Chapter 157: 157

"Meghan, I'm sorry Ailene and I weren't able to instruct you this morning. We were rather busy."

"I saw, Lady Isobel. Thirty-five men, both your own and Laird Thorburn's. I was thrilled to see it and proud my teachers were the ones to defeat all those men."

"Yes, well there's a trick to it Ailene and I discovered, but we've shared it, so I suspect it won't be as easy to do in the future as it was in the past. Nevertheless, everyone feels Ailene has learned what she could from Frang and so she must return to Cameron Keep. I will continue to teach you every day. To make up for our inability to train this morning, I'd like to train with you this afternoon, after the people from the Keep have left."

"I'd love to Mistress, but Jinny has already given me chores to do this afternoon, as I already had the morning to practice."

"I've already spoken to Jinny and apologized on your behalf, but it's very important we continue to work together."

"Are you sure the others won't resent me for not having to work, Mistress. They must do more to make up for my absence."

"Jinny won't. She realizes how important it is. If any of the other girls complain to you, tell them if they're willing to work as hard as you do to become proficient, they may train as well. In fact, I'd like to encourage them, but it is up to them to ask. I'll not force anyone to learn this, because they must want it very badly to become good. You can tell them what you must do every day, so they know how difficult it is, and if they choose it, fine. I'm convinced everyone should know how to defend themselves. We women shouldn't have to rely on others to protect us."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good. Dress in your fencing clothes and meet me on the training ground at two this afternoon."

Meghan nodded, curtsied, and went about the balance of her morning tasks.

Isobel walked out to the training ground a little after two. Thorburn's group had left a little late, delayed slightly by the extended goodbyes as Isobel and Ailene took leave of each other. Isobel had enjoyed Ailene's presence at Lady Luck very much and she knew this might be the last time she saw her before Blackthorne was allowed to take her. Given how dangerous it might be, she could scarce say goodbye without multiple hugs and whispered good-byes and promises to be careful. Thorburn finally tossed Ailene up on the cart to Stuart to get their caravan moving.

Meghan was waiting, practicing her leg work and movement, trying to become faster and smoother. Isobel watched her for a while, making comments where she saw something to be improved.

Isobel was demonstrating the retreat again, how to best back-up without losing balance, even over the uneven ground and uncertain footing of the new practice field.

"How is it you go backwards so fast, Lady? Even Frang comments on it," Meghan asked, discouraged at how much faster Meghan could go than she.

"I'm not sure," Isobel said. "Perhaps it's because I spent most of my marriage to McTeague afraid of him so he couldn't beat me again. It's one of the reasons I wanted to learn this so badly, so I'd never again have to run away out of fear. Now, it's a strategic retreat to a point where I might attack. You'll get faster with practice. Now, pick up your sword and show me the two positions you've been working on."

Meghan showed her the positions, and they spent half an hour with Meghan defending against increasingly rapid attacks on the high line to demonstrate she'd mastered both.

"Good. The next two I will show you are also defending against a high attack, but the wrist is turned so," Isobel demonstrated, "instead of like the first two. Show me."

Meghan showed her the two new moves and when she showed sufficient speed, Isobel began more attacks on the high side with Meghan parrying with the new movements, starting slowly and gradually working up speed.

"Now the others again, quickly," Isobel said, continuing the attacks, and Meghan defended with her first method.

"The new again, don't stop."

When Isobel was satisfied Meghan had grasped what she could and was breathing rapidly for air, she stopped.

"When we work tomorrow, we'll spend about ⅔ of our time on the new position and ⅓ on the old until you can do both equally well. Have a seat on this stump and we shall discuss the real reason we're out here this afternoon."

Meghan looked at Isobel curiously and carefully sat down. Isobel looked around to ensure they were alone. It was why she wanted to do this in the afternoon. All the others were finished with training and the field would be deserted except for them.

"You know how we've asked you to pass information to Blackthorne in the past to show you're still a valuable spy, things which could not hurt us significantly."

"Yes, Mistress," Meghan answered inquisitively.

"Ailene is going to do something very dangerous; she's going to allow herself to be taken and you know what happened to Màiri when Blackthorne had her."

"Oh, yes, it was awful. Why would she do something so dangerous?"

"We have the opportunity to act against Blackthorne and it has to be now for a variety of reasons. We hope to rescue her before she's harmed, but you have a very important part to play."

"Whatever you need, Lady."

"Lady Teárlag has also been used as a spy by Blackthorne..."

"Teárlag! Laird's fiancé?"

"Sshh. Yes. Pay attention. She is helping us now and is the reason we must act now. She's been horribly treated by Blackthorne and we must do something now before he does worse to her. We want her to be the only source of information on whom Blackthorne can rely. Every other spy he has must provide erroneous details, as we need him to act upon the information she gives him. Therefore, everyone else must give him bad intelligence, including you. We now want Blackthorne to believe we've discovered you're spying on us and are feeding him false data he cannot trust. You are going to be passing a lot of news now, nearly all bad. How is it you pass information now?"

"Every third night, I meet him at my parent's former cottage."

"What did he think of your family moving?"

"I told him they moved for a better job and he seemed to accept it since I continued to provide news of your movements which he found valuable."

"When do you meet him again?"

"Tonight."

"Excellent! Can you arrange to meet him more frequently if necessary?"

"Aye. I'm to wave a candle in my window and he will have someone waiting by the dead oak tree a quarter mile from the farm."

"Do you know of any other spies here?" Isobel asked.

"Only one. He passed me information when they wanted me to meet earlier than scheduled. I already told Frang about him. I suspect there's more."

"Then information about our current activities must be accurate, but the planned intent must be false," mused Isobel, "if we don't know who the others are. Have you spoken to any of the other maids about training."

"Aye, Lady."

"Were any interested?"

"Two were, the others thought it sounded like too much work."

Isobel laughed. "Good, encourage them to start tomorrow. I'll speak to Jinny. I think we can use this. Here's what you're going to tell your contact tonight. Frang and I won't be going to Dervaig next week, but you heard Thorburn's men say they were going to pick up extra supplies next market day and they were taking the secondary road from the Keep, then entering Dervaig from the East. You'll also tell them we're encouraging the women to learn the sword. That we're giving you time off from your duties to learn and you don't understand it. Do we expect you to fight for us? Just like that. It seems like we're telling the women they must learn to defend themselves. Can you do that?"

"Aye, Mistress."

"I also need you to brag about Ailene and me; how we were able to beat so many men in our new training. It might give them reason to wonder about the reason we're teaching other women. Now, I want you to think carefully about what I want you to say and how you will say it, then tell me."

Meghan thought for about it for a few minutes and then told Isobel what she would say.

"Perfect. A hint of exasperation, lack of understanding of why you're doing it, a suggestion there's a purpose, but you don't know why. Every day after we practice, I shall tell you something more you need to pass along, and I'll decide if it's important enough to signal an early meeting or if it should wait for your normal meeting."

"As you say, Lady Isobel."