“Och, I’ve the most terrible itch on my nose. Ye dinna think ye could help me wi’ that, could ye?”
Dougal stared at the man, whose expression was dead serious. For a moment, Dougal was speechless, then he burst into laughter, feeling his lip split with the effort and his head pound with renewed vigour. Laughter was an unexpected sound, and a few others glanced over to see what was up.
Still laughing, Dougal said, “We’re the lot of us trussed like turkeys, probably set to be hangit, an’ ye’re fashed about a wee itch on yer nose?”
“Aye, I am,” the man replied indignantly. “I canna reach it.”
“No, I dinna suppose ye can,” Dougal said, trying to stem his laughter. “An’ how am I to manage it then?”
“I’ve no idea. But ’twould be a blessin’ if ye’d figure it out.”
Dougal snorted, then, with a flick of one black eyebrow, agreed to try. He rolled to his right side and used his heels to shove his own body, bit by bit, closer to the man. When he was a foot away, he spoke again.
“Bring yer damn neb here,” Dougal said. “I canna reach farther.” He wiggled his swollen fingers in illustration. They tingled with strangled circulation from within their rough bindings.
He heard the shuffling of a body behind his, then felt the strange pressure of the man’s nose moving against his fingers. Dougal couldn’t help himself. He started to giggle.
The man behind him moaned with relief. “Ye’re a godsend, man,” he said. “That was killin’ me.”
“That was killin’ ye? Well, if that’s all, then ye’re better than most of us. That is one of the strangest things I’ve ever been asked to do,” Dougal said, still smiling. “All done?”
“Aye, I am. Thanks very much.”
The men rolled onto their stomachs, though Dougal would have greatly preferred to lie on his back. If only their hands had been tied in front. The man beside Dougal gave him a friendly smile and what would have to suffice for a nod.
“John Wallace,” he said. “Yer servant, sir.”
Dougal returned the smile. “Dougal MacDonnell. Good to meet ye as well.”
There wasn’t much to say, so the men sank into an uncomfortable doze while they waited to find out what would happen next. It was becoming more difficult for any of them to stay awake these days, weakened as they were. Now pain and—Dougal hated to accept the word—defeat weighed down every fibre in his body.
Dougal hadn’t realised he had fallen asleep until he was jolted awake by a solid kick against his ribs. He grunted and rolled away, wide awake. But when he automatically reached for the offending boot, his bound arms permitted no such movement.
“Wake up, dog,” a soldier snarled.
Dougal smothered the retort that pressed against his lips. It would do him no good here. He would wait. Bide his time. Beside him, John Wallace apparently came to the same conclusion. He snorted into consciousness, looked around, then dropped his face back down to the mud.
Someone grabbed Dougal’s feet. He kicked and tried instinctively to yank them away, but his legs were held fast. He twisted as far as he could, then watched a soldier untie the ropes at his ankles. So they would be walking, would they? Fine. Anything was better than this, lying helpless as a lassie in a roomful of brawlers.
Other men’s legs were being untied as well, and there were groans and mutterings as the Highlanders stumbled to their feet. Most of their hands were still bound, so the men were limited to shrugging and squirming to release cramped muscles.
They were a sorry lot, Dougal thought, watching the others rise and stretch as best they could. Especially when compared to the English soldiers, who were clean, fed, and glowing with victory. The Highlanders were filthy and bedraggled, covered head to barely covered feet by bruises and blood. He recognised a few men with whom he had walked on the road to hell, men who, like him, had left their families alone and unprotected while they’d gone off to war. That thought brought Dougal back to images of his family. Of his mother in particular. Dougal was fairly sure he was the only man in the family to have survived. So now she was alone out there, with no means of defence other than her dirk, which she carried all the time.
Be strong, Mother.
She was smart, so she might take to the woods. Then again, she might stay in the house, waiting for her men to return. They were big men, all of them, and she wouldn’t have expected any of them to die.
No. That wasn’t true. She’d known as well as they had. She’d packed their food and seen them off, then turned and ducked through the small door to the croft. She’d never shed a tear. Or if she had, it had been secret, falling within the refuge of her empty home.
