The Faithful Heart

by MacMurrough, Sorcha

  Morgana also checked the heavy wooden and iron doors which blocked off each of the four rooms from attack, and the descended to the first level. This floor contained the main hall, and two smaller rooms which both had fireplaces and were situated at the east side of the castle.

  “Ten men in each of these rooms, and the hall will have to be their eating and living quarters. We can put up some screens to divide up the room and exclude draughts, and you’ll need more braziers in here as well despite that great big fireplace on the west wall,” Declan calculated.

  Morgana agreed as she sat on the floor and made notes, dipping her pen into her small bottle of ink hastily as she scrawled down the details. She checked the four doors on that level to make sure they were sturdy, and they moved on to the ground floor.

  “The kitchen looks in good repair, and there are two more dry rooms for storage,” Morgana said as he showed the O’Donnell brothers around. “That door is the door to the cloister for the provisions to be sent through from the lough shore.”

  “Those two fireplaces will be handy for cooking, so I think you should set up the middle room as a guard room, with storage for the ammunition and arms,” Tomas suggested.

  Morgana nodded and said, “Right, all that remains is to check each tower at the corners of the bawn.”

  Each tower was two storeys high, and could accommodate twenty men for sleeping on the upper level, and six men for guarding the tower and bawn on the lower level. There was also room for storage, and Morgana added up her figures hopefully.

  “Eighty in the towers, plus seventy plus twenty, is one hundred and seventy. We will also need to have enough food in case of a siege,” Morgana added up, as she studied her figures one last time to ensure they were correct.

  Morgana wandered out into the courtyard then. “I’ll get the carpenters to make some animal pens for cattle, sheep and pigs, and we need some stabling for horses as well.”

  “Build your wall on the west side, and the stables on the south side. The pens can go on the east side,” Tomas indicated, as he took the paper and pen from Morgana and sketched his ideas in quickly.

  “And they should all be in stone as well, so that the stables will fortify the south wall, and the pens will give our men and beasts some protection should anyone actually manage to get overthe wall,” Morgana agreed enthusiastically.

  She pulled the bucket up from the well and tasted the water. Clean and fresh was her verdict, and Morgana was at last satisfied that her job was done.

  “If you’re not too tired, can we head on to Ma Niadh?I want to see the state of things there and get back to Lisleavan before nightfall.”

  Tomas and Declan pulled out some bread and wine for the trio to dine on hastily. After this light repast, they mounted their steeds and rode on along the lough shore.

  Ma Niadh was different from Tulach only insofar as it was slightly further inland from the lough shore, and Morgana pointed out the advantages of digging an underground passage between the jetty and the castle keep.

  “We can’t build inside the bawn, because the castle is on the corner of the existing wall. But I think if we built another cloister passage way running along the whole eastern side, and a new doorway, that would take the alley right back into the kitchens,” Morgana calculated after having walked around the handsome gray stone fortifications twice.

  “You should extend the north wall out as well, and put a tower on the new corner the same as on the other three corners, and stone stables and another cloister on the southern and western sides,” Tomas advised.

  “You’ll have to clean out that moat, and run a causeway through it for the path to the jetty as well,” Declan pointed out.

  “This castle is a bit more difficult to defend, though, seeing as it has two spiral staircases instead of only one,” Tomas remarked.

  Morgana shook her head.“No, because the castle is divided down the middle, with a corridor at either end giving access to the rooms on each floor. Even if you took one half of the castle, you’d have to knock down the walls to get at the other half. My men could always come down and around as well. Another advantage is that it has central chimneys for each room, so it's a lot warmer than Tulach.”

  “The rooms are bigger too,” Declan observed, as they reached to top floor and examined each of the four chambers on the eastern side. “You can fit about twenty men in each, so if all the rooms are the same, that makes one hundred and sixty on this floor alone,” he calculated.

  “The great hall is on the east side of the castle downstairs, and there are four more rooms there as well, and privies on the end of each corridor on all the floors,” Morgana informed them.

  “That’s another eighty men.What about the downstairs?” Tomas asked.

  “The guard room is between the two towers, and again it is split down the middle, though they can help defend each other through the loopholes. There are murder holes above the entrance to the castle as well, and chutes for pouring down boiling water or oil. On the eastern side are the kitchens, and on the west are the storage areas,” Morgana described for them

  “Perfect. Your idea of the tunnel coming up into the cloister on the eastern side through the tower is just right, then,” Tomas said enthusiastically.“With the four towers, the three existing ones and the one you’re going to add, you should be able to house another twenty men in each.”

  “Plus pens for the animals, and we’d better check the wells also,” Morgana recalled, as she moved outside to the centre of the bawn. Tomas cranked up a bucketful, and they all drank thirstily.

