by Sky Winters
“I did,” Lord Lachlan answered, to my surprise. The strange superstitions of the highlanders was peculiar, but they all seemed to believe in the ghosts in the hills. Even with all their might, the ghosts held power over their conduct. And they were certainly mighty. I had seen the men training a few days beforehand. Their rippling muscles and fierce expressions were intimidating to me.
“I spoke with one of them. A bad omen. It has nothing to do with the lowlanders, this much I am sure of.”
The group quietly mulled the news over, looking down into their plates.
“He's probably just saying that because you're right here,” Jelia hissed to me. “He doesn't want to hurt your delicate lowlander feelings.”
“Lord Lachlan has no reason to flatter me,” I said, looking squarely into her eyes. For some reason this woman would not let up on me, and her foolish, immature games were starting to wear on my nerves.
Lord Lachlan seemed to sense his name rolling off my lips, because he looked again at me.
“The spirits told me that Lady Bethia would bring us good fortune, actually,” he said, directly to me, his handsome face glowing gold in the firelight. “I have no reason to believe otherwise.”
We gazed at each other and I felt a tugging deep within me to go to him and take my rightful place beside my betrothed. It certainly would make Jelia seethe with jealousy if I did so. But still, I didn't trust him, and resented more than anything that I was to be traded as if I were some pawn in a game I wanted nothing to do with. The only reason I was there was to save people like Kain, not to be some blushing bride to a brutish highlander. What did I care if I brought them luck? They could all rot for all I cared.
Unfortunately, the power of my anger was waning the longer I was in their camp. Everybody had been more than accomodating, and many were even apologetic about their lifestyle, begging my forgiveness for their peculiar habits and customs. They claimed to hate lowlanders, but they were more courteous and thoughtful of me than even my own parents had been. It must have been something in their breeding.
***
Because of their kind treatment toward me, I thought that perhaps they were all very welcoming of outsiders, until one day my opinion of this changed. I was in my tent with Winny, who had taken to keeping me company as I attempted to avoid the rest of the highlanders. Suddenly, a loud rallying cry roused us to our feet.
“It's the O'Connell clan,” Winny said, pale-faced. “We don't allow any encroachment here, no, that's not allowed.”
The fierce men ran past the open flap of the tent. I approached the opening to watch as they sped off together toward the breach. Following up behind the men was Lord Lachlan, who had just finished bathing. He had barely put his kilt on before following the men to the disturbance. I couldn't take my eyes off his broad chest as he ran toward me, his eyes fully focused on the scene ahead of him. I was entranced, despite myself, by his hulking, rippling body barreling forward, his bare muscles tense and threatening to tear apart any threat to his clan.
He passed the tent without any indication of having seen me, and I watched his long hair swaying, still wet from bathing. It flew behind him, some strands slapping against his muscular back. I turned to Winny, who was watching the men running off with a look I found difficult to pinpoint. It seemed there were elements of fear, certainly, but there was also an unmistakable thrill behind her eyes. This was what they were bred for – fighting and protecting what was theirs. I never felt more out of place, me and my frail lowlander's body, than in that moment.
I felt restless all of a sudden, and longed to go and see the action.
“Lady Bethia, no!” Winny cried, reaching out to grab me as I ran out of the tent. She was too late, and I followed the commotion, my breath coming in short gasps as I tried to catch up with the men. Although they were huge, they were incredibly fast, and it took everything I had just to get far enough ahead to find where they were going. I followed them as they climbed a large hill in the camp, and heard metal clanking as the men prepared to brawl.
I was fully panting by the time I climbed the hill, my legs shaky from the unexpected exertion. Once I reached the top of the hill, my eyes widened.
“Wolves!” I shouted.
All of the men, both O'Connells' and Lachlans', turned toward the sound of my voice. It was too late. Some of the O'Connell men were already being attacked by a small pack of wolves. Two of them were grey, and knocked the leader of the rival clan down to the ground. They began gnawing at the man, putting their giant grey paws on his suddenly vulnerable body. In the lead was another great white wolf, much like the one that had saved me on my journey to meet Lord Lachlan.
