“We’re more than halfway,” I said soothingly. “As for the captain … most Loyalists would assure you that as God appointed the King, His interests lie in the same direction. Go on telling me about last night.”
He grunted and shifted his weight uneasily, but then settled again and took a cautious breath.
“Aye. Well, by the time I could tell for sure where I was, I was close to Tom MacLeod’s place—did Gillebride say Tom’s nose is broken?—and I thought I’d best take refuge there. So I was sloggin’ through the mud and bushes, trying to keep track of where I was by what I could see when the lightning went, and all of a sudden there was a thunderclap that split the sky and a monstrous flash that left me blind, and the rain turned to poundin’ hail, just like that—” He snapped his fingers. “So I pulled my plaid over my head to shield it, and next thing I ken, the captain’s run into me in the dark. Only I didna ken who it was, and neither did he, and then the lightning went again and I went for my pistol and he went for his cutlass and …” He waved a hand at the half-sewn gash in his chest.
“I see. You said you fired at him?”
“Well, I tried. My powder was damp, and little wonder. The gun fired, but I doubt the ball even reached him.”
“It might have,” I observed, reaching for another length of suture. “I took one ball out of his forearm.”
“Good. Can I have a wee drop, Sassenach?”
“Since you’re already lying down, yes.”
I’d been paying no attention to anything beyond Jamie’s chest for the last little while, but when I rose to get the whisky, I heard voices downstairs. Raised voices. One seemed to be Lieutenant Esterhazy’s, and I thought there was a female voice—Elspeth? Someone else that sounded familiar, but—
Jamie sat up abruptly and made a noise like a stuck pig.
“Bloody lie down!”
“That’s Cloudtree,” he said urgently. “Go fetch him, Sassenach.”
I grabbed the discarded compress, slapped it into his hand, and shoved the hand against the unstitched side of his chest, which was now bleeding freely.
“Bloody lie down and I will!”
As it was, though, I didn’t have to. Feet came pounding up the stairs amidst an agitation of voices, and with a cursory knock the door opened.
“I told him he couldn’t—” Agnes began, scowling over her shoulder, but her stepfather pushed past her, only to be grasped by the arm by an irate Lieutenant Esterhazy.
“You stop right there, sir!”
“Leave go o’ me, you shit-sucker! I have somethin’ to tell the colonel.”
“Lieutenant!” I said, raising my own voice to command level. I didn’t have occasion to use it often, but I remembered how, and the lieutenant stopped, mouth open as he looked at me. So did Agnes and Aaron Cloudtree.
“The colonel wants to speak to him,” I said mildly. “Agnes, take the lieutenant downstairs. Go and see how the captain is doing.”
He glared at me for a long moment, turned the glare on Cloudtree—who was elaborately brushing his rain-damp sleeve as though to remove finger marks—and left, followed by Agnes, who tossed her stepfather a glare of her own, though he didn’t seem to notice.
“I seen Scotchee, Colonel,” Cloudtree began, advancing on the bed. Then he noticed the state of Jamie’s chest and his eyes sprang wide. “Jesus Christ, man! What happened to you?”
“Quite a few things,” I said shortly. “Perhaps you—”
“And what did Scotchee say, then, Mr. Cloudtree?” Jamie was still sitting up, apparently oblivious of the slow drops of blood oozing down his ribs.
“Oh.” Aaron took a moment to recollect, but then nodded reassuringly at Jamie.
“He said to tell you, you owe him big for this, but he doesn’t think you’re gonna live long enough to pay him back, so dinna fash unless there’s whisky.”
113
And We Parted on the Square
March 30, A.D. 1780
Fraser’s Ridge, North Carolina
From James Fraser, Proprietor of Fraser’s Ridge
To the Following Men:
Geordie Hallam
Conor MacNeil
Angus MacLean
Robert McClanahan
William Baird
Joseph Baird
Ebeneezer Baird
William MacIlhenny
Ewan Adair
Peadair MacFarland
Holman Leslie
Alexander MacCoinneach
Lachlan Hunt
As you have, each and all, conspired and acted to attack and arrest me, with the desired End of causing my Death, the Contract of Tenancy signed between us is, as of this Date, rendered Null and Void in its Entirety.