Chapter 15 #2
Malcolm looked directly at him. “Clan MacIver and Clan MacNicol have drawn steel against one another for generations. Fishing rights, roads, grazing lands… blood has been shed over all of it. A priest’s blessing willnae erase memory.”
“I didnae claim it would,” Roy answered.
“Yet, the King expects two clans tae become one.”
“The King expects peace.”
Finlay gave a rough laugh. “Kings often confuse an order with an accomplishment.”
Roy’s eyes cooled. Donaldina spoke before pride could answer pride.
“Then perhaps we should concern ourselves less with what the King expects and more with what Dun Ard requires.”
The elders turned toward her. She kept her shoulders straight, though their attention carried the familiar weight of judgment. For years, she had spoken in this room while men waited for Lachlan to decide whether her words deserved repeating.
Lachlan was gone now. No one would lend her authority. She had to claim her own.
“Cormac is counting upon division,” she continued. “Every quarrel between our clans feeds him. Every MacNicol who looks upon a MacIver and sees only an old enemy gives Cormac another man tae frighten or persuade.”
“And what would ye have us see?” Finlay asked. “Brothers?”
“Nae.” Donaldina’s voice remained calm. “Nae yet.”
Roy looked at her. She turned toward the maps spread between them.
“Trust cannot be commanded any more than old grief can be buried beneath a marriage contract. But men may learn one another by working toward the same purpose.”
Malcolm’s brows drew together. “What purpose?”
“Keeping Cormac from taking Dun Ard.”
That silenced several objections. Roy moved one of the carved markers from Black Craig toward the northern MacNicol road.
“Shared patrols,” he suggested.
Finlay stared at him. “MacIver soldiers upon our land?”
“Beside MacNicol soldiers.”
“Watching them?”
“Watching the roads.”
“And when a dispute begins?”
“It will be settled by officers from both clans.”
Finlay shook his head. “Ye invite conflict intae every patrol.”
Roy’s fingers tightened faintly upon the marker. “Conflict is already here.”
Donaldina detected the restraint in his voice.
He disliked his judgment being questioned, especially by men who resorted to suspicion rather than strategy.
However, he did not issue commands or remind them of the King’s decree or the armed forces at Black Craig.
Instead, he stayed beside her and let the council oppose him.
The knowledge warmed her more than it ought.
Malcolm studied the map. “MacIver men willnae know our paths.”
Donaldina nodded. “And MacIver soldiers possess experience our younger guards lack.”
Finlay looked toward her sharply. “Ye would place our men under MacIver command?”
“Nae. Each patrol will have one officer from either clan. Decisions will be shared.”
“Shared command is nae command at all.”
“Then ye have spent too many years believing wisdom can exist in only one man at a time.”
A few councilors lowered their gazes.
Finlay leaned back. “And when MacIver men learn every weakness in our walls and roads?”
“They already ken enough tae harm us, had that been their purpose,” she replied. “Roy entered Dun Ard through a hidden passage. His men held the hall. The gates stood open before them.”
The memory chilled the room.
“He could have claimed the castle then,” Donaldina continued. “He didnae.”
She felt Roy’s attention settle upon her. The admission was costly not because she doubted its truth, but because speaking it before the council placed her trust where all could see.
Malcolm looked from her to Roy. “And ye believe his clan will show the same restraint?”
“I believe men become loyal tae those who stand beside them before danger, nae those who lecture them after it.”
Rain struck the shutters in a sudden hard sweep. Donaldina placed her palm upon the table.
“The first patrol will ride tomorrow. Six MacNicols. Six MacIvers. They will inspect the northern posts and the roads leading toward the old Gunn lands. Nae man will enter a home, take supplies or question a tenant without a MacNicol officer present.”
Roy nodded. “Agreed.”
Finlay’s eyes narrowed. “Ye speak as though the matter is settled.”
“Nae,” Donaldina corrected. “I speak as though I have offered a plan. The council may approve it or present one more useful.”
Silence followed. She waited.
It was a risk. Councils often preferred criticizing decisions to producing them. By asking for another plan, she forced the men to measure their objections against the danger beyond the walls.
One by one, their gazes returned to the map. No one spoke.
Malcolm broke the silence first.
“One patrol,” he said. “As a trial.”
Donaldina inclined her head. “One patrol.”
“And if there is trouble between the men, the arrangement ends.”
“If there is trouble, we learn from it before Cormac uses the same division against us.”
The old man grunted, though not in refusal. Another councilor raised his hand. Then another. Finlay held out longest. At last, he exhaled and gave one reluctant nod. Donaldina felt the tension loosen between her shoulders.
“The motion passes,” Malcolm declared.
Conversation resumed at once regarding routes, provisions, horses and the choice of officers.
Hamish bent over the map with two MacNicol captains.
Arguments broke out over which road required greater protection, but their tone had changed.
The men were no longer disputing whether cooperation was possible. They were deciding how it would work.
Donaldina closed the supply ledger. Roy remained beside her.
“Ye knew they would agree,” he said quietly.
She kept her gaze upon the council. “I hoped they feared Cormac more than they disliked yer clan.”
“A flattering foundation for unity.”
“It is a beginning.”
Roy looked toward the men gathered over the map. MacIver and MacNicol shoulders nearly touched as they argued about the northern ridge.
“Aye,” he nodded. “It is.”
Donaldina glanced at him.
There was approval in his eyes again. It reached the same tender place his praise had found in Lachlan’s solar. She looked away before he could see.
Outside, the wind continued battering Dun Ard, testing each repaired stone and newly fitted beam. Within the council chamber, two clans placed their first shared marks upon a single map.
It was not peace. But for the first time, it resembled a road toward it.