“Aye, and I am but your niece.”
She just stood as he went through all the things Robert was trying to blame on her. Her brothers protested and several times Gybbon pointed out she could not have done that because she was with him or at Sigimor’s, but it still left enough to hang her with. Mora felt her heart sink as her uncle declared her guilty and read her punishment out. Even when one knew they were innocent, she discovered it was hard to be charged, convicted, and even sentenced to hang.
As Jonathan and her uncle stepped out from behind the table and proceeded to walk her outside, Mora noticed that her brothers, Sigimor, Gybbon, and Harcourt were gone. That five such sizeable men had slipped out so silently surprised her. She hoped they were not planning something too dangerous to free her. She did not want to be the reason that the tight circle of alliances that made the area so peaceful had been destroyed.
Once outside, she blinked at the sunlight. She had not realized how she had missed it, but was annoyed that she had been in the dark long enough to react badly to its return. She looked at the scaffold and resisted the strong urge to fight the hold the two men had on her arms.
Then she noticed all the men circling the scaffold and wondered why they were two deep. She was no threat. One of the men standing behind a man leaned around the man and winked at her quickly before ducking back behind the man. The man he was behind was shaking in a way that told her he was badly smothering a laugh. Mora was sure that had been one of the MacFingals that hung around Sigimor. Looking around at each of the ones with a man behind them, she realized that a lot of them had red hair, and from what she saw, a lot of them were actually having a pleasant conversation with their guard.
Her uncle tugged her up the steps and Robert skipped by them, nearly nudging them off the steps. Robert went and stood by the hangman, who looked extremely displeased with his presence. The moment she was placed by the noose, and the hangman began to slip it on, her uncle let her go and faced the crowd to repeat her sentence and what she was being punished for. While her uncle’s back was turned, the men on the platform disappeared rather abruptly and were replaced with others. Even the hangman, she realized, when the strong smell of leeks had disappeared to be replaced by a scent she knew all too well.
Then her uncle turned to tell the hangman to do it, and she saw in his eyes such sorrow she actually felt bad for him. Glancing at Robert, she saw only glee, but right behind him stood Harcourt, sword in hand. She tensed, but instead of the noose being tightened it was taken off her neck and put around Robert’s, who stood there openmouthed with shock but unable to move because he had a sword at his back.
“What is happening!” demanded her uncle.
“We are about to hang the guilty man,” said Sigimor as he got up on the platform with the others. “Is that nay why we are here?”
“But, we had her . . .”
“Nay, ye didnae, and ye ken it. This lass has ne’er killed anyone and ne’er stolen a thing. So, what are ye doing here? Protecting Robert yet again? Do ye really believe he is worth an innocent lassie’s life, the lives of your own brother and his wife, the life of your nephews for he tried to end them too and made certain their family could not get in touch with them? Or your own life? This lass didnae poison ye. She wasnae around here often enough to do so, and ye ken it weel.”
Mora saw the tears fill her uncle’s eyes and moved to try and comfort him, but Gybbon tightened his hold on her, preventing her. “Uncle, I ne’er did these things.”
“I ken it,” he whispered in a broken voice, “but he is my son. Was my son. I am so sorry, lass.”
Robert tried to scream that he was innocent, but Harcourt clapped his hand over his mouth. Then Duncan stepped forward to tell of the murder of Rona and David. A woman from the kitchens talked of how often Robert was in the kitchens while the laird was ill and always insisted upon seeing his meals. Sigimor told of the burning of Maggie’s home while Andrew was there. Her brothers told of Robert’s attempts to have them killed in France and his effort to make certain they could neither get nor send any news to their family. It was as if everyone had suddenly been freed of the bonds that had held them silent. Then Gybbon told the man to think of all the other things that had happened and revealed he had had a good talk with many of the people at Wasterburn.
By the time they were done, the bailey was silent except for her uncle’s weeping. He mumbled something to Jonathan and then staggered back down the steps. Mora noticed it was Manus who moved to help the man continue on until he disappeared into the keep.
Gybbon pulled a badly trembling Mora away from the gibbet and untied her hands, handing the rope to Harcourt, who had Sigimor tie Robert’s hands. When Harcourt removed his hand from Robert’s mouth the man called out to his brothers, who, almost as one, turned their backs on him and walked away. Mora pressed her face into Gybbon’s chest and refused to watch Robert die, despite how his wrongs had harmed her family, and the fact that he had tried to get her to suffer the same fate by taking the blame for all he had done.
After helping her down from the scaffold, Gybbon led her through the crowd in the bailey, keeping a firm arm around her trembling body, and out through the gates. “Ye are safe now, love.”
“I ken it. I also ken it is silly to worry about my uncle, but I cannae seem to help it. This could break him. He was crying in front of all his clan, Gybbon, and he was always such a proud mon.”
“He lost the right to be proud with his attempts to blame the innocent for what Robert had done and to ignore all the wrong that fool committed. There comes a time when ye just have to face the fact that your child is wrong and allow him to pay for what he has done.”
She nodded. “I ken it. I truly do. May we go home now?”
“Aye. To Sigimor’s for tonight and then we will decide what to do tomorrow.”
As he got his horse and brought it to her, Mora took the opportunity to hug her brothers properly. She felt bad that she had gained so much from this tragedy while her uncle had lost so much. It was her hope that one day he would see that he had also gained. She really hoped he would find peace with what he had now that Robert was gone. Then, ignoring her brothers’ attempts to get her to ride with one of them, she went and let Gybbon put her on Jester, then settle in behind her.
Chapter Nineteen
Gybbon rode up to Sigimor’s manor and, after dismounting, helped Mora down. Her brothers were right there and then Andrew hurried out of the house and flung himself into David’s arms while wrapping an arm around his sister’s neck. After hugging the boy hard, David handed him over to Niall once Andrew released Mora. Mora started to edge closer to him only to have David intervene. Gybbon watched Sigimor head into the manor, the laird giving him the quick flash of a grin before ducking inside. Gybbon decided to follow him inside and, if Jolene was not there, punch him right in his irritating grin.