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Outside in the hills about them autumn had come.The trees blazed with scarlet, gold, tawny orange, and sunny yellow. The loch near them and the lochs they could see in the distance as the leaves fell from the trees, leaving naught but bare branches, were a wonderful shade of bright, deep blue. There seemed to be a peace upon the land. The men hunted deer and boar for the winter store. Fiona and Nelly gathered the seeds of the lacy white flower of the wild carrot that each would ingest to prevent conception.
“I'll bring no more bairns into this world until I am certain Nairn is here to be father to them,” Fiona said. “The lord has not deigned his mischief yet, and until it is over and done with, I don't feel safe.”
“I know,” Nelly agreed. “When I ask him what will happen, my Roddy just pats me like some pretty animal and says, ‘Now, then, lassie, such matters are not for the likes of ye.’ The great gawk! Does he not think I can understand that a feud with a king can bring naught but trouble to the highlands? What is the matter with men, lady?”
Fiona shook her head. “I do not understand them myself, Nelly,” she told her servant. “Ohhh, look over there! ’Tis a great patch of white flowers for us to harvest. We just have time before dark.”
The two young women worked diligently, garnering the seeds they needed. When they had finished, the sun was close to setting, a half circle of fiery orange showing just above a bank of dark purple clouds edged in gold. Already the evening star gleamed in the darkening blue above them. As they walked the distance to the castle gate, Nelly suddenly cried out and pointed. Fiona stared, seeing a flame spring up on a distant hill. Was it a woodland fire? she wondered nervously. Then her heart almost rose in her throat to choke her as shesaw another fire on another hill, and another, and yet another.
“’Tis a signal of some sort,” Nelly said. “Look! Before our gates the men are lighting one, too.”
“God help us!” Fiona whispered. Picking up her skirts, she began to run toward Nairns Craig while all about her the hills blossomed with fires.
Nelly, close on her mistress's heels, did not drop her precious basket of flower heads. They were going to need then, she suspected.
At the gates Fiona demanded of the man-at-arms on duty, “What is this fire being lit for—and the others as well?”
“Why, my lady, ’Tis a call to arms from the Lord of the Isles,” he replied. “We have been waiting for weeks for it to come. There is another signal fire behind the castle so those in that direction may know the time has come, too.”
Fiona hurried past him, making directly for the castle's hall. There she found her husband, a large goblet of wine in his hand. “Why is the Lord of the Isles calling ye to arms?” she demanded. “What is he going to do to avenge his honor?” The last word was uttered scathingly. “Tell me, Colin MacDonald, or as God is my witness, I will cut out yer black heart, and ye'll not go anywhere!” Her dark hair had fallen loose from her caul, and her green eyes flashed angrily.
“Why, sweeting, there is nothing to fret about. We but go to burn Inverness, scene of our disgrace. That is all.”
