The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [26]
Jamie hesitates in his advice; would the withdrawal of the MacKenzies of Leoch prevent a victory that might otherwise be won? But if there is no victory, there will be no clan—and the men of Leoch are his mother’s people, his own blood. No, he tells Colum at last. Keep clear; turn back. And if disaster comes, there will be that many fewer souls on Jamie Fraser’s conscience.
Claire meets her own moment of decision at Holyrood; answering the door late one night, she comes face-to-face with the one man she least expects to see—Jack Randall. Leaving Jamie asleep, lest he wake and find the man, she goes with Randall to the ruined abbey church, to hear a startling proposal.
Alexander Randall is in the city, very ill. Believing Claire to have some supernatural power, Jack desires her to come and give the benefit of her healing abilities to his younger brother; in exchange, he will give her intelligence of the English army’s movements, obtained from his colleagues in the Castle garrison.
Reluctantly agreeing to this, Claire finds Alex Randall in dire straits—very ill with consumption and the first stages of congestive heart failure—but she is able to assist him in some small degree, and the intelligence gained from Jack Randall further brightens the prospects for Charles Stuart.
The Stuart prospects brighten further with the unexpected—and presumably natural—death of Colum MacKenzie. With Colum dead, leadership of clan MacKenzie passes to Dougal—and Dougal is all too willing to commit his men and resources to the Rising.
With his support solidifying, Charles Stuart sets out to gain as much as he can— and in pursuit of the rest of the Highland clans, sends Jamie and Claire to Beaufort Castle, to seek the support of the Old Fox—Simon, Lord Lovat, chieftain of clan Fraser—and Jamie’s grandfather.
As Jamie tells Claire, “My grandfather has the sort of character that would enable him to hide conveniently behind a spiral staircase. “This is not the first time the Old Fox has played both ends against the middle, and Lord Lovat is too old and canny to let himself be persuaded one way or another by a young—and illegitimate—grandson. However, Simon convinces himself that his best chance for gain lies with the Stuarts, and he dispatches a sizable body of men to return to Edinburgh with Jamie, under the command of his son, Young Simon.
In Edinburgh, things are growing grimmer, despite the infusion of men. Support from the Lowlands has failed to materialize; some of the chieftains are growing disaffected. Highlanders are farmers; the winter is drawing in, and they feel the need to return to their crofts, to ready their homes and their crops before the cold. But needs must when the devil drives, and the Highland army will meet the English once more—at Falkirk.
Among the furor surrounding the imminent hostilities, Claire visits Alexander Randall, whose condition has deteriorated to an alarming extent. One thing brings Alex comfort; the unexpected arrival of Mary Hawkins, who—upon learning of Alex’s whereabouts—has tricked her father into sending her to stay with an aunt in Edinburgh.
Claire knows that once more the Highlanders will be victorious, but this knowledge is hollow comfort; all around her she sees the beginnings of the dreaded end, the small signs of crumbling confidence, of poor leadership, of scarce resource, that will—perhaps—doom the Stuart cause and those who follow it. But for the moment, victory is once more near; marching on Falkirk at night, the Highlanders meet with a small troop of English soldiers, and the sound of gunfire rends the night.
Hurried away into a deserted church for shelter, Claire finds herself trapped with a few of the MacKenzies of Leoch—including both Dougal and his lieutenant, Rupert, who has been fatally wounded in the skirmish. Jamie joins the group, but not