  “It’s fine, and plenty of it too,” Morgana remarked as she sat on the grass.

  “So one hundred and sixty plus eighty plus eighty is three hundred and twenty men. And Tulach will hold one hundred and seventy. But surely you don’t need so many men to fortify each castle,” Declan protested.

  “No, but at the same time I need a fighting force on hand if the MacMahons move against the villages or farms, and I personally don’t see why the men can’t till the soil if there is no threat. The armies always used to stand down in the winter, go off to the larger towns in search of other labour, or live off the hard work of others though they grew no food themselves.Now we are simply going to have to double up on tasks.”

  “But Morgana, you know how they will feel.Manual labour is degrading for a warrior!” Tomas warned.

  “Well, just where do all the oats, milk, cheese, candles and so on have to come from? From the labour of the women and the men who don’t fight unless their homes are threatened, but who die exactly the same, or are left crippled in exactly the same way as our standing armies. The sailors are no better, sitting around in the harbour most of the winter feeding off our stores! Things are going to have to change.”

  “The men won’t thank you for it,” Declan cautioned.

  She gave a proud lift of her chin. “I can appreciate how they feel, but we need all the hands we can get. Besides, I am not asking anyone to do anything I’m not willing to do myself,” Morganadeclared firmly.

  “I’m amazed you didn’t end up as Mother Superior of that convent of yours by now, you’re so bossy,” Declan teased.

  "Ach, I'm a great worker, all right, but not godly enough," she replied with a wink.

  She moved to untie their mounts and once they had mounted, the trio quickly began their ride toward Lisleavan.

  “As long as we're here,” Tomas said as they approached Morgana’s home, “we might as well assess these fortifications as well.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Morgana replied gratefully. She led the way as they rode around the bawn walls.

  Lisleavan was four times larger than any of the other castles, and was built with two sets of protective walls. The outer wall was surrounded by a moat, and had four gates in the middle of each wall, with a tower at each corner. Along the inner walls were four entrances placed to the right of each entrancein the outer wall to make access more difficult for intruders.

 
Within the inner wall were further walls which divided the castle from the stables, and from the small village inside the castle environs required for all the essential services to the settlement such as baking, tailoring, and blacksmithing.

  The castle itself was a four-storey rectangular structure lined with ramparts on the second storey, and two spiral staircases on either side of the entrance hall.

  “This castle is laid out in the same way as Ma Niadh, except that there are two more floors with living quarters, eight rooms each, and two great halls instead of one. There is also a dungeon and storerooms, and access between halves of the castle at each end of the corridors,” Morgana explained as they did a tour of the upper storey together.

  “The doors are sturdy wood, but I would have some iron panels put in up to about six feet to reinforce them. I would also put more doors put in to separate the corridors into four parts each, so they would have to fight from room to room to take possession of each part of the castle,” Tomas suggested.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Morgana agreed, as she sketched out her plans, and moved to the lower floor.

  “Twenty men in each room, eight rooms, is one hundred and sixty, plus another hundred and sixty on this floor,” Declan tallied aloud. They moved down the stairs again.

  “Same plans for the doors and corridors as well,” Tomas said.

  “My father and I and the other main members of our household have rooms here on the first floor, and some of the apartments have been subdivided for chambers for linen and other household items.”

  “You will have to leave this floor as it is, then,” Declan said, nodding.

  The trio descended to the ground floor, where they surveyed the other great hall and the kitchens behind it.

  “If you divided up the hall with some screens, you could fit another hundred men. And if you moved all the storage to the underground caverns, you could fit another forty guards here,” Tomas observed.

  “But I would pack the stores if I were you, Morgana. This castle is the one nearest the MacMahons, and as such will be the first to be besieged if trouble does come.”

  “I’m well aware of that, Declan. But if we have no food at the moment, what do you suggest we pack it with?”

  “Just buy all the food you can when the money is finished being minted.”

  “I certainly will, Declan, but all of this takes time. And it's marvellous having this estimate of four hundred and sixty men in the castle, plus another sixty men in each of the three storey towers at the corners of the bawn, but you're forgetting that at the moment two-thirds of my fleet, which means two-thirds of my clansmen, have gone. The rest who were here at these three castles scattered when the hard times came. I have no one here at the minute to feed or house except the people in the village, and most of them are MacMahons who have been evicted by Dermot and Brendan, or so they claim.

  “But appearances can be deceiving, as we’ve all had cause to discover, much to our regret. So while they may prove useful workers when the time comes, the MacMahon men are going to have to prove they can be trusted before I let them in my castle,” Morgana said.

  “Speak of the devil,” Tomas muttered.

  For just then Ruairc entered the downstairs storeroom from the staircase on the right.

