The Fiery Cross

Roger, Jamie, Fergus and others pursue a herd of buffalo. In the chaos of the hunt, Jamie startles a poisonous snake and is bitten. Roger tries to help by performing rudimentary treatment, and he and Jamie become separated from the others. It is growing dark, and as the poison takes effect, Jamie is too ill to walk. Roger realizes they will have to camp overnight and hope that Fergus and the others find them in the morning. Jamie gets sicker, and it seems possible he will die. He decides to divulge his plan about Bonnet so that Roger can carry it out if he does not survive.

Jamie intends to reach out to Lyon, the man who approached him at Jocasta’s wedding about selling whisky, and claim that he is willing to go into business after all. However, he is going to stipulate that he wants to work with Stephen Bonnet and requires Lyon to arrange a meeting for the three of them. Jamie explains to Roger that if he, Jamie, does die, Roger should choose a meeting location where he feels confident and kill Stephen with a gunshot rather than attempting a sword fight. Roger grows alarmed as Jamie explains what he should do in the event of Jamie’s death.

Fergus and the others locate Roger and Jamie and bring them home. Claire quickly begins medical treatment, but she fears that Jamie’s leg may have to be amputated. While everyone is distracted trying to help Jamie, no one notices until too late that a huge buffalo has approached the house and is only a few feet away from Jemmy. Brianna strikes the animal with an axe, Marsali confuses it by throwing a cloth over its head, and then Claire finishes killing it with her bone saw.

Brianna shows her leadership ability by taking charge of the efforts to butcher the giant dead buffalo. Claire continues to treat Jamie, feeling cautiously optimistic.

Jamie seems oddly vulnerable and asks Claire to hold him and comfort him throughout the night. In the morning, she realizes he came close to dying. Jamie explains that he was tempted to give up but realizes he has many ongoing responsibilities as the leader at Fraser’s Ridge. He also tells Claire that he has accepted that his leg will have to be amputated if he hopes to survive.

Claire is crushed because she knows she could cure Jamie if she had the ability to administer penicillin via injection, but this technology is not available in the 18th century. When she shares this information with Brianna, Brianna (who trained as an engineer before traveling to the 18th century) suspects she can create a makeshift tool to get the penicillin into Jamie’s bloodstream. Inspired by the snakebite, she decides fashion the fangs of a pit viper into a makeshift syringe. That night, Claire uses the snake fang syringe to inject homemade penicillin into Jamie’s leg.

While Jamie is still ill, Roger is summoned to meet a man named Tom Christie who has come looking for Jamie. Christie arrives with his son, Allan, and his daughter, Malva. He explains that he is seeking land on which to settle. Christie knows Jamie because they imprisoned together in Scotland; many of the other men who live on Fraser’s Ridge share the same connection. Since it is unclear how long it will be before Jamie is well enough to make decisions, Roger takes on the Christie family as tenants at Fraser’s Ridge and acts on Jamie’s behalf. However, when Roger shares this information with Jamie and Claire, he can tell they are uneasy. Meanwhile, Roger has realized that Brianna is no longer taking steps to avoid pregnancy.

With the immediate crises resolved, Roger reflects on the things Jamie told him when the latter believed he was going to die. Jamie was insistent that if he died, Claire must return to the 20th century. He urged Roger to take his family as well, if Jemmy can time travel. Roger reflects on what it means that he and his family may live in the 18th century for the rest of their lives, especially if they have another child.

Later, as Roger works alongside a tenant named Kenny, who was also imprisoned alongside Jamie, he brings up Tom Christie. Kenny is wary but admits he is surprised that Christie has come to Fraser’s Ridge, since he and Jamie did not get along well. Eventually, Kenny tells the whole story: Christie was a Protestant merchant who lived in Edinburgh and got involved in the Stuart cause out of a desire for profit, rather than political or religious sentiment. Christie was in prison for a year before Jamie arrived, and he was annoyed when Jamie was treated as a leader by his fellow prisoners. Eventually, they managed to coexist together, with Christie deferring to Jamie’s leadership.

