Free Amanda Scott - [Border Trilogy Two 02] by Border Lass Page A

furious and Lord Clifford himself killed Will.”
    “I do know that, my lord. And Clifford was in Danzig when we were there. There was some tension, and the attackers who fell did wear Clifford’s device, but I talked to Clifford, and he swore that the men were not his. In his favor, and although he is English, I have never heard anyone accuse him of lying.”
    “Nor have I,” Douglas said. “But someone is lying, and I mean to learn who. I never thought to ask before, but did you tell Will’s men what he had said to you?”
    “Nay, for I could prove nowt. I did see a man running before I reached Will, but it was too dark to see his face. I don’t even know that he was involved, other than perhaps in running away from the attack. In any event, Will’s lads were so certain Clifford had done it that they would not have listened even if I
had
tried to tell them. By the time I learned that a knight named Haldane had served Will, we could do nowt in Danzig anyway. So we took Will home to you, and since then, as you know, I’ve been searching for Haldane.”
    Douglas nodded, was silent for a moment or two, and then said, “I know you can’t say yet if Haldane and his men acted alone. But I don’t hesitate to tell you that Isabel has placed Will’s death at Fife’s door, just as she did with James’s.”
    “Could she be right, sir?”
    “To my mind, such thinking is rash,” Archie said. “Everyone knows that Fife was with me when Jamie died. We led a huge Scottish army from Galloway into England. Whilst James was keeping Hotspur busy in the east, in Northumberland, we harried folks all over Cumberland. Fife did not even know Jamie’s battle plan.”
    “In fairness to her ladyship, sir, Fife did know where James would be and might have conspired with someone else to kill him,” Garth said, speaking his thoughts frankly as he usually did. “That has been Fife’s way in the past, has it not? Men who stand in his path often die. But he is never at hand when they do.”
    Archie shot him a grim look. “So people say. I’ve not seen it myself though, and I’ll not condemn any man on rumor alone. Fife is strong, and I’d see him stronger, because I believe he is the man Scotland needs at her helm. We certainly need him more than we need that pusillanimous priests’ man, Carrick. For all that we’ll serve Carrick as King of Scots till he dies, he is no ruler. But bring me evidence that Fife had aught to do with murdering my son or Jamie Douglas, and I won’t just revoke my support, Gar. I’ll spit Fife’s traitorous head on a pike at Threave.”
    Garth believed him, and they rode in silence until the north wall of the city of Perth loomed before them under a pale quarter moon.
    Perth was one of only two walled cities in Scotland, Berwick the other, because the English had occupied both towns for extended periods from the last years of the previous century into the early years of the current one. They had built those walls and maintained them, and they had shut the city gates at night.
    The gates shut no longer, and as the earl’s party neared the north gate, Archie said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said. It fits with other thoughts I’ve had lately, so I want you to go to Sweethope Hill.”
    Garth had no objection. Indeed, the thought of going to Sweethope Hill intrigued him, although he thought he’d neglect to mention that to Wat Scott. To Archie, he said only, “Will you share your reasons, sir?”
    “Aye, sure, for ’tis why I wanted our meeting tonight to look chanceful. I’ve some concern, as you do, about Fife’s habit of removing obstacles in his path. For the past two years, Isabel has been pricking at him about James. Thus far, Fife has ignored her. But she has stirred others to her thinking, and this of Will is bound to add fuel to any fire she has ignited.”
    “I’ve suspected Fife’s involvement, myself,” Garth told him. “But if you are worried about her safety, my