by J W Murison
‘I think he seeks them out because he likes them, they give him the male company he needs. You have no time for him.’
‘Because I'm too busy trying to groom the others for Kingship.’
She shook her head, ‘he likes and respects them and they like him. He can see in them the same quality’s you can and has taken it farther without conscious thought of grabbing the throne. Like Melina he knows his place and keeps it, he is true to the blood as she is. They are both true royals, not those others you have been wasting so much time on. Look to your own my love, in them lie salvation. I know your heart is breaking but you must act soon or fail in all you wish to achieve. Without the Highland people we may once more face a future of living in cages.’
‘That's true, a large enough army with enough wizards could once more enslave our people, and if we have no friends left, who would help us then.’
The Queen knew when to sat back and let him think.
CHAPTER 11
Malcolm Grant stood before the bakery door, he didn't need to be told this was William’s bakery; he only needed to get within a few hundred yards of the place and his nose did the rest. He was confronted by a beautiful woman, ‘I'm sorry sir the shop entrance is round the front.’
He studied her for a moment, ‘I'm not here to buy bread woman, I'm here to see my cousin William and my nose tells me this is his place.’
She smiled, ‘you mean you can smell the difference between his bread and others.’
‘Aye, and every member of the Clan can as well.’
‘I am Jovina, his wife, which one of the Grant Clan are you sir?’
‘I would be Malcolm.’
She seemed startled, ‘I have heard of you please come inside, William is in the front I will go get him.’
William wasn’t long in arriving; the two greeted each other with a lot of back slapping; Jovina stood to the side unsure of how the legend would greet her. Malcolm wasn’t long in making his feelings clear.
‘I see you didn't mourn for very long William, nice piece of tail you got there.’
Jovina wasn’t quite sure if that was a compliment or not but William was grinning, ‘she’s good with the bairns and good with me.’
‘They've taken to her ok then?’
‘Better than I could have hoped for, what’s the special occasion Malcolm?’
‘A promise kept Willy, the Clan misses you and wants you back.’
He shook his head, ‘canna go back now Malcolm, the wife canna survive at that altitude.’
Malcolm slapped his hands together, ‘ah well duty done, now have you any scones Willy I haven’t had a decent one since you left.’
William laughed, ‘aye sit yerself doon man, I got some good strawberry jam as well.’
‘Ach Willy ye know how to make a man feel welcome.’
William was still grinning, ‘you have to catch me up on the news man; surely this isn’t just a social call.’
‘No, I came with my son in law Stan, Gareth has commissioned him to make an axe for the man they call The Beast.’
‘Aye, I know him well, that will be some axe.’
‘Tell me about it, I'm getting jealous already. I was bored so I came to visit you and catch up with the news.’
‘Get sick of drinking and whoring did you?’
Malcolm grinned, ‘Well I'm no as young as I once was.’
‘Tell me Malcolm, how did the Clan take to young Stan, was their fighting at the wedding?’
‘Just the one and it took place in the marital bed or so I'm told.’ The two men spent the afternoon rocking with laughter as Malcolm caught William up on events since he left. Occasionally William got up and turned some bread. A cartload of sacks arrived and Malcolm helped him unload them. Jovina kept out of the way, she found Malcolm’s brisk manner as intimidating as the legends sung about him. It was hard to believe the gentle man she loved was of the same stock as this rash brute.
Their romance had been slow to bloom yet there was no denying the electricity between them from the first day. She had thought never to love again, yet it seemed as though she had came to a new world and a new life. Williams love for his children had been one of the catalysts and their acceptance of her had been almost immediate, it was helped she knew by the magic she possessed and her physical beauty, especially with the boys. The thing that had finally won them over was when she had taken them flying. Fully grown she would never be able to carry them but they were still young.
They were also struggling to make friends. It seemed to take them months to grasp the language of the servants and it was she who had to teach them. Their contact with the servant children normally ended up in a running battle which the twins seemed to relish. Rose on the other hand tried to avoid conflict but she was more than able to look after herself. She was stronger than the boys of her own age and they had learned to be wary of her temper. The only real friend they had was the young prince Vaary. He was a frequent visitor. He had first come with some of the men from the royal guard, but the sweet pastries with meat had drawn him back on his own many times. He was a couple of years older than the twins and pretty proficient with a sword which attracted the twins like a moth to a flame. The three would battle it out in the yard under William’s tutelage for hours.
Of all of them only Jovina held her feelings back. She had once cautioned William about the boy but he had gotten angry quickly. The boy was family, related through Stan and Gareth; he would always be made welcome. In truth the young prince treated Rose like a young sister, while she clearly had a childhood crush on the older boy. He was also the only child that spoke the same language as them. Jovina knew her misgivings were because of the lowly stature her family had held in Eagle society. They only started to crumble when he began to call her aunt. When the other Eagles who visited the shop heard him call her that her standing in their society went up, but she was still uncomfortable about it.
