Exiles in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (16 page)

Callum still wore his mail and sword,
of course, and was obviously well-turned out, which was why Cassie
had agree that he should do the talking. The soldier lifted his
torch so he could see Callum more clearly and then shifted from one
foot to the other as he acknowledged that he faced a knight.
“Donald—”

“
Hush, Rory,” the first
soldier said. “Run and get the lord.”

Rory obeyed, hustling towards the
camp. Cassie, Callum, and Liam waited with Donald, though Liam
looked like he was about to fall over. Cassie slowly lowered her
hand so she could hold him up with both arms around his waist.
Although Cassie still wore her bow and quiver, and she’d seen
Donald’s eyes go to them and then move away before he’d spoken to
Rory, she hardly posed a threat against so many men.

Rory came hurrying back with a
middle-aged man of medium height. He was dressed in a fine tunic
that fell to his knees and a wool cloak, but wore no
sword.

“
My apologies, my
apologies!” The man waved a hand. At the sight of him, Callum
leaned Liam further into Cassie and stepped one pace forward. The
man came to a halt in front of Callum.

“
So it is you,” the man
said.

“
So it is,” Callum said. “I
thought you were dead. I saw you fall.”

“
A necessary illusion.” The
man’s eyes went to Liam, widened, and then he moved towards him
with arms outstretched. He took Liam from Cassie and enveloped him
in an embrace. “My boy. I’m so glad to see you alive.”

“
Thank you, Uncle,” Liam
said. “It pleases me to be alive too.”

Cassie might be slow on the uptake,
but she’d caught on by now. This was Bishop Kirby.

“
Come with me,” Kirby
said.

“
Of course,” Callum said,
but he let Bishop Kirby and Liam get ahead of them, the Bishop
assisting his nephew on one side while Donald took the other. Rory
followed, leaving Callum rubbing at his temples with his fingers
and still not moving. “He was dead. I swear it.”

“
I saw him fall, too,”
Cassie said. “I saw the blood.”

“
So if he didn’t die, who
did?” Callum said. “Why the deception?”

“
Could he have known about
the ambush in advance and left before it started?” Cassie
said.

Callum glanced at her. “You have a
suspicious mind.” Before Cassie could protest, he added, “I like
that.” The two of them took a couple of steps towards the camp, but
then Callum stopped again and shook his head. “Men died. Good
men.”

“
You will find the
answers.” Cassie had spent three days with Callum, two of them with
him asleep, but from what she’d learned of him so far, there was no
way he was letting this go. If Cassie was sure of anything, she was
sure of that. 

Chapter Nine

Callum

T
his situation stunk so high to heaven, Callum was having
trouble not holding his nose in the bishop’s presence. Callum had
seen the look in Kirby’s eyes as he’d recognized Callum and Liam.
He’d thought they were dead. More to the point, he’d
wanted
them dead. Callum
hadn’t seen that look since Afghanistan, and even then it had been
in the eyes of one of his own men who hadn’t known when to stop
firing his rounds.

Callum’s biggest concern at this point
was the welfare of Cassie and Liam. Just after that came the fear
that if Kirby would have preferred Callum dead, was that true of
Daddy and Grampa Bruce too? And if so, were any of them going to
get out of here alive?

A healer’s tent had been set up near
the center of the camp. Kirby dropped Liam off there and after a
quick check on him, Cassie and Callum followed Kirby to another
tent of similar size, twenty by twenty, with the Bruce banner
planted in front of it. The door flaps were pulled back and the
soldier who guarded the entrance gestured them inside.

“
Lord Callum!”

At Callum’s entrance, Robbie Bruce
leapt towards him, grabbed his arms, and then forsook decorum to
hug him. Callum patted Robbie on the back, happy to see him alive
and that his greeting appeared genuine. Murderous intrigue was an
unlikely thing with which to have entrusted a fourteen-year-old,
but family politics being what they were—and Callum had heard
plenty from David about what had gone on over the years in
Wales—one never knew.

