The Hart and the Harp

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  Shive stared at him in horror. She recalled Muireadach’s plan, which he had gloatingly revealed to her when she had first been captured a month ago. She realised with dismay that Tiernan had in fact believed the absurd lie, and was now looking at her as though she were a foul serpent.

  Shive’s temper snapped then. To think she had done nothing for weeks except look forward to being reunited with Tiernan. It was the only thought that had kept her going in all the time Muireadach had treated her with such appalling cruelty. But now Tiernan stood there with hatred in his eyes. It was completely unjust, and showed he had never trusted her.

  “You have the nerve to accuse me of being unfaithful after what I’ve just seen here?” Shive asked incredulously as she sank onto the edge of the bed. She was so stunned and unwell, she thought she would never get up again.

  “Tiernan, there seems to be something amiss here,” Cian tried to speak up for Shive.

  His brother silenced him angrily. “No, Cian, I don’t want to hear it. You were ever one to defend her, and look where it got us all! I trusted her, and she ran away from me. She didn’t even have the courage to tell me she and Ruairi were lovers. Probably had been lovers long before we were ever wed!” Tiernan accused.

  “That’s not true and you know it! I still have the ruined sheets from the time we consummated our marriage,” Shive retorted angrily.

  Tiernan looked away in shame.

  “Tiernan, please, listen to Shive. Does she look as though she has been cavorting in the arms of her paramour?”

  Cian would have twitched aside her cloak to show him that Shive was obviously pregnant, but Shive pulled away and said quietly to Oran, “We’re leaving, now.”

  “But my lady, you're in no fit state to travel further. Let me speak to him,” Oran whispered back urgently.

  Shive shook her head adamantly. "I won't stay in this castle another minute. I've been supplanted by Orla. There’s no place for me here.” Shive stood with as much dignity as she could muster, and swept out of the room without a backward glance.

  “You’re a fool, Tiernan. You will live to rue this day!” Cian shouted at his brother before running after Shive and Oran to try to stop them from leaving the castle.

  “Please, Shive you can’t ride, not in your condition. Stay for one night, at least,” Cian begged.

  “I can’t stay here, Cian. Don’t ask me to,” Shive pleaded tearfully.

  “Very well, then, I’m coming with you,” Cian insisted.

  “Nay, not now. In a day or two perhaps, I’ll see you and explain everything, but the subject is too painful just now.”

  “Shive, believe me, I’m on your side. Who is this man, and where have you been for the past month?”

  “This is Oran O’Rourke. Please, Cian, for all our sakes, watch Orla and your brother Lasaran like hawks. I fear only evil can come from her influence. Are she and Tiernan...” Shive stared to ask, and then shook her head. “Never mind, it matters not any more. Tiernan will find out what she is really like. I pray God it's not too late.”

  “Listen Shive, I don’t think Tiernan and Orla are a couple, not yet. She’s in your room because she turned the castle upside down looking for a suitable chamber, and took it over while Tiernan was away. She didn’t have Tiernan’s permission, but Lasaran seems so besotted with her, he didn’t want to make a fuss.

  “Please, just wait a few days, and I'll try to persuade Tiernan to come over with me to hear your side of the story, whatever it might be,” Cian argued.

  “All right, Cian, but I fear it is too late,” Shive sighed, and moved to get back on her horse.

  She was so weak she looked as though she would topple from her saddle, so Oran mounted the steed behind her. Leaving the second horse in Cian’s charge, they departed for Shive’s old home at Rathnamagh with heavy hearts.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Once Shive arrived home at Rathnamagh, she collapsed with exhaustion, and had to be carried up to bed by Oran and an astonished Mahon. Oran stayed by Shive’s side constantly, almost as though he were trying to atone for not having saved her sooner, or for what had happened to the unfortunate Grainne three years before.

  Mahon for his part was puzzled as to Shive’s return and the devotion of this unknown old retainer. He consulted with Bran, their sergeant at arms, and some of the other men.

  “I don’t know what to think. He will say nothing except that he is Oran O’Rourke. He won’t tell me anything else. He just sits there nursing her as though she were his own daughter. I have no idea where she’s been or what has happened to her, but one thing is for certain, Shive hasn’t been with Ruairi or a lover. Looked at her injuries.

  “It’s a miracle she hasn’t lost the baby either,” he commented, having noted her distended stomach when Oran had loosened Shive’s clothing in order to make her more comfortable in the bed.

  Oran, who had read the letter from Muireadach to his sister, had elected to wait until Shive was awake in order to determine how much to tell her family about her abduction and treatment at Bothandun. After all, Muireadach himself had said there was a spy at Rathnamagh. So after merely warning Mahon, who seemed to be the leader, and appeared to be sensible and reliable enough, not to say more than was necessary about Shive’s reappearance, and to keep her visitors to a minimum, he looked after Shive, hoping to shield her from all harm.

  Moreover, while he and Shive both had their suspicions as to Muireadach’s plans, they had no real proof apart from their words against Muireadach’s. It wouldn’t do to go about making accusations which might seem irrational and completely unfounded. Not when Oran was a stranger in Shive’s home.

