Exiles in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (29 page)

“
How do you
mean?”

“
You know what the rule
is—unmarried girls should
never
be alone with a man in his room—and you’re
breaking it anyway when nobody is looking,” Cassie said. “I
approve.”

Callum sat on the bed, sinking into it
with a sigh. “It’s better to ask forgiveness than
permission.”

Cassie leaned against the door. “My
senior year in high school, my family traveled the pow wow
circuit—dancing—so I missed a lot of school. I had straight A’s,
but the school counselor only cared that I wasn’t in class like I
was supposed to be.”

“
She sounds like a bitch,”
Callum said.

Cassie laughed. “My mother
actually called her a
racist
bitch.”

“
What did you
do?”

“
Kept dancing,” Cassie
said. “We didn’t make a fuss; we didn’t protest or ask to see the
principal; we just quietly continued as we’d been.”

“
That’s exactly what you’ve
done here, in the Middle Ages, isn’t it?” Callum said. “You’ve gone
your own way and if someone objects to how you dress or talk, you
avoid them and keep doing what you’re doing.”

A gleam appeared in Callum’s eye
making Cassie almost sorry she’d started this conversation. He was
trying to figure her out. And she was letting him. “You should have
seen the counselor’s face when I won an arts scholarship to college
for my traditional dancing and she had to present me with the
award.”

Callum laughed with Cassie but then
sobered. “We all impose our own cultural expectations on other
people. When I first came to the Middle Ages, I didn’t expect an
opportunity to bathe at all. I believed the stories that medieval
people lived in squalor.”

Cassie scoffed. “They used to say that
about Indians too.”

“
Exactly. On my first day,
Meg told me that while it was always difficult for peasants to
bathe in winter, the habit of not bathing came about among the
nobility during the Spanish Inquisition when nobody wanted to be
confused for a secret Jew.”

“
I hope you didn’t ever
mention that to Samuel,” Cassie said.

“
Of course not.” Callum
flopped full length on his back on the bed with one arm above his
head. Cassie walked to the bedside and looked down at him. He took
her hand, gazed at her for half a second, and then pulled her down
on top of him.

Cassie
whuffed
a laugh as she collapsed onto
his chest. Then she wiggled away so she could lie on the bed beside
him, though he wrapped both arms around her to keep her close.
Cassie capitulated and put her head on his chest. It wasn’t like
she didn’t want to.

“
That’s better,” he
said.

“
You’re insane,” Cassie
said. “This is improper, even for me.”

“
I thought you didn’t care
what people thought?” Callum said.

“
I didn’t say I didn’t
care,” Cassie said. “I just don’t care enough to do what they
want.”

“
That is a conundrum.”
Callum gave Cassie a quick squeeze. “Still, I can’t say I’m
currently sorry about any of this.”

Cassie closed her eyes, deciding she
could live with being this close to him for now. The worry of the
last few days seeped out of her body and into the bed covers. Given
how soft the mattress was, it had to be made of down. In other
words, it was expensive. At least it hadn’t rained recently, so
they weren’t getting it wet.

“
I may never move again,”
Cassie said. “I slept okay last night, but I still feel like I
could sleep for a week.”

“
Fine by me.”

A few minutes passed, but to Cassie’s
surprise, sleep didn’t overtake her. “Callum?” Cassie
said.

“
Yes?” Callum’s voice, on
the other hand, was thick with impending sleep.

“
Do you know what you’ve
never told me?”

Silence.

“
Your last
name.”

“
Callum is my last name,”
he said. “Somewhere along the way, the family dropped the
‘Mac’.”

Cassie pushed up so she could see his
face. His eyes stayed closed.

“
That’s what I’ve always
gone by,” he said. “I never thought about mentioning
it.”

“
So what’s your first name,
then?”

“
Alexander,” Callum
said.

“
You don’t look like an
Alexander,” Cassie said.

“
That’s why I go by
Callum.” His arm had relaxed onto the covers, but he lifted one
hand and gently rubbed her arm.

Cassie looked around the room, taking
in the thick blue drapes around the four-poster bed and the woven
tapestry of a stag hunt on the wall. Her mind was whirring away
about everything that had happened since she met Callum and didn’t
want to stop. Somewhere along the way, probably about the time
she’d kissed Callum and he’d kissed her back, she’d gotten a second
wind. “What happens next?” she said.

“
Bath.” Callum’s eyes were
still closed. “Food. Bed.” He really was tired if he was speaking
in one word sentences.

“
That’s not what I meant,”
Cassie said.

“
Oh—you mean
what’s next for us?
Well,
since you kissed me and now have compromised my virtue by coming in
here and lying on my bed, I guess you’ll have to rescue my
reputation by marrying me.”

“
Callum,”
Cassie said.

Callum opened one eye.
“What? You’re not going to do the right thing by me?” He surveyed
Cassie for a second and then sat up. He had that
look
about him that told
Cassie he didn’t feel as flip about marriage as he was trying to
sound. Like he actually might be serious.

“
Talk to me.” He weaved his
fingers through hers.

“
I meant,
what’s going to happen next for Scotland?”
Cassie said. “Our trip to Stirling Castle. The
succession and all that.”

Callum took in a deep breath, bent
back his head to look at the canopy above their heads as if asking
God for patience, and then lay back down, pulling her with him. He
closed his eyes again. “Given the muster of men and horses at
Doune, I’d say we’re looking at war. Or something like
it.”

“
Can’t anything be done?”
Cassie said. “Can nothing stop it?”

“
You’re the one who said
that we were talking about the MacDougalls verses the Bruces,”
Callum said. “Daddy Bruce is already on his way to Dunstaffnage. We
can’t do anything about his choices.”

