“Even so, I dinna trust any Comyn. And Rory ha’ been talking these six months past o’ taking ye to wife. I ha’ never heard o’ him walking away from nowt.”
Although she recognized truth in Ailvie’s words, Catriona had little concern. Against Fin of the Battles, Rory Comyn must always lose.
Eyeing his brother’s posture as Ewan looked out over the loch with his back to him, Fin recognized familiar signs that Ewan had been suppressing his stronger emotions for Catriona’s sake. With that in mind, before he got too near, he shouted, “Where is this swimming place of yours?”
Ewan turned, nodded silently, and led the way along the shore to an inlet boasting a smooth granite slab that sloped into the water.
“Shall we swim first or talk?” Fin asked, still trying to gauge Ewan’s mood.
“We can do both if you like. I found another such inlet some hundred yards north of here, round yonder point. Nae one will be there, whilst someone from the castle might disturb us here.”
“Just promise that you won’t try to drown me on the way,” Fin said.
Ewan looked at him, eyebrows raised, then smiled. “Nay, laddie. I won’t pretend that I’d not like to give ye a fierce drubbing, but I’ll hear ye out first.”
Fin nodded, relieved, and bent to untie his boots. When they had shed their clothing, Ewan led the way into the water, saying, “I’d wager this rock be gey slippery by midsummer. But for now it does give a man’s foot good traction.”
He dove in and Fin followed. They soon found the inlet, sun drenched and warm, and sprawled on the granite to dry.
Ewan remained silent. So, although Fin would have preferred to bask in the warmth, he gathered his thoughts and said, “What did you hear about the battle?”
“Only that we’d lost and that all of our men died on the field or afterward of their wounds,” Ewan replied, raising his arms to fold them beneath his head. Staring up at the azure sky, he added, “Plainly, though, you did not die.”
“I was the only Cameron who did not,” Fin said quietly. Without waiting for the obvious question, he turned on his side to watch Ewan as he added, “The fighting had well nigh stopped. But there were four men still hale on their side when I… I dove into the river Tay and let it carry me toward the sea.”
“Sakes, I ken fine that ye swim well, but that firth widens quick beyond Perth and grows gey rough, too,” Ewan said, scowling. “Ye might have drowned!”
“I swam to the Fife shore and made my way to St. Andrews.”
“Where, nae doots, that old scoundrel Traill hid ye.”
“He did not hide me, nor did he offer much solace,” Fin said. “In his opinion, I had merely chosen the most practical course under the circumstances.”
“But not the honorable one? Is that what the man did say?”
“Not in those words, but I felt that way myself,” Fin said. “Sakes, there were eleven Clan Chattan men still alive, the others sorely hurt. But nevertheless…”
Ewan frowned but looked thoughtful rather than angry. “Ye’ve never done a cowardly thing in your life, Fin, unless ye’ve altered mightily since ye left home.”
“I did think that I must have changed and that others would say so, aye.”
Ewan started to speak but did not. He was silent long enough then to remind Fin that Ewan himself had been one of those “others.”
At last Ewan said, “Ye’ve made me think, lad. I had nae authority then and small understanding of such, or of men, come to that. Likely, I would have thought such a thing, and others surely would have. Ye might not have been safe.”
“I didn’t think about safety,” Fin said. “But there were other reasons, too.”
“D’ye chance to ken what happened to our father?”
“He fought near me, Ewan. I was with him when he died.”
“Bless ye, lad, that must have eased his way. Did he say aught to ye?”
Tension swept through Fin, but it carried no urge with it to equivocate. “He told me that I must swear to take vengeance on Clan Chattan, that he was bequeathing that charge to me as a sacred duty.”
Ewan said curtly, “Did ye not, all thirty o’ ye, swear at the outset that yon trial by combat would settle the matter betwixt our clans and result in our truce forbye?”
“We did swear so, aye,” Fin said, feeling his tension begin to ebb.