The four men already in the tent
looked up at Robbie’s exclamation. A man in his middle forties,
with black hair receding at the temples, came around from behind
the table. “I’m Robert Bruce. Robbie has told me much about you.”
Daddy Bruce (Callum couldn’t decide if he should throttle Bronwen
when he saw her again or thank her for putting these nicknames in
his head) didn’t hide his examination of Callum, openly looking him
up and down. Callum stood six inches taller and broader, but Daddy
Bruce had a presence about him that seemed to fill the
tent.

Daddy Bruce’s eyes then went past
Callum to Cassie, so Callum gestured Cassie forward. “My lord, this
is … Cassandra. She is under my protection.” Callum made the
comment knowing that it would cause Cassie to grind her teeth, but
he needed everyone to know that she was with him and not fair game
for any other man.

Daddy Bruce nodded, but Callum could
see him instantly dismiss Cassie from his mind. Such an attitude
towards women, even one with a bow across her back, was typical of
medieval noblemen. Callum had seen Meg and Bronwen use that
disregard to their advantage, as a way to disarm a man and find out
information they wanted to know. Daddy Bruce underestimated Cassie
at his peril.

In this case, Daddy Bruce had a task
before him and thus a clear focus on those whom he considered
important, further winnowed down to those he could use. Likely,
Daddy Bruce hadn’t yet decided whether or not he could use Callum.
Callum, for his part, was happy to keep him guessing. Staying alive
might depend on it. David had never been further away.

“
I’m glad to see that
you’re alive,” Robbie said. And then his face fell. “All the others
… James … he’s dead.”

“
No, Robbie.” Callum lifted
his hand to gain Daddy Bruce’s attention. “My lord, he
isn’t.”

Daddy Bruce had been turning away,
having lost interest in Callum, but now spun back. “What did you
say? Bishop Kirby told me that he was the only survivor of the
ambush.”

Kirby cleared his throat. He had
entered the tent before Callum and Cassie, but had sidled to the
side and come to stand near a tent pole in the far corner. “I awoke
after the battle having been left for dead. I assumed I was the
only one to survive.”

“
Liam and I survived,”
Callum said.

Cassie put a hand on the
back of Callum’s cloak and gave a slight tug. She had her cheek
near Callum’s left shoulder blade and said in low voice in their
English, “I looked into every face.
Every
face
. Nobody was alive on that road but
you.”

Callum turned his head and spoke
softly, “Did you see Kirby?”

“
If that man is Kirby, he
wasn’t there. The one who died wore the white robes of a bishop,
but he only faintly resembled this man.”

As Cassie and Callum spoke, identical
annoyed expressions crossed the faces of Daddy Bruce and Kirby.
“What language are you two speaking?” Daddy Bruce said.

Callum hesitated for half a second
before answering. “English. A dialect from the place where Cassie
and I grew up.”

Kirby’s face flushed red. “I can tell
from your demeanor that you doubt my word. I am
offended.”

“
King David relies upon me
to doubt,” Callum said. “I doubt everyone. What I can tell you is
that we have just come from Mugdock Castle. Alexander MacDougall
did not murder everyone. He marched the survivors north this
morning. James Stewart was among them.”

Daddy Bruce slammed a hand onto the
table in front of him. “They were here, then! We are correct in
thinking that Lord Patrick was a party to the ambush!”

“
No.” Cassie stepped out
from behind Callum. “He was unaware of what had transpired until
the perpetrators arrived at his doorstep. Your ire is
misplaced.”

“
He could have sent word to
me! He could have denied them hospitality,” Daddy Bruce
said.

“
From what I saw, he was
caught between his honor and his loyalty,” Callum said. “You ask
too much of him to turn aside Alexander MacDougall.”

“
John Balliol, you mean,”
Daddy Bruce said.

“
No, I don’t—” Callum
began, but Kirby cut him off.

“
MacDougall was acting on
Balliol’s orders. We know it for a fact.”

Callum pursed his lips. “How can you
know—?”

