Child of the Phoenix (156 page)

Eleyne pulled her bed gown around her thin shoulders. ‘Then I’m glad they’ve had some time together. Tell Isobel to come to me here later. I should like to talk to her. And make sure our queen,’ she grimaced at the words, ‘has all the comforts that Kildrummy can offer her. It will perhaps mollify her a little. I shall pray for Robert. And for Scotland.’

Sir Nigel scowled. ‘So shall we all, Lady Eleyne, so shall we all.’

Eleyne was dressed and poring over one of the account ledgers when Isobel found her way to her great-grandmother’s solar. She hesitated, as though unsure of her welcome, then as Eleyne looked up and dropping her pen rubbed her cramped fingers, she ran to Eleyne and hugged her. ‘Are you very angry with me?’

‘Angry?’ Eleyne asked her in astonishment.

‘For crowning him. For making an exhibition of myself. For loving him?’ Isobel sank to the floor in front of the old lady and clasped her hands tightly.

Eleyne smiled. ‘How could I be angry? I’m very, very proud of you, my darling. It took enormous courage to put the crown on Robert’s head before the whole world.’

‘Robert told me you were there.’

‘Yes. I was there.’

‘And I never saw you. I’m sorry.’

‘You had other things on your mind.’ Eleyne took the young woman’s hands in her own, and held them, palm up, on her knee. ‘You had the magic of the stone in your fingers that day. With the blessing of the ancient gods of Scotland, and that of our Blessed Lord, Robert will succeed.’

There was a sudden tension in the room.

‘You really believe in the ancient gods?’

‘Oh yes, they still have power. I have always believed in them. I was brought up to see them in the Welsh mountains. My first husband tried to make me believe they were wicked and sinful; he taught me the beauty of the church’s teachings. But they’re still there, the old gods. And when we call upon them, they answer.’

‘And they support Robert?’

Eleyne nodded slowly. ‘I believe so.’

‘I’m going to go after him.’ Isobel’s voice dropped suddenly to a whisper. ‘They don’t want me here. Elizabeth hates me. Nigel says Robert has mustered a further band of men from the mountains here and as soon as they are ready to follow him, I am going with them.’

Eleyne shook her head. ‘Isobel, he doesn’t want you with him, my dear. You add to his worries …’

‘He needs me, great-grandmama.’ Isobel stuck out her chin stubbornly. ‘Please, don’t try to stop me. I shan’t tell the others, I shall just slip away when the time is right. I shan’t get in his way. I’m not stupid. I know he doesn’t need any distractions, but I shall be there if he needs me. He is going to find Lord Pembroke and defeat him. This will be the most important battle of his life, grandmama.’

Eleyne nodded again. ‘I shan’t prevent you going, Isobel. I’d have done the same in your place. Perhaps …’ She paused. ‘Perhaps if I had gone with Alexander to the Western Isles he would not have died. Who knows?’ She gazed across the table, lost in a dream.

Isobel glanced up at her, still holding her grandmother’s cold hands, then she followed the old woman’s gaze and stared. A man was standing by the wall watching them: a tall, handsome man in his early fifties, his rich blue mantle caught on his shoulder by a gold brooch. His hair, red-gold and streaked with grey, was encircled by a golden coronet. She gasped. It was the same gold crown with which she had crowned Robert King of Scots. Her face white, Isobel scrambled to her feet. She was shaking.

Eleyne blinked several times, then she turned back to the young woman. One look at Isobel’s face told her what she wanted to know. Alexander had been in the room. ‘You saw him?’ she whispered.

Isobel was staring at the place the man had been standing. For a moment he had remained, his eyes on hers, then he had faded from sight.

‘Who was it?’ Isobel gasped. She crossed herself quickly with a shaking hand.

So this child too could see him clearly. What else had she inherited, this great-grand-daughter of hers? Could she see the future too? Eleyne shivered. ‘He is someone who blesses our cause, my dear. The man who once recognised Robert’s grandfather as his heir.’

‘King Alexander?’ Isobel whispered. ‘Oh, grandmama! He was wearing the crown – the crown I put on Robert’s head.’

