The Faithful Heart

by MacMurrough, Sorcha

  “If you say so, but I think your search is a waste of time when so many sick people need attending,” Mary sniffed disapprovingly. She seemed completely unwilling to be convinced.

  Morgana’s suspicions were immediately alerted again, for both Mary and Aofa had been in the larder that first night when she had charitably tried to feed the starving multitude outside her castle walls.

  Admittedly it had been Aofa who had tried to stop Morgana from giving away the vegetables, whereas Mary had helped with the many sick patients. But she was certain one of the women was responsible.

  Unfortunately, Morgana couldn’t be sure which one was to blame, but she was positive now that that was how her father had been poisoned. He had been fed by the cooks at first. Then he had dug up vegetables from the garden. Someone must have got at his secret store and smeared poison on the outsides of the vegetables, Morgana decided.

  As she searched desperately for more evidence, Morgana was conscious of Mary frowning at her every move.

  At last she found one of the baskets. Morgana decided to come straight out with the truth to determine Mary’s reaction to it.“Someone has rubbed poison all over the outside of the vegetables. See the white powder? There are flakes in this basket, and I’ll betif we find the other one, we will find the same white flakes. Find that second basket, and whoever has received vegetables from it. I don’t care if you have to turn the whole village upside, I don’t want a parsnip left in a single house at the end of all this.”

  “I’ll see to it as soon as it’s light,” Mary promised, staring at the basket in horror.

  Morgana returned to dosing her patients one at a time, praying that she could save them as she laboured throughout the night.

  But as dawn came up over Lisleavan, Morgana neared despair. A half dozen of the children had died, and of the remaining two dozen cases, at least ten had lapsed into unconsciousness. Morgana got a funnel and continued to try to dose them,but she began to lose hope as another three children died in her arms.

  “Perhaps I should try mustard, to get most of the poison out of the stomach,” Morgana wondered aloud, as she checked each patient again for any sign of improvement.

  “I’ll go get it,” Mary offered.

  They purged their last remaining victims until their stomachs were empty, and began a renewed assault with the milk and herbs.

  “We need more milk. Get one of the men up to tend to the cows, and tell them to hurry,” Morgana insisted.

  “No one else seems to be ill at the moment, so I shall get them all up to look for the vegetables, and to take some turns with the farm chores and nursing the sick. You have other things on the estate to do, and if I may say so, you look exhausted, as well as filthy.”

  “A little dirt never hurt anyone, Mary,” Morgana replied. “I shall stay until I see some hope of improvement. Get the farming chores done and the bread made.”

  “I’m going now.”

  “And send a messenger to Aunt Agatha, to get more cordial and herbs. We’re nearly out of everything at the moment,” Morgana added.

  When another three children died in one house, Morgana went outside and began to weep.

  “Who could be so wicked as to allow this to happen to their own people?” Morgana agonised aloud.

  Just then Ruairc appeared by her side and took her into his arms.

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, my love!” Ruairc breathed against her auburn tresses. “I was so worried when you didn’t answer my knock at your door, and I opened it to find the room empty. I wanted to talk to you, Morgana, about last night.”

  He held her at arm’s length as he felt her go limp in his embrace.

  “What on earth has happened to you!” Ruairc gaped as he took in Morgana’s dishevelled hair, thin gown covered with unspeakable stains, and white pinched face.

  “The poison. It’s got into the village. Twelve children have died already, and I’m out of milk and herbs. Please, can you go to Agatha and get more medicines? I'm at the end of my strength and hope. I just don’t know what to do any more,” Morgana admitted, though she hated to feel so weak and helpless in front of Ruairc of all people. Especially when she was meant to be getting him away to Dublin for his own safety.

  Ruairc pulled her to his broad chest and soothed, “Sush, let it all out if you want to cry. You should have wakened me when this first happened.

  "But it’s all right, I’m here now. I will send a messenger with a note from me to Agatha. No, don’t argue. I am staying here with you, Morgana. Just tell me what you want me to do to help.”

  Morgana rubbed her tear-streaked face with one hand, and then said quietly, “At the moment we need to gather the dead together into one house, and the living into another so they can all be tended to properly. Can you get some of the men to help me move them?”

  “I’ll send the messenger and be right back,” Ruairc promised, with a last firm kiss on her lips.

  He was as good as his word. As soon as he returned, they set to work together. They chose the largest house for their makeshift hospital, and moved the remaining patients into it on their truckle beds. Then two of the men came in with the milk, and Morgana showed Ruairc how to dose each one of the sick people.

  Hours passed before the herbs came from the convent at Kilgarven, but there was still no sign of improvement in at least half of the surviving patients.

  “Damn it, don’t you die on me!” Morgana implored as another child lapsed into a coma.

