Chapter Nine #2
The door opened and a maid stuck her head through. She had golden hair tied into a bun and a warm smile. Alice. That was her name. Elise dimly remembered putting her arm around her shoulders as they belted out Whisky in the Jar the other night.
“Morning, Elise,” Alice said brightly. “Oh, ye are dressed already.”
The fear and deference with which she’d been initially treated by the castle’s inhabitants had, thankfully, waned. At least her drunken performance had been good for something.
Elise stood and did a little twirl. “Ta-da! Got myself into the dress unaided and everything. I’m quite proud of myself. Although,” she added, turning her back to Alice, “I couldn’t quite reach the hooks near my shoulders. Would you mind?”
Alice walked over and began doing up the hooks, pulling the dress tighter across the bodice. “When ye are ready, Phillip MacClelland asks for yer presence in the great hall.”
“Oh? What for?”
“He didnae say,” Alice replied. “Only that he’s got something for ye.”
Elise thanked Alice for her help and then made her way down to the great hall. Although she’d dragged herself out of bed as early as she’d been able, she was still late, and breakfast was being cleared up as she walked into the large room.
Her eyes flicked around the almost empty hall, hoping to catch sight of Jamie, but he was nowhere to be seen. Already out and about doing his chieftainly duties, no doubt, but Elise couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment at his absence.
She snagged herself a couple of pieces of bannock before they could be cleared away, smeared them with butter, and stuffed one into her mouth as she went over to the far side of the hall where Phillip MacClelland was sitting at a table with his back to her.
“Morning,” she said with her mouth full.
Phillip looked up. “Ah! Elise! There ye are.” He indicated the table in front of him which was strewn with documents. “I’ve brought what ye asked for.”
“You have?”
He nodded. “Ye asked for all the information we had relating to these pirate attacks. We’ll, here it is.”
Oh. Right. Yes, she had asked for that, hadn’t she?
But she hadn’t expected there to be quite so much of it.
There were several maps marked with various symbols, a pile of hastily scrawled bits of writing that might have been eyewitness testimony, documents that appeared to be lists of times and dates, and thick ledgers that contained goodness-knew-what.
Her stomach sank. How was she supposed to find anything in this?
She had never exactly been the academic one of the family.
That had been Rose. While her elder sister had been busy doing extra study during break times, Elise had preferred to hang around the bike sheds, smoking cigarettes and talking to boys.
She eyed the piles of documents. Where was she supposed to even start?
She plastered a smile onto her face and looked at Phillip. “Thank you. That’s very…er…helpful.”
“Glad to be of service.” He climbed to his feet and made to leave, but Elise grabbed his arm.
“Wait! Aren’t you going to help me?”
“I would love to,” Phillip replied, spreading his hands. “But I’m afraid I have urgent business for the laird.” He gave her a short bow, then turned and strode away.
Elise sighed. Putting her hands on her hips, she turned to look at the table. Her stomach sank even further.
Still, if she wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on here, she was going to have to start somewhere. Fine. If wading through half a ton of parchment was what it took, so be it.
She glanced over her shoulder to where the serving staff were still busy clearing away breakfast. “Is there any porridge left?” she called over.
“Aye, I’m sure I can rustle some up for ye,” a maid replied.
“Thanks.” Elise sat down on the bench and pulled the nearest document closer. “Because I think I’m going to need all the fuel I can get,” she muttered to herself.
Bending her head, she began to read. The document was written in Gaelic but by weaving a tiny spell, she was able to translate it into English.
In only moments though, her attention wavered.
This was just a catalog of shipments from the mainland, although whether these were shipments attacked by pirates or not, she couldn’t tell.
She tossed the document aside and began another.
This looked a little more promising and was a list of the dates and locations of the attacks.
As Jamie had already told her, they had started about a year ago, but their frequency had been gradually increasing and now they were at their highest level.
Jeez. No wonder Lir had brought in outside help.
How were Jamie and his people supposed to cope with this?
The locations made less sense. They were written as coordinates that would probably make sense to someone of a nautical bent, but to Elise they were just a useless string of numbers.
She leaned back on the bench, putting her hands on her head in frustration and glaring at the numbers as if by sheer force of will she could force them to give up their secrets.
