Conflict and Courage (53 page)

“I know a
little,” said Xavier cautiously, “no details though. Marcus
probably thought it safer.”

“My view
exactly, but this is the end point of their journey. We are a small
garrison, an outpost really. Few want a posting here. Those who are
here are picked men, absolutely loyal to me and dedicated to
getting as many unfortunates back north as we can.”

“You’re in
touch with the north?”

George ignored
the question.

“So you, Ruth,
Arthur Kurtheim if we can persuade him, who else?”

“The little
slave maid I think, also Steve would jump at the chance. None of
the others can be trusted and probably wouldn’t go if offered.”

“I’ll give you
one of my ‘unofficial’ retainers to make up the numbers. As I said,
you’ll need to row out until you can raise the mast and the boat is
a seagoing one, heavy to handle. You and Steve are landsmen?”

“Never been to
sea in my life,” admitted Xavier, “but won’t your man be
missed?”

“He’s
‘unofficial’,” explained George, “never been on the population
rolls.”

He stared
blandly at Xavier.

“Fair enough,”
said Xavier with a grin, “ask no questions and you won’t be told no
lies, is that it?”

“Got it in one,
now, this escape is a little different to the others that we’ve
done. There’ll be many questions asked, I do have a plan if you’d
like to hear it?”

“Go ahead,”
breathed Xavier.

“I’m going to
ask the cook to drug the food,” announced George. “There’s a small
root native to this part of the world. It won’t kill a person, but
it makes them very, very sick, incapacitated. It even looks and
tastes similar to one of the spices the cook often uses. It is the
only plausible reason I can think of when we are questioned as to
why we didn’t notice you going.”

“You sure the
drug is safe?” queried Xavier.

“Safe enough
but talk to Doctor Kurtheim about it if you feel you must.”

As if on cue,
there was a knock on the door and Arthur’s face appeared.

“Offer still
open? I could do with a drink. Ruth is in a fine state at all this.
I wish old Gardiner had kept his mouth shut. He scared her.”

Xavier told him
of the plan so far.

“I’ve got a
better idea,” said Arthur. “I’ve got something in my medical bag
not so dangerous and don’t tell me different. Even a little too
much might well kill you.”

“What have you
got?”

“Litjda. Safe
and reliable.”

“Do you have
enough for everyone who needs to be drugged?” queried Xavier.
“Remember too, all the men except for Steve will need to be seen to
and they must not suspect their food is being tampered with.”

“I’ve got
enough,” said Arthur, “only problem is that unlike redgeworg,
litjda has a bitter taste. They’ll need two doses, the smaller one
first with their food then another later. If you put it all in the
first dose they’ll taste it. The second doses will have to be
administered intravenously. I thought something like this might
happen. I will administer the second dose.”

George and
Xavier looked at each other. What the doctor was proposing was
tantamount to a self-imposed death sentence. Ruth’s disappearance
would be investigated beyond a doubt. He would be the most obvious
suspect. Under torture he would tell all he knew.

“I am nearly
eighty years old,” Arthur explained, “Ruth is all the family I
have, the granddaughter I never had. I promised her mother I would
do all I could to get her north, even if it cost me my life. I
intend to fulfil that promise.”

“My cook will
have to go,” sighed George, “difficult to hide that the litjda was
administered in the food. It will leave traces. He’ll be impossible
to replace.”

“He takes my
place and when you wake up,” continued Arthur, “you and your men
must act the part, go to Ruth’s rooms, break down the door. All you
will find inside will be me. I know exactly what poison to take, a
quick acting and virtually painless way to die.”

“Virtually?”

“No pain, no
gain,” said Arthur with an enigmatic smile.

“Ruth?”

“Tell her
nothing until tomorrow evening. She might let something slip. Let
me have this final day with her.”

“You are a
brave man,” said George.

“You think I am
brave?” Arthur asked, a quizzical expression on his face. “I once
knew an even braver woman. You should have met Ruth’s mother. That
was bravery at its highest and most wonderful. My act of bravery if
you can call it that will last one single day, hers lasted almost
ten torturous years.”

