"Previously..." "I'd seem to have fallen through time." "The village has been humming with talk of you since you came to the castle." "What is it they're saying about me?" "I suspect you may be an English spy." "I'll have you watched day and night." "Redcoats wanted to send a message." "This is what you get when you fight back against the English." "She came back through the stones?" "Aye, she did." "They always do." "I need to leave this place." "You need not be scared to me nor anyone else here as long as I'm with ye." "I'm leavin' tomorrow, and I'm takin' you with me." "But why me?" "I think it would be wise to have a healer along." "Another chance to go home presented itself, knowing this time, I must not fail." "_" "Absence." "Absence, hear thou my protestation against thy strength, distance, and length." "Do what thou canst for alteration..." "For hearts for truest mettle." "Absence doth still and time doth settle." " You know John Donne?" " Oh, aye." "He's one of my favorites." "Away an bile yer heids!" "What is it they're shouting over there?" "I'm sorry." "I don't have any Gaelic." "Well, my lady, they're tising young Willie." "It's his first time on the road with us." "And they're encouraging him to have biblical relations..." "With his sister." "Lovely." "Come away." "You're Ned Gowan, aren't you?" "The lawyer?" "Indeed." "I've see you at the hall." "I'm Claire." "Well, I'm very pleased to meet you Claire." "I've just come along to help Dougal with the records and the receipts, you know." "I'm the only one he'll trust with the money, ye ken." "Ah, this is lovely." " Is that goose feather?" " Well, it's swan, actually." "Tools of the trade, you see." "And that bag is for the laird's rents." "It comes in turners and bawbees, small coins." "But we also get bags of grain and cabbages." "And fowl suitably trussed, I've got no argument with, even goats, although one of them ate my handkerchief last year." "But I have given explicit instructions this year... that" "That we will not accept live pigs." "I don't like the sound of that cough." "Well, I get feel pungled this stretch of the road." "It happens every year..." "The same season." "Something in the wind sets my lungs afire." "I think I may be able to help you." "Do you have a pipe I could borrow?" "Aye, a pipe." "You'd have me smoke a pipe for a cough, eh?" "It's something of a paradox, eh?" "You'll see." "Aye." "There you are." "It's thorn apple." "Thorn apple, okay." " Take that." " Okay." "Thorn apple you say." "Is that an English thing?" "Also known as Jimsonweed." "The herb had medicinal properties that would relieve the symptoms of asthma." "Ooh." "Ooh." "Ah, well..." "How's that?" "That's remarkable." "Aye, pack up." "We're leaving." "♪ The maid gaed tae the mill ae nicht. ♪" "♪ Hey, sae wanton she. ♪" "♪ She swore by moon and stars sae bricht. ♪" "♪ She would get her corn grun'. ♪" "♪ She would get the corn grun'. ♪" "♪ Mill and multure free. ♪" "♪ Oot then come the miller's man. ♪" "♪ Hey, hey, hey, sae wanton. ♪" "♪ For gettin' all her corn grun'. ♪" "♪ Mill and multure free. ♪" "I'm curious, Mr. Gowan, what possessed a man of your qualifications to take up a post in these remote highlands." "Well, as a young man, I studied law at the University of Edinburgh." "I had a small practice with lace curtains in the window, shiny brass plate with my name on it on the door." "That sounds charming." "Oh, it was." "It was." "But I grew restless." "I must confess to having something of a taste for adventure." "So I'd determined the best course was to head off northwards, up here into the Highlands." "And I thought that I might induce some clan chief to allow me to serve him." "Colum Mackenzie, I take it." "Oh, no, no, no, no, no." "His father, Jacob." "Oh, no." "I'm much older than I appear, lassie." "But, of course, things were much less civilized then." "Back then, when men were men and the pernicious weed of civilization was less rampant upon the wild, bonny face of this land." "Ah, you may be a man of the law, sir, but you've the soul of a romantic." "Although this newfound kinship with Ned would make life on the road more tolerable," "I could not allow it to distract me from my quest to get back to the standing stones at Craigh Nu Dun and return to my own 20th-century life." "Old granny..." "So old granny Mary... old granny Mary's gettin' ready for bed, and she says to her husband," ""when you first saw me naked, what were you thinkin'?"" "and he says," ""I wanted to suck your paps dry." "I wanted to swive you until you were a worn-out husk."" "and she says to him," ""and what are you thinkin' now?"" "and