Betrayed

Hamish Stewart walked slowly through the highland encampment. Already the men were gathering about the fires, not certain what they should do. Hamish knew the Lord of the Isles' pavilion would be in the very center of the camp and he hoped that the tent housing The MacDonald of Nairn would be nearby. Finally, as he sighted the lord's pavilion, he stopped a young clansman, asking him, 'Can ye direct me to the tent of The MacDonald of Nairn, lad?'

'What would ye be wanting with him?' the young man asked. 'Have ye not heard? Nairn, the lord himself, and all the others who went into the hall to pledge their good faith to James Stewart, were arrested by that king.' He spat scornfully. ' 'Twas a craven act!'

'I am kin to Nairn's wife,' Hamish told the clansman smoothly. 'I wish to offer her my aid should she need it.'

'Nairn's wife? A courageous woman,' said the young man. 'My mother says she spoke out verra bravely and to the king's face in the hall, but he insulted her, calling her a cattle thief and a whore. 'Tis what all those south of the Tay think of us, damn them! They are not true Scots, with their Anglicized speech and their English wives.'

Hamish nodded in apparent agreement. He had spoken in the Gaelic language of the highlands to the clansman, and the plaid he wore was the ancient Stewart plaid, a mix of deep blue, black, and green with a thin red stripe that was similar to several of the northern clans' colors. 'Ye know where my kinswoman is?' he gently prodded the young man.

'Oh, aye,' came the reply. 'That tent, next to the lord's great pavilion, is Nairn's.'

Thanking him, Hamish Stewart walked over to it, lifted the flap, and entered the living space. A tall clansman came forward.

'My lord?'

'Is this the tent of The MacDonald of Nairn?'

'Who would know?' demanded the man.

'I am Hamish Stewart, a friend of his wife's.'

'I have never seen ye before,' Roderick Dhu said suspiciously.

'Nor have I seen ye. Tell yer mistress that I wish to see her, that I saw her in the hall this day and bring news of her sisters, Jeannie and Morag Hay.'

' 'Tis all right, Roddy,' Fiona said, stepping forth from behind a curtain that separated the living space from the bed space. 'How are ye, Hamish? 'Tis been a long time.'

'What happened?' was all he could say. The promise she had shown as a young girl had been more than fulfilled. Fiona was an absolutely beautiful woman with a calm assurance he never would have imagined she could possess. When she had spoken out so boldly in the hall this morning, he had actually felt a swell of pride.

'Sit down, Hamish,' she told him. 'Ye look as if ye have seen a ghostie. Roderick Dhu, fetch some wine for Lord Stewart. Then tell Nelly to keep Moire Rose amused. I would speak with my old friend privately.'

The tall clansman nodded and went off to do her bidding.

Fiona put a finger to her lips. Then she said in deceptively quiet tones, 'Tell me of my sisters, my lord. Are they well?'

'Jeannie has finally wed with Jamie-boy, just last year,' he said, trying to keep his voice from betraying his excitement. 'She is with bairn. 'Twill be born in early winter.'

' 'Tis past time, for Jeannie is sixteen now,' Fiona noted. 'I am happy for her. I know how much she loves her Jamie-boy. Is he good to her, my lord? It would break my heart if 'twere not so.'

'She has him wrapped quite securely about her little finger, Fiona Hay,' Hamish Stewart said with a small chuckle.

'And my Morag? Have ye found a husband for her?'

'She and my son have taken to each other,' he replied. 'Like all (he Hay women, she seems to hold a fascination for the gentlemen.'

'And Janet? She is well? Ah, Roderick Dhu, here ye are. Set the tray down, then leave us.'

The clansman obeyed her, albeit reluctantly, but when he had slipped behind the curtain, Nelly said to him excitedly, ' 'Tis Hamish Stewart! What is he doing here?'

'Ye know him?' Roderick Dhu was surprised.