Eleyne sighed. Sweet Jesus, why could she not see him? Why would he not show himself to her? Was her belief not strong enough? All she had seen was a shadow; a patch of darkness against the wall.

‘He wore that often. The Bishop of Glasgow kept it hidden when the wars started, to preserve it from Edward.’ She pulled herself to her feet with a groan and groped for her stick. ‘Isobel, my dear, I know I don’t have to tell you to keep silent about what you have seen. There are people who have seen him – Kirsty is one of them – but he’s my secret.’ She forced herself to smile. ‘I don’t want panic to break out in the castle.’

‘Even though he’s here to give us hope?’

‘Even though he supports us and will help us.’ Leaning heavily on her stick, Eleyne went to Isobel and hugged her. ‘Leave me now. Let me rest. We’ll talk again later.’ She moved painfully towards her chair. Then she stopped. ‘Promise me one thing, my darling. Don’t leave without saying goodbye.’

‘I promise.’

Eleyne held back her tears until the door had closed, then she fell back in her chair, letting them roll freely down her cheeks. ‘
Why won’t you show yourself to me
?’ she murmured. ‘
Oh Alexander,
why?
’

XIV
12 June 1306

It was ten days before the last group of men were mustered from the mountains and braes of Mar, and assembled in the courtyard at Kildrummy. The night before they were due to march south, towards Perth, Isobel came to say goodbye to Eleyne. ‘We’re leaving as soon as the first light touches the strath. Before the castle is awake. May I take your blessing to Robert?’

‘Of course.’ Eleyne touched the young woman’s face.

‘And … his … King Alexander’s?’

‘If you think it right. Robert should know that the shades of his ancestors are watching over him.’

‘And you will pray for us. To your old gods.’

‘To the one god and all the gods.’ Eleyne smiled. ‘Bless you, Isobel. Bring Robert some happiness. I shall take care of his family here, and we’ll be waiting for him when his battles are won.’

XV

Robert did not let her remain with him, but it was many days before Isobel returned to Kildrummy. And when she did it was with news of a disaster. At the sight of the anxious faces awaiting her in the great hall, she dissolved into tears and they heard the story of Robert’s defeat.

‘He sent me away the night before the battle. Two of James Stewart’s men were to escort me back here, but I made them turn back to him. I couldn’t leave him, I couldn’t.’ She began to cry again.

‘What happened?’ Eleyne asked at last in the silence of the great hall. She raised a thin beringed hand to her own shoulder, caressing it slightly, almost as though it covered someone else’s hand.

As Isobel seemed unable to speak, one of the two men who had ridden back with her took up the story. ‘They were defeated, my lady. Near Methven. Terribly defeated. The king’s army was massacred. The survivors are scattered.’

‘And my husband?’ Elizabeth whispered.

‘And Christopher?’ Kirsty added, her face white.

The man shrugged. ‘As far as we know the king wasn’t injured. We met men from the battlefield, who said it was his own men who dragged him away in the end to save his life. I don’t know about Sir Christopher, my lady. Most of the men we saw were from Lord Pembroke’s army. They are everywhere, burning villages and farms, slaughtering the people they find.’ He passed a weary hand across his face.

For a long time there was no more news. Nigel sent out scouts daily as the castle remained on full alert, the small garrison constantly at the ready for the sign of Lord Pembroke’s army. But no one came and there was no news.

The days grew hotter as a blue, cloudless sky settled over Scotland, and Kildrummy was shrouded by a heat haze. The first sign that they had not been forgotten by the world came in the shape of a messenger wearing the Pembroke colours. One man alone, the scouts confirmed; there was no army behind him. He brought a letter for Elizabeth from her father, the Earl of Ulster. It informed her that as her husband’s cause was lost she should return to England at once. If she did so, he would intercede with Edward for her. Reading the letter through twice, Elizabeth passed it to Nigel. ‘My father says I should go to him, but my place is with Robert,’ she said. ‘Robert is my husband.’ She eyed Isobel coldly. ‘In spite of what you all think of me, I shall stand by him.’

Nigel looked up at her and she saw the admiration in his eyes. She gave a tight smile. ‘I may not believe in what he has done. But I could not turn my back on him now,’ she added.

