Highlander's Forbidden Love: Only love can heal the scars of the past...

by Faris, Fiona

  Sir Gilbert, Sir Patrick, and Sir Simon drew themselves into a close huddle to make themselves heard to one another without having to be eavesdropped by the lave.

  “As you will no doubt have heard,” Sir Gilbert went on, “in the last few weeks Robert the Bruce has been crowned King of Scots at Scone, as tradition demands, on the Stone of Destiny in the Earldom of Fife. The late king, John, let it be known that he would not be returning from exile to Scotland but would be contenting himself with the fruits of his estates in France. The other claimant, Comyn, of course, met his end at the Bruce’s hand at the Church of the Greyfriars in Dumfries in February. Sir Patrick’s father was with the Bruce when the deed was done – a nasty, brutal business, but a necessary one.”

  Sir Patrick nodded emphatically, a grim look weighing down his features.

  “With the kingdom thus united under the Bruce,” Sir Gilbert continued, “all that is left for peace to be restored is for King Robert to drive King Edward of England’s army of occupation from his realm. Then we shall be free again.”

  Sir Simon pursed his lips and nodded.

  “But has the Pope not excommunicated the Bruce for defiling the sanctuary of the Greyfriars with Comyn’s blood?”

  It was Sir Patrick who answered.

  “Aye, but letters are being prepared at Arbroath Abbey to petition the Pope to at least recognize the independence of the King of Scots from the overlordship of the King of England at least in principle if he will not yet absolve King Robert of his sin in person.”

  “A subtle difference,” Sir Simon observed. “Will the petition succeed, do you think?”

  Gilbert snorted.

  “That will depend on the disposition of Christendom at the time it is received,” he pointed out. “King Edward is a power to be reckoned with, along with France and Spain. The Pope must maintain a balance between them, by playing the one against the other, so that none can rise to dominance and challenge the Church’s power. If the Pope thinks that Edward needs to be taken down a peg or two, he might be minded to recognize our king’s sovereignty. If not… well, he won’t much care.”

  Sir Simon’s eyes were bright with excitement. He grabbed Sir Gilbert’s arm and drew him to him.

  “Christ!” he exclaimed. “It is like we are pawns in a much larger game of chess.”

  “That we all are,” Sir Patrick observed philosophically. “Ultimately, even our most petty domestic squabbles are part of and affected by God’s divine plan, so much of which is beyond any man’s ken. Such is the human condition. Every enterprise carries a risk.”

  Sir Gilbert looked at him impatiently; such metaphysical speculations hardly advanced their mission in relation to the Frasers.

  “Aye, well… the divine plan maun tak care o’ itself, as any husbandman will tell you; we hae oor ain cattle tae tend… What we want to know, Sir Simon – the reason for our visit – is whether you are with us and for King Robert?”

  ‘Tending his own cattle’ was precisely what Sir Simon had been up to since the dreadful tragedies befell his country. With the death of the seven-year-old Maid of Norway, the third of King Alexander’s granddaughters, and his nearest heir, several parties had advanced legitimate claims to the throne and been at daggers drawn since. Scotland had been teetering on the edge of civil war, and it was all Sir Simon could do to keep his family out of the fray. He knew that, if he threw in his lot with a losing side, his lands and titles would be forfeit and his family left destitute. Hence his endless vacillation over to whom he should marry his daughters. Marriage would create an affinity with the families he married them into; he was loath to make Oliver and Neidpath hostage to another family’s political fortunes.

  Sir Patrick gleaned the misgiving that still lingered in Sir Simon’s heart.

  “Your reluctance is understandable and carries no disgrace,” he reassured him. “It has been common practice over the past few years for we lesser nobles especially to be continually switching our allegiance from party to party, faction to faction, just to ensure our survival. Even the three main claimants to the throne, the Balliols, the Bruces, and the Comyns, have at one time or another submitted and sworn fealty to King Edward, to avoid forfeiture and even execution, and to ensure that they live to fight another day.”

  “But,” Sir Gilbert once more took up the thread, “with the kingdom now united under the Bruce, all that is left for peace to be restored is for King Robert to drive the English from our realm. With peace restored and uncertainty removed, the lie of the land will then be much plainer, and the kingdom can prosper.”

  “And hence our mission,” Sir Patrick explained.

  Gilbert looked over his shoulder to make sure he was not being overheard. He did not seem overly concerned that Margaret was sitting hard by his side, privy to every word. She was but a woman, after all; she would not be understanding much of what was being spoken.

  “We are on a mission from King Robert, who seeks to enlist the arm of the Frasers in the upcoming campaign against Edward’s presumption. We have been journeying around the realm to rally support for his great cause of freedom. King Robert would raise a great army to defeat the English in the open field, to make a decisive victory that would send Edward homeward once and for all.”