'Of course,' Nelly said pertly. 'He comes from near the place where I was born, Roddy. How did he know we were here, I wonder.'

'He said he had seen our lady in the hall today,' Roderick Dhu told the girl. 'Be he a good man?'

'Aye!' Nelly averred. 'Perhaps he can help our lord. He is distantly related to the king. That is why I think he has come to Inverness. He would want to offer a show of support for his kinsman.'

“Where is Moire Rose?'' Roderick Dhu asked.

'The old woman is asleep. This morning was too much of a shock for her. She was not a good mother, I know, but she loves our master with all her heart. She is verra frightened for him. 'Tis better she lie in her bed and rest until we know what we are to do.'

Fiona popped her head through the curtain. 'Lord Stewart and I are going to walk by the river,' she said. Then she was gone.

'Let her be,' Nelly said, putting a restraining hand on her husband-to-be's strong arm. 'There is nothing amiss. Lord Stewart is like a brother to my lady. He is the first of her old friends she has seen since she came north with our lord. She will want to explain to him in private how this all came to be.'

Fiona led Hamish Stewart from the encampment to a narrow path that ran along the river Ness. Here and there the river had cut away a tiny portion of the land, making little islands that were connected to the main shore by rustic wooden bridges. It was to one of these small islands that Fiona took her companion. Making certain that there was no one else upon the small spot of land, they sat down upon an outcropping facing the shore.

'Now Hamish,' she said to him, 'I shall tell ye everything, but listen closely, for I must, of necessity, keep my voice low. 'Twould not do for anyone else to hear this tale. Even Nairn knows nothing at all.'

'Nothing?'

'Nothing. I am Colin MacDonald's wife,' Fiona told him. 'I am a mother three times. My son is three and is called Alastair. We have a daughter, Mary, who will be two in September, and a daughter, Johanna, who was born in March.' Then she went on to explain everything that had happened to her in careful detail since that morning she had left Scone Palace on the road to Brae. She spoke calmly, but he could see the vestiges of pain in her eyes that her soft voice tried to conceal.

Hamish Stewart listened, and when she had finished he took her hands in his. 'Ye did what ye had to do, lassie. I am ashamed that my cousin James is so determined to rule all of Scotland that he would have forced a woman to his secret service. I realize, however, that ye dared not refuse him. If only Angus had taken ye home before he hurried off to England to fetch the queen's cousin.'

'But the king was determined Angus wed with Mistress Williams,' Fiona said. 'He said he and the queen wanted to bind Angus closer to them. If I had been at Brae, he would have found a way for The MacDonald to steal me away from there, and good Brae people might have been killed or hurt. It was better this way, I think. No one was really hurt, and certainly as husband to the queen's cousin, Angus stands high in the king's favor. Even more so than before. I did not see him in the hall this morning, and I will admit to ye that I was relieved, but where is he, my lord? I would have thought he would have accompanied the king to the gathering here in Inverness.'

'He is in England on king's business,' Hamish Stewart said. Why on earth did Fiona believe Angus was wed to Mistress Elizabeth? She had no idea that they had searched high and low for her that autumn and the following spring when the trees began to bud, even before the snow was off the tops of the bens. Aye, they had sought for her, but had been unable to find any trace of her. It was finally decided that she had been murdered along with Nelly and buried in some unmarked grave deep in the bens. In his grief Angus Gordon had remained in England as the king's representative. He had not been back to Brae in almost two years.

And now, he, Hamish Stewart, possessed the answer to the riddle that had plagued them all, yet he would be unable to tell anyone. Fiona was married, possibly even happily. She had children. To tell her that Angus Gordon was not wed to Elizabeth Williams, that he lived in self-imposed exile with his broken heart would serve no purpose. Neither would telling Angus that Fiona yet lived, another man's wife and the mother of his three bairns. 'Would ye have me tell yer sisters that ye are alive and content, Fiona?' he asked her. 'Ye are. content?'