Page 28 of The Bells of Triumph
Again, the question came from Finn's man, and again he got quite the look from Finn, though he didn't seem to notice.
“Ye seem to be forgetting one thing, Archibald,” Finn seethed. “I have nae agreed to this plan. If ye are going to use mycastle and my men to carry out yer plan, then it is only right that I agree to it. Otherwise, we dinnae have a deal.”
“What part of this plan can ye possibly have an argument with, Finn?” Flora demanded, more than a little exasperated by him.
“All of it! Ye are nae thinking like warriors but like worrying mothers.”
“What do ye suggest we do then?” Errik gritted out.
Flora looked at Seamus, dying to know what he thought of Finn's stance, but his facial expressions gave nothing away. His eyes were calm, and his mouth relaxed, though it stayed closed. The only sign of his anger was the grip his hand had on his chair, hidden out of view. Flora sucked in a deep breath through her nose, realizing that she needed to follow Seamus' lead. They needed to stay calm and level-headed. They couldn't fall into Finn's way of thinking.
“We wait. We join our forces and reinforce the blockade we have on the village. We keep Campbell from getting any word that we are here or that the village has been cut off. Eventually, the village will fall under the pressure of the siege. They will run out of food, and there is nay anger like the anger of hunger.”
“What are ye saying?” Flora all but whispered.
“We wait for the villagers to grow angry with Campbell. It is only a matter of time. They will run out of food and blame him for it. And then, when they are ready to mount an attack, we will rally with them. We can lure Campbell into the village and attack him there, leaving him nay escape route.”
“Why would we ever do that?”
Any thoughts of calm and collected fled from Flora's mind as she screeched at Finn. What he was suggesting, to starve women and children, the innocents in all of this, was barbaric.
“Campbell will come to the battle and find himself facing an army bigger than he could have imagined and to a people whonay longer support him. Even if he wins the fight against us, he will ken that his power over this clan is weakening.”
For a moment, Flora couldn't think of anything to say. Judging from the silence coming from the rest of the room, neither could anyone else.
“What of the bairns?”
She did nothing to disguise the tears in her eyes or the emotion in her words.
“What of them?” Finn asked, casually sipping on his ale.
“Should they be made to suffer too? Will ye starve the children before ye see to it that their parents are slaughtered in front of their eyes?”
“Och, Flora. Ye were always the dramatist.”
“Have ye truly forgotten, Finn? Do ye nae remember what it was like tobethose children? I dinnae think I could ever forget how those hours became days when I waited for my parents to return; how the hunger gnawed in my belly, how their screams filled the air.”
“How dare ye,” Finn shouted, slamming his fists on the table hard enough to make the half-eaten platters jump. “I could never forget what Campbell and Murray did to this clan, what they did to me.”
“Yet ye are willing to do the verra same thing.”
She whispered the words, but she knew he had heard them all the same.
“Ye forget, this is war. There are risks we must take, loses that we cannae avoid.”
“Ye forget yer humanity.” There was no anger in her accusation, only sadness now, for she no longer recognized the man sitting across from her. “Ye claim to loath Campbell, to hate him for all he has done, yet ye are urging us to do the same thing he would do in our position, the same thing he has done. Ye think just like him.”
“If we are ever going to defeat our enemy, we must think like him, if only to anticipate his next move.”
Flora's chin rose a notch. Even with Seamus sitting between them, she could still feel Errik tense at Finn, echoing the words he had used during their training.
“We said we would do anything to see Campbell fall, and we meant it,” Archibald added. “War is an ugly thing, but in this case, it is necessary. We must do whatever it takes to put the odds in our favor of winning.”
This time, as Flora scanned the table, her heart broke to see just how many were nodding in agreement. Desperate for Seamus to do something, she looked at him with tear filled eyes. Her whole body seemed to burn with anger, and she needed Seamus to feel it too, she needed him to speak up and stop this nonsense. The whole room seemed to be waiting to see just what he would say. She had seen him shift the atmosphere of a room before. He had been able to influence the way men thought, to lead them down the right path. And he needed to do it again now. But Seamus didn't meet her gaze even as he drew breath to speak.
“I need a moment to think.”
Offering nothing more, Seamus stood and left the room with Flora still reeling in it.
