Chapter Twenty-Three #3
Niall sighed heavily and planted himself on the nearest stool. “Tae protect our lands, our village,” he said. “Tae protect our very lives.”
As Isadora sobered at the realization, Cam was listening carefully.
In fact, he’d done nothing but listen all day.
He’d listened to the villagers of Auchnacree speak on their fears, on the brutality of the Lindsay, and he even heard some speak of leaving Auchnacree for a bigger village or city that wasn’t on the verge of destruction.
He’d listened to it all.
But what he hadn’t heard were solutions.
Lots of problems, but no solutions. Cam knew that he was here to help Auchnacree, but Niall seemed to think that Cam was the solution.
Even now, as he faced Isadora and her family, Cam had the feeling that they were all looking to him as their one and only chance for survival.
And it was slightly worrisome.
“I know ye brought me here tae lead yer men, but from what I saw in the village today, ye dunna have many men tae lead,” he said after a moment. “Was that everyone?”
Niall looked up at him, perhaps reluctantly. “Mostly,” he said. “Other than a few farmers outside of town, what ye saw today is all we have. At last count, it was two hundred and eleven men, women, and children in Auchnacree.”
“How many men out of that number?”
“Seventy-four.”
Cam moved closer to the fire, pondering that rather dismal number. “Ye dinna tell me that before.”
“Ye dinna ask.”
“That is not a very big number, especially against the Lindsay. I know they have at least twice that number, if not more.”
Niall seemed to appear less than confident, for the first time since Cam had known him.
“I know,” he said quietly. “Today ye saw the reality of what we’re facing.
But each man will fight ’til the last. They’re a brave lot.
That’s why we needed a skilled man tae lead them.
Ye may not have experience, Lion, but ye have talent. We need what ye have.”
Cam thought he sounded a little desperate, which was something that Niall had never conveyed before.
Cam briefly wondered if Niall knew that the entire situation had been futile all along, that Auchnacree was doomed no matter what they did to prevent it, but he couldn’t believe that. The situation was dire; that was clear.
But not futile.
However, what Niall said was true—Cam didn’t have experience, only an overwhelming sense of self-preservation, which was how he’d survived the Ludus Caledonia. Still, he’d learned something there and what he didn’t know, Isadora did. She had advised him quite ably at The Cal.
He turned to her.
“It seems tae me that an assault on the Lindsay wouldna be wise,” he said. “Kirkburn Castle has walls and an army. I know, for I have been there. It would be a wasted effort and ye’d lose many men.”
Isadora nodded as she came over to the fire, sinking to her knees before it. “That is very true,” she said. “Attacking Kirkburn would be foolish.”
Cam hoped she was astute enough to realize that he was giving her an opportunity to state her opinion, perhaps even guide the direction of the defenses. Isadora had told him back at the Ludus Caledonia that she would help him and, now, he was giving her the opportunity to give that help.
“Then what would ye suggest?” he asked her plainly. “I can fight, but ye have more experience in this than I do. Do ye have any ideas, Isadora?”
“Aye,” she said without hesitation. “I’ve spoken tae my da about them, but he dinna seem tae think they’re good ideas.”
“Tell me. If I dunna think so, either, I’ll tell ye.”
Isadora looked around to her father, her brothers. “I’ve told ye this before,” she said. “We know the Lindsay use the Vale of Morning tae travel tae our boundaries. They also come in through Teygret. If we put men there with arrows, we could keep them away.”
“Or anger them,” Niall said. “Issie, if we kill a Lindsay, we’ll bring the whole clan down upon us.”
“The whole clan is already down upon us, Da.”
Cam could see how touchy the subject was. Isadora wanted to aggressively defend while Niall was afraid of retaliation. Before they could get into an argument about it, Cam held up a finger.
“I have an idea,” he said. “It may not be much, but I’ll speak of it. I may not have experience in battle, but it seems logical that defending against the Lindsay isna enough. We’ll defend, they’ll continue harassment, and it will never end. That is no way tae live.”
Niall and Isadora were listening. “Go on,” said Isadora.
Cam did. “Ye told me that the Lindsay had gone tae Clan Murray for support,” he said. “Clan Murray denied them. If the Lindsay can ask for support, why not the Keith?”
Niall shook his head. “We have allies, lad, but not close ones. No one that would want tae involve themselves.”
But Cam shook his head too. “I dunna speak of allies. I speak of enemies.”
“Enemies?”
“Aye. Lindsay enemies.” He looked between Isadora and her father. “There is an old saying which states that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Therefore, in the interest of filling out yer ranks, who is the enemy of the Lindsay?”
Isadora looked to her father in surprise as Niall rubbed at his chin. “Ogilvy,” he said. “My wife was an Ogilvy.”
“Then I say ye go tae Clan Ogilvy and ask for help,” Cam said. “I’ll go with ye and tell them how Drostan tried tae trick me after burning Netherton. Between the two of us, we might be able tae convince them tae help.”
It was an idea that made a good deal of sense. “I’m not sure why I dinna think of that,” Niall said. “I was thinking we had no allies tae support us. It never occurred tae me tae seek an enemy of the Lindsay.”
“Ogilvy is tae the north of Kirkburn,” Cam said. “They are a big clan.”
“With a thousand warriors,” Niall added. “It would be a clan war if they were involved and I’m not sure they would risk such a thing.”
“Ye can ask,” Cam said. “What is the worst they can do? They’ll send us home and we’d be no worse off than we were before. Meanwhile, we can gather all the men in the village and teach them a few things. How well do they know tae fight?”
Niall shrugged. “Well enough,” he said. “We’ve had a few rows with the Lindsay and with the Ruthven when they tried tae use our lands tae fight their wars with Clan Hay. Our men can defend themselves.”
“Mayhap I could teach them what I learned at The Cal.”
Niall liked that idea. In fact, he was feeling rather hopeful with Cam’s suggestions, simple as they were. But perhaps they’d needed an outsider to point out the obvious.
“We’ll do that,” he said. “Isadora and Ewan and Ossian will spread the word. We can work with them tomorrow and mayhap even a little training will help fortify their courage. It has been a long time since we’ve had cause tae hope.”
It seemed like a plan.
Thoughts of fighting and enemies were pushed aside, however, with the introduction of the meal. As Cam accepted his wooden bowl of the stew that was salty and hot, Isadora cut off big hunks of bread and doled them out.
It was a satisfying meal as the rain outside pounded, but all the while, Cam kept looking over at Isadora.
He was trying not to be obvious about it, but he couldn’t help it.
She was sitting between her father and Ossian, but she was directly in his line of sight.
He was fairly certain that was on purpose.
The woman he couldn’t do without.
When the meal was finished, Ewan took the bowls outside to wash out in the rain and Isadora’s task was to see to the horses for the night.
She’d been so busy staring at Cam that Niall had to remind her of it.
There was a livery a short way down the hill where their horses were kept, including Cam’s, and Isadora reluctantly excused herself to see to her chores before retiring for the night.
Cam watched her go, or tried not to watch her go, fearful that the brothers or Niall might figure out that Isadora had his attention and he didn’t want the complication until he was ready to make his intentions clear.
But thoughts of Isadora were soon pushed aside because Niall wanted to speak more on future plans for the defense of his village.
Cam found himself engaged in that for the rest of the night.
Isadora eventually rejoined them and sat next to Cam, chiming in with advice now and then.
Cam could feel her body heat, giving him comfort such as he’d never known.
It was an evening of battle discussions and warfare, but it was also an evening of bonding with Niall and Ewan and Ossian. Men he would be related to, someday.
And Cam couldn’t have been more at peace with it.