“What about yerself?” Caillen asked, “Are ye nae interested in offering yer own swain a portion?”
“I dinnae have one!” Emer snapped, “Who would want to marry an upper housemaid with only a few gold sovereigns to her name?”
Caillen strode over to where Emer stood next to the curtains, but before he could do anything or say anything, the parlor door swung open, and Gilby came in carrying a large tray.
“Eat up while it’s still piping hot!” the valet said cheerfully as he laid the tray down on the table, “I’m off to the taproom, me Laird, and will more than likely be fast asleep by the time ye tumble in bed, so mind me head with yer boots – the truckle bed is low on the ground! We’re in the smaller room, is that correct?”
Without looking at Gilby, his eyes still fixed on where Emer stood staring blankly out of the window, Caillen said, “Aye, the smaller room.”
“Right ye are then,” Gilby said and left, closing the door behind him.
Caillen decided whatever he had to say to Emer was not as important as making sure she had something to eat for supper. He pulled a chair out from the table and called over to her,
“Come and have a seat, poor swainless Emer. I’m sure a hearty bowl of broth will give ye the strength to go out hereafter and find yerself a suitor.”
Emer had never been able to resist Caillen when he was in a joking mood. She smiled and joined him at the supper table.
“It does smell nice,” she said, buttering herself a large roll and spreading it lavishly with honey.
When they had eaten their fill, Emer readied herself for the barrage of questions she believed Caillen wanted to ask her.
Instead, he pushed his chair back from the table and went to sit on one of the armchairs by the fire. He pointed at the armchair next to his own and gave Emer his most attractive smile.
She went to sit beside him. He poured her out a goblet of mead, and they sat in companionable silence, watching the flames dance in the fireplace, making a comforting crackling noise.
It was Emer who felt the need to break the silence first.
“Are ye saddle sore from riding here? How did ye leave things at the castle?”
Caillen sipped his drink and replied, “Our allies are beginning to receive increasingly appealing offers from Laird Sutherland. If I lower trade fees by a few pounds, the next messenger coming from Sutherland lodge offers me allies to charge them nae trading fees at all! If I arrange to buy their crops for a fair amount, the next week, a messenger arrives from the lodge offering to pay them double. It’s as though money is nae longer important to the man – it seems all he wants is for our neighbors to side with him and send their soldiers to him for training. Meaning, if there is a war between our clans, those men will fight on his side.”
Caillen turned to Emer with his old familiar smile, “In light of this incessant trouble making, I would say being saddle sore is theleastof me problems, lass!”
He had never before opened up to Emer about his business affairs. She searched for something to say that might be of help.
“But is it nae obvious to yer allies and neighbors the man wants to stir up trouble? If they cannae see saving a few pounds here and there will eventually result in them going to war – a war where men will die – then they are blind!”
Caillen raised his goblet in a toast to her, “Well said, lass, and very true. That’s why I’m a day late in following ye because I’ve been riding around from loch to firth, saying the very same thing. It’s a widely acknowledged fact if ye give two Highlanders a penny to share, they fight over that penny ‘til it’s been pulled into a line of wire, but at the end o’ the day, we dinnae want our warriors fighting and dying for a silly skirmish between two bickering Lairds.”
“Well,” Emer said emphatically, “ye cannae spend the rest o’ yer life doing that! Something will have to be done.”
Caillen smiled at her practical statement, “Aye, lass, but it’s nae as easy as ye think. The Sutherlands have amassed quite a fortune over the years and can continue undercutting me profits without feeling the pinch for a while yet. The biggest problem is auld Sutherland refuses to negotiate. When I tried to visit the lodge, I didnae get within one league of the main gate before warning arrow shots were whizzing over me head!”
“Hoots! Is hemad? What would have happened if one of them had hit ye?” Emer was aghast.
Caillen said blandly, “If one of the arrows had killed me, then Gawain would be Laird.”
Silence descended over the parlor. Caillen and Emer sat drinking mead; they were both furiously thinking.
Then Emer broke in with another comment, “Why does he always send messengers? Is he infirm like yer faither? Ye are Laird, and ye do all yer negotiating in person – why does nae Sutherland?”
“He’s nae infirm, I think. All he does is sit up in his chambers like an auld spider, issuing orders through his daughter..., at least that’s as much as the neighboring chieftains have told me. But that’s the only information they can gain from the messengers who come a-calling,” Caillen said, a puzzled frown on his face, “I never actually thought about why he never shows his face – maybe too much of a coward...,”
More silence followed this conjecture, and more mead was drunk. Emer began to feel the effects of the drink in her veins. It was not making her sleepy, far from it. The urge to tell the truth to Caillen about everything seemed to consume her, but she was loath to instigate discord between the brothers, especially if Gawain was as innocent as he claimed to be. Being conspiratorial and nasty was not a crime in and of itself. But she wanted to tell him about the night of the feast. She needed him to know when he had grabbed her in the room and kissed her, it had been the most exciting and romantic moment of her life.
“Caillen...,” she began.
“Emer,” Caillen interrupted her, “I must confess something to ye. On the night of the feast, nae long after ye began working in the kitchens, I was waiting in one o’ the east tower chambers for an auld sweetheart who was meant to meet me there – but she dinnae bother to come up because she nae longer wanted me as a suitor...,”
