The Faithful Heart (33 page)

 

 

"We'll be there in a few minutes, you two love birds, so you might
want to fix your clothing," Anna called down to them at one point
when they had grown particularly heated.

 

 

Ruairc lurched upright with a shaky laugh, and started doing up his
shirt and doublet with one hand, while trying to smooth down her
hair with his other.

 

 

"Ah, young love, nothing like it," Anna said with a giggle.

 

 

Ruairc and Morgana met each other's eyes, and laughed too. He kissed
her once more, and then made sure they were decent for their
homecoming, though they were sure what they had been doing was
written all over their faces.

 

 

Their return to Lisleavan held a few surprises, for Mary was there
to greet her, and also Tiarnach O’Connor, all the way from Sligo,
who had arrived that morning with a shipload of supplies andanimals.

 

 

They exclaimed over Morgana’s wounded leg, but Morgana brushed it
aside as nothing while she listened to their news. Tiarnach, she
noted, held back from the conversation, and she could see he wished
to be alone with her before he imparted his information.

 

 

Mary’s news, however, demanded immediate attention, for their convoy
of carts had been attacked on the their way down to Dublin just as
they had entered the Pale, and Aofa had been taken hostage.

 

 

“Has a ransom been requested?” Morgana frowned.

 

 

“No, none. They beat the men, grabbed her, and left, riding into the
Pale faster than we could follow.”

 

 

“I don’t wish to appear callous,” Morgana said, “but Aofa is not
worth that much to this clan. I will consider paying a ransom if one
is requested, but as for considering it to be an insult to my
family, she is not worth fighting over, even if we knew who had
taken her and where. No, until we hear word, we can just assume that
she is happy in her captivity. So long as they feed her and tell her
how lovely she is, she’ll have a splendid time.”

 

 

“Morgana!” Mary exclaimed, shocked.

 

 

“I’m sorry, but I refuse to pretend a grief I do not feel. And if
you all stop to think about it, why on earth would they attack empty
carts?They stole no money, only Aofa, and let the rest of you go,
left her baggage as well?

 

 

"It is a deliberate insult on the part of the MacMahons or the
O’Reillys to embarrass me, and I am not going to be drawn into an
ambush by trying to rescue her. If they want to fight out in the
open, fairly, instead of attacking defenceless women and villagers,
then they know where to come, and I’ll be waiting for them,” Morgana
said firmly.

 

 

“Now, if you will excuse me, Ruairc and Mary, I need to speak to
Tiarnach alone. Tiarnach, will you please help me up to my study?”

 

 

Tiarnach O’Connor led the way, with Morgana leaning heavily on his
arm as she dragged her stiff leg along behind her.

 

 

“Perhaps you would like me to carry you, old friend,” the
middle-aged man offered.

 

 

“No, I have to be up and about now, and need to build up strength in
the leg. Just wait a moment until I catch my breath,” Morgana
panted.

 

 

At last they were seated in her study, and she said quietly, “All
right, Tiarnach, why have you come?”

 

 

He sighed. “I have news. It's not something I think you will want
everyone to hear, so I waited."

 

 

"I appreciate your discretion. So what's happened?"

 

 

"I've found your missing men—"

 

 

Her eyes lit up with joy. "That's wonderful—"

 

 

He shook has head. "Hear me out, Morgana. I found them marooned on
Inishmurray, nearly twenty ships’ crews, over two thousand sailors,
though I am not sure how many of them are still alive. They were
marooned there by the pirates to starve and die. I have launched an
expedition to rescue them. But the question is where to bring them.
Some of them are in desperate condition,” Tiarnach revealed in a
whisper.

 

 

Morgana gazed at him silently for several moments. “How many ships
have you available?”

 

 

“Only two at the moment, though Ronan O’Donnell knows as well now. I
heard you had made peace with one another, and knew he would he glad
to help. He has pledged me another two. Your ships in Belleek are
nearly ready now, are they not?”

