Up at the castle, the rider on the tired horse had arrived. His reception told us that he’d been expected, because George was there, with Jamie, talking to the man as he slid from the saddle.
I could tell it was serious from Earl George’s fixed expression and the anticipatory relish on Jamie’s. No one else looked overkeen to hear what the new arrival had to say, although I saw Fergus shaking his head as he led the exhausted animal away to the stable. Dark was drawing itself around the castle now, an early winter’s evening, which made the glow of the firelight that spread from the hall every time the door opened look even more appealing, and the gathering darkness seemed to be reflected in the general mood.
‘This must be the signal they were waiting for, to march to Stirling. Does that mean there’s going to be a battle?’ I turned to Lachlan.
‘I think so.’ He led the way down the stairs to our cellar. A small fire was smouldering sulkily in the grate in the far room. Nobody ever appeared to question why there seemed to be so much going on in that room without anybody ever being down there, which was fortunate for us. ‘And, as we can’t leave thecastle and we weren’t all sent to Stirling in the first place, our job is to stop the earl from riding out to join that battle.’
At that point David and Mal came clattering down the steps. ‘They ride tomorrow,’ Mal said, slightly breathlessly. ‘Everyone is gathering to fight.’
‘We’d worked that out,’ Lachlan said dryly.
‘Ah, but we listened in, like the shameless hussies that we are,’ Mal went on. ‘They’re riding south to do battle, so that when they win, James can sweep on down into England, where he will enter London and take the crown. Or something like that.’
‘And I think they’ll meet at Sheriffmuir,’ David burst in. ‘This must be 1715, and if they’re about to fight the Battle of Sheriffmuir – which was, as your dad so eloquently put it, Pax, a no-score draw – then this is it. This is the pivotal part of the uprising.’
Both Mal and David were looking at me now, with a kind of manic delight.
‘So?’ I asked, rather disappointing them, I felt. They seemed to want me shouting ‘Eureka!’ and leaping up and down.
‘So?’ Mal took me by the shoulders and shook me lightly. ‘So, now we know for definite why we’re here! We stop the earl riding into battle, stop him fighting for James and having his lands seized by the crown for being on the wrong side, save the castle, go home! Isn’t itobvious?Now we know!’
‘If they’re riding out tomorrow, then all we need to do is stop them leaving and it’s all over and we go back,’ David added. ‘No more nights in a cellar.’
‘There’s just the wee matter ofhowwe stop them,’ Lachlan said dryly. ‘The good earl does not seem receptive to our Pax’s charms.’
‘I’ll talk to him again,’ I said. ‘There must besomethingI can say or do, because if it’s utterly impossible, then why are we here?’
‘Torture?’ Mal raised his eyebrows.
‘Him or us?’
‘You could try it.’
‘Mal,’ I said with the careful weight of one explainingyet againto a particularly determined Year Eight that dropping a reallybiglump of magnesium into water will probably blow up the science lab, ‘I can’t touch him. There’s not much torture that can be brought to bear when I can’t even poke him in the eye.’
‘Oh, true.’
‘No, I’ll try talking to him again.’
‘What can you say that you didn’t say last time?’ Lachlan interrupted.
‘I don’t know! What happens after this battle of Sheriff whatever, David?’
David, looking put on the spot, frowned. ‘Hang on. Ithinkthat neither side wins, not really, but the King – that’s George, not James – outnumbers the other side and that the other king – James, not George – basically gives up and goes back to France. Which, in my view, is punishment enough, unless he really likes croissants.’
‘And presumably anyone who fought for James gets their lands seized,’ Lachlan finished. ‘Seems straightforward enough.’
‘Right, so I’ll tell George that. He can’t want his children disinherited, surely?’ I found I was biting the inside of my lip with urgency.
‘But he didn’t care last time,’ Mal pointed out. ‘He must have known it was a possibility, and he does seem dead set on fighting for James.’
‘I’ll sit him down and tell him how rubbish my life is, then,’ I said. ‘I should be heir to all this and instead I’m teaching chemistry to kids who don’t want to learn it.’
‘Yes, not sure that’sentirelygoing to convince him.’ Mal raised his eyebrows at me. ‘You might want to show him somebenefits for him, rather than obsessing about how dreadful it is foryou.’
‘Where is he?’ I rounded on David.
‘Up in the office, with the lad who rode in with the news. Who’s half dead with exhaustion but giving all the latest troop positions to the earl.’
