"Ripped By mstoll" "Where the hell are we?" "You heard the warden, the thieves' hole." "Is there anyone else in here?" "Earwigs." "Hornie-gollachs." "Rats the size of lyam-hounds." "You only have yourself to blame for this." "Are you saying this my fault?" "I'm the one that warned you to pack your belongings and flee." "Just as the wardens arrived at my door." "Perhaps it was you who sent them to me." "It was Laoghaire." "She arranged the letter to tell me to go to your house." "And she was there watching us as the wardens took us out." "I kept your secrets, Claire." "You should have kept mine." "Jeanie told me where to find you in the woods." "If you didn't want to add fuel to the rumors, then you shouldn't have made it common knowledge that you were under the full moon dancing naked and burning effigies." "So you think I'm a witch?" "Of course not." "You may not have killed Dougal's wife, but you definitely killed Arthur." "And it wasn't witchcraft, it was old-fashioned poison." "Am I wrong?" "I started with white arsenic a few months ago." "Thought it would kill Arthur off before the child began to show." "And then you'd be free to marry Dougal." "It's a boy, again." "He's kicking." "Food for the witches." "Wait." "I need to talk to you." "There's been a mistake." "Is that right?" "I'm Claire Fraser, from Castle Leoch." "I'm married to James Fraser, nephew of the Laird." "And I'm King Arthur." "Surely King Arthur was more appealing than that slimy paddock." "We won't be here long." "Dougal will come for us." "No, he won't." "Yes, he will." "Jamie said that Dougal told Colum all about your affair and the baby." "Colum banished him, sent him to his wife's funeral, and commanded that he stay away." "And sent Jamie with him." "No one is coming, Geillis." "Share a bit of dinner?" "I'm not hungry." "How long do they mean to keep us here?" "Till the trial, of course." "They'll summon the examiners." "Lie near me." "It'll be warmer." "We're going to burn the witches." "We're going to burn the witches." "It's starting." "I suppose getting burned as a witch is better than freezing to death." "Make way." "Rise up." "I said, move up." "Move!" "Make way!" "They're coming!" "They're coming!" "Is that what I think it is?" "Well, it's not a maypole, Claire." "Make way for the accused." "Move!" "Stating in evidence that the accused, one Geillis Duncan and one Claire Fraser, both standing before the Church's court for the crime of witchcraft," "did inflict pain, suffering and death upon the citizens of Cranesmuir by their practice of the unholy arts." "There were no familiar faces in the crowd." "None of my friends from Castle Leoch." "My knowledge of witch trials told me that the accused rarely walked free." "Make way." "Make way, please." "I demand to be let in to the proceedings." "And you are, sir?" "My name is Edward Gowan, Your Honor." "Lawyer, former writer to the Signet, Edinburgh." "Let him pass." "And what brings you here, sir?" "Your Honors, as we're all aware, the Witchcraft Act of 1563 was repealed by the House of Lords in 1735." "I therefore submit that this entire trial is illegal." "This is an ad hoc proceeding, under the administration of the Church." "Well, I see that we have dispensed with British law, which pleases me greatly, but I am certain that you will not wish to dispense with our proud Scottish legal tradition." "We are still in Scotland, are we not?" "No one's disputing that, Mr. Gowan." "Yes, well, here in Scotland, an accused witch is entitled to a defense lawyer at trial." "A benefit sadly not offered to those in merry old England." "As I therefore would like to offer my services in support of the accused." "Oh, very well." "Take your place." "Thank you." "Let us now summon the first witness." "Jeanie Hume." "I labored as housekeeper for Arthur and Geillis Duncan for nigh on five years, Your Honor." "And did you have occasion to witness any strange or unyirdlie goings-on during that tenure?" "I can tell ye that it was many the woman that come to the door seeking love charms, amulets, talismans and the like." "And Mrs. Duncan was happy as Hogmanay to dispense them." "And did ye ever witness Mrs. Fraser in league with Mrs. Duncan?" "Many times." "In the fields, gathering herbs." "And in the still room, meddling potions." "Poor Mr. Duncan knew naught of any of it." "Jeanie was rigorous and