by Riley Moreno
‘Can I stay with you?’ Marion begged, but Brice was adamant.
‘No!’ he said firmly, ‘It would only lead me into temptation. And I do not want that.’
That night after Marion was asleep, Brice opened the door of her room and held a candle over her, watching her sleep – dark eyelashes framing her pale skin, and her hair like fine spun gold flowing about her. He wanted to kiss her; to lie beside her and take her into his arms and up to the stars, but Marion was not yet wholly his and he would wait until she was.
CHAPTER V
The next morning the only traces of rain were the puddles across the moors. The air was bracing, clean and clear, but the wind was still bitingly cold. Marion awoke and lay in her bed, her mind playing over the events of the past days, and marveling at how her life had changed between one sunrise and another. She was glad that she was no longer with Robert but apprehensive of the dangers ahead for Brice. Reluctantly leaving the warmth of her bed, she used the ewer on the dresser for her morning ablutions and slipped into the kirtle and over gown that she had worn the previous evening. She brushed her hair and tied it back with a ribbon, and then left her room to find Brice.
‘He kept watch for most of the night and is asleep now,’ Wallace said.
‘Did you sleep well my lady?’ Lainie asked.
‘Yes,’ Marion answered, ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘Well, you can eat some porridge and get your strength up,’ Lainie smiled.
‘No really, please let me help with something. I will feel quite useless otherwise.’
‘I could show you how to pluck a fowl and roast it…and make bannocks,’ Lainie offered, ‘With what the laird is planning to do…you never know when those skills will come in useful.
‘I would love to learn how to make that delicious broth I ate last night. It revived me, it did.’
Lainie winked and giggled. ‘I have a secret ingredient – ale! It gives it just the right flavor!’
‘It is no wonder I slept so soundly,’ Marion laughed.
When Brice awoke he heard the two women cheerfully conversing as they cooked a meal together for their men. He watched them unnoticed for a while – Marion with her head bent over the spit - which Wallace had rigged up over the fireplace – where a bird was roasting, and Lainie instructing her on the process. Marion turned when she heard Brice’s voice, and he saw that her face was pink from the heat of the fire, and her eyes more animated than he had ever seen them before.
‘Walk outside with me?’ Brice asked Marion as she left the bird to Lainie and joined him.
‘Is it safe?’
‘Yes it is… as long as I am with you,’ Brice said, taking her hand. ‘Besides, I want to show you where you can gather the juiciest berries.’
‘Wait, let me fetch a basket for them,’ Marion said excitedly, running back to Lainie for one. For the next hour she and Brice wandered through the woods behind the cottage – kidnappings, unfortunate marriages and planned revolts seeming distant as they talked and laughed. Brice’s love for his Country was apparent as he regaled Marion with stories of the Highlands and people he had known. It was easy to see how he would make an excellent laird – because his love for his land extended to its people.
‘I haven’t felt this carefree or happy in such a very long time,’ Marion said as they walked back with their baskets filled with berries.
‘I could say the same,’ Brice replied, taking her basket from her and laying it down on a patch of heather, wet from the rain. He placed his basket beside it and took Marion’s hands in his. ‘Marion,’ he said, ‘I know this is not the right time to ask you, but I cannot wait till you are free to do so – will you marry me?’
Marion’s face glowed. ‘I thought that part was already settled Brice, but thank you for asking me. And I would like nothing better than to spend the rest my life by your side.’
He held her with an urgency and desperation that spoke of his need for her, and his impatience to have her for himself. Marion laid her head against Brice’s broad chest. He had a warm, musky smell with delicate overtones of heather and wood smoke. It was a comforting fragrance, far removed from the memory of Bothwell and Arniston House, and Marion was surprised by how much she embraced the simplicity of their prevailing way of life. It had been just a single day but Marion was fast overcoming her bursts of homesickness as she felt herself consumed by Brice’s warmth and love. His lips sought hers and they kissed – the warmth of their lips reflecting the heat of their passion as Marion clung to Brice and he to her. Brice was fighting for control as he allowed his hand to briefly caress one of Marion’s rounded breasts, even as his tongue trailed fire over the side of her neck and throat. She reached for his free hand, guiding it to her other breast, as his body sprang to life and hers ached to be discovered.
‘Brice!’ Marion moaned, arching her pelvis against his kilt, her body awakened by his arousal.
‘No! No, no, no!’ Brice groaned agonisedly, bringing his head down to kiss her breasts through the fabric of her gown.
‘Oh my Brice,’ Marion said, her voice thick and husky with passion, ‘I have not wanted anything more than I want you to take me right now. I belong to you. I belong with you.’
Her words propelled him back to reality. ‘No Marion, you cannot and must not let this go further!’
She was silent as he let go of her; picking up the basket of berries and walking away, and the reality of her situation suddenly broke through the clouds of passion and desire.
‘You are right, Brice,’ Marion said, over her shoulder, ‘I am still your brother’s wife. I’m sorry for forgetting that while your lips and hands were telling me otherwise.’
Brice raked his fingers through his hair, catching up with her in a few short strides. ‘I see that I have upset you!’
‘I am vexed with you, yes,’ Marion said, fuming. ‘You tie my emotions up in knots, you do, Brice Murray!’
‘I do not mean to, Marion. I am just being cautious and …and…you are a virtuous girl and I don’t want to ruin your life.’
‘I see. Then you shall not kiss me again. Because I am virtuous and intend to keep it that way.’
‘You’re weeping,’ Brice remarked, looking in alarm at the tears pooling in her eyes and sliding rapidly down her cheeks. ‘What are these tears for? Don’t you see that I have done you a favor – leaving your virtue intact?’
Marion stopped and turned to him, dragging the back of one hand across her face. She looked like an angry child and Brice’s heart melted. ‘How can you call me moral, Brice? Or a woman of virtue? I am married to one man and being kissed by another. I desire you and not my husband. I have allowed myself to be abducted by the man I love, and live in a cottage in the middle of nowhere with this man. No, I am not moral. I would be, had I resisted your charms and tried to make my way back to Robert, or at least to my family.’
Her tears spilled down faster at the mention of her family, as a great wave of homesickness engulfed her. ‘Take me back to my family, Brice. This is wrong. All of it. It felt right and adventurous for a little while, but this is not what I want.’
Brice stood there looking helplessly at her. ‘Marion,’ he said, taking her hand. ‘Please listen to me. Only wait while I fight my war with my father and take over Bothwell and the Murray lands. Only wait until Robert is ready to dissolve his marriage to you, and then we can have our time together. I want to have you honestly – not like this.’
‘And is kidnapping me part of having me honestly?’
‘You speak in anger, Marion. You know I had to kidnap you or you would be well on the way to France by now, and married to a man who was only going to use you as a screen for who he really is. Think of what you have escaped – a life of loneliness and childlessness.’
Marion sniffled, dragging her sleeve across her face; the action only serving to further touch Brice’s heart. She was truly like a little child, he thought. He pulled her into his arms again. ‘I am sorry
my little one,’ Brice said, ‘I will take you back to your parents if that is what you wish, and then come for you once my war is won.’
‘Will you, Brice?’ Marion asked, grateful for his consideration. Brice nodded and stroked her cheek.
‘So much has happened in so short a while,’ Marion said as they walked back, ‘And I am overwhelmed by all of it.’ She was walking into the clearing by the cottage as she spoke and Brice started and pulled her back into the thicket.
‘Wha..?’ Marion said, before Brice clamped his hand over her mouth and pulled her against him.
There were men by the cottage door talking with Wallace and Lainie. Brice and Marion couldn’t hear what they were saying, but by their expressions it seemed very serious.
‘Marion looked at Brice enquiringly.
‘We will have to wait until they are gone,’ Brice whispered.
‘Can you recognize them?’ she asked.
‘No. So I am not sure if they are foes or allies.’
They stood in the thicket looking at the men until they were forced to change location rapidly as the men moved away from the cottage and seemed to be walking in their direction. Brice pushed Marion back and reached for his sword, but they avoided the thicket altogether, and took a different route, going along the beaten path and not the way Brice and Marion had just come.
‘Can we go to the cottage now?’ Marion asked moments later, but Brice shook his head. They waited until Brice felt there was no danger of discovery and then ran to the cottage door. Wallace shot the bolt back and opened the door a crack, expecting more strangers, but fell back to let them in with a cry of relief.
‘Who were those people?’ Brice asked. ‘Were they my father’s or Robert’s men?’
Wallace shook his head. ‘No, my laird. They were not. They were men who wanted to join forces with you.’
‘Oh!’ Brice said, with a sense of relief. ‘Did you tell them what they needed to know?’
‘Yes, my laird. I told them that you would be addressing them all two days from now.’ Wallace looked uncertainly at Marion and then back at Brice.
‘What is it Wallace?’ Brice asked, ‘I can tell something is the matter.’
‘Yes, my laird. The people who came to find you – they also brought news for Lady Marion.’
‘Who from?’ Marion asked, alarmed.
‘They said that your father and mother had returned to England; that Robert bid them leave.’
‘Oh!’ Marion’s eyes widened in consternation. ‘Do they know that I am with Brice?’
‘Word is that Robert suspects that my laird is behind your kidnapