187.

"He won't relinquish the fort,' said Obrin stubbornly. 'You have to understand the officer mentality.'

'Oh, I think I understand it, Obrin. Hear me out. The commander will be caught on twin horns. If he disobeys an order you tell him was issued by the Baron and the Pallides fort falls, he will be hanged or flogged. If he obeys and everything goes wrong, he will be asked why he did not follow the rules and remain where he was.'

'Exactly,' said Obrin.

'Then, as a good sergeant, you will help him. You will offer to lead the rescue of the Pallides fort. That way he has not disobeyed an order, and he has not left his post.'

'Aye,' said Obrin slowly. 'He might go for such a plan. But where does that leave us? I'll be riding out again with my men.'

'No, his men. You will explain that your forces are exhausted, whereas his are fresh.'

'So I ride out with a hundred enemy soldiers behind me? What then?'

'You lead them into an ambush. Grame will tell you where.'

Obrin stared hard at the tall young woman. Her face, though beautiful, was emotionless, the eyes cold now and cruel. 'You are a canny woman, Sigarni,' he said. 'It has a good chance of success.'

'Make it succeed,' she urged him. 'I need those supplies and weapons. More importantly, I need to deny them to the Baron.'

'I can understand that, lady, but why that fort? The Pallides is closer. Even if we do take the Farlain fort we have a great distance to cover carrying the supplies back here, much of it over rough country.'

'You will take all three forts,' she assured him. 'The Farlain will be first. And you will not carry the supplies far - only to Torgan's town. Then you will move on to the others. Now get some rest and be here tomorrow at dawn with Grame and Tovi.'

Obrin bowed and walked out into the night. He could hear the sounds of laughter from Grame's hut, but elsewhere all was quiet.

She was canny all right. Not only would the plan - if it succeeded -ease the food shortage, and rob the Baron of spring supplies, but it would also impress the Farlain, who had lost scores of men in useless assaults on the fortification. And the chances of success, he knew, were high indeed. Sigarni was using the enemy's great strength against them. Discipline. Blind obedience.

188.

Who would have thought that an untutored clans-woman could have such a devious mind?

'All women have devious minds,' he said, aloud. 'It's why I never wed.'

Sigarni rapped on the door of the small hut. 'Who's there?' called Tovi. Stepping inside, she saw the Hunt Lord sitting by an open fire. He glanced up as she entered. 'How did you find me?' he asked.

'Kollarin has a talent for these matters. Why are you not with your family?'

'I need time to think.'

Sigarni sat down opposite the man. 'You are angry.'

'What do you expect? I know I was a better baker than a Hunt Lord, but I have done my best since the attack. I could do no more.'

'I do not ask for more,' said Sigarni. 'I need your skills in other areas.'

'What skills?' he asked bitterly. 'You want me to bake bread for you? I can do that.

Just build me an oven.'

'Yes, I want bread," she said softly. 'I want the people fed. Battles alone will not win us this war, Tovi. Once we have defeated the first Outland army we will need to move from defence to attack and that means invading the Lowlands. The army will need to be supplied with food. We will need mercenaries, and that means we must have gold; a treasury. Our forces will be spread, and that requires lines of communication. You understand? The role I need you for will stretch your talents to the limit. You will have no time for other burdens.'

'Why could you not say this in front of the others? Why did I need to suffer humiliation, Sigarni?'

She looked at the older man, saw the hurt in his eyes. 'They did not need to know my plans. There are hard days coming, Tovi. Some of the men in that room will die in our cause: they may even be captured and tortured. Worse, one or more of them will seek to betray us. What I say to you here is not to be repeated.'

'I may be captured and tortured,' he pointed out 'It is unlikely, for you will not be fighting.'

'You deny me even that? A chance for revenge, to restore the honour of my family?'

'Listen to me! What is more important, that you drive your claymore i8g into one enemy heart, or your skills bring down a thousand? You are vital to me, Tovi. You have a feel for organization, and a mind that can cope with a score of problems simultaneously. I have seen those talents here, in the four encampments. Few could have achieved what you have. When the war comes I will need your skills.'

He laughed and scratched his beard. 'Here we sit with a tiny force made up of many old men and young lads, and you speak of invading the Lowlands! Better still, I believe you when you speak of it. What has happened to you, Sigarni?

From where do these ideas spring?'

'From my blood, Tovi.'

'All these years I have watched you, and never seen you. When you were a child you used to hide behind my bakery and wait until I stepped out at the front for a breath of air. Fast as a hawk, you would sprint inside to steal a cake - just the one from the middle of the tray, then you would push the others together, disguising the gap.'

'You knew?'

'I knew. You hid behind the water barrel.'

'How did you know?'

'Lemon mint. Gwalchmai always loved that scent and you used to rub the leaves over your body when you bathed. Every time I stepped back inside I could smell lemon mint.'

'You never caught me,' she said softly.

He shrugged. 'I never wanted to. You were a child of sorrow, Sigarni. Everyone loved you. And I could spare a morsel on Cake Day.'

Sigarni fed some wood to the fire and they sat in companionable silence for a while. 'I am not that child any longer,' she said.

'I know. Yet she is still there, deep down inside. She will always be there.' He sighed, then smiled. 'I will serve you, Sigarni, in any way that you want me.'

'Thank you, Tovi,' she said, her voice tender. 'For this - and for the cakes.' Rising smoothly, she moved to the door. 'Be at the log hall at dawn.'

'Why?'

'Because I need you there,' she said.

790.

10.

TORGAN'S MOOD WAS not enhanced by the news from his scouts that the Loda woman was riding towards the town. At first the people of the Farlain had talked of little else - how strong she was, now noble she looked, how brave. Torgan had fast become heartily sick of it. That was why he had led his rash raid on the Outlanders, to prove that he was the natural leader of the clans. It might have worked too, save for the craven tactics of the enemy, drawing back and then loosing cavalry upon him. Had they stood and fought like men he was sure the Farlain warriors would have cut them to pieces. After that he had led two spectacularly unsuccessful attacks on their fort. Another forty men had been struck by arrows; seven had died.

Now the Farlain were talking about Sigarni once more, how she had supposedly killed demons sent against her, and how successful she had been against the Outlanders at Cilfallen. God, could they not see what she was? Just a Loda whore in pretty armour! There was little doubt in Torgan's mind that the battle at Cilfallen had been masterminded by the black-skinned bastard who rode with her. Rode with her? Rode her, more like!

Now she was coming here again.

This time I'll make her humiliation complete, he thought.

His wife, Layelia, entered the room, bearing a cup of sweet tisane. He took it without a word and sipped it. Layelia did not depart, but stood staring at him. He looked up into her large, soft brown eyes. 'What?' he asked, gruffly.

'She is coming,' said his wife.

'I know that. I'll deal with her.'

'Are you sure you are in the right?'

'What is that supposed to mean?' he snapped. She flinched, which pleased him. A woman should know her place.

'I've heard talk that she is the chosen one. Carela told me ..."

797.

'I'm not interested in women's gossip, Layelia. And I've heard enough!'

For a moment he thought she would stand her ground, but she bowed her head and left him alone once more. Torgan ran his hand over his close-cropped back hair. The bald spot was growing on the crown and his widow's peak was becoming more pronounced by the day. He swore softly. Why should he alone of his family lose his hair? His father had a shock of white hair, like a lion's mane, until the day he died at eighty.

Torgan threw his cloak around his shoulders and stepped out into the winter sunlight. It was bright, the day clear and cold. He could see the Loda woman in the distance. The black man was not with her, but there were a dozen or so riders following her as she made her way down the long slope. More people were on the streets than was normal for this time of day. They were making their way to the square, ready to hear the whore's words.

Torgan strode out, looking to neither left nor right. His chair had been set at the centre of the square, his lieutenants were already standing beside it. This time there was no Neren, or Calias, or Pimali. All had fallen in the battle.

I never would have acted so fast had the woman not inflamed my anger, he thought. It's her fault they are dead.

By the time Sigarni and her followers rode into the square, there were more than two hundred Farlain gathered to witness the exchange. She did not dismount, but sat her horse staring at Torgan.

'Well, woman?' he called out. 'What now? Why are you here?'

