The Raven's Wish (44 page)

'O see ye not yon narrow road,

So thick beset with thorns and briars?

That is the path of righteousness

Tho after it but few enquires.'

~Thomas the Rhymer

Elspeth shoved desperately at Alasdair. She did not understand Duncan's words, but no one needed to tell her what he had said, or what he planned to do. Tears began to stream down her cheeks.

Duncan mounted the steps to the platform, causing an uproar among the men there, and among the crowd in the square. He crossed the scaffold and went to Kenneth, raising him up to his feet. An indignant official gestured wildly and shouted, and three men-at-arms strode across the boards to grab Duncan. Another two guards grabbed and held Kenneth.

Duncan began to speak to the black-robed men, the mellow, deep tone of his voice calm and certain. Elspeth watched him with tears in her eyes, her breath coming in odd little gasps.

She hit at Alasdair's chest in frustration. "What does he say?" she asked, sobbing.

"One of the long-robes is a clerk of the Council. The other is the captain of the castle, Kirkcaldy of the Grange. Duncan has just told them that he and Kenneth are both wrongfully accused. Now he asks that new evidence be considered."

One of the officials stepped forward and snarled an answer.

The guards shoved Duncan down to his knees, so roughly that Elspeth cried out. The church deacon came across the platform and began to tie the white cloth around Duncan's eyes.

Elspeth felt the world begin to spin slowly around her. A cold, foggy haze closed over the platform. When it drifted back, she saw the scene that she had been dreading all these months.

Duncan knelt by the block, his cloak gone, his shirt pulled away from his neck. The white cloth hid his face from view.

Elspeth screamed, and pushed at Alasdair, but he held her fast. "This will not happen," she cried. "This cannot happen!"

"If you would help him," Alasdair suddenly hissed, "stand forward now with the Frasers."

Turmoil had begun to churn through the crowd when Duncan had mounted the scaffold. Their shouts, and the sound from those who had begun to chant Duncan's name in unison, suddenly quieted. The crowd split apart and drew back.

Striding through the center of the square, a small party of men approached the platform. Elspeth saw her cousins Alasdair, Hugh, Ewan and Callum come forward, a tall, brawny escort for Robert Gordon. He walked slight and cowed in their midst, his hair lank and brassy, his face a thin sneer.

Her cousins came through the crowd and paused before the scaffold, four tall Highland warriors amid a few hundred Lowlanders, standing in a cold mist that heightened the colors of their blue and green plaids, and their red, brown, and blond heads. Long hair and wrapped plaids, strong stances and unwavering gazes marked them as fierce and proud. The steel dirks and claymores at their belts reinforced that impression.

Elspeth stepped forward too, with Alasdair at her side. They joined her cousins to flank Robert and face the officials on the platform. She squared back her shoulders and stood at the front, realizing that the appearance of the Highlanders, united and strong, wild and somehow foreign, even in this Lowland town, had stunned their onlookers into silence.

Duncan rose to his feet and shook off the guard who grabbed his arm. He tore off the blindfold and looked at her, his gaze intensely blue and free of fear. His glance was filled with something clear and shining, a power, almost an invincibility that lay in his resolve to give up his life if he must.

She knew, in that moment, that he possessed more courage than any man she had ever known. He had offered his life to protect her and her family, not on a battle impulse, but as part of a careful decision. She saw a wildness, too, in his gaze and in his stance. Though he wore no plaid, Duncan Macrae was just as fierce and wild and indomitable as the Frasers at her back.

Duncan looked at her and nodded. She stepped forward at his nod, and mounted the platform steps, her cousins and half-brother behind her. They walked toward Kenneth, so that he stood with them, his long hair blowing in the mist.

Hugh came forward and turned to the officials. Elspeth blinked as he addressed them in his own Highland language of Gaelic, leaving it up to the Lowlanders to find a translator.

"I am Hugh Fraser of Lovat. We are here to support our kinsman Duncan Macrae of Dulsie in his claim of innocence." He looked at Duncan, and stepped back. "Now let him tell you what he would say."

Duncan turned to the council members and translated Hugh's words. They nodded warily, and waited.

Alasdair was beside Elspeth, murmuring quiet translations when necessary. Although Duncan spoke in Scots, he repeated much of what he said in Gaelic for the Frasers on the platform.

"It is true that I broke the bond of caution that was signed between the Frasers and the crown regarding the MacDonalds. No one else broke the bond but myself, by my own actions. I admit to that. But I abetted disorder only by attempting to rescue my wife, who had been cruelly taken by two members of Clan MacDonald."

Duncan turned and held out his hand. Elspeth came to him, and he wrapped his fingers around hers. "Any man would have done the same in my place. I plead innocent of murder charges. The man I am accused of killing fell and broke his neck when he attacked me. My wife is a witness to that, and one other man, Magnus Fraser, whose injuries at the hand of a MacDonald prevent him from being here. He will send written testimony if you so require it. I admit to breaking the Fraser bond. No other shoud be punished for that but me. The bond stipulates that a fine be exacted from the pledge before a life would be taken. I will pay the fine."

The two officials frowned and muttered between them, and one of them motioned for Duncan to continue.

