by Leela Ash
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
1.
Muriel looked out across the loch as the sun began to set over the mountains. Even though winter had yet to arrive around Inverness, the air was crisp and the chill seemed to rattle gently through her bones. She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. She had always loved her home and this moment was no exception. The beauty surrounding Cawdor Castle was incredible, the mountains, the lush greens of the land and the deep loch that was laid out before her always took her breath away.
Behind her, in the distance and coming from deep within the forest, she was aware of the sounds of her brothers and father playing with their swords. They clashed their steel together and laughed as if they didn’t have a care in the world, even though Muriel knew the real reason behind why the boys were being trained was definitely not funny. Clan Calder was at risk like many other of the highland families that were scattered around Scotland. The bigger and more powerful clans were trying to claim them and take over them all. Muriel shuddered at the prospect of a war and bit her bottom lip. The cold had turned it dry and she wet it with the tip of her tongue and felt the icy chill bite at her again.
“Back to the castle,” she whispered to herself as she turned on her heel and wrapped an arm around her horse’s neck before she hoisted herself up and sat astride it. The beast had been a present for her thirteenth birthday and they had grown up side by side over the years, their love and deep bond strengthening with each passing day. She had named him Hugo after the ancestral legend of how their clan had come to be, started by a French knight who had settled there and begun the Thane of Calder. Hugo had grown into a strong and powerful beast, and was one of the finest horses within the entire castle. Muriel was honored to be able to call him hers and each time she climbed up onto his back and dug her heels into his side, she knew that he accepted her and wanted to be her steed.
She kicked her heels against him and he picked up his pace into a gallop. Muriel clutched tightly onto his mane as they approached the forest and the sound of her brothers and father came closer. As Hugo slowed and they trotted slowly into the forest and between the trees she smiled as she saw her youngest brother Hamish standing tall and proud with their father’s sword, a piece so big it dwarfed him in size.
“I think you may need one of your own, Hamish,” she smiled warmly. “Something tells me that will be hard to take into battle.”
Hamish smiled boyishly and tried to lift the huge hunk of steel high over his head, failing with his trembling arms which brought it crashing down into the soft, moist earth.
“But I’m a big lad now,” he said triumphantly. He pushed his hands sturdily into his hips and looked at her challengingly. Her father laughed with a hearty roar and slapped the lad on his back before they both made their way over to Muriel and her horse at the clearing’s edge.
“It’s late,” her father said. “You should have been back at the castle hours ago.”
Muriel nodded sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders.
“No place for women out here at night,” he father said, “It’s not safe.”
“Och, I know pa,” she said. “But I lost track of time.”
“Back now,” he emphasized sternly but without anger. “Your mother will be worried sick.”
Muriel nodded and turned Hugo around, ready to begin their walk back to the castle gates. Her brothers all let out low chuckles and she wanted to turn around, jump down and punch the lot of them, but she knew it was pointless. She could easily be just as good a warrior as them, when the time came… but because of her sex she was destined to be cast aside and married off to a worthy suitor just to keep alliances sweet.
She stuck her tongue out at her brothers before she dug her heels into Hugo’s side and they galloped back out across the valley and towards Castle Cawdor. Muriel, the only female offspring of the Calder’s, had lived a sheltered life up until this point, but she knew in her bones it was all about to change. It wasn’t just her father training the boys, or him insisting she wasn’t beyond the walls of Cawdor after nightfall, there was something hanging in the air. She could tell there was a storm coming. News reached them from the peasant boys every so often, stories of other castles that had fallen, whole families wiped out and the bloody trail that was headed in their direction. And even though her mother, father and any of the other elders would deny it… she could sense something was coming for Cawdor that none of them would be able to prevent without an army.
As Hugo’s hooves clattered across the drawbridge and the guards helped her down before leading him away to his stable for the night, Muriel vowed that she would never be as secretive with her own children. Whoever her husband turned out to be, she would insist that they were a real family, open, honest and full of love. This above all else, is what she craved. And she knew that if she wanted it enough, one day she was sure to get it.
2.
Sounds drifted through the castle of men and women feasting in the Grand Hall and even though Muriel had barely eaten anything for hours, she wasn’t tempted to join them. Her family and she had had a shaky past, and now as she was getting older and becoming a woman of her own, she had found herself disagreeing with them on many occasions.
Muriel smiled pleasantly as she passed the guards and made her way down one of the darkened corridors. She would climb the staircase at the end of it and ascend to the second floor where her bed chamber was waiting. Her nurse and confidant Elizabeth would be waiting for her, with no doubt a lecture and a warm bath. And even though a telling off was the last thing she needed, she would let Elizabeth go ahead and scold her anyway. She didn’t have the energy for a fight.
