Exiles in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (32 page)

“
Let’s talk in
here.”

Cassie swung around at the voice in
the same instant that Callum blew out her candle, tugged on her
arm, and whispered, “This way.”

They ducked behind the door to the
adjacent room. “Is it—?”

“
Red and Kirby, yes,”
Callum said. The two men stood three feet from the front door,
thirty feet from Cassie and Callum.

“
What is our position?”
Kirby said.

“
Better than it was, but
not good enough,” Red said. “Lord Callum has not revealed himself
sufficiently for me to judge what he plans, though I feel certain
that the positions of both Bruce and Balliol have been
weakened.”

“
For all that he’s a
jumped-up earl, Lord Callum is not a fool,” Kirby said. “When did
he arrive at Stirling?”

“
Today. He’s already met
with the other lords in the council chamber,” Red said. “I would
have thought you would have been there too.”

“
I needed to determine the
lay of the land, first. I owe Robbie Bruce that much,” Kirby
said.

“
Is that regret I hear in
your voice?” Red said. “What we do, we do for the good of
Scotland.”

“
I have come to admire the
boy and his father,” Kirby said. “I regret the deaths of Robert
Bruce and Alexander MacDougall, even if they were
necessary.”

Cassie gasped and then immediately
clamped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. They’d heard
her.

Kirby swung around to peer towards the
back of the room. “Who’s there?”

Cassie stepped into the
room, already pulling an arrow from her quiver. Callum was there
too, however, shaking his head
no
and pressing down on her arm so she’d lower her
bow. Cassie gritted her teeth but assented as Callum strode towards
Red and Kirby, who held up his lantern so he could see further into
the room.

“
My lord Callum!” both men
spoke in unison, followed by a low bow.

“
Save it,” Callum said. “I
overheard you speak of Bruce and MacDougall. They’re
dead?”

“
They were both wounded in
battle, my lord,” Kirby said. “I have been given to understand that
neither can survive.”

“
And it had nothing to do
with you,” Cassie said, under her breath, in American
English.

“
What was that?” Kirby
peered past Callum.

Cassie came forward into the
flickering light, which was enough to illumine everyone’s faces.
Callum rubbed his chin. He had said that he wasn’t ready to accuse
Kirby of treason, and Cassie could see the merit in saving what
they knew until both Callum and Kirby could stand before King David
and tell him the whole of it. But she didn’t have to like
it.

“
Why have you come, Kirby?”
Callum said. “I thought you’d thrown in your lot with the
Bruces.”

“
I come to Stirling on
behalf of Robbie Bruce,” Kirby said. “He fears retaliation for his
father’s actions against the Comyns. He asks for peace and
forgiveness for all parties, including the MacDougalls, though they
do not deserve it.”

“
What of John Graham?”
Cassie said.

“
Who?” Kirby
said.

“
Patrick Graham’s son,”
Callum said. “He was taken captive along with James Stewart and my
friend, Samuel.”

Kirby and Red exchanged a glance and
both shook their heads. “I don’t know anything about him,” Kirby
said. “He was not in our party on the road to Stirling.”

“
I know that,” Callum said.
“What would MacDougall have wanted with him?”

“
Why would I know anything
about how Alexander MacDougall thinks?” Kirby said. “I have never
met the man.”

Kirby kept his eyes wide and they
didn’t skate away. He was doing everything in his power to put on a
mantle of innocence. Didn’t he realize that Callum and Cassie had
overheard the earlier part of his conversation with Red? Didn’t he
realize that they knew his story about the ambush was full of holes
big enough to drive a truck—or perhaps a
carriage—through?

Cassie had dozens of questions she
would have asked him, but Callum stepped past Kirby and Red and
looked out the door of the armory. As they’d been speaking, a great
tumult of noise had arisen in the bailey.

“
What is it, Callum?”
Cassie said.

Callum turned back to Kirby. “Now that
you are here, it’s time you did your job. Bring your message from
Robbie to the Guardians.”

