The Faithful Heart (29 page)

 

 

She advised them to head for Tulach and Ma Niadh with all possible
speed.

 

 

“My father is dead, and I must go away for a few days, but Finn and
Patrick will set you to work. I expect you to all pull together and
do what has to be done for the good of the clan.”

 

 

“
You
are its good, Morgana Maguire,” one of the men shouted.

 

 

The bedraggled men looked as though they had suffered all manner of
privations, but they seemed undaunted by their misfortunes now that
Morgana was in charge. They packed up their rations and personal
items quickly and assembled in the glen in rows of ten. Then they
split into two groups and headed off to their new homes, with the
carts of provisions Sean and Angus had brought following on behind.

 

 

“Sean, have you made a list of all the purchases you made?” Morgana
asked as she rode alongside one of the carts.

 

 

“I have indeed, and have some money left from what you gave me.”

 

 

“Hand it over to Finn when you get to Ma Niadh, then.Any word from
the others in the clan?”

 

 

“More are coming. I will return to the caves after I deliver this
load, and stand vigil for them for another week,” Angus offered.

 

 

“No, send another man in your stead. Tulach has its full complement
of soldiers now, and you will be needed for the building work,
Angus.”

 

 

“Whatever you wish, Morgana, I shall do it,” Angus replied in a firm
tone that told her he was as good as his word.

 

 

Morgana parted with the two men at the next crossroads, and a sudden
thought struck her.

 

 

Turning her horse around, Morgana rode back through the glen and
took a small excursion to her last great castle, Cullen. Since her
arrival and her trips to Ma Niadh and Tulach with the O’Donnells,
she hadn’t given this last stronghold much thought. It was far away
from the MacMahon lands, and had no great strategic importance
compared to the other two sites because it was not on the lough
shore.

 

 

All the same, Cullen was an impressive citadel, four storeys high,
with sheer walls and two sets of curtain walls to protect it.

 

 

The upper floors were accessible only by a series of steep ladders
which could be pulled up in case of intruders, and as Morgana
determinedly climbed to the top, she saw that the two large rooms on
each floor could house about fifty men each. There was a fireplace
in each room, and a deep vault under the ground floor for storage.
The great hall was massive, and the kitchens were still in good
shape despite years of lying unused.

 

 

Her father hadn’t ever used the castle extensively, for it had come
to him as part of her own mother’s family property twenty years
before, and he had never liked being reminded of the young wife he
had lost when Morgana had been born. It had gradually been emptied
as Lisleavan had expanded, but despite roughly ten years of neglect,
it was still in fine shape.

 

 

Morgana stumped up to the top floor again, and looked to see if she
saw any traces of damp running down the walls. She examined the
roof, and saw no huge holes that couldn’t be mended easily with a
few slates.

 

 

Returning to the ground level, she checked the well, which though
clogged with dead leaves, was still fresh and clean. She saw that
the towers and stables, all built in solid stone, had all withstood
the ravages of time apart from their roofs.

 

 

Morgana decided that the problems restoring the castle would be more
than compensated for by the defensive capabilities Cullen could
offer if trouble were to come. People from the outlying villages
would all flock to Lisleavan at the least sign of trouble, but not
all of them could be accommodated. But with three other castles at
her disposal, they might all serve to help solve that problem.

 

 

Morgana made a mental note of all she would need, and rode back to
Lisleavan hurriedly. She went up to study and drew detailed notes
and plans from memory, and then sat back with a sigh. There was a
tap at the door, and Angus came in.

 

 

“I’m glad you’re here!” Morgana said as she pulled him into the
study. “You’re just the man I need to be the captain of Cullen
Castle.”

 

 

"Cullen? But we've never used —"

 

 

She explained her plans, which Angus approved of wholeheartedly in
the end.

 

 

"It's a remarkable idea, but a good one. You've gone from al your
eggs in one basket, a single castle, to four in case of trouble."

 

 

She nodded. "Let's hope it doesn't come to it, but aye, that's the
plan." Then she looked down at her papers for a moment, just to
check that she had not left anything out. At length, she put down
her pen, satisfied.

 

 

"So tell me, why are you here?"

 

 

“I came back because Finn wanted to give you a progress report on
the stone masons and carpenters.Everything is going very well, and
as you said, Tulach is full, so all the remaining men have got to go
to Ma Niadh, unless you want me to start sending them to Cullen."

 

 

She nodded. "Choose your thirty best men from both castles, and get
started. At least no building work will need to be done aprt from
patching the roof."

 

 

“Your plans for Cullen sound fine. I'll pick the best men, fill
Tullach and then once Ma Niadh is full, we can put all the overspill
there. If there's any trouble in any of the other three castles,
Cullen can be our fallback position.

 

 

She nodded again. "Aye, no one has ever cared much about it since it
has no access to the sea, but at least we don't have any enemies
down there, at least not at the moment. No, whoever has been
plotting against us wanted to make sure we lost our ships, and our
power on the lough and in Donegal bay."

 

 

"They won't succeed. We may not have many ships, but the ones left
to us were the pride of our fleet."

 

 

"And the key to improving our fortunes. That and growing more crops.
The men need to drill, and till, every day, Angus.

 

 

"Aye, they will. Leave everything to me. They are all recovering
their strength. More men are coming home every day. The man I sent
to the caves to pass on the news of our great enterprise will send
them to Tulach. Don’t worry, Morgana. The work will be hard, but the
men are loyal to the clan. Now that you have come back to take
command of the situation, they will all follow you,” Angus declared
reassuringly.

 

 

“I wish I could be as sure of that as you are, Angus, old friend,”
Morgana sighed.

