The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (5 page)

His gaze lifted and met mine. "Och, Mary, yer right, and I'm
sorry
for my rudeness. I've been sitting here thinking my own thoughts and forgetting that ye dinna ken what happened."

"Dougall told us about Sheriffmuir and Thomas told us that James Stewart and Mar left for France
secretly
and that the rest of you had to fend for yourselves. And the MacDonald told me that you were going to Aberdeen and

then trying to get home. Some of you got here. What happened? Where's Alex?"

"The
MacDonall
was here?"

I nodded.

"Why?"

I told him of the visit and my response and he nodded.

"Good."

"Angus, where is Alex?"

"Somewhere east of Loch Linnhe the last time I saw him." He took a sip of the whisky and met my eyes. "And my son went to be with him." His gaze returned to the fire. "We were in Montrose and James Stewart met with the chieftains. Alex was there; I was outside with Duncan Maclean. When Alex came to us, ye wouldna have known him. I've never seen him so angry. Now, mind ye"—he looked at me from under his bushy eyebrows, his eyes a steely blue—"many of the clans had been sent north to Aberdeen. We were only still in Perth because of our ties to the
MacDonall
, else we would ha' been north with the others." He shifted in the chair. "Where was I? Oh, aye. It seems the chiefs argued with the Stewart but he was set on leaving. And he left, leaving us on our own."

"And the
MacDonall
left too."

"Aye, after a bit. He asked us to come with him. He damn near begged.
I've
never seen the man so broken."

"Why did you not go with him?"

"Ah, well, Mary, there was not room for twenty-four more men, only four or five at best. I told Alex to go with them, but he wouldna leave us on our own. Or the Clonmor men. And we'd had word Clonmor was besieged. So there we stood, in the middle of an icy night, and we watched King James sail away from his country and leave us to our own devices." He shook his head.

"We headed north, telling those still on the road what had happened. Then we turned west and went to Clonmor." He sighed. "But we were too late. The house had been burnt and many were dead. We did what we could for them and the Clonmor men who had been with us said they'd be
alright
on their own, so we headed home. We thought we could get west by way of Inverness, but the troops were everywhere and the snow was astonishing, so we went south,

staying high. But every time we went down into the glens we met more soldiers." He shook his head, remembering.
"We had our share of skirmishes and we lost Finlay and Gabhan in one.
We built cairns over their graves and moved on. I dinna think we'd make it through the snow. It was so bad that we couldna see four feet and even with the best we could do, we were making
little
distance each day, sleeping in caves, or a kind soul's barn or kitchen."

He gripped his glass. "There was one day when I thought we'd all die on the spot. Alex was in the rear, I was at the head. It was hard to see, what with the snow blowing so hard, and we looked like ghosts. It was hard to shout too, ye ken how yer mouth doesna work well when yer cold, so I turned to wave at Alex. I watched him stand there and he just faded away. I could see everyone else, lass, but Alex just faded away. And then he was gone." He gulped the whisky before meeting my eyes. "We searched for him until we could not go on, then found a cave and waited out the storm. If I'd been a different man I would have sworn the wee folk took him. He was there and then he was gone." He shook himself as if throwing off the
memory
. "We found him the next morning. He said he'd spent the night in an empty shieling, but he was as shaken as I." His eyes met mine. "He said he could see only me and then I just faded away. It was a warning, Mary, and we
dinna heed it
."

I wrapped my shawl around me as he continued. Hampered by the heavy snows and packs of English troops, they moved south and east, out of the mountains. By talking to those sympathetic to the Jacobites in the countryside, they learned that the north was solidly held by the Loyalists and that Inverness, held by the Frasers, would have been no haven even if they could have reached it. So they moved even further south and then west, avoiding the troops, who were everywhere. They headed for the Margaret where she was anchored in Loch Linnhe. Somewhere west of Stirling they became aware that they were being followed by a particular band of English soldiers.
They moved even more cautiously then, leaving a man or two behind to see how quickly they were pursued, and going as fast as possible when weather permitted, choosing their way carefully through Flander's Moss, the bog infested land of the MacGregors.
And then they reached the lands of their cousin Lachlan, the one who had written to Angus months ago. They were planning to spend the night in his barn when a letter arrived, delivered by a young boy who said he'd been paid to come to Lachlan's and give the message to Kilgannon.