Kirby gazed stonily at Callum. “I have
done nothing to betray King David’s trust.”

Whatever
, Cassie felt like saying, but again, didn’t.

“
If you achieve what we set
out to do,” Callum said, “I will put in a good word for you with
the king. He might just name you Archbishop of Canterbury when
Peckham dies. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Kirby maintained his poker face, but
from Red’s expression, Callum had gotten it exactly right. Callum
didn’t wait for Kirby’s answer. He tipped his head towards the
door, asking without words for Cassie to leave the armory with him.
Cassie slid past Red and Kirby and followed Callum
outside.

“
Something’s happened,”
Callum said.

Samuel stood underneath the inner
gatehouse, looking this way and that. At Callum’s raised hand, he
raised his own and then steered his way across the bailey. “You
said to come find you if I had news,” Samuel said. “Well, I
do.”

“
Is it the council
or—”

“
Erik of Norway has come.
He has sailed his fleet up the River Forth and his army is marching
on Stirling Castle as we speak.”

Chapter
Nineteen

Callum

“
T
hat’s just what we need.” Callum headed under the inner
gatehouse to the keep, holding Cassie’s hand, with Samuel hustling
to keep up.

“
Maybe it is, at that,”
Cassie said.

“
What do you mean, Cassie?”
Callum said.

She tugged him to a stop at the top of
the steps to the keep. “None of the Scots will take kindly to Erik
of Norway’s attempt to grab the throne by force. Along with their
hatred of England and fear of King David, it is one of the few
causes that could unite them.”

“
She’s right, my lord,”
Samuel said. “They just need that fact pointed out to
them.”

Callum turned around and saw Kirby and
Red crossing the bailey, thirty paces behind them. He lifted a hand
and made a ‘come here’ motion at Kirby. The man was cowed enough to
quicken his pace. “Yes, my lord?”

“
I am counting on you to be
the voice of reason,” Callum said. “Erik of Norway has come, and
all these bickering Scots need to pull themselves together and
throw him back into the sea. I want you to be the one to say
it.”

Kirby gazed at Callum for a count of
five and then nodded. “I would argue that it would be better coming
from you, but I appreciate your confidence in me.”

Callum tipped his head in the
direction of the council chamber adjacent to the great hall. The
acrimony in the room was such that shouts could be heard through
the closed door. Kirby marched towards the noise, Red in his
wake.

“
Why are you trusting him?”
Cassie said.

“
I’m not,” Callum said. “I
don’t trust him at all.”

“
But—”

“
Look,” Callum said. “I
can’t control Kirby, but I can keep him busy. Whatever his grand
plan, Erik of Norway is in the way. It is in Kirby’s best interests
to do as I ask.”

“
I gather Bishop Fraser and
James didn’t reveal everything yet?” Cassie said.

“
No, not yet,” Callum
said.

“
So, the other barons might
actually listen to Kirby,” Cassie said. “You and James were right
to delay exposing him.”

Callum eyed Cassie, unsure whether her
tone was approving of him or disappointed that she’d been wrong.
“Besides, getting these noblemen to agree to anything is going to
take days,” Callum said. “I hate meetings and the three of us have
more important things to do.”

“
Excuse me, my lord?”
Samuel had been staying close, waiting for instructions.

“
Saddle up the horses,”
Callum said. “We’re leaving immediately.”

“
We’re going to flee
Stirling before the fight?” Samuel was shocked.

“
Of course not,” Callum
said. “We’re going to find the Grahams and the MacDougalls and
whoever else doesn’t want to see Erik of Norway as king of Scotland
and get them to march together to Stirling.”

Cassie openly laughed. “That’s
brilliant. Knowing the MacDougalls, they’re already halfway
here.”

“
Exactly.” Callum pointed a
finger at her. “I’ll be right back. Stay here.”

“
Yes, sir,” Cassie said,
though she smiled as she said it.

