Summer of the Moon Flower (The de Vargas Family) (17 page)

Indigo finally spoke. “We want no
hospitality. Take me to my sister.” She glared up at him and took a menacing
step toward him. “Immediately.”

“We shall have to wait until midday before
I can get your sister,” he replied. “She is safe where she is. Do not fear.” He
inclined his head toward the kitchen and Mary left the room. “Come and sit,
there is much I have to tell you.”

* * * *

Indigo shook her head in disbelief. “Are
you sure this is not a fabrication you have invented to cover the murder of my
sister?”

Dougal had explained the disbanding of the
Knights Templar and the danger to Sofia and her enterprise in Vienna. “Why can
you not take me to her now? Why do I have to wait?”

Dougal looked at her steadily and despite
her mistrust, she tried to believe the words this man was saying. He appeared
to be telling the truth and she desperately wanted to believe him, but until
she saw Sofia with her own eyes she would not believe.

Zane had explained how they had located
Dougal through the jeweled communication device and Indigo’s heart had raced
when the earl reached into his shirt and removed it from around his neck. They
had partaken of the broth and moved to the end of the dining hall closer to the
fire. Indigo looked around and wondered how anyone could live in such a
cavernous and cold abode.

If indeed, Sofia had spent the past three
months here as the earl insisted she had, the austere surroundings and the cold
would have made her stay unbearable. Indigo’s anxiety increased as the time
passed. She reached out and held Zane’s wrist and looked at his chronometer. “It
is ten minutes to midday. I demand you take me to my sister.”The earl looked at
her for a long moment before speaking. “If all I have heard of you and your
adventures is true, you will have little trouble accepting what I am about to
show you.” He reached into his shirt and removed a small velvet pouch before
kneeling on the cold stone floor and placing the pouch on the floor beside him.
“I can go alone to get your sister or you can travel with me?’

Indigo gasped as he removed a small brass
device from the pouch and placed it gently on the flagstones. “It is an
Astrolaberors. I haven’t seen one since the Great Exhibition.”

Realization dawned slowly. She turned to
the earl and glared at him.

“Where or when…have you hidden Sofia?”

“She is in the castle with Mary, but
nineteen years past,” Dougal replied. “The device is capable of transporting
three people only, so one person can accompany me to get her or we will be too
many for the return journey.”

Indigo turned to Zane. “I shall go.”

He nodded at her and she reached her hand
up to stroke her husband’s brow. “I know time travel does not bode well for
your equilibrium, my dearest.”

Indigo trusted the earl; she had seen the
expression on his face when he spoke of Sofia and his concern for her. The
Astrolaberors device was much more accurate than the time mechanism she used in
her submarine and she had little fear of time travel, having travelled with her
father and then her husband to a century in the future.

“Come then.” She reached up and kissed her
husband. “We shall return shortly. I am sure.”

* * * *

Dougal closed his eyes and held Indigo’s
hand in his. He nodded at the Sheriff. “Make yourself comfortable before the
fire. “I shall take good care of your wife and we shall return within the
hour.”

He pressed the switch on the device and it
emitted a low hum; they were sucked into the vortex of time itself. No matter
how many times he travelled, the wonder of it awed him and he looked down at
Indigo as she let out a delighted scream. Her face was full of happiness and
the anticipation of seeing her sister shone from her expression.

The fire was burning low in the same hearth
when they arrived and the day was cold and bleak. Indigo smiled up at him. “The
Scottish weather is certainly predictable.”

She looked around with interest. “How far
back have we travelled? The room looks exactly the same.”

“Nineteen years,” he replied. “I chose that
time as I knew the castle was empty. My parents died when I was a lad and I had
moved to Edinburgh. Mary had come to the castle from the mainland to be my
housekeeper and I knew Sofia would be well cared for when I travelled with
Edward of Kilmarnock.”

He dropped Indigo’s hand. “Wait here. I
will find Mary and see where Sofia is.” He smiled at Indigo; she was so very
different to Sofia in coloring, size and sheer presence.

“Mary?” He called the housekeeper as he
walked toward the kitchen, but there was no answer. Unease coiled in his
stomach as he stepped into the cold kitchen. The huge range was cold and there
were no loaves of bread cooling on the big table in the centre of the room. Two
plates of congealed food sat untouched on the smaller table. Dougal ran to the
courtyard and called for Zeus.

“What’s the matter?” He jumped as Indigo
pushed past him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” he replied slowly.
“Something is not right.”

A shrill cry drifted across from the fields
to the south and he ran to the gate where had stood with Edward and Sofia only
yesterday. Mary ran up from the shoreline with Zeus close at her heels.

“Oh, Dougal,” she cried before placing her
hands over her face.

“What’s the matter?” he asked urgently.
“Did someone come from the mainland?”

“No,” Mary replied, shaking her head from
side to side. “The lassie has gone.”

“Gone how? Did someone come for her?” A
vision of the Knights Templar kidnapping Sofia lodged in his mind and he shook
the thought away angrily. “Tell, me girl.”

“She has taken the boat and rowed across
the firth,” Mary replied, worry etched on her brow. “But I do not know when. I went
to call her for the midday meal and I could not find her. I went to the shore
and the boat in the cave was gone.” She burst into tears. “I could do nought as
there was no other boat.”

Relief coursed through him. It was simply a
matter of following her and bringing her back—she would not have got far in the
few hours since she left.

“How will we follow her if there is no
other boat?” Indigo asked.

Dougal groaned as realization hit him.
There was no other boat on the island and the Astrolaberors could not convey
them in the present time. The co-ordinates had been locked into the device for
the two time periods and if he changed them, they would not be able to return
to the present, where Zane waited for them. He paced the courtyard trying to
think of another way to follow Sofia and Indigo strode beside him pulling at
his sleeve.

