The Thistle and the Rose(5)

“Calm yourself, my dear,” Lord Hugh rumbled softly. “But you haven't really been introduced to these two ruffians, have you. Well, not tonight. Tomorrow will come soon enough to get acquainted.”

“If you want to lodge your other guest here, m'lord, I'll just take a moment to move my things next door.”

“Don't you worry, lass,” the old man said gently, beginning to move toward the door. “We'll find another place for young Macpherson to be comfortable. You and the bairn will not be troubled here.”

“Thank you, Lord Hugh. I really didn't want to cause your family hardship,” she said, following the three men.

The old warrior's creased face warmed with a look of fatherly affection as he turned and took her hand again.

“Don't be concerned about our hardships. All Scotland's got hardships now, and you've had enough of your own. Good night, Lady Celia.” The Campbell chieftain then turned on his heel and herded the rest from the room.

Colin threw this mystery woman a last irritated look as he left the room. His father was completely taken with her.



“Who is this woman, Father?” Colin exploded in the hallway.

One of Lord Hugh's shaggy eyebrows arched in surprise at his son's exclamation. He had never before asked anything about any woman of quality in his entire life.

“Fine looking lass, isn't she,” the chieftain remarked casually. “If I were your age...well, perhaps a bit younger, I'd—”

“Hang her looks, Father! Who is she? What's her business here?”

Colin is certainly worked up over her, Lord Hugh thought to himself. This is promising. The lad should have married ten years ago. We could have had a whole herd of little Campbells running wild in this castle by now.

Funny it should be this one that got his attention. If he's interested now, Hugh thought, wait till he finds out who she... No, I'll not tell him. We'll just watch and maybe let things take their natural course...for a wee bit, anyhow.

“Why, Lady Celia arrived with her uncle and her bairn a week ago. After that devil Danvers burned Edinburgh, he started burning every castle, manor house, and farm in the Lowlands, and they've been on the run ever since. The poor lass has been sick with worry about the wee one. Over a month they've been tracking through this miserable winter wet. The bairn has a terrible cough, Runt says.”

“It's true, Lord Colin,” the squire piped up from the rear. “The lady frets over the babe night and day. She's a wonderful caring woman.”

“Of course she would be,” Colin snapped. “What mother would not?” Colin had known his own mother for only the first few years of his own life, but his vague memories were ones of tenderness and warmth.

“This woman was sick herself when they arrived,” Lord Hugh added. “She never so much as gave herself a thought, though. The bairn, the wet nurse, even her uncle came first for her. She's a rare one, Colin.”

“Well, she certainly made a quick recovery,” Colin responded gruffly. “You can ask Alec about that.”

Lord Hugh threw Alec a quizzical look, but the Macpherson feigned ignorance. He was not going to admit that this slender and sickly woman had knocked him to the ground.

“Aye, Lord Hugh, she moves with pretty fair speed for a sick woman. I didn't want to hurt her, of course, but...” Alec's voice trailed off as he searched for a new direction for this discussion. “Who is this Lady Celia, though, m'lord. You've not said.”

“I haven't?” the Campbell chieftain exclaimed. “Surely when I introduced you all...I didn't even do that properly, did I?”

“It's true, Lord Hugh,” the trailing Runt chirped up. “You never made any proper introduction. You crabbed the entire meeting, you did.”

“Quiet down, fish bait, or I'll ding you so hard, you'll wake up in Ireland,” the old laird rumbled at his squire with a pretended show of anger. In truth, the Campbells had never been the kind of masters who beat those in their service, and because of this, the verbal exchanges sometimes bordered on insubordination. But Lord Hugh knew that he could count on every one of his retainers' loyalty and affection. He was looked on as a father to them all.

“Where was I,” the chieftain continued. “Oh, yes. She's Celia...er...Lady Celia... Caithness. Escaped when the cowardly English pig Danvers tried to burn them out. Her uncle Edmund and I have known each other for more than thirty years. The last we spent any length of time together was after that little brawl we started at Norham Castle, back in '98, I think it was. We were baiting—more than fighting—the English back then. A good fighter, he is. Maybe the best trainer of soldiers in Scotland, too.”



