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Outlander Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Outlander novel. A total of 245 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : PART ONE
Inverness, 1945
1
A NEW BEGINNING
It wasn’t a very likely place for disappearan
PART ONE
Inverness, 1945
1
A NEW BEGINNING
It wasn’t a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance. Mrs. Baird’s was like a thousand other Highland bed-and-breakfast establishments in 1945; clean and quiet, with fading floral wallpaper,
- 103 But strangest of all was Jenny’s absence. She was the hearthfire of Lallybroch; I had never been in the house when it was not suffused with her presence, all the inhabitants in orbit about her like planets about the sun. I could think of nothing less like
- 104 “It’s a thought,” she said, teeth flas.h.i.+ng in a brief, reluctant smile. “If I could drag your stubborn carca.s.s that far, I’d club ye myself.” She shook her head and sighed. “All right, Jamie, ye’ll have it your way. But ye’ll try not to make a mess
- 105 I searched helplessly for words to rea.s.sure her. “But I won’t. I won’t go again. I only want to stay here with him—always.” I laid a hand on her arm and she stiffened slightly. After a moment, she laid her own hand over mine. It was chilled, and the tip
- 106 Ned Gowan inclined his head ceremoniously. “Weel, ye must understand,” he began, “that a successful suit brought under the charges as described might result in Miss MacKenzie and her brother mulcting ye in substantial damages—verra substantial indeed,” he
- 107 “No,” Jenny said again, but I thought her heart wasn’t in it. Ian was already nodding thoughtfully. “Would ye take him with ye to France, too, Jamie?” Jamie nodded. “Aye, that’s the thing. I shall have to leave Lallybroch, and stay away for a good bit, f
- 108 “Jamie!” I shrieked, as loudly as I could. He looked up from the rocks at his feet, saw where I was pointing, and hurled himself flat in the rubble as the gun went off. The report wasn’t terribly loud, but there was a sort of whistling noise past my head
- 109 Jamie’s face was flushed from the climb, but at my words, the blood drained from his cheeks. His hands tightened on the bundle. “Oh, aye,” he said, very softly, with great bitterness. “Aye, I shall go home and tell my sister that I have lost her youngest
- 110 Jared eyed him dubiously, well aware of his response to seagoing craft of any kind. Jamie could scarcely set foot on a s.h.i.+p at anchor without going green; the prospect of his crossing the Atlantic, sealed inescapably in a small and constantly tossing
- 111 “I believe he’s gone to sleep in the stable.” Jamie yawned, and stretched himself luxuriously. “Mathilde said she wasna accustomed to have heathens in the house and didna mean to start now. She was sprinkling the kitchen wi’ holy water after he ate supper
- 112 Jamie listened with attention, a slight smile on his lips. While he had no great interest in ancient money himself, he did have a great appreciation for a man with a pa.s.sion. A quarter of an hour more, another consultation of the catalogue, and the busi
- 113 Mr. Willoughby, who did not speak French, was peering with marked contempt at a porcelain jar painted with pheasants, done in an Oriental style. “Thank you,” I said, “but I think not. I’ll try Krasner.” Mr. Willoughby had attracted relatively little atten
- 114 “Especially when they’re asleep,” I said, looking down again at the little white stone. “You can always see the baby then.” “Ah.” Mother nodded, satisfied. “I thought you had had more children; you have the look, somehow.” “One more.” I glanced at her. “A
- 115 The sound of a galloping horse echoed along the sh.o.r.e, the scrunch of hoofbeats on gravel echoing from the cliffside well in advance of its appearance. “There he is, the wee fool,” Jamie said, his relief evident in voice and body. He turned to Captain
- 116 “I can’t,” I said. “There weren’t any dates on it. Just your name—and mine.” “Yours?” His eyes popped open. I nodded again, feeling my throat tighten at the memory of that granite slab. It had been what they call a “marriage stone,” a quarter-circle carve
- 117 Jamie and Fergus had similar berths. Jamie was lying on his side, wedged into one of these like a snail into its sh.e.l.l; one of which beasts he strongly resembled at the moment, being a pale and viscid gray in color, with streaks of green and yellow tha