Even with midnight approaching, James
Stewart had seen the merit in what Callum was suggesting and had
gathered a mixed company of men to ride with them. Before they
left, Callum related to James what he and Cassie had witnessed in
the armory and the apparent alliance between Kirby and Red. James
promised to keep an eye on both men. With Erik of Norway about to
surround Stirling, they weren’t going anywhere.

Callum rode with Cassie, who’d rescued
her breeches from the laundry. Samuel came too, along with a dozen
noblemen representing half of the competing interests in Scotland,
and Andrew Moray who joined them at his own request. Callum was
pleased that he’d chosen to come. Even if the timeline in this
world was playing out a bit differently, the man had a lot of
history behind him. A companion of William Wallace, he had played a
pivotal role in the Scottish wars for independence against King
Edward after 1300.

It took nearly an hour to get everyone
together, by which time Callum was worried that they were too late
to get out of Stirling before Erik surrounded it. At last, the
horses pounded down the road as fast as they could go, winding
around the crag upon which Stirling Castle was built. Callum’s
heart was in his throat the whole time.

When they reached the valley floor,
they met riders coming the other way, seeking the safety of
Stirling. “They’re almost upon us!” the lead scout said. “You must
turn back!”

“
Not tonight,” Callum
said.

“
But my lord—!”

“
Tell James Stewart that we
got through,” Callum said.

“
Yes, my lord.” Then the
riders were past them, racing up the road to the castle.

Callum’s company continued on. The
valley Stirling Castle overlooked stretched west and south from the
crag while the River Forth wound southeast in a sinuous curve.
Looking to his left, Callum could see a swath of light along the
river. He imagined that he could hear the Norwegians’ marching
feet. Erik’s army didn’t have horses, however, or at least not
many, and by the time Callum’s company had ridden a mile and a half
from Stirling, they’d left the army and the river in the distance.
They’d escaped in time.

Callum glanced at Andrew, who nodded.
The horses slowed as they turned onto the high road that would take
them west to Glasgow—the same road upon which the MacDougalls had
ambushed Callum’s company nearly six days ago.

Cassie’s head was down. “I really
thought I was going to get to sleep tonight.”

Callum groaned. “Don’t remind me how
tired I am.”

“
Is there any chance of
sleep occurring again in this lifetime?” Cassie said.

“
Actually, there is,”
Callum said. “We needed to get out of Stirling before the
Norwegians trapped us inside, but the plan is to ride to Kilsyth,
which is less than ten miles from Stirling, and sleep
there.”

“
Thank God for that,”
Cassie said.

“
James felt—and I
agreed—that it was better not to attempt to travel through the
Highlands in the dark. This time, we want the MacDougalls to see us
coming.”

“
I’m glad we got out, but
I’m worried for those inside Stirling,” Cassie said.

“
I am too, but Erik won’t
begin the assault tonight,” Callum said. “He’ll talk first, and
James said he would stall him for as long as he can with platitudes
and promises he doesn’t intend to keep.”

“
Erik wants the throne but
will take it without bloodshed if he can,” Andrew said, riding on
the other side of Callum. “Half the nobility of Scotland is in
Stirling Castle tonight. In marching on Stirling, Erik proclaims
both his right and his power, but at the same time, he risks all in
a single move. Therein lies both Erik’s hope and his
fear.”

“
How do you mean?” Cassie
said.

“
Erik can’t rule Scotland
without the consent of the barons,” Andrew said. “He needs us
cowed, but not dead and not desperate.”

“
I think it’s already too
late for anything but desperate,” Cassie said.

Two hours later, at some point past
midnight which Callum didn’t care to calculate, they reached
Kilsyth and entered the rudimentary castle that guarded the road.
It consisted of a single tower surrounded by a curtain wall.
Tonight, everyone would sleep on the floor of the hall, high and
low alike. Callum put Cassie’s pallet between his and the wall, and
Samuel lay crosswise at their heads. Though Samuel started snoring
immediately, Cassie and Callum lay looking at each other, their
fingers barely touching under a blanket while they waited for the
room to settle down.