Fair Blows the Wind (1978) (18 page)

I found the old man lying at the edge of the machair and helped him to his feet. Together we staggered back over the wildflowers and grass, our only thought to escape still further from the clutching fingers of the sea.

We paused then, gasping to catch our breath. The old man suddenly grasped my arm, pointing. Horsemen were riding toward us.

"Speak no word of MacAskill!" he warned hoarsely. "These be MacDonalds, and enemies to the clan! We are of Ireland, and cast away by the sea!"

We stood waiting, and I was glad that I carried a sword.

There were five of them, and they rode swiftly up. One was a fierce old man with flowing hair and a beard, the others younger, two scarcely more than boys.

"What land is this?" I asked.

"It is Islay," one of the younger boys said, pronouncing it "Ila."

"Ah? It is not Jura?"

"Jura is the next island, just yonder," he said. He was about my own age, but not so tall. He studied me curiously. "Where are you for?"

"Oban," I lied, yet not quite a lie, for eventually we would have reached there. "Then on across and to France."

"To school? Do you study there?"

"Aye," I said, for did I not study everywhere? "And mayhap to find a place in the army."

"Who are you then?" He was the old man with the beard, a strong, fine old man.

"Tatton Chantry, and I am of Ireland. This old man is a fisherman who was taking me yon when the storm took us. Our boat was wrecked, and all I have is about me."

"You saved your sword," the old man said. His eyes were sharp and I felt he missed nothing.

"Aye," I said dryly, "for a man without a sword on a strange shore ... or anywhere ... who is he?"

"Can you use it, then?"

"A bit," I said. "I wish to learn."

"Donal," the bearded man said, "do you take him behind you. And Charles, do you take the other. We'll see no man hunger upon our shore."

"'Our?' You still call it that?" said Donal.

" 'Tis no longer ours, and we've no' the right to be here, as you'll see if we come upon any ofthem. "

"We'll not," the old man replied easily, "they be far from here--as we have been told. So we'll get what we came for and be off."

"And what of them?" Charles asked.

The old man looked at us again. "We'll take them wi' us. They'll not speak of what they see." He looked at me. "Will you now, Tatton Chantry?"

"I will see the way to Oban and your faces, and will remember how you found us upon the sea."

"Well spoken! We'll be off, then!"

We rode swiftly inland over the machair. I could see the blue of a lake, and then we circled and came back to where some gray stones lay.

One of the men swung down and made as if to dig. "Hold fast!" The bearded man spoke sharply. "Cut the turf in squares, and when we have what we want, put it carefully back so that no man may know what we find here."

He looked hastily around. "Scatter out and keep alert. We'll want no visitors now!"

With the others, I helped keep watch, yet from time to time I glanced around. The digging was done with care, the turf taken out in great blocks. I heard the shovel grate upon something metallic, and then a chest was lifted from the earth. Dirt was wiped from it and it was lifted to a horse's back. The horse was a powerful one, evidently brought for the purpose, yet he had no liking for the heavy burden. Then the turf was replaced and we started swiftly off. The others glanced back again and again.

"I had heard this was MacDonald earth," I said.

"Aye," the bearded old man replied grimly, "it was once so. Yet now the Campbells have it and I blame them not for taking what they could get, and making sure they kept it. Yet in my eyes it will be MacDonald land forever!"

We rounded a great pile of rock and came to a hidden cove. A boat lay there, and as we came into sight the men on board put down a gangway that led to the shore. Soon the horses were aboard, and ourselves with them.

Staggering with weariness, I found a corner away from the wind and lay down, and the old man with me. Not three hours had passed since we came ashore. The gale still raged out on the sea, yet we lay sheltered and waiting.

Donal came to me and squatted on his heels. "When it is dark we will sail. This is a hidden place and I think they will not come out whilst the storm blows." He gestured around him. "The wind blows fiercer up where you were, but the rain is less. Down where they are a storm blows hard."

"Where do you go?"

"We will take you to Oban, for it is our way, too." He lowered his voice. "Say naught of the chest. Only when my uncle died did we learn of it, left here long since by an ancestor of ours, and ours by right, too. Yet had it been known, they would have taken it also."

It seemed a long, long time that we waited and slowly the storm abated. I slept, awakened, and slept again, but the MacDonalds did not sleep. That they were worried was obvious, for to be trapped here could well mean their death. Among some of the clans there was friendship, among others only bitter enmity.

When I awakened we were at sea. The night was dark, the wind had died down, the sea was still making great waves, but our boatmen were skillful, and already the shore was only a dark line behind us. The clouds had broken and a few scattered stars could be seen.

Donal came to where I stood by the rail. "What of the others?" he asked. "You two were not alone?"

"There were three, I think. They were sailing to Oban and were willing to take me. I believe the old man was related to one of them. Orkneymen, I think."

"What will you do in Oban?"

"I shall go to France at once. Already I am over late because of this. Perhaps I shall ride, but if there is a boat, I shall take it."

We stood together, watching the rise and fall of the seas. Morning was not far away. After a bit I walked back to the old man, who now sat up.

"I should have died there but for you," he said.

"I did nothing."

"You were strong when I had forgotten how good it was to live. You gave me the strength I needed." He paused. "You are truly Irish, are you not?"

"I am."

"It is a fair, green land. Long ago when the barbarians swept over the lands on the Continent, it was Ireland which preserved the torch of knowledge. They kept burning the lights."

"You do not speak like a fisherman."

"I am not. I am a pilgrim."