- 118 “The New Testament?” I saw no particular relevance to that, and said so. “Oh, but there is, milady—or might be, I should say,” Fergus corrected himself. “You see, the booklet was one that milord himself had printed.” “I see,” I said slowly, “or at least I
- 119 Slowly, the other eye opened. He said nothing, but the pair of blue orbs swiveled around, resting on me with an expression of such ferocious eloquence that I hastily withdrew the pickle. The eyelids drooped slowly shut once more. I surveyed the wreckage,
- 120 I saw the normal run of crushed fingers, burnt hands, skin infections, abscessed teeth, and digestive ills, but in a crew of only thirty-two men, there was seldom enough work to keep me busy beyond the hour of sick call each morning. In consequence, both
- 121 His face began to relax, just slightly. “You took me from need,” he said. “When we wed.” “And I came back for love,” I said. “Do you think I needed you any less, only because I could feed myself?” The lines of his face eased, and the shoulder under my han
- 122 I probed for the gallbladder, just in case, wondering as I did so just what I would do, should it prove to be an acute attack of cholecyst.i.tis or an inflamed appendix. I could envision the cavity of the belly in my mind, as though it lay open in fact be
- 123 “Oh, ’twas the blood poison,” he said, casually. “I tore a small hole in my hand wi’ a nail one day, and it festered.” I stared at the sleeve, empty from the shoulder. “I suppose it did,” I said faintly. “Oh, aye. It was a lucky thing, though; it was that
- 124 The cells were not large, and the men lay close together for warmth in the night. With no modesty save darkness, and no privacy save silence, it was impossible to remain unaware of the accommodation each man made to his own needs. “I was in irons for more
- 125 “Why, that perverted little beast!” Jamie laughed at my indignation. “Aye, well, that’s about what the crew thinks, too. Of course, he canna get quite the same effect wi’ a European woman, but I gather he…tries, now and then.” I began to understand the ge
- 126 Triumphant shouts from the boat, and a spreading circle of deep red in the water. There was a tremendous thras.h.i.+ng as one shark was gaffed and hauled behind the small boat by a rope about its tail. Then everything was confusion, as the men in the boat
- 127 I paused one day to watch Mr. Willoughby at his work, staying out of sight behind the shelter of the mast. He sat for a moment, a look of quiet satisfaction on his face, contemplating the finished page. I couldn’t read the characters, of course, but the s
- 128 Once reaching the coast, he had made his way to the waterfront, and tried there to pa.s.s himself off as a seaman, but failed utterly, as his fingers, so skillful with brush and ink, knew nothing of the art of knots and lines. There were several foreign s
- 129 She stopped and sighed. I sat quietly, waiting. When she resumed, it was haltingly, as though she had trouble choosing her words. “I canna remember my father. I was only three when the English took him away. But I was old enough when my mother wed—wed Jam
- 130 “You are the captain of this s.h.i.+p?” The Englishman’s eyes were red-rimmed from tiredness, but he picked Raines from the crowd of grim-faced hands at a glance. “I am acting captain Thomas Leonard, of His Majesty’s s.h.i.+p Porpoise. For the love of G.o
- 131 If not for the headache, it could be simple gastroenteritis—but not with this many men stricken. Something very contagious indeed, and I was fairly sure what. Not malaria, coming from Europe to the Caribbean. Typhus was a possibility; spread by the common
- 132 “Well…” Mr. Overholt looked profoundly uneasy. “There is a small quant.i.ty of dried figs, ten pound of sugar, some coffee, a quant.i.ty of Naples biscuit, and a large cask of Madeira wine, but of course we cannot use that.” “Why not?” I stared at him, an
- 133 “Ma’am, Ruthven says as somebody’s been a-drinking of the pure alcohol again.” Elias Pound popped up at my elbow, his round pink face looking drawn and wan, substantially thinned by the pressures of the last few days. I said something extremely bad, and
- 134 Elias was the natural place to begin. I waited until the end of the day to ask, trusting to fatigue to dull his natural curiosity. “Tompkins?” The boy’s round face drew together in a brief frown, then cleared. “Oh, yes, ma’am. One o’ the forecastle hands.
