Chapter 33 #2
“My dear lady, if there was ever a place to complete such a feat…” The elder warrior’s eyes crinkled as much as the parchment when he squinted to see.
“Here,” Aonghus explained, drawing his finger across the terrain. “The northwest corner of the loch, ’tis the thinnest stretch of land.”
“There were stories of ships crossing land in Ragnar Lothbrok’s sagas; they have called upon these means once more.” King Alexander glared at the Lord Chamberlain to growl a disapproval at his earlier comment: “Nae mushrooms nor jest – ’tis real!”
The Lord Chamberlain’s face turned ashen.
“There are Scots upon these islands in the loch and the borders, particularly Lennox.” The Lord Chancellor’s fingers shook trying to smooth the holy robes as he asked, gravely, “How many ships were present in the night-glance?”
Aonghus saw Keirah furrow her delicate brow and close her eyes. Her lips began moving as if counting off the number from memory. Brillant. “At least twenty, perhaps more; the mist shrouded them. Forgive me, I could not see them all,” she replied, despondent.
“Cluaran,” he called, and she met his gaze intently. “Do not carry the burden, ’tis not yours.”
She gave him a sad smile which said silently to him that she felt different. His heart clenched.
“Lady Keirah,” the king inquired, sternly, “King H?konsson would have led the raids if he were present. You have spoken that his ship carries a gold-plated dragon upon the bow; was this ship sailing the waters in the loch or over the land crossing?”
Aonghus watched her close her eyes once more while worrying her lip a long moment before meeting the kings’ questioning look as she shook her skull. “Nae, my lord king, he is not present; the only one I am able to see is Ivar Holm.”
The advisors took the room. “You are considering sending warriors to Loch Lomond?” the Lord Constable asked the king. “This is the purpose of the question regarding King H?konsson?”
“Aye to both inquiries,” the younger sovereign replied with the prowess befitting a seasoned king.
“Nae,” the Lord Chamberlain argued in almost a plea, “we stay the course. Lady Keirah and Sir Aonghus return with Lord Kollungr to King H?konsson’s summons and we bide our time.
If you must, send missives to any who surround Loch Lomond.
We are still only five hundred knights, alongside a small gathering of clans, against a force of nearly twenty thousand!
We cannot spare the warriors unto Loch Lomond. ”
The king took his throne in a heavy sigh.
“Callum MacCade,” he began, “if any in your clan seek to defend their kin, you have my blessing to let them take their leave. However, I will have you remain here as we charge against King H?konsson as a personal guard to me, given my best knights are about to leave with their own purpose.”
Aonghus held silent. The hunting grounds.
The honor was given after the fateful day on the hunting grounds, where Callum had taken the shot which ultimately saved the king’s life, even if Alexander never wanted it spoken about.
With Sir Brayden, Sir James, and him stepping before King H?konsson, it left Alexander vulnerable.
His eldest brother as personal guard. An excellent choice, lord king.
“Aye, my lord king. I ask only to speak with my brother a moment,” Callum replied. Oh shite.
***
Hear him out first; he is the elder even if only by a year. And perhaps the expression Callum wore, while closing the door, appearing the same as the day of banishment from the clan, was only a coincidence.
“Are you daft, wee brother?” Callum barked.
Heard. Noted. And now pissed. “Callum, I did not ask nor wish for your opinion concerning Keirah and me takin’ our leave,” he snarled back.
Keirah shuffled a step closer toward the hearth, far from them.
She must have sensed the impending battle.
Keeping her distance, mind sharp as a thorn.
She knows the MacCade brothers well. He would have smiled if not for Callum stepping up while hissing, “Takin’ your leave?
! You sound as if you are traipsing off for a leisure swim in the fukin’ loch!
Wee brother, you are taking your lady right to death’s door with the Northmen as guides! ”
“’Twas my idea,” she defended him, still by the hearth.
“Pardon, my lady” – Callum bowed his head – “but I see how you look at my brother with eyes awash in love. You would follow him to hell’s gate if he asked you, which is what he is doin’ this very moment.”
Aonghus’s anger sparked. “Do not speak to her in this manner as if she were daft!”
“She is not daft! The lady is loyal to a fault and loves your Scottish arse with all she is!” Callum roared back, then dropped his voice to barely a whisper: “And if you lose her, wee brother, it will crush you. I cannot let this cruel fate befall you.”