  And judging from the grim expression on his handsome features, Morgana was sure he had heard every word she'd just said.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The three men eyed each other uneasily.Ruairc looked as black as a thundercloud at Morgana’s candid words about not trusting his clan, but he did not challenge her, but merely greeted her with a small formal bow.

  The tension in the room was palpable.The O’Donnells had never liked any of the MacMahons. Ruairc was only mildly tolerated as a foster child of Morgan Maguire, though resented as the main suitor for Morgana’s hand.

  “Tomas, Declan, good to see you again,” Ruairc said casually, remembering his manners though inwardly he was seething.

  He turned to Morgana.“Mary told me you were back.” Ruairc scowled as he stepped closer to Morgana and took her by the arm. “Where have you been, and why didn’t you tell me where you were going? I was so worried.”

  With a warning look at the O’Donnell brothers, Morgana said, “I come and go as I please in my own castle. I had things to do at Belleek. Tomas and Declan were kind enough to escort me home. Niamh and Ronan are calling on Father tomorrow morning. How is Father now?” she asked over her shoulder as she swept past Ruairc and headed up to the main hall.

  “Much better. He seems to be getting stronger all the time,” Ruairc answered at length.

  Morgana could sense the fury simmering just below the surface as his emerald eyes glimmered.

  “I'm relieved to hear it,” Morgana sighed.

  “Mary, can we have some refreshments for our guests, and please tell me where my sister is,” Morgana called to the housekeeper.

  “Still down in the dungeons,” Mary said with a smug grin.

  “Then keep her there.With the O’Donnells coming, she would only be in the way.”

  Aofa hated Niamh O’Donnell even more than she did Morgana, and her elder sister had no desire for any unpleasant confrontations with the kind family who had pledged her so much help.

  It was also possible that it was Aofa who had told Fergus to order the Maguire ships to attack the O’Donnells in Donegal Bay in the hopes of getting Niamh’s much publicised dowry from the Continent. The last thing she needed was the two women scratching each other’s eyes out over the luxurious gowns.

  When the food arrived, Morgana made only small talk at the table. Ruairc could sense from her tense posture that she was avoiding discussing more important matters in front of him. He could also see she was anxious to be out and about on the estate, but was not willing to confide in him her plans.

  The knowledge rankled, but Ruairc was tired of arguing with Morgana. The more they fought, the more she drove him away, when all he really wanted was to be close to her once again. Perhaps if he didn't spend so much time chasing after her, she would come to him of her own free will?

  So he tried to be charming at the meal, reminding her subtly of all the wonderful times the had shared before her brother's death. He also filled her in on as much as he had learned about the estate in recent months.

  She tried to remain cool and aloof, but the attraction between them sparked and flared despite her attempts to dampen it, and she found herself laughing more than once, and then trying to tamp it down. It seemed disrespectful somehow to be enjoying herself when there was so much to do and her father was still on the mend.

  Torn between duty and desire, at last Morgana could stand the tension within her no longer, and showed the two guests to their rooms on the first floor.

  As she was leaving Declan and Tomas she said, “I’m going into my study now to get these plans written up for the work crews. The stonemasons and smiths left are going to have a great deal of work to do.”

  “I am sure Father will let you have the stone from our quarries for a reasonable price. I also think we can safely lend you some of our carpenters and stonemasons from Bruff Castle on the north shore of the lough for, shall we say, a month?” Tomas offered.

  Morgana stopped and stared. “Oh, Tomas, that would be wonderful, but so generous an offer...”

  “Consider it a peace offering on our part, and a pledge of continued close relations between us,” Tomas replied suavely with a small brotherly kiss on her brow, before Declan bent to hug her tightly.

  Turning around in the corridor, Morgana met the furious green gaze of Ruairc.

  Oh no, she sighed to herself. Not another argument. She said goodnight, and they closed their chamber door.

  She tried to push past Ruairc in the narrow passageway without touching him, but his hand shot out like a striking snake. Grasping her firmly by the elbow, he dragged her into the study at the end of the hall and pushed her up against the shut door.

  “I want you to tell me
what's going on here, and if you have promised to marry either of them in exchange for their help, I swear I'll take your head off with my bare hands,” Ruairc fumed.

  “This is absurd! Every time I talk to a man, you go mad with jealousy!”

  “If it is all as innocent as you pretend, then why do they all seem to hug and kiss you,” Ruairc shot back.

  “Because,” Morgana laughed,“because I told them last night to do it to make you jealous when I saw you trailing around after me, and besides, we have grown up with one another. We’re one big family, brothers and sisters, and they are offering me support, are glad to see me back."

  He glared at her, but visibly relaxed, and started to pace up and down in front of her.

  “I’m sorry if I made you angry. It was unworthy of me to treat you thus. But Ruairc, you must understand, I'm only here to help my family. I'm not hear to, er, resume relations between us.