  “So, what say you, Fraser?” Sir Patrick urged. “Will you join the king’s great cause?”

  Sir Simon was beginning to feel dizzy as his head turned back and forth, from one knight to the other. He was stirred by their passion, but his thoughts were confused. He’d had too much wine, and the noise of the hall was beating in his brains like the wings of a startled covey of quail bursting from the forest.

  “I need to think more on what you have said,” he insisted, closing his eyes and raising his hands to forestall any protest. “In any case, we are boring the ladies with all this talk of politics, which they must find tedious.” He waved the whole subject aside with an impatient flutter of his hand. “We will talk further on the matter when we withdraw to my cabinet.”

  “As you will, sire,” Sir Gilbert conceded.

  The remainder of the meal passed in idle, inconsequential chatter. Sir Gilbert charmed Lady Maria and was gallant and attentive to Margaret’s needs. Margaret bloomed in his presence and behaved with impeccable decorum, observing all the niceties of courtly manners.

  Sir Patrick and Joan, meanwhile, had their heads together like a pair of childish conspirators, giggling and whispering together. Margaret frowned at Joan’s unseemly familiarity. Joan had even placed her hand on Sir Patrick’s thigh and showed no sign of removing it.

  Sir Simon sat in the midst of his domain, a ‘wee bit fou’ and smiling benignly at all he surveyed: his lovely wife, his two beautiful daughters and their handsome suitors, his hall bedecked with rich tapestries and laid with tables groaning with food, the flushed faces of his retainers contorted in grotesques of joy and laughter…

  He was the steward of all this, he mused with deep satisfaction; it was to him that Oliver and Neidpath owed its security and protection. He was a canny man, he reminded himself proudly. He would risk none of this on any foolish venture. He would listen to what King Robert had to say through his two envoys, then he would make his calculations. Then, and only then, would he cast his dice.

  He only gradually became aware that he was being addressed and that his wife, Lady Maria, was digging him in the ribs with a sharp elbow.

  “Sir Simon,” Sir Patrick was crying above the noise that had taken over the hall. “Joan has been telling me that tomorrow is market day in the burgh. I propose that Sir Gilbert and I convoy Joan and Lady Margaret into Peebles to see the sights and perhaps enjoy a little of the sport. What say you, Sir Simon? Do we have your consent?”

  Sir Simon could see no objection, and swaying in his seat, waved his hand regally to indicate the fact.

  Margaret flushed. Throughout the afternoon and evening, she had been conducting a courtly dance of words with Sir Gilbert, in which she had been able to display he
r wit and virtue to best effect. She had been enjoying his attention immensely and was warm to the idea of spending another morning in his company.

  The diversion agreed, Lady Maria rose and announced that the ladies would withdraw to her boudoir. Following her lead, Sir Simon invited the knights to join him for further discussion of business in his cabinet. Together, they climbed the stairs to the solar.

  As they parted at the head of the stairs, Joan turned to Sir Patrick.

  “Tell me, sire,” she enquired, in a loud voice and with a mischievous grin, “did your braies eventually fetch up in Berwick?”

  Both Sir Patrick’s and Sir Gilbert’s jaws dropped open. But they could find no words in their gaping mouths with which to reply.

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  About the Author

  I am Fiona Faris and I am an author of authentic Historical Scottish romance stories. My books have received startling reviews about the humor, the darkness and the romance they have.

  I started my professional career as a writer, after a trip to Scotland where I had an accident that made me dedicate my life to writing romance novels.

  I live in Dallas, Texas with my husband and our two sons. Before I started writing historical romance, I experimented with various occupations: computer programming, dog-training, and book editing. But nothing could ever compare to writing stories with a background of the Scottish Highlands.

  If you want to know when my next book will come out, please subscribe to my newsletter and you will always be the first to know about my newest Scottish novel.

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  Glossary

  A

  a’ – all

  ain – own

  alarum – a call to arms; an alarm

  ane/s – one/s

  awl – a pointed tool for marking surfaces or piercing small holes

  ay – always

  B

  Ben – within

  Betide – happen to (someone)

  Biggin – building

  Birl/ed – spin/spun

  Blellum – a lazy talkative person

  Bolt-hole – a place where a person can escape and hide

  Bonnet – rural, petty landowners

  Bothy – a mountain refuge; a small hut or cottage

  Brae – brow of a hill

  Braies – trouser

  Braw – fine; pleasant

  Breeks – breeches

  Bricht – bright

  Brose – a kind of porridge

  Burn – fresh water; brook; stream

  Butt – a mound on or in front of which a target is set up for archery

  C

  Cannie – careful

  Carle – a man of the common people

  Caparison – covering for a horse

  Ceilidh – a social event

  Charpie – lint

  Chib – knife; weapon

  Chiel – a young man; boy

  Claes – clothes

  Clamjamfry – rubble; mob

  Clarty – dirty; muddy

  Cleuch – a steep valley or ravine

  Clout – cloth; rag

  Cogie – a wooden vessel, made of starves and girdled with metal bands, used in milking cows