"We were in Lachian's house," said Angus, "drinking a wee bit with him, feeling safe for a moment.
Lachlan
told us that the soldiers had not been by for a while. Ye can imagine what we thought when the letter came. At the first it mystified us, lass." He sipped the last of the whisky in his glass and I moved to refill it. "We dinna ken where we'd be that night, so how could the English ken we'd be in that barn? It had rained all day and Alex and I were the ones watching to see how closely we'd been followed. We kent no one had seen us approach, and unless Lachlan had become a different man and sent a runner, which he swore he hadna, how would they have known? We'd gone by a roundabout way and were heading east when we arrived. None of us had left the group, so we dinna believe we had a traitor amongst us. We were very worried." Angus sighed and closed his eyes. "When Alex took the note and read it he turned pale and he folded it up and put it in his plaid. He wouldna tell us what it said at first, just told all the men to pack up, we were leaving." He opened his eyes and looked at the fire grimly. "Then I asked him again what it said and he gave it to me." He swallowed a gulp ofwhisky.

"What did it say?" I asked, still standing in front of him. His eyes met mine and I was shocked at the rage in them.

"It said our route and where we would probably stop, what caves and what kinsmen were on the route. And where a ship would be most likely to be
harbour
ed to be waiting for us. It said that if Alex Were to surrender himself to the English, the rest of us would be released unharmed and Kilgannon untouched. And you would be escorted to safety in England. If he dinna surrender, it said, we would be pursued until we were found and made prisoner. And if we were not found, you would be taken and held. Then Kilgannon would be torched and the people killed. All of them. "And it was signed by Robert Campbell."

HE
SPAT OUT THE LAST WORDS, THEN REACHED INTO his pocket and handed me the letter. I took it with a shaking hand. It was addressed to the Earl of Kilgannon and written formally and it said all that Angus had. But I knew immediately that it had not been written by Robert. I read it twice.

"This is not Robert's handwriting, Angus."

His head snapped up. "Are ye certain, Mary? Verra certain?"

"Yes. I've read his writing many times over the years. It's not his handwriting and it's not the way he words things."

He stared through me. "That's what we thought."

"Angus, was Robert pursuing you?"

"Aye," he said slowly. "We saw him. He was their leader."

Robert, I thought. It could not be a coincidence that Robert Campbell, of all the men in the English army, was pursuing Alex across
Scotland
. "This could have been written for him," I said, looking at the note again. "But it's not his signature." I rubbed my eyes wearily. "How could he know where you were? Could he have followed you, even when you were being so careful?"

"It's possible. Unlikely, as we're the ones who ken the
country
side here, no' him, with all his years in England. But that's not what happened." He shook his head and rose stiffly from the chair, putting his glass on the table. He began pacing. "He dinna need to ken the land. He had information that could only come from a MacGannon. That's what Alex and I realized. We had left no one

alone. Even when we left the men positioned behind, there were always at least two. We knew there was a possibility that someone could have been bought, but who and when? Or that Lachlan had given us away, but I dinna believe it. Nor did Alex."

"Then... ?"

Angus stopped moving. "Malcolm."

"Malcolm?" I had forgotten Malcolm. "But he was with you. I assumed you left him at Clonmor."

"With us? Malcolm was never with us. Except for the time in Perth, I have seen Malcolm once since I left this house."

I stared at him. "Not with you? But how? He was with you at Sherrifmuir ... you went to help him—"

His voice cut across mine. "He was never with us at Sherrifmuir. Did Thomas no' tell ye what happened, did Dougall no'? Did Alex no' write to ye? Do ye no" ken?" I stood very still. "Mary," he said gently, "what did Thomas and Dougall tell ye?"

