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.They were not located on the south side of the city, which had suffered the most damage, he told them.“Thank God for the Aisir nam Breug,” he said, “for I need to get to London to inform our family there of what has happened here.We must remain open for our clients, of course, but it is dangerous now, and likely to become more dangerous.”“It’s begun, and God help us all now,” Fingal Stewart said.“We may not escape the ravages of the war that is not really a war.I will have to keep the drawbridge up now as the Hay did.It’s becoming too dangerous to leave it down.”“No one has attacked us,” Maggie said.“There is war all around us, Maggie mine,” he told her.“We cannot wait for an attack to come, but we must be ready when it does, for it surely will.”And for the first time in her life Maggie Kerr was afraid.But she was not fearful for herself; she was fearful for her two sons, her daughter, and the new bairn she suspected she was carrying.If Master Kira was to be believed, the English had spared no one, even the littlest of children.The thought of their coming to Brae Aisir sent an icy shiver through her.She went to the keep’s little armory, and taking down her claymore, she began to carefully hone its dulled blade to a fine sharp edge.If the English came to Brae Aisir, Mad Maggie Kerr would be more than ready.Chapter 19Ewan Hay had returned home to find the older of his two brothers not particularly welcoming.“Ye had yer chance,” Lord Hay told him.“ ’Tis over now.”“Her husband returned,” Ewan whined.“What the hell was I supposed to do?”“Aye, her husband came back, but ye were outmaneuvered.I’ll wager ye still haven’t figured out how he got into the keep.There was probably some secret entry, but ye made no effort to befriend the Kerrs.Instead, ye walled yerself up with yer own men and gained no allies,” his older brother said.“Yer a fool, but then I always knew it.There’s nothing for ye here at Haydoun.”“Where am I supposed to go?” Ewan demanded.Curse Mad Maggie Kerr and her husband.They had brought him to this ruin.He’d have his revenge on them somehow.“Go to England,” Lord Hay advised.“What?” Ewan Hay was astounded by his brother’s words.“Why would I go to England?” he demanded to know.“For the coin they will put in yer purse, of course, ye donkey,” Lord Hay told him.“King Henry is determined to have our queen for his son.There is a strong pro-English faction here in Scotland.They are being paid in hard coin to support this marriage.”“And how would ye know this, Brother?”Lord Hay smiled archly.“Ye could become one of what the English call assured Scots, Ewan.Seek out the Earl of Hertford, and tell him yer my brother.That I sent ye to him.Ye’ll be welcome, and I’m certain yer firsthand knowledge of the Aisir nam Breug will be a great interest to him.”“Can I take Bhaltair, and my men?” Ewan asked his brother.Lord Hay shrugged.“If ye can pay them, they’re yers,” he agreed.And so Ewan Hay had taken his captain along with their men-at-arms and gone over the border into England where he found he was indeed welcomed by the English.He took part ravaging the Borders in that terrible summer.He did not, however, reveal his knowledge of the Aisir nam Breug right away, gaining a reputation as a ruthless fighter and a reliable ally instead.There would come a time when his information would garner him more than just gold.And he would have his revenge on the Kerrs of Brae Aisir.He was learning to cultivate patience.And Ewan Hay was in good company.Matthew Stewart, the Earl of Lennox, second in line for Scotland’s throne, defected to England, pledging his allegiance to King Henry.He also turned over Dumbarton Castle and the Isle of Bute for English bases.The king made him his lieutenant for the whole of northern England and for southern Scotland.And then the handsome twenty-seven-year-old earl was married to Henry’s niece, Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Henry’s late sister, Margaret Tudor, by her second husband, Archibald Douglas, the Earl of Angus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]