he looks at her and says," ""looks like I've done a fine job."" "I wasn't offended by the lewdness of their jokes or squeamish over the fact that my dinner looked like a shriveled Easter rabbit, nor was I too dainty to sleep on a pillow made of stone." "What troubled me was that they were clearly using Gaelic to exclude me." "I just had to remember my time with them would be over soon." "Being on the road was my chance to escape." "Dinna worry what they're sayin', lass." "They hate me." "They don't trust you." "Well... maybe Angus hates you, but he hates everyone." "What about you?" "Do you think I'm a spy for the British?" "No." "But I do think there are things you're not tellin' us, and I know you tried to run during' the gathering'." "It's on your mind still, plain and clear." "It's been a long day." "Well, ye did ask." "Alastair!" "I hear you and the wife have another one on the way." "You're a beast of a man." "I'm a Mackenzie, ye ken." " And how was the harvest?" " Very good." "I bring two bags of grain, six shilling." "Fine, six shillings." "That's two bags of grain and six shillings." " Trust we'll see you tonight?" " Aye, of course." "Good man." "And it'll be your usual, then... eggs, cabbage, and..." "Oh, and who do we have here?" "You couldn't be beathan's bo Aye." "Well, time lets the truth slip, ye ken." "Looks like your mother let a big, brawny fellow into the bed, while your faither wasn't lookin'." "As the old cock craws." "Oh, is that right?" "There's a bag of oat." "Marcas, you limmer, it's good to see you." "What've you got for me?" "Two fat pigs and a fine goat." "Hello." "That's two fat pigs and a fine goat." "We'll see you tonight." "You'll join me for a dram?" " Aye!" " Good." "I thought you said no pigs." "Aye, I did, didn't I?" "Duncan, thank you." "Two shilling and one sixpence." "Something I can do for you, mistress?" "I was just curious." "I've never heard singing quite like that before." "'Tis a waulking song." "We're waulking wool." "I'm Claire Beauchamp." "I'm Donalda Gilchrest." "I came with the Mackenzie party." "Then, men are all busy with the rent, so I found myself rather idle." "Idle, ye say." "Well, we'll see about that." "Do ye have strong hands, Claire?" "Ladies, this is Claire Beauchamp." "She's going to be helping us today." "Hello, all." "Ugh, that's pungent." "Is that hot piss." "Yes, Claire." "Sets the dye fast." "Here's a wee refreshment, Claire." "Ye've earned it." "Thank you." "Bottoms up." "Oh, my god, that's got a kick to it." "It's our little secret." "Not a word to the menfolk." "My lips are sealed." "Did we wake the little one?" "He's hungry, that's all." "Oh, he's teething and won't nurse." "My husband had to give away our goat to the Laird this morning, so we haven't any milk." "Doesn't seem very fair." "Where are ye off to next, Claire?" "Uh, I'm not sure exactly." "I heard stories of a place called Craigh Na Dun." "Aye, where the fairies live." "My cousin went there once, swore he saw one." "But he was fou as a puggle at the time, and the fairy he claimed to see turned out to be an old piebald sheep, sporting six horns." "Well, I 'd like to go there." "Is it nearby?" "Oh, about three days as the crow file I'd say." "All right, back to work, ladies." "And we're going to need a fresh bucket." "You mean now?" "What do you think the tipple's for?" "All righty, then." "Geronimo." "Oh, christ almighty." "I've been looking to hell and back for ye." "I've been right here." "We were waulking wool." "Right!" "We're going." "But we haven't finished." "Aye, ye have." "Disappearing under ma nose." "Dougal's bealing about it." "I was only over there." "What's the harm?" "Ye've been drinking, and ye smell like piss." "Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black." "Fine." "Next time, I'll tie ye to the wagon." "Get your hands off me!" "Hey, hey, where do you think you're taking that?" "Back to her owner." "The family needs her." "The goat's ours." " We're taking her with us." " The hell you are." "That's goods and chattels, has to be accounted for." "Ca' canny noo." "She's stottin' drunk." "I am no such thing." "You'll be giving me the goat!" "Let go!" "Where did you find her?" "Over there and cock-a-doodle-dooed." "How hard is it to keep watch on a sassenach wench?" "Hey, she's slippery as an eel, that one, Dougal." "Would you stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" "There's a baby that needs milk." "Stop yer havering, woman." "The beast is payment for rent, fair and square." "So you'd let a child go hungry?" "The goat goes with us." "A sassenach fleeing' drunk forbye." "Madam, is everything