- 135 “But what about the Customs officer who was killed on the road?” I asked sharply. I couldn’t repress a small shudder, at memory of that dreadful face. “Who did that? There were only five men among the smugglers who could possibly have done it, and none of
- 136 My mind followed the same dizzying lines my feet had traveled earlier, seeing faces—faces contorted in anguish or smoothing slowly in the slackness of death, but all of them looking at me. At me. I lifted my futile hand and slammed it hard against the rai
- 137 “No sore ear,” I said, in explanation, and Annekje nodded in approval. Then the goatling was free, and went plunging back into the herd, to b.u.t.t its head against its mother’s side in a frantic search for milky rea.s.surance. Annekje looked about for th
- 138 “See—Caicos Pa.s.sage,” she said, sketching a pair of lines. At the top, between the lines, she sketched the small triangle of a sail. “Go through,” she said, indicating the Caicos Pa.s.sage, “but mast is gone. Now—” She quickly drew several irregular cir
- 139 All right, then, which way? Toward the mountain; it was the only thing I could see above the sea of mangroves. I pushed my way through the branches as fast as I could, ignoring the ripping of my skirts and the increasing pull of each wave on my legs. The
- 140 I breathed in deeply, a lovely smell of gra.s.s and flowers, with minor notes of sheep and sun-warmed dust. A brown speck lighted for a moment on my sleeve and clung, long enough for me to see the velvet scales on its wing, and the tiny curled hose of its
- 141 “Fried plantain, mixed with manioc and red beans,” Lawrence explained, seeing my hesitation. He took a large spoonful of the steaming pulp himself and ate it without pausing for it to cool. I had expected something of an inquisition about my presence, ide
- 143 “I have seen one such cave,” he added reflectively. “Abandawe, the Maroons call it. They consider it a most sinister and sacred spot, though I do not know why.” Encouraged by my close attention, he took another gulp of sangria and continued his natural hi
- 144 “Murphy!” I said, and kissed him, caught up in the joy of the moment. “Hoy!” he said, shocked. He wriggled madly, trying to get out from under me. “Milady!” Fergus appeared at my side, crumpled and vivid, his beautiful smile dazzling in a sun-dark face. “
- 145 “Let go! I’ll tell you, but for pity’s sake, let go!” Jamie lessened his grasp, but didn’t let go. “Tell me where my wife is!” he said, in a tone that had made stronger men than Harry Tompkins fall over their feet to obey. “She’s lost!” the man blurted. “
- 146 “Maman has seen much worse than you,” the little girl a.s.sured him. “Come on!” He smiled and thanked her, and allowed them to lead him down the hill, staggering slightly, as his land legs had not yet returned. He found it odd but somehow comforting that
- 147 The sentry near the trees paced slowly up and down, musket carried at the ready, a wistful eye on the cool green shadows. He pa.s.sed close enough on one circuit for me to see the dark, greasy curls dangling down his neck, and the pockmarks on his plump c
- 148 “Mr. Fraser will do,” Jamie a.s.sured him, taking the tray with bowl and razor in one hand. “A less seaworthy captain doesna bear thinking of.” He paused, listening to the thump of feet above our heads. “Though since I am the captain,” he said slowly, “I
- 149 “All right. What’s happened to this Arabella, though? Has one of the crew debauched her?” “I suppose you might say that.” I drew breath to explain further, but before I could speak, another knock sounded on the door. “Can a man not dress in peace?” Jamie
- 150 “This man,” he said, with a nod toward Fergus, “and this woman,” with another toward Marsali. “Marry them, Father. Now. Please,” he added, as an obvious afterthought, and stood back a pace, restoring order among the audience by dint of dark glances from s
- 151 “I wasn’t planning to take up residence here,” I said tartly. “I don’t care what they think.” Not pausing to argue further, I began walking down the road, toward a distant murmur of noise that I took to be the slave market. “Yer face will…get…red!” Murphy
- 152 “Villiers didna ken. He said he had spoken some time wi’ the captain of the Bruja, and the man seemed verra secretive about where he’d been and what he’d been doing. Villiers thought no great thing of it, knowin’ as the Bruja has a reputation as a crook s