Aonghus took a deep inhale. He feared for them – that was what this was about? If shock blew as cold as the wind from the arrow slit, they would all have been frozen in place. “I will not be losing Cluaran, but you must trust me; we have a plan.”
The rage re-met Callum’s eyes. “Trust! You abandoned Deidre! Only by the grace of Alec stepping in to appease the lass did we not war with her sire’s clan!
But still I regret casting you out. ’Twas the worst mistake I ever made!
One that haunts me each day, and I dare never ask for your forgiveness. ”
His brother regretted casting him out?!
“However, trust, ha! This is another matter entirely, one which shall not come to pass. You were a traitor to Deidre. Shame. Shame on you, wee brother!”
“He was not, you overgrown arse!” Aonghus heard Keirah dive into the argument.
“Keirah, do not…” Aonghus began.
Callum cut him off, raising his hand at Aonghus. “Let the lady speak.”
“’Tis time he knew the truth,” she boldly declared. “Alec loved Deidre! Or are you so blind? Did you not see how your youngest brother just bolted for the passageway?” Keirah’s fists were clenched at her sides. “You cast out my husband for an honorable deed toward his kin!”
Callum’s brows hit his hairline. “Aonghus, this is true?”
There was no going back now; Alec had warned him a day past he was going to tell Callum when they returned to the MacCade keep. Time to come clean.
“Aye, ’tis true.”
His brother rubbed his hand over his brow several times till it turned scarlet at the pressure. “So, you lied to me Lady Keirah lost her instinct in sense…”
“That was the will of the king,” she quickly clarified. “’Tis only you and Alec who know the truth.”
Callum’s eyes met Aonghus’s, a sadness he had never seen before from his brother shown there.
“All these years you lied to me, and so has Alec.” His older brother paused, then turned away, appearing disgusted with himself.
“Seems I am the one who is not to be trusted. Why did you and Alec not tell me the truth?” Callum gave a sick laugh.
“Nae, I know the root of the reason. Me! I am rather taken aback you have even bothered to speak with me when I showed my face here, Aonghus.” Callum met his gaze.
“I cast you out and you feared the same for Alec if the truth came to pass?”
“Aye, your wrath was unlike any I had beheld regarding breaking the betrothal.”
Callum turned, then kicked a wooden leg clear off a chair. “Hell! My past emotions have poisoned our present. Your lady is not mistaken. Wee brother, I was blinded, but by another who clouded my judgement.”
“A lady of your own,” Aonghus guessed. “This was why you never have sought another’s affections, then told Alec he would be carrying on the line of Clan MacCade’s heirs with Deidre.”
Callum lowered his eyes again. “Keen as ever, wee brother. This was the reason I snapped so when you turned your back upon Deidre. I thought you had betrayed her as I was once betrayed by a lady I was prepared to give up everything for.”
His eyes turned wider. “A lady. You were to leave the clan for a lady?”
Callum began scrubbing his face again, this time at his eyes, which had grown misty after he raised them.
“Aye.” His voice broke. “I knew you would be an exemplary chief for Clan MacCade. Truth be told upon my part, I would have left or done anything for her, as I loved her with all I was! She turned her back upon me the eve we were to steal away…”
BANG! BANG!
A knock sounded at the oak doorway. “Lady Keirah, the time of dawn is almost upon us,” Lord Kollungr barked. “The bishops are standing in the great hall; Torsten is waiting by the ship. I will not tolerate insolence such as this. MOVE!”
Callum cussed some Gaelic curse under his breath before preparing to stride toward the door. Aonghus gripped his brother’s arm, halting him.
A heavy silence stretched between the two clansmen. “You have the gold chain?” Callum asked in a low voice, the message a cloaked meaning to kill the Northman when the time presented.
Aonghus gave a dark inward grin. “Aye; once she has her vengeance seen to, the chain will serve its purpose.”
“Good.” Callum nodded; his gaze held as much worry as his tone. “Wee brother, you are goin’ to be in the center of over a hundred ships within enemy waters. There is something else I wish to say…”
“Wait till after we stand back on Scottish soil,” Aonghus broke in, a determination lining his voice like iron.
Callum bestowed on him a rare grin. “Aye, wee brother, give my regards to King H?konsson and tell him the Scots are coming with a force the likes he has never seen.”