by Leela Ash
“I have heard things,” she began. “Other chambermaids who I have met during my time, some have worked across many clans and castles throughout the land. They have heard wild whispers of what may be lurking out there across the mountains. Some even fled from a fallen castle and told others on their travels and journeys to find new homes of what they had seen.”
Ariane looked terrified as she spoke, and Bonnie was barely holding it together. There was a large part of her that was skeptical, but she knew that she had to keep listening and give Ariane the benefit of the doubt. After all, it was as much as anyone had ever told her, and with each passing second, she was becoming more and more concerned for her future.
“When we were all talking last night, down in the kitchen, there was discussion of a tale that had come from one such maid. She had fled from her fallen castle and clan, and was on the road when she was met by a horseman. She collapsed in his arms and told him of the terrors that had befallen them all, and of how none of us stood a chance. She said that this clan was so unlike any others she had known, she almost couldn’t describe them. But what she did say was that they were big, burly men… big as giants with wide, rippling, muscles and red, red hair.”
Bonnie swallowed and leaned in closer.
“And,” Ariane continued, “not only that, but they have magic about them… like nothing any of us could imagine.”
“Magic?” Bonnie asked cautiously. “Like witchcraft?”
“No,” Ariane shook her head. “These men… this clan who roams the Highlands, storming castles and making them their own, choosing women, marrying them and breeding with them to start a new line of blood more powerful than anything ever to exist before… They are not just men… They are also… Wolf.”
Wolf.
The word seemed to reverberate around Bonnie’s mind and she felt her whole body tremble. She had heard whispers of wolves out there in the Highlands. Stories of how dangerous they were and of how people had been savaged by them during the hunting months of spring. Bonnie thought of how there had been many times she had listened to her father talking to his comrades about how they would one day destroy the wolves if they did indeed exist and she had wondered what on earth he had been speaking of. Of course wolves exist, she had thought, but why would father want to destroy them all?
As she looked into Ariane’s eyes and her heart pounded in her chest, she knew now why her father had been so intent on destroying these fabled wolves. Because they were a threat. They were destroying clans all across Scotland and rising into a power all their own. And now it looked like Castle Grant and the rest of Bonnie’s clan were in trouble. The wolves were coming for them and if what legend said was true, there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it.
“Did Lord Drummond say when?” she asked Ariane with trepidation, but her loyal chambermaid simply shook her head.
“No,” she admitted. “I have not heard word of when…”
Bonnie looked into the flames of the fire and then rose to her feet. She understood the gravity of what she was being told, but it was all so intense and seemed too unbelievable, she almost couldn’t get her head around it. If they were really half men and half wolf, that was certainly something she would never be able to fathom… And then she thought of the possibility of her body being ravaged by one of the beasts and although it made her heart pound, it also caused a ripple of excitement to rumble through her.
Wolves were storming across the Highlands and one of them was coming for her, to make her his bride…
7.
Bonnie thanked Ariane again for her loyalty and then asked her to leave her alone for a while so she could gather her thoughts.
Nothing in what she had just been told was making much sense, but at the same time, it all felt as if it was meant to be. Bonnie had regularly dreamt of wolves and had heard her family and others around Castle Grant speak of the dangers that lurked out across the mountains and within the forests nearby. But never in her wildest dreams could she ever have thought that something like this would come to her door… And the idea of these huge men who were half human and half wolf was both exciting as it was terrifying.
She walked to the window and looked out across the loch. The mist had rolled down the mountains and looked as if it were skating across the top of the water perfectly, laying over it like a blanket. She shivered. Something in the air was different and now she knew what.
Trouble was coming.
She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. Her plump frame was warm from the raging fire, but even that couldn’t stop the ice from running within her. She was nervous, and yet, she had to know more.
She quickly crossed her bed chamber to where she stored her dresses. As she slipped quickly out of her nightgown and pulled her new beautiful blue velvet robes up over her body and the swell of her breasts, she flicked her hair out of the collar and let it trail all the way down her back. She could see her reflection in the silver vase that her mother had placed on the hearth and she caught the azure blue of her eyes, which made her stop and look at herself fully for a moment.
She had always been told how rare her beauty was, but as she stood there and studied herself in the reflection of the silver, she truly realized why she would be in more danger than any other of the daughters of the castles around the Highlands. Her hair was a deep, rich red, not orange and fiery like many of the girls of Scotland. Her skin was pale and alabaster, and her eyes were so deeply blue and striking they were enough to stop grown men in their tracks.
Her father had always told her that he was waiting for the right man for her to marry, that she deserved the best, and with her exotic looks, she would most certainly be afforded it. But she worried now, what if he had left it too late? If she already had a husband, would it have made a difference to this clan storming through the mountains and searching for their brides to create a pure bloodline? Or would she have been taken all the same?