all right?" "I'm sorry?" "May I be of service?" "Aye, you'll keep your nose out of our business." "I was speaking to the lady." "The lady is a guest of Clan Mackenzie." "Do you treat all your guests this way?" "Hey, bugger off." "Or maybe your lugs need cleaning out." "I assure you, sir, my lugs are perfectly fine." "Go home, laddie, and suckle on your ma's tit, eh?" "Now, get to it." "We're leaving." "Aye, aye, the land's been good to ye this year." "Aye." "I hear ye've had a braw harvest of oats." "Aye." "Galloway, I can tell you've not been starving." "You want to watch yer back around these drunken bastards showing a pair of paps like thon." "Aye." "Aye." "Aye, well enough." "It's not a great deal, but we canna expect much from a small place like this still." "It's a respectable sum." "And with young Jamie's back to show, it's money in the bank guaranteed." "Be a good lass." "Get a needle and thread." "Mend that." "Mend it yourself." "I'm not bloody doing it." "The lad can wear rags from now on." "Fine." "Give it to me." "I'll mend my own shirt." "Black pudding?" "It's an acquired taste, I know, but..." "Thank you." "How do you think Colum will feel about you helping Dougal steal money from him to line his own pockets, and using his nephew Jamie to do it?" "Aren't you the canny lass?" "Just wondering how it works." "Two bags of money, obviously." "Are there two sets of books as well, one for each brother?" "Seems that you've got it all sorted out." "I'll wager they don't teach common thievery at the University Edinburgh." "I suspect that's a skill you've acquired more recently." "I must say, you got a good head on your shoulders, and a tongue for argument as well." "You'd make a fine advocate yerself." "It's a pity they don't allow women to practice law." "Hmm." "Not yet." "Ah, it'll be a few centuries before that happens." "Only two." "It felt as if Dougal could read my mind like he was daring me to run." "He had brought me along on this trip because I earned his respect as a healer, and at least some measure of trust." "But now I could see that small trust slipping away, and with it, my dream of escape." "The days passed ablur, turning into weeks." "We visited village after village, my feeling of helplessness growing." "Even amongst the vast and beautiful landscape," "I felt trapped, as if I were back in the stone walls of Castle Leoch." "Would I have to reconcile myself to live the rest of my life amongst strangers," "200 years in the past?" "No, no!" "Leave us alone." "What's going on?" "It's the watch." "Men you pay to protect your cattle." "Otherwise, they'll steal them themselves." " Extortionists." " Aye." "Hey, hey." "Why burn the house?" "It's a warning." "I heard talk in the village." "The husband's a sympathizer working with the redcoats." "That's only gossip." "It's no excuse for criminal behavior." "The watch may be criminal, but they're Scots first." "They can't abide traitors who do the bidding of the British army." "How many?" " Two." " Two?" "And Dougal taking his cut..." "I suppose that's patriotism as well." "Oh, no, no, no, no, my dear." "No, no, no." "No, that's business." "Where's Jamie?" "Oh, he's making himself scarce." "He has a price on his head, remember." "The watch would turn him over in a minute, if they thought there was profit involved." "Patriots until it profits them not to be." "Their loyalty lies where the money lies." "Off we go." "I was..." "I was slipping her the wee man, all night long, and she was ganting for it." "Ganting!" "I gave the lassie such a seeing-to." "She'll be walking bow-legged for months." "Aye, aye, you sleekit dog." "No, thank you." "I'm not hungry." "What's the matter with you?" "I've no stomach for stolen food." "Please yerself." "And I don't sit with thieves." "Listen, you." "Hey!" "I will not be judged by an English whore." "Angus." "Angus." "She doesn't want it, all the more for us, huh?" "Huh?" "Excuse me." "Here, Rupert." "There's something to wrap your hands around other than your todger." "What's got into you, woman, talking to Angus that way?" "Angus can kiss my English arse." "Aye, he's a clarty bastard, but those are fighting words." "Well, where I come from, we don't..." "It doesn't matter where you come from." "You're here." "So I'm just to stand by and watch?" "You're not to judge things you don't understand." "Stay out of it, Claire." "Torcall." "You come to me with empty pockets." "What's going on?" "Redcoats came through two days ago, house to house, took what they wanted." "You know me, brother." "Every year, I pay what I owe to the Mackenzie." "But tonight I canna feed my family." "Your