Wolf, Joan (37 page)

Van wished she had never brought up this subject. The memory of her own promise to him was vivid in her mind. He would never forgive her if he found out what she had done. But he was right. The shadow of Niall stood between them. More than he knew. She felt possessed by a devastating hopelessness. She had been sitting on the edge of the bed and now she stood up and took a step toward him. "Oh, Edward," she said sorrowfully.

He caught her in his arms and she pressed against him, running her hands up and down the smooth broadness of his back. It was as if her hands had released a dark flood of hot passion in him; she felt it, felt it sear into her. Half-fainting, she let herself be lifted up in his arms and carried to the bed.

Niall and Charles remained at the cave for over a week. The area surrounding Morar was crawling with government troops and Van knew she could not even suggest that her two dangerous visitors should try to leave. Morar was for the moment the only safe refuge from the hunters.

Then, on July 16, ships appeared in Loch Morar. Van was working in the vegetable garden when Donal came running to tell her the news. "They are coming up the loch, Lady Van!" he cried. "Six of them. Big ships, my lady; very big."

Van put down her trowel. "Where is Lord Linton?" she asked.

"Up the glen looking at cattle, my lady."

"Get him, Donal," Van ordered. Donal took one look at her face and fled.

Dhé! Ships in Loch Morar! And Niall and the prince only a few miles away. They must be warned to stay in the cave. Van looked around. "Maire," she called to the girl who was working with her, "fetch me Lachlan. Immediately."

Maire ran and Van herself began to walk swiftly back to the castle, her heart thudding so hard it took her breath away. What could this mean? She entered the castle through a side door and went to her room to tidy up. If she had to confront English troops, at least she would do it looking like a lady.

She changed her dress and smoothed her hair and went to wait for Lachlan in Edward's office. "Thank God," she said as the slender, dark clansman came in the door. "Lachlan, go out to the cave and warn Mac mhic Iain to keep inside, that there are enemy ships in the loch. I will get more information to him when I can, but for now he is to remain inside!"

"Aye, my lady."

They would never see Lachlan from the water, Van thought as the clansman moved swiftly away. He was like a shadow, silent and stealthy and insubstantial. He would warn Niall.

Now that she had got the message safely off to Niall, she wanted Edward. Where was he? She went to the window half a dozen times and the last time the sight that met her eyes froze her blood. A great war ship was anchoring off the shore right in front of the castle. Van watched, petrified, as a boat was lowered and men were rowed to the shore.

Dhé! They were coming to the castle. Where in the name of God was Edward?

It was a white-faced Morag who brought her the news. "My lady, General Campbell would like to speak to you."

Van raised her chin. "I will go to the drawing room, Morag. You may show him up in five minutes."

"Aye, my lady," replied Morag, whose eyes were twice their usual size.

Van was sitting in her mother's chair, her back ramrod straight, her head high on its lovely long neck, when General Campbell came into the room. She saw his eyes go around the huge, beautiful drawing room before they came to rest on her. Van had chosen her setting quite deliberately. Let the Campbell see he was not dealing with ignorant peasants. She stared him straight in the eye and asked coolly, "And to what do we owe the honor of this visit, General?"

He crossed the floor toward her, over the Persian rugs, past the Titian portrait of one of her ancestors, and stopped before her chair. Van did not ask him to sit down.

"Lady Linton," he said, "I am quite sure you know our errand. We are in search of the pretender." . Van raised an elegant black eyebrow. "Well, he certainly is not here, General." She gestured gracefully about the room.

"I did not think he was in this castle, Lady Linton," Campbell replied a little shortly. "I do think, however, that he may be in Morar."

Van's cool eyes never wavered. "Morar's loyalty is pledged to the government by Lord Linton."

"I have no doubt of Lord Linton's loyalty, Lady Linton," the Campbell said, with the very faintest of stresses on the word "lord." "However, the pretender is thought to be in the company of your brother, and the MacIans will consider that their first loyalty is to Mac mhic Iain. Lord Morar and the pretender may well be hiding somewhere here in Morar without Lord Linton's knowledge."