He pulled his arm away angrily. “For God’s
sake, woman, let me think.”

She stood and stared at him for a moment
before turning on her heel and walking toward the shore.

Dougal watched her go as helplessness
filled him. “Don’t leave my sight,” he called after her.

One woman lost is enough.

* * * *

They returned alone.

After an hour of frustration, Dougal had
realized there was no way to follow Sofia and he made the decision to take Indigo
back to Zane. On the morrow, he would return to search for Sofia, but would
change the co-ordinates to arrive at Kilmarnock and work his way back to the
coast looking for her. He just hoped and prayed she would not travel far and
would stay safe.

Surely when she realized she was in a
different time, she would go back to the castle, to seek a safe haven where she
knew he would return for her?

He had promised her—two days.

He glanced up at Indigo, tired of being the
recipient of her cold glare over the dinner Mary had quickly prepared for them.
Indigo dropped her knife on the wooden table and opened her mouth to speak.
Zane reached over and placed his hand on her arm and she closed her mouth. He
had heard enough from this woman.

How could two sisters be so different?

It was hard to believe she had produced the
two fine young boys he had met in the Alps. Dougal stood abruptly and left them
in the dining hall without a word, before making his way up to the solar where
Sofia had spent the past three months.

He was probably being unfair to Indigo but
was too concerned about Sofia’s well being to give it much thought. After all,
she had come here still believing her sister was dead and then the
disappointment of the travel back to the castle to find Sofia missing must have
been overwhelming for her. Yet, even the soft reasoning of her husband had not
stilled her shrewish tongue.

He did not need that tonight.

He stood by the bed and closed his eyes
remembering the response of Sofia in this bed only two nights ago. It seemed
like a lifetime since she had lain bathed in moonlight and joyfully responded
to him. For the life of him, he could not understand why she had left knowing
her sojourn on the island would soon end.

Dougal held his cloak above his head and
entered the Red Lion Inn in Kilmarnock. Despite being early afternoon, it was
dark and the town was deserted. Shaking the rain from his cloak, he made his
way across to the innkeeper. Dougal’s purpose was twofold—as well as seeking
shelter from the torrential rain, he sought information on the whereabouts of
Sofia. The innkeeper pushed a tankard of ale across the wooden bench, obviously
taking pity on his wet and bedraggled appearance.

“A filthy day, sir.”

“Aye, that it is,” replied Dougal.

“You have missed the fair. Although just as
well, it was on yesterday and not today.”

“Fair?”

“To celebrate the visit of the Queen and
her Prince. ‘Twas a big celebration in here last evening.” The innkeeper
laughed. “There are still many sore heads abed.”

“Ah…” Dougal nodded and took a swig of his
ale. “I am looking for my …er …an acquaintance of my…er…wife,” he lied. “A
small woman with unusual silver hair. She would have enjoyed the fair if she
had been in Kilmarnock yesterday?”

“Aye,” the innkeeper agreed. “She did. She
was visiting with Dame Molly.”

Dougal closed his eyes as relief filled his
chest. At least he knew Sofia had got safely across the firth. Thoughts of her
drowning had haunted him all night.

“Dame Molly?” he enquired. “Would she be
staying with her?”

“Perhaps.” The innkeeper turned away,
seeming disinclined to volunteer any more information.

“Ah…where would I find Dame Molly?” Dougal
persisted. “It is all right. I am the Earl of Rothmore and I seek to ensure the
woman’s safety.”

The innkeeper looked at him for a long
moment before answering.

“She lives in yonder wood.” He inclined his
head to the right and Dougal assumed he meant toward the wood further to the
east.

Leaving some coin on the bench to pay for
the ale and show his gratitude for the information, he pushed open the door and
stepped out into the cold rain. He followed the path deep into the woods,
keeping under the trees to avoid the torrential rain. Wet leaves lined the path
and he slipped in the soft mud. Gradually, an aroma of wood smoke and damp peat
drifted across to him and he paused. A small cottage lay at the end of the path
and candlelight flickered through the windows in the mid-afternoon gloom. A
brawny man stood in a wood shed to the side of the small dwelling and lifted a
hand in greeting.

“A foul afternoon to be about, man,” he
said. “Can I help ye?”

“I am seeking Dame Molly,” replied Dougal.

The man nodded. “There has been a steady
stream of customers today.” He stepped out of the shed and moved across to the
cottage beckoning Dougal to follow him. “For a child?” he asked.

Dougal looked at him confused. “I am
seeking a young woman who was with Dame Molly at the fair yesterday?”

“Aye. “The man nodded. “I thought you were
after the infusion of the leaves for the cough. The chestnut leaves,” he
continued as Dougal looked at him, unsure what he was speaking of.”

The man opened the door and leaned inside.

“Molly, there is a man here asking after
the young lady.”

Dougal looked up in anticipation as relief
coursed through him, but it was an elderly, stout woman who came through the
door.

“She has gone.” The woman directed her
words at her husband before turning to Dougal. “I did not wish her to leave as
she was ill.”

“Where? Where has she gone?” he asked
urgently.

“She said she had to get back to the shore
to wait for her man to take her home. I worry that she is delirious but she
would not stay. She had some strange ideas about the Queen being dead.”

Dougal groaned and reached into his cloak
for some coin. “Thank you for taking care of her. How long ago did she leave?”

“Mid-morning,” the woman replied. “She
accepted a dose of the infusion for her cough and I dried her clothes overnight
in front of the fire. She told me she fell in the firth.”