The Strength of a High and Noble Hill (An Outlander Story)

Chapter 52: A Confession, a Warning and a Truce

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has voted on chapters, commented and adding this story to their reading lists.

——

"Fuck." Brynmor curses, jumping off the table and trying to fix his clothes but Brian is faster. Never in his life has he dressed so quickly but before he knows it he is bolting from the room in Da's wake, Brynmor's voice calling out behind him.

"Da! Wait!"

He catches up with his father as he strides across the camp, grabbing his arm to pull him to a stop.

"Da—" Brian tries to speak but he gets cut off.

"Mo mhac, I dinna ken wha' I saw but we dinna need te speak of it." Da interrupts, looking uncomfortable and shifty.

"Da—"

"I dinna want te speak of it, mo mhac, ye understand?" Da interrupts again. His tone is desperate, almost begging for Brian to stop. "Have ye told yer mother?"

"No, and not Ellen either. It's– it's not exactly a welcome thing still, back in our old time." Brian sighs and asks hesitantly, "Are you– are you mad?"

He can't have Da disappointed in him, one father was bad enough. Maybe Lord John was right about not letting his Da know.

"I ken it's yer business. Tis' something I dinna want to see if me own son. Man or woman." He says instead and then pauses for a moment, looking uncomfortable. "Is it? Or..." 

"Oh, um, both, er, I like both." Brian clears his throat, shifting on his feet uncontrollably. This is not something he thought he'd be explaining to Jamie Fraser.

"Ye ken the dangers, no? Ye and... er Mr Jones, ye ken kno' it's dangerous for ye both." Parental worry is written all over Da's face.

"We're being careful—"

"No, Brian. Ye canna keep doing this. Dinna argue with me." Da counters. "Now, ye need to help yer mother."

Brian's heartbreaks but he nods, departing to his mother's infirmary with a heavy heart. Da never said he wasn't mad or disappointed in him.

——

The troops are now installed on the West Bank of Alamance Creek with the regulators on the other side, two thousand of them. Double Tryon's figures. Things had ratcheted up when Tryon learnt that General Waddell's brigade was ambushed by Murtagh and his men and had their munitions destroyed. The general's troops were forced to retreat. Tryon was enraged by the news and made the quick decision to have the battle here.

Brynmor had soon scarpered after Da discovered them. Brian doesn't blame him and now that Da knows, he probably won't see Brynmor for a while.

Brian worries for his father's godfather as Tryon is determined to fight. Reverend Caldwell's plea from the Regulators to settle the matter without bloodshed, offering Tryon a list of demands from the rebels doesn't stop him. Tryon demands nothing less than surrender since he can't let their blatant disregard for the law go unpunished.

As they wait, preparing themselves for the inevitable, Brian looks up from where he's playing mumblety-peg with Murdo Lindsay and Geordie Chisholm to see Ellen arrive across camp on horseback. She looks anxious and exhausted as she dismounts. He rushes towards her, converging on her as his parents and Roger do.

What's she doing here? She was half a day away in Hillsborough at the Sherstons with Lizzie and Jemmy. She must've galloped at full speed to arrive on time.

"What are you doing here?" Brian asks Ellen, frantic, once they're all inside the tent. "Did something happen? Is Jem okay?"

"He's fine," Ellen assures him. "I'm here because I have information about this fight and how it turns out."

"What do you mean?"

Ellen unrolls on the map and points to Alamance Creek. "Look." She gestures for them all to look at the map on the table, speaking in a low voice despite the five of them being in a more private space and she points out a small marking on it that reads Great Alamace Creek, where they currently are. He tries not to think about how it seems that Da is keeping his distance from him as they gather around it. "It happens here at the creek and the militia will win."

They all go quiet, their minds turning with so many more questions and fears.

"How do you know this?" Brian asks first. "I thought there was nothing recorded about the Regulators. I never learned anything about this in school."

"It was a footnote in one of my classes at Harvard. We barely talked about it. I–I knew the name Alamance sounded familiar, I just didn't know from where. But when I saw it on the map at the Sherstons, it just hit me."

"How many lives are lost?" Is Da's first thought.

"I don't know numbers or details. Like I said, my professor mentioned it very briefly. But he did say that some people consider this to be the spark of the American Revolution."

Brian is having a hard time wrapping his head around this. "That doesn't make any sense. If it's such an important event, then why do none of us know about it?"

An answer to his question is cut off by Roger. "But the Regulators aren't tryin' te overthrow the Crown. They aren't fightin' fer independence."

"No, but they are rebelling against corruption and unfair taxes," Mama points out.

"Yer certain Tryon wins?" Da asks Ellen again, needing the confirmation.

She is blunt. "Yes."

Da steps away, trying to process this new information and what to do with it.

"We can't let this happen. The battle, I mean." Brian states. "We can't let those men go to their deaths."

Da glances at him before hurriedly looking away causing Mama to look at them oddly.

"I must get a message te Murtagh." Da declares. He comes back to the table. "If he can be warned the Regulators are doomed te fail, then maybe he can convince his men te retreat and lives will be spared on both sides."

An unfortunate realisation comes over Ellen's face and she bends over to lean on the table. "Wait. If we do stop this fight now, what if... doesn't that mean the Revolutionary War won't happen? And America will never become America."

"Ye say some people believe this is the spark. Couldn't the spark alight from somewhere else?"

"Yes, it could." Mama agrees.

"There's the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party." Brian puts in. "The Massacre has already so there's already talk up North of revolution. History has its way of playing out, no matter what obstacles we throw in its way."

Da goes on, "Wha' matters are the men in my charge, the Regulators fightin' fer wha' they believe in and my godfather."

"I agree," Roger says. "If America is supposed to be born... history will find another way to get there. I'll deliver the message te Murtagh."

Da nods, surprised by Roger's sacrifice. "It's too dangerous." He tells him.

Ellen doesn't say anything, but the immediate ghostly pale that washed over her face at her husband's suggestion speaks for her.

"Then I'll go with him." Brian declares.

If anything, Ellen turns paler while Mama staggers on her feet.

His mother steps forward, hand stretched out. "Brian—"

"Roger's right." Brian cuts her off, knowing his resolve will weaken if he listens or looks at her. "We need to warn Murtagh and who better than two people he knows are from the future?"

Roger's eyes widen as he reads between the lines, realising that Brian is putting his life on the line to protect him. To keep him safe.

Da clenches he's his jaw and then nods. He reminds them to keep their cockades in their pockets and hands them a white handkerchief, instructing them on what to do.

Brian puts the handkerchief in his pocket and looks at his sister, who looks at him, proud, but terrified.

He can do this.

——

A/N: mo mhac = my son