The next day, Claire questions Jamie about Tom Christie. Jamie explains that while he was in prison, he killed a particularly cruel British officer named Sergeant Murchison. The only witnesses to this act were two other prisoners: Duncan Innes and Tom Christie, and Jamie was never found out.

Claire looks through a journal left by a local doctor named Rawlings, whom she has never met. Unexpectedly, Claire learns that Rawlings went to River Run to attempt to treat Jocasta Cameron when she experienced worsening eyesight. Surprisingly, Rawlings switches into writing in Latin; Claire brings the journal to Jamie to translate it.

Rawlings’s journal describes the following events: During his visit to River Run, he heard a man get up in the middle of the night. Rawlings followed the unnamed man outside but then lost sight of him. Claire and Jamie at first assume that Rawlings followed Hector Cameron going outside to relieve himself, since Rawlings had been treating Hector Cameron for a bladder illness and wanted to observe his urine. However, this event was unusual because Hector had been given a large dose of opium before bed and was unlikely to have been awake. They wonder if there could have been another man that Rawlings followed outside. They also notice that the page has sketches of strange symbols, including a fleur-de-lis (the emblem of France) and mention of the abbreviations for gold and water.

While treating Roger for a minor injury, Claire mentions that she may be close to devising a method for viewing blood samples under her microscope. With this tool, she might be able to determine Jemmy’s blood type and, if so, investigate his paternity further. She wouldn’t be able to prove, based on blood type, if Roger is Jemmy’s father, but she could show that he is not. Claire has mentioned this idea to Brianna, who doesn’t want to know; Roger reflects and then also tells Claire that he doesn’t want Jemmy to be tested.

Roger and Brianna discuss their childhoods and their connection to their parents. They contemplate what Jemmy would remember if something were to befall either of them.

Winter passes, and spring 1772 approaches. Jamie begins to act on his plan to entrap Stephen Bonnet. He writes to Lyons, explaining that he has decided he wants to enter into a partnership to illegally sell whisky. However, he wants them to partner with Bonnet and asks Lyon to arrange a meeting.

Meanwhile, at long last, Jamie receives a letter from his sister Jenny. Jenny tells him she no longer blames Jamie for what happened to her son, Ian. Jenny also mentions that she heard Laoghaire having sex with someone in her cottage. Jamie initially seems nonplussed by this information, but he subsequently upsets Claire by having a dream in which he is having sex with Laoghaire. Jamie concedes that while he only loves Claire, he does feel jealous knowing that Laoghaire has a lover in Scotland. Jamie and Claire talk openly about jealousy and the complexities of their relationship.

By late March, Jamie has not heard back from Lyons. Claire, Jamie, Roger, Brianna, and Marsali decide to travel to the town of Wilmington. There, they can purchase necessary items that have been depleted over the winter and seek information about Lyons and Bonnet.

In Wilmington, they run into a man named Duff, who knows Roger from the crossing to North America. Duff implies that he has knowledge of Stephen Bonnet and urges the family to row out to see a dead whale beached nearby. Duff eventually reveals that he saw Bonnet about a month earlier, and he is actively smuggling large quantities of goods. Duff was involved in dropping some items off at the landing near Wylie’s plantation. The scale of Bonnet’s operations and his consistent success imply that he must be protected by someone affiliated with the British navy.

Jamie and Roger continue to converse with Duff while Claire and Brianna tend to the children. They later explain that Duff knows where Lyon is, and Lyon seems to be able to get a message to Bonnet. They have asked Duff to arrange a meeting for all of them at Wylie’s Landing in a week’s time.

On the appointed day, Duff brings Roger and Jamie to Wylie’s Landing. They wait for Bonnet’s arrival, hoping he will come alone. Although Jamie is planning to be the one to kill Bonnet, Roger asserts his right to be the one to do so. They are startled when, instead of Bonnet, a Russian family arrives with a cargo of pigs. Before they can grasp what is happening, another ship arrives, and a violent fight breaks out. Roger and the Russian family are subdued at gunpoint; Jamie manages to hide.

