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

Chapter 54: Fighting to Survive

"Leave? No, he can't leave, not again."

– Brian Ian Randall Fraser

Claire watches solemnly after her husband as he strides out of the medical tent, finally accepting the terrible reality. His British army uniform's harsh red stinging her eyes with a fuller red stain on it, the blood of his godfather. His worst nightmare has come true... His godfather is dead. The pain is unbearable.

Claire places her shaking hands on the table before her, smoke-stained and weary. A table that now carries the dead weight of Murtagh upon it. She gives her friend's body one last glance before she places a sheet over him to protect him from view before quickly moving to pack some of her equipment away so as to join the search party for her son and son-in-law.

The battle went as expected, and had been a success for the British. Claire and Ellen had focused entirely on their patients in the medical tent, trying not to think about how they were both still missing. The despair returns when the battle is over and still neither has appeared. A number of the men had offered to join the search party, an offer that made Claire thankful for the offer of help, but this meant time, time to move a larger group. Weapons were cleaned, canteens refilled, and cast-off shoes located.

Claire pauses when she becomes aware of some disturbance at the edge of the meadow. She emerges to see a young woman, evidently in a dreadful state, heading toward them at a lopsided trot. She is slightly built and limping badly due to what appears to be a missing shoe but still half-running, supported on one side by Murdo Lindsay.

"Fraser." She gasps. "Fraser!" She lets go of Murdo and pushes her way through the waiting men, her eyes raking the faces as she passes, searching. Her brown hair is tangled and full of leaves, her face scratched and bloody. "James F–fraser... I must– are you...?" She is panting for breath, her chest heaving and her face red.

Jamie steps forward and takes her by the arm. Claire notes that now he no longer wears his red jacket, his hair more ruffled than earlier. His eyes have gone from pain and shock to entirely focused on the young woman in front of him.

"I'm Jamie Fraser, lass." He says. "Is it me ye want?"

She nods, gasping, but struggles to speak. Claire hastily pours a cup of water and offers it to her, but the woman shakes her head violently, instead waving her arms in agitation, gesturing wildly toward the creek.

"Rog–er, Bri–an..." She gets out, gulping air like a landed fish. "Roger. MacKen–zie. B–rian. Fra–se–r..."

Before the final syllable leaves her mouth, Claire seizes the young woman's arm, as much to compel answers as to provide support. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Jamie and Ellen right next to her. "Where are they? Are they hurt?"

The girl's head bobs up and down, shakes back and forth and she gasps out, "Hang... they–they are... hanging him! Gov–ner!"

Ellen immediately runs for the horses. Claire curses under her breath then thrusts the cup of water into Hugh Findlay's startled hands, catches up the sack with her emergency kit and runs for her own horse, leaving the brown-haired woman collapsed on the grass, vomiting from her effort. Jamie is already there, untying reins with swift intensity. Without a word, he stoops, hands cupped; Ellen steps up and swings into the saddle, kicking the horse into motion before Jamie has reached his own but he and Claire soon get on their own and the horses disappear into the willows.

——

The sound of the rope against the tree causes his blood to run cold. Roger, still gagged and bound, stares at the tree in horror, at the sight of Brian's and the other men's bodies hanging from the huge white oak. Three stick figures, dangling broken in the tree's deep shadow. The Regulator prisoners around him shifty uncomfortably, trying not to look at the bodies, likely out of fear of being reminded that this is their likely fate but Roger watches on in desperation, eyes flickering over to the British soldiers guarding them now and again to see if there was a chance for him to flee, to find Jamie, Claire and Ellen.

"Regulators. Sentenced for their crimes." One of the soldiers explains to someone.

Roger looks up to see familiar sets of bright red hair along and brown curls. Roger immediately staggers over to them, pushing against the soldiers trying to stop him.

"Roger!" Ellen cries out, flinging herself towards him.

The soldiers try to pull her back from him but Roger hears Jamie demand they let go of them and why his own son-in-law is being treated this way. Militia men swarm around them, demanding similar answers. Ellen ignores them, taking off his gag and binds.

"Roger," Claire steps up to him, the surgeon's eyes flickering over him for any serious injury, "are you alright?"

"Y–" He lets out a cough, "y–yes."

"Where's Brian?"

Roger gasps, letting out another cough. "T–there." He points a shaky finger towards the tree. He sees, as the Fraser family looks over towards the tree, how it's as if a hammer has struck one final blow and their hearts have shattered like ice.

"Brian!" Ellen cries.

Jamie rushes towards the tree but the hooded men are completely motionless, with no sign of life.

"I'll hold him! Cut him down!" Jamie speaks.

Roger watches as Jamie, the Lindsay brothers and Quincy Myers take hold of Brian's body round the middle, lifting slightly to take the strain off the rope. Keeping him steady as he's cut down, quickly removing the gag and the hood. Jamie is franticly begging, full of apologies, Ellen's sobbing. As he reaches the ground, Jamie holds him around his chest. He stops, waiting a few seconds to see if he is really feeling what he thought he was.

"He's breathing!" He exclaims. "He's breathing! Claire!"

The noose has sunk deep in his flesh; Claire gropes frenziedly for her penknife. Ellen grabs it from her mother, clawing and ripping at it; tears soaking her cheeks. The last strand pops and she yanks it free.

Roger slumps next to Brian, watching him worriedly. He isn't breathing visibly; no obvious movement of the chest, no twitch of lips or nostrils. His features have gone slack, the tissue of his neck swollen and his lips and the blood vessels in his eyes have burst, and Roger tries his best not to flinch when he looks down into them.

Ellen holds his face and strokes his face gently. "You're going to be ok, Brian." She whispers.

Roger, not knowing what to do, grips Brian's hand as Claire makes quick work by making an incision in her son's neck. Roger grimaces at the sight. Jamie watches over them all worriedly, his eyes focused on his son's unconscious face.

Claire takes the pipe of one of the Redcoat officers standing around and breaks the end piece off. After dousing it in alcohol, she places the small tube into the incision to help him breathe easier. He still isn't moving.

"Ellen, talk to him. See if you can get him to wake up." Claire instructs.

"Brian, can you hear me? It's Ellen. It's me. I'm right here. You need to wake up. Please, please wake up." His wife pleads.

Slowly, Brian's eyes open. They all let out enormous collective breaths of relief. Brian doesn't move his body. Only his eyes go from person to person.

"Yer alive. Yer whole. All is weel." Jamie says to him.

Brian doesn't reply, only blinking at his father. His breath still raspy and strangled.

"We need to get him back to my tent. Now." Claire orders.

Jamie, Myers and the Lindsays all carefully lift Brian so that he is still flat and carry him as fast and as safely as possible back to camp. Ellen and Claire pull Roger up and they follow after the group.

Roger repeats the same words in his head.

Brian's alive. Brian's alive. Brian's alive.