She rubbed her forehead and placed a single white flower behind her ear. She had no idea what the answers to her questions may be, but she did know that she needed to speak with her parents.
She had to find out if it was all true, once and for all.
She swept out of her bedchamber and past the guards who instantly jumped and started to race after her.
“M’lady,” one called. “Please, you must remain guarded.”
“I’m hungry, good sir,” she said as she dismissed him. “Follow me if you must, but I am making my way to the main hall where I will dine with my parents.”
She flounced off without giving them another glance, but she was still aware of them trailing her, the heavy sounds of their boots clomping and the jangling of their armor behind her.
She continued down the darkened hallways and toward the large staircase that ran down the center of the castle. As she got to the top, she was aware of the eyes upon her from the people milling around on the floor below, but she was determined to not let them bother her as they had done the evening before. She had places to be and answers to find, and she wouldn’t stop until she got them.
When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she heard the guards jangle down behind her and follow along another darkened hallway to the main hall. The doors were open wide and even though there were guards on either side, they did not look at her as she rushed past them and made her way into the hall.
The long tables that were arranged around the room were filled with men and women, eating and drinking, acting more jovial than she had expected considering what had happened with Lord Drummond and the news that was quickly spreading through the castle. She could feel their eyes turn up to her as she passed, but none of them really paid her much attention, and as she reached the top table, where her parents sat with a full pic laid out before them, she put her hands on her hips and looked at them with challenge.
“Bonnie,” her father smiled warmly, much of the anxiety he had displayed the previous evening erased from his face. “Do join us…�
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Bonnie didn’t know what was happening, but it seemed as if this day was completely different, almost as if the night before had never happened. She climbed up onto the long raised ridge where the top table was stationed and moved around the back toward her parents. As she sat down next to her mother, she looked up at her and searched her face for some sign of fear or worry, but there was none present.
“Mother?” she asked finally. “I need to talk to you…”
“Not now, Bonaventure,” she smiled as she ran a hand through her thick ruby hair. “Look at the feast before us, surely you must be hungry, you did not join us for last night’s meal…”
Bonnie sighed and looked around. No one seemed concerned as they had the night before, and no one appeared to be watching her as closely as they had been. Her parents were also a lot more relaxed and she couldn’t help but think that maybe she had gotten it all wrong… And not only that, but that Ariane had lied to her.
She felt the rage build in her belly.
“But mother,” she continued, “I really do need to talk with you.”
“Bonnie,” her mother said sternly, “now is not the time.”
She raised her eyebrows and looked at her as if they had a secret between them. Her father sat on the other side of her mother, completely oblivious to their discussion, looking out across the room with a wide smile on his face.
“Okay,” Bonnie whispered, not sure of what else to say. “I guess it can wait…”
Although it really couldn’t.
She sat quietly and let the servers carve up some of the suckling pig and load it on the plate in front of her. They passed her a tankard of wine and Bonnie ate slowly and with caution, the nerves still rumbling around inside of her.
When she had finished her meal, she pushed the dish away and looked up at her mother. She was looking down at her with a pained expression in her eyes and mouthed to her silently so that they were the only two people in the world to know…
Meet me out by the loch.
8.
It was dangerous in normal times for Bonnie to sneak out of the castle without a guard, but never mind doing it when there was an alert around them and their valley. She pretended to be walking to the other side of the main hall and whilst the guards who had been tailing her were engrossed in conversation, she slipped out a side door and into a small, quiet hallway.
She kept her head down and ripped the flower from her hair, throwing it down on the ground. If anyone saw her, they would know instantly who she was, but she was determined not to draw any further attention to herself. As she walked quickly toward the end of the corridor, she could see the light up ahead. A doorway was at the end and it led to the outside. Even though it was at the back of the castle, she would be able to slip free and hopefully, work her way around the side without being seen, run quickly over the drawbridge whilst no guards were watching and find her way down to the loch.
It was midday and most of the guards were in the main hall eating, only two were high up on the viewing point that ran around the edge of the top of the castle, and they were marching back and forth, looking out across the mountains and then in the other direction. She waited and looked up, watching them closely, waiting until the time was right…
Her heart was pounding, she was only going to meet her mother, but she didn’t want anyone to stop her, she needed to know what was going on.
When she realized that both of the guards were looking away from the drawbridge, she gathered her dress over her arm and made a run for it. Her chest burned as she fled across the bridge and ran as fast and as quietly as she could, taking care not to kick up any gravel or disturb the ground as she went.
As she ran across the wooden bridge, the end was before her and she crossed the mound and began to travel down the other side. When she reached the end, she waited, hiding to catch her breath, and then she quickly looked behind her to check that she wasn’t being followed before she started to run again, out toward the woods and the edge of the loch.