"That you met the rest of the army and went to Perth, then Sherrifmuir, and that when Mar withdrew for the second time Alex sent most of the men home. Alex sent me letters...."

"He dinna tell ye what Malcolm had done?"

I shook my head, feeling sick. "Angus, tell me."

"Ye ken that Malcolm wrote to Alex begging him to help?"

"Yes. The MacDonald brought the letter." I could still see Alex and the MacDonald facing each other across the table.

"When we got to Perth," he said, "Mar was there and Alex threatened to split his head for threatening his brother. That dinna set well with Mar, as ye might imagine. Mar admitted that he'd used the tactic on many, but not Malcolm. He said Malcolm had already gone when Mar sent his men to fetch him at Cionmor."

"Gone?" I asked. "Where?"

"To the Frasers."

"To the Frasers? But when ...?"

"Apparently as soon as he heard we were on our way, he left his lands unguarded and fled. Mar took fifty Cionmor men into his army. When we arrived we discovered Malcolm was not there, nor was likely to be. Alex felt he had to stay and took the Cionmor men from Mar."

"So you stayed," I said. "Without Malcolm."

"I canna believe Thomas dinna tell ye." Angus stormed to the door, throwing it open and bellowing for Thomas. He turned back to me. "Malcolm joined the Frasers and was with them when they took Inverness. Ye remember our grandmother was a Fraser? He has been with them and they are now firmly Loyalist. Malcolm wasna at Sherrifmuir, but he came to see us in Perth, after we withdrew there. He thought... Och, who kens what was in the man's mind? Now I wonder that he dinna mean to hand Alex to the English then." My head snapped up at that, but before I could speak, Thomas appeared in the doorway. He glanced at me and then back to Angus.

"Here I am," Thomas said.

Angus spun around. "Thomas, why did ye no' tell Mary about Malcolm? I told ye to tell her in case he came here. Why did ye no'?" I had never heard Angus use such a harsh tone to Thomas. Thomas's face grew red and he shifted from one foot to the other.

"I told her the most of it," he said, not looking at me.

"Why no' the whole of it? Did Alex tell ye nay?"

"No, Alex never said a word except to get safely home."

"Then ... ?" The question was left hanging and when Thomas did not reply, Angus again spoke sharply. "What, man? Speak!"

Thomas's tone was calm. "I thought Alex would have told her in his letters or that Dougall had told her, and when I suspected she dinna know, I found I couldna tell her." His eyes met Angus's." 'Tis a shameful thing when a brother betrays a brother."

Angus held his gaze for a moment longer and then sighed as he turned away. "Aye," he said, his anger replaced by weariness. "Aye. Yer right. Tis a shameful thing. Thank ye, Thomas. That was all I needed." Thomas left gratefully, closing the door behind him, and Angus sank into the chair opposite me, staring at the wall.

"Tell me the rest," I said. "Malcolm came to Perth"

Angus nodded. "He sent a message, asking to meet at an inn outside the town. At first Alex said no and sent that message, but Malcolm asked again and begged his forgiveness. So Alex agreed."

"And you went with him."

"We all went with him. We argued with Alex and said he shouldna go, but we couldna convince him. So we all went."

"What did Malcolm have to say?"

"I think he was surprised to have so many of us there. We arrived in the middle of the day and posted men all around, so by the time Malcolm got there, late as usual, we were long ready." He sipped his whisky. "He said just what ye'd think, Mary. It wasna his fault. He said the Frasers insisted he join them after he'd sent word to Alex, which we dinna believe, and that he'd tried to warn Alex, which we dinna believe. He said whichever side won, at least the brothers could help each other and that way Kilgannon would be safe, that Mar had left him no choice but to flee and he knew Alex would understand. He said his life had been a hell." Angus shook his head in disgust.