I watched in awe as the white wolf stood upright and backed away from the man on the ground, who was trembling and batting at the beasts in a futile effort to drive them away. The two grey wolves followed the white wolf's lead and backed away from the man. He got to his feet and gave an order, calling off the men who were attacking Lord Lachlan's clan.
“They don't know no better,” one of the highlander's said to me as both clans retreated from bloodshed.
They didn't know any better about what? Not encroaching on Lord Lachlan's clan? It seemed like such a silly dispute. The leader of the rival clan caught my eye as I watched the scene in a daze. He leered at me and sneered. Suddenly, I felt very vulnerable and I looked around for Lord Lachlan. For some reason, when I felt unsafe, he was the first person I thought to turn to. However, he was nowhere to be found. I figured that he must have snuck off while I was watching the wolves. I frowned and left the scene, eager to get away from the man as quickly as possible. I returned to my tent, shaken by the sudden violence and thankful that it had passed swiftly.
Chapter 6
After that incident, my view of the highlanders changed once again. Now I didn't see them as welcoming of outsiders, I saw them as unreasonable and thick-headed, unable to keep peace even among each other. That night, Winny explained how the clans worked. If we didn't take care of ourselves, she had said, then nobody would. We had to protect what was ours, at all costs. You didn't know who you could trust – all you had in this world was yourself. The O'Connells were bandits that had been terrorizing the roads in the highlands for ages. Lord Lachlan's clan had been lucky to escape their attentions for this long, but now they had finally been targeted.
The highlanders were a difficult brood to understand, but the fierce loyalty they had toward each other made me feel vaguely warm. It must have been nice to feel as if you belonged somewhere. Especially with someone as powerful as Lord Lachlan there to protect you. I had never felt very concerned for my life being raised in the lowlands, but I knew none of the peasants in our kingdom loved my parents the way the highlanders under Lord Lachlan's watchful eye seemed to love him. Even the men spoke fondly of him, praising his extraordinary talents. I had heard plenty of the women admiring his looks and his strength, each of them casting a jealous eye on me, especially after publicly scorning him as I had.
One afternoon, after lunch, I was surprised to see him approach me.
“Let's go for a walk,” he said. It was an offer but it didn't seem like one that I could say no to. If Lord Lachlan asked you to walk with him, you walked. I could feel all eyes on us as we left the camp. Even though I was a little bit tall for my sex and my mother frequently reminded me of this, I felt dwarfed by the huge man. He seemed to feel perfectly at ease as he led me from the safety of the settlement and down a path I had never noticed into the woods.
We walked quietly and I found myself deeply enjoying the solitude that the forest provided us. It was as if I were alone for the first time with the same gentle man who had rescued me. He showed a peculiar reverence for the plants and trees as we walked, greeting some of them as if they were people, or touching their trunks gingerly as he passed. I had never seen anything like it, and realized that there was much more to the highlander way of life than I had ever imagined.
We reached a small stream and he
crouched beside it, cupping some of the fresh spring water in his hands and sipping it. He offered his hands to me and I find myself fumbling over my words in an effort to avoid drinking from his hands. He quirked his eyebrow at me with a playful smile and I laughed, unable to resist his charms. I knelt in front of him, my knee pushed into the muddy bank beside him. For the first time in my life I realized I didn't have to worry about whether or not there was mud on my clothes, and it felt great.
I put my slender hands on top of his thick wrists to steady his hands. We gazed into each other's eyes for a moment before I drank deeply. The water was cold and refreshing. I could see Lord Lachlan's chest rising and falling. I was alarmingly close to his thighs, and I couldn't help but wonder if the rumors were true about the savage way highlander men refused to wear briefs under their kilts. I could feel a blush creep across my cheeks and Lord Lachlan looked at me as if he could see right through my curiosity.
