Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

" M istress, ye shouldnae be goin' out tonight," Lorna grumbled. "Look at the weather." She drew the curtain aside so that Minna could see the sheets of rain pouring down from the sodden sky.

"It is only water, Lorna," she replied. "It will not kill me." Her tone belied the fear she felt inside, however. There would be no light outside and the ground would be muddy and slippery, not to mention the fact that she would be drenched to the skin in the first five minutes. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to go on, however. People's lives were more important than her comfort.

"Dinnae come cryin' tae me when ye fa' off your horse an' hurt yourself," Lorna grumbled. She was desperately worried about Minna's welfare on a night such as this.

"I have to go out tonight, Lorna," Minna protested. "For once I have enough to go around. I paid the steward a little extra to bring more grain. It was lucky that I managed to sell some of that wine - Jamie has not even noticed yet!"

Lorna sighed and tutted. "I hope tae God he doesnae find out."

Minna felt guilty for having made Lorna anxious, but she could not go to sleep at night knowing that people were hungry when she could have helped them. She wished for the hundredth time that she had the knowledge to manage the estate on her own. She was sure would have made a much better job than her good-for-nothing brother or the equally lazy and work-shy lout who was masquerading as their steward. As well as not doing his job properly, he ate enough for three people.

Minna had gathered a lot of food for that night's distribution and had hidden it in one of the wine cellars, the one from which she intended to steal in the next few days. Although she was happy to have gathered so much food, she was worried that Caesar would not be able to carry it. For once she had too much!

Consequently, she borrowed another horse, a great chestnut Clydesdale named Benny, whose huge muscular body was used to pulling plows. He managed the weight quite easily, although Minna realized that she would need two horses that night, one to ride and one to carry the load. Benny's sacks were bursting at the seams with grain and vegetables.

Minna suspected that a few of the servants were aware of her work and were turning a blind eye, although no-one had ever said anything. Now, as she pulled on another set of tattered breeches, boots and an old patched sweater that Lorna had knitted for her years before, she was worried. The village people would keep quiet because they did not wish to lose their food supply, but servant's gossip was quite another thing. It could spread like wildfire, then, once it got back to her brother, there would be hell to pay.

"Damn, Lorna!" she said irritably. "Why does nobody kill him?"

Lorna gave a squeal of fright, putting her hands to her cheeks in shock. "What are ye sayin', Mistress? That is pure wickedness!" She grasped Minna by the shoulders and shook her. "Whatever ye think o' him he is still your brother."

Minna shrugged Lorna's hands off and said: "I know you are right, Lorna. It was a wicked thing to say, but sometimes I simply can't stand him."

Lorna sighed and nodded wearily. "I sometimes wonder if there is somethin' wrong wi' us women, Mistress. My Da used tae beat my Mammy, but she loved him till the day she died."

"Then I would say there was something wrong with your father," Minna remarked drily. She pulled her sweater over her head, then donned an old woolen jacket, over which she draped a thick woolen cloak.

"That is no' goin' tae keep ye dry, Mistress," Lorna said worriedly.

"No, it will not, Lorna," Minna agreed, "but it is the best I can do. I will be back in a few hours, just before dawn."

When Minna walked out of the bedroom, Lorna dropped to her knees and began to pray. She was a devout woman, and she had often prayed for her young mistress before, while her father was alive, but tonight was different. It was as though all the forces of nature were conspiring against her.

When she went out on her expeditions, Minna always used the servants' stairs, because the staff always retired before midnight, there were no guards there and they were very poorly lit. She was so used to ascending and descending them by only the faintest glimmer of light, that she rarely stumbled. Neither had she ever met anyone else on her journey.

However, that night was different. That night she heard the sound of someone stumbling upstairs towards her, mumbling incoherently. As they came closer, she heard her brother's voice and smelled the pungent aroma of whisky. She did not stop to wonder why he was coming up by the back stairs, but crossed to the other side to avoid him. He was singing some bawdy song and she could feel rather than see him swaying from side to side as he ascended the steps.

Presently, however, he stumbled, and as Minna heard the noise of his knee hitting the granite she winced, but could not help a surge of evil triumph. Jamie deserved every bit of pain he received. Suddenly he yelled out an obscene curse that hurt Minna's ears and made her feel sick. It was a word that was so foul she felt like hitting him, but she clenched her hands into fists and waited for him to pass her.

She listened until he passed out of earshot before resuming her journey downstairs. When she reached the horses, neither looked very pleased to see her.

"Sorry, boys," she said regretfully. "There will be extra oats for you when we arrive home. In the meantime - well, the faster we go, the faster we will be done."

She mounted Caesar and rode out into the wild night. Within a minute they were all soaked, but they persevered, although the only thing keeping Minna going was the gratitude of those who would be receiving the food. Once more she cursed Jamie. This was all his fault.

Minna thought back to the first time she had visited the village after her father had overthrown Laird Hepburn. It had all started when she had gone to visit the village of Cairnbrae for the first time.

A year earlier…

As she rode into the main street, Minna noticed several things at once. Most of the houses had holes in their thatched roofs and there were several derelict buildings. The churchyard was overgrown and full of weeds, and the wall around the town well was crumbling, already missing several big stones on its parapet. It was quite clearly very dangerous, and she wondered why it had not been repaired.

