Bertrice Small - Besieged

Before James Leslie might say another word, Fortune said, "Go, Master Kira. Go now, and bring my daughter back."

Johnathan Kira bowed politely to Fortune, and then, turning, hurried from the hall.

James Leslie smiled a cynical smile as he watched the man go. The Kiras were an amazing family. He didn't doubt for a moment that if Sir Christian Denby had Aine in his custody, she would be returned to them this very night. "Adali," he called. "Send some of the men to escort Master Kira, and give him the protection he may need."

With a matching smile of irony, Adali moved quickly to obey.

Johnathan Kira was not surprised to shortly find himself amid a troop of Leslie clansmen. He nodded politely to their captain, and then continued silently on his way. He was a tall, spare man of indeterminate age with dark hair, a dark beard, and fine dark eyes. He wore dark clothing of a most fashionable cut. Those who did not know his smile found him rather intimidating. It was a trait that served him well. Within the hour he was at the front door of Oakley Hall. Dismounting he ordered his companions to await him, and then knocked loudly upon the door.

The door was opened by a liveried servant. "Take me to your master," he said sternly.

Cowed by Johnathan Kira's air of authority the servant obeyed, showing the dark-clothed visitor into his master's library. Just as they entered the room the cry of a child was heard from above-stairs.

Johnathan Kira smiled knowingly to himself, and pushing the servant back into the passageway he closed the library door behind him, saying as he did, "Good evening, Sir Christian."

His host looked up, startled, then jumped up from his chair where he had been reading a tract on the Bible. "Kira! What are you doing here? My loan is not yet due. I will pay you when it is."

"I have come for Aine Devers, Sir Christian," Johnathan Kira said without dissembling. "Give me the child to return to her family, and you and I will have no difficulty."

"I do not know what you mean," Sir Christian said, not looking directly at his uninvited guest.

"Ahh," Johnathan Kira replied, "you are going to be foolish. How lamentable. You are fortunate the maidservant is not dead, only injured, else you would hang for murder. If you had taken her child, there would have been far less of an outburst, for the little boy is a Catholic of two Irish parents. Aine Devers, no matter her religion, is the grandchild of a duke, and the niece of several wealthy noblemen, one of whom is the king's nephew. You cannot hope to get away with this particular kidnapping."

"Get out of my house!" Sir Christian blustered.

"Your house?" Johnathan Kira laughed darkly. "Until you pay us back, Sir Christian Denby, it is not your house. I am well within my right, Jew I may be, to call in the loan we have made you. If I do, what will you have then? A worthless title, a mountain of debts, and nothing else. Is your possession of this child worth all of that? How will you help your fellow Puritans to lobby against the king if I strip you of the small power you possess right now through us? Fetch the child at once, and give her to me. If you do not, I shall open the door of this house to the duke's men who have accompanied me this night. They will search, and they will find the child, whom I have already heard crying on an upper floor. Then the matter becomes a public one, and you, sir, are ruined. If, however, you give me the child now, the matter remains private, and we will not call your loan in for some time to come. I have said all I will on the matter. Bring me the child!"

"Devil's spawn!" snarled Sir Christian. "You dirty Jews are all the devil's own!" Then he pushed past Johnathan Kira, saying brusquely, "Follow me, and you shall have what you came for this night!"

With a small smile of triumph Johnathan Kira walked after his host who, going to the foot of the house stairs in the square entry foyer, called up to some nameless soul to bring the baby down to him. The order was quickly obeyed, and a serving woman came into view carrying Aine Devers.

Sir Christian took the baby roughly from the woman, and thrust her into Johnathan Kira's arms. "Here is the child who is now doomed to roast in eternal hellfire!" he spat at his antagonist.

"Thank you," Johnathan Kira said calmly. "And if you read your Bible correctly, Sir Christian, you would discover that we Jews are called God's chosen people. It is also a fact that Yushua of Nazareth, whom you call Jesus, was also a Jew. Good evening to you, sir." Johnathan Kira walked from the house with his prize, and handed her up to the Leslie captain. "Let us return to Queen's Malvern now," he said. Then he chucked the baby under the chin. "You have had quite an adventure, little one," he remarked. "Well, you are safe now, and on your way home to your mother, praise Yahweh!"

"Ma-ma!" Aine said forlornly. "Ma-ma."

He smiled a kindly smile at her, transforming his usually severe features. "Yes, Mistress Aine. You are going home to your mama."

They rode back through the spring twilight, the smells of newly turned earth, early blooming bushes, and flowers, cleansing the air and tickling their nostrils. Fortune was awaiting them at the door, and snatched her child down from the captain's arms, clutching Aine to her bosom, and sobbing softly.

"Ma-ma!" Aine's small voice was now happy.

"Aye, baby, I am your mama, and you are safe home." She kissed Aine's red head. Then her eyes went to Johnathan Kira. "Your son need only come aboard the Cardiff Rose with his personal supplies of food. Everything else he will need will be supplied for him, I promise you. You will transfer immediately one quarter of my funds to his care, Master Kira. And when we are settled in Mary's Land, another quarter is to be transferred. The other half I will leave here in England. You and your son will have my everlasting friendship for what you have done this night. But how?"

