Chapter 6
Calum, Kenneth, Euan, and the rest of the senior Brodie scouts and fighters met with Iain the next morning.
They settled around the large table in Iain’s solar and waited for the laird to speak.
He’d called them together with little notice.
None of them knew why, but Calum was certain it meant there was trouble coming their way.
Was Domhnall coming back to finish what he’d started at Harlaw?
A chill slid down Calum’s back. A lot of good men died that day, and as far as he knew, their deaths accomplished nothing.
Still, if Iain intended to take Brodie back into that fight, Calum wanted to be a part of it.
None of them would be able to resist the chance to finish the job, and to put an end to the threat of war in the Highlands.
But how? He still couldn’t trust that he would see anything coming at him on his left side in time to protect himself.
“I have news,” Iain began without preamble.
“First the good news. Annie heard from her elder sister at Rose that Cameron Sutherland is doing better.” He raised a hand as smiles broke out around the table.
“But the problem he and Kenneth encountered is still with us and has gotten worse. We’ve heard of more roving bands of men spreading out from the area west of Harlaw.
They’ve been robbing travelers of weapons, coin and other valuables, attacking crofts and stealing food, both grains and meat.
Some of it livestock they can herd along with them.
The attacks had diminished during the last few sennights, and it appeared that they’d moved on, bypassing us westward, or farther south if they’re from Mar’s army, headed home.
’Tis nay longer the case. Crofts were looted and burned on our border to the south with Clan Grant last night. ”
Euan sat up straighter. “What do ye need us to do?”
“Scouts will go out first and do what scouts do. Locate any bands moving into or through Brodie territory. Some may be simply passing through. Peacefully. But we ken some are no’.
Ye have my permission and that of our allies to stray into their territory as needed to apprehend any fighters who have stolen property in their possession.
If ye are attacked, ye will defend yerselves.
Be certain any encounters in neighboring territory are gallowglass men or lowlanders, and no’ our allies.
We dinna need to start trouble with Grant or any other nearby clan. ”
“When do we leave?” Kenneth glanced around the table, checking on his men without another word and getting nods in response.
“Get yer gear together today. Some of ye will leave after dark, others in the morning, so as not to alert any watchers who may be in the area that we’re on the move.
Or that this keep has fewer defenders. We dinna ken if the clans along the firth are being watched.
But better no’ to take that chance. The trouble Kenneth and Cameron Sutherland encountered happened near the coast. Kenneth, organize yer scout parties and the timing of their departures.
If ye encounter any large groups, ye will return or send word and wait for reinforcements. Is that clear?”
“Aye,” Kenneth answered for the rest of the men.
“Very well.”
At Iain’s nod, the men stood and filed out of the solar, all except Kenneth who likely wanted to discuss tactics with Iain. Calum hung back with Euan. He wanted a word with Kenneth.
“I ken what ye intend to say,” Euan said in low tones, his expression serious. “Ye have spent little time sparring. Are ye willing to risk yer life on yer ability to see a blade coming from yer left side?”
“I’m a Brodie scout. ’Tis my duty to go where the laird sends me,” Calum answered vaguely.
He knew what he wanted. To be his old self, at the forefront of a battle.
Yet Euan had a valid point. Joining the fight might not be possible yet.
And was certainly not wise. Still, there was an option he liked even less—for Kenneth to order him to remain behind in Brodie.
Though if raiders got into Brodie…nay, he would not think about what they might do to the clan’s women.
To Ella. She had already suffered too much harm from men—even men who were supposed to protect her.
The memory of the day the Munro laird allowed Thomas Ross to reclaim her still made Calum want to punish the Munro with his fists.
She and Muireall had longed to return home, never expecting that Ella would be forced to go back to her husband.
Calum could not let another man hurt her ever again.
He and the other scouts would find where the raiders camped, and Brodie warriors would deal with them there.
His nerves jangled, making it hard for him to stand still.
He took a breath, trying to calm the tension swirling in his gut.
Euan would notice any anxiety and put it down to fear rather than eagerness.
He wouldn’t be entirely wrong.
So much of everything he hoped to regain depended on him being part of this. Scouting and finding the troublemakers. Yet he wished they showed up a fortnight or more from now, when he was in better command of his abilities. “If I canna fight, I can still scout.”