"To the shrines of God?"

"To the shrines of learning, of whatever kind. I seek for the old places, the forgotten places. The places where the great stones are."

"The standing stones? There are many in Ireland. My father often took me to where they are."

"Ah? And his name was Chantry?" When I did not respond he said, "I see. And did he speak to you of those places? Had he knowledge of them?"

"That some of them were built long before the great pyramids of Egypt. Scholars had been born and died in Ireland long before the first pyramid was built. He told me that, and he showed me their tombs. Some were buried near the Boyne ... I mean in the land it drains."

"Your father was a wise man. He studied much?"

"Always, and in the old books. He had many of them until our home was burned."

"Ah, yes. It is the way of fools to destroy that which could save them. That which they do not understand. And did your father teach you from these books?"

"He taught me ... some things. He said there was much more to come, but that is true always. The well of learning is one that never ceases to flow and "we have only to drink of its waters."

"It is well said. You will learn, Tatton Chantry, that all across the world there are men of learning, and they share common goals. No matter what the prejudices and prides of smaller men, these will go forward, learning, sharing, doing what they can.

"There are races and nations of men, but the land of learning has no boundaries, neither here nor in the heavens. We are guided by the lamp of curiosity, the light of desiring to know. Follow it, Tatton Chantry, for your destiny lies that way."

He paused. "Out there when I was near to dying I almost forgot the value of living, for I have not left anything of myself in the world; I have only learned. Each of us must leave a little behind to make easier the path of those who follow.

"Someday you will know, but there are in far corners of the world vast repositories of knowledge, places where books are stored and dreams are held waiting. Some have been destroyed ... the libraries of Alexandria and Cordoba, the temples of Samothrace ... these are gone. Others remain. Somewhere there is a niche for what I have learned."

"Come with me then," I said. "I go to London, then to France and Italy."

"What is it you want?"

"Knowledge ... skill with a sword ... and wealth enough to return and rebuild the home I lost. It was my father's wish. And it is mine, also."

He was quiet for a time, as if thinking. "Well, I will come with you to London. Perhaps we each can show the other a way to go."

A door had opened ... a door that would never again be closed...

By what means I should make a fortune I knew not, yet it was in my mind to do so. What I had told before was true, that I wished to buy again the land my father had owned and to rebuild his house, burned by our enemies.

To accomplish this would be no easy thing, for above all they must not guess I was my father's son, and one of that family they hated. But that was the least of my problems. The first was to obtain the wherewithal to even live, to exist.

Although I was but a lad, my travels had changed me more than a little. I had grown taller, stronger, and more agile. Also, I had grown wiser. I determined to pass myself off as older than I was, for in this way I might obtain preferment, or at least respectable attention.

Yet what was I to do? I had no trade, no skills but that of swordsman, and no means by which to earn my way. I was not minded to become a thief or a rogue, but to remain a gentleman, in action as well as in origin.

The small sack Fergus MacAskill had thrust upon me contained gold, sufficient to last me until I obtained some sort of employment, and longer. I had a few coins of my own, left from my trading days, and so I had no immediate fear of starvation.

Thinking upon it, I discovered yet some hope from my experience, for had I not followed the byways and lanes as a trader? Traveling with the old man, I had learned much, and now I might, discreetly, put the knowledge into practice. I suspected there was a deal of money to be made by buying and selling in a modest way. First, I must find a haven, a small harbor of security where I could take the time to look about, to avoid the press gangs which haunted the streets searching for men to man the Queen's navy. I must see into what niche I might fit myself.

This old man seemed to know the London streets. He led the way to a small tavern in a cul-de-sac off Chancery Lane, not far from Fleet Street. "It is a place little known," he explained, "and does not wish to be known. There are a few of us who frequent the place, and the custom we provide is sufficient."

"It is an odd keeper of an inn," I commented, "who does not wish to better himself."

"This man is well off, and those who provide his custom do not wish attention, but rather to remain unnoticed. In such a city there are men who come and go upon errands of their own."

There was a common room with a great fireplace and several tables and benches for those who came to drink and dine. There was a door that led to a hall where there were rooms, and a winding stair, very narrow, that led to rooms above.

The host was in the common room when we entered, otherwise the room was empty of people. He looked around but seemed in no wise surprised. I was sure he knew my companion but he made nothing of it.

"This one," my friend gestured to me, "is a friend. Make him welcome, whenever."

He sat upon a bench near the fire and I did likewise, glad of the warmth for it was cold without. "I and Jacob Binns," he said, the first time I'd heard a name put to him that I could recall, "and this be Tatton Chantry, a young gentleman."

"They be calling me Tom," the host said, bowing slightly. "There be a room o'erlooking the street; would it please you?"

"It would, indeed, and now we'll have some'at to eat and drink."

Now I looked about me. Although small, the place had an air of comfort and well-being. Occasionally I noticed through the window that someone would go by outside, but it was not a busy place, hidden as it was by the taller buildings behind and around it.

"Long ago," Jacob Binns said, "this was a monastery. This floor and a part of the walls were of it, but additions were made and some of the old places walled up." He spoke softly that none might hear. "There are ways in and ways out, and much is hidden beneath the street."

"You are a puzzle," I said. "I believed you an honest fisherman."

"Honest, at any rate, and a fisherman when it suits me, but a pilgrim always."

"I do not wish to become involved," I said, "in any plots against the Queen. We in Ireland have been ill used, yet I wish for nothing so much as to be back, safe upon my native soil."