The Fiery Cross

by Diana Gabaldon

  pit, pausing just long enough to thrust the ax into my hands.

  "See that safe, aye, Sassenach?" he said, and kissed me briefly. He grinned down at me. "And where did ye learn so much about the natural history of beans, tell me?"

  "Brianna brought it home from school when she was about six," I said, smiling back. "It's really a little song."

  "Tell her to sing it to her man," Jamie advised. The grin widened. "He can write it down in his wee book."

  He turned away, putting a companionable arm firmly about the shoulders of Ronnie Sinclair, who showed signs of trying to escape back in the direction of the barbecue pit.

  "Come along wi' me, Ronnie," he said. Ill must just have a wee word wi' the Lieutenant. He Arishes to buy a ham of Mistress Lindsay, I think," he added, blinking at me in the owllikc fashion that passed with him for winking. He turned back to Ronnie. "But I ken he'll want to hear whatever ye can tell him, about his Da. Ye were a great friend of Gavin Hayes, no?"

  "Oh," said Ronnie, his scowl lightening somewhat. "Aye. Aye, Gavin was a proper man. A shame about it." He shook his head, obviously referring to Gavin's death a few years before. He glanced up at Jamie, lips pursed. "Does his lad ken what happened?"

  A tender question, that. Gavin had in fact been hanged in Charleston, for theft-a shameful death, by anyone's standards.

  "Aye," Jamie said quietly. "I had to tell him. But it will help, I think, if ye can tell him a bit about his Da earlier-tell him how it was for us, there in Ardsmuir." Something-not quite a smile-touched his face as he looked at Ronnie, and I saw an answering softness on Sinclair's face.

  Jamie's hand tightened on Ronnie's shoulder, then dropped away, and they set off up the hill, side by side, the subtleties of barbecue forgotten.

  How it wasfor us ... I watched them go, linked by the conjuration of that one simple phrase. Five words that recalled the closeness forged by days and months and years of shared hardship; a kinship closed to anyone who had not likewise lived through it. Jamie seldom spoke of Ardsmuir; neither did any of the other men who had come out of it and lived to see the New World here.

  Mist was rising from the hollows on the mountain now; within moments, they had disappeared from view. From the hazy forest above, the sound of Scottish male voices drifted down toward the smoking pit, chanting in amiable unison:

  'Beans, beans, they'regoodfor your beart. . .

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  RETURNING TO THE CAMPSITE, I found that Roger had returned from his errands. He stood near the fire, talking with Brianna, a troubled look on his face.

  "Don't worry," I told him, reaching past his hip to retrieve the rumbling teakettle. "I'm sure Jamie',Arill sort it somehow. He's gone to deal with it.,, "He has?" He looked slightly startled. "He knows already?"

  "Yes, as soon as he finds the sheriff, I imagine it will all come right." I upended the chipped teapot I used in camp with one hand, shook the old leaves out onto the ground, and putting it on the table, tipped a little boiling water in from the kettle to warm the pot. It had been a long day, and likely to be a long evening as well. I was looking forward to the sustenance of a properly brewed cup of tea, accompanied by a slice of the fruitcake one of my patients had given me during the morning clinic.

  "The sheriff?" Roger gave Brianna a baffled look, faintly tinged with alarm. "She hasn't set a sheriff on me, has she?"

  "Set a sheriff on you? Who?" I said, joining in the chorus of bafflement. I hung the kettle back on its tripod, and reached for the tin of tea leaves. "Whatever have you been doing, Roger?"

  A faint flush showed over his high cheekbones, but before he could answer, Brianna snorted briefly.

  "Telling Auntie Jocasta where she gets off." She glanced at Roger, and her eyes narrowed into triangles of mildly malicious amusement as she envisioned the scene. "Boy, I wish I'd been there!"

  "Whatever did you say to her, Roger?" I inquired, interested. The flush deepened, and he looked away.