  “Try to stay calm, Morgana,” Ruairc advised, holding out a hand to comfort her.

  She rounded on him furiously.

  “These thirty people were poisoned because they simply wanted to eat, and someone had poisoned the food in the stores. Even if those vegetables were intended only for my father, they could have killed the entire village! How do you expect me to stay calm in the face of this disaster!"

  “I understand how distressing this must be for you, a thaisce. I'm sick at heart about it as well. But arguing with each other isnot going to help them, and at the risk of sounding callous, you are tanaist now. You can't afford the luxury of letting your emotions get the better of you."

  She sighed, and dragged her furious gaze away from him at last. "You're right. I'm sorry—"

  "Never mind that now, my love. I don't blame you in the least and I'm strong enough to cope with your temper. But there's no sense in getting angry. You need to concentrate all your energy on those who remain alive. Your father would have recovered had he not been administered a fatal dose. The children have nearly all died, it is true, and I am sorry for the loss, but the men and women may recover.You mustn’t lose hope,” Ruairc counselled wisely, stroking her dishevelled hair back from her face, and gazing deeply into her violet eyes, until Morgana looked away uncomfortably.

  “They must get better, they must,” Morgana breathed.

  "We will do everything humanly possible. As for the rest, well, just pray. It can't hurt, after all."

  So she prayed aloud continually as she continued nursing the patients in turn all day and throughout the night without so much as a moment’s rest. Ruairc was ever at her side, except when she sent him on errands to the castle and back.

  The herbs and cordials from Aunt Agatha seemed to help, as did the milk. At last, at dawn the following morning, Morgana sat up straight and stretched her aching back.

  “You look exhausted. Why don’t you go up to your room for a nap?” Ruairc suggested quietly.

  Morgana shook her head. “Not until I’m sure that they're better.”

  “I’m here, and Mary is just coming now to take a turn, so go have a rest,” Ruairc insisted.

  Morgana sighed and stood up. “I’ll go into the kitchen to start the bread, and have a word with the servants about meals and so on. I need some men for the milking, but the remaining men in the village are going to have to carry on with the sowing of seeds in the field today, and the lambs are on their way as well,” Morgana listed her chores on
e by one.

  “You’re not the only one who can work around here, you know,” Ruairc pointed out angrily.

  “If I lay around doing nothing like Aofa, how can I blame others if they don’t commit themselves to hard work?”

  “Morgana, you’ve slept about five hours in the past five days! Leave some of the work to others,” Ruairc argued.

  “I’ll sleep tonight, but I'm leaving for the convent in the morning, so I have to set things in order for Finn before I go,” she said wearily.

  She left the hut before Ruairc could argue with her further.

  The poisoning of the village had only confirmed her suspicions that there was great danger for Ruairc should he decide to stay at Lisleavan.

  Though she disliked lying to him, she was certain her planned course of action was the best for all concerned.

  Morgana spent her last day attending to estate business and the accounts as she moved from room to room in the castle checking that all was as it should be.

  The O’Donnells were a great help to her, going out hunting and fishing again, but they planned to leave that evening, and Morgana knew with them and Ruairc gone the castle would be a lonely place for her.

  When Morgana went down to the village again at midday to check on her patients, the news was more encouraging.

  “They are doing much better, really,” Ruairc assured Morgana when she called in.

  “In that case I have to go out for a while, to see the work in the fields, but I’ll call in later. Keep giving them the milk, and get someone to boil up some bones for some thin broth. If they’re conscious, I think they’ll recover,” Morgana said hopefully.

  "But where are you going?"

  "To the fields," she lied. "I'll be back soon. Be careful, won't you. If Aofa gets wind of you helping, she could turn it into something ugly."

  "You mean like saying that my aunt's cordials worked because I was the one who poisoned everyone in the first place?" he said with a grim look.

  She nodded. "I wouldn't be at all surprised."

  "I'll be careful. You too."

  She nodded, and headed off on her errand. She had been home a week now. It was time to see what fate had yielded her, and take her first steps as new tanaist to make her clan great once more.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Morgana went to the stables to saddle Darkie.First she rode in the direction of Ma Niadh, before doubling back and heading for the caves at Clashmore, where she hoped the rest of the clan had been in hiding since their return.

  When she arrived, about a hundred men had assembled, including Sean and his brother Angus.

  She advised them to head for Tulach and Ma Niadh with all possible speed.

  “My father is dead, and I must go away for a few days, but Finn and Patrick will set you to work. I expect you to all pull together and do what has to be done for the good of the clan.”

  “You are its good, Morgana Maguire,” one of the men shouted.