detailed in her accusations." "For the better part of an hour, she built a convincing case against us." "It was dreadful what befell that dear, sweet man." "On many occasion, I have heard Mrs. Duncan singing in the hall outside where Mr. Duncan was sleeping." "What kind of singing?" "Ominous incantations, to be sure." "It would send the kittlins running from the house." "Animals have a nose for these things, ye ken." "They sense evil." "So now we're to take the testimony of a cat?" "Mr. Gowan." "Isn't it the truth, Mrs. Hume, that you were unhappy in your position at the Duncan's residence?" "I was quite content there." "Oh, so content that you inquired about a position at Castle Leoch, seeing that you were underpaid and under-admired?" "And where you referred to Mr. Duncan, and I quote, as a "flatulent old scunner,"" "and his wife to be a "flibbertigibbet."" "I don't recollect those were my exact words." "What we have here, Your Honors, is nothing more than the grumblings of a malcontented maidservant." "Take a seat." "Let us summon the next witness, Robena Donaldson." "My man and I had an ailing child, born healthy," "but it turned puny and weak." "We knew it was a fairy changeling." "We placed it in the Fairy's Seat on the hill and kept watch through the nicht, sirs, so as to recover our beloved bairn after the wee folk returned it." "But..." "But just before morn, we saw her." "She took the child in her vile embrace," "and spoke strange spells over it." "When the sun rose, my good man and I went to see." "And there we found the changeling child, dead on the hill and no sign of our own wee bairn." "It was her who done the wicked deed, sirs." "I know it in my bones!" "I was on that hill that night, but I didn't harm your child!" "I was trying to help him!" "So you admit it." "Witch!" "I am a healer!" "I am a healer!" "I could not abandon a dying child!" " I was trying to save it!" " Shh!" "Do not further incriminate yourself." "Let me do my job." "You..." "You have my deepest sympathy on the loss of yer beloved child." "But may I ask, if ye were there, why did you not stop this woman from interfering with the work of the fairies?" "I..." "I was afeared." "So isn't it true, then, that your fear and silence allowed her to contaminate the bairn so that when the fairies came," "they could not complete the switch?" "At least ye can take comfort in knowing that it was the changeling child that died, and that your own child is healthy and living forever with the fairies." "Perhaps we should thank this woman, instead of condemning her." "Witness dismissed." "Ned's skill at turning an argument on its head started to show promise," "but as I looked around the room at these good people," "I wondered what made them so ready to watch us burn." "Regardless of the evidence, they only wanted one outcome." "Call the next witness, Alastair Duffie." "Have ye a charge to put to either of the women here?" "Against Geillis Duncan, Your Honor." "With my own eyes, I saw her standing on the battlements during a great storm." "I saw her call down the lightning with a flick of her hand." "Thunder roared as she laughed." "Her eyes, red as flames, with a look in them that would steal the soul from a man." "Then the wind rose up, her cloak flapped open around her and she leapt into the sky and flew like a great-winged bird!" "Ave!" "Aye!" "Witch!" "Please." "This is preposterous!" "The accused will be silent." "We shall reconvene in the morning." "Ned." "There's grave danger afoot." "What do you think of our prospects?" "After today, I wager we stand a chance." "Did Colum send you to help me?" "Oh, no." "In fact, he would not look favorably upon me being here." "Did he have something to do with my arrest?" " Ned?" " No, no." "Here, take this usquebaugh, water of life." "It'll keep you warm tonight." "Pass me that flask." "He's a queer fellow, isn't he?" "That Ned Gowan." "Well, he certainly seems optimistic." "Ye still don't understand, do ye?" "They mean to kill us." "Drink tonight, Claire, for tomorrow, our ashes will be scattered to the four winds." "I am curious." "Was it Dougal you were after, or his position and money?" "No, I had plenty of money." "I knew where Arthur kept the keys to his papers and notes." "The man wrote a fair hand." "'Twas easy enough to forge his signature." "I managed to divert near on 1,000 pounds over