  "I don't wish to repeat it," he said shortly. "It wasna the sort of thing one ought to say to a woman, let alone an elderly one, and particularly one about to be related to me by marriage. I was just asking Bree whether I maybe ought to go and apologize to Mrs. Cameron before the wedding."

  "No," Bree said promptly. "The nerve of her! You had every right to say what you did."

  "Well, I don't regret the substance of my remarks," Roger said to her, with a wry hint of a smile. "Only the form.

  "See," he said, turning to me, "I'm only thinking that perhaps I should apologize, to keep it from being awkward tonight-I don't want Bree's wedding to be spoiled."

  "Bree's wedding? You think I'm getting married by myself?" she asked, lowering thick red brows at him.

  "Oh, well, no," he admitted, smiling a little. He touched her cheek, gently. "I'll stand up next ye, to be sure. But so long as we end up married, I'm not so much bothered about the ceremony. Ye'll want it to be nice, though, won't ye? Put a damper on the occasion, and your auntie crowns me with a stick of firewood before I can say 'I will.' "

  I was by now consumed by curiosity to know just what he bad said to Jocasta, but thought I had better address the more immediate issue, which was

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  that at the moment of going to press, it appeared that there might be no wedding to be spoiled.

  "And so Jamie's out looking for Father Kenneth now," I finished. "Marsali didn't recognize the sheriff who took him, though, which makes it difficult." Roger's dark brows lifted, then drew together in concern.

  "I wonder. . ." he said, and turned to me. "Do ye know, I think perhaps I saw him, just a few moments ago."

  "Father Kenneth?" I asked, knife suspended over the fruitcake. "No, the sheriff "

  "What? Where?" Bree half-turried on one heel, glaring round. Her hand curled up into a fist, and I thought it rather fortunate that the sheriff wasn't in sight. Having Brianna arrested for assault really would have a dampening effect on the wedding.

  "He went that way." Roger gestured downhill, toward the creek-and Lieutenant Hayes's tent. As he did so, we heard the sound of footsteps squelching through mud, and a moment later, Jamie appeared, looking tired, worried, and highly annoyed. Obviously, he hadn't yet found the priest.

  "Da!" Bree greeted him with excitement. "Roger thinks he's seen the sheriff who took Father Kenneth!"

  "Oh, aye?" Jamie at once perked up. "Where?" His left hand curled up in anticipation, and I couldn't help smiling. "What's fiinny?" he demanded, seeing it.

  "Nothing," I assured him. "Here. have some fruitcake." I handed him a slice, which he promptly crammed into his mouth, returning his attention to Roger.

  "Where?" he demanded, indistinctly.

  "I don't know that it was the man you're looking for Ro gier told him. "He was a raggedy wee man. But he had got a prisoner; he was tak ng one of the fellows from Drunkard's Creek off in handcuffs. MacLennan, I think."

  Jamie choked and coughed, spewing small bits of masticated fruitcake into the fire.

  "He arrested Mr. MacLennan? And you kt him?" Bree was staring at Roger in consternation. Neither she nor Roger had been present when Abel MacLennan had told his story over breakfast, but both of them knew him.

  "I couldria very well prevent him," Roger pointed out mildly. "I did call out to MacLennan to ask if he wanted help-I thought I'd fetch your Da or Farquard Campbell, if he did. But he just looked through me, as though I might have been a ghost, and then when I called again, he gave me an odd sort of smile and shook his head. I didna think I ought to go and beat up a sheriff, just on general principle. But if you-"

  "Not a sheriff," Jamie said hoarsely. His eyes were watering, and he paused to cough explosively again.

  "A thief-taker," I told Roger. "Something like a bounty hunter, I gather." The tea wasn't nearly brewed yet; I found a half-fiill stone bottle of ale and handed that to Jamie.

  "Where will he be taking Abel?" I asked. "You said Hayes didn't want prisoners."

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Diana Gabaldon

  Jamie shook his head, swallowed, and lowered the bottle, breathing a little easier.