Van concealed her hands within the folds of her dress so he should not see how they were shaking. "What—?" she was beginning when she heard the door open and Edward's bright head appeared around the fire screen at the door. Van closed her eyes briefly. Thank God.

"General Campbell," she heard her husband say pleasantly. "I see you have brought quite a company to visit us."

"My lord." John Campbell of Mamore took the hand Edward was extending and smiled back at the earl's suntanned, good-humored face.

"Sit down, man," Edward said, and General Campbell, with a quick glance at the silent Van, complied. Morag came in with wine and glasses on a tray and Edward poured a glass for himself and for the general. Van declined. She would have liked the wine but was afraid her hand was shaking too much to hold the glass.

"I was just telling Lady Linton that we think the pretender may be hiding in Morar," General Campbell said to Edward.

"Indeed?" Edward seemed perfectly relaxed and appeared to be taking no more than a polite interest in his visitor's words. "I am over the estate all the time, General, and I can assure you that I have seen no sign of the pretender."

"I do not doubt you," Campbell returned a little grimly. "But he is thought to be with Niall MacIan, my lord. You have been in the Highlands long enough, I think, to know the loyalty a clan feels to its chief. They would shelter him and never "tell you of it."

"That may well be so." Edward seemed completely unperturbed as he sipped his wine. "You have had no luck elsewhere?"

"None. The surrounding area has all been thoroughly searched. There is a cordon of troops around Morar, my lord, and we do not think he has gotten through. Captain Scott is in the lower part of Arisaig. I have six men-of-war in the loch here, all with troops aboard. If the pretender is indeed in Morar, we will find him."

Van felt cold. Icy cold. Her husband was regarding General Campbell with perfect serenity. "If you feel the pretender is in Morar, then of course you must look for him. But"—the merest hint of steel appeared in that pleasant voice—"I do not want to hear of one cottage burned or one man, woman, or child hurt on my property. I hope I make myself clear, General Campbell."

"Perfectly clear, my lord." The Campbell rose to his feet. "I shall be sure your message is given to all the proper authorities."

"One thing more." Edward was on his feet as well. "If my brother-in-law should ever come into your hands, I should be grateful if you would inform me immediately."

Campbell looked once more, swiftly, at Van's silent figure. Then, "Of course, my lord," he said.

Edward walked with the general to the door and Van sat as if frozen, her brain working furiously. Niall and the prince must get away from Morar. The search here would be too concentrated. They must get away.

She forced herself to look calmly at her husband as he came back across the room toward her. "Campbell of Mamore is a decent sort," he said. "If he is in charge, there will be no plundering."

"Van forced a laugh. "I never thought I'd see the day I'd be grateful to a Campbell."

"Van." He was leaning against the chimneypiece and staring at his linked hands, a thoughtful frown on his face. "Van," he said again, "Campbell isn't going to find anything in Morar, is he?" And he raised his eyes and looked at her.

Her face was pale under its tan, but the gray-green eyes that met his were clear and truthful. "Not that I know of, Edward," she answered steadily.

Satisfied, he dropped his hands and nodded. "If they find Niall," he said, "we may be able to free him before they get him to Fort Augustus."

She was now very pale. "Do you think so?" she asked hollowly.

He poured a glass of wine and went to her side. "Drink this, sweetheart. Try not to worry so. If it is at all possible, I'll save Niall's skin for him. I promise you that."

Van sipped the wine and felt her stomach heave. I will not be sick, she said to herself fiercely. I will
not
be sick. She gave the wine back to Edward, looked up into his concerned eyes, and wanted to cry.

That night Van sent two messages, one with Lachlan to the cave and one with Donal to Donald Cameron of Glen Pean. Niall and Charles read Van's letter by the light of a burning stick; they were afraid to light a fire for cooking lest it be seen.

"Campbell is in Loch Morar and Captain Scott is in Arisaig," Niall read out loud. "There are camps and sentries posted all over the hills from the head of Loch Eil to the top of Loch Hourn." Niall looked at the prince. "Van says our best chance is to go southeast, to Sgurr nan Coireachan, and from there to try to break through north. She has sent a message to Donald Cameron of Glen Pean to meet us at Sgurr nan Coireachan tomorrow night. He will guide us from there."

