‘So, how is my farm prospering?’ he asked.
‘Your farm?’
‘The farm I sold to Maev Ring.’
‘It is making a good profit, sir,’ answered Kaelin.
‘We don’t sir each other in the highlands,’ Arik told him. Then he chuckled. ‘That farm made no money for me. I danced for joy when I tricked your aunt into buying it for half again what it was worth. Now it is valued at six times what she paid for it. A shrewd woman is Maev Ring.’
‘Aye, she is.’ Just talking about the mundane realities of life away from war and peril relaxed Kaelin. He felt the tension and the fear easing out of him. Arik leaned towards him.
‘Now tell me again of what we are to do when we reach the ground.’
‘We wait for the dawn and then you take a hundred men and charge the cannoneers. I will lead the rest against the main force,’ Kaelin told him, surprised that his voice sounded calm and confident.
‘Then Call brings his men out of the pass?’
‘Let’s hope so,’ said Kaelin.
The clouds parted. Kaelin glanced up. Moonlight shone down upon the peaks, but the clouds were still thick and the light would not last long. Pushing himself to his feet he gathered a rope and walked to the edge of the cliff. Gazing down, he could see the first ledge some forty feet below. Moving back from the edge he tied the rope to the trunk of an old tree. Tossing the coil out over the cliff he watched it snake down. While the moon was still bright he hooked another rope over his shoulder and lowered himself to the ledge. It was around four feet deep and thirty feet long. Kaelin scanned the area, seeking a jutting rock to which he could belay the second rope. There was nothing. The moon vanished again, and Kaelin sat down quietly in the darkness to wait.
His thoughts turned to Chara and her ordeal. He had not seen her since she walked into the great house, and, despite his memories of the conversation with the Wyrd, had no depth of understanding of her suffering. He hoped with all his heart that, as the days passed, she would rediscover her joy in life. Then he recalled the words of Call Jace, after he had spoken with her.
‘I thank you, Kaelin, for bringing my daughter home. You are a good man, and a brave one. I will always be in your debt. I also want you to know that I will understand if you withdraw your offer of marriage.’
Kaelin had sat silently, trying to make sense of the words. Call misunderstood his silence. ‘I am sure Chara will understand too,’ he said.
‘I love her, Call. Nothing has changed for me. When she recovers we will wed as we planned. If that is what she wants.’
Call Jace placed his hand on Kaelin’s shoulder. ‘Spoken like a Rigante. We will see.’
‘I’d like to speak to her.’
‘She doesn’t want to see anyone. Give her time, boy.’ The wind gusted again, shrieking across the rocks. The clouds broke, and within minutes the moon shone bright once more. Kaelin looked at the heavens. Stars were glinting, the sky beginning to clear.
The next ledge was sixty feet down, and slightly to the right. Kaelin swung the second rope from his shoulder and tied it to the first with a reef knot. Dropping the coil he watched it fall. It dangled some five feet to the left of the ledge below. Needing more ropes he scaled the face, pulled himself back over the lip of the peak and strode back to where Arik was sitting beside Rayster. It had surprised Kaelin that the tall clansman had joined them, for he had made clear at the meeting he had no wish to meet his doom on a cliff face in the dark. ‘A man should always face his fears,’ was all Rayster had said.
Kaelin dropped down alongside the men. ‘I’ll take another rope down. Watch for my signal, and then let the men follow in groups of no more than twenty. The climb must be done as near silently as possible. If we are discovered on the face we’ll be wiped out.’