“Then where is her husband to care for her?” Colin asked irritably. “The Caithnesses cannot protect their own wives?” He didn't know why this news upset him so, but he suddenly felt wrung out, as if someone had squeezed him out like a wet rag.

“Lord Caithness cannot,” Alec responded, cutting into the discussion. “He died with the king at Flodden.”

The two Campbell men stopped and faced the Macpherson.

“You know her?” Colin snapped at his friend.

“Only about her, and that probably only third hand,” Alec responded. “And I only knew Lord Caithness by sight, for he was closer to your age, wasn't he, Lord Hugh?”

“I never knew him myself, lad, him being a Lowlander, but I believe he was only ten years or so younger than I. If my memory serves me, I believe he sided with—”

“What do you know about her, Alec?” Colin interrupted, stopping his father mid-sentence, to which Lord Hugh took more amusement than offense.

“No more than mere gossip, Colin my friend,” Alec teased with the most serious of expressions on his face, sensing the father's response from his surprised smile. “And I know you have no interest in hearing tales.”

“Nay, indeed, lad,” Lord Hugh cut in wryly before his son could respond. “The Campbells are not a bunch of old fishwives to stand about trading slanderous stories. Nay, indeed. But tell me, rather, about the business at the Highland tryst. There's serious talk for serious men.”

Colin could not press Alec further at this point, but the matter was far from closed. As Colin turned his thoughts to the business of the meeting, Alec spoke up.

“Colin spoke clearly and to the point with the other Highland chiefs, m'lord,” Alec said earnestly. “But your proposals were shouted down by Torquil Macleod and too many of the others. They’re like a pack of greedy wolves, ready to tear apart what’s left of Scotland, thinking they’ll get a little piece. They'll all perish like the fools they are, with their petty bickering and their arrogance. But the Macphersons are with you.”

“Good, lad. Your father's always shown wisdom in his dealings. We need to stand together against the English. The Stewart kings have never been great friends to us in the Highlands and the Western Isles, but they've always been a rallying point for us against the outsiders. And we'll be needing them now.”

“My father thought that with spring nearly here, Colin and I could do a great deal to muster support among those chieftains who did not go to Dunvegan, and maybe even among the Lowland lairds who survived this bloody winter.”

“Aye, lad. Perhaps we'll be able to persuade Edmund to travel with you two. He's well known and respected among the Lowlanders. He’s a man of honor, and he's trained enough of their fighters, I know.”

“He'll be a real asset, at that,” Colin commented in a surly tone. “He can start by giving Alec here a lesson or two.”

“Sounds like there's a story here that I'd just love to be hearing,” Lord Hugh said, yawning. “But I believe tomorrow will be soon enough to hear it. Why don't you put Alec in the Archbishop's room? He shall not be arriving until right after Easter. Good night, lads. Good to have you safely home.”

After Lord Hugh closed his own door, Runt curled up on his blankets in the alcove across from his door, and the two great warriors continued down to the room that Alec would be occupying during his stay.

“Well, Colin, if you don't think I'll run into any adventures trying to get into the Archbishop's bed...” Alec quipped, half drawing his sword in mock defense.

“Not so quick,” Colin said. “I want to know everything you know about Lady Caithness.”



Colin's head was telling him that this Caithness woman was trouble; he had to learn more about her.

But as strange as this woman was, there was something even stranger about that rush of relief that he'd experienced, hearing that this perplexing woman was a widow.

She was beautiful, indeed. But Colin had known many beautiful women in his life, and none had ever gotten under his skin the way this one had. And so immediately!

He was even more perplexed now. Something about this woman was affecting him. And this irritated him even more.

But he was not going to give in to these feelings. He had more discipline than that. And he was going to find out what this woman was doing here. Perhaps whatever Alec knew, or had heard, would give Colin a clue.

This woman is hiding something, the giant warrior thought, and I'm going to find out what it is.





Chapter 3





When they limped home after Flodden, we deserved to take something from them. That is the way of war. And the Scot king sought us out for battle. They say he was after dowry. That King Henry wasn’t paying his sister’s keep. What a bloody price these Scots are paying now for the pettiness of kings.