She pushed open the door to her bed chamber and the flicker of flames from the open fire danced around the room and licked an orange glow lightly up the stone walls. She closed the door silently behind her and Elizabeth startled from her resting place, a chair at the side of the hearth.
“Lady Calder,” she tutted, “The sun fell hours ago.”
Muriel nodded shyly and shrugged.
“Father’s already lectured me Elizabeth,” she said with disdain, “Please don’t make me feel any worse.”
Elizabeth got to her feet and put her hands on her hips.
“What the wild folk without clans wouldn’t do to a maiden like you if they got their hands on you out there,” she said icily, “You have no idea what lurks beyond our castle walls.”
“I know,” Muriel said, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”
She crossed the room to her bed and lay down across it. Even though Elizabeth could be as tough on her as her parents, she was still glad to have her around and looking out for her. She always returned to a warm room and a freshly made up bed and she was waited on hand and foot. Muriel stretched her arms up high above her head and then rolled onto her side, propping her head up on her hand.
“They’re preparing for something,” Muriel said suggestively, “Have you heard anything?”
Elizabeth was busy folding linens and she pretended as if she hadn’t caught what Muriel was saying.
“Elizabeth?” Muriel prompted her again, “Do you know what’s coming to Cawdor?”
The maid shook her head as if Muriel was speaking nonsense and laughed.
“There are dangers lurking in every corner of the world,” she said, “Why would you think this place is any different?”
“What do you mean?” Muriel was confused. She was just hoping that for once, someone would give her a straight answer.
“I mean, it’s always been this way,” Elizabeth smiled at her warmly, “It’s just now you are old enough to notice… don’t worry yourself about it. You father has protected this
castle since the day he was born and he will continue to until the day he dies.”
Elizabeth moved to the corner of the room and began to fill the bath tub with large urns of water she had warming on the fire.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Muriel whispered, but she was sure she was the only one to hear.
Muriel loved her mother and father, but they had never been close and their relationship had been tested many times. Muriel was a headstrong woman, she knew what she wanted out of life and she had fought for her right to live the way she pleased from a young age. After being denied at all costs, and kept amongst the confines of the castle, she had eventually accepted her fate. As the only daughter of Lord Calder, she would be wed to a rival family to strengthen bonds and forge alliances. With each passing day, Muriel could sense that her time was running out and that one morning she would wake up and her mother would sit her down and tell her that a date had been set and a suitor had been decided. Now she was nineteen, it seemed even more possible to happen at any moment. She was of an age where most girls had already been married and born several children. Her father had held out on her own marriage to ensure that Muriel was used as effectively as possible and the most powerful family was found. She hated that her only place in life was to breed with the son of another Lord and carry on a line of clans that she had been desperate to escape. Muriel knew deep in her heart that she was worth more than this, and even though she had accepted her fate… she would never give up hope that somewhere out there, there would be something or someone to save her.
“Here Lassie,” Elizabeth said as she helped Muriel to her feet and pulled her long smock dress off over her head. “You’re bitten with cold, get into the bath and get warm.”
Muriel had been so busy thinking about her future and of what her father and brothers were doing in the forest she had barely even noticed that her fingers were white with cold and she was shivering all over.
As she stepped into the bath and slid down into the warm water she breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to be safe in her own personal space and as she washed her plump legs and arms with the oil scented water she smiled and tried to banish the negative thoughts that had plagued her all day. Even though she wasn’t heading in the direction she had dreamed of, she was lucky beyond words, and she would be thankful for all she had been given in life so far.
“Maybe I should take a trip down to the Grand Hall afterwards,” she said to Elizabeth, “I should see mother and eat something before bed.”
Elizabeth smiled and nodded her head as she hurried to find her an appropriate smock to wear, and Muriel looked up at the small window high in the castle wall. In the dark night she could see the glow of stars twinkling down on them and she wished with all her heart that she could have been out there underneath them.
3.
The Grand Hall was bustling with people feasting over whole pigs and drinking tankards of wine. Big, burly, highlander men sat astride the wooden benches that flanked the main table and each and every one of them seemed to be in various degrees of a drink induced stupor. Muriel avoided catching their eyes as she passed them on her way to find her mother, but this was almost impossible considering her appearance. There was no one else in Castle Cawdor, or indeed most of the highlands, quite like her. She attracted attention whenever she entered a room due to her olive skin, her large brown eyes and her rich brown hair. This coupled with her curves made her completely different to any other woman in the whole of Inverness. She stood out, so completely beautiful compared to the pale, scrawny women that surrounded her, and men could rarely take their eyes off her ample bosom and the swell of her hips.
“It’ll be a lucky man who gains your hand,” her mother often told her when Muriel was having one of her moments and expressing her distress at being married off to a stranger. “A lucky man who will do nothing but adore you.”