“My, that’s a look of contemplation if ever I’ve seen one,” Andrea said as she placed a bowl of porridge down on the table in front of Elise.
Elise huffed out a frustrated breath. “Contemplation? More like downright bloody annoyance. I can’t make head nor tail of this.”
Andrea leaned over and examined the list of coordinates. “Ye need to plot them on a map. Then ye can see where they are.”
“How on earth do I do that?”
Andrea seated herself on the bench next to Elise. “Here, I’ll help ye.”
While Elise began tucking into the porridge, the housekeeper pulled over a large map of the Kingdom of the Isles and spread it out on the table, pinning it in each corner with candlesticks.
Taking a piece of metal apparatus that looked to Elise like the kind of compass you used at school and a sharpened piece of charcoal, she studied the list of coordinates and then began making marks on the map.
Elise put down her spoon and leaned forward, intrigued. “How do you know how to do that?”
Andrea laughed. “My da was a fisherman. I learned how to sail a boat and plot a course almost before I could walk. But in truth, most people on Islay would know how to do this. When ye grow up on an island, being able to plot a safe course through the treacherous reefs and rocks can save yer life.”
“Could you show me how to do it?”
Andrea looked at her in surprise. “Of course.” She tapped one of the coordinates on the list. “Let’s start with this one.”
The rest of the morning passed quickly. To her surprise, Elise found herself engrossed in her work and Andrea was a patient teacher. They had soon reached the end of the list of coordinates and ended up with a map covered in little crosses, each marking a location of a pirate attack.
Finally, as they marked the last one, Elise leaned back and examined their handiwork. Now the locations made sense. The map showed the whole of the Kingdom of the Isles, not just Islay. It included Skye and Barra as well, and the myriad little islets that dotted the ocean between.
Looking at the map, something jumped out at Elise immediately.
All the attacks centered on Islay. There was nothing near Barra or Skye, or any of the smaller islands.
The crosses formed a tight circle around Islay itself like a noose.
There was no concentration in any particular area and instead they were spread evenly around the island’s coastal waters.
Elise frowned, crossing her arms. “Can you measure distances using this map?” she asked Andrea.
“Aye,” the housekeeper nodded, picking up a metal rule. “What do ye need to know?”
Elise leaned close, eyes scanning the map. She tapped one of the crosses and then indicated Islay’s coast. “What’s the distance between the site of the attack and the coastline?”
Andrea measured it. “Just over three leagues.”
“Right. And how long would it take a ship to cross that distance if they were going as fast as they could?”
Andrea took a piece of charcoal and scrawled a calculation on the bottom of the map. “Taking the top speed of Laird Donald’s galleys—around five knots—it would take around half an hour.”
Elise grinned at her. “You’re wasted as a housekeeper, you know that? You should be a mathematician.”
Andrea blushed at the compliment. “Does the information tell ye anything?”
“It does. Jamie’s fleet is patrolling the coast, right? Yet they’ve never been able to capture any of these pirates. Why is that? How can they disappear so quickly?”
Andrea shrugged. “They have faster ships than ours?”
“Perhaps.” But Elise wasn’t convinced. She snatched up the map and rose from the bench. “Where can I find Jamie at this time of day?”
*
Jamie gripped the handles of the plane tightly and pushed it away from him, shaving off another sliver of the long plank he was working on.
Leaning forward, he blew away the dust and shavings and then made another pass, feeling the muscles of his arms and shoulders bunch and contract as he worked.
Slowly, the timber began to take shape and when it was finished, he heaved it onto his shoulders and carried it over to the pile in the corner of the boatyard.
Several timbers were already stacked there but it would take a good long while until they had enough to begin the repairs to the Sea Star.
Glancing out of the wide doors of the boatyard, he spotted the ship itself floating at anchor out in the bay, a sad remnant of a once-proud vessel that reminded Jamie of his failures every time he looked at it.
At first light this morning he’d sent out one of his fastest ships to tow her home, gambling that the pirates would be too damaged from Elise’s assault to try attacking them. For once his instincts had been correct and his men had been able to salvage the vessel without mishap.
It was a small victory, but Jamie would take any he could get.