Euan studied him, speculation in his gaze. “Ye may be right. Ye’re the best of us at moving silently, and ye notice everything around ye. Ye always have.”
“I still do,” Calum insisted, frowning as the memory filled him of walking about the bailey with Ella, his eyes covered, while she pretended to be Janet.
His every other sense had been filled with sounds, smells, tastes, and changes in temperature.
Even the rise and fall and the texture of the ground beneath his boots.
And her. He’d known she was Ella. He simply hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself.
“Kenneth may have already thought of using ye that way.”
“If he hasna, I intend to convince him.”
Euan nodded, the beginnings of a grin lifting the corners of his lips. “Saint Gertrude’s anklebones, Calum, welcome back.”
Calum did grin at that, but quickly wiped it away as the door to Iain’s solar opened and Kenneth stepped out.
“I thought I might find ye…both…here,” he said, glancing from Calum to Euan and back to Calum.
“Ye are on scout duty. Aye, both of ye,” he added as Calum’s mouth opened to question him.
“Ride and hide and report. Dinna engage. Euan, ye are good with weapons, and Calum is at a disadvantage for now. Keep him out of trouble. Calum, ye are better than any man at noticing things others miss, but if at any time ye find ye canna continue—”
“That willna happen,” Calum assured him.
“Very well. Ye leave after dark. I expect ye both back alive and in one piece, aye?”
“Aye,” they answered together.
Elated, Calum wanted to pump a fist in the air, and to shout that he was still a Brodie scout. Still one of the best. And now he had a chance to prove it. Somehow, he held it in.
Kenneth nodded and left them, likely on his way to tell his wife Catherine, and to ready his own pack and weapons.
“Good news, aye?” Euan said with a grin and clapped Calum on his shoulder. “’Tis too early in the day to celebrate. I’ll meet ye in the bailey at midday and we can spar.”
“We can drink when we get back. Training is the only celebration I need right now. As long as ye dinna take my head from my shoulders.”
“Or do anything else that would keep ye from leaving this night, aye. I ken how important this is to ye. ’Tis important to me for ye to be ready, as well. Despite Kenneth’s wishes, we may have to fight.”
“No’ if I can prevent it,” Calum told him, determined to keep them out of trouble. For him to be fully accepted, they must succeed.
“Have ye heard?”
Muireall’s voice snapped Ella out of the daydream she’d been having as she folded dry bedding she’d helped pull from the lines before the latest rain shower blew through.
In her musings, Calum had come to her and apologized.
Begged her forgiveness. Sworn his undying love and devotion, then kissed her senseless.
Almost. Muireall entering her chamber pulled her from her fantasy before it got any better, damn it.
“Heard what?” She dropped what she was doing and faced her friend.
Muireall took one look at her and grinned. “And what’s been on yer mind, eh? Ye are blushing. Have ye talked to Calum about training ye yet like I suggested?”
“Naught to do with ye, and nay. I dinna ken if I can face him when he turns me down.” She waved a hand in front of her face as if brushing aside that idea. “What news have ye brought me?”
Muireall crossed her arms, looking for a moment as if she’d continue to interrogate Ella, but she sobered.
“The scouts are going out. Starting tonight, looking for bands of men who’ve been stealing from travelers, and looting and burning crofts.
Gallowglass men, they think, left behind from the army Domhnall took to Harlaw. ”
“’Tis terrible news,” Ella said, realizing what this meant. “There will be fighting.”
“Aye, likely. Though scouts have been told to avoid it and report back if they find any large groups of men.”
“How many men are going?”
“Dinna ye mean, is Calum going? Aye, he is. With Euan at least, who will keep him safe. They’re first out. Tonight.”
Ella dropped onto the bed, her knees weak. “He canna fight. Why would Iain send him?”
“Because he’s needed. Ye ken he’s one of the best scouts. They both ken he’s vulnerable. Euan will protect him. They’ll avoid trouble and come back here to report anything they find.”
Ella thought back to her walk around the bailey with Calum while his eyes were still covered. She had done her best to convince him that with his other senses, he was still a Brodie scout. “It’s what he’s lived for,” she told Muireall. “So why does the idea now make my heart race?”
“Because it is again real,” Muireall told her. “No’ just something he hopes for.”