family will have supper tonight, and afterwards, you'll join us for a drink." "All of ye will eat!" "Join us tonight for a dram." "I know what you're doing." "The more mercy you show today, the more you collect tonight for yourself." "Aye, the lassie can see right through us." "We scots are not as canny as the English, yes." "Good thing we're not doing this in Oxfordshire." "What is it that you're accusing me of?" "A penny for the Laird, a pound for your own pocket." "Whatever you wish to call it." "I call it clan business, and none of yours." "Events followed a familiar pattern, but for my sympathies for Jamie," "I had little interest in Dougal's self-serving performance." "The language as alien as ever, but the sentiment clear." ""Give us your money, and we will protect you from the English, from the sassenachs."" "An awful sight, is it no?" "Christ, I'd die in my blood before I let a whey-faced sassenach use me so." "Aye." "But then my ears sparked to a name" "I'd heard somewhere before." ""Long live the Stuart."" "of course that would be the second Jacobite rising, the '45." "Second?" "You know, some people actually argue that there were four uprisings." "The first in 1715, and the '45 was just the most famous one." "Bonnie Prince Charlie and so on." " That's it." "Charlie, the young pretender to the throne of Britain, was gathering Stuart sympathizers called Jacobite's for a rebellion." "Surely your Uncle Lamb taught you some of this." "What were you doing in the desert?" ""Jacobite," derived from "Jacobus,"" "the latin for "James," since they were followers of King James II, the Catholic King dethroned by the protestants." "Show-off." "That's it, quite right." "So the Jacobite's dedicated themselves to restoring a Catholic King." "And Charles Stuart used the Scottish highlanders to raise money for a Jacobite army." "A lost cause as it turned out." "I was beginning to realize the activities" "Dougal and his men were involved in weren't criminal." "They were political." "He was using the shocking display of Jamie's scars not to frighten his audience, but to stir outrage against the British." "Dougal was raising money for a Jacobite army." "Devil take ye, Dougal Mackenzie." "Kinsman or not, I don't owe ye this." "I seem to recall a certain oath of obedience." ""so long as my feet rest on the lands of Clan Mackenzie."" "I gave my word to Colum, not to you." "It's one and the same, lad, and you ken it well." "Outside of Leoch," "I am Colum's head, hands, as well as his legs." "I never saw a better case of the right hand not knowing what the left was up to." "The Mackenzie's, the Macbeolains, the Macvinishes... none can force them to give against their will." "But we have something in common." "We want our king back where he belongs." "Don't you?" "You have more to gain from a Stuart throne than I do." "If you don't want to save your own silly neck..." "My neck is my own concern, and so is my back." "Not while you travel with me, sweet lad." "He'll do that again, use you like that?" "Aye." "Aye, it gets him what he wants, you see." "And you'll let him?" "He's my uncle." "A man has to... to choose what's worth fighting for." "As you ken well." "Well, best get some sleep." "Yes, of course." "Try not to hit any more trees." "Don't worry." "Trees are safe, sassenach." "Good night." "The next morning as I watched them pack," "I saw the men in a different light." "Not criminals, but rebels." "I wished I could tell them that they were on the losing side of history, that it was all a pipe dream." "The Stuarts would never unseat the protestant King George II, but how could I tell them that, these proud, passionate men who lived and breathed for a flag of blue and white?" "Traitor." "Even I knew that this was not the work of the watch but of the redcoats." "They've been out here at least a week." "More, likely, by the smell." "Bloody bastards!" "Take them down." "Wrap the bodies." "We'll give them a proper christian burial." "What on Earth!" "What are you doing sneaking around outside my door?" "I wasn't sneaking about." "I was sleeping or trying to." "Sleeping here?" "Why?" "The taproom's full of townsmen half gone with drink." "I was worried some of them might venture up here in search of... well..." "I didn't think you'd care overmuch for such attentions." "After the events of today, I doubt any of them are feeling very kindly towards an Englishwoman." "I'm sorry I stepped on you." "You're being kind." "You can't sleep out here." "At least come into the room." "It's warmer." "Sleep in your room with you?" "I couldn't do that." "Your reputation would be ruined." "My