  The bedraggled men looked as though they had suffered all manner of privations, but they seemed undaunted by their misfortunes now that Morgana was in charge. They packed up their rations and personal items quickly and assembled in the glen in rows of ten. Then they split into two groups and headed off to their new homes, with the carts of provisions Sean and Angus had brought following on behind.

  “Sean, have you made a list of all the purchases you made?” Morgana asked as she rode alongside one of the carts.

  “I have indeed, and have some money left from what you gave me.”

  “Hand it over to Finn when you get to Ma Niadh, then.Any word from the others in the clan?”

  “More are coming. I will return to the caves after I deliver this load, and stand vigil for them for another week,” Angus offered.

  “No, send another man in your stead. Tulach has its full complement of soldiers now, and you will be needed for the building work, Angus.”

  “Whatever you wish, Morgana, I shall do it,” Angus replied in a firm tone that told her he was as good as his word.

  Morgana parted with the two men at the next crossroads, and a sudden thought struck her.

  Turning her horse around, Morgana rode back through the glen and took a small excursion to her last great castle, Cullen. Since her arrival and her trips to Ma Niadh and Tulach with the O’Donnells, she hadn’t given this last stronghold much thought. It was far away from the MacMahon lands, and had no great strategic importance compared to the other two sites because it was not on the lough shore.

  All the same, Cullen was an impressive citadel, four storeys high, with sheer walls and two sets of curtain walls to protect it.

  The upper floors were accessible only by a series of steep ladders which could be pulled up in case of intruders, and as Morgana determinedly climbed to the top, she saw that the two large rooms on each floor could house about fifty men each. There was a fireplace in each room, and a deep vault under the ground floor for storage. The great hall was massive, and the kitchens were still in good shape despite years of lying unused.

  Her father hadn’t ever used the castle extensively, for it had come to him as part of her own mother’s family property twenty years before, and he had never liked being reminded of the young wife he had lost when Morgana had been born. It had gradually been emptied as Lisleavan had expanded, but despite roughly ten years of neglect, it was still in fine shape.

  Morgana stumped up to the top floor again, and looked to see if she saw any traces of damp running down the walls. She examined the roof, and saw no huge holes that couldn’t be mended easily with a few slates.

  Returning to the ground level, she checked the well, which though clogged with dead leaves, was still fresh and clean. She saw that the towers and stables, all built in solid stone, had all withstood the ravages of time apart from their roofs.

  Morgana decided that the problems restoring the castle would be more than compensated for by the defensive capabilities Cullen could offer if trouble were to come. People from the outlying villages would all flock to Lisleavan at the least sign of trouble, but not all of them could be accommodated. But with three other castles at her disposal, they might all serve to help solve that problem.

  Morgana made a mental note of all she would need, and rode back to Lisleavan hurriedly. She went up to study and drew detailed notes and plans from memory, and then sat back with a sigh. There was a tap at the door, and Angus came in.

  “I’m glad you’re here!” Morgana said as she pulled him into the study. “You’re just the man I need to be the captain of Cullen Castle.”

  "Cullen? But we've never used —"

  She explained her plans, which Angus approved of wholeheartedly in the end.

  "It's a remarkable idea, but a good one. You've gone from al your eggs in one basket, a single castle, to four in case of trouble."

  She nodded. "Let's hope it doesn't come to it, but aye, that's the plan." Then she looked down at her papers for a moment, just to check that she had not left anything out. At length, she put down her pen, satisfied.

  "So tell me, why are you here?"

  “I came back because Finn wanted to give you a progress report on the stone masons and carpenters.Everything is going very well, and as you said, Tulach is full, so all the remaining men have got to go to Ma Niadh, unless you want me to start sending them to Cullen."

  She nodded. "Choose your thirty best men from both castles, and get started. At least no building work will need to be done aprt from patching the roof."

  “Your plans for Cullen sound fine. I'll pick the best men, fill Tullach and then once Ma Niadh is full, we can put all the overspill there. If there's any trouble in any of the other three castles, Cullen can be our fallback position.

  She nodded again. "Aye, no one has ever cared much about it since it has no access to the sea, but at least we don't have any enemies down there, at least not at the moment. No, whoever has been plotting against us wanted to make sure we lost our ships, and our power on the lough a
nd in Donegal bay."

  "They won't succeed. We may not have many ships, but the ones left to us were the pride of our fleet."

  "And the key to improving our fortunes. That and growing more crops. The men need to drill, and till, every day, Angus.

  "Aye, they will. Leave everything to me. They are all recovering their strength. More men are coming home every day. The man I sent to the caves to pass on the news of our great enterprise will send them to Tulach. Don’t worry, Morgana. The work will be hard, but the men are loyal to the clan. Now that you have come back to take command of the situation, they will all follow you,” Angus declared reassuringly.