"Sir Christian inherited a tumbled-down house, my lady, with his title, but nothing more. He needed funds to restore the house, and invest in a venture that would make him independent enough that he might attract a wife with a good dowry. He came to the Kiras, and now he is in our debt. He had to decide whether he would lose everything he had gained this night, or return your child. Fortunately he chose wisely."

They walked back into the house. "Thank God you were here with us else I might never have regained my daughter without violence," Fortune said softly. She kissed the baby again, and handed her to Rohana to put to bed.

"Your serving woman?"

"She regained consciousness, and told us that Sir Christian and another man, probably his servant, had attacked her. The first blow they hit her with did not render her unconscious, and she saw them. She tried to scream, and they hit her a second time, but she recognized them," Fortune explained. "She will, with rest, be all right, thank God. I do not know how I would have told her Kevin if anything had happened to her. Come into the hall and have a goblet of wine. You can have it, can't you?"

"In my own cup," he chuckled.

"How long have our families been associated?" Fortune asked him curiously. "It has been many years, hasn't it?"

"Aye," he told her. "Your stepfather's revered ancestress, a great and powerful woman, made friends with my revered ancestress, Esther Kira. The two women aided each other in many ways, and through the influence of one, the other grew powerful and wealthy, too. That, I am told, is how it all began over a century ago. Then your mother's grandmother began dealing with us, and we found that she, too, was a woman of great intellect, honor, and ethics. That was over seventy years ago. Then parts of the two families intertwined in marriage, continuing to deal with the Kiras. It has, my lady, been a successful collaboration."

"May it continue to be so in the New World," Fortune told him sincerely with a smile.

"Amen," Johnathan Kira intoned. "Amen to that, my lady."

Once again Fortune stood at the rail of the Cardiff Rose watching with interest as the landscape of her new homeland came into view. The beauty of it was so incredible that she almost wept. There was this strong feeling of belonging that she had never before experienced. Kieran had been right. This was home. It was unlike anything she had ever before seen. The bays through which they now sailed were huge. The waters very, very blue. Above her the sun shone in a cloudless sky. How different from their departure from England a month and a half ago.

The late spring day had been gray and rainy, and Fortune Lindley Devers had found herself suddenly afraid. She stood with her mother, and the only father she had ever known upon the ship's deck prior to their departure. Jasmine's eyes were red with evidence of weeping although she now seemed calm and in control of herself. Even James Leslie was unusually silent as he held Aine in his arms.

"We'll have to cast off soon, Cousin," Ualtar O'Flaherty said as he joined them. "The tide will shortly be with us." Then he moved away to give them the privacy they so obviously needed.

"Ye'll come back one day to see us," James Leslie said suddenly.

Fortune felt the tears pricking at her eyelids. "I don't think so, Papa," she told him. "I am not brave, or venturesome, like Mama and India. Once I cross the ocean safely, I shall remain where I am, I fear. Remember," she said, giving him a weak smile, "I am the practical and sensible daughter."

"If you had been sensible," Jasmine said almost bitterly, "you would not have fallen in love with Kieran Devers." Her heart was breaking with the certain knowledge that she would never again in her lifetime see this second daughter of hers and Rowan's. Fortune would be as gone from her as surely as Rowan had been gone all these years. Jasmine could feel the anger welling up in her. Then she swallowed it back. It was not Kieran's fault, or Fortune's fault that this situation had come to pass. It was the fault of ignorant and narrow-minded people who could not accept anyone who was in the slightest manner different from them. People who wanted everyone to look alike, to think alike, to worship alike. Joyless souls who could not accept a God of love, but must have a condemning deity of fire and brimstone to worship. She pitied them, but at the same time Jasmine silently cursed them, for it was their intolerance that was causing her daughter to go.

"Mama." Fortune touched her sleeve. "It is time, Mama. You and Papa must go ashore now. We must say good-bye."

Jasmine turned stricken eyes to her daughter. No! the voice in her head cried out, and then Fortune spoke again.

"I am so grateful for you and Papa, for all the good times we have had together. I shall always remember it, Mama, even if I grow to be an old lady. Do not grieve for me. I am doing what I am meant to do. I love Kieran. I will love our new life in Mary's Land. I will send you letters each time the Cardiff Rose makes the journey between there and here. You will hardly notice I am gone. I know that you want me to be happy, Mama." Then Fortune put her arms about her mother, and embraced her tenderly. "Farewell, Mama. Always remember that I love you, and Papa, and all my family here. Do not forget me." She kissed her mother's cheek. Drawing away from Jasmine she bid the duke of Glenkirk an equally tender farewell. "Thank you, Papa, for taking Rowan Lindley's last daughter, and loving her as your very own." Then she kissed him too, quickly turning away lest her own emotions overcome her and she lose what small courage she had, and they all dissolve into a paroxysm of sorrow.

***

The warm breeze touched her cheek, and Fortune brought herself back to the present. Her eyes were teary with her memories. Their crossing from England had been a relatively easy one. There had been no serious storms, and only a few gray days of drizzling rain. They had first stopped in Ireland to pick up the women and children from Maguire's Ford and Lisnaskea who would be traveling with them. The Highlander had already departed Ulster several days earlier with the horses and other livestock they would be taking to Mary's Land. Still, Rory Maguire was there in Dundalk to greet her, having escorted the colonists himself.