But it didn’t matter how much her mother told her this, or how much she noticed the wandering eyes of the men in the castle… all she wanted was the right to choose. She wanted to fall in love more than anything else in the world, and she wanted it to be with the right man.
She crossed the hall and her mother caught her eye. Muriel raised her hand to wave and watched her mother shift down to clear a space next to her. As Muriel approached she could, as usual, feel the eyes of the room on her. And as she sat down she breathed a sigh of relief to no longer be on her feet and on show.
“Muriel,” her mother said curtly, “Your father tells me you were out of the castle walls after night fall.”
Muriel winced and rolled her eyes.
“Well I’m here now and no harm came from it,” she snapped, feeling herself instantly tense.
“Some may say we’ve let you take too many liberties over the years,” her mother said, “And as you know you are still without a husband.”
Muriel felt the tears prick her eyes. She had known that this was coming, but she hadn’t expected it to be that night.
“Your father and I have decided that you will wed the son of Lord Rose tomorrow.”
“What?” Muriel got to her feet, the anger coursing through her.
“Sit down Muriel,” her mother said angrily, “Do not make a scene here.”
Her hands were shaking. How could they do this to her with less than a day’s notice? She had never even met Lord Rose, never mind his son… and she certainly didn’t know anything about him.
“The Rose Clan will be a powerful bond for us here at Cawdor in these uncertain times,” her mother whispered out of the side of her mouth whilst looking out across the Great Hall. “You must now step up and do your bit for our family.”
Muriel felt mad with rage but she knew she had nowhere to turn and no way of resisting. This was the moment she had been preparing for her whole life… and the one she had dreaded the most.
“So, that’s it then? You are just going to send me off to a stranger?” she spat.
“Muriel,” her mother laughed and shook her head, “You should have been married off years ago, just be thankful you had this long with us all here at Cawdor… but now the time has come for you to be a woman… you will go off, you will start a beautiful family of your own, and most importantly, you will understand why marriages like this are so important.”
Her mother looked at her and reached her hand up to her cheek.
“You are going to make the most beautiful bride,” she beamed. “Your father and I are so proud of you… and you have no idea how much you are helping our clan by bonding with the Roses.”
Muriel felt a chill roll over her and she squeezed her hands together. Her destiny had finally caught up with her. She was going to be sent off to live in a strange castle with a strange man and there was nothing she could do about it.
Just as she got to her feet and was about to retire for the night with tears in her eyes and regret in her heart a commotion started towards the door of the Grand Hall. Both Muriel and her mother stood side by side and strained their eyes to be able to see over the crowds as a wailing peasant boy was carried toward them.
Muriel gasped as she caught sight of him and of how he was bloodied and covered in deep wounds. His body was limp and the gashes and slashes all across his torso looked like some kind of beast had tried to tear him limb from limb. Blood dripped down onto the floor beneath him and his chest heaved as he tried to breathe.
“What happened here lad?” Muriel’s mother asked him, her face barely cracking with any kind of emotion.
Muriel covered her mouth as the putrid stench from the wounds was almost too much to bear.
“Wolves,” the peasant boy croaked, “They’re out there… and they’re coming for all of us.”
His hands trembled and with one last labored breath he breathed his last.
Muriel gasped and she covered her eyes. Her mother wrapped a protective arm around her and the crowd carried him away from the table and out into the corridor, out of sight.
“What’s ha
ppening mother?” Muriel whispered, “What is happening here at our Castle?”
4.
The next morning Muriel awoke with a sense of dread. The scenes of the night before continued to replay over and over in her mind and she could still smell the rotting stench of torn flesh that had dripped from the boys wounds. There was no way a wolf could have injured him in that way, Muriel told herself, he must have been delirious… maybe a rival clan attacked him in the darkness of the forest…
Whilst she rehashed the events another memory surfaced and nagged away at the back of her mind, and no matter how hard she tried to suppress it, it kept coming back stronger than ever.
It was her wedding day.
She had to marry the son of Lord Rose.
Muriel shuddered and looked up at the ceiling high above her bed. She could hear Elizabeth pottering around in the side room that led off her bed chamber and she wanted to call to her, demand to know if she had heard this wicked information of how she was practically being sold into another family, no doubt in exchange for lands and allegiance. But, deep down, she knew there was no point in torturing herself. Her fate, as they say, was sealed.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes as she looked around the room and realized with a crashing sense of reality that it would be the last time she awoke there. Who knew where she would find herself the following day… she didn’t even know where the Rose Clan originated. Maybe she would be travelling on horseback with them for days and be spending her wedding night in a cold, soggy ditch, longing for the safety and familiarity of Cawdor.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said aloud.
“What’s that Lassie?” Elizabeth called to her from the side room, as she poked her nose around the door.
“This is it,” Muriel said as she swung her legs down onto the floor, “I take it you know about what’s happening today?” She felt the accusation fill her voice.