the last two years." "You stole his money." "Why?" "For Scotland." "What do you mean, for Scotland?" "I dream of our Bonnie Prince Charlie, a Stuart king back on the throne." "You're a bloody Jacobite." "So it was politics that brought you and Dougal together." "Aye." "He's the only man I ever met who could be my proper match." "You are aware that he's not exactly the most faithful man." "Do you think I mind?" "He's got an eye for the lasses." "Colum fights for the MacKenzies." "Dougal fights for the MacKinnons, the MacPhersons, the Chisholms, the Camerons." "All of the clans." "All of Scotland." "The man's a lion." "God." "You actually love the bastard." "Your words, not mine." "So Colum ordered him to go, and off he went." "So sorry, Geillis." "Don't be." "Don't you dare." "Come the rising, I shall know I helped." "Whatever happens with the examiners, I would do it all again." "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." "Nicely put." "Isn't it just?" "How about you?" "Do ye love him?" "Your ginger-haired laddie, Jamie?" "It's his name you cry out in your sleep." "If you really are a witch, now would be a perfect time to use your powers." "Aye." "Same to you, my friend." "A starling." "You can always find them amongst the more common birds." "The plumage is iridescent." "Looks like a silly crow to me." "When I was a little girl, I used to go to Brighton in November." "They would all gather there, thousands of them." "This massive flock." "A murmuration, it was called." "They'd be swooping and twirling in this kind of hypnotic cloud, in perfectly synchronized patterns." "What possesses them to do such a thing?" "To protect each other from the falcons." "Safety in numbers." "Hitch the wagon." "We're hardly a flock, you and I." "Clear the path!" "Although, according to witnesses, I have been known to take wing." "Rise up." "Time to go." "Step aside." "Your hand, girl." "Move." "Come on." "From Castle Leoch, Laoghaire MacKenzie." "She was not Mrs. Fraser when we first became acquaint." "She was Mistress Beauchamp then." "Go on." "I came to her for a potion to open Jamie Fraser's heart to my own." "I'm sorry, it's painful to speak about..." "I was the one, you see, who Jamie was meant to marry, but she took the potion herself." "I don't believe it." "Did you concoct such a potion?" "It wasn't an actual potion." "I was just trying to help her." "She hexed Jamie and turned him away from me." "She stole him!" "This is nonsense." " I didn't hex anybody." " Silence." "Clearly, she's a jealous young lass with a broken heart." "Aye." "My heart was broken." "And when I confronted her, she struck me." "Did you in fact strike this woman?" "She put an ill-wish under my bed." "And then tried to seduce my husband!" "He was the love of my life." "Burn the both of them!" "Burn!" "This girl is the reason that I'm here at all." "She fabricated a note from Mrs. Duncan summoning me, alls the while knowing that the wardens were coming to make an arrest." "These crocodile tears are just further evidence that she's trying to get me out of the way..." "Cease your ramblings, Mrs. Fraser!" "You're an embarrassment to yourself." "Let's call the next witness." "His Reverence, Father Bain." "Ye good folk of Cranesmuir," "I knew when I first set eyes on Claire Fraser that you had welcomed the whore of Babylon into your midst." "That you had allowed yourselves to be seduced from the path of righteousness by her beguiling sinfulness and wicked allurement!" "Is this a trial or a sermon?" "I fell to my knees and prayed for God to curse her malevolence and wreak his mighty vengeance upon her body and soul." "And God answered my prayers." "He said to me," ""You have made a prodigious mistake."" "When young Tammas Baxter was seized by Beelzebub," "I administered the last rites, I abandoned hope." "Blinded by vanity, hubris," "I rebuked Claire Fraser." "But it was she who determined the boy was ill from ingesting poison flora and Claire Fraser did what I could not," "saved the boy's life." "Blessed congregation, hear my confession." "I failed Tammas Baxter," "I failed you and I failed God." "I'm no longer worthy to serve the good and holy people of this parish." "I beseech you." "Let me go." "Bear witness to her fiendish ploy." "It would take Satan himself to drive a man of God away!" " Witch!" " Witch!" "Burn her!" "I have done