So the dog had sensed more men above, had it? Fin wondered if the men on the wall at Rothiemurchus could see them or would be much help if they could.
Comyn said, “Ye ken fine that your own brother James said that it be time and more for ye to wed, lass. I dinna ken if your da agrees with him yet that I should be your man, but James wields strong influence with Shaw MacGillivray.”
“Do you think so?” Catriona said. Her flat tone gave no indication even to Fin if her brother’s possible influence over her father disturbed her.
With a crack of laughter, Comyn took another step forward, saying, “Ye’re a one, lass. But ye’d do better to speak wi’ more warmth when ye talk to me.”
Fin said, “Call out your men, Comyn, or depart with them. You choose.”
Comyn grinned. “Or what? D’ye think ye can take on all of us, man? Sakes, ye’ve not even drawn your sword.”
“You should be glad of that,” Fin replied. “Whether I can take you all depends on how many you have with you. I do know that I can kill you before any other man reaches us. Nay, don’t move,” he added, hefting his dirk.
“That against me sword? Ye’re daft!” He took two more steps toward Fin.
“If you look toward the island, Rory Comyn,” Catriona said in a tone as calm as Fin’s had been, “you will see two boats setting out from Rothiemurchus. You do yourself no good by threatening a guest of our household.”
A piercing two-note whistle sounded then from above them on the hillside.
As it did, Comyn leaped forward, clearly intending to cut Fin down.
Fin’s sword was out in a trice. Deftly parrying the blow, he sent the other man’s weapon spinning up high and far out into the loch.
Staring in shock at the flying sword and then at Fin, Comyn reached for his dirk.
“Nay, lad, don’t be a fool,” Fin said, smiling. Without taking his eyes off him, he added, “Your blethering is over for today. Look yonder on the hill.”
Comyn frowned and glanced over his shoulder at the hillside, where two men were coming out of the woods at nearly the same spot that he had. However, each had his hands clasped atop his head, and two other men followed, dirks in hand.
The younger and taller of the two armed men shouted in broad Scot, “We found these lads lurking yonder, sir, watching you!”
“Who the devil are they?” Comyn demanded.
“My men,” Fin said. “But I tell you without boasting, sirrah, that if that is your army, dispatching the three of you would have been but mild exercise for me.”
Comyn grimaced and looked again at the loch, where ripples still flowed from the spot where his sword had splashed into the water.
“ ’Tis true, that,” Fin’s wiry equerry, Toby Muir, said gruffly in Gaelic. “These two be worth nowt, sir. They didna take their eyes off ye, even to look behind them, till our Ian here asked them, gentle like, if they’d like to meet wi’ their Maker today.”
“You searched them, of course,” Fin said.
“Aye, sure,” Toby replied. “And took away such weapons as they had.”
“Ye’ve nae right to take our weapons or to threaten us!” Comyn snapped.
“Take your grievance to the Mackintosh,” Fin said. “It means nowt to me.”
“I’ll talk anon wi’ Shaw MacGillivray. Then ye’ll see.”
Provocatively, Catriona said, “Come back with us, Rory Comyn. The Mackintosh is at the castle, so you may make your complaint to him now.”
“I ken fine that he’s there. But I’ve nae wish to fratch with him. I’ll bide my time till your da returns. Tell your friend here to give my men back their weapons and we’ll go. Ye’ll owe me for mine,” he added with a challenging look at Fin.
“You should be grateful that I was willing to spare her ladyship the sight of your blood,” Fin said. “You all lost your weapons through your own folly. So let it be a lesson to you. But get hence now, the three of you.”
“Aye, go, Rory Comyn,” Catriona said. “If my father wants you, he’ll send for you. He’ll not be pleased to hear that you attacked a guest of his at Rothiemurchus.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said. But after another glance at Fin, he gestured to his men to follow and strode angrily back up the hillside from whence he had come.
Returning his sword to its sling, Fin clapped each of his men