But again Kirby overrode him. “Without
honor, a man is nothing, and Alexander MacDougall has no
honor.”

“
Regardless of who’s at
fault, anger towards Lord Patrick is misplaced,” Cassie
said.

“
Lord Patrick did not know
of the ambush in advance,” Callum said, determined to back Cassie
up. Kirby’s disrespect was starting to irritate him. “He bears no
grudge against Lord Stewart or your son.”

Bruce’s face was still flushed with
anger, but he gave a jerk of his head in acknowledgement of
Callum’s reasoning. It was just Patrick Graham’s bad luck to be the
laird of a lesser clan caught between Balliol and Bruce. In
Scottish history, that was never a good place to be.

“
MacDougall will be taking
them to Dunstaffnage Castle,” Kirby said.

“
I don’t—” Callum was about
to tell him that this might not be true, but Daddy Bruce cut him
off with a bark.

“
I will waste Mugdock and
then turn my attention to Dunstaffnage.” Daddy Bruce placed his
hands on his hips, gazed at Callum for a count of five, and then
turned to Kirby. “I want MacDougall’s head for what he’s done. He
has conspired against my family for the last time.”

“
My lord—please. A private
vendetta is the last thing Scotland needs right now,” Callum said.
“We must find the prisoners, but Alexander MacDougall’s punishment
… surely that is the king’s responsibility.”

“
We have no king,” Daddy
Bruce said. “Thus, those who have the strength must act in his
stead.”

“
The Guardians of Scotland
act as king until one is approved,” Callum said. “You must inform
them and leave MacDougall’s punishment to them.”

“
The Black Comyn is one of
the Guardians!” Daddy Bruce said. “As John Balliol’s
brother-in-law, he had to have known of this plot!”

Cassie started beside Callum. “I don’t
think—” she said, but not loud enough for Daddy Bruce to hear.
Callum wasn’t following the reasoning either.

The Comyns were a powerful clan in
their own right with their own strong claim to the Scottish throne,
though the elder Comyn had forgone his claim in favor of his
brother-in-law, John Balliol. Like the Bruces, the Comyns insisted
on giving every son the same name, but history had done the
nicknaming for Callum, dubbing the elder John Comyn, ‘Black’; and
his son, ‘Red’.

“
I would see the proof of
that before I condemn him,” Callum said.

“
You have no authority here
either to condone or to condemn.” Daddy Bruce’s chin came up. “You
are King David’s pet, not my liege lord.”

“
Lord Bruce—” Even Kirby
knew this was going too far. To call a man a ‘pet’ was one of the
most insulting things you could say in the Middle Ages. It
outranked even ‘bastard’. Given that Kirby had neglected to mention
that Callum was the Earl of Shrewsbury to Falkes, he probably
hadn’t informed Daddy Bruce of it either, but ‘pet’ was still an
insult. Suddenly, Callum didn’t feel bad about calling him ‘Daddy
Bruce’ in his head.

“
So that means—what?”
Callum said. “Do you rebel against the Guardians just as MacDougall
does? Do you seek a war with England?”

“
King David should have no
say in Scotland. The Guardians should never have gone to him,”
Daddy Bruce said.

Callum found it interesting
that Kirby stood by and let Daddy Bruce express this dissent openly
without making even a token protest. As a governing body, the
Guardians of Scotland
were
the king, which had been Callum’s whole point. It
didn’t matter which individuals were involved. Kirby had accused
the Black Comyn of conspiring with Balliol and MacDougall, but
Comyn was still a Guardian. As a body, they would move heaven and
earth to rescue one of their own.

“
King David did not
interject himself until the Guardians asked for his help,” Callum
said. “It is well that you pursue those who murdered the king’s
men. King David would have no quarrel with that. But if your real
aim is to destroy Balliol’s claim to the throne of Scotland, with
that he would have issue.”

“
Besides, what is your
resentment against King David?” Cassie said. “Everyone in Mugdock
thinks that he has already decided the throne in your father’s
favor. That’s why the MacDougalls ambushed the company in the first
place.”