  Shive awoke at about six the next evening. The first thing she ordered was a hot bath and some food. Her legs felt like jelly, and she ached all over. One of the kitchen women brought her some soothing herbs and some ointment for her bruises.

  Shive sat in the silence of her room soaking, and at last got out of the tub, dried herself, and put on the cream. Then she washed hands and dressed herself in a loose fitting shirt and hose, and sat with her feet up on a chair while she combed out her burgundy tresses and then dried them by the fire. Only after she had eaten her fill of the simple but tasty food she had been brought did she send for Mahon, and asked him where Oran was.

  “Down in the great hall with the others. He’s told us nothing. Please, Shive, what's happened to you? Everyone said you had eloped with Ruairi, but I never believed it. I was so worried about you.” His earnest young face reflected his deep concern more than any words could have expressed.

  “It matters not now. I’m home and safe,” Shive sighed.

  “The O’Rourkes kidnapped you, didn’t they? And Oran rescued you,” Mahon guessed.

  Shive nodded.

  “But why?”

  “I should think it was obvious. To knock us off balance, and to cause enmity between Tiernan and Ruairi. Divide and conquer. That has ever been the O’Rourke way.”

  “But surely Muireadach never thought he could get away with it. Once Ruairi came home from wherever it was he’d gone, and was alarmed as to your whereabouts, suspicion would have fallen on the O’Rourkes as having the most to gain from your disappearance.”

  “He was keeping me alive as surety for all of you behaving yourselves once you found out I had been abducted.”

  “But I still don’t understand how he dared. Tiernan will kill him where he stands when he finds out--”

  “No, he won’t,” Shive said resignedly. “And I wouldn’t wish him to fight because of me anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” Mahon blinked, and stared at her intently.

  “I saw Tiernan last night before I came here. He and Orla are sharing our old chambers together. He threw me out. Insisted I was guilty. Nothing I could say would change his mind.”

  “This is absurd! Did you not tell him what you just told me?” Mahon demanded angrily.

  “He doesn’t believe me. He thinks I’m in love with Ruairi,
and that I eloped with him.”

  Mahon exclaimed furiously against Tiernan’s stupidity. He was about to try to persuade Shive to summon Tiernan, insist he hear the truth, when Oran entered abruptly.

  “I’m sorry to trouble you like this, my lady, when you're still so unwell, but I need to speak to you about those messages we stole from the couriers. I think you’d better read them.”

  Shive read them and frowned darkly, before handing the papers to Mahon.

  “If I hadn’t read these with my own eyes I would never have believed it. In this dispatch, Muireadach is telling his sister to kill you, since the MacDonaghs, O’Dowds, and Costelloes are all willing to support him. He’s calculating that they’ll be more than a match for us, Ruairi’s men, and the O’Haras combined.

  “However, since it seems that the rumours that Tiernan and Orla are to be married have been spread far and wide, this has served to isolate us and Ruairi’s clan, and has helped Muireadach gain support. He is counting on the rumours sooner or later sending Ruairi running back to find out what's happened to you, Shive. That’s when Muireadach plans to make his move.”

  “Good God, has Tiernan take leave of his senses, marrying that viper?” the young man then exclaimed.

  Shive said nothing, and merely gazed at the fire listlessly.

  “Muireadach did say it was just a rumour. Besides, I think so far as Orla was concerned one brother would have done very much the same as another,” Oran said.

  Shive continued to sit in her chair silently. Both men looked at her, and waited.

  Shive mustered all her energy and suddenly said decisively, “We must act now, before it's too late."

  "Act?" Mahon repeated in confusion.

  “It’s all a trap, don’t you see? If one plan falls thorough, Muireadach has other schemes in mind. He'll do anything to beat Ruairi. He doesn’t care how many he kills to become high king. We’re all just pawns on his huge chessboard, don’t you see?"

  She turned to her cousin, her eyes blazing. “Mahon, I want all the men put on alert. We need spies to go into the O’Rourke territory to keep an eye on all of their movements. I also want them to make sure that no messages get through to Orla and the others at Bothandun. Divided, the O’Rourkes might just be vulnerable enough.”

  Mahon gaped in horror. “Surely you don’t plan to attack them?”

  “No, but I plan to defend us and Ruairi’s holdings, for the O’Rourkes and their allies will be coming this way soon enough and no one is safe. No, not us, and certainly not Tiernan’s clan.

  “Next I want you to send messages to the other families Muireadach has listed here saying that Tiernan and I are celebrating the imminent arrival of our joint heir to the MacDermot and O’Hara families, and they are all welcome to the festivities here. We can best assess their support once they're here. If we have any doubts, well, we can conveniently lock them in a few rooms which will unfortunately end up with lost keys. You know how careless the servants can be.” Shive smiled wryly.

  “Shive, I’m sure some of them will be loyal to us. But this show of strength, of demonstrating that you're aware of at least part of what is going on, won’t it provoke Muireadach into acting hastily?” Mahon worried.

  She nodded. “That is just what I’m counting on.”

