The Scottish Prisoner

Peat fires burned hot but gave little light. The fire at their feet was not much more than a sullen glow, as though the earth itself was burning from within, but it had cooked their food and warmed their feet. Some of their food—lacking a pot, they ate the cabbage raw, despite Qui

“It’s nay as though there’s anyone to hear, is there?” Jamie said, nibbling gingerly at a thick, waxy leaf. It squeaked between his teeth like a live mouse and was bitter as he imagined wormwood and gall to be, but it helped to kill his hunger. He’d eaten worse than raw cabbage, often.

Tom scrabbled a half dozen blackened knobs out of the embers and speared one with Lord John’s dagger. It hadn’t left his person since his employer had entrusted him with the knife upon his arrest.

“It’s a bit hard in the middle,” he said, gingerly poking at the potato. “But I don’t know as more roasting would help it any.”

“Nay bother,” Jamie assured him. “I’ve got all my teeth, and none of them loose.” Lacking a dirk, he stabbed two of the measly things neatly with his rapier and waved them gently in the air to cool.

“Show-away,” said Qui

Did Twelvetrees know about Siverly yet? He wondered.

He tilted his head to spill the rain from the brim of his hat and blew on the hot potatoes.

Tom gathered the remaining potatoes in a fold of his cloak, deposited two in front of Qui

Good lad, he thought.

Rain hissed and sputtered as it struck the fire. It wouldn’t last much longer.

“How far is it to Athlone?” he asked, licking his fingers.

Qui

Jamie felt, rather than saw, Tom perk up a bit at that, and turned his head to smile at the young valet.

“We’ll get him back,” he said, and was surprised at how gratified he was to see relief and trust flood Tom’s round face.

“A-course we will,” Tom said stoutly. “Sir,” he added hastily. He didn’t ask for details, which was just as well, Jamie thought.

“Sleep a bit,” he said to Tom, when the fire showed signs of being finally extinguished. “I’ll wake ye later, when it’s time to go.”

Qui

Jamie wrapped the borrowed cloak tighter round his body, wishing for a plaid and thick Highland stockings. The cloak was wool and would hold his heat, even if wet—but nothing shed water like the waulked wool of a Highland plaid. He sighed and found a place to sit where his arse wouldn’t be in a puddle and there was a stone at his back to lean on.

His mind kept nagging at him, wanting to think, to make plans. But plans were pointless, until they reached Athlone and saw how things lay. As for thinking … he needed to let matters rest and sort themselves. He was bone-tired, and knew it. He patted his breeches and found the pleasantly bumpy little bundle of his rosary. And there was the matter of his penance, after all.

The smooth wooden beads were a comfort to his fingers, as the repetition of the Aveswas to his mind, and he felt his shoulders finally begin to relax, the counterpoint of the pattering rain on his hat and the distant gurgling of his wame a peaceful background to his prayers.

“It’s not a crackbrained scheme.”

“Eh?” Qui

“I said, it’s not a crackbrained scheme.” Qui

“Aye?” Jamie’s brain was slow to focus on this. What plan?He thought dimly. “Perhaps I spoke too hasty, Qui

Qui

“Not a bit of it, mo chara,” he said, patting Jamie’s shoulder. “I hadn’t told ye the meat of it—doubtless it sounded fanciful.”

Jamie made a sound meant to indicate cordial dismissal of this notion, privately wondering what in the name of God himself … oh, Jesus.

“The cup?” he asked. “Because I told ye, when—”

“No,” Qui

“The invasion …” Jamie’s mind was coming hastily back from its peaceful bourne of prayer, and the knotting of his belly was not due to raw cabbage alone. “Ye’d mentioned raising an army. I recall that.” And he recalled fine that Qui

“Aye, but there’s more.” He saw Qui

“Aye?” He must have sounded as baffled as he felt, for Qui

“Ye’ll have heard of the Irish Brigade, at least?”

“I have, aye.” He glanced at Tom, regretting that he hadn’t let the lad take first watch; Qui

“There are three regiments of the Irish Brigade in London,” Qui

Jamie was struck dumb, and a good thing, too, for Qui

“We’ve loyal men in brigade regiments posted in Italy and France, too. Not all the officers—but once the thing is in motion, the rest will fall in. Or if they don’t—” He lifted one shoulder, a fatalist’s shrug.

“If they don’t … what?” Jamie knew what that shrug meant, but he wanted it spelled out, if only to give himself a moment’s time to think. His scalp was prickling, and his wame had curled itself up into a quivering ball beneath his ribs.

Qui

“Ye mean they’ll kill those who don’t go along with it.”

“Now, then. Ye know as well as I do, ye can’t make wine without squeezin’—”

“Don’t bloody say it!” Jamie had the obscure feeling that clichй on top of treasonous insanity was more than anyone should be obliged to put up with. He rubbed a wet hand over his wet face, the bristles of his beard harsh under his palm.

“Each regiment has at least two volunteers among the officers. When the signal comes …” But Qui

In Jamie’s experience, excluding clergy and peasants, Irishmen seemed to consist of two sorts: rabid fighters and maniac poets. These traits weren’t often combined in the same man, though.