At first, Minna thought the street was deserted, then she saw something that almost broke her heart. First, she was alerted by the crying of a tiny baby, whose desperate wails sounded as if his heart was broken. The young woman who was holding it was weeping quietly too. The two of them made a picture of absolute despair.

Minna dismounted and approached the young woman, then knelt down by her side. "Please tell me what is wrong, and what I can do to help you," she said gently.

As she looked up, Minna realized that the girl was young, perhaps the same age as she was. She had a pale, freckled face, fair hair and deep gray eyes which were now swimming with tears.

"What is wrong?" she asked again, feeling desperately sorry for the young woman. "Is it your baby? Is it ill?"

The woman wiped her eyes, brushing her tears away, but more came, streaming down her pretty face even harder than before. "I havenae got enough milk tae feed him," she replied. "I have hardly enough to eat myself. He will starve tae death soon."

"So you are both starving?" she asked, her voice threaded with anger mixed with pity.

"Aye, Mistress," she replied. "We are. I think I might just walk intae the river an' drown us both. At least we will die quicker." She was looking at her little son with so much love in her eyes that Minna felt a lump in her throat and had to swallow down tears of pity.

Then anger took its place, a fierce, all-consuming fury that threatened to burst out of her in a fierce roar. She restrained herself, however, and got to her feet, took the young woman's hand and pulled her up too. "No!" she snapped angrily. "You will not starve, and neither will your baby, not while I am around to stop it. Come with me."

She walked back to her horse, holding the young woman's hand, then held the baby while the girl scrambled onto Caesar. Looking down into his face, Minna felt a fierce protectiveness well up inside her. He had stopped crying, but his little face was screwed up as if in pain, and his cheeks were thinner than a young baby's should have been. Minna passed him up to his mother, then mounted behind her and they rode off in the direction of the castle.

"Where are we goin'?" the young mother asked. She sounded slightly wary, and Minna thought that she must be in a desperate state to allow a perfect stranger to take her to an unknown destination. She wondered if she would have allowed a man to do the same thing.

"To the castle," Minna replied. "What is your name?"

"Eilidh," the young woman replied. "But - are ye takin' me tae the Laird?" Her voice was trembling.

Minna patted her shoulder. "No, Eilidh, he is the last person I would take you to," she said soothingly. "But it is a big castle and he lives in a very small part of it. Do not fret - you are quite safe with me."

"Who are you, Mistress?" Eilidh asked.

It was not lost on Minna that Eilidh had begun to address her with a title of respect.

"My name is Minna," she replied. "And what is your son called?"

"David, after his father," she replied. "He is away in Dundee tryin' tae find some work there. He has never seen his son."

"Oh, no!" Minna was shocked. "No - this can't be allowed to happen. Did he leave because he needed to earn money to feed you?"

"Aye, an' he sends what he can, but it is never enough." She paused for a moment, looking down at her son, who had been lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the horse. "I am no' the only one. We are a' hungry."

"You can tell me about everyone else when we reach the castle." Minna said grimly. "I want to know all about your troubles. I want to help."

There was silence for a moment.

"Dae ye know about the devil?" Eilidh asked suddenly.

"I know about the devil in the Bible," Eilidh replied, puzzled. "Why?"

"Because he comes here," Eilidh replied. "He leaves signs. That is why this village is cursed. That is why we are hungry."

Minna said nothing for a moment. She had no belief in such superstitions, but she sensed that now was not the right time to say so. Eilidh was in no state to hear her opinions. "What signs?" she asked curiously.

"Stones laid on the ground in a pattern o' five-pointed stars," Eilidh replied. "Agnes Mullen said she found a goat's skull once but I dinnae know if that is true or no'. She likes tae hear herself talk, that one."

Minna was silent, and they rode for a short while until they came within sight of the castle. When they went over the drawbridge two of the guards came to meet them. They looked in puzzlement at Eilidh, and one of them helped her off her horse at Minna's request.

"Please fetch Thomasina for me," Minna asked, then turned back to Eilidh and David. "She is one of our kitchen maids and is weaning her own baby, but she has enough milk left to help you. But before you can feed your baby you must eat enough yourself."

Eilidh was looking at Minna as though she was an angel who had descended from heaven. When Minna went to the kitchen, she turned to one of the guards and asked: "who is she?"

"The Laird's sister," the man replied. At Eilidh's expression of disbelief, he laughed. "Hard tae believe, is it no'? She is such a good lassie an' he is a piece o' - well, I will no' say the word in front o' a lady but ye know what I mean."

"She is an angel," Eilidh breathed, smiling as she looked down at her son.

Just then, Minna came back with a tall, pretty redheaded woman who smiled at Eilidh at once. "Hello, hen," she said warmly. "I am Ina. Is this your wee lad?"

"Aye," Eilidh replied. She looked at the other woman anxiously as she took the little one out of her arms. However, when they went to the kitchen and David began to suckle strongly at Ina's breast, she was visibly relieved.

"You can stay here for a few days and share the feeding of the baby," Minna told her. "Then gradually go back to feeding him yourself while we make sure you have enough food to sustain both of you. I have an idea for the village that will make sure that no-one ever goes hungry again."