The Fiery Cross

After some time, the portrait is complete, and Roger is recovered enough to make the journey back to Fraser’s Ridge. Isaiah Morton and Alicia have found a place to stay in Hillsborough as they await the birth of their child. Claire remains uncertain if Roger will ever speak again. Jamie confirms that Governor Tryon has released most of the Regulators who were taken prisoner, but 12 men are still awaiting trial and may be executed. Jamie has had no success in locating William Buccleigh MacKenzie.

Claire, Jamie, Brianna, Roger, and the others slowly journey back to Fraser’s Ridge. Roger has been reluctant to try speaking, but he shouts out in warning when Jemmy is in danger of burning himself.

By June, Jamie and Claire have settled back into life at Fraser’s Ridge. They discuss their financial situation: While they have land and other resources, they have very little cash available, and it is growing increasingly important to obtain some. Claire is frustrated because part of the reason they require cash is so that Jamie can send money to Laoghaire, his estranged wife in Scotland.

One option is to sell some of the gemstones they possess, but they seem to be an important part of time travel, and Claire is loath to sell them. Claire knows Roger could get better medical treatment in the 20th century, but she doesn’t know if his voice and singing ability will ever be fully restored. Jamie decides to postpone selling the gems for as long as possible.

In August, Jamie receives a package from London containing an expensive astrolabe (a device that can be used to tell time and survey land). Jamie had requested that his friend, Lord John Grey, send him an astrolabe, and he is moved because the package is dispatched by Grey’s stepson, William Ransom (who has travelled back to London). William is Jamie’s biological son, although Brianna and Roger do not know this. Jamie is excited to use the astrolabe to begin surveying and registering his land. Knowing that the American Revolution is only a few years away, Jamie is determined to protect his land so that it can be passed down to Brianna and his descendants.

Jemmy ransacks Claire’s laboratory and swallows the sapphire she keeps stored there. Afterward, Claire and Brianna talk about Claire’s vocation as a doctor and healer.

Meanwhile, Brianna has been made uneasy by unwanted overtures from a local man named Obadiah Henderson. Jamie comes upon them, stabs Obadiah, and tells him to never return to Fraser’s Ridge. After Obadiah flees, Jamie asks his daughter why she didn’t confide in Roger that a man was behaving inappropriately toward her. Brianna counters that she and Roger have a different relationship dynamic, and she doesn’t want to be reliant on his protection. Although Brianna does not want to admit it to her father, she has felt lonely ever since Roger received his traumatic injuries at Alamance.

Roger is going to survey the land he has been granted, a process which could involve a lengthy absence. Brianna is unhappy that he is leaving, but the couple achieves a new intimacy when they make love the night before he leaves.

A local Cherokee man comes to Fraser’s Ridge, seeking help from Jamie. An unusual bear has been wreaking havoc on the Cherokee community, and because of the bear’s preternatural ability to resist hunters and its unusual white color, they think it could be a ghost. Intrigued, Jamie, Claire, Brianna, Jemmy, and several men from the Fraser’s Ridge community travel to the village.

Jamie insists that Brianna come because she is a skilled shooter, but he confides to Claire that he also wants her to build positive relationships with the Cherokee people. In the 20th century, Claire, Roger, and Brianna found information that Claire and Jamie eventually die in a fire at Fraser’s Ridge. They are unsure about whether this event can be prevented.

Josiah Beardsley, who is part of the group going to hunt the bear, explains that when he was living in the area, he saw a Black man murder another man in the woods. This death was later blamed on the bear, which ate some of the corpse. Brianna, Jamie, and Claire speculate that the man might have freed himself from enslavement, though they are concerned by the possibility that a murderer is lurking in the woods.

On the day of the hunt, Brianna rides out with the men while Claire remains in the village with Jemmy and the Cherokee women. Claire learns from them that nearby, there is a small settlement of Black people who have freed themselves from enslavement. Since they don’t bother the Cherokee community, they are largely ignored. When the hunting party returns, they share their plan: They are going to set fire to a dense area of brush where they believe the bear lives. Due to the large number of animals expected to emerge, local communities have been invited to join.

On the day that the burning begins, the wind changes, and fire and smoke begin to approach the Cherokee village. Claire joins the other women in preparing to evacuate. However, once she is sure that Jemmy is safe, she lingers to gather some of her medicinal supplies and items she hopes to trade. Claire and Jamie end up sheltering together as a violent storm breaks out.

Roger, not far away from the village on his own travels, is caught up in the wildfire and nearly dies. He comes to in a cottage and is questioned by several Black men. A white woman is also present and recognizes the name Jamie Fraser, which is engraved on the astrolabe Roger is carrying. Roger deduces that she is Fanny Beardsley, the woman who vanished after giving birth while traveling with Jamie and Claire, almost a year ago. He tries to bargain with her that he’ll tell her about the fate and location of her baby if she helps him get free. After some discussion, the group blindfolds Roger and leads him through the forest.

Roger volunteers the information that Fanny’s baby is alive and safe in Brownsville, where she has been adopted and will inherit all the Beardsley property and money. One of the men questions whether the baby is really Black, indicating that he is suspicious of Fanny’s claims that he is the father of her child. Fanny becomes enraged, explaining that she would never have abandoned her baby had the baby not been born identifiably Black and thus evidence of her adultery. Roger promises to keep their secret and slips away.

As the storm continues to rage, Jamie and Claire are nearly struck by lightning. They also find the body of a giant white bear, killed in the storm.

Months pass. It is now October 1771, and Roger returns home. Brianna is happy to see him and delighted that he can speak more clearly and with less pain. Meanwhile, Jamie and Claire reflect on their love for one another and how happy they are to be together, no matter what the future might bring.

Brianna wakes from a nightmare that she later shares with Roger. She is haunted by dreams in which Stephen Bonnet takes Jemmy away from her. The next day, Roger and Jamie set off to work on a remote field. Admiring Jamie’s strength, Roger asks his father-in-law to teach him to fight. While they are camping that night, Jamie tells Roger that he has heard news of Stephen Bonnet. Jamie knows where Bonnet will be in six months’ time, and he plans to meet him and kill him. Roger wants to become skilled at fighting so that he can participate in this plan.

Roger returns home, exhausted and sore from both the hard physical labor and from beginning sword-fighting lessons with Jamie. He does not tell Brianna about the planned attack on Bonnet.

As Roger’s training continues, he purchases his own sword. He tests it out in a playful mock duel with Dr. Fentiman, the doctor from River Run who helped to treat Betty before she died. Roger is surprised by how confident and enlivened he feels after the sword fight.