The next day
the conspirators played out their parts. George’s cook was told of
the plan and tucked the drug inside his apron. He was to add it to
the stew pot with the herbs and spices. He accepted the news that
he was to go north with incredulous delight.

“I’ll not say
I’m not pleased to be going,” he said. “Suspicion will point to me
immediately they realise the food was tampered with but what about
the house servants? Will they not be questioned?”

“They know
nothing,” said George, “and will be drugged with the rest of us and
anyway, they’re not permanently based here at the tower. For once
Gardiner’s bit-pinching is working to our advantage. If he ever
decided to use the tower more often and appointed permanent
household staff here, we would not be able to continue our
operation.”

Lord Gardiner
saw no reason to spend money on staffing an outpost he rarely
visited. He had left enough people to care for Ruth but no
more.

“I still think
it’s too dangerous for you and your men to stay,” said Xavier.

“Don’t worry
about us,” said George. “If things get too hot we will get away,
never fear.”

He sounded so
confident that Xavier believed him.

When, many
years later he met up with George again he understood. As he had
suspected, George was not the man’s real name; it was Maurice.
After he met him Xavier wondered ever after how the man had managed
to hide his Lind from prying eyes for all their long years in the
south.

The next day
passed. The guard rota was arranged, Xavier’s own men delighted
with the day watch whilst the resident guards took the night.

The only
nervous moment came when one of the older men of Xavier’s command
made the comment that each guard detail should be arranged with men
drawn from both guard and outpost men.

Xavier promised
to look into it the following day. He drew a huge breath of relief
when the man went away.

When the aroma
of supper hit the men’s nostrils, they fell to with a will. Wine
was plentiful and nobody thought much of it when Xavier and Steve
partook only of a sparse helping of bread and fruit and refused the
wine. George’s men were to eat later; there was only room for
around a dozen people at the trestle in the tower’s kitchen.

As soon as the
men grew drowsy, George and Xavier made a beeline for the top rooms
where Ruth was confined.

Before she
could take it all in, her travel bag was packed, her cloak was
around her shoulders and she and Bet were being escorted downstairs
and out of the tower.

There was a
tearful goodbye to Arthur at the quayside and many promises that
they would meet soon.

“Two months
maximum Ruth,” he lied, “I promise.”

One last hug
and she was being lifted into the rowing boat, then Bet. Xavier
jumped in, then Steve, closely followed by the ecstatic cook.

Arthur watched
as the boat disappeared into the night.

“That’s it
then, let’s get back.”

“When is the
second dose due?”

“I’ll come down
in time, don’t worry.”

After Arthur
had injected the second doses and made sure everyone was
unconscious he knew it was time.

He climbed the
stairs to the room at the top, still littered with Ruth’s discarded
possessions, walked to the small casement window and opened it.

“I’ve done it
Anne,” he said to the night air, “I’ve kept my promise, Ruth is
free.” He swallowed the bitter brew he had prepared earlier. Was it
just his imagination, but did the breeze answer him in a gentle
caress of thanksgiving?

His body
slumped to the floor.

* * * * *

“They will be
looking for you, we have to get you away,” said Louis Randall to
Ruth.

“Send her to
Jessica and Gerry,” advised Cherry. “I would love her to stay here
with us, but she wouldn’t be safe, we’re too near the coast. Pack
Ratvei is deep inside the rtathlians. They’ll not find her
there.”

“I’m not so
sure,” Louis demurred.

“Anyway,
Jessica will want her with her when she hears, probably to keep me
away from her. She doesn’t really approve of having a warrior
little sister! We’ll take you if Francis and Asya give me and
Baltvei permission. I’d like to listen to you talk of mother. I was
younger than you are when I left.”

“She was very
brave,” said Pierre Duchesne. “I was her friend and did what I
could. It wasn’t enough unfortunately.”

