Wyntoun himself had done, the priest had maintained a covert connection with Benedict during the past year. Knowing of Benedict’s alliance with Thomas Cranmer, it was critical for the brotherhood to retain some direct link to the monk. Through Sir Peter, the Knights of the Veil had been able to relay to Benedict what
they’d
wanted him to know. The monk’s cunning had kept him a step ahead of them, but it had been this same connection that had ultimately saved Lady Nichola’s life. With Sir Peter inside the keep where Nichola was being held and Sir Henry waiting in the hills surrounding the place, Nichola’s rescue had been an easy one…once Benedict and his men had departed for Glasgow Cathedral.

Adrianne kissed her mother’s cheek softly and drew out of her embrace upon seeing Sir Henry approach them.

“I believe this man needs to feel your arms around him as much I,” she whispered, smiling into her mother’s face. “Sir Henry has been a man all but ruined with worry. Perhaps you could show him some mercy.”

Nichola squeezed Adrianne’s hand before letting go.

The young woman turned and found her own husband waiting a few paces away. Her heart beat proudly at the way he’d planned the monk’s capture. The information about the treasure being in St. Mungo’s tomb had been a ruse all along. The day before, with Adrianne looking on, Wyntoun had taken the manuscript out of the charred box and turned it over to the earl of Argyll. From that moment forward, the task of protecting the Treasure of Tiberius would fall on Colin Campbell.

Wyntoun’s arms wrapped around her like bands of steel. “I am sorry you had to witness this. It didn’t have to end this way for him.”

“We had to be here. My father’s memory required it.”

“And did it also require a block of wood wrapped in a tartan and a lock of your hair in the knot?”

She looked up at him. “Thank you for letting me give him back a taste of the fear he has inflicted on my family. ‘Twas a wee bit impulsive, I know…”

“Say nothing more of it, my love. Don’t forget I have changed. From here on, I will have absolute trust in everything you say and do.”

She jabbed him playfully in the ribs and pulled away. “None of that, Wyntoun MacLean. I demand that you keep your common sense. After all,
I
don’t trust everything I say and I do.”

Wyntoun’s face glowed with affection as they started down the hill toward the horses that would take them back to Dunbarton Castle.

“Do you think the earl of Argyll and Lady Celia have already gone?” she asked.

“Aye. They were to leave at dusk. With the number of warriors accompanying them, taking Tiberius to its new hiding place should be uneventful.”

The fog was beginning to lift as they arrived at the place where the horses had been tethered.

“Wyntoun, what of those men who were with Benedict?” Adrianne asked, relishing the feel of her husband’s protective arm around her.

“They were not men serving the Archbishop of Canterbury. Sir Henry questioned the ones who didn’t manage to run off. They were simply hired hands, paid by Benedict…though probably with the archbishop’s gold. I believe Thomas Cranmer was keeping a safe distance from Benedict. If the monk succeeded, he would benefit immensely. If Benedict failed, Cranmer would be no worse off.”

“But still the archbishop must have lost a small fortune!”

“Aye, a fortune stripped from the monasteries they’ve been raiding in the south. Cranmer had nothing to lose, really.”

Adrianne’s frown turned to a smile as she saw her mother being assisted by Sir Henry over the slippery ground. The affection that glowed in Nichola’s eyes, the love that was so obvious in the English knight’s touch, brought a feeling of warmth to the daughter’s heart.

“And so this is the end,” she found herself whispering.

“Only the beginning,” Wyntoun murmured as he placed a kiss beneath her ear.

She smiled broadly and turned in her husband’s embrace. “The beginning?”

He gave her a satisfied nod. “The beginning of our journey north to Balvenie castle to meet the rest of your family.”

She raised herself on the tips of her toes and placed a kiss on his chin.

“And the beginning of our return to Duart Castle and a marriage we left there.”

She placed a kiss on his right cheek.

“And the beginning of starting our own family.”

She placed a kiss on his left cheek.

“And the beginning of change in one particular man and in one particular woman. The beginning of love and trust that is so strong that ‘twill overcome any obstacle in our path. This is the beginning, my love, and forever is the next step.”

Adrianne kissed her husband with all her heart and soul.

And that, they both knew, was only the beginning.

