A Very Highland Holiday - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,11

he returned to the pile of sabers that was by the chamber door. They were on a chest and leaning against the wall, some upside-down, and he took a moment to look through them more carefully.

And then, he saw it.

It was upside-down, and partially covered with another saber, but he recognized it right away. The gorgeous hilt and shield-shaped langet, for inside the langet was a lion’s head.

De Lohr.

With a gasp, James pulled his brother’s sword forth, staring at it for a moment before feeling tears sting his eyes. The physical and emotional reaction was both unexpected and swift, and he clutched the saber to him as the tears silently fell.

It was something of his brother’s he’d not expected to find.

“C-Christ,” he gasped. “I-It’s my brother’s sword. It’s Johnathan’s. Where did you find it?”

Carrie was trying to get a look at it. “I dunna know,” she said. “I found some myself, but others were brought tae me. I dunna know where that one came from.”

James didn’t press her. He held it up, looking at it, inspecting it with shaking hands before once again clutching the hilt to his chest. He was overcome with grief.

“W-Were you holding this when you died, Johnny?” he whispered tightly. “D-Did you really face all of this alone, without me by your side?”

There were no answers to his questions, only the soft darkness of a chamber that was closing in around him. The ghosts of the men who had owned these possessions were coming forth, looking upon him in judgment because he hadn’t been at Culloden and he should have been.

God only knew, James had judged himself just as harshly.

“I-I’m sorry, Johnny,” he murmured, closing his eyes as tears streamed. “I-I’m sorry I was not there to hold your hand, to lie to you and tell you that you would survive. I’m sorry that my voice, pitiful as it is, was not the last voice you heard in this lifetime, nor my face the last thing you saw. I’m sorry I failed you when you needed me most. God forgive me, I have done nothing but fail you since the day I was born. B-But I have come to take you home and I swear to God I will not leave without you. I will not fail you this time.”

It was a deeply painful moment as James struggled with his composure. Behind him, he could hear sniffling and he turned to see Carrie weeping into her dirty handkerchief. It was then he realized that this woman, this stranger, had been witness to his most private pain. She’d gathered these souvenirs of war and now she was seeing a reaction to her cultivated collection.

She was seeing the human side of it.

Feeling foolish with his outburst, James wiped his face, clutching the sword so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

He took a deep breath.

“I-Inverness, you said?” he asked Carrie. “T-That is where the English are buried?”

Carrie nodded, wiping her nose. “Aye,” she said. “The Old High Church. They took some of the wounded, too, I heard. Perhaps ye’ll find something more of yer brother there.”

James looked at the sword in his hand. “I-I have found this,” he said. “Y-You cannot know what this means to me. That you took it and did not let the scavengers get to it… I can never thank you enough.”

Carrie forced a tremulous smile. “I’m glad ye found it, m’laird.”

James was feeling weary, emotional. “A-As am I,” he said. “I-It means everything to me and to my mother. But there is something else I seek, something I am sure you have not seen, but I’ll ask anyway. A ring with a lion’s head – have you seen it?”

Carrie shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “If I had, I would tell ye.”

“I-It is very valuable.”

“I dinna collect these things for profit. I did it because it was the right thing tae do.”

He lifted his eyebrows wearily. “F-Forgive me if I’ve offended you,” he said. “A-As I said, I was certain you had not seen it, but I had to ask.”

With that, he turned away, clutching his brother’s sword in his left hand and moving like a man who was overwhelmed with life. His brother’s saber had been found, but that was not where he would stop. Finding the weapon renewed his determination.

Inverness was his next destination.

Part Five

GAIRA

She saw him in the snowy livery yard, baggage in hand. He also had a saber with him, something she didn’t remember seeing on him when he