He often sat and listened to the stories William told about the Highlands, wide-eyed and eager, if he knew Malcolm was here he would already have turned up. As it was she was glad the prince hadn’t turned up today. The man in question was definitely larger than life and Jovina wondered about the stories that hadn’t been told. When Rose came in she had crawled onto Malcolm’s lap and stayed there until she fell asleep. Jovina had carried her up to her bed. The two men had then got drunk together and staggered in well after the middle of the night.
William had a bit of a head on him in the morning but Malcolm was up bright and early and headed out to explore the city. Malcolm hadn’t told anybody his real reason for coming to the Eagle city, with a pocket full of gold he was actually shopping for his wife and daughters. He had been told in no uncertain terms, that if he failed to come back with the material they wanted his manhood would be in dire jeopardy of being removed in his sleep.
He smiled to himself at the memory as he moved among the vendors. As yet he hadn’t came across the kind of thing his wife wanted. Eventually he gave up looking and approached a vendor of cloth. From his pocket he produced a small square of material of the kind he wanted. The vendor did a lot of arm waving obviously giving him directions, but after five minutes the man gave up and called for a boy. Malcolm then followed the boy to a different part of the city and he paid the boy with a copper coin. It seemed to please the young man and he trotted off happy enough.
Malcolm went into the first shop that sold cloth. He was surprised to find it occupied by a golden one. The man gabbled something at Malcolm. Malcolm spat on the man’s floor, ‘listen to me you Eagle bastard, my name is Malcolm Grant and I know you can speak my fucking language, so quit your fucking crap and talk properly or I will cut your fucking head off.’
The man’s attitude changed abruptly, ‘my apologies, many of your people now speak our language, are you just in from the Highlands Sir Malcolm?’
Malcolm’s eyebrows shot up, he had never been referred to as Sir Malcolm before, ‘a flying visit, no pun intended.’
‘Of course Sir Malcolm and no offence taken, what can I do for you?’
He produced the piece of cloth, ‘do you have any of this stuff?’
‘Silk, why yes Sir, we do.’
‘Then that's what I'm here for.’
‘May I ask if you are the Sir Malcolm that is related to our princess Melina?’
‘Aye that's right through my daughter Mist, she is married to Stan Ogilvie, Gareth's brother, that's her husband.’
The man beamed with pleasure, ’then I must thank you for coming into my store sir Malcolm you do me a great honour, but the shops that deal with our royal family are in a different district.’
‘Do you have the same cloth?’
‘Yes sir we do.’
‘Then you will do just fine and no arguments.’
‘It is an honour to be of service to you Sir Malcolm.’ He began to take out bundles of cloth and show them to Malcolm who was standing scratching his head. The proprietor noticed, ‘are we running some messages for the women of the family sir?’
‘How did you guess!’
The man smiled, ‘Did they tell you what they wanted?’
‘This material and in as many different colours as I can get, except for brown and orange. Yellows blues greens reds.’
‘We have cloth with patterns on them to Sir Malcolm.’ He took out a few bundles and Malcolm grunted. ‘If I may take the liberty sir, I am accustomed to the taste of women; I will make up a parcel and have it delivered to your place of residence.’
‘I'm staying with my cousin Willy the baker.’
‘I know where that is, now how much do you want.’
Malcolm took out a handful of gold, ‘is this enough for about a dozen dresses.’
The proprietor cleared his throat and plucked a small piece of gold from the pile, ‘this will suffice sir.’
‘You sure, it don’t look like much.’
‘It is more than enough Sir Malcolm, Sir if I may ask a question?’
’Go ahead.’
‘Is it true that your family and the Ogilvie’s were at war for many years?’
‘Hundreds of years man, but not with Stan’s branch of the family, oh no, it was the Black Ogilvie’s we were at war with. Hundreds of years before that Stan’s family split from the Clan and set up home about as high into the mountains as you can go and still live. We didn't know about that of course. There is only one recorded battle between our two families; that was at the battle of the Red Burn. It was a hard fought battle with no real victor. My father killed a cousin of Stan’s father and he killed a cousin of my father. It was on that basis that my father trained his sons. He always said that the Ogilvie’s were a true opponent. Of course when we went into battle against them it was the black Ogilvie's we fought and they were no real match for the Grants, we thought our father was havering.
Then of course Gareth became the war chieftain of the Ogilvie's, it was then we started to see a difference in the way they fought. Just a wee lad he was then.’ Malcolm began to do what he liked best, talk of battles. He spun a great story and the proprietor was mesmerised. Unknown to Malcolm he was also transmitting the conversation to anyone that wanted to listen. He even showed him the axe Stan had made for him.
Malcolm never realised how long he had spent in the shop, but as the afternoon light began to wane he remembered the other things on his shopping list. He mentioned them to the proprietor who promised to purchase the items for him and have them delivered. Malcolm parted with a little more gold and left the shop. When he got outside he found the streets full of the golden ones. As he appeared they began to disperse; most were smiling and more than one woman seemed to be trying to catch his eye.
He ignored them and soon left the crowded streets behind him. He reached a junction and stopped. He realised he just wasn’t sure how to get back to Williams shop so he took note of the position of the sun and set off in what he hoped was the right direction. High above Eagles wheeled and called to each other on the warm thermals as they returned home. Soon the air above was filled with the flapping of wings and a stray feather floated down to the ground. Malcolm paused for a second and then picked up the large feather. He realised the girls would love it and slid it under his plaid.