- 153 “What in the name of G.o.d—” Jamie began. A rending crash drowned his words, and he pitched sideways, eyes wide with alarm, as the cabin tilted. The stool I was on fell over, throwing me onto the floor. The oil lamp had shot from its bracket, luckily exti
- 154 “I am not going to die,” I said crossly, “unless it’s from heat exhaustion. Take some of this b.l.o.o.d.y stuff off me!” Marsali, who had been tearfully pleading with me not to expire, looked rather relieved at this outburst. She stopped crying and sniffe
- 155 “I dinna want to know how ye did this,” he said, with a sigh, “but for G.o.d’s sake, Sa.s.senach, don’t do it again!” “Well, I didn’t intend to do anything…” I began crossly, when I was interrupted by the return of Mr. Willoughby. He was carrying the litt
- 156 I moved closer to him, and his hand rose up from the shadows to take mine. “Men fell to either side of me, and I could hear the grapeshot and the musket b.a.l.l.s hum past my head like b.u.mblebees. But I wasna touched.” He had reached the British lines u
- 157 The man stared impa.s.sively at Jamie for a moment, eyes still as tide pools. Then one eyebrow flicked up and he extended his bound feet before him. “Bene-bene, amiki?” he said, with an ironic intonation that couldn’t be missed, whatever the language. Is
- 158 Ishmael snorted briefly, but complied, pausing only to refresh himself from the tray of food Fergus had brought. Fergus himself lounged against the door, watching the prisoner through half-lidded eyes. “They be twelve boys talkin’ strange, like you.” Jami
- 159 “That’s verra sensible of ye, Sa.s.senach,” Jamie said, sounding faintly surprised that I was capable of sense. For that matter, I was a little surprised myself; my thoughts were becoming more fragmented by the moment, and it was an effort to keep talking
- 160 “I’ve a daughter,” he said. “And two grandsons; bonny lads. But I’m forgetting; you’ll have seen them last week, aye?” I had. They came at least twice a week to see him, bringing scribbled school papers and autographed baseb.a.l.l.s to show their grandpa.
- 161 “I dinna believe something only because someone’s set words down in a book—for G.o.d’s sake, I print the d.a.m.n things! I ken verra well just what charlatans and fools some writers are—I see them! And surely I ken the difference between a romance and a f
- 162 By the time he turned back, I had made it out of the berth and was standing—a trifle shakily, but still upright—against the frame. He eyed me critically. “It’s no going to work, Sa.s.senach,” he said, shaking his head. He looked rather regretful, himself.
- 163 As we rounded the tip of the headland, a lithe black figure materialized next to the rail. Now clothed in spare seaman’s clothes, with his scars hidden, Ishmael looked less like a slave and a good deal more like a pirate. Not for the first time, I wondere
- 164 “The cow licked it all off last time she milked me,” he said between his teeth. “For G.o.d’s sake, Sa.s.senach!” I laughed, and returned to my work. At last I stopped and raised myself on my elbows. “I think you’ve had enough,” I said, brus.h.i.+ng hair o
- 165 “Surely one of him is sufficient,” Jamie said dryly. “Given the quality of his opinions.” He picked up the wig and fitted it carefully on his head, raising little puffs of scented powder as he poked it here and there. “Is Mr. Housman an acquaintance of yo
- 166 We knew no one, and had no social sponsor to make introductions. However, due to Jamie’s foresight, we had no need of one. Within moments of our arrival, women had begun to cl.u.s.ter around us, fascinated by Mr. Willoughby. “My acquaintance, Mr. Yi Tien
- 167 I followed the direction of his frown and saw that he was looking at a chubby, jolly-looking woman in her thirties, with light brown hair done in gathered ringlets, who was giggling at Mr. Willoughby. I looked at her with interest. So this was the infamou
- 168 It was another hour before the door opened again, this time to admit the Governor. He was still handsome and neat as a white camellia, but definitely beginning to turn brown round the edges. I set the untouched gla.s.s of brandy down and got to my feet to
- 169 He breathed deeply, and laid down the paperweight. “I suppose there is.” He jerked his head abruptly at the decanter. “Will you have brandy?” “I will,” I said promptly, “and I strongly suggest you have some, too. I expect you need it as much as I do.” A s