Roger recognizes the men from the second boat as Anstruther and Lillywhite, a magistrate and a sheriff who were present at the Gathering and involved in arresting the Catholic priest. They look for both Jamie and the whisky and can’t find either. They threaten Roger for information, and Lillywhite claims that he has taken over Lyon’s role and that the whisky should be delivered to him instead. Roger counters with a story that Jamie changed his mind about the deal and sent Roger to deliver this news. Eventually, Roger is able to escape.

Meanwhile, Jamie hides and listens as Anstruther and Lillywhite discuss what to do next. They seem to be planning to kill Roger and the Russians. Jamie catches sight of a group of Black men emerging from the woods and realizes that Wylie has brought some people enslaved by him to retrieve the cargo of pigs from the Russians. Jamie and Roger catch up to Wylie and explain what is happening. Wylie explains that the cargo is actually Russian boars, which he intends to set loose and hunt. They hurry to protect the Russian family but see that Anstruther and Lillywhite have fled, leaving the Russians unharmed.

Jamie and Roger decide to walk back to Wylie’s nearby home since they are hungry and soaked. As they walk through the woods, Anstruther and Lillywhite suddenly appear and viciously attack them. Jamie manages to kill both men. However, Jamie and Roger realize that Anstruther and Lillywhite were likely working with Bonnet.

Meanwhile, back in Wilmington, Claire, Brianna, and Marsali take the children for a picnic. Once they are in an isolated area, Stephen Bonnet suddenly appears. He reveals to Claire that he has been colluding with Lieutenant Wolff, Anstruther, and Lillywhite. Wolff killed Betty at River Run and was also involved in trying to steal the gold, as suspected. Anstruther and Lillywhite have been dispatched to kill Jamie and Roger, and Bonnet is now here to seize Jemmy.

Desperate to keep him talking and distracted, Claire learns more about the intersecting plots. Years earlier, Wolff learned from Doctor Rawlings that there seemed to be a large amount of gold hidden somewhere at River Run. This prospect motivated Wolff to court Jocasta Cameron, and he was angry when she chose to marry Duncan Innes instead. Wolff arranged with his friend Lillywhite to delay Jocasta and Duncan’s marriage by arresting the Catholic priest at the Gathering.

Wolff attempted to further interfere on the day of the wedding at River Run. As Claire suspected, he drugged a cup of wine intended for Duncan, planning to drown Duncan once he was incapacitated. The chaos of Duncan’s death would give Wolff an opportunity to look for the gold, force a marriage onto Jocasta, or both. Bonnet accompanied Wolff to help carry out the plan. When Betty drank the wine instead, Wolff fed her the glass to ensure that she wouldn’t identify him, and Bonnet and Wolff threatened Jocasta in her bedroom. They plan to attempt to steal the gold again but want Jamie and Roger dead so that Jocasta doesn’t have any male relatives to protect or avenge her.

Marsali manages to load a gun and threatens Bonnet, but he grabs Claire and holds a knife to her throat. Marsali is terrified to shoot lest she hit Claire by accident. Claire urges either Brianna or Marsali to shoot Bonnet, insisting it doesn’t matter if she dies. After further struggles, Claire breaks free, Brianna manages to get a hold of Bonnet’s pistol and shoots him. Wounded but not dead, he staggers off. The women and children return to safety, where they reunite with Jamie and Roger a few days later. No one knows if Bonnet will survive his injuries; Claire and Jamie immediately head to River Run to warn Jocasta.

By the time Claire and Jamie get to River Run, Wolff has already been there. Jocasta and Duncan tell them what happened: Wolff approached stealthily and attacked Duncan, breaking his leg. With Duncan unable to fight further, Jocasta told an enslaved man named Ulysses to kill Wolff. Ulysses did so, but the household has been in a state of terror ever since. Ulysses will likely face torture and death, and no one has been notified about the death yet. Claire and Jamie decide to open Hector Cameron’s tomb and hide Wolff’s body there. Jocasta interrupts them just as they open the tomb and find two coffins (one for Hector and one for Jocasta) and a body lying between them.

