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He chuckled. “Because ye were a brazen little liar. Ye could not feed yer sisters, let alone the fat cattle that Gordon found grazing in yer pastures” he told her. “Maggie said-”
“Maggie MacLeod again?” Fiona snapped. “If I ever see her again, I'll have to pull her wagging tongue out, the gossip!”
Donald MacDonald was now laughing. “Tell me the story, brother” he said, “and don't fret yerself over it, Fiona Hay. Cattle-stealing is an old and honorable custom, as ye know. The trick is to not get caught, as ye obviously did, but I admire yer spunk, my bonnie. Yer going to breed up fine MacDonald sons for my brother.”
Pretending irritation, Fiona fell back to ride with Nelly, who, though reluctant, had been mounted upon Fiona's mare since the departure of the cart. “Men are mad,” she said to her servant.
“These MacDonalds are certainly big handsome fellows, are they not?” Nelly commented. “The lord looks like his brother of Nairn, I'm thinking, despite their different coloring.”
“Ummmm,” Fiona answered her absently. She was far more interested in the castle that they were now approaching, for it appeared even from a distance to be larger and grander than she would have expected. Everyone always said that the MacDonalds were savages, but the Lord of the Isles had hardly appeared that, and his castle looked very impressive. It stood upon the highest point on Islay, a low rocky hill slightly larger than the other few hills on the island. There were foursquare towers, one at each compass point of the dark stone walls, which were unmarked by any opening. Its entry, with walls half as high as the main walls, had two small rounded towers halfway up the stone. There were massive oaken doors over which was drawn an iron yett, or grille, each night.
As they drew closer, Nelly remarked, “It looks a fearsome place, my lady. I think I am glad we will be here but a short while.”
“It may be paradise compared to Nairns Craig,” Fiona said in reply. “It is surely not Brae.” There was a wistfulness in her tone.
They rode through the gates into a small courtyard. After dismounting, the women followed the MacDonald brothers through another heavy gate into a larger courtyard. It was like going from night into day. Here there was a camomile lawn beneath their feet, and a garden blooming with late roses, Mary's gold, and fragrant herbs. A slope-roofed house was built into two sides of the wall. They mounted the steps and entered the house.
“I'm sorry my wife is not here to greet ye, my bonnie,” The MacDonald apologized, “but she is off with my lady mother to their estates in Ross. I fear ye will be gone before they return, but perhaps when ye bring yer first son to Islay ye will meet them.” Then he swiftly directed the servants who came at his entrance to take Fiona and Nelly to their apartment and give them whatever they desired. “Come with me, Nairn,” he said to his brother. “I would hear what ye have to tell me before ye take yer ease. I would know all about James Stewart.”
“If ye would knowallabout him,” Fiona interjected, “then ye should speak to me, too, my lord. I know the king well, as he was Black Angus's bestfriend. I was also in the service of the queen, and count myself among her friends. Women speak of more than gowns and household matters.” She smiled prettily at him.
“Ye are obviously loyal to James Stewart, madam,” The MacDonald said. “Why would ye help me?”
“My lord,” Fiona said with perfect logic, “I would help ye better understand the king so that ye will swear yer fealty to him. Nairn can give you but impressions of what he saw and thinks. I lived within the royal enclosure. I was with the king and queen for several months. Yer brother has stolen me from the laird of Loch Brae. Since I canna go back, I must make my peace with what I have. Tonight I will handfast myself to Colin MacDonald. Aye, I heard you tell your plan, my lord of Nairn.” She looked from Colin to his brother. “I will one day bear his bairns.MacDonald bairns,my lord. I don't want to see my lord, his family, and my own offspring sacrificed in the unending warfare that has wracked Scotland these many years. If I can help ye to make yer peace with the king, I would do so for the sake of Nairn and for our unborn children.”
“She's clever as well as bonnie,” The MacDonald said to his brother. Then he beckoned Fiona. “Verra well, lass, come with us. I'm a fair-minded man and will listen to what ye have to say.”
“Go and unpack what little we have,” Fiona instructed Nelly, and then she followed after the two men.
In the Lord of the Isles’ privy chamber, a small stone room with a fireplace flanked by stone griffins, a fine tapestry hung from the wall opposite a window with a view of the garden. They ensconced themselves—the lord in a high-backed chair with a tapestry seat, and his companions on an oak settle facing him. A servantbrought them each a silver goblet of pungent wine, then discreetly withdrew.
“First,” Alexander MacDonald said, “tell me what he looks like, Nairn. I heard he is a wee man.”
“He is of medium height but strongly built.”
“He is a skilled warrior who fought in France with Henry V,” Fiona said. “That king personally trained James Stewart in the arts of warfare. He is proficient with weapons of all kinds, including a crossbow.”
“The crossbow?” The lord cocked a dark eyebrow.
“Aye, my lord, and the king has made it law that all young men must learn to use such a weapon so that Scotland quickly will have an armed force like the English,” Fiona said.
“’Tis cleverly done,” the lord noted, “and not a bad idea at all. What kind of a man do ye ascertain him to be, Nairn?”
“A verra determined one, brother. He is not a feeble-minded weakling like his father before him was. He is strong-willed, and bound to rule Scotland as it has never before been ruled.”
“Is he like old Albany, then?”
“Many compare him to The Bruce,” Fiona said quietly. “A great soldier but a better governor in that he already knows how to rule.”
Colin MacDonald nodded in agreement with her.
“Can he be bought like old Albany?” the lord wondered.
“No, brother, I don't believe he can. He is an honorable man, if a stubborn one, with a keen sense of justice.”
“How stubborn, I wonder.”
“He is so resolved to rule Scotland, to bring peace and real prosperity,” Fiona said, “that he has decided to execute the most troublesome of his relations. The yearwill not end before Duke Murdoch and his ilk have gone to whatever fate awaits them on the other side of the door”