  "He doesna. No, Mr. Boble-it must be him, aye?-will take Abel to the nearest magistrate. And if wee Roger saw him just the now. . ." He turned, thinking, brows furrowed as he surveyed the mountainside around us.

  "It will be Farquard, most likely," he concluded, his shoulders relaxing a little. "I ken four justices of the peace and three magistrates here at the Gathering, and of the lot, Campbell's the only one camped on this side."

  "Oh, that's good." I sighed in relief. Farquard Campbell was a fair man; a stickler for the law, but not without compassion-and more importantly, perhaps, a very old friend of Jocasta Cameron.

  "Aye, we'll ask my aunt to have a word-perhaps we'd best do it before the weddings." He turned to Roger. "Will ye go, MacKenzie? I-must be finding Father Kenneth, if there are to be any weddings."

  Roger looked as though he, too, had just choked on a bit of fruitcake.

  "Er ... well," he said, awkwardly. "Perhaps I'm no the best man to be saying anything to Mrs. Cameron just now."

  Jamie was staring at him in mingled interest and exasperation. "Why not?"

  Blushing fiercely, Roger recounted the substance of his conversation with Jocasta-lowering his voice nearly to the point of inaudibility at the conclusion. We heard it clearly enough, nonetheless. Jamie looked at me. His mouth

  twitched. Then his shoulders began to shake. I felt the laughter bubble up under my ribs, but it was nothing to Jamie's hilarity He laughed almost silently, but so hard that tears came to his eyes.

  "Oh, Christ!" he gasped at last. He clutched his side, still wheezing faintly. "God, I've sprung a rib, I think." He reached out and took one of the halfdried clean clouts from a bush, carelessly wiping his face with it.

  "All right," he said, recovering himself somewhat. "Go and see Farquard, then. If Abel's there, tell Campbell I'll stand surety for him. Bring him back with ye." He made a brief shooing gesture, and Roger-puce with mortification but stiff with dignity-departed at once. Bree followed him, casting a glance of reproof at her father, which merely had the effect of causing him to wheeze some more.

  I drowned my own mirth with a gulp of steaming tea, blissfully fragrant. I offered the cup to Jamie, but he waved it away, content with the rest of the ale. "My aunt," he observed, lowering the bottle at last, "kens verra well indeed what money will buy and what it will not."

  "And she's just bought herself-and everyone else in the county-a good opinion of poor Roger, hasn't she?" I replied, rather dryly.

  Jocasta Cameron was a MacKenzie of Leoch; a family Jamie had once described as "charming as the larks in the field-and sly as foxes, with it." Whether Jocasta had truly had any doubt herself of Roger's motives in marrying Bree, or merely thought to forestall idle gossip along the Cape Fear, her methods had been undeniably successful. She was probably up in her tent chortling over her cleverness, looking forward to spreading the story of her offer and Roger's response to it.

  "Poor Roger," Jamie agreed, his mouth still twitching. "Poor but virtuous."

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  He tipped up the bottle of ale, drained it, and set it down with a brief sigh of satisfaction. "Though come to that," he added, glancing at me, "she's bought the lad something of value as well, hasn't shO" alized it himself beccMy son," I quoted softly, nodding. "Do you think he re

  fore he said itP That he really feels Jernmy is his son?"

  Jamie mad .e an indeterminate movement with his shoulders, not quite a shrug.

  "I canna. say. It's as well he should have that fixed in his mind, though, before the next bairn comes along--one he kens for sure is his."

  I thought of my conversation that morning with Brianna, but decided it was %riser to say nothing-at least for now. It was, after all, a matter between Roger and Bree. I only nodded, and turned to tidy away the tea things.

  I felt a small glow in the pit of my stomach that was only partly the result of the tea. Roger had sworn an oath to take Jemmy as his own, no matter what the little boy's true paternity might be; he was an honorable man, Roger, and he meant it. But the speech of the heart is louder than the words of any oath spoken by lips alone.

