Tiernan’s brother Lasaran was moving up the line. Shive felt a cold shiver of fear run down her spine.
As the sun burst out of the clouds, it lit up Tiernan’s raven hair and handsome features. Shive began to run towards her husband as if her life depended upon it.
In a sense it did, for Lasaran was moving stealthily, closer and closer. It was all too apparent that he was about to try to stab his brother in the back amid the confusion of the battlefield.
“Tiernan, look out!” Shive called as she ran to his rescue.
Sure enough, Lasaran hacked at his brother with all his might. He would have split Tiernan's skull in two had it not been for Shive’s timely warning.
They fought for a few moments, but it was obvious to Shive that Tiernan was reluctant to kill his own brother, and was completely stunned about his betrayal.
Shive was unsure as to whether Lasaran knew Muireadach was dead or not. She concluded that he probably did know, which was why he was now making his move. He was trying to led Muireadach’s men to victory and thus attempt to claim leadership over the O’Rourkes himself as the prospective husband of Orla.
Shive knew she could never allow that to happen if there were ever to be peace in their region once and for all. She now moved forward to cross words with Lasaran herself. With a quick and ruthless efficiency, she stabbed him in the throat and stepped back as his corpse fell heavily to the ground.
Tiernan looked down at his brother’s body, and then glanced over at his blood-drenched wife.
"My God, Shive." He shook his head.
He and Shive stared at each other as though across a wide gulf.
"Look out!" they cried in unison.
Both ducked and parried. It wasn't the romantic reunion either of them had envisaged, staring across the corpse of Tiernan's brother. Before either of them could even touch each other, the tide of war swept them in opposite directions, Shive to the Scots' side, while Tiernan moved away to help his own men in the center of the field.
Shive had little time to reflect up on what her killing of Lasaran would mean for her relationship with Tiernan. She knew the death had been a just one, but it was yet another wedge between them so far as she could see. They had come full circle—she had thought him guilty of her brother's murder, when poor Tiernan had actually been innocent. But there was no doubt as to her guilt. She was sure it would hang between them now like a funeral pall.
But she fought on, for what other choice did she have. She had killed Lasaran to save lives. There would be time to sift through the debris of their lives once the reason was finally at peace. Even if she could never have tiernan's love again, there was always her son…
At that thought, she shouted, "Men, to me!" and pushed forward once more with the loyal Scots at her back.
As the day drew to a close and they emerged victorious, she let out a weary sigh as she recalled the look on Tiernan’s face when she had killed Lasaran. It was as though he'd never seen her before. Her own husband had looked at her as though she were a complete stranger.
“He'll never forgive me for that. I should have warned him of his brother's treachery, but he probably never would have believed me anyway,” Shive muttered to herself as she labored amongst the wounded that evening, when the battle had finally ended in a decisive victory against the O’Rourkes.
“What did you say, Shive?” Maolmordha asked as he groaned beside her while she tied a bandage to his arm, and continued along the row of injured to assist them in any way she could.
“I was just thinking how much Tiernan will hate me for having killed his brother.”
“His brother was a traitor, as well you know. You did the right thing,” Maolmordha hastened to reassure her.
“I should have warned him,” Shive worried.
“He wouldn’t have believed you,” Oran argued as he came to look at Shive’s side, which had been gashed by someone’s dagger.
The fact that he was undoubtedly correct was of little comfort.
Shive sighed, and let her injuries be tended by the older man. Now if only he had a cure for a broken heart…
Chapter Forty-Three
Much later in the evening, Tiernan found Shive still tending the wounded, covered in her own and other’s blood. She had been assisting Oran and Maolmordha with the amputations. Tiernan frowned when she saw her cutting off a man’s leg at the knee.
“Shive, I would speak with you,” Tiernan said softly.
Shive looked at Oran and Maolmordha, who nodded. She finished sewing the flesh closed, and rose.
Oran made as if to go with her, but Tiernan said angrily, “She doesn’t need any protection from me. I am still her husband, after all. Stay where you are.”
Shive nodded to her friends and went off into the woods with her glowering spouse.
Once past the tree line in the cool wood, he turned and said without preamble, “I know who Oran O’Rourke is, but would you mind telling me who the plaid clad one is, who fought on Muireadach’s side and then all of sudden was raised from the dead? He never takes his eyes off you, and is always holding your hand, or putting his arm around your waist.”
Any glad words of welcome died on her lips in the face of his cold demeanor and curt tone.
“He is Maolmordha O’Donnell, head of a band of Scottish mercenaries. He betrayed Muireadach at my request. Muireadach hired them to come here to turn the tide of battle, but we became friends, and he's now my ally. He will be living on my lands from now on, helping till the fields and so on,” Shive informed her husband briefly.
“I see. Would you tell me how you met?” Tiernan said with barely suppressed jealousy.
