“Well, some o’ us have had enough o’ it. We ha’e a new King now, we’re told, King John. Mayhap he’ll be a fine, strong King like Alexander, may God rest his soul, and we’ll be happy if that’s so. But we winna ken the truth o’ that for years to come. And in the meantime there are folk out there, folk who should know, who’ll tell ye Edward o’ England has plans o’ his own for Scotland, and the only strong King he’ll countenance in this realm is himsel’.” He stopped again, and no one sought to interrupt him.
“This much I believe,” he continued. “Nothing in this land is going to get better soon, from the viewpoint o’ folk like us. And that is why we ha’e chosen to live in the forest. We’ve lived there now for nigh on two years, and there were folk there when we arrived. We’re a community there in the woods—there are several hundreds of us. We have our laws and rules, and they are much like the laws and rules we knew before, when we were ordinary folk, living within the law. And so I will say this to you: go back to your homes and find your families, then make your way, if you so wish, to the forest near Jedburgh. Ask there for William Wallace, o’ anyone ye meet, and ye’ll be directed to where we are. After that, ye’ll be free to join us completely if you so wish. But ye’ll have to live by our laws and rules, and if ye break those, you’ll be banished back into the outside world.” His mouth quirked in a smile. “But they’re simple rules, and easy to keep.
“And now I’m going to go and sleep, and hope I don’t stiffen too much in the night. We’ll need to be away before dawn, so don’t stay up too late around the fires just because you can. Those of you wi’ collars should talk to Shoomy over there. He’s our smith and will clip off your bindings.”
Shoomy was ready to go to work immediately, and we knew the job of striking off the collars would not take long. They were temporary fetters, fastened with knotted wire, and even as Will and I were making our way back to his hut, Will with an arm around Mirren for support, I heard the loud snip as the first man was cut free.
When we reached the front of the hut, I bade Will and Mirren a good night, but as I turned to leave, Will stopped me, speaking in Latin.
“Ewan tells me you still remember how to swing a quarterstaff …” I made no response, and he continued, “What time will you leave tomorrow?”
I looked at him in surprise. “When you do. Why would you even ask?”
“Because we’ll be leaving practically in the middle of the night. I see no need for you to lose that much sleep. You can lie in.”
“How can I lie in? I’m coming with you.”
He eyed me strangely. “What gave you that idea?”
“It came to me when I remembered how to swing a quarterstaff. They’ll be looking for me now, along with you.”
“Ah! I see. And who would they be looking for? Did you tell them who you are?”
“No, but—”
“Who, then, might they think you are?”
I found myself blustering, somehow resenting what I took to be the implications of the question. “They saw me. They know my face. They know I was with you when you arrived.”
“Who saw you? The men who saw you are all dead, from what I’ve heard.”
“Except the Bishop himself.”
He cocked his head. “And does he know your real name? Does he even know where to begin looking for you? You told him you were from Jedburgh. Jamie, all the Bishop saw when he rode by us was a grey-frocked cleric, a mendicant monk carrying the tools of a common scribe. He paid no more attention to you than he would to any other beggar in his path.”
“He looked at you close enough.”
“Ah. You saw that, did you? Good. And yes, he did. Did he look at you the same way?”
“No. He barely glanced at me that time, but he looked closely enough when we were face to face and he thought I had named him responsible for the men we were after. And that was before you called me Father James.”
“Aye, but you are not Father James, are you? You’re not even Brother James. You are Jamie Wallace, a mere student. And so at worst he will set his people to looking for a minor priest from Jedburgh. He will not instruct them to visit Paisley Abbey and interrogate the seminarians. I’m the one he wants, Jamie, the one he knows. I’m the marked man. He’ll be at Uncle Malcolm’s house looking for me at sunrise, so you stay well away from there and make your way back to Paisley alone. Do you understand what I am saying, Jamie? There is no safer place for you than at the Abbey, and it is time for you to take those vows and be ordained.”