She always loved being out in nature, and this day was no exception, even with all of the terrible rumors that were circulating the castle. As she felt the soft grass beneath her feet, she couldn’t help but smile. She had wished, so dearly, to have been out there under the stars the previous evening, this was almost as if she was being rewarded and given another chance. And it was more than making up for it.
The mist was still rolling down the mountains and it coated the loch in the most eerie of ways. When she turned and looked behind her, she could only see the very top of the castle and she sighed with relief as she realized that there was definitely no way anyone would be able to see her now. She slowed her pace and enjoyed the walk, all the while listening for the sound of her mother coming behind her.
She stopped when she reached the edge of the loch and waited. The silence around her, for once, seemed deafening and she felt herself becoming nervous. She couldn’t see the castle and she realized how alone she was. What had she been thinking, running down there all alone? Surely her and her mother could have spoken back at the castle.
She was about to get up and begin walking back when she heard the distant thud of hooves, and out of the mist, she saw her mother’s horse coming toward her.
“Mother?” she called as she squinted through the fog.
Her mother sat astride her steed and she waved as she galloped toward her and came to a halt just meters from the water’s edge.
“Bonnie,” she panted as she slung her leg over the edge of the horse and slipped down onto the soft ground.
She could sense the urgency in her mother’s voice and she instantly felt herself tense up. What was happening?
“My darling daughter,” she gasped as she took hold of her by the shoulders. “Your father,” she said with worry, “I think he’s gone mad!”
“Mad?” Bonnie asked as she looked into her mother’s eyes and searched desperately for an answer.
“He is in denial, he says we don’t need the help of Lord Drummond and that if there is indeed any threat, we shall face it alone. He has dismissed all of the support from our neighbors and he will not discuss the possibility of an attack! I fear for us all…”
Bonnie thought a moment whilst she tried to take all of it in. She knew her father well, and if she was sure of anything, it was that he would never react this way to that kind of threat.
“Are you sure mother?” she asked gently.
“Did you not see how everyone was this morning? He’s assured them everything is going to be fine! How can we lie in times such as these?!”
“Well…” Bonnie began, “maybe father is right. Maybe he knows we will be fine.”
“Wolves that roam the Highlands?” her mother scoffed. “It’s the thing of nightmares and he thinks we don’t need help. How could this even be?”
Bonnie understood what her mother was saying, but she also had faith in her father and his judgment. She shrugged her shoulders and looked to the ground.
“I don’t know mama,” she said sadly, “but maybe we just need to have a little faith.”
Her mother reached out, pulled Bonnie to her chest and hugged her tightly.
“I wish I had your optimism,” she sighed. “But maybe you are right…”
She trailed off and Bonnie could sense her grip tightening. She held on to Bonnie’s arms and shoulders with such severity that she squealed with pain.
“Mother,” she hissed, “please.”
But as she looked up and followed her mother’s gaze, she realized why she was clinging to her. Up on the mountainside, coming down through the mist, was an army of men… followed by a pack of giant wolves.
9.
The two women clung to each other in fright and Bonnie could do nothing but pray.
“Please,” she whispered, “please don’t let them hurt us.”
Her mother whispered her own fevered prayer as she kissed her daughter’s head, and Bonnie could hear her heart beating quickly i
n her chest.
They were trapped. There was no way they could make it back to the castle in time, and running was not the kind of thing the Grant Clan would do. Even the women. They were determined to stand their ground and fight to the very end.
As the trail of men beat a path toward them, and their wolves snarled at their sides, Bonnie closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
If this was the end, she had to go to it with good grace and not let fear and upset crowd her mind. She had to be strong, and so did her mother.
The wolves were bigger than any she had ever seen or known to exist, and they were all jet black with ice blue eyes. Bonnie refused to look away as they approached and she dug her heels into the soft mossy earth as they gained on them with each second. They could only have been two hundred feet away and she could feel the hot breath from the horses and smell the musky scent of men.
“Lassies!” one of the big men on horseback called to them. “Put your arms out and kneel on the ground!”
Bonnie looked up at her mother and her mother nodded back at her, confirming that they should do as they were told.
As she knelt down on the moist ground, she felt a tear slip down her cheek. They had been so foolish. These men could have been waiting up the mountain, watching and hoping that someone from the castle would be silly enough to come down to the loch.
The wolves began to circle them; Bonnie didn’t dare look up to see them properly. Ahead of her, against the ground, she could see a huge monster paw, big and black with long, sharp claws, and the sight of them made her shudder. The wolf snarled and as she let her eyes drift up to look at its face properly, she almost yelped at its huge fangs. The beast gnashed them together and curled its nose to reveal them again in warning. Bonnie looked quickly down at the ground and closed her eyes. She didn’t need to see anymore.