"Where is Sgurr nan Coireachan?" Charles asked.

"That great hill you can see from here, sir," Niall replied. "It marks the border between the Camerons' country and ours."

Charles nodded and gave Niall a rueful grin. "It was too peaceful here to be true, MacIan. It looks as if we must be on our travels again."

"Aye, sir, that it does," Niall replied with an answering smile. "And we'd best be gone before daybreak."

"Give my thanks to your mistress," the prince said to Lachlan. "Tell her her prince shall never forget her loyalty or her courage."

Lachlan nodded, bowed his head, and melted away in the darkness. Half an hour later, Niall and Charles were on their way as well.

CHAPTER 30

Niall and the prince did not make it to Sgurr nan Coireachan. On their way they saw a flock of MacIans moving cattle away from advancing government troops. A clansman told them there were five or six hundred soldiers already at the head of Loch Arkaig. If Niall and Charles continued on their present course, they would run straight into the path of the enemy.

The two fugitives lay in the heather all day, their only food some milk and bread given to Niall by his clansmen. No one had asked Mac mhic Iain who the unknown young man accompanying him was. At sunset they moved off, deciding it was now too dangerous to attempt to find Donald Cameron of Glen Pean. Instead, the two young men moved cautiously northward and, shortly before midnight, in a hollow between two hills, they were surprised by a man on foot coming straight at them. The late-night traveler proved to be none other than Cameron of Glen Pean, who had received Van's message and was in search of them.

Donald had spied out the enemy's dispositions, and by paths forbidding even in full daylight, took them to a hill overlooking Loch Arkaig. There was a militia camp not more than a mile from where they lay, but the hill had already been searched, Donald said, and they remained safely hidden there for the whole of the long hot day. They started north again once it was dark.

Niall had never been more sensible of the feeling that God was with them as he was during that perilous escape from Morar. They hid during the day and moved only at night. From the head of Loch Eil to the top of Loch Hourn there were enemy camps every half-mile, with sentries posted and regular patrols combing the hills. Sometimes they came so close to the camps that they could hear the soldiers talking. The going was treacherous. Charles walked between Niall and Cameron of Glen Pean and more than once the two surefooted Highlanders saved him from a dangerous fall.

It was early on the morning of July 21 when they passed safely between two sentries in Glen Cosaidh, the outer post of the cordon surrounding Morar. For the moment, they were free of the net.

By August it was clear to the English command that their quarry had escaped the trap. The Earl of Albemarle, who had succeeded the Duke of Cumberland as commander-in-chief of the king's army in Scotland, gave order for regular patrols to go out from Fort Augustus to search the west for the Old Pretender's son. Burning and looting and murder accompanied the soldiers wherever they marched.

In Morar they were safe, but word reached them of what was happening in the surrounding country. Van tried her best to go about her daily rounds calmly, to speak quietly, to hide from Edward the anguish and the fury that were growing within her as each atrocity was reported. She felt at times as if she had a tiger hidden within her, a tiger whose existence she must keep out of sight even though it lashed and cried out for release.

It was mid-August when Lachlan appeared with the information that Lord Edward Sackville was north of Morar, in Knoidart, with a large party of soldiers, laying waste the country and driving off all the cattle they could find.

"A few of the Knoidart clansmen made off with the colonel's baggage horses, Lady Van," Lachlan told her somberly. He had found her supervising the distribution of clothing for the clan. The government had banned the wearing of the kilt and Edward had sent to Ireland for clothing, as the clansmen had no other garments aside from their traditional garb. "In revenge, the soldiers sacked the area," Lachlan went on. "They first raped the women and then forced them to watch the bayoneting of their husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers."

Van's knuckles went white. "God curse them all," she said.

"Aye," replied Lachlan. He looked at her from under frowning brows. "The word is that they are coming to Morar."

"I will speak to Lord Linton," said Van immediately.

Lachlan's face lightened. "Aye," he said with perfect confidence. "Lord Linton will know what do do."

Van waited until they were alone in their bedroom that evening before she related to Edward what Lachlan had told her that afternoon.