- 170 “Ye dinna want me, then?” Grey got to his feet, dusting the seat of his breeches. “I shall probably want you to the day I die,” he said matter-of-factly. “But tempted as I am—” He shook his head, brus.h.i.+ng wet gra.s.s from his hands. “Do you really thi
- 171 “Come see,” he whispered. There was a small herd of manatees in the lagoon, big gray bodies gliding under the dark crystal water, rising gleaming like smooth, wet rocks. Birds were beginning to call in the trees near the house; besides this, the only sou
- 172 The Chinaman had not been found in spite of an intensive search of the town by the island militia. The special detachment of marines from the barracks on Antigua was expected to arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, every house in Kingston was shut up like a
- 173 “Aye, that’s right.” She nodded, eyes still fixed on me in speculation. “So ye found my wee book? Is that how ye knew to come and look for me on Craigh na Dun? It was you, no? That shouted my name, just before I stepped through the stones?” “Gillian,” I s
- 174 MacRae had untied the body and carried it, lolling, to the barrel of pitch ready waiting. “The court granted me the mercy to be weirrit before the burning,” Geillis explained ironically. “So they expected the body to be dead—no difficulty there, if I was
- 175 “Probably a lot more than one,” I said. I pushed the slave gently onto his back and began to palpate his stomach. The spleen was tender and slightly enlarged—also a common finding here—but I felt no suspicious ma.s.ses in the abdomen that might indicate a
- 176 “Did ye have blood to protect you, or stones? I wouldna think ye’d the nerve for blood—but maybe I’m wrong. For surely ye’re stronger than I thought, to have done it three times, and lived through it.” “Blood?” I shook my head, confused. “No. Nothing. I t
- 177 The fishermen who discovered the castaway were more interested in his means of salvation than in the slave himself. Breaking open the cask, however, they were shocked and appalled to find inside the body of a man, somewhat imperfectly preserved by the spi
- 179 “What do you plan to do about Ian?” I asked, once we had made our way back to the path. “I’ll need help,” he answered briskly. “I mean to come up the river with Innes and MacLeod and the rest. There’s a landing there, no great distance from the refinery.
- 180 “Look,” I said, trying to extract myself from his grasp, “you’re quite wrong about Jamie. He had nothing to do with your sister, he told me. He—” “You’ve spoken to him about Margaret?” His grip tightened. I gave a small grunt of discomfort and yanked a bi
- 181 “Just stand still, please, Reverend Campbell,” I said. Hands shaking, I drew the pistol Jamie had given me out of the pocket of my habit and pointed it at him. Rather to my surprise, he did stand still, staring at me as though I had just grown two heads.
- 182 They were not there. The boat floated silently, empty in the shadows of the big cecropia where we had left it, but of Jamie and the rest, there was no sign at all. One of the cane fields lay a short distance to my right, between me and the looming rectang
- 184 “Guests first,” she said politely. “Will you have one lump, Mrs. Malcolm, or two?” I was fortunately saved from answering by Ishmael, who thrust a crude horn cup into my hands, indicating that I should drink from it. Considering the alternative, I raised
- 185 There was no sound save the crackling of the fire. Ishmael stood transfixed, staring at the woman beside me. Then she spoke again, in Brianna’s soft, husky tones. “I love you, Daddy. You too, Mama.” She leaned toward me, and I smelled the fresh blood. Th
- 186 Grey smiled unhappily. “Trouble? Yes, you might call it trouble, with four plantation houses burnt, and over two hundred slaves gone—G.o.d knows where! But I vastly doubt that anyone will take notice of my social acquaintance, under the circ.u.mstances. B
- 187 “Faith is as powerful a force as science,” he concluded, voice soft in the darkness, “—but far more dangerous.” We sat quietly for a time, looking over the bow of the tiny s.h.i.+p, toward the thin slice of darkness that divided the night, darker than the
- 188 If we should not return… He must have felt my grip tighten, for he stopped, and drew me alongside him. “Claire,” he said softly. “I must say something.” I knew already, and groped for his mouth to stop him, but my hand brushed by his face in the dark. He