'Perhaps I just wanted to look at a fool,' she said, her words colder than the wind.

'Perhaps I wondered whether the Outlanders had made you a general in return for the number of clansmen you killed for them.'

Torgan was outraged. 'How dare you?' he shouted, surging to his feet. 'I did not come here to listen to your insults.'

'Where do you normally go?' she said. 'By God, I'd think you'd have to travel far from the Highlands not to hear insults. Three hundred men! You led them into a trap that a child could have seen. Or did no one mention cavalry to you? Did your scouts not see their hiding places? Come to that, Torgan, did you even send out scouts?'

'I don't answer to you.'

'That is where you are wrong,' Sigarni told him as, dismounting, 792.

she walked towards him. 'You answer to me, Torgan, because you have wasted three hundred Highlanders. Thrown their lives away in a moment of crass stupidity. Aye, you'll answer to me!'

Stepping in close, she slammed a right-hand punch to his chin. The blow shocked him and he stepped back, trying to ready himself. She turned away from him, then spun back and leapt, her boot cannoning against his jaw. Torgan hit the seat and fell heavily, striking his temple against the cold flagstones. Dazed, he heard her carrying on speaking as if nothing had happened. Only she wasn't talking to him, she was addressing the Farlain. 'In eleven weeks,' she said, 'an army will come to these Highlands of ours - a murderous force intent on butchery. If we are to destroy them we need to act together, under a single leader. The fool lying there will lead you to destruction. I think you already know that. Pick him up!'

Torgan felt strong arms lifting him to his feet, then sitting him in his chair. 'The position of Hunt Lord can be passed from father to son,' he heard her say, 'but that has not always been the Highland way. We are in a war, and it is up to you to choose a Hunt Lord who can best serve the needs of the people. the people - Farlain, Loda, Pallides and Wingoras. I do not care who you choose. But whoever it is will serve under my leadership.'

'By what right?' asked a tall, broad-shouldered warrior with a silver moustache.

Torgan blinked as Harcanan stepped up to stand before the woman. His uncle would put her in her place. He was a man of iron principles, not one to be fooled by this whore in scarlet.

'By what right?' echoed Sigarni. 'By right of blood and right of battle. By virtue of my sword and my skills.'

He shook his head. 'I do not know of your blood, Sigarni, but your battle was one skirmish fought at Cilfallen. As to your sword and your skills, I have seen no evidence that you can carry a fight with either. I say this with no disrespect, for I applaud your defence of Cilfallen and your determination to fight against the Outlanders. But I need more proof that you are the war leader we should follow.'

'Well said,' she told him. 'And how would you like this proof delivered?'

'I cannot say - but one battle does not convince me. Even now the Outlanders are camped on our land, their position impregnable. A war leader should be able to free us of their presence.'

'What is your name?'

193.

'I am Harcanan.'

'I have heard of you,' she said. 'You fought at Golden Moor. It is said you killed twenty Outlanders, and led the King to safety.'

He smiled grimly. 'An exaggeration, Sigarni. But I was there the last time the clans gathered against the Outlanders and I will be there the next time, God willing.'

'So then, Harcanan, will you follow me?'

'I have already said that I need more proof.'

Sigarni stood silently for a moment. 'I will make a bargain with you, Harcanan,'

she said at last. 'Pledge yourself to me, and then I will show you proof 'Why not the other way round?' he countered.

'Because I require your faith, as well as your sword.'

He smiled. 'I hear you require men to bend the knee to you, as if to a monarch. Is that what you are asking?'

'Aye, Harcanan. Exactly that. As in the old days. But you will not need to lead me to safety; you will live to see the Outlanders crushed and broken, begging for mercy. Now give me your pledge.'

Torgan sat quietly, waiting for the old warrior to laugh in her face. He did not.

Instead he walked slowly forward and dropped to one knee before her. 'My sword and my life,' he said.

Sigarni swung to the crowd. Throwing up her arm, she pointed to the line of horse-drawn wagons making their slow way over the crest of the hill. 'Those wagons you see are loaded with the spoils of war, taken from the fort on Farlain land. My forces took that fort two days ago. Even as we speak, the Pallides fort is falling to us.'