  When I had gone back, pregnant, through the stones, Frank had sworn to me that he would keep me as his wife, would treat the coming child as his own-would love me as he had before. All three of those vows his lips and mind had done his best to keep, but his heart, in the end, had sworn only one. From the moment that he took Brianna in his arms, she was his daughter.

  But what if there had been another child? I wondered suddenly. It had never apot dry and wrapped it been a possibility-but if it had? Slowly, I wiped the te

  in a towel, contemplating the vision of that mythical child; the one Frank and I might have had, but never did, and never would. I laid the wrapped teapot in the chest, gently, as though it were a sleeping baby. th a

  When I turned back, Jamie was still standing there, looking at me wi rather odd expression-tender, yet somehow rueful.

  "Did I ever think to thank ye, Sassenach?" he said, his voice a little husky. "For what?" I said, puzzled. He took my hand, and drew me gently toward him. He smelled of ale and damp wool, and very faintly of the brandied sweetness of fruitcake. "For the children that ye bore me."

  "For my bairns," he said softly. nst the "Oh," I said. I leaned slowly forward, and rested my forehead agai

  solid warmth of his chest. I cupped my hands at the small of his back beneath his coat, and sighed. "It was ... my pleasure."

  "MR. FRASER, MR. FRASER!" I lifted my head and turned to see a small boy churning down the steep slope behind us, arms waving to keep his balance and face bright red with cold and exertion.

  "Oof!" Jamie got his hands up just in time to catch the boy as he hurtled down the last few feet, quite out of control. He boosted the little boy, whom I recognized as Farquard Campbell's youngest, up in his arms and smiled at him. "Aye, Rabbie, what is it? Does your Da want me to come for Mr. MacLennanP' Rabbie shook his head, shaggy hair flying like a sheepdog's coat.

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  "No, sir," he panted, gasping for breath. He gulped air and the small throat swelled like a frog's with the effort to breathe and speak at once. "No, sir. My Da says he's heard where the Priest is and I should show ye the way, sir. Will ye come?"

  Jamie's brows flicked up in momentary surprise. He glanced at me, then smiled at Rabbie, and nodded, bending down to set him on his feet.

  "Aye, lad, I will. Lead on, then!"

  "Delicate of Farquard," I said to Jamie under my breath, with a nod at Rabbie, who scampered ahead, looking back over his shoulder now and then, to be sure we were managing to keep up with him. No one would notice a small boy, among the swarms of children on the mountain. Everyone would most assuredly have noticed had Farquard Campbell come himself or sent one of his adult sons.

  Jamie huffed a little, the mist of his breath a wisp of steam in the gathering chill.

  cc f Well, it's no Farquar&s concern, after all, even if he has got a great regard or my aunt. And I expect if he's sent the lad to tell me, it means he kens the man who's responsible, and doesna mean to choose up sides wil me against him." He glanced at the setting sun, and gave me a rueful look,

  441 did say I should find Father Kenneth by sunset, but still-I dinna think we shall see a wedding tonight, Sassenach. 11

  Rabbie led us onward and upward, tracing the maze of footpaths and trampled dead grass without hesitation. The sun had finally broken through the clouds; it had sunk deep in the notch of the mountains, but was still high enough to wash the slope with a warm, ruddy light that momentarily belied the chill of the day. People were gathering to their family fires now, hungry for their suppers, and no one spared a glance for us among the bustle.

  At last, Rabbie came to a stop, at the foot of a well-marked path that led up and to the right. I had crisscrossed the mountain's face several times during the week of t
he Gathering, but had never ventured up this hi

  custody of Father Kenneth, gh. Who was in about it? I wondered-and what did Jamie propose to do "Up there," Rabbie said unnecessarily, pointing to the peak of a large tent, just visible through a screen of longleaf pine.

