The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [22]
ALL, THE REASONABLE WAYS of stopping Charles Stuart’s venture had so far railed, and the situation is growing more threatening; Charles has ordered two thousand broadswords from Holland, and eyes the ships at anchor with the covetous gaze of a would-be invader. Desperate to stop him, Jamie conceives a bold plan.
If the ship bearing Stuart’s port is found to have smallpox aboard, the French authorities will destroy it. Ergo, if pox is discovered aboard before the ship reaches port, the Captain will change course for Spain, which does not have such stringent restrictions. And, with a shipload of port on his hands, the Captain may well be persuaded to dispose of it to a handy buyer—Jamie, armed with gold borrowed from the bankers he has cultivated. Murtagh, armed with several of Claire’s herbal concoctions, will play the smallpox victim; Jamie the Captain’s savior. Cargo in hand, Jamie can sell the port in Spain, recover the money, and return to France to pay his debts—leaving Charles Stuart fundless and fuming, but safely stranded, far from Scotland.
Plans in place, Jamie sets about leaving Jared’s business in good order, only to be interrupted by a note from the warehouse foreman, apologetically informing him that that gentleman has run into financial difficulties in a brothel, and would Jamie kindly come to his assistance. Torn between amusement and irritation, Jamie goes, taking Fergus with him.
Claire’s pregnancy has meanwhile shown some signs of danger, and she has reluctantly given up her work at the Hôpital, the entertaining, and all exertion, in order to protect the child she carries. Her Parisian friends call at the house, though, in order to keep her abreast of all the gossip. Informed by the butler that she has two such visitors one afternoon, Claire makes her way slowly downstairs to receive them—only to overhear news that makes her reel with shock.
One of the women has heard of a fight that occurred that morning, at one of the better-known Parisian brothels; Jamie has attacked an English soldier, thrown him downstairs, and been heard to issue a challenge to a duel! The ladies are delightfully shocked at such scandal; Claire is prostrated.
Something has made Jamie break his word to her. Perhaps only the sight of Jack Randall, perhaps something else—but whatever it is, he means to meet Randall at dawn the next day, and plainly means to kill him. Such a duel can have only two outcomes, either one disastrous; either Jamie will indeed kill Randall, which results in Frank’s line being extinguished, and Frank himself not existing—or Randall will kill Jamie.
Claire deduces where the duel will take place, and despite her advanced state of pregnancy, goes there at dawn, hoping to stop the duel. She is too late, though; the sound of clashing swords greets her as she enters the clearing.
Both men are excellent swordsmen, but Jamie is driven by fury that lends wings to his sword. Claire dares not call out, for fear of distracting Jamie from his fatal endeavor. A slip on wet grass, the flash of a blade, and Jack Randall lies on his back, at Jamie’s mercy. Claire opens her mouth to scream at Jamie not to kill Randall—but is seized by pain, as something rips loose within her. She sees no more than Jamie’s sword descending, piercing the fawn of Randall’s breeches—and then is on the ground herself, drenched in her own blood, with the approach of death blinding her to what is happening nearby.
A week later, Claire lies in L’Hôpital des Anges, hovering near death from infection following her miscarriage. Jamie has not been seen since the duel in the Bois de Boulogne. With body and soul empty of the love she once carried, Claire does not care. Whether it is guilt at having broken his word to her—and thus having destroyed at once Frank Randall’s line and his own—that keeps him from her, or something