nothing." "Mrs. Fraser!" "Father, this court forbids you to leave this parish." "After heedful consideration..." "Your Honors, a momentary recess." "Briefly, Mr. Gowan." "Briefly." "Please, allow these ladies some privacy, please." "I ask you quite thankfully..." "Please." "I'm afraid the climate has turned, and there is no coming back from it." "What do we do?" "We save one of you." "Neither one of us is a witch." "It doesna matter what you are." "It's what people think you are." "And people thought you were a witch long before this English lass came into our midst." "And let's be frank, ye've practiced yer murky trade for years." "The only thing that ever stood between you and a pile of kindling was your husband, and he's dead." "Are you my lawyer or my judge, Mr. Gowan?" "I've tried, Mrs. Duncan, but you're beyond saving, and you ken it." "What is it you're saying, Ned?" "I'm saying that if you claimed that Geillis Duncan bewitched you and renounce her..." " Renounce her?" " Mmm-hmm." "State that she tricked you" " and drew you into her evil web." " Oh!" "What if I don't?" "They'll burn ye both." "I'll give ye a moment to think about it, but hasten, because this court awaits." "Stay back!" "Stay back!" "This is just too much." "No, wait." "There has to be another way." "Why are you here?" "What are you talking about?" " I was arrested..." " No, why are you here in Scotland?" " I was traveling from Oxfordshire." " No, you're lying." "You've been lying all along." "Dougal knew it." "Colum knew it, too." "That's why he hasn't lifted a finger to help you." "You have no idea what you're talking about." "No more lies, Claire!" "If I'm going to die, if I'm going to burn as a witch," "I need to know I'm dying for something." "So tell me now, and this time I want the truth." "Why are you here?" "They're growing impatient." " We need a moment." " No, I don't think they're..." "A moment!" "It was an accident." "I swear to you, Geillis." "I'm not here for any reason." " I came and it was an accident." " By accident." "So you don't want to change things or do anything at all, do you?" "I just want to go home." "I don't even know if that's possible." "Nothing." "It's really all for nothing." " Geillis, I..." " I cannot delay the court any longer." "What are you going to do?" "Looks like I'm going to a fucking barbecue." "Uh, Your Honors, Mrs. Fraser would like to address the court." "Mr. Gowan is mistaken." "I have nothing to say." "Are you mad?" "Maybe I am." "We must rely on an injunction of the Lord." ""Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."" "Thereby, we pronounce Geillis Duncan and Claire Fraser guilty, and do hereby condemn them to death!" "Burn the witch!" "Burn them both!" "Burn the witch!" "Burn her!" "Conduct the prisoners to the pyre, if you please." "The question you had before." "Wait, you cannot do this!" "I forbid this." "I think it is possible." "What?" "No!" "1968." "Ned!" "Ned!" "This has nothing to do with witchcraft!" "Condemn them!" "You're all murderers!" "Your God will damn you all." "You're going to burn in hell!" "You will not speak before this court in that manner, woman." "Strip her and skelp her!" "No!" "Get off of me, you bastards!" "Get your bloody hands off me, you bloody bastard!" "I shall dance upon your ashes." "Harder!" "Harder!" "Claire!" "Let her go!" "Sir." "You have no place in the working of this court." "I swore an oath before the altar of God to protect this woman!" "And if you're telling me you consider your authority to be greater than that of the Almighty, then I must inform ye that I'm not of that opinion myself." "The first man forward will be the first man down." "This woman is no witch." "But I am." "Geillis!" "No!" "I confess that I killed my husband, Arthur Duncan, by the means of witchcraft." "I took advantage of the ignorance of Claire Fraser, bewitching her for my purposes." "She neither took part in, nor had knowledge of my dealings, nor does she serve my master." "See here!" "I bear the mark of the Devil!" "What the villagers saw as evidence of evil was actually the scar of a smallpox vaccination." "And it hit me like a bolt of lightning." "Geillis was from the future, from 1968." "Run!" "Claire, come now!" "I am the mistress of Satan." "I carry his child!" "Burn her!" "Geillis." "I have lain with Beelzebub in the darkest hours!" "I have