reputation?" "You've slept under the stars with me before, you and ten other men." "That isn't the same thing at all." "Well, at least let me give you the blanket off my bed." "Or is that too scandalous?" "I'll be right here." "Good Night." "Good morning, Mr. Mactavish." "Morning, mistress." "Now, if you'll excuse me, the horses will be needin' their breakfast as well." "Why did you let me think you were thieves?" "What's made you think otherwise?" "Dougal's speech the other night." "I thought you had no Gaelic." "Well, I've picked up enough to understand what" ""Long live the Stuart" sounds like." "You might've picked up more than you should." "What if I told you that the odds were stacked against you?" "And which odds are those?" "The British army is the best in the world." "Oh, that's a known fact." "What of it?" "You're raising money for a war that you cannot win." "And that worries you, does it?" "You're the ones that should be worried." "You talk as if the future is already decided." "Outmanned we may be, but I would match our fighting hearts against the best army in the world." "Fighting hearts don't stand a chance against cannons." "You are going to lose." "That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it." "It's a fact, Ned." "You have to believe me." "History will never record the name of another Stuart King, but it will record the names of thousands of highlanders who've died needlessly for a doomed cause." "History be damned." "Here we go." "Get up!" "Get up!" "Pick him up!" "Hold the bastard!" "Three split lips, two bloody noses, twelve smashed knuckles, and four loosened teeth." "And my ribs hurt a bit." "Bastard's fingernail was sharp as a boar's tooth." "He's gouged a hole in me." "Ow!" "You're such crybabies." "I've tended to six-year-olds braver than you lot." "Any excuse for a fight." "You were the excuse." "Me?" "It was your honor we were defending." "The lout called you a whore." "You're a guest of the Mackenzie." "We can insult you, but god help any other man that does." "So there I am in bed, harelip Chrissie on my left and sweaty Netty, the butcher's daughter, on my right." "They get jealous of each other, start arguing' about who I'm goin' to swive first." "Can you believe it?" "I believe your left hand gets jealous of your right." "That's about all I believe." "You're a witty one." "I've never heard a woman make a joke!" "There's a first time for everything." "Hard ride ahead." "Three days till we cross Culloden Moor." "Culloden Moor." "You can see how flat and open and boggy it is." "The highland army was completely exposed, and they then charged into the teeth of musket fire, cannons, mortars with nothing more than their broadswords, for the most part." "It was very, very quick and very bloody." "The whole thing took less than an hour." "How many were killed?" "Jacobites lost something in the region of 2,000 men." "But the interesting thing is that in the years following Culloden, the estates of the Clan Chieftains were plundered, sold." "The government banned the wearing of tartan." "They banned the carrying of swords, even the Gaelic language." "In effect, Culloden marked the end of the clans, and the end of the highlander way of life." "1746, three years from now." "And what of these Mackenzie men?" "How many of them were doomed to die on that wretched battlefield?" "Here, let me see." "Thank you, Angus." "Eh." "I'm going to the river to wash." "Let her go." "Now, as regards the transactions..." "Comparatively successful despite the earlier setbacks." "Who are you?" "An English lady of Oxfordshire" "That's what you'd have us believe." "But you would seem to be a lady of strong political opinions, eh?" "There's no harm in an opinion." "You've seen things on the road." "You tell the redcoats, and we'll be bound to crosses just like the men we cut down." " I'm not a spy." " Maybe not." "But ye're sowing' the seeds of doubt in our midst, working behind the cover of yer woman's skirts to undermine the cause." " I am trying to warn you." " Huh." "Warn me about what?" "Eh?" "I'm trying to save your life." "Madam... pleasure to see you again." "Once more, I ask you... is everything all right?" "Hello, again, officer." "Lieutenant Jeremy Foster of his majesty's army." "And this time I do mean to ascertain the lady's well-being." "The lady is none of your concern." "And you are?" "Dougal Mackenzie, war chief and brother to Colum," "Laird of the Mackenzie Clan, and the lands upon which you stand." "Mackenzie or not, if you are holding this English lady against her wishes, you'll be dealt with." "Tell me, madam, are you here by your own choice?"