Chapter Twenty-One #2
Clegg shook his head. “The only idea as far as I am concerned,” he said. “Letting Lady Currie buy you and then going to Hawkhill to collect your young lady who serves there. Cam told me that your young woman serves Lady Currie.”
“She does, m’laird.”
Clegg’s intense gaze lingered on Brody. “Lady Currie did, indeed, come to The Cal to buy you,” he said quietly. “Sixty pounds sterling, which is an enormous sum for a warrior. You understand that I could not refuse that, Brody, but it was with a purpose in mind. It wasn’t strictly business.”
Brody looked at him, torn between outrage and curiously. “Then ye accepted her offer?”
“I did. But I have a reason.”
“What is the reason?”
Clegg turned to Axel and extended his hand. Axel produced two large leather pouches, jingling with coins, and heaved them both into Clegg’s arms.
“This is what she paid me,” Clegg said. “Or, I should say, what her husband paid me. You see, I know Greer Currie. I have for years, since before he ever married Blanche Ireby. That’s Lady Currie’s real name, you know.
Greer deals in fine goods and I have purchased many things for my collection from him – Roman coins, vases, rings.
Greer is a very nice man who married a viper.
I do not like Lady Currie; I never have.
She shames her husband daily with her ventures here to The Cal to fornicate with my warriors.
But I took her money because I want you to do something for me. ”
Brody was quite intrigued. “If I can, m’laird.”
“You can and you will,” Clegg said, handing the heavy leather pouches of coinage that amounted to sixty pounds sterling to Brody.
“You will return with Lady Currie to her home of Hawkhill. You will return Greer’s money to him and then you will take your lady and flee.
Go wherever you wish; but just go. That way, Greer gets his money back, you have your freedom, and Lady Currie gets nothing. And that’s the way I want it.”
Brody stared at him in shock when he realized that Clegg agreed with Isadora’s suggestion. “Ye want me tae run?”
“I do.”
“As ye wish, m’laird.”
“But there is one more thing.”
“Anything, m’laird.”
“Stay away for a while, just long enough so that thoughts of you will cool in Lady Currie’s mind,” he said. “Then, I want you to return here to fulfill your oath to me.”
Brody would do anything for Clegg. He’d just made it so Brody could keep his honor, marry Lilia, and punish Lady Currie all at the same time. What wouldn’t he do for the man?
“I’d be happy tae return if ye truly want me, m’laird,” he said. “It would be an honor tae continue as a warrior.”
But Clegg shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “Not as a warrior. As a trainer. There is nothing more we can teach you, Brody. But I think there is a good deal you can teach our new recruits. It is a position I am offering you and you will, of course, bring your wife with you. Will you do it?”
Brody was stunned. He looked around, to Titus and Cam and Isadora and even Axel. They were all looking back at him in varied degrees of warmth and approval. This little family at the Ludus Caledonia that had somehow adopted him, too.
They wanted him.
Brody could hardly believe it.
“Ye… ye want me tae train men?” he managed to ask.
“I do,” Clegg said. “Will you come?”
Brody was truly overwhelmed. “Two months ago, I was living in the gutters of Edinburgh,” he said, feeling a lump in his throat.
“I had no hope, no future. Then, I met Lilia. She gave me hope again. I came here because of that hope, because I wanted tae earn money tae buy her freedom. But never did I imagine I would find friends here, people willing tae help a man they dunna even know very well. But ye’ve given me a gift I never expected tae receive – a gift of friendship.
Will I return here tae teach? I canna imagine a greater honor, m’laird. I’ll return, and gladly.”
Clegg smiled at him. “Then it shall be done,” he said. “Now, I must return to Lady Currie and tell her we have struck a bargain. And, Brody… when you return that money to Laird Currie, make sure you tell him it is with my compliments.”
“I will indeed, m’laird.”
“Above all, remember our motto – Hominibus Gloria. In men, there is honor. And there is honor in you.”
With that, Clegg turned away and headed back to Caelian Hill with Axel on his heels, leaving Brody standing there with the others, stunned by what had just happened. He was still trying to take it all in. Brody finally turned to Cam.
“It looks as if I am going tae Hawkhill tonight,” he said.
Cam nodded. “We’ll miss ye, but we’ll look forward tae yer return.”
Brody smiled weakly, looking between Cam and Isadora and even Titus. “I came here tae make money,” he said. “I found much more than that. I’ll be back; ye can believe it.”
“Good,” Cam said. “If we dunna see ye before ye leave, then Godspeed tae ye, wherever ye may go. But should ye need anything… ye know where tae find us.”
Brody reached out a hand, taking Cam’s and squeezing it strongly. “Ye have my thanks, Cam,” he said, looking to Isadora and smiling at her. “Both of ye have my thanks. Ye’re true friends.”
Cam squeezed his hand in return, taking his wife and child and heading back towards the small cottage they shared. Titus was left standing there, watching everyone walk away. But he lingered.
“If ye find ye arena welcome when ye return tae the Highlands, then go to a place called Blackwood House in Stirling,” he said. “My mother lives there. Tell her I sent ye and she’ll give ye shelter.”
Brody looked at him seriously. “That is very generous,” he said. “Given that I’ve nearly killed ye twice, that’s a very gracious thing tae do.”
Titus chuckled. “Is that how ye remember our battles?”
“Dunna ye?”
Titus’ laughter grew. “I think I kicked ye in the head harder than I thought.”
“Ye dinna kick hard enough tae knock over a pile of sand.”
Titus crowed. “Keep telling yerself that, Brody,” he said. “I canna wait for ye tae return so we can kick each other again.”
He walked away, chortling, leaving Brody standing there with a grin on his face and a warmth in his heart that he couldn’t begin to describe.
In what should have been one of the most terrible moments of his life, all he could feel was hope, friendship, and anticipation for what the future would bring.
But first, he had to survive his round with Lady Currie.
Not only did he intend to survive, he intended to win.