 

 

She nodded. “Yes, but even if we take them off Inishmurray, we still
need to find food and provisions, and a roof over their heads,”
Morgana declared, chewing her bottom lip as she pulled out her
calculations and tried to decide what to do for the best.

 

 

“I have brought all I can spare at the minute, but if any ships come
in with anything you can use, I will willingly letyou have it. Some
of those men have been out there for months with barely enough to
keep going. They were eating nothing but seaweed and birds and fish
all that time,” Tiarnach said angrily.

 

 

“It is unthinkable,” Morgana sighed.

 

 

Rising from her chair she commanded, “We need to rescue them, but
can we bring them up the lough by night? If the MacMahons are
watching us, we don’t want them to know that our strength is
increasing every day.”

 

 

“It shall be as you say, but where shall you take them? You can’t
fit that many men here at Lisleavan!”

 

 

“We will have to fit as many as we can, and I have also started
making plans to use Cullen. If we have six ships, I want five of
them to come here, and the other to Ma Niadh, which can still hold
another one hundred and fifty men, and they will need more
provisions as well. You will tell no one, is that understood?”

 

 

“You can trust me. The men have identified the supposed pirates. It
was the MacMahons who stole your ships, Morgana. Are you going to
fight?” Tiarnach asked challengingly.

 

 

“If they do not know we have found the castaways, then it is not an
offence which I have to answer, is it?” she said with a shake of her
head.

 

 

Tiarnach stared. “Have you no fight left in you, Morgana Maguire?”

 

 

“Tiarnach, I've done nothing but fight since I came back. I fought
for my father’s life, my lands, my sick villagers, my ships, my
right to trade, my own life when eight men ambushed us on the road
to Kilgarven. How do you think I nearly got my leg hacked off?”
Morgana exclaimed impatiently.

 

 

"I'm sorry, I just don't understand…"

 

 

"And I haven't got the time or inclination to tell you allmy many
reasons. I just need you to trust me. Trust that I am acting for the
best for everyone concerned, not just my family.

 

 

“I will fight the MacMahons, but I will fight on my own terms, If
that means watching and waiting carefully, then so be it. I am not
going to play into the MacMahons’ hands by overreacting or making
any hasty decisions. I thank you for all you have done, and would be
grateful if you could secure hay and sheets and blankets enough to
help supply all these men, for which I will pay you well. I will
make sure they are housed and fed, but they will need clothes,
tools, and medicines, and we are already stretched beyond our
means.”

 

 

“You shall have it, and the O’Donnells have pledged whatever they
can spare also. He also said to tell you the stonemasons and quarry
are working day and night.”

 

 

Morgana sighed in relief. “That is good news.Now, how soon can you
get the men here?”

 

 

“With those numbers plus food, we are going to have to make three
full trips with all the ships.”

 

 

“Right stop in at Ma Niadh on the way out, to give Patrick warning,
and I shall see the first five ships here by dawn tomorrow?”

 

 

“Tide and wind willing, you shall,” Tiarnach promised, and took his
leave.

 

 

Morgana scribbled some figures hastily on a scrap of paper, and then
went to see Owen down in the village. Her progress was slow as she
hobbled along on her bad leg, but she found him in the courtyard
nearest the castle, and pulled him to one side. She informed him of
Tiarnach’s astonishing news, and then began to issue orders.

 

 

“The carts need to be harnessed, and we need food and supplies,
medicine, and some able-bodied men able to fetch and carry and tend
to the sick. We also have to clean out every empty house in the
village, and if possible to get some families to double up. We might
even need to build more houses.”

 

 

“We'll never be able to fit them all!” Owen gasped.

 

 

“We must try, and all of this must be kept secret. The last thing we
need is for the MacMahons to find out that we know they are
responsible for the piracy. Can you get the carts ready, take them
to Cavan and even Armagh if need be, for more food? Here is some
money, and don’t forget the household goods as well. The O’Connors
and O’Donnells have pledged their support, but even they will not
have enough for so many sick men.”

 

 

“Trust me, Morgana, I shall send some men over to Cullen to help
Angus, and we will be back before dark with as much food as we can
carry,” Owen promised.

