Candace Robb - The Fire In The Flint

‘You lied to me about the letters Aylmer carries,’ Margaret said. ‘My father’s letters. I know what they say, Roger, and I’ll ask you again — what is Aylmer doing with them?’

‘So you can read?’

She shook her head. ‘I took them to someone who can. I had to know, Roger. Though it has made it all worse, for now I fear you murdered Old Will.’

‘Why do you go on about that old drunk? I didn’t touch him, Maggie.’

‘Did Aylmer?’

‘Why would he?’

‘Why does he have Da’s papers?’

Roger pressed his hands to his face and grew quiet.

It had all gone so horribly wrong, Margaret thought, and yet she did care for Roger.

Dropping his hands, Roger said, ‘I needed information about Malcolm’s dealings with the English, something I could threaten to reveal unless he shifted his allegiance from Edward to Robert Bruce. We don’t want his ships helping the enemy.’

‘How did you know to look for the letters?’

‘Something Malcolm said before he left alerted me that when he’d pledged his fealty to England in Berwick he’d made a business deal much to his liking. But I needed more — something to prove he was serving both sides.’

‘You think so little of my father?’

‘He’s not so different from his brother Murdoch,’ said Roger. ‘Surely you’ve seen that?’

She had, and she could not fault Roger’s suspicion. ‘So where did Aylmer find the letters?’

‘In Murdoch’s undercroft — they are the originals. I knew your father would carry only copies of such documents when travelling unless the original was required.’ Roger ran a hand through his hair. ‘Oh, Maggie, why did you insist on prying?’ His face compressed in anguish, chilling Margaret to the heart. ‘How am I to explain?’ He swung his legs over the bed and reached for his leggings.

‘Explain to the Bruce’s kinsman, you mean?’ she asked.

He came around to her side of the bed. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I know who Aylmer is.’ She told him about the other letter Aylmer carried.

Roger turned away.

‘You had not known that the Bruce sent Aylmer to lure Da,’ she said.

‘No. But I understand. I’m sure he was also concerned about my steadfastness once I was among my family. Anyone can swear allegiance.’

‘The Bruce will be pleased when Aylmer reassures him that your family has no influence over you. I’m gey glad Da isn’t really here.’

‘We are in a war against a powerful force, Maggie.’

‘Does it not give you pause that Robert Bruce set Aylmer to spy on you and my father?’

‘You little fool, meddling in what you don’t understand.’

The chill in his voice numbed Margaret. They dressed in silence and went their separate ways.

Celia saw the anger on both faces as the couple descended, first Roger, then Margaret not far behind. As Roger began to cross the hall to the street door Celia had offered him food but he shook his head and departed. Margaret stood in the middle of the room, hands hanging at her sides, as if she awaited some grim news.

‘Come out to the kitchen, Mistress, I beg you,’ Celia said, stepping into Margaret’s field of vision. Aylmer had not yet risen, and she did not want him to come upon them as she recounted his return in the night.

‘Were you up long with Mungo?’ Margaret asked as the dog bounded across the yard to greet her and Celia.

‘I slept with him in the hall,’ Celia said.

‘I’m sorry you had such a night.’

‘You should not be.’ Celia told her of Aylmer’s state when he returned in the middle of the night. ‘Had I not been there, we wouldn’t know. He’ll have himself cleaned up before he presents himself today, I’ll warrant.’

‘God watch over my brother,’ Margaret whispered, crossing herself, certain that Aylmer had followed Fergus. Now that she knew Aylmer’s true identity she saw that he was a strong thread in the complex knot of conflicting loyalties in which she was bound up, and she could not guess whose side Roger would take if the Bruce’s kinsman harmed her brother.

It was mere chance that Wallace had been in the small camp across the river from Scone when Fergus was brought there the previous evening. Having observed the English garrison in Kinclaven moving about as if expecting reinforcements, Wallace had worked out a plan for the gradual dispersal of his troops and had come south to discuss it with his men there, including James, who had been biding in the smaller camp for quick access to Perth and Scone. Though Longshanks had robbed Scone of anything of worth and sent it south to England, it was yet a sacred place to the Scots.

‘I’m sending some parties on to Dundee,’ Wallace told James shortly after dawn. ‘They’ll travel in small groups. I’ll wait at the Kinclaven camp for the last to arrive. I hope my party includes you and those you’ve coaxed from Perth.’

‘Perth is for the English,’ James said. He’d been brooding about the burden of Margaret’s presently useless brother. ‘Someone else could take the lad back to town.’

‘No, James. Not all of the people there support Edward Longshanks.’ Wallace listed the families on whom he was depending. ‘It’s important to me that you go to Perth. You’re a Comyn, the king’s kinsman. The people need to know that his kinsmen still fight for him, and that not all have been bound and taken to England.’

James knew from experience that the Comyn name was not always a welcome one. Power breeds resentment. ‘They would rally even more to your call,’ James said.

The face framed in rusty hair looked haggard. ‘I am but one desperate supporter of King John Balliol, never meant for greatness, James. Think how strong we would be were the great lords of this land to stand by us.’

‘Edward has taken too many of them to England,’ said James.

Wallace nodded. ‘It was clever of him.’

In the end James promised to talk to the families Wallace had named in Perth, and any other households they might suggest.

Going in search of Fergus, James found him curled up on his side napping under the watchful eyes of one of his rescuers.

‘What do you think, can he travel?’ James asked.

‘He’ll be slow.’

Fergus stirred. ‘Are we off home, then?’ he asked, rubbing his eyes and cautiously stretching out his legs along the uneven ground. Dew glistened on his straight, chestnut-coloured hair. He coughed after sucking in a lungful of the damp morning air and clutched his sides with a grimace of pain.

‘I don’t know that you’ve the strength,’ said James.

‘I’m sore but able to walk.’

‘What’s your hurry?’ asked Fergus’s protector.

‘The English have returned to Perth,’ said James. ‘They’re distracted by a skirmish on the far side of the river, but I want to be inside the walls before they’ve time to organise a watch on them.’

‘They hadn’t left one in place?’

James shook his head. ‘They are too confident of the townsfolk.’

‘With good cause, the cowards,’ Fergus muttered. He had managed to sit up and was studying James. ‘I know you,’ he said. ‘You came to the house the day Maggie returned to Perth. But you were dressed as a friar then. So it was you she’s been meeting at the kirk.’

James had not expected Fergus to know him in his usual clothes. ‘How did you recognise me?’

‘By the cleft in your chin,’ said Fergus. ‘I remember thinking that the amorous cleft was wasted on you — unless the tales of lecherous friars are true.’

‘I bow to your keen eye,’ said James. ‘At your age I would not have marked it.’