  Corbies – ravens

  Cordon sanitaire – a guarded line preventing anyone from leaving an area

  Corrie – a circular hollow in the side of a hill or mountain

  Cowp – to tip something over; fall over

  Crabbit – ill-tempered; grumpy

  Crayer – small trading vessel

  Creel – wicker basket (for carrying fish)

  Çucre candi – crystallized sugar; candy

  D

  Dainties – delicacies; luxuries

  Demijohn – a bulbous narrow-necked bottle

  Dine – dinner

  Dinna – do not

  Dottle – a small person

  Dulse – red algae

  Dwam – daydream; reverie

  E

  Ell – a measure of length

  Empaneled – enlisted

  F

  Fa’/en – fall/en

  Feart – afraid; fear

  Fell/s – hill/s

  Feys – fairies

  Fie – exclamation to express disgust or outrage

  Fletcher – a person who makes and sells arrows

  Frae – from

  Free lance – mercenary; hired soldier

  Forby – in addition; besides

  Fou – full

  G

  Garderobe – wardrobe

  Get – offspring

  Gibbet – hanging gallows

  Gin – if

  Gip – a cut made in the belly of a fish

  Girned – complained peevishly

  Glit – slimy matter

  Gorse – a spiny yellow-flowered European shrub

  Grandsire – grandfather

  Guddle – fished with the hands by groping

  Guidwife – goodwife

  Gyte – mad; deranged

  H

  Haar – a thick, wet fog

  Hogshead/firkin – cask

  Houghmagandie – fornication

  I

  Ilka – every; two or more

  Ingleneuk (inglenook) – a space on either side of a large fireplace

  J

  Jesu – variant of ‘Jesus’

  Jig time – extremely quickly; in a short time

  K

  Ken – know

  Kye – cattle

  Kirtle – body garment; coat or tunic reaching below the knees

  Kist – trunk; box; chest

  Kistful – an amount that fills a kist

  Knarr – merchant ship

  Knowe – a small hill; a knoll

  L

  Lang – long

  Latrine – toilet

  Lave – one among many

  Leal – loyal and honest

  Ling – a heath plant

  Louns – boys; youth

  Louped – leaped

  Lowp – loo mask (half mask) often used for masquerades

  M

  Mámag – mother

  Marled – marbled

  Maun – might

  Mauna – must not

  Mawkin – an untidy woman; a simpleton

  Micht – might

  Moiled – moved around; worked hard

  Muckle – much; great

  Murrain – a plague, epidemic or crop blight

  N

  Neebor – neighbor

  Neuk – nook (a right-angled corner)

  Nocht – naught; nothing;

  O

  Och – oh

  Ocht – anything

  Oot – out

  Ower – over

  P

  Palliasse – a straw mattress

  Parritch – porridge

  Passel – a large number or group

  Pend – an arched or vaulted roof or canopy; the vaulted ground floor of a tower or fortified building; a covered passage or entry;

  Phial – vial

  Physic – medicinal drugs

  Pikemen – soldiers armed with pikes

  Pique-un-niched – a place where family/friends eat a meal together in a pastoral setting

  Popinjay – a strutting supercilious person

  Postilion – one who rides as a guide on the near horse of the leading horse/s drawing a carriage

  Potboys – boys employed as waiters

  Preudomme – noble, valiant man; (by extension) hero (of a story)

  Provocateur – a person who provokes trouble

  Q

  Quaich – two-handled drinking cup

  Quine – a girl; lass

  R

  Ratter – one (like a dog or other animal) that catches or kills rats

  Reiver – plunderer; pirate

  Retainer – paid servant

  Ribbands –
ribbons

  Roup’t – sell (something) by auction

  S

  Sair – sore

  Scimitar – a short sword with a curved blade that broadens towards the point

  Seanair – grandfather

  Shieling – hut; shelter

  Sic – such

  Siller – silver

  Skeerie – a reef; a rocky island

  Slake trough – a blacksmith’s water tank

  Smeddum – spirited vigor; spunk

  Smiddy – variant of smithy (blacksmith)

  Smirr – drizzly rain

  Sough – moan; whistle; rush (sound)

  Spaewife – a female fortune-teller

  Sprett – a coarse reedy rush that grows on marshy ground

  Stouk (stook) – a number of sheaves of grain placed together in an upright position to dry

  Stour – Dust forming a cloud or deposited in a mass

  Stravaiging – wander about aimlessly

  Syne – ago

  T

  Targe – shield

  Telt – told

  Thae – those

  Thirl – pierce; perorate

  Thocht/ie – thought/ful

  Thon – that; yon

  Thrawn – stubborn

  Trews – trousers