pledged my soul to him forevermore!" " Silence!" " No!" "Cover the witch!" "Cover her up!" "I will have the child of Satan." "He will damn you all!" "Cover her up!" "Stop!" "She's with child!" "I'm with Child!" "We have to leave now, Claire." "We have to go." "The cuts are not deep." "I think you'll not be marked." "Claire, I know there are things ye do not wish to tell me." "But I have one thing to ask ye." "Honesty." "When you do tell me something, let it be the truth." "And I'll promise you the same." "I agree." "Then there's one thing I must ask you, for your own safety as well as mine." "Are you a witch?" "Are you serious?" "I've often seen that scar on your arm and thought nothing of it." "Until I saw the same on Geillis Duncan today." "She called it the Devil's mark." "So..." "I'm not a witch." "After you hear the truth, then maybe you'll think otherwise." "I've never had smallpox." "But I can walk through a room of dying men and never catch it." "I can nurse the sick, but their sickness cannot touch me." "This mark is called a vaccine." "And you've never heard of it." "No one here has." "But it prevents me from contracting the disease." "I know about Jack Randall because I was told about him." "I know the day he was born, and I know the day he will die, and I know that he works for the Duke of Sandringham because my husband told me about it." "I know about the Bonnie Prince, the Jacobites and their doomed cause." "I know what's going to happen to the Scots." "I know all of this because..." "Because..." "I'm from the future." "I was born on October the 20th in the year 1918." "That's 200 years from now." "Do you hear me?" "Do you hear me?" "I hear you." "You think I'm raving mad, don't you?" "No." "No, I believe you, Sassenach." "So." "I dinna understand it a bit, not yet." "But I trust you." "I trust your word, your heart." "And I trust there is a truth between us." "And so, whatever ye tell me," "I will believe you." "Can you tell me more?" "I was a combat nurse in the British Army." "Before we left the church, she said to me, "1968."" "I told him everything." "The whole story, it came pouring out of me like a cataract of water over a broken dam." "Tell me again about the stones." "I didn't realize how badly I needed to tell someone, anyone, until that moment." "The Scots never had a chance." "He listened." "Thousands were killed at Culloden." "He didn't understand it all, but he listened." "So," "I left you in the glade and went to meet Horrocks and you ran away." "You were trying to get back." "Back to the stones." "And back to your husband." "Yes." "And I beat you for it." "I'm so very, very sorry." "Don't..." "You couldn't have known." "Rest now." "No one will harm ye." "I'm here." "Do you really believe me?" "Aye." "I believe you, Sassenach." "Although it would have been a good deal easier if you'd only been a witch." "Over the next several days, we rode hard." "We were both determined to leave the castle and the trial far behind us, hopeful the distance would overshadow the questions that remained unanswered." "And from the main house..." "Jamie spoke repeatedly of Lallybroch, detailing the life we'd have together, the life he'd always imagined." "I tried to listen." "I tried to invest in Lallybroch as my home." "I tried to imagine a life for us both, but I felt adrift, anchorless in a running sea." " I want you inside me." " No." "No, mo nighean donn." "I want to watch you." "So," "Sassenach, are ye ready to go home?" "Yes." "Take a look." "It's what you wanted." "Aye?" "What you've always wanted." "To go home." "Yes." "It's your place." "This is it." "Is this the one?" "Yes." "So, what did you do last time?" "I really didn't do anything." "I heard this buzzing sound, and I just touched the stone." "Claire." "I'm sorry, lass." "I stopped ye." "I shouldna have done so." "I just wasna ready." "I know." "Well, there's no use in waiting." "I must part with ye now." "That's why we're here." "It's your own time on the other side of that stone." "You've a home there, a place." "The things you're used to." "And Frank." "Frank." "There's nothing for you on this side." "Nothing, save violence and danger." "Now go." "I'll stay at the camp until nightfall to make sure that you're safe." "Good bye, Sassenach." "Jamie!" "Goodbye." "On your feet, soldier." "Take me home to Lallybroch." "Ripped By mstoll"