Chapter Twelve
LETHAN VALLEY
'So, I have a brother.' I did not soften my words with a preamble.
Father looked up from the table where he was eating, with half a leg of reived mutton before him and a flagon of good claret. 'You have a brother,' he confirmed. I could tell by the narrowing of his eyes that he expected me to lay blame on him. I could not do that after my experience with Hugh.
'I always wanted a brother,' I said and saw Father's expression soften.
'We all need kin,' he said.
I nodded at that. 'I think there is more you need to tell me, Father.' I slid onto a bench opposite him, folding my skirt neatly beneath me. 'Such as why he rode into the valley and abducted me.'
Father could never look innocent. His attempt was ludicrous, with spreading hands and wide-open eyes. 'Why should I know that?'
'Because you know everything that happens in this valley.
' I held his gaze. 'And you knew he was your son.
' I tapped my fingers on the table, copying Mother's gestures when she insisted on a reply.
'You knew he was coming, Father, and you allowed him to ride free.
I noticed that there were no injuries in the fighting and only one young lad was taken captive. '
Father's smile was wide and as reassuring as a cat's gape at a mouse hole. 'Yes, Jeannie, I arranged the Yorling's attack.'
'Why?' I said. 'And none of your lies, Father. I am in no mood to brook more falsehoods.'
'Oh?' Father raised his eyebrows. 'The fox cub threatens the old wolf.' His laugh was loud and equally perfidious. 'I arranged that raid to capture you, of course, my daughter. Oh, you were never in any danger. George would not have hurt a hair on your cossetted little head.'
'So why then?' I asked.
'Why do you think?' Father asked. 'You have an understanding with Robert of Whitecleuch. The two of you have promised all sorts of foolish things ever since childhood.'
I had thought that Father did not care one way or another whether I married Robert. Now I looked into his devious face and realised that he had been watching everything all the time and hatching his own plans for my future. 'Carry on, Father,' I said.
'Robert of Whitecleuch will not be a good leader for Tweedies,' Father said seriously. 'He is slow, ponderous, and cannot wield a sword. When I asked the Yorling to take you away, I had one of two things in mind.'
I am not sure how I felt when I heard that Father had arranged that I should be abducted by a group of men I had never met in my life. 'What were these two things, Father?'
'Either Robert would finally prove himself a man,' Father said, 'Or he would make such a fool of himself that you would finally see how useless he was for you and the valley, and you would choose somebody more suitable.'
'So, the entire raid was false?' I said.
'It was all false,' Father said.
'Robert did not know that,' I said. 'He might have killed the Yorling, my brother George.'
Father's great laugh boomed out around his chamber. 'Robert could not hurt the Yorling if he tried for a month!' The idea seemed to amuse him so much that I felt my anger build up.
'Robert's not that bad,' I said. 'At least he came to look for me.'
Father's laughter ended abruptly. 'If your mother had been taken by a raiding party, I would be in the saddle and raising a hot trod within half an hour. Robert did not do that.'
I said nothing. I remembered how tenderly the Yorling had treated me in his ride away from the Lethan Valley, and how he had camped high on the hill with few precautions.
At the time I had thought it bold; now I saw that he was not hiding from Robert but allowing him the opportunity to track and capture me back, if he so willed.
'The Yorling tells me that while he awaited Robert's trod, Wild Will came instead,' Father said.
'That is how it happened,' I agreed. I remembered that professional onslaught by the Armstrongs and the ease with which they had overcome the Yorling's men. I had not realised, then, that the Yorling had been inviting such an attack and so their resistance had been slight.
'The Yorling lost one man killed and another badly hurt in that encounter,' Father said, 'and spent the next two days tracking Wild Will to Tarras. He knew he could not defeat the Armstrongs in their own stronghold so came back for me and the men of Lethan.'
I nodded. 'My Robert was with you,' I reminded.
'He was,' Father said. 'He came to me for help when he should have been on the trail of the Yorling and then on that of Wild Will.'
Despite myself, I shuddered at the thought of my Robert tracking the Armstrongs through Liddesdale and the desolation of the Tarras Moss.
'At least he came looking for me.' I defended him.