What of his brothers? He knew, of course, the fate of his father. But what of Ciaran? And Andrew? He should have been with them. His back should have been against theirs, fighting as they’d been taught. But that damn fog, the cursed smoke. He’d lost them as soon as they’d started running, shrieking, onto the frozen moor.
John Wallace jostled him from one side and Dougal gave him a placid smile.
“What of it?” John asked.
“Eh?”
“I was sayin’ I think we should leave,” John suggested. “Just go. When the sons of bitches are lookin’ elsewhere.”
“Oh, that’s a fine idea, John. I reckon they’d just let a wee slip of a man like yerself take a walk off into the trees wi’out too much notice. No, ye fool. They’ve plans to work us hard. Otherwise they’d have shot us by now.”
John shrugged good-naturedly. “Worth a thought.”
Dougal gestured with his chin toward a cluster of older men off by the trees, hunched and curled into themselves with resignation. “Those fellows willna fare well. Nor those.” He switched his gaze to a couple of small boys standing together, studying the activity with owlish expressions. They were probably no more than thirteen or fourteen. Drummer boys, he imagined. Frightened lads who should have been home practicing with wooden swords, not facing the menacing glares of hardened English soldiers, ripe with victory. The boys’ hands were untied, he noticed, as were those of some of the older men. The ropes were for bigger men, those who offered obvious threat to the soldiers.
“I’d think they’re no’ much use besides entertainment.”
As if he’d been overheard, a couple of soldiers strode toward the boys. Dougal saw them stiffen but set their slender shoulders in defiance, and the darker of the two stepped forward, placing himself as a shield in front of the smaller one. The soldier stood head and shoulders taller than the little Highlander, but Dougal wondered which, when faced with death, would be braver. The soldier chuckled at whatever the boy had said, and Dougal heard the cold sound from thirty feet away. The boy’s jaw was clenched, and when the soldier turned away, the boy spat at the receding red coat.
The soldier whirled and Dougal took an instinctive step toward the youngsters. “You little pig turd,” the soldier growled. “You’ll show a bit more respect, you will.”
Using his momentum, the soldier ploughed his fist into the boy’s cheek. The slender body crumpled, and though his hands were still tied behind him, Dougal stepped in as the soldier moved toward the smaller boy.
“If it’s a fight ye’re after,” Dougal said. “Might I offer my own services? Surely ye’d no’ want yer men to see ye crowin’ o’er a couple o’ wee lads. Doesna seem so gallant when they’re barely thirteen, does it?”
“Sixteen,” came a whisper, which Dougal ignored.
“You’ve fight left in you, ’ave you?” the soldier demanded with a sneer. “Bloody Scots ’ave no idea when to quit.” Needing no further encouragement, he smashed one fist into Dougal’s cheek, then plunged the other upward, under Dougal’s ribs. Dougal doubled over as the breath whooshed out of him, then turned to the side and spat.
He straightened and glared at the soldier. “Better?” he asked, voice gruff from lack of wind.
The soldier gave him a wide smile, his mouth a checkerboard of missing teeth. “
For now, my lad. But we’ll talk later, shall we?”
Dougal slid his jaw one way, then the other, testing the extent of the injury. The soldier hadn’t had much of an arm, fortunately. Good enough, but now Dougal knew what the man was made of. And at least he’d forgotten about the boys for now. Satisfied, he sniffed and started back toward John.
“I could have done just fine on my own, sir,” came a whisper.
The boy still standing was slender and gaunt, large blue eyes huge in his sunken face. His blond hair raged wildly around his head, and Dougal had an urge to pat it down. To cut it off, even.
“Sure. I reckon ye could have. ’Twas only I’ve a fondness for gettin’ hit,” he teased. “It had been a couple of hours, I reckon, since the last one.”
The boy, lips tight with pride, studied Dougal skeptically.