Jocasta explains that the body belongs to Doctor Rawlings, and Hector killed him. When Hector himself died almost immediately afterward, Jocasta panicked and hid the body in the tomb to avoid detection. Jamie is puzzled why Jocasta didn’t put the body in her intended coffin and opens it, finding it filled with gold. Jamie and Claire decide to hide Wolff’s body in Hector’s coffin and take Rawlings body back to Fraser’s Ridge for a decent burial.

Back at Fraser’s Ridge, Brianna and Roger reconcile. He admits to reading her dream journal, and she readily forgives him.

Claire is left saddened and uneasy after a woman from Fraser’s Ridge dies after being treated with her homemade penicillin. She knows she did the best she could, but she hesitates about documenting the case in the notebook where she writes about her patients. Brianna comforts Claire, and she writes honest notes, hoping someone in the future can learn from these experiences.

Claire is pleased to hear Roger singing Jemmy back to sleep.

Roger and Jamie take Jemmy when they go to an isolated field to install fence posts. Jemmy encounters danger when a wild boar charges him. Jamie and Roger work together to fight off the boar, but they are saved when Ian suddenly appears and kills the boar.

Jamie brings Ian home, where Claire and Brianna greet him with delight. Ian reveals nothing about why he has returned, but he states that he is back for good. Claire and Jamie speculate that Ian’s wife may have died. Ian shows a small notebook to Claire and Jamie that was given to him by an elderly Mohawk woman. Claire notices with shock that the message was written in ballpoint pen and realizes that the author must have traveled from the future, where such technology is available.

The notebook contains a narrative from a 20th-century Indigenous man named Robert Springer. Springer was political activist and a member of a group known as the Montauk Five; this group advocated for justice and civil rights for Indigenous people but abruptly vanished in 1968. Springer, who adopted a traditional name that translates to Otter Tooth, met a mysterious man named Raymond who promised to teach him how to travel through time. The Montauk Five hatched a plan to travel to North America prior to European contact and attempt to empower Indigenous people to resist European colonization. The five time-travelers used gemstones to allow them to travel safely. However, Springer/Otter Tooth’s journal reveals that he arrived much later than he had originally hoped (the mid-18th century rather than the 17th century) and could not find any of his companions. He wandered in despair, struggling to survive.

Claire has additional context about what she assumes is the same man. Claire previously found the skull of a man buried with a fragment of opal; she noticed that the teeth in the skull had silver fillings, signifying that the man must have traveled back in time. Later, Claire and Jamie spent time with local Indigenous people trying to bargain for Roger’s release. An elderly woman told Claire about the arrival of a strange man named Otter Tooth, who appeared one day and caused unrest by urging the community to avoid interacting with European settlers and warning them of catastrophes to come. Eventually, the community killed Otter Tooth and buried his skull far away.

Claire puts these pieces together, confirming that Springer/Otter Tooth was a time traveler. She shows the family the opal. Claire hears a faint ringing noise, and the opal abruptly explodes. Afterward, the group discusses how Roger, Brianna, and Claire (all of whom are able to time travel) heard the ringing noise and felt warmth emanating from the opal, whereas Ian and Jamie (who cannot time travel) did not. They speculate that, based on his reactions, Jemmy seems likely to also be able to time travel.

Claire, Jamie, and the rest of the family erect a gravestone to commemorate Otter Tooth and Dr. Rawlings. Jamie asks Roger whether the probability of Jemmy being able to time travel means he and his family will choose to return to the 20th century. Roger concludes that, especially with the Revolutionary War drawing closer, he wants to stay.

Claire and Jamie prepare to send one of the gemstones back to Scotland to be sold. Jamie’s lawyer will determine if Laoghaire is now in an ongoing relationship—if so, she will no longer receive payments, and the money will fund the dowry of her other daughter, Joan (Marsali’s sister). Jamie does not want to know the identity of Laoghaire’s lover. Jamie and Claire conclude that even though the future is uncertain, they will face upcoming challenges bravely.