“I remember,
Mother was always happy to see you. She said I could trust
you.”

“She had a sad
life,” said Pierre.

* * * * *

Xavier searched
out Laura Merriman-McAllister only hours after they arrived at the
stronghold.

“You want to
marry the girl?” snorted Laura in disbelief. “She’s only
fourteen!”

“She is of
age,” protested Xavier.

“In Murdoch
maybe but not here in Vadath or Argyll either, young man. I dread
to think what Gerry Russell will say about this. He’s been
appointed her Guardian.”

“I did not
realise,” said an abashed Xavier, “in Murdoch women marry
young.”

Laura flashed
him a brief smile, “common sense should have told you. Our Lind say
adulthood comes with fourteen summers but these rules do not apply
to humankind.”

“I will wait,”
declared Xavier.

“You will have
to,” was her dry response.

Where is he
when I need him?
thought Laura, but Francis had gone to domta
Afanasei where Jim Cranston lay dying.

She looked at
Xavier. The young man’s calm assurance when he had begun the
interview was dented a bit but he would not be gainsaid.

“I will
return,” he repeated.

“And if she
does not want you, what then?”

“I will leave
again,” he replied, “I am not one to force unwanted attentions on
any lady. I saw enough of that in the south.” He grew sad at the
thought of his sister; at least she was safe enough with the Little
Sisters.

Perhaps Laura
sensed something of this, her voice grew gentler, “you might meet
someone else?”

“My feelings
will not change.”

Laura decided
not to pursue that train of thought any longer.

“This is what
you will do,” she began, “you will leave for Argyll with Steve as
planned, serve your time with the Garda. You will not contact Ruth.
In four years time, when Ruth is eighteen and if you are still of
the same mind, then you may return. You may speak to Ruth before
you leave, a friend’s leave-taking, no more.”

Xavier looked
disconsolate.

“You love her,
I know, or at least you think you do but you are young and Ruth
needs time, time to grow up, to recover, at least in part, some of
the happiness she once enjoyed when her mother was alive. She might
feel some debt of gratitude to you for saving her and say yes to
you now only to regret it later.”

“I’ll say
goodbye as a friend,” he agreed, “she goes to her sister?”

“Don’t try to
wheedle her future whereabouts out of me young man,” Laura said
with some asperity. “It’s best you don’t know.”

“You think Lord
Regent Baker will send men to look for her, take her back?”

“She will be
safe where she is going,” Laura promised.

“Lord Baker is
a ruthless man. He will not give her up easily.”

“Where she’s
going is probably the safest place on the continent. Now, go say
your goodbyes.”

* * * * *

Jessica was
lunging one of the young horses when word came that Elda Ratvei
wished to speak with her. Gerry was out hunting with their two
eldest boys and Michael Wallace and his son.

Until the
Wallace family had arrived, the Russell family had been on their
own at domta Ratvei, the only humans they would see were the
occasional peripatetic teachers and the trade caravans although
Tara, Kolyei, Peter, Radya and their families were summer
visitors.

Jessica’s
thoughts immediately went to her sister Cherry. Since Joseph had
paired with Petya and gone to the Holad, Cherry was the only family
member she had left with whom she could remember the good times.
Joseph had been too young and didn’t remember much.

Of her
half-brothers and sisters in Murdoch she never spared a thought.
She knew of course that Elliot was King there and that there was a
twin sister but little else.

She unbuckled
the yearling’s halter, led him back to the paddock where he kicked
and bucked with enjoyment at this unexpected reprieve, and made her
way to Ratvei’s daga.

“Greetings
Jessica.”

“Greetings
Ratvei.”

“I have news
for you.”

Jessica
relaxed. Ratvei looked pleased and would not have if there was bad
news about Cherry or Joseph.

“In Vadath, one
of yours has arrived. She has escaped from a distasteful
mating.”

Jessica didn’t
know what in the Lai he was talking about. He was talking in
riddles.

“One of
mine?”