“Dinna fash,” Dougal said. “They’ll come back to hit ye soon enough. There’s plenty hungerin’ for a fight. An’ they dinna seem to mind if it’s a young lad, an’ old man, or a big fellow wi’ his hands tied. I’d keep well enough out o’ reach, if ’twas me.”
The small face seemed to relax a bit. “Thank ye, sir,” he said. “I’ll do that.”
Dougal looked down at the fallen boy, just starting to push himself back to his feet. The side of his face where he had been hit was already swelling; the other side was black with fresh mud. How many times had Dougal taken part in boyhood brawls, gotten hit, then jumped back up again, eager for a rematch? He waited to see the boy’s expression, nodded approval when he recognised the glare of defiance, then turned back toward John, who had come closer to watch.
“Very gallant,” John said.
“Oh aye. I’m a real hero.”
“Right. Well, then I’ll stay by you. They’ll hit ye first, I reckon.”
“Ye’re a smarter fellow than ye let on, sir,” Dougal replied.
Within a half hour the crowd of men was shuffling along on the rough, drenched road to Inverness. Dougal’s shoulders ached, the joints burned from the restraints on his wrists. His worn shoes scraped along the road so that little pebbles danced ahead of him like raindrops on a still loch.
God, he was tired of walking. Always walking. Or waiting. He wasn’t sure which was worse. Either one allowed him to drift away in his mind, which could be either a good or a bad thing. Sometimes he used the time to think about easier times, to bring back memories and voices that made him smile. But more often his mind slid back to the sight of his father’s dying eyes, and the sound of his voice. “I’m proud of ye, son.”
He thought of Andrew. Two years younger than he, quiet and introspective but with a sharp mind. Andrew was the thinker of the three brothers. No, that wasn’t right. Ciaran was the thinker, the one with promise, the one the family hoped to send to Europe to attend university someday. Andrew was the dreamer. Always sinking into places Dougal never saw. Always with that faraway look, as if he saw something beyond the sea. But when the situation demanded it, Andrew was just as quick as Dougal. Just as strong and skilled with his sword. They’d been more than brothers. Andrew was Dougal’s best friend.
It didn’t seem possible, imagining Andrew dead. Andrew was the most vibrant person he knew, empowered by a deep energy that never let him rest. He was almost as big as Dougal himself: easily over six feet. While Dougal’s hair was jet black, Andrew’s fell in brown waves. Dougal’s eyes flashed a clear blue while Andrew’s were a deep brown. Other than that, the two couldn’t have been mistaken for anything but brothers.
Dougal tried to picture Andrew’s body, motionless like all the rest, blood matting his hair and staining his kilt, his dark eyes forever closed. But he couldn’t hold the image. It felt wrong. The thought that Andrew’s corpse might be sprawled on that field of death was beyond Dougal’s comprehension. He looked into the forest on either side of the parade of captives, peering deep into the spring branches. The slender trees glistened with promise of new life, but any buds were barely visible. It was too early for green. Still, Dougal looked for any sign of his brother, then snorted at his own idiocy. Even if Andrew had somehow survived, even if he had run for his life, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to hang about and follow soldiers.
Go home, Dougal thought hard. If you’re out there, go home.
He could almost visualise Ciaran going down. That seemed, though the thought broke his heart, almost feasible. Their younger brother was smaller-boned and almost feminine in his looks, but fierce from necessity. The way of the youngest, always chasing the older two. He stood up to everyone, wanting to prove he was more than just a bookish mind, but swordplay wasn’t his strongest asset, and they all knew it. Ciaran should have been fighting with his father that day. That was how they’d always practiced.
Then again, Duncan was dead. He wouldn’t have been much help.
For the thousandth time, Dougal sifted through his memories, wondering if there were anything he could have done to change the day’s outcome. At least to have his brothers and father marching alongside him on this miserable road to incarceration, rather than headed for an English funeral pyre.
Hundreds of bodies burned. Thousands more limped along this road with him, the undead marching toward the unknown. The Highlanders had set off the year before with such confidence, building their numbers and their conviction with every step. The clans had come together for their Prince, and now they had died for the man. And where was this wonderful Prince? Gone. Some of the men in the crowd actually spoke of seeing him ride away. He’d cheered them on, ridden his beautiful white horse back to a safe distance, then turned tail when the loss became horribly obvious. Dougal shook his head with disgust and winced at the resultant pounding in his head.
