"Ye promise me yell be safe?"
"Aye, wench! I'll be safe. Now ye must leave wi Hercules in ten minutes. Be sure Fiona knows to keep silent."
Cat laughed. "Fiona will nae admit to even having met ye, let alone sheltering ye. Adam would beat her black and blue! I'll wager he knows yer brother's reputation."
Bothwell grinned at her. "I'll be wi ye soon, my love." And in a second he was out the back door into the stableyard, where Hercules was holding a prancing Valentine.
Cat left the kitchen and hurried up the two flights of stairs to Fiona's bedroom, carrying a tray with wine, bread, and a small honeycomb. "Wake up, sleepyhead," she called to her cousin. Fiona mumbled and snuggled down into the feather bed. "I'm leaving, Fiona. Bothwell and I must go home to Hermitage this morning." She put the tray on the bedside table. Fiona sat up. "My God!" said Cat. "Ye look like a castle surrendered after a great battle."
"I feel like it," answered Fiona. "Hercules lives up to his name." Suddenly she blushed. "Christ, Cat! Dinna tell Leslie! I've nae been unfaithful to him ever before. I dinna know what came over me."
"I do," returned Cat, laughing. "I'll nae tell on ye, cousin, if ye'll nae tell on me." She bent down and hugged Fiona. "Be good, and if ye need to get in touch wi me, the landlord at the Oak and Thistle can get a message to Bothwell."
"God go wi ye, Cat," Fiona said.
Bothwell, meantime, was riding through the city making sure he was plainly seen by the populace. A crowd began to follow him. He heard their excited voices behind him.
" 'Tis Bothwell!"
" 'Tis the border lord himself!"
"Francis Hepburn!"
"He's escaped the king!"
"Did Jamie really think he could hold Bothwell?"
"Bless me, Mary, he's as bonnie as they say!"
The earl rode to Nether Bow, where he brought his horse to a stop. The crowd kept a respectful distance, wary of Valentine's sharp hooves. "A good morrow, good people of Edinburgh," his deep voice boomed.
The crowd shifted, the spectators punching at each other genially and grinning.
"Is there a man here," said Bothwell, "who would earn an honest gold crown? A crown to him who'll fetch Chancellor John Maitland here to me. If he'll but come to get me I will willingly return to prison this instant!"
The crowd broke into delighted guffaws, and several men ran off in the direction of the chancellor's house to return a few minutes later saying that the chancellor's servants claimed he was not at home. The crowd hooted with derision. Then Francis Hepburn flung a purse of crowns to them. When they had quieted, Bothwell said, "Tell Maitland I'll be waiting for him if he's brave enough to come after me! I’ll be in the borders! And to my cousin, Jamie the king, I send my deepest loyalty."
Valentine reared up on his back legs as Hepburn shouted, "A Bothwell! A Bothwell!" and galloped unmolested from the Nether Bow, the approval of the crowd reverberating in his ears.
Chapter 28
WHILE Bothwell and his party galloped off to the borders, John Maitland set to work to undermine him further with the king. Maitland was a brilliant statesman. Like other statesmen of his time he was, by necessity, ruthless. He wanted only one power in Scotland-the monarchy-for then he, Maitiand, could rule through the king.
For years the royal Stewarts had been plagued by their earls. They ruled only by the cooperation of their nobility. They scattered their bastards generously among the daughters of the upper class, and then married those valuable bastards to the best families in hopes of joining themselves solidly to the powerful clans. They needed their great lords' support in order to rule unchallenged.
Maitland intended putting a stop to all this. He would break the power of these troublemakers. Beginning first with Bothwell on the borders, he would proceed to Huntley, the Cock of the North. If only, he sighed to himself, the great chiefs could be more like some of the smaller clan branches. He thought in particular of the Earl of Glenkirk, and his cousin of Sithean, a minor branch of Clan Leslie who had built up great wealth. They sought no political power, kept the peace on their lands, and rallied to the Stewarts in time of war.
The chancellor called for his coach and hurried off to Holyrood Palace to see the king. He found James in a panic, and the queen trying to calm him.
"How did he escape?" shrieked the king. "How? How? How? Edinburgh Castle is impregnable. Someone had to help him! I want to know who!"
"Sire, sire! Calm yourself," said Maitland. "Though no one saw Lord Bothwell leave, there is, I am sure, a logical explanation for his escape."
"No one saw him go?" whispered the king. "Witchcraft! Again he resorts to witchcraft!"
The chancellor hid a smile, pleased that his subtle inference had not escaped the king. But he had not reckoned with the queen.
"Nonsense!" she snapped. "I am sure the chancellor means nothing of the sort, do ye, sir? La, James! Do ye think Francis really flew out of his cell on a broomstick? More likely as not he bribed the watch! Men will do anything for money."
"His men won't," said the king sourly. "I've tried to buy information from them."
"Well," allowed the queen, smiling, "Francis is a rather special person."
"Is he?" asked Maitland, hardly surprised to find the queen in Bothwell's camp. Women were quite susceptible to the man's charm. Maitland did not understand it.
"Yes," answered Anna of Denmark, looking straight at the chancellor. "Francis Hepburn could charm a duck out of water."
"I want him found!" yelled the king. "I want him found, and brought back!"
"It will be done, your majesty. It will not be easy, but it will be done."
"If ye had gone to the Nether Bow this morning ye could have had him back in prison already," said the queen blandly. Her ladies giggled, and Maitland shot the queen a venomous look which she chose not to see.
"What's this?" demanded the king.
"Lord Bothwell rode to the Nether Bow earlier this morning, James, and offered to return to prison if our chancellor would but come and fetch him. The servants claimed he was not at home, but I understand he was at home, cowering in a cabinet."
The king began to chuckle, and the chuckle grew to laughter. "He outfoxed ye, Maitland!" chortled the king. "Trust Francis! He's a good fisherman, and he played ye like a salmon! He knew damned well ye'd nae dare venture out of yer house after him. He's made ye look a fool!"
"His behavior is an affront to the crown," snapped Maitland. "It undermines your majesty's dignity. He should be severely punished!"
"It undermines yer dignity, Maitland," said the king, but the chancellor's words had stung him. "How would ye punish him?" he asked.
"Forfeiture," said John Maitland promptly. "His offices. His estates."
"No! No!" cried the queen. "Francis is our cousin, James. I know he is reckless, and at times arrogant, but he is the kindest man I know-and he has always been your majesty's good friend. He has never conspired against ye, or lied to ye as others have."
"There are the charges of witchcraft, Annie."
"Ridiculous charges that no one believes! Your own peers are so offended by these charges that they will not even meet to try him! Please, my dear husband. Do not be harsh with Francis. He is our friend, and we have so few."
"We must make an example of this rogue!" thundered Maitland.
"Sir!" said the queen, angrily drawing herself up. "You quite overstep yourself!" She turned to the king. "I should be very unhappy, sire, if ye punished our cousin severely. 'Tis midsummer, and if I know Francis he has but run off to go swimming."
She made it sound so unimportant. James put an arm about his pretty wife. "Let me think on it, lovey," he said soothingly, and bent to kiss her.