"No, Briga, I'm making myself well again." She let Briga raise her after a while. Later, she walked back to the castle with her servant and friend. At the entrance to the great hall, Elen stopped.

"Briga, will you trust me? I promise not to run away, nor will I do anything I ought not to do, but I need a little time alone to think about what I have learned today. Grant me that time, please."

"I believe you. I do have something to see to in the kitchen." Briga smiled, a conspiratorial woman's smile. "Mistress, I think you should know that Lord Patric has had no other woman in all the months he has lived here without you."

The moment Briga's back was turned, Elen ran to the master's chamber. Briga had opened her bundle of clothing the night before and had taken the few crumpled and stained garments away to be cleaned and repaired. Elen's personal belongings she had arranged on the long table. They were there now, before the gleaming mirror and candlesticks Conal mac Duff had sent her. There was her bone comb, a tiny jar of herbal salve to put on cuts or blisters, and the small carved wooden box she had made certain to take with her on the flight toward Burghead.

She lifted Talcoran's charmstone out of the box, held the cool white pebble and turned it over and over, seeing the painted blue circles on it through blurred eyes and remembering the night he had given it to her.

Toward the end of the afternoon she left the bedchamber and made her way down the stairs and out of the castle when no one was looking, to return to the little cemetery. There she knelt between the graves of her husband and her son

"It's time to give it back," she said, and kissed the charmstone and laid it on Talcoran's grave. "I loved you. I will always love you, and the children we had. I did the best I could, Talcoran, but the war is over, and Malcolm has won, and I must live with that. I hope you would understand. I believe you would have forgiven me, if I could have told you everything."

It was becoming darker, and the April evening air was cool, but Elen did not notice. She was at peacefor the first time since she had learned of Talcoran's death nearly ten months before. She sat on theground with one hand on Talcoran's grave and one on Colin's, while the night grew deeper around herand the guilt and pain ebbed from her forever She did not move until she heard the quiet footsteps. Thenshe rose and went to meet him.

"Briga thought you might be here," he said."I know I disobeyed, leaving the castle without her," Elen began."It doesn't matter. Briga explained.""How can I thank you for this? To do such a thing for an enemy.""I tried to tell you months ago, but you were too upset to listen. Elen, Talcoran was no enemy of mine.We were almost friends, long ago. All honest warriors recognize and respect each other, even when theymust fight on opposite sides."

"He once said something similar about you," Elen said, recalling Macbeth's great feast at Forres Castlewhen he was newly made king. "I spoke disparagingly of you, and Talcoran said if Duncan had won thewar you would be the king's honored friend, and he would be the one called traitor. He would not let mespeak ill of you that day."

"I would not willingly have known you married to any one but me," Patric told her, "But of all the men Macbeth might have chosen for you, Talcoran was the best."

"I loved him." She was almost defiant about it, but the despair of recent days was gone from her voice.

"I know you did." There was no reproach in his tone."I love you now.""Are you certain?""Yes. Seeing this place, knowing what you did for us, and for Lulach, all of this has released me from thepast. I've said good-bye." She stopped, to swallow the lump in her throat and blink away the lastremaining tears. "Will you forgive me for leaving you and have me for your wife, Patric?"

He flung his head back and took a deep breath, looking into the darkening sky. Above the loch a brilliant star sparkled, its intense blue-white light reflected in the quiet waters. A little below and to the right of it twinkled a smaller, dimmer star.

"I will," he said. "Come."

He led the way down the hill toward the castle. He stopped before the entrance and looked up again.

The stars were brighter now, and starlight glimmered on Elen's black hair like a lover's tender caress.

"How beautiful Laggan is," Patric murmured

his eyes on the two stars, and then on Elen's upturned face."It is home," she responded. "Welcome home,Patric." , ,"Welcome home, my love." He took her hand, and they went through the entrance together.

Epilogue.

On the first day of February of the Year of Our Lord 1059, the Countess of Laggan, despite having reached the advanced age of thirty-six, presented her husband with a healthy son. By mutual consent the child was named Duncan. On March 3, 1060, the Earl and Countess of Laggan produced their second child, a daughter, named Fionna Elen.

They lived happily at Laggan for more than fifty years, seldom traveling to the royal court, but visiting Fionna and Conal mac Duff in Fife at least once a year.

Elen lived to the age of eighty-five. A week after her peaceful death, Patric mac Keith, first Earl of Laggan, quietly followed his only love into the next world.

Historical Note.