He let the rest of the water drip through his hands and took my hands in his own. He looked at me intently, and I was captivated by his warm presence and the flecks of gold and green in his blue eyes.
“I don't wish to keep you here against your will,” he said. “This marriage was a gesture of good will toward us to seal a treaty of peace. I will keep my word to your family even if you choose to return to the lowlands.”
He brought my pale hand to his bronzed face and kissed it tenderly. His lips were warm and soft on my cool hands, igniting a fire I didn't know I was capable of stoking. The intensity of the longing I felt for him shocked me, and I stood quickly and hid my face from him.
“Let's not talk about this right now,” I said, my back turned to him. Suddenly, Kain was in my mind again and I remembered my hatred of the highlanders. There was no way I could be lured in by his sweet words. If he would let me go home, then that was exactly what I was going to do.
Suddenly, his arms were around my waist and the whole of his body was pressed behind me. I felt small and safe, and he nuzzled his face into my neck, sending a deep thrill down my spine. I bit my lip in confusion and he turned me by the shoulder to face him. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out, his mouth was pressed against my own, and I felt myself surrendering to the fire within me. He kissed with passionate abandon, holding me firmly in his strong arms. When we broke away from each other, I stared at him for a moment before turning on my heel and running away.
Chapter 7
I could hear his heavy footfalls as he went after me, chasing me through the forest. I groaned in frustration, knowing he would be able to catch up with me right away if that's what he wanted to do. Suddenly, I was halted by a strong hand gripping my arm.
“Never run through here like that!” Lord Lachlan barked. “Do you know how much harm could come to you? The O'Connells saw you here last time, if they knew you were vulnerable they would take you in an instant! Don't underestimate their knowledge of your value to me.”
My value to him? What did I mean to him except a potential marriage? A fragile peace treaty between two powers at odds? A pretty and available woman for him to use as he pleased? All for a contract I had nothing to do with. I jutted my chin at him defiantly. He was a rogue and a brute, and now he was manhandling me.
“I didn't agree to marry you and I certainly didn't agree to take your orders!” I exclaimed, wriggling free from his grasp.
“It's dangerous, my Lady,” he said in a low, serious voice, casting his eyes quickly away from me. I wondered in surprise if perhaps I had hurt his feelings. Until that moment he had seemed so invincible.
Again, I remembered Kain dying on the battlefield with the highlanders. Good. If I hurt his feelings that meant I had at least some small advantage over the brute. It was my only form of power in this situation. Everybody was thicker and stronger than I was, I may as well resort to the power my looks and sharp tongue awarded me, just like the jealous and vile women in my own kingdom would have done. I used to wonder why they were so harsh with their husbands and suitors, and now I thought I might understand why.
“Very well. Can we please go to back now?” I asked, resigning myself to a malicious nature. If it gave me any control over my life, I might as well give it a try. I couldn't be at Lord Lachlan's mercy.
“All right,” he said.
I followed him back to the encampment quietly. My emotions were all over the place. He was acting as if I had stricken him, and although I took secret pleasure in hurting a highlander, I couldn't help but feel guilty about it. This just served to make me angrier though, so I went back to the tent where Winny was sipping on a glass of mead and laid down in my cot to get some sleep.
***
I woke up in the middle of the night from another dream about Kain in battle. Again, he was fighting for his life, and before I could reach him, a white wolf appeared in the distance and held my gaze. I wanted to shout at it for answers but instead, I woke myself up with a little gasp. I couldn't handle being in the highlands for another second.
My stomach grumbled painfully. In my haughtiness, I had refused to take to dinner with the others, pretending to be sleeping deeply when they asked me to join them. I didn't like how I was acting, but I didn't know how else to get everybody to leave me alone. Nobody could run my life anymore – I was an adult and I had every right to go wherever I wanted.