  Mahon stared at his cousin with eyes round as saucers.

  Oran merely smiled.

  He looked from on to the other in confusion. “I don’t understand--”

  “Just think about it, Mahon. Up until his point Muireadach has had all the time in the world to plan, while I’ve been locked up, and Tiernan has been peacefully organizing his lands, not making ready for any summer campaign since our two families have suddenly found ourselves at peace for the first time in five years. He has no idea that his own brother Lasaran is in league with Orla and Muireadach. Nor do we have irrefutable proof to give him, apart from these letters, which they will deny knowing anything about.

  “But treachery is all around us. There's even a spy here at Rathnamagh. I’m almost certain it's Fergus.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Oran asked.

  “Because I saw the three of them conferring at my inaugural feast. Fergus would have the most cause to resent me after I toppled his brother Parthalan from the post of tanaist. And you’ve told me yourself, Oran, that Muireadach hates Tiernan. He won't let him remain unharmed in all of this. I was kidnapped, and we’re now a target once again because we support Ruairi. But if Tiernan makes it known he will support Ruairi despite believing he and I eloped together, Muireadach will swat him like a fly.

  “We and the O’Haras are the only two clans that divide Ruairi’s lands and Muireadach’s. And we all know the O’Rourkes have always hated the O’Haras. Even if Tiernan or Lasaran married Orla, it’s only a matter of time before the O’Rourkes try to reduce the O’Haras to mere vassals.”

  Mahon sighed. “It’s true.”

  “Muireadach will try to avoid inciting our wrath for the moment, since he never expected to have us as enemies, rather as allies, according to the agreements he made with my father. He had also hoped the hired Viking mercenaries would do a great deal of damage for him to the O’Haras long before he ever made his move."

  Oran agreed with a vigorous nod.

  “So,” Shive continued, “the shortest route for him to get to Ruairi’s land is through Tiernan’s holdings in the east. Knowing how Muireadach thrives upon cruelty, I’m sure he will decimate every O’Hara village they pass through.”

  “So what on earth can we do to stop all this?” Mahon exclaimed, feeling completely powerless in the face of such overwhelming odds.

  “For starters, Mahon, very quietly, I need you to organize the men to help get the women, children and old people to safety, and reinforce the villages with properly trained soldiers. I’m not sure Tiernan will believe a word of this, but I’m damned if those innocent people are going to be left to die just because our marriage has turned out to be a complete failure.”

  He reminded his cousin, “Many of our men are still tied up at Breachnach in the west, guarding the Vikings. If we let the Vikings go, they can come back here.”

  “Better still, offer the Vikings money if they will come work for us,” Shive suggested.

  Oran stared incredulously. “Are you mad?”

  “Where’s the harm? If we divide them up into small groups dotted here and there, they'll be no real threat. Since we've all treated them well in the time they've been here, I feel sure they'll accept. They’re mercenaries. And Father already paid them, so they owe loyalty to us, at least for the present.

  “Have you two got any better ideas as to where we can obtain reinforcements?” Shive asked in exasperation, when both men continued to stare at her.

  Mahon shook his head. “Let them go home.”

  “But we could use them here as guards to defend us!” Shive maintained. “I’m not suggesting a full offensive, just extra men to protect the villages. If they turn on us, we can kill them easily enough. If you’re really unsure of them, then keep their leader Sitric’s son as hostage to ensure his cooperation. But offer them the choice first.”

  “All right, we will,” Mahon agreed reluctantly. “If they wish to stay and fight for us, fine. If not, we can let them go back home in their ships and that will free up our soldiers to come east.”

  “Send Bran and a few of the other men to parley with Sitric. Help get their boats ready and see them safely off our lands if they're intent upon leaving. If they stay, well, then do as I've just instructed. Clear the villages of anyone unable to fight, send them to our castle Aille in the west, and fortify the villages with soldiers.”

  “Skeard and Trian are bigger castles than Aille, and a lot less further away. Should we not just send them to those castles?” Mahon pointed out.

  “No, coz, because they are both in the east, are they not, where the fighting will be at its worst if Muireadach is planning on making his main assault from the north from his st
ronghold at Bothandun. Skeard is furthest to the south, so I doubt it will see any action. But Trian is on a direct line between Bothandun and Ruairi’s main fort at Lissatava. If Muireadach wants to win decisively, he’ll have to strike there, right at the heart of Ruairi’s power,” Shive predicted.

  “All the same, we’ll make Skeard as well as Trian ready. We will also fortify Aille to protect the weak, in case, well...” Shive shuddered, not daring to complete her sentence, such was her sense of foreboding.

  “Tiernan might interpret your clearing the villages as an act of aggression, you know,” Mahon cautioned.

  “We have to do this all quietly, so the spies Muireadach has planted don’t get wind of our plans. As for Tiernan, I shall try to speak to him about this. Fetch me a quill and paper, and I shall request an interview now. But we’re running out of time. We have all these preparations to make, and four castles and countless villages to evacuate or fortify. Let's please hurry, Mahon. And Oran, I’m counting on you as well, you know. Please don’t let me down.”