"Robert."
Robert looked up and instantly came to his feet. "Katie! What are you doing here?" He came around his desk and took her in his arms. "What's wrong? You're so pale." He framed her face with his hands. "Are you ill?"
"William is calling a meeting. He needs you to be there."
Robert led her over to the couch in front of the fire and sat her down. He sat beside her and held her close. "Of course I'll come. But tell me what's wrong."
William looked up as his sister came through the door with Robert. They where in an old barn. William, Stephen and Hamish where waiting. Monray and Craig where there as well.
Wordlessly, Hamish put a spearman's chestplate against a hay bale and Stephen tucked a melon behind the armor.
William pulled the crossbow out and cranked it back to it's full position and placed a bolt in its slot.
Robert stared.
William aimed and fired. The bolt slashed through the air and slammed into the chest plate and shattered the melon. It left no doubt as to what it would do to a man's heart.
There was dead silence.
"That is why the Pope outlawed the weapon!" Craig looked at William. "It makes war too terrible."
"How many does Longshanks have?" asked Mornay.
"A thousand," said Katie.
"We must sue for peace," said Craig.
"Peace?" both William and Katie exclaimed.
"We cannot defeat this," said Craig.
"With cavalry. Not heavy, like the English, but light, fast horsemen, like you nobles employ, we could outmaneuver their bowmen," said William.
"It's suicide." Craig looked at Robert.
"William," began Robert. He could tell William was about to explode and was trying to intervene.
"We won at Stirling and still you argue! We won at York and you would not support us! Then I said nothing! Now I say you are cowards!" shouted William.
"William!" Katie ran forward and threw her arms around her brother and clung to him.
Still glaring at the nobles, William held his sister.
Robert came forward and took William's arm and guided him, still holding his sister, away from the other nobles. "You and your sister Katie have achieved more than anyone dreamed. But fighting against these odds looks like rage, not courage. Peace offers its rewards. Has war become a habit you cannot break?"
"War finds me willing. I know it won't bring back all I have lost. But it can bring what none of us have ever had…a country of our own. For that we need a king. We need you."
Katie gripped her brother tighter.
"I am trying," said Robert.
"There is strength in you. I see it. and I know it," said William.
"I…I must consult with my father."
That night, William, Hamish and Stephen looked up as Katie appeared.
"I have an idea," she said clearly.
"What is it?" asked William.
"Maybe…Maybe we should try dogs."
They stared at her.
In the dark of his Father's room, Robert sat across from his father, his head in his hands. "This is not the way…It cannot be the way."
"You, and you alone, can rule Scotland. What I tell you, you must do. For yourself, and for your country."
Robert jumped to his feet and left the room.