Father raised his eyebrows and said nothing to that.
'Are you still intent on marrying him?' Father asked.
'I am,' I said stoutly. Father knew about my visions. I had no need to remind him.
'I thought so,' Father said. 'That is the main reason I want to remove any threat from the Veitches.
With Robert Ferguson as the head of the surname, the Tweedies will be every man's prey.
' He lifted the tankard of ale that stood beside his right hand.
'In other words, Jeannie, although you do not approve of what I am doing, I am ensuring your safety, and that of my people.
' He took a deep draught of the ale and put the tankard down with a thump. 'Mostly yours.'
I knew I should thank him. Instead, I could only say, 'There could be a lot of people killed.'
'They will only be Veitch corpses if the men do as they are told,' Father said, 'and if your fool Robert does not fall off his horse or cut his finger on his sword or allow a ten-year-old child to unhorse him.'
It hurt to hear Father's low opinion of Robert.
It hurt more when I knew he was only slightly exaggerating.
I knew that Robert had so many good points, yet I could never convince others to see them.
One day though Robert would ride over a ridge and save me; he would prove himself as bold a hero as any man in the Borders.
'I am not inclined to let this thing wait,' Father said. 'Word will reach the Veitches that the Yorling and his men have arrived in the valley. They will guess that we are going to attack them and will prepare, so we must strike soon.'
I thought of Hugh and knew I did not want him hurt. 'How soon, Father?'
'In a day or so,' Father said.
I felt fear for Hugh, and fear for Robert facing the Veitches. If they were all of Hugh's standard then Robert, and Father, would be facing a redoubtable foe.
'Now,' Father said, 'I have things to work out and arrangements to make. If you have nothing to do, then I am sure your mother can find something for you.'
'I am sure she would,' I said, 'and that sounds a very good reason to avoid her company.'
Father's smile was genuine this time. 'Go and find your man,' he said. 'Maybe you can get some sense into him. God knows that nobody else has been able to. I have something to tidy up.'
Robert was in the stables, helping a groom rub down his horse. As was common in the Lethan Valley, the men rode stallions or geldings and left the mares for women.
'You can go now.' I dismissed the groom. 'We won't be needing you for the next hour or so.'
Handing his curry comb to Robert, the groom left at once.
'They are nearly as scared of you as they are of your mother,' Robert said.
'I am not scary,' I said.
'You can be.' Robert knelt down to inspect the legs of his horse. He glanced at me over his shoulder. 'The servants are scared of you.'
I knelt at his side. 'Are you?'
'I'm not scared of anything!' There was that boastful Robert again, so false and so different from the caring Robert looking after his horse. I much preferred his caring side.
I put a hand on his shoulder. 'Thank you for coming to search for me,' I said.
He shied away from my touch before relaxing. 'I'm glad you are unhurt,' he said. 'You said that you escaped with a man. Who was he?'
'Just another prisoner of the Armstrongs.' I dismissed Hugh with a casual shrug. 'We got out together. Why did you not want to talk to me in the great hall?'
Robert looked back at his horse. 'I was with the lads,' he said. 'I did not want to look soft by talking to a girl. They laugh at me.'
I took a deep breath, fighting my temper. That was the sort of reply I would have expected when he was twelve years old. 'That was an honest answer,' I said. 'I'll remember not to approach you when you are with them.'
I resolved to talk to his friends one by one. If the servants thought I was scary then so help me I would put the fear of God into these little boys who sought to keep Robert and me apart by mocking him. That was for the future.
'Robert.' I inched closer so my thigh touched his. He continued to examine the horse. 'Robert!'
He looked around.
'Can you leave that blasted horse for a moment and talk to me?'
Robert looked comically surprised. 'I am talking to you, Jeannie. Do you think this tendon is a trifle weak? I have to ride him soon and I don't want to damage him.'
'No, you don't want a lame horse,' I agreed. 'I will leave you two alone together.'
I walked away and sent the groom back in. Once again, I felt like crying. I had known Robert all my life, my visions told me that he would be my man, and yet I seemed unable to communicate with him. We remained friends and nothing else. I felt as if I was running out of time.