On April 25, A.D. 1058, Malcolm III was inaugurated as King of Alba at Scone. He reigned for thirty-five years. In 1059, he married Ingebjorg, Thorfinn's widow, who gave him his eldest son, Duncan, and then died. In 1068, Malcolm married Princess Margaret, sister of Edgar the Atheling and grand-niece of that same King Edward who had once given him refuge in England. Under the influence of his saintly second wife, who bore him six sons and two daughters, Malcolm gradually tempered his more violent character traits and enjoyed a happy married life, at last becoming the great king his youthful supporters had believed he could be. It was during the reign of Malcolm's and Margaret's youngest son, David I (1124-55), that Alba began to be commonly called Scotland.

Lulach's widow was allowed to live peacefully in Moray with her children. Maelsnechta, Mormaer of Moray by inheritance from his father, lived until 1085. His descendants held the t.i.tle of Earl of Moray.

Author's Note.

The character of King Macbeth was vilified by his successor, Malcolm, and by subsequent historians until this charismatic leader was reduced to the tyrannical murderer shown in Shakespeare's great play. Macbeth's contemporaries were more charitable toward him, calling him a wise and just ruler who was no more bloodthirsty than other kings of his time, and his claim to the throne of Alba was unquestionably stronger than Duncan's.

The following are all historical characters: Macbeth, Gruach, Lulach, his son Maelsnechta, Earl Thorfinn the Mighty of Orkney and his Ingebjorg, Thorfinn's friend and lieutenant Thorkill Fostri, Earl Siward the Strong of Northumbria who was Macbeth's great nemesis, King Duncan and his sons Malcolm, Donald, and Maelmuire, Duncan's father Crinan of Dunkeld and nephew Moddan, and Macdowald, who revolted against Duncan.

Historians dispute whether mac Duff the Thane of Fife ever lived. My depiction of him is purely imaginary, and my version of his escape to England is loosely based on Sir Walter Scott's romantic account of the incident.

All other characters in this book are entirely fictional.

GLOSSARY.

Alba.

One of the ancient names for Scotland. At the time of this story, the Western Isles and the northern provinces of Caithness and Sutherland belonged to the Norse earls of Orkney, while a portion of what is today southern Scotland was claimed by England and was in constant dispute.

Ard Ri, or Adrigh.

The High King, who was elected from among the tribal chieftains.

Duncan mac Crinan.

Designated heir to the crown by his grandfather in an attempt to change the ancient Law of Tanistry, he ruled as King of Alba from 1034 to 1039.

Dunedin.

The Gaelic name for Edinburgh.

Dunfermline.

Duncan's seat of government, near the Firth of Forth.

Firth.

An inlet or arm of the sea. The word is related to the Norse word fjord.

444.

Law of Tanistry.

In order to keep a mature male on the throne, the crown of Alba pa.s.sed not to the son of the late king, but to the king's brother or cousin. Only after this successor had died could the son become eligible, a system which frequently led to murder and family feuds.

Loch.

Gaelic word for lake.

mac.

Gaelic for "son of." For example, Patric mac Keith meant Patric son of Keith.

Macbeth.

This was a personal name. It was common from the 11th to the 14th centuries and was spelled several ways. it means "son of life." His full name was Macbeth mat Finleac, Macbeth son of Finleac. The rightful king by the old Law of Tanistry, Macbeth represented the tribal and northern people of Alba, in contrast to Duncan and his family, who favored succession by direct inheritance and were affiliated by marriage and customs with the south and the much-hated English.

Moray.Macbeth's lands in the north of Alba.Mormaer.The t.i.tle means "sea steward" and was originally connected with coastal defense. The mormaers wereconsidered sub-kings, or king's deputies, and collected the royal revenues. The rank was hereditary.

Picts.

The ancient inhabitants of Scotland, conquered by the Scots of Dalriada in A.D. 843.

Scone.

Near present-day Perth, this was the location of the palace of the High Kings of the Picts. When the Scots and Picts were united under Kenneth mac Alpin, Scone

became his capital, and, later, the sacred place where kings were crowned.

Stone of Destiny, or Stone of Scone.

The coronation throne of the Kings of Alba. The stone described in the old chronicles was hollowed out like a chair, with carvings in the Pictish style, very different from the stone King Edward I of England carried off to Westminster Abbey in 1296.

Thane, Thanage.

Thanes were high officers of the king who administered portions of the royal lands. They themselves held substantial estates within these lands. The t.i.tle was hereditary, and the lands they held were called shires Important n.o.blemen and bishops could appoint their own thanes.

end.