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"Aye," he said, nodding, seeing the realization dawn in my face "It’s different here"

There was no settleh to be called a toithin a hundred miles, save the Ger in the backcountry but scattered homesteads; sometimes a place where a fa houses within sight of one another Small settlements and distant cabins, some hidden in the ht not see another white face for led slope of the ered, a brief wash of color that stained the trees and rocks gold around us and flushed the distant peaks with blue and violet There were living creatures in that cold, brilliant landscape, I knew, habitations nearby and war o without question to help a neighbor--because they ht as easily require such help themselves at any moment There was, after all, no one else to turn to

But they had never fought for a co in common to defend And to abandon their homesteads and leave their families without defense, in order to serve the whiht coo froain But o only if they were called by a man they respected; a man that they trusted

I am not born either laird or chief to them, he’d said Not born to them, no--but born to it, nonetheless He could, if he wished, make himself chief

"Why?" I asked softly "Why will you do it?" The shadoere rising froht

"Do you not see?" One eyebrow lifted as he turned his head to me "Ye told me ould happen at Culloden--and I believed ye, Sassenach, fearful as it was The men of Lallybroch came home safe as much because of you as because of me"

That was not entirely true; any hland army would have known that disaster lay somewhere ahead StillI had been able to help in some small way, to make sure that Lallybroch was prepared, not only for the battle, but its afteruilt that I always felt when I thought of the Rising lifted slightly, easing my heart

"Well, perhaps But what--"

"Ye’ve told me ill happen here, Sassenach You and Brianna and MacKenzie, all three Rebellion, and war--and this ti what I knears and the cost of victory It was, however, better than defeat

"Well, then" He stooped to pick up his dirk, and gestured with it to the mountains around us "I have sworn an oath to the Crown; if I break it in time of war, I am a traitor My land is forfeit--and my life--and those who folloill share ht aroundI still held Jeht

"But the Croillna prevail, this ti is overthrohat then of my oath? If I have kept it, then I am traitor to the rebel cause"

"Oh," I said, rather faintly

"Ye see? At so will lose their power over me--but I dinna ken when that may be At some point, the rebels will hold power--but I dinna ken when that may be And in between" He tilted the point of his dirk doard

"I do see A very tidy little cleft stick," I said, feeling somewhat hollow as I realized just how precarious our situation was

To follow Tryon’s orders noas plainly the only choice Later, howeverfor Jaes of the Revolution was to declare hi run In the short run, though, to break with Tryon, forswear his oath to the King, and declare for the rebelsthat would cost hied, with a ist of theJeh I’ve never foundbetween two fires before, Sassenach I es, but I dinna think I’ll fry" He gave a faint snort of what ed a short laugh

"If you’re thinking of your grandfather," I said, "I adh, didn’t it?"

He tilted his head fro

"Aye, s perhaps fell out as he wished?"

The late Lord Lovat had been notorious for the deviousness of histo have his head chopped off, and said so

Jamie smiled, despite the seriousness of the discussion

"Well, perhaps beheading wasna quite what he’d planned, but still--ye sahat he did; he sent Young Simon to battle, and he stayed home But which of them was it who paid the price on Tower Hill?"

I nodded slowly, beginning to see his point Young Sie, had not suffered physically for his part in the Rising, overt though it had been He had not been imprisoned or exiled, like many of the Jacobites, and while he had lost ained quite a bit of his property since, by ainst the Crown

"And Old Si Simon would have ended up on the scaffold--but he didn’t Well, I suppose even an old viper like that ht hesitate to put his own son and heir under the ax"

Jamie nodded

"Would ye let someone chop off your head, Sassenach, if it was a choice betwixt you and Brianna?"

"Yes," I said, without hesitation I was reluctant to adht have possessed such a virtue as fa, but I supposed even vipers had some concern for their children’s welfare