There was nothing he could have done to save the others. He knew that. And yet he supposed his soul would always wonder.
CHAPTER 3
Talk of Brothers
Throughout their lives, Andrew and Dougal had heard each other’s thoughts. The natural flow between the brothers wasn’t something they discussed, and they never told anyone else about it. They talked as regular people talked, of course, but this was something deeper, and something entirely their own. They had no trouble finishing each other’s sentences, or not speaking at all but knowing the words nonetheless. There were occasions when something needed doing, or emotions needed sharing, and they both knew. God, Dougal thought, swallowing a knot in his throat, I will miss that most of all.
Thinking of home made him look around again, and he wondered where they were headed. The sun was there somewhere. Just hidden. He squinted up into the gray, looking for a hint of brightness. Ah. There. He had been right. West to Inverness. That was the only nearby place he could think of big enough for all of them. Three hours’ hike at least, with all these stumbling captives and their guards. His feet ached at the thought, his head even worse.
He’d been to Inverness once before, riding with his father and Andrew. It was a grand place, with more folk than he was used to seeing, though there had been even more at the Gathering two years prior to that. He smiled, despite the present situation, thinking of that week. So many of his clan and others, all coming together to celebrate . . . what? To celebrate life, he figured. To celebrate each other. The food, the music, the competitions—it had been an exciting time. And the lassies . . . oh, there was a thought to make any man smile. He could practically hear their sweet laughter even now.
Dougal loved the lassies. Fortunately, they were drawn to him like bears to honey. He knew he was handsome in their eyes. He was tall and strong, with midnight hair and a dusky complexion. His bright blue eyes twinkled with mischief, and the creases at their corners were testament to how he loved to laugh. The hill at the Gathering had been dotted with hundreds of tents and families, lit by campfires and whisky. And the lassies popped out of those tents, flirting with Dougal and Andrew, succumbing to their masculine charms with giggles and kisses.
Dougal rarely said no to an interested girl, but he’d never found one who c
ould hold his attention for more than an hour or two. He wasn’t sure what he was seeking, but he didn’t consider it important to get married until he found that one. He had seen love in his parents’ eyes when they looked at each other. He had also seen folks whose marriage consisted of passing each other in the doorway with barely a word, meeting up once in a while to breed. Dougal knew which he wanted and was in no rush.
When they had headed to battle almost a year past, there had been no one special in his life. Ciaran had a bonny wee thing at home, but then again, he was only sixteen. He was at the age when he thought he was in love as long as a girl fluttered her lashes at him. Dougal, being twenty, was of the opinion that a man was happiest without tethers. A brief dabble in the more enjoyable aspects of socialising, but nothing permanent. So he’d left no one behind.
He and John Wallace fell into step together, both of them tall with long strides.
“From where do ye come?” Dougal asked.
“By Urquhart, in Glenmoriston. My family has a wee cottage there.”
“Well then,” Dougal said. “We’re practically neighbours. ’Tis a shame we’ve no’ met afore this. I’m from Invergarry. My uncle is the MacDonnell. Iain MacDonnell.”
“Is that so? I’m wi’ the nephew o’ the great MacDonnell, am I? Well. ’Tis an honour, sir. An’ how did he fare today?”
Dougal exhaled loudly. “I reckon he fared as well as most o’ the others. Though come to it, I’d say if I were a chief, I’d hope to die on the battlefield. I’d no’ want to think what the sassenachs will do to a chief in their custody.”
John said nothing, but wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
“Had ye family here today?” Dougal asked.
“Aye, I did.” For a moment John’s eyes lost their natural shine. He dropped his chin and watched the ground beneath his feet for four or five paces. “But I already lost two brothers at Prestonpans, so today ’twas only my da an’ myself. An’ he . . . well, suffice to say, he’s no’ with us on this fine day’s walk.”
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