  Jamie made a Scottish noise in the back of his throat at si ht of the tent. "Oh," he said softly, "so that's how it is?1I 9

  "Is it? Never mind how it is; wbose is it?" I looked dubiously at the tent, which was a large affair of waxed brown canvas, pale in the gloaming. It obviously belonged to someone fairly wealthy, but wasn't one I was familiar with myself.

  "Mr- Lillywhite, of Hillsborough," Jamie said, and his brows drew down in thought. He patted Rabbie Campbell on the head, and handed him a penny from his Sporran. "Thank ye, laddie. Run away to your Mam now; it'll be time for your supper." Rabbie took the coin and vanished without comment, pleased to be finished with his errand.

  "Oh, really." I cocked a wary eye at the tent. That explained a few things, I suPPOsed-though not everything. Mr. Lillywhite was a magistrate from Hillsborough, though I knew nothing else about him, save what he looked like. I

  The Fiery Cross 127

  had glimpsed him once or twice during the Gathering, a tall, rather drooping man, his figure made distinctive by a bottle-green coat with silver buttons, but had never formally met him. which explained the Magistrates were responsible for appointing sheriffs,

  connection with the "nasty fat man" Marsali had described, and why Father Kenneth was incarcerated here-but that left open the question of whether it was the sheriff or Mr. Lillywhite who had wanted the priest removed from circulation in the first place.

  Jamie put a hand on my arm, and drew me off the path, into the shelter of a small pine tree.

  "Ye dinna ken Mr. Lillywhite, do you, Sassenach?" "Only by sight. What do you want me to do?"

  He smiled at me, a hint of mischief in his eyes, despite his worry for Father Kenneth.

  "Game for it, are ye?"

  "Unless you're proposing that I bat Mr. Lillywhite over the head and liberate Father Kenneth by force, I suppose so. That sort of thing is much more your line of country than mine."

  He laughed at that, and gave the tent what appeared to be a wistful look.

  "I should like nothing better," he said, confirming this impression. "It wouldna be difficult in the least," he went on, eyeing the tan canvas sides of the tent appraisingly as they flexed in the wind. "Look at the size of it; there canna be more than two or three men in there, besides the priest. I could wait until the full dark, and then take a lad or two and-"

  "Yes, but what do you want me to do now?" I interrupted, thinking I had best put a stop to what sounded a distinctly criminal train of thought.

  "Ah." He abandoned his machinations-for the moment-and squinted at me, appraising my appearance. I had taken off the bloodstained canvas apron I wore for surgery, had put up my hair neatly with pins, and was reasonably respectable in appearance, if a trifle mud-draggled round the hems.

  "Ye dinna have any of your physician's kit about ye?" he asked, frowning dubiously. "A bottle of swill, a bittie knife?"

  "Bottle of swill, indeed. No, I-oh, wait a moment. Yes, there are these; will they do?" Digging about in the pocket tied at my waist, I had come up with the small ivory box in which I kept my gold-tipped acupuncture needles.

  Evidently satisfied, Jamie nodded, and pulled out the silver whisky flask from his sporran.

  "Aye, they'll do," he said, handing me the flask. "Take this too, though, for looks. Go up to the tent, Sassenach, and tell whoever's guarding the priest that he's ailing."

  "The guard?"

  "The priest," he said, giving me a look of mild exasperation. "I daresay everyone will ken ye as a healer by now, and know ye on sight. Say that Father Kenneth has an illness that you've been treating, and he must have a dose of his medicine at once, lest he sicken and die on them. I dinna suppose they want that-and they'll not be afraid of you."

  "I shouldn't imagine they need be," I agreed, a trifle caustically. "You don't mean me to stab the sheriff through the heart with my needles, then?"

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  He grinned at the thought, but shook his head.

  "Nay, I only want ye to learn why they've taken the priest and what they mean to do with him. If I were to go and demand answers myself, it might put them on guard."

  Meaning that he had not completely abandoned the notion of a later commando raid on Mr. LillywhiWs stronghold, should the answers prove unsatisfactory. I glanced at the tent and took a deep breath, settling my shawl about my shoulders.