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It was early days, she thought They had all their lives before them The time of surrender would surely come

17

WATCHFIRE

FROM WHERE THEY LAY, he could see down through a gap in the rocks, all the way to the watch fire that burned before Hayes’s tent The great fire of the Gathering had burned itself to e flames of declaration, but the sht Now and then a dark, kilted figure rose to tend it, stood stark for a ain into the night

He was faintly conscious of the racing clouds that dimmed the moon, the heavy flutter of the canvas overhead, and the rock-black shadows of thesave the fire below, and the white patch of the tent behind it, shapeless as a ghost

He had slowed his breath, relaxed the s Not in an attempt to sleep; sleep was far from him, and he had no mind to seek it

Nor was it an atteainst his body, so close to his mind as she was, she would know hied pretense that freed her fro hi no immediate deht, he thought The sound of the wind masked the murmur of voices, the shuffle of istered a dozen s na shadows A scrape of shoe leather on rock, the flap of a blanket shaken out That would be Hobson and Fowles,for the ht

A few notes of ust of wind fro to surrender this rare celebration to the needs of sleep or the imperatives of weather

An infant’s thin wail Wee Jemmy? No, from behind Tiny Joan, then, and Marsali’s voice, low and sweet, singing in French

"Alouette, gentil Alouette"

There, a sound he had expected; footsteps passing on the far side of the rocks that bordered his faht, headed downhill He waited, eyes open, and in a few ure showed in the firelight below, but the tent flap beyond it stirred, gaped open, then fell unbroken

As he had thought, then; sentiainst the rioters It was not held a betrayal of friends, but rather the necessary giving up of criminals for the protection of those who chose to live by law It ht be reluctant--the witnesses had waited for the dark--but not secretive

"j’ante plumerai la tête"

It occurred to hiruesoiven to the words they took in with their s was no --perhaps that hy he paid more mind than most to the words

Even Brianna, who cas of fearsoic loss to wee Je the Christ Child That verse about the s

It occurred to his the Blessed Mother ing from the Bible, the Holy Land had been no more peaceful than France or Scotland

He would have crossed hi on his right ar?" Claire’s voice ca him

"Who?" He bent his head to hers, and kissed the thick softness of her curls Her hair s of juniper berries

"The h"

"Aye, I think so"

"What would you have done?"

He sighed,

"Can I say? Aye, if it was ht have laid hands on the man who’d done it But as done there--ye heard it Houses torn down and set afire, ed out and beaten senseless only for cause of the office they heldno, Sassenach I canna say what I ht have done--but not that"

She turned her head a little, so he saw the high curve of her cheekbone, ri of the muscle that ran in front of her ear as she smiled

"I didn’t think you would Can’t see you as part of a mob"

He kissed her ear, not to reply directly He could see hihtened hihlander was a warrior, but the htiest ether that had ruled the glens for a thousand years; that thrill of the blood, when you heard the shrieks of your cos, and knew immortality--for if you should fall of yourself, still you would be carried on, your spirit shrieking in the mouths of those who ran beside you It was only later, when the blood lay cold in li

"And if it wasn’t a man who cheated you? If it was the Crown, or the Court? No one person, I mean, but an institution"