"But the charges of spying and treason, which ultimately brought about the sentence of beheading, are falsely made and maliciously concocted. One man accused me, and one man made witness against me. I was not allowed counsel because of the charge of high treason. But that very charge was wrongly made against me. I speak now as my own counsel, since I was not allowed to speak on my own behalf at the trial." Duncan looked around at the Frasers. Callum and Ewan shoved Robert forward and stood beside him, holding onto his arms.

"This man accused me of spying and treason. But his own evil turn of mind created those charges. He has resented the dishonoring of his Gordon kin and his Gordon name. He has sought revenge against any who brought that shame about for his clan. As you are aware, I was one of the lawyers involved in the trial of George Gordon, earl of Huntly, and I took part in the condemning of John Gordon. When I married Robert Gordon's half-sister, he sought his revenge." The council members nodded grimly. Duncan turned to approach Robert, and reached out his hand, palm up.

Elspeth saw her half-brother sneer at Duncan. The raw hatred in Robert's face caused her to draw in her breath sharply. Robert turned his gaze to her, then, and she looked away from the acid blue of his eyes. She felt sick.

Duncan held out his hand as if he waited. Robert did not move, until Callum drew his dirk and laid it against Robert's neck. Duncan nodded, barely glancing at the brawny Fraser.

"Robert," he said patiently. "Give me the papers."

Robert reached into his doublet and slid out some folded pages. Duncan took them and passed them to the Council members, who read them in silence.

"Some of these were presented at your trial," one of the black-robed men said. "But they are addressed to Robert Gordon."

Duncan nodded. "The ones at my trial were copied from these, with my name falsely added. Two letters are to Robert from other Gordon kin, detailing their hopes to bring power back to their disaffected clan." He waited while the men found these pages and read them.

"You will find that the other letters are from a member of the English court, commending Robert for his services to the English, and mentioning money paid Robert for information about a secretly planned uprising of the Gordons." Duncan drew a deep breath. "Robert has been spying on his own kin for money, and blamed me for that betrayal. The English court would be pleased to see more strife between the Scottish crown and the clans, and paid him well for the news."

One of the officials snapped an order, and three guards came forward to take Robert Gordon prisoner. The muttering between the officials now grew to a sharp discussion. Elspeth understood none of it, but knew from tone and gesture, and from the joyous thud of her own heart, that Duncan had proved his innocence.

The men continued to speak, even as a murmuring arose in the crowd. Elspeth turned to see a man running through the crowd, waving a piece of paper. He climbed the steps to the platform and spoke to the officials there in an agitated tone. Duncan was called over to them, and he went, bowing his head to listen.

Alasdair smiled, and then began to grin. Hugh smiled too, and Elspeth went over to them to ask what was happening.

"The runner is a clerk sent from the queen," Alasdair said. "She was having dinner with the Provost when her brother James Stewart, the earl of Moray, sent word to her about Duncan Macrae. Queen Mary had this man deliver a remit of execution to the Captain of Edinburgh Castle. She hopes it is not too late. Too late!" Alasdair laughed. "Duncan got himself free, but the remit comes just in time to keep him out of prison altogether. They were going to hold him on the other charges, but the remit clears up all of that, and only asks that Duncan pay a fine."

Hugh grinned. "God bless that sweet face, as the people here say of our queen."

Elspeth turned, smiling, to see Duncan look up at her and hold out his hand. She ran the few steps toward him, and he gathered her into the circle of his arm.

The crowd cheered, and Duncan turned to wave at them. Elspeth wrapped her arms around his waist and hid her face in his shoulder.

"The vision was wrong," she said. "It was wrong."

He pressed his cheek to her hair. "I told you long ago that I believed that I would not die." He sighed. "But Elspeth, the vision was right."

She drew back and looked at him in alarm. "What do you mean? Are you not free?" She glanced anxiously at the officials, who were directing the guards to lead Robert away.

She turned to stare up at him, and suddenly realized what he meant: her vision had indeed revealed Duncan's blindfolded face, his bare neck, and the rough curve of the heading block.

She had never seen his actual death.

"Duncan," she breathed. "The vision happened, just as I saw it. Only as I saw it, and nothing more."

"You never saw my death," he agreed gently. "Perhaps it was never destined at all." He traced his fingertips over her cheek, her jaw, and tilted her chin upward. "We are meant to be together,
mo càran
. There is nothing that can separate us now, until we are done with this long life and happy to go on. Death will be no threat to us, but only a welcoming home at the end of our lives."

Tears rose in her eyes, and one spilled softly down her cheek. "Is that a prophecy, from one who has the Sight?"

He smiled and took the tear with his fingertip. "It is," he whispered. "And so be it."

Epilogue

Then I'll grow in your arms two

Like to a savage wild,

But hold me fast, let me not go

I'm father to your child.

~"Tam Lin"

The late spring wind blew softly around his face as Duncan climbed the rock-studded hill. Pausing, he inhaled the fresh odor of new grass and looked around him. Wildflowers and bright tufts of grass spring up between chunks and boulders of gray rock. Just above him, Elspeth sat perched on a bare shelf, her copper and gold hair a shining warm light against the rocks.

He swore under his breath and walked up the slope. The way was not step here, and he climbed easily toward her. She waved at him, but he only scowled at her.