Our 16th Century books...

In
The Thistle and the Rose
, Colin Campbell and Celia Muir are introduced...

And we also introduce Alec Macpherson, who is the hero of our second book,
Angel of Skye
...

Alec has two brothers, Ambrose and John, who are the heroes of
Heart of Gold
and
The Beauty of the Mist
, respectively...

In
Angel of Skye
, we also introduce a little boy, Malcolm MacLeod, and in
Heart of Gold
we introduce a little girl, Jaime...

When Malcolm MacLeod and Jaime grow up, they are the hero and heroine of
The Intended
...

In
Heart of Gold
, we also introduce Gavin Kerr, who becomes the hero of
Flame.
..

In
Flame
, we introduce a number of characters who show up in
The Dreamer, The Enchantress,
and
The Firebrand
(the
Highland Treasure Trilogy
), including John Stewart, the earl of Athol and a number of villains...

The Highland Treasure Trilogy
is the story of three sisters...Catherine Percy of
The Dreamer
, Laura Percy of
The Enchantress
, and Adrianne Percy of
The Firebrand
...

In
The Enchantress
, we introduce Sir Wyntoun MacLean, who also appears in
The Firebrand
...

In
The Firebrand
, we also introduce Gillie the Fairie-Borne, who may just have a story of his own one day...

Colin Campbell and Celia (from The Thistle and the Rose) also make a 'cameo' appearance in The Firebrand...

Alec Macpherson and Fiona (from Angel of Skye) have three sons. The youngest, Colin Macpherson, is the hero of
Tess and the Highlander
(a young adult novel published by HarperCollins in November 2002)...

Our 18th Century Books

In The Promise, Samuel Wakefield, the earl of Stanmore, and Rebecca Neville/Ford are the hero and heroine...

In that book we also introduce Stanmore's friend, Sir Nicholas Spencer, who becomes the hero of The Rebel, which is set in Ireland...

Stanmore and Rebecca also appear in The Rebel...

In The Promise, we also introduce Rebecca's friend, Millicent Wentworth, who becomes the heroine of Borrowed Dreams...

Borrowed Dreams is the start of a new trilogy about three Scottish brothers, starting with Lyon Pennington, earl of Aytoun. We also meet a new cast of characters who show up in the trilogy. Violet, from The Promise, plays a big role in this book, too. She will show up again in the third book in the trilogy, Dreams of Destiny.

In Captured Dreams, we see Lyon and Millicent and the entire household of Baronsford in Scotland, along with wonderful heroes and villains that David Pennington meets in colonial Boston.

In Dreams of Destiny, the mystery of Emma's death is solved...

Ghost of the Thames…a Dickensian novel.

Visit us at www.JanCoffey.com and on May McGoldrick, facebook page for discount offers of our other ebooks.

About the Author

Nikoo & Jim McGoldrick have spent their lives gathering material for their novels. Nikoo, a mechanical engineer, and Jim, who has a Ph.D. in sixteenth-century British literature, wrote their first May McGoldrick novel in 1994. Since then, they have taken their readers from the Highlands of Scotland to the mountains of Kurdistan in bestselling, award-winning historical romance and contemporary suspense novels under the names May McGoldrick, Nicole Cody, and Jan Coffey.

You can contact us at [email protected]

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Complete Book List as of 2012

Writing As May McGoldrick:

Made In Heaven

Ghost of the Thames

Scottish Dream Trilogy

Dreams Of Destiny

Captured Dreams

Borrowed Dreams

The Rebel

Tess and The Highlander (A YA Novel)

The Promise

Highland Treasure Trilogy

The Firebrand

The Enchantress

The Dreamer

Flame

The Intended

Macpherson Trilogy

Beauty Of The Mist

Heart Of Gold

Angel Of Skye

Thistle and The Rose

Writing As Nicole Cody & May McGoldrick:

Love and Mayhem (reissued as Arsenic and Old Armor)

Writing As Jan Coffey:

Aquarian (A YA Novel)

Blind Eye

The Puppet Master

The Deadliest Strain

The Project

Silent Waters

Five in a Row

Tropical Kiss (A YA Novel)

Fourth Victim

Triple Threat

Twice Burned

Trust Me Once