Chapter 10 #2
Erik took it as only half in jest. “We had men from other clans join Ross under Donas. He made them soldiers, and when they werena fighting, they became lazy drunks.” Erik understood why their wives wanted them put to work.
But it was obvious that many had become spoiled by sloth.
His insistence on building the wall was not making him popular.
Morale among the men fell faster the more their laird demanded real labor.
The only exception to that seemed to be when they were fishing or hunting.
And now, Fiona had decided he must lend her four of his men to escort her and the Ross cook to Inverness.
To go shopping for supplies they might need during the winter.
How had they gotten by every other winter of his life?
How did she propose to pay the merchants she expected to buy from?
And what were they supposed to eat while Cook was away?
Ah, of course, he now had a helper…two, in fact.
A lass and a lad to train with him. Would they manage to poison the entire clan while Cook was away?
Erik shook his head. His frustration was making his thoughts run wild. He had to get them under control. But his list of grievances wasn’t finished yet.
Morale among the wives was improving as Fiona’s efforts to get things organized started to succeed.
She’d unearthed and shared areas of expertise among the lasses that under Donas and Silas had never been established or acknowledged.
Even younger lasses were feeling more important than the young lads, who resented their loss of status in the lasses’ eyes.
Erik knew some would see Fiona’s growing popularity as a challenge to his leadership rather than an adjunct to it.
At times, he did, too. But she was only doing what he’d thought he wanted, challenging him at every turn, determined to carve out her own place, and not cow to his every demand.
They were supposed to build Ross together, but she was making much more progress than he.
And why? Because the men weren’t as invested as the women in success.
How was he to inspire that? Donas did it with threats.
Erik needed another way, and he’d thought that way was Fiona, a wife who would support him and be so kind and wise that, of course, the clan would do whatever she said.
Which they were doing, and her successes made him proud and grateful, but also drove him mad. Was he failing on his part of their bargain? On days like this, he felt that way, which put his temper too easily in reach.
It was Osgar’s poor luck that Erik and Tormod soon found him lounging against a felled tree trunk, and, by the saints, was he snoring?
Erik grabbed the front of the man’s jerkin and lifted him off the ground. He came awake sputtering, then gasping as he realized what was happening—and who held him.
“Laird, I…”
“Dinna think to make excuses,” Erik spat and dropped the man onto the tree trunk. He rolled to the opposite side and backed away, hands out to hold off his laird’s anger.
That was all Erik needed to see. Rather than standing his ground and explaining himself, Osgar was a coward.
One of the worst sort, who built himself up by bullying women.
Not just women, Erik’s wife. The clan’s lady.
All Erik’s earlier thoughts about controlling himself disappeared in a red haze.
He charged, leaping over the tree trunk and plowing into the man, knocking him back down.
“Ye are a disgrace. Ye dinna deserve to call yerself a Ross,” Erik spat, as he lifted the man from the ground again.
“I warned ye about yer sloth, yet I find ye shirking yer responsibilities yet again, while all the other men of Ross are working to protect the clan.” That thought brought back Fiona’s warning and cooled his ire a little.
“What should I do with ye? Donas might have killed ye here, or taken ye back to the village to make an example of ye. Is that what ye want?”
“Erik!”
Tormod’s shout brought him up short even before he gripped Erik’s free arm.
“What the devil are ye about?”
Erik shook off his hand. “This man threatened my wife, and this is the second time I’ve caught him shirking his duties. He deserves to be punished. The lash at least, or to be banished.”
“Ye sound more like Donas than yerself,” Tormod said softly, disappointment adding shadows to his voice. “Ye are better than this.”
“Am I? Perhaps I am beginning to understand why Donas was the way he was. Men like this one.” Erik, still holding the man, felt him shaking. Tormod’s words rang true, stealing more of the heat currently roiling Erik’s blood. “So, Tormod, what do ye recommend we do with him?”
Tormod crossed his arms and regarded Osgar. “Set him to chopping branches from the felled trees, and cutting them into firewood. We need a plenty for the winter. He can be useful. And he can do it where other men are doing the same, so he’ll no’ have another opportunity to sneak away.”
Erik stared into Osgar’s eyes. “Ye ken I’ll do worse if ye dinna comply.”
The man nodded. Erik dropped him and pushed him away. “Get out of my sight. Go with Tormod. He’ll put ye to work and keep an eye on ye.”
After they left, Erik sank onto the tree trunk the man had be dozing against and dropped his head into his hands.
His temper would be the death of someone yet.
Himself or another, it mattered not. Except that he knew his outbursts would also put Fiona in danger.
He had to control himself. He was not Donas.
He must not rule like Donas had done, yet every time he became angry, his blood boiled.
It had never mattered under Donas. He was but one angry man among many, and far from the most brutal.
But now he was in charge. And he had Fiona, whom he wanted to help him to be a better man.
These angry outbursts had to stop. Thanks to her, and to Tormod’s intervention, he’d regained enough control just now to avoid doing any harm to Osgar.
But what would he do the next time someone crossed him?
“Lady Ross,” a young woman said, walking up to her as she left the central fire after her conversation with their healer, Cara. “I’m Tira Ross. Tira Munro Ross. ’Tis good I found ye. I’d like to talk to ye.”
“I’d like to talk to ye, too, Tira. What do ye need?”
“I have some ideas that ye should hear,” she said.
“So many things have been left to chance or no’ done at all.
Most clans have healers and seamstresses and brewers and, well, many people with a certain skill doing what must be done in the clan.
We have none of those, so while someone may weave on one day, they may do something else on another, or naught at all.
With winter coming, we will be in trouble.
I tried to get Silas to choose some leaders but she never wanted to listen to them, so they gave up and went back to doing whatever they pleased at the moment.
Donas and Silas held things together by ordering people around.
I hope ye see that is no’ a good way to rule a clan. ”
Fiona waved her to a seat and sat down next to her. “I do. And I agree with ye. I have identified several roles besides cook and healer that also need to have experienced people in them. But I want to hear your ideas.”
Tira went into great detail. It was clear to Fiona that she had given her proposal much thought, and she seemed nicer than Cara’s description of her.
Fiona thought she’d be helpful, despite her reported antipathy for the cook.
But Fiona also knew first impressions could be misleading—good or bad.
Tira had been through a difficult experience, and it might well have affected her in ways Fiona could not imagine.
Erik had warned her about this lass, as had Cara. Fiona would take her time with Tira.
Once she wound down, Fiona thanked her for her thoughtfulness and admitted many of her ideas were ones Fiona herself had already arrived at, but Tira had added some Fiona had not considered, and Tira’s were good.
“The laird has his council of elders,” Tira told her. “Perhaps ye as lady could enact something similar to advise ye. I would be honored to be included.”
“That is another useful idea,” Fiona told her, not wanting to disappoint her, but not convinced that she would do something so formal. “I will indeed think about it.”
“I would also be pleased to introduce ye to my husband whenever there is an opportunity to do so. Donas relied on him for much, and our new laird can depend on him as well. If he considers expanding his advisors or needs another lieutenant to help him run the clan, I hope he will recall Teague’s loyalty to Ross. ”
To Ross, not to Donas. Clever. “I’ll be sure to mention that to him,” Fiona said, at a loss for how else to respond to such a demonstration of naked ambition.
Erik’s earlier warning about Tira and the couple’s aspirations was no exaggeration.
She would certainly discuss Teague and Tira with Erik, and find out what else he knew before she committed to anything.
Fiona didn’t know what to make of Tira, but the lass had given her some good ideas.
She might not be a friend, but she could be put to good use for the clan, so she accepted Tira at face value for now.