The women spent most of their days in the solar in the Snow Tower. The tension was enormous. There was no more news as the sky turned from blue to copper in the heat. Isobel and Elizabeth avoided one another as best they could whilst Kirsty spent her time with her children and Marjorie in the nurseries. Finally another messenger found his way to Mar. Exhausted and badly injured, he had been sent by Neil Campbell, Mary Bruce’s betrothed. He was well, as was Robert, but Sir Christopher Seton, Kirsty’s husband, had been captured on the battlefield. No one knew what had happened to him.

Alone with the nurses and her children, Kirsty wept. Before the other women she tried to keep a brave face, but in the nurseries her mask slipped. She had little hope that she would see Christopher again. How could fate deprive her so soon of two husbands, two men whom she had loved? She had barely got to know Christopher in the short time they had been married; she had borne him no children. But she loved him dearly.

Eleyne understood. She comforted the young woman, knowing her need to keep her grief secret, and knowing in her heart that Kirsty was right. She would never see her husband again.

XVI
July

One of her ladies shook Eleyne awake. The rainswept night was unusually dark. Eleyne sat up, confused. ‘A messenger has arrived from King Robert, my lady,’ the woman said. ‘He is waiting in the hall. The other ladies and Sir Nigel are being called.’

Eleyne pushed her legs wearily from under the sheets, groping for her velvet slippers. Her heart was thumping with fear. Pulling on her bed gown, she allowed the woman to comb her hair quickly and knot it back with a piece of ribbon, then she grabbed her stick and began to make her painful way downstairs. The others were already in the great hall. The messenger was Gilbert of Annandale and with him were two companions. One had a blood-soaked bandage around his arm.

‘The king and his men are hiding in the hills of Drumalban.’ Gilbert looked round the hushed gathering, pitying the women with their tired anxious faces. He knew how frustrating it was to wait without news. Then for the news to be bad … ‘He has decided that it would be best if you all joined him there.’ He looked first to Nigel and then at Eleyne. ‘The Earl of Pembroke is set on capturing the royal family and no quarter is to be given. I don’t have to tell you the danger. The king feels he can give you more protection in the mountains to the west, where he has men and much support. We should set out at once.’

Eleyne saw Nigel’s face light up with excitement. ‘At last! I have been a nursemaid too long!’ he burst out. Then he glanced embarrassed at Elizabeth and then at Eleyne. ‘Forgive me, I didn’t mean … it’s just that I want to be with Robert! I want to see some fighting!’

Gilbert gave a grim smile. ‘You’ll see fighting soon enough, Sir Nigel, have no fear,’ he said. ‘More than you want, no doubt.’

XVII

It did not take long for the women to pack their belongings. They were all as eager as the king’s brother to end their self-imposed imprisonment and ride as fast as possible to be with Robert. Only Eleyne did not prepare.

She cornered Kirsty in the nurseries. ‘Leave the children here with me, my dear. Donald’s place is at Kildrummy and they will be safe here. Poor little Marjorie must go to her father, but small children and old ladies would only add to Robert’s worries.’ She smiled wryly. ‘It’s a terrible thing to say, but once you’ve all gone Kildrummy will no longer be in danger.’

Kirsty started to protest, then she looked down at the sleeping children and nodded. ‘You’re right. They’ll be safe with you.’ She hugged Eleyne and then she turned away, not trusting herself even to kiss them goodbye.

Nigel demurred when he heard Eleyne had resolved to stay. ‘I’m not sure you’re right, Lady Eleyne. I am sure the children will be safe but for some reason King Edward harbours grudges towards you. I think Robert would want you with us.’

Eleyne patted him on the arm. ‘Bless you, my boy. It’s nice to think that I’m important. But I’m too old to ride with you. I’ll be all right. No one is interested in an old woman. You go, and God go with you.’

When they had ridden out of sight, she gave the order for the gates to be closed. Then she walked into the chapel. Only the small lamp burning in the sanctuary, and the faintest light from the sky at the east window, lit the blackness. She went to the altar and stood gazing up at the crucifix which hung there, its soft silver carving gleaming.