He moved faster as the sun slid towards the horizon but he realised he was hopelessly lost, however he hoped he was at least walking in the right direction. Darkness came so swiftly it was almost breathtaking. He stopped where he was for a few minutes and waited for the lights to come on. When the strange globes that were hung from every building began to glow he walked on.
It didn't take him long to realise he had walked into a part of the city that hadn’t yet fully rejuvenated. He stopped, ‘bollocks,’ he cursed out-loud. Before him the street lighting was out and remained out. He moved back to the edge of the lit area and began to walk along the edge of it. Sooner or later he would hit one of the broad avenues that would lead him back to the centre of the city.
There was a flurry of wings close by and Malcolm soon picked up the sound of footsteps. They were very light and he wondered if they belonged to a woman. He slid into an alleyway and waited. It wasn’t long before a short hooded form walked round the corner and bumped straight into him.
‘What do you want?’ Malcolm growled at the figure while concealing his drawn dirk under his plaid. He reached up and tossed the hood back. Malcolm had been half hoping it was one of the Eagle women, he was getting curious. Instead it revealed a young teenage boy.
‘Sir Malcolm, I apologise.’
Malcolm was frowning furiously, ‘what the hell do you want boy?’
‘I, I think I need your protection Sir Malcolm.’
‘Aye from me,’ the young man found the dirk at his throat, ‘you have less than a few heart beats to explain yourself boy.’
The young man swallowed hard, ‘we are family Sir Malcolm, I am prince Vaary, full brother of Melina, Gareth's wife, Stan’s brother, your son in law.’
Malcolm’s frown softened a little, ‘you’re the young lad that plays with Williams children aren’t you?’
‘Yes sir that's right.’
Malcolm put the dirk away, ‘what is it you want lad?’
‘I think they are out to kill me Sir Malcolm.’
‘Who lad, whose out to kill you?’
‘My brothers sir.’
‘Your brothers!’
‘My half brothers in truth Sir Malcolm.’
‘What makes you think that lad?’
The young man lifted his cloak to reveal a blood soaked tunic below, ‘three of them came after me with knives and a sword.’
Malcolm drew breath through his teeth and swiftly knelt to inspect the boys wound, ‘a shallow cut boy, you were lucky, it still needs dressed though. Why come to me, why not go straight to William.’
‘I was afraid for my friend’s sir, they will be watching. I didn’t want to bring trouble to his door. I was hiding in the city when I became aware of your whereabouts.’
‘How did! Ach never mind.’ He decided he didn’t want to know.
‘Will you help me sir?’
Malcolm looked him straight in the eye, ‘your family boy, of course I’ll help. Now we need to get you somewhere safe. Williams will be best.’
‘No sir, if something happened to Rose or the boys I couldn’t live with myself.’
‘Ok how about the old part that hasn’t properly regenerated yet.’
‘I am of the blood sir, everywhere I go the city regenerates, they would be able to track us.’
‘Ok,’ Malcolm stood and kicked in the nearest door. The interior was in darkness, ‘doesn't look like there is anyone at home, come on in.’
When the young lad walked in lights began to glow and things began to change rapidly. Malcolm had never really realised the extent the power these people had until he stood in that room and watched things regenerate around him.
‘Are you doing this?’
‘My presence is sir.’
>
‘OK lie down there lad, I will get your wound dressed and you can tell me what’s been going on.’
‘They came in this morning quite early, I was going to go to Williams for some sword practice, it was my three eldest half brothers. I was immediately suspicious; they make no secret of their dislike of me and never seek me out. Just before they struck I got an inkling of their intentions and ran.’ He lifted his arm so Malcolm could dress the wound, ‘I wasn’t quite quick enough.’
‘Didn't they chase you?’
‘They did but I am much smaller than they and they were easy to lose in the city.’
‘Is there just the three chasing you?’
‘No, all my brothers are. They have been out all day scouring the city for me.’
‘What about your father’s guards?’
‘No one knows but me.’
‘Cant you join your father, jump in a pool of water.’
‘I am still to young Sir Malcolm; I cannot yet wield that kind of power.’
‘I take it you can’t call him either.’
‘No sir, to try would be to invite disaster on my head. Also to trust another Eagle would quickly alert my brothers to my presence and a common Eagle would have to obey them.’
‘You are more royal than them, don’t that count.’
‘They have royal blood too and they are older, more powerful than I, the compulsion to obey them, especially more than one of them would prove too strong.’
‘So you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place boy. How did you find me?’
‘Word got out the great hero Sir Malcolm Grant was in the city buying silks for his women.’
Malcolm’s eyebrows shot up, ‘what you’re telling me the whole bloody city knows my business!’
The boy seemed puzzled, ‘yes sir.’
Malcolm shook his head and murmured something under his breath but the boy was wise enough to keep quiet.
‘We have to get to William.’
‘They will have a watch on his house and if I go to close they will sense me.’
‘Then I will have to go alone then.’