I sat bolt upright in bed. That's right – Lord Lachlan said I was free to return home any time I wanted. And I wanted nothing more in that instant than to be in the lowlands, back in my own bed. Where people were cultured and refined and didn't talk to trees. I glowered and got quietly out of my cot, careful not to wake Winny, who had been sharing her tent with me since I arrived. I would miss her. I would miss most of them, really, but I couldn't handle being a pawn in Lord Lachlan's games anymore.
I grabbed my satchel and filled it with the rest of my possessions, packing quickly and slinging it over my shoulder. I buttoned up my nightclothes and dressed in the tartan that Winny had given me. I gazed at her sleeping peacefully before I headed quietly out the tent and toward the road that led, inevitably, toward home.
I snuck past the guards and into the deep darkness of the night. I headed toward the stables, situated further out of the encampment to give the horses more solitude. I would take one and go home, nobody could stop me, and I'd be returning my parent's investment with interest. I would have a highlander's horse.
I fumed at the thought of myself as an investment. I was making the right decision. I was about to mount the horse when suddenly I was grabbed from behind. I was whipped forcefully around. I expected to be peering into Lord Lachlan's stern face, but I had slipped even beneath his awareness and into the night. Instead, I was face to face with the leader of the O'Connell bandits. He sneered at me and clapped a dirty hand over my face before I had the chance to scream.
“We're going to have some fun, princess,” the man said. His breath smelled as if his teeth were rotting in his mouth, and I s
squirmed, attempting to cry out. Nobody heard me though, and I was dragged away into the darkness.
Chapter 8
I was taken hostage by the O'Connell clan, and realized that these men were everything I thought I had hated about highlanders. Lord Lachlan and his people were nothing like these hedonistic monsters. Each of them took turns touching and leering at me as I was led away into the leader's tent, where he tied me to a stake in the corner.
“We been waiting for you,” he said, licking his blackened teeth. “Heard a lot about you, Princess.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, glowering down at the floor. “Where would you hear anything about me?”
“From your brother,” he said. “You look just bloody like him.”
I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, how he might have known my brother, but before I could get the words out, he shoved a dirty piece of cloth in my mouth and tied another one around it to kep it in place. I furrowed my eyebrows, sensing that the man would like i
t even better if I struggled, and did my best to keep my composure. I tilted my chin up at him, again borrowing my mother's regal expression. The grin faded from his face and he left the tent.
“Send Lachlan the message of ransom!” he shouted to the men.
I heard the clatter of hooves as horses headed to the camp. I had been foolish to think I could make my way safely home even after Lachlan's warnings. I worried now, after my unkindness toward him, if he would even want to come for me at all. I didn't see why he would. Everything was hopeless.
***
The bandit's leader, presumably O'Connell, disappeared from the tent for a few hours. I was exhausted and hungry, which made me miserable. And on top of it all, my hands and feet were bound too tightly and I could scarcely move. I wondered how it could get any worse, when O'Connell stepped inside the tent with a sickening smirk on his face.
“C'mon lass, the fellas want to have a little fun with ye,” he said, roughly pulling me up and leading me out to the fire, where about sixteen men were leering at me, devilish looks in their eyes.
“I'll start off the festivities,” O'Connell said, gripping my knee and sliding his hand up under my dress. I spit on him and the others laughed. He raised his hand to strike me. I flinched, expecting searing pain, but his blow never reached my face. The great white wolf I had seen before raced out of the dark woods and lept at O'Connell's throat. I hid my face as the sounds of him choking on his last breaths filled the air.
Several of the men began advancing toward the wolf, grabbing weapons of all shapes and sizes. Fear gripped my heart, and for the first time I realized that I didn't want the wolf to die – it had become the same as the wolf in my dreams, and somehow it was connected to the fate of my twin. I knew nothing more truly than I knew this. I watched in horror and awe as the beautiful creature became stained with blood as its enormous body massacred the slew of men trying to kill it.