Chapter One B #2
Niall put up his hand, silencing the pair that could fight like cats and dogs.
“Enough, the both of ye,” he snapped quietly.
But he was looking at his daughter. “It is not the time tae dream, Issie. I appreciate that ye want tae help, but money is precious and we canna pay a group of men tae fight for us.”
“We can pay them with a piece of our land. They can have their own piece of land if they help us.”
That actually made some sense. But after a moment, Niall shook his head again.
“Someone would have tae teach them tae fight,” he said.
“If we are tae fight a bigger enemy, then we all need someone tae teach us tae fight better than we do. If we are tae keep our land… we canna simply stand fast with a pike tae chase them away. We need more if we are tae survive.”
Isadora didn’t like that her father was wavering on the side of a defeatist. But Isadora wasn’t of that mind set.
She was going to fight.
“When I was young, ye used tae speak of a place where men went tae learn tae fight,” she said. “Do ye recall? The Ludus Caledonia.”
Niall’s gaze was on the distant fires of Netherton, now difficult to see because the smoke was so heavy. “Not now, Issie,” he said dismissively. “There’s no time tae—”
She cut him off. “Da, I am trying tae tell ye that there is a place we can learn tae fight,” she said. “Ye spoke of The Cal when I was younger. Ye told me it was a place tae learn tae fight. Did ye lie tae me, then?”
He looked at her, sharply. “I’ve never lied tae ye, lass.”
“Then why not go tae The Cal?” She put her hand on his arm, imploring. “Ye filled my head full of tales of a place where men learn tae fight, where they become great warriors. What if ye send us there? Me and Ewie and Ossian? We can return and teach our men tae fight.”
It was an idea that actually had Niall’s attention. In fact, he looked at her closely as he realized what she was suggesting. “Nay, lass,” he said. “Even if it was a possibility, it’s time we dunna have.”
“But what if was a possibility?” Isadora said eagerly. “Da, ye often spoke of The Cal as if it were a dream. As if it were someplace beyond us, a whisper upon the air that was quickly spoken, quickly gone. Are ye sure it exists, even?”
“I’m sure.”
“Have ye been there?”
Niall hesitated. “Thrice.”
She grew more excited. “Then ye know where it is,” she said. “Ye can send us there.”
He was shaking his head before she could finish her sentence. “I canna,” he said. “It would take too long for ye tae learn and then return tae teach the rest of us. But if we get a man who has already been taught…”
He trailed off and suddenly there was hope again amongst those within earshot. They all knew of the Ludus Caledonia; most fighting men in Scotland and England did. It was a fight guild like no other, but it also had the unique feature of being the most exclusive gambling den in Scotland.
There was nothing else like it.
When his children had been small, Niall had filled their heads with stories of such a place, a fight guild he’d visited once on a trip to Edinburgh.
He’d attended one of their very bloody and well-attended games where men battled in a secluded arena cut into the hills of the Lowlands of Scotland.
They were men who battled for fame and honor, men who were greatly rewarded if they were the victor.
It was an impressive place.
The winners were offered great positions of power within the homes of great lords all over the known world—nobles and royalty from many countries, creeds, and color attended the games.
Sometimes, the winners were simply offered a purse.
Niall had seen that for himself—warriors beaten and bloodied, clutching a leather purse of coins, missing teeth or eyes, but proud that they were the victors.
Even the losers were gracious in defeat, taught that fighting was, above else, done by men of honor.
There was great honor in a battle well fought.
But those men all had one thing in common—they were trained to win, no matter what the cost, and they were trained with techniques and education that couldn’t be found anywhere else.
Niall knew he could find a man to help them at the Ludus Caledonia. Perhaps that gambling habit he’d once had, his true motivation for visiting The Cal, might actually serve a purpose this time.
It might have given him the answer to saving his people.
“Then we’ll go?” Isadora asked, jolting him from his train of thought. “We’ll go tae The Cal, Dada?”
She always called him “Dada” when she wanted something. He knew she wanted to go with him but having a woman along on such a journey was the farthest thing from his mind.
“Enough, Isadora,” he said in a tone that suggested no arguing. “I’ve enough tae take in on this night without yer nuisance. Whatever needs tae be done, I’ll do it. But now, let us return tae the village. Now that we know the situation in Netherton, we’ve much tae discuss.”
Turning on his heel, he motioned his men with him, and they began to follow him like sheep.
All but Isadora, that is. She watched her father walk away, heading back up the footpath as the silver moon illuminated the landscape. Even her brothers walked past her, leading their shaggy ponies, until Isadora was left standing alone.
As her clansmen headed back the way they’d come, Isadora turned an eye to Netherton in the distance. As shocking as it was, it wasn’t surprising. That was the sad and terrible part: it wasn’t surprising that St. Drostan Lindsay was behind it all.
The man was a devil.
Glancing up into the oidhche-airgid, she pondered how nights like this were meant for evil.
Evil had come to Netherton and she couldn’t help but feel great pity for the men and women of the village, now believing the Keith had come to destroy them.
She wished she could run down there and tell them it wasn’t true, but it would do no good.
She was certain they would not believe her.
Turning to follow her clansmen back up the hill, Isadora wondered if her father would take her advice and seek a skilled man from the Ludus Caledonia. He’d always told her that was where the very best warriors in the world were. If he was lying to her, then there would be no trip to Edinburgh.
But if he wasn’t…
She planned to be part of that trip.