 

 

“Your father Morgan was weak at the end. He made poor decisions, and
we all suffered. Your judgment with regard to the affairs of the
sept
have always been sound, Morgana, far better than Conor could ever
have managed. If you wish Cullen to be restored, we will start right
away.”

 

 

“Thank you for the compliments regarding my ability compared to
Father’s, but I’m not going to promise you any less of a struggle
for survival now that you have all returned and chosen to put your
faith in me,” Morgana said truthfully.

 

 

Angus looked at the papers on her desk, and pointed. “I know, but
this is a chance to make our clan great again. And I am sorry for
all the MacMahons, dispossessed as they are, for they have nowhere
else to go. I think we can build an alliance with them so long as
Dermot and Brendan don’t move against us and challenge their
loyalty.”

 

 

“After being evicted from their own lands, I would really wonder if
they had any loyalty left to Dermot and Brendan. Perhaps they are
still loyal to Ruairc?”

 

 

“But if you are unsure of his loyalty, it would be like harbouring
an enemy in your own home to trust them too far,” Angus pointed out
astutely.

 

 

“I already am harboring an enemy, since Father’s murderer and
Conor’s still goes unpunished. It has to be either Mary or Aofa, or
someone paid by someone else to do it. Maybe one or the other of
them were paid by the MacMahon brothers, or even the O’Reillys. I
just don’t know. I simply have to watch and wait, and be ever on my
guard.

 

 

"That’s why tomorrow I am going to pretend that I have decided to
give up my duties to the clan and return to the convent,” Morgana
informed Angus.

 

 

His eyes widened for a brief moment. Then he shook his head. “Those
who know you well will not believe it of you. Morgana Maguire would
never run away from a fight.”

 

 

“I know, but so long as I convince Ruairc, I don’t care. Once he is
safely gone back to Dublin, I will return. I'm going to send Mary
and Aofa away to Dublin as well on a supposed shopping trip, and to
see some cousins who have married and gone to live in the south. If
either of them are working for someone else, they will not be able
to give away our plans.”

 

 

“They won’t go willingly if they are plotting and scheming against
us.”

 

 

“We will have to see what happens then, won’t we?” Morgana sighed.

 

 

He nodded. “I don't suppose we have much choice except to see how
this plays out."

 

 

"Aye, but at least if I move some of the pieces around on the board,
I have a chance to win. Remember, even a mere pawn can become a
queen if it gets all the way to the other side of the board."

 

 

"You always were a queen, my dear, but now you are
tanaist
.
And deserve to be. You not only got to the other side of the board,
you're heading on the path to victory."

 

 

"Let's pray you're right.

 

 

"I shall find a cart, and begin to gather supplies and a work team
for Cullen then, shall I?”

 

 

“Aye, but complete secrecy is essential, is that understood?”

 

 

“Trust me, Mary and Aofa will never suspect a thing,” Angus
reassured Morgana. He turned and left.

 

 

Morgana looked at her lists one more time, then went out into the
fields to check the progress on the spring planting, before
returning to the makeshift hospital to examine each of the patients.

 

 

“I’m not sure if the soup is doing any good, but the milk is
definitely alleviating their distress,” Ruairc remarked when he gave
her progress reports on the most ill of all the men and women.

 

 

“We will just have to keep giving them as much as we can until they
seem to get better,” Morgana said as she helped dose them all again.

 

 

“Morgana, about your leaving tomorrow...” Ruairc began.

 

 

“I haven’t got the strength to argue with you now,” Morgana cut him
off abruptly.

 

 

“I don’t want to argue with you, my love. I just want to ask one
favour.Will you let me take you back to the convent, so I can be
assured of your safety?”

 

 

She shook her head.“You have to go back to Dublin. I’d be very
grateful if you would be so kind as to escort Mary and Aofa there,
to our cousins the Fitzhughs.”

 

 

“But, Morgana, you can’t go back to the convent on your own!” Ruairc
protested agitatedly.

 

 

“I can and I will. I need you to escort my sister, and that is
final,” Morgana said firmly, as she stormed out of the hut.

 

 

Ruairc called to her, but she ran back to the safety of the castle.
She couldn’t talk to Ruairc, couldn’t look at him, without her
stomach wrenching with need and longing for him. But what did her
love matter if he were to be killed because of her?

 

 

She hated lying to him, but simply couldn’t allow him the
opportunity to try to talk her into staying. All of their lives
depended on her doing the right thing. She just had to be strong for
his sake. She had lost her brother and father. That had been
terrible enough. But the thought of losing Ruairc forever was too
painful to be borne.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

 

 

The rest of Morgana’s day was taken up in her preparations to go
back to the convent. She left instructions regarding the care of the
sick patients, and checked each storeroom.

 

 

When she was able to slip away, she went with Angus to take some
household things over to Cullen, and the two of them made a start at
sweeping the place out. Several bales of hay would have to suffice
as bedding for the men who were camped there, but they got the upper
two floors ready, and Angus agreed to stay to continue the job on
his own. He had made arrangements for the other men to follow on
with food, weapons, and animals the next day.

 

 

Morgana returned alone to Lisleavan exhausted, just as night had
fallen.

 

 

“Where have you been! I asked around everywhere for you!” Ruairc
barked as she entered the main gates.

 

 

“I had errands to run,” she answered calmly as she drove the cart on
to the stables.

 

 

“I thought you had slipped away from me already,” Ruairc agonised.

 

 

“No, I hadn’t thought about it,” Morgana replied sincerely. But now
that he had mentioned it, she decided it would be best if she did
give him the slip in the morning to save a great deal of
unpleasantness for both of them.

 

 

“Aren’t you coming in for supper?” Ruairc grumbled when she seemed
to dawdle overlong in the stables.