Page 51 of Highland Sword
“She doesn’t care to see you.”
Regardless of her denials, Aidan knew what Morrigan intended to do in that alley in Inverness. Her reaction to seeing her uncle in the cottage here later confirmed it.
Feuds between families were common in Scotland. Aidan’s own family had suffered greatly from them. In the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, Grants fought on both sides. It was the same at Culloden.
“Forget about Miss Drummond,” Aidan ordered. “Look again at that list and tell me the name.”
“Put me out in the glen for the wild boars to feed upon. Drag me back to Inverness and let the weavers drown me in the Ness. Or let Sir Rupert’s henchmen skin me alive. It makes no difference.” He threw the list back at Aidan. “The doctor says I’m to die. Very well. Let’s get it over with.”
Aidan realized if, by some miracle, Wemys lived until the trial, his testifying would depend on whether Morrigan would see him or not.
The sick man turned his head away, but quickly looked back, pleading. “Ask her, Mr. Grant. Ask her yourself. Tell her that her uncle has a weight sitting on his chest that’ll never be lifted until he’s lowered into his grave. Tell her I’m begging her to let me say what I need to say.”
A series of painful coughs overtook him. When he could speak, his breaths were ragged and labored.
“Afterward, I’ll be yours. I swear to you. I’ll give youthe name you want. I’ll tell you where they sent him. God willing, I’ll stay alive long enough to stand in that courtroom and testify for those lads.”
Aidan left the room and descended to the keep’s main floor. He didn’t know how he was going to convince Morrigan to speak with Wemys. She was more passionate than reasonable, and she’d made her feelings perfectly clear. Perhaps if he told her more about Edmund and George Chattan. They were fine young men. Unfortunately, they were as hotheaded as they were naïve. It was their good heartedness and simplicity of spirit that made them the perfect gulls in this entrapment scheme.
Standing before the door to the laird’s study, Aidan realized he couldn’t think about it right now. Cinaed was waiting.
Once he entered and their introduction was complete, the two men sat in chairs by the hearth. A small wood fire crackled on the hearth, taking the edge off the chill morning. The son of Scotland had requested that they meet alone.
As they talked, Aidan was surprised at how at ease he was in the man’s company, and he sensed that Cinaed felt the same way. He thought they were roughly the same age, and it was as if he’d known him his entire life.
“Right now, Sir Rupert is using every means at his disposal to make you look like a Highland Sawney Bean, living in a cave by the sea and eating children whenever you can take them.” Aidan could tell this man was not one who smiled much, but that comment caused a momentary pull at the corner of his lips. “That serves several purposes. The folk of the Highlands will doubt you, and the city folk of the south will fear you. And he wants to anger you enough to draw you out.”
“I recall a story about another cave, told by a minstrelpassing through here when I was just a lad. It was about the Black Douglas taking refuge in one during a tempest. He and Robert the Bruce had been taking a thrashing from the English. The Bruce was on the run as well. All their hopes for Scotland seemed to be lost. As he waited, he saw a wee spider was trying to weave a web, but the creature couldn’t swing far enough to attach his silken thread to a wall. After trying six times, he made it. The Douglas took it as a sign. He and the Bruce eventually beat the English at Bannockburn.”
“I recall that story. Do you plan to wage war for the next eight years?”
The son of Scotland shook his head.
“Our people in the Highlands were broken after Culloden,” he said. “A new war would destroy everything that is left. All that will be left is empty moorland and English sheep.”
Aidan agreed. “The Crown would love an excuse to crush the clans once and for all. The people in the cities in the Lowlands would see it, and any thought of protest or reform would shrivel and blow away like so many autumn leaves.”
“Since we cannot destroy the empire, then my thinking is that we need to build our spider’s web stronger. The more the Crown leans on the reformers, the more entrenched the desire for change becomes. We need to improve the laws. We need the right people in Parliament to increase the number of people who can vote. That’s why I’ve been keen to meet you.”
Since the end of the war against Napoleon, Aidan knew this was the direction he was going. Politics. He knew that many wanted the son of Scotland to wage war and fight for justice. They wanted him to finish what his grandfather had started. But Aidan knew that even more, people weretired of war and fighting. Times were changing. And as for him, Aidan had lost too many kin to support any kind of military campaign.
He was relieved to hear Cinaed’s view. They had the same understanding of the political and economic nightmare the nation was facing. Although Cinaed was a warrior at heart and had spent many years sailing the seas, his vision of what needed to be done was the same as Aidan’s.
“As you know, Charles Forbes holds the seat in Parliament for Inverness-shire,” Cinaed continued. “But he has already indicated to Searc privately that he’ll be stepping down next summer. Would you be interested in that seat?”
“Scotland’s members in Parliament are still controlled by the large landowners and a powerful group of merchants and manufactory owners. I’m hardly popular amongst them.”
“You can leave the campaigning to Searc and me, if you’re interested.”
Aidan thought of his father and the two brothers he’d lost on the fields of Belgium. They always believed that he’d someday rise to this position. He’d be good at it. He also thought of Sebastian. They could still work together if he stood for election.
Suddenly, Morrigan’s face came into his mind’s eye. Aidan wondered what she would think of Cinaed’s offer. Would she even consider dividing her time between Inverness and Edinburgh and London? She would be so much safer from the machinations of people like Sir Rupert Burney if she were the wife of a member of Parliament.
He caught himself. The direction of his thoughts caught him off guard. He cleared his mind.
“I would,” Aidan answered. “I’d be very much interested.”
The next morning, after looking in at Wemys, Aidan was surprised to run into Morrigan on the landing of the tower stairwell. Both of them stopped and exchanged a brief greeting.