- 189 I could see nothing; no hint of Jamie’s s.h.i.+rt in front of my face, snowy white as I knew it to be, not even a flicker of the movement of my own light-colored skirts, though I heard them swish about my feet as I walked, the sound blending with that of
- 190 Ian had been taken into the kitchen, where he was stripped, bathed, dressed in a clean s.h.i.+rt—but nothing else—and taken to the main house. “It was just at night,” he said wistfully, “and all the windows lighted. It looked verra much like Lallybroch, w
- 191 “Not pirates,” he said. “It’s the slaves. Look!” Unskilled in the seamans.h.i.+p of large vessels, the escaped slaves of the Yallahs River plantations had evidently made a slow and blundering pa.s.sage toward Hispaniola, and having somehow arrived at that
- 192 The man-of-war swung heavily round this impromptu anchor, and came sliding sideways down the face of a wave. The wall of water towered over the s.h.i.+p, and came cras.h.i.+ng down, catching her broadside. The Porpoise heeled, spun around once. The next w
- 193 I could see a line of large birds flying, a stately procession skimming down the distant sh.o.r.eline. Pelicans, searching the shallows for fish, with the sun gleaming on their wings. I tugged at Jamie’s sleeve and pointed at them. “Look—” I began, but go
- 194 “You have the adamant,” I said, touching it gently. It was still cool to the touch, in spite of being worn so close to his body. “I have,” he said, but he was looking at me, not at the stone, a slight smile on his face. “What is it an adamant gives ye? Th
- 195 I felt as though someone had struck me in the breastbone. My marriages, she meant. I looked for Jamie, and found him looking at me with the same expression of shock I knew was on my own face. He coughed to break the silence, and cleared his throat, turnin
- 196 Both faces were a pale green by now. Finished with the work, I wrapped the foot loosely in gauze bandages, and patted Roger’s leg. “There now,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’ve seen it before. One brave told me that they tickle a bit, gnawing, but it doesn’t hu
- 197 “Thanks.” Fraser had brought a small looking gla.s.s and a pot of shaving soap as well. Very thoughtful. He could have wished that Fraser might have left him alone, rather than leaning against the doorframe, lending a critical eye to the proceedings, but
- 198 “Go ahead,” she said. “Nothing much worth looking at.” Without a word, he stood up and began to undress. “What are you doing?” Her voice was low, but shocked. “Not fair for me to sit here gawking at you, is it? It’s much less worth looking at, I expect, b
- 199 These things all helped, but the general atmosphere of drowsy well-being owed more to the night before than to the events of the morning. It had been a perfect moon-drenched night. Jamie had put out the candle and gone to bolt the door, but instead he sto
- 200 “Oh, ’deed I have, ’deed I have, Mrs. Claire. Halfway up the Mohawk River, to the place they call the Upper Castle.” “The Mohawk?” My heart began to beat faster. “Mm.” He withdrew something from his bag, squinted at it, put it back, and rummaged further.
- 201 Roger nodded. “I have, though not on my own account. You might say it is a message to be pa.s.sed on for someone else.” Jamie lifted one quizzical brow, in a gesture so reminiscent of Brianna that Roger felt a small internal start. To cover it, he coughed
- 202 Soon the mountainside was alive with fires. Here and there were smaller, moving flames, as the head of each family or plantation thrust a brand into his fire and brought it down the hill, to add to the blazing pyre at the foot. From our perch high on the
- 203 “Maybe you don’t, but I do!” “I’m no going to die,” he said firmly, “and I dinna wish to live with half a leg. I’ve a horror of it.” “Well, I’m not very keen on it myself. But if it’s a choice between your leg and your life?” “It’s not.” “It d.a.m.n well
- 204 “No,” he said, sounding drowsy. “I dinna fancy anything.” “You should eat a bit of soup, if you can, before you fall asleep.” I turned and smoothed the hair off his face, frowning a little as I looked at him. The flush had faded a bit, I thought—hard to t
- 205 “Done,” I said, a moment later, and gently replaced the poultice. Stewed onion and garlic wrapped in muslin and soaked with penicillin broth would keep the wounds moist and draining. Renewed every hour or so, I hoped that the warmth of the poultices would