“
But we can stop this from
getting worse.” This time when Cassie sat up, she sat cross legged
on the bed, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her
hand. “You’re the king’s emissary. You speak for him.”

“
So I’ve been told,” Callum
said, “but Kirby is the one he charged with negotiating among the
Scottish barons, not me.”

“
Kirby’s gone off with
Daddy Bruce,” Cassie said. “You’re the only one left.” She stabbed
a finger towards the bailey. “Stewart is marshaling men even as we
speak. Who’s he planning to march on?”

Callum groaned and levered himself to
a sitting position. He hung his head. “I was looking forward to my
nap.” And then he visibly shook himself and rose to his feet. “Come
on. A time traveler’s duty is never done.”

They found James Stewart in the great
hall, conferring with his captains. They huddled around a rough map
of Scotland, which was held to the table by stones on the corners.
James hadn’t had a chance to bathe either.

As Cassie and Callum approached,
Callum put his mouth to her ear. “Did you shoot any of these men
four years ago?”

Aargh!
He’d made her laugh again. “No,” Cassie said.

Several of the men raised their
eyebrows at Cassie’s approach, since she was still dressed as she
had been, in shirt, breeches, sweater, and cloak. Their expressions
ranged from shock to amusement. Cassie ignored them all. It wasn’t
as if she wasn’t used to it. Most likely (and most annoyingly), it
was only the fact that Cassie was clasping Callum’s hand that made
them treat her politely.

“
I’m glad you came,
Cassie,” said James. “I suspect you know the terrain north of
Mugdock better than any of us.”

Cassie could have kissed him for being
so welcoming, and she felt bad for maligning him in her head. “I
don’t know about that, my lord, but I will help if I
can.”

James turned to Callum and bowed.
“Doune is honored by your presence, my lord. I am sorry that we
haven’t welcomed you to Scotland properly before this.”

“
Thank you,” Callum
said.

James then introduced some
of the men around the table. They included Andrew Moray, who
evidently
hadn’t
been included in the MacDougall raid, Patrick Dunbar, James’s
brother-in-law, and a half-dozen other noblemen whose names Cassie
instantly forgot.

“
What are your intentions?”
Callum said.

“
We have word that Bruce is
hard beset. The MacDougalls didn’t run as he’d hoped, and they set
an ambush for him on the road to Dunstaffnage,” Andrew Moray said.
“It is thanks to you that we have so many men already mustered to
relieve him.”

“
How so?” Callum
said.

“
You sent one of your men,
Liam, to Stirling, and he has roused the countryside on our
behalf,” Andrew said.

Tension Cassie hadn’t known she’d been
feeling left her shoulders. She was very glad they hadn’t sent Liam
to his death.

Callum rubbed his chin. “Why doesn’t
Bruce retreat?”

The rest of the men stared at him in
disbelief. “Retreat?” said James, as if he had never heard the word
before and didn’t understand its meaning.

“
You would allow the
MacDougalls’ act of war to go unchallenged?” Andrew said. “You of
all people cannot condone what they’ve done.”

“
I don’t,” Callum said.
“And yet, you plot as if your country has no leaders. What of the
Guardians? Shouldn’t it be they who bring the MacDougalls to
justice?” It was essentially what he’d said to Daddy Bruce a few
days ago.

“
The Black Comyn is one of
those Guardians,” Andrew said. “Bruce burned him out. How likely is
it that he will abandon his allies and work with Lord
Stewart?”

“
You won’t know until you
ask,” Callum said, “and surely taking a moment to convene the
Guardians—not to mention Parliament—is better than all-out war. The
MacDougalls aren’t going anywhere.”

James gritted his teeth. “You don’t
know what you’re saying, my lord—”

“
Up to a point, it is
understandable that Bruce took matters into his own hands,” Callum
said, “but he loses the moral high ground if he pursues a vendetta
against the supporters of Balliol. Better to back down now than for
the father to lose the kingship because the son acted too
hastily.”

Cassie wasn’t sure that these medieval
men would know what a moral high ground was, but it involved
military imagery, and Callum’s tongue-lashing had several men
chewing on their lower lips.

“
I would add that King
David will surely see it that way,” Callum said.

James ran his tongue around
his teeth while Callum kept his expression calm. James glanced at
his men, several of whom looked down at their feet. Andrew Moray
continued to glare defiantly, but after he and James exchanged a
long look, Andrew canted his head as if to say
okay
.

James took in a deep breath and let it
out. “I see the wisdom in your suggestion, my lord. Bishop Fraser,
who holds Stirling, may well share your view. As you know, the
other Guardians and Parliament were summoned before any of these
events took place. They are already gathering at
Stirling.”

James turned to Patrick Dunbar. “Will
you ride to Bruce and convince him to back down from this fight? He
can’t win with the men he has. Tell him that the Stewarts support
him, but he must come to Stirling and seek justice under the
law.”

“
What if the MacDougalls
follow?” Andrew said.

“
Then they will get the war
they’re looking for,” said James.

Cassie eased out a sigh. She had
pushed Callum to assert his authority as a representative of King
David. Even though he had no actual power here, the weight of
England was behind him. In practice, that was no small thing, even
if many of these barons despised the notion that the King of
England was involved in their internal disputes at all. Callum, for
his part, had risen to the occasion.

James’s face was tight with tension.
“What of King David? Will he interfere?”

“
Not if he doesn’t have
to,” Callum said. “I think you’re doing the right
thing—”

The door to the hall slammed open and
one of James’s men strode into the room, followed by a second man
in a travel-stained cloak and mud-spattered boots. The second man
strode past the first and went down on one knee before James. “My
lord, I have news.”