 

 

Morgana stumped over to the bakery, and told Michael, “We have to
get the ovens going full time. Get some men to mill the grain, and
the women to help with the dough. The ships’ crews are all coming
home, and we need as much food as we can manage.”

 

 

“I will see to it, Morgana,” Michael reassured her.

 

 

A trip to the carpenter’s shop sent the men off for firewood which
would have to be sufficient for both Lisleavan and Cullen, and
Morgana sent further logging crews to Ma Niadh and Tulach to supply
them with fuel.

 

 

“What on earth is happening here?” Ruairc demanded as he saw the
village become a hive of activity despite the lateness of the hour.

 

 

“Some of the ships' crews are coming home. We need to get food,
bedding, and medicines organised, and a roof over their heads as
well if they don’t all fit into the castle.”

 

 

“Where have they all come from?” Ruairc puzzled.

 

 

“Shipwrecked off the coast of Sligo. Tiarnach O’Connor has offered
help to rescue them.”

 

 

“Why the secrecy then, Morgana?” Ruairc demanded.

 

 

She sighed and looked directly at him at last. “Because it was the
MacMahons who stole their ships. Thousands of men have been
abandoned on the rocks for months,” Morgana said, deciding to gamble
on Ruairc’s love and tell him the whole shocking truth.

 

 

Ruairc gasped, and he fingered his sword hilt convulsively. “Those
bastards...”

 

 

“My feelings exactly, but we shall just have to bide our time,
Ruairc. As the French say, ‘Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.’ If
your family don’t know the men have been found, they won’t expect
reprisals. I will not be drawn into a fight with them now, not when
I have two thousand sick men to attend to.”

 

 

“We can only fit seven hundred here inside the castle itself, and
even then they would be crammed in,” Ruairc observed.

 

 

“I’m clearing houses in the village now, and getting the carpenters
to build more. Can you organise any sort of bedding you can manage,
hay, anything, on the upper floors? I’m going to go to the kitchen
to see to soups, stews and as much meat as I can roast in the
ovens,” Morgana said as she headed back to the castle gates.

 

 

“Morgana, whatever you wish me to do, I shall. You have only to
ask.This is some homecoming,” he added in an undertone, which cause
her to look up to meet his piercing emerald gaze.

 

 

“Oh, Ruairc, I don’t think there will ever be a time for us to be
alone, to be happy for even a brief time,” Morgana sighed.

 

 

“We had nearly a week at the inn,” he smiled. “I can wait, Morgana,
for now I am certain you will one day be mine.”

 

 

“I promise, you, Ruairc, as soon as it can be arranged, I will spend
that day and night with you,” Morgana vowed.

 

 

“You haven’t forgotten your promise, then?” Ruairc grinned.

 

 

“No, nor the part about the night either. I won’t say I’m not
scared, but I do know the last week, of waking up by your side in
the morning has been heaven.”

 

 

“For me too,
a thaisce
,” Ruairc murmured, as he stroked her
cheek and bent to kiss her on the lips.

 

 

Just then, Mary came out of the castle door, and stopped in her
tracks. There was fury in her eyes as she stared at the two young
lovers looking so happy. She was just about to spin on her heel and
leave when Morgana looked up and saw Mary’s resentful expression.

 

 

“Mary, assemble the entire household in the great hall right now,
please. I have serious news.”

 

 

“Morgana, what...” Ruairc started to ask.

 

 

“Just wait and see, my love.” Morgana smiled gently.

 

 

As the last of the servants trickled into the hall, Morgana
highlighted the situation for them briefly. She calculated that even
with her secret citadel at Cullen, Lisleavan and the village would
have to house twelve hundred men.

 

 

So she spelt out for the castle workers their list of duties, and
declared, “Ruairc here you all know for many years, as my father’s
loyal foster son, as well as my betrothed.I now wish to make him
head of this castle, so if you have any questions concerning
defence, provisions, and so on, you can consult either him or
myself. You all have your chores to do, but I want this castle
fortified and organised in preparation for any hostilities.