“Maolmordha and his men raided Killour convent where I was staying with some of the injured men after the last attack. We defended the convent until the rest of the nuns and the baby got away to safety. Maolmordha protected me from rape, and eventually we won over his men to our side.”
Tiernan grasped her by the shoulders anxiously. “And where is our son now, Shive, or my sister Claire?”
She shook her head.
For a moment he paled.
“I’m afraid I have no idea,” Shive said quickly, sniffing. “They managed to escape alive before the convent was attacked. I’ll start looking for them immediately once I am sure this is all over.”
Tiernan sat down wearily against a tree trunk then. He eventually asked in a quiet voice, “I'll help you. My men know the convent of old. There's a secret tunnel, if I'm not mistaken."
She nodded. "That's how they got out. We bought them some time until we were at last captured. They never found the tunnel."
"And Lasaran? Why did he try to kill me? I think I know the answer already, but I want you to tell me.”
“I’m sorry, Tiernan. I did try to warn you the night I came back home with Oran after I had escaped from Muireadach’s castle. Lasaran was there, gloating over my having been taken prisoner. He would have killed you to become head of your family. With Muireadach dead he would have hoped to become head of the O’Rourkes as well. I couldn’t let you die, and I couldn’t let him take power, don’t you see?”
“You should have told me Lasaran and Orla were involved in all this,” Tiernan reproached her mildly, his voice weary.
“You wouldn’t have believed me about that any more than you did about my kidnap, now would you, Tiernan?” Shive berated him.
“No, I suppose I wouldn’t have,” he conceded, and closed his eyes, anxious to be alone with his grief and shock at how much he had been betrayed by everyone he had trusted.
Everyone except Shive and her friends. The irony was not lost on him that he had never trusted his wife, yet she had been the only one to stand by him through all the hard times, despite all he had accused her of, all he had done to her.
“Tiernan, is it all over now? Have we won?” Shive asked softly.
Tiernan laughed without mirth. “Aye, though there isn’t much left after all the burning and pillaging. Aye, we have wo
n, Shive. I imagine Ruairi would like us to stay here at Lissatava with him for a while. But to be perfectly honest I’m anxious to go home as soon as possible.”
“As am I. I need to find my son. Our son.”
He gave a brief nod. “We’ll gather the forces together and head back to Rathnamagh, if that’s all right with you.”
“I’m not sure what it will be like there, but I imagine there must be more food and so on, since it’s further away from the fighting than Trian and Skeard,” Shive assented.
“Do you suppose the O’Rourkes will want to continue this battle? I mean, they could try to send for reinforcements from Bothandun,” Tiernan worried, opening his eyes to stare at his wife’s composed features.
“I doubt it. You see, Oran, Maolmordha and I took over Bothandun. There will be no reinforcements for them from there. Nor will there be any sort of welcome if they try to go home to lick their wounds,” Shive said with small smile of triumph. “I think the best thing we can do now is see if Oran is willing to try to take over the clans as leader. Then we can be assured of peace.”
Tiernan looked at her for a long time in silence.
“What is it, Tiernan? Have I said something amiss?”
“No, not at all. I was just thinking how lucky I am to have known such a wise woman as you.”
“Do you really think I’m wise? Some of my decisions you’ve viewed as downright foolish,” she reminded him gently.
Tiernan pondered her remarks with his eyes bent towards the ground. Then he stretched out his hand to her. “Shive, I’m not sure that anything can ever mend all the wounds we’ve caused each other over the past few months, but I'd like to try. Once I'm sure this is all over, really over, and our son is home safely, I want us to try again. Do you think you can ever forgive me for doubting you?”
“Can you forgive me?” Shive countered, as she took his huge hand in her own tiny one. “Lasaran was your brother, after all.”
“I’m sorry about Lasaran’s death, but aye, I can forgive you, Shive. How could you doubt it, when you killed your own father and cousin to clear my name and protect my lands? I think I just need some time to accept all of what's happened, and put it behind us. Then I want to start again.”
“There is one thing we won’t be able to put behind us, and that’s our son. We’re parents now, Tiernan.”
“I know, I know. That hasn’t quite sunk in yet either,” Tiernan admitted with a wry grin, before lapsing into a thoughtful silence again. He continued to gaze at Maolmordha, towering above the rest of the men as he ministered to the needs of the wounded.
Shive eventually released Tiernan’s hand, and rose from the ground. “Well, you know where to find me when you’re ready, Tiernan. I’ll start making arrangements for sending the wounded home in the carts, and for the other men to begin marching back, if that’s what you wish.”
“Whatever you think best, Shive. I leave it in your more than capable hands,” Tiernan said as he continue to stare at the ground.
Shive went up to him unthinkingly and hugged him. “Look after yourself, then, Tiernan. I’ll see you soon.”
Before he could cling onto her and tell her he loved her, that he was relieved she was all right, she had gone, leaving Tiernan feeling more alone than he ever had in his entire life.
Chapter Forty-Four
For the next fortnight Shive laboured ceaselessly, nursing, cooking, cleaning, and organizing the remains of her estate and holdings, as well as keeping an eye on Tiernan’s injured men. She kept tallies on all who had been killed, how many villages had been destroyed, how much food they would need over the long hard winter. Many dead comrades were mourned for on all sides, but many new friends had been gained along their perilous journey.
Sitric and his Vikings had acquitted themselves well throughout the campaign. Since there were now only a handful left, and they had become accustomed to the milder weather of the south and innate friendliness of the Irish, they too accepted Shive’s offer to stay in her territories. They went off to her castle at Aille with her captain Earc in order to be closer to their beloved sea.
All of the women, children and elderly who had been housed at Aille for safekeeping returned to their villages to see what could be salvaged, and then to make a fresh start.
Maolmordha O’Donnell and his Scots mercenaries settled down quickly, making friends with the MacDermots easily, and doing all the chores required of them without one word of complaint.
Shortly after Shive had returned home to Rathnamagh, she had confronted her cousin Fergus about his dealings with Muireadach and Orla O’Rourke, and he had confessed. Shive had decided in the end to be forgiving, but only to a certain extent, and so she appointed Fergus and Maolmordha joint castellans of Trian in the north east of her territory. Maolmordha also promised to help Ronan O’Keefe by accepting his young grandsons as foster children, in order to teach them the art of war.
Shive had also agreed to help Ronan O’Keefe at her sergeant Bran’s urging, but she pointed out, “However, I do have an infant son of my own, and he will certainly need a great deal of looking after. At any rate, I'm a bit tired of fighting. I think I’d like some other people to carry some responsibility on their shoulders for a while. Another year like this and I’ll be destined for an early grave,” she joked.
“You nearly were, several times,” Mahon teased, though everyone in the room knew full well this was too close to the truth for comfort.
The arrangement with Ronan O’Keefe regarding his grandsons had also come about because of his willingness to protect Tiernan’s sister Claire and baby son Fiachra after they had fled from the convent at Killour. Shive had been delighted when her child had been returned to her unharmed. She only wished Tiernan had been there with her to share in her joy.
But Tiernan was busy reorganising his home at Castlegarren now that he had lost so many men, and had been almost completely unprepared for the invading army which had decimated his lands. With a hard winter setting in, there was much to be seen to.
Apart from brief, impersonal visits, with them both surrounded by a crowd of people, Shive hardly ever got to see her husband.
Shive’s cousin Ruairi had of course been intensely grateful for all she had done, and given her many cattle and building materials and other supplies to help restore all she and Tiernan had lost. Shive had met Ruairi's new bride Breda MacRannell, a lovely young girl with blond hair and corn-flower blue eyes, and was pleased to see that Ruairi seemed truly devoted to her in every way.
She and Ruairi now met only as cousins and friends. Any hint of any romance that might have ever existed on his part was completely gone. Shive for one was relieved, since it meant any harmful gossip about the two of them after all of Muireadach’s lies died down very quickly indeed.
As for the pitiful remnant of the O’Rourke clan, once they realised that Shive was in control of Bothandun, they were ready to parley with her. An agreement was reached between herself, Oran, and Kevin the sergeant at arms whereby the men would be farmed out in small groups to help rebuild the villages they had destroyed. Shive’s troops and some of Maolmordha’s mercenaries remained behind, keeping Bothandun as surety for their good behavior.
If at the end of the year the O’Rourkes made appropriate restitution to Tiernan and Shive and Ruairi for the damage they had caused, and accepted Oran as their new leader, then Shive would be willing to let them have their main citadel back.
At least the situation was rendered less complicated by Orla O’Rourke’s flight from her territory to that of the O’Dowds. Because they had suffered huge losses after Muireadach’s madly ambitious campaign, she was unsuccessful in her attempt to goad them on to another fight. The last Oran and Shive ever heard of her, she had been married off to one of the lesser O’Dowd cousins, and forced to sell all her jewels and clothes and live as a simple wife in a small holding near the sea.
Though Oran and Maolmordha now had new duties which kept them from her side, Shive spent ma
ny happy days with Mahon and Cian, who admired his nephew enormously, and was eagerly making plans for his wedding to Ailbhe.
“That’s the date I got married,” Shive recalled fondly, when Cian asked her for help with their plans.
“Shive, would you mind if we had our wedding here?" Cian asked. "It’s just that this castle is much more centrally located for us all, what with Ruairi and his new bride Breda coming up for the feast.”
Shive smiled at him fondly. “Of course I don’t mind. It is the least I can do after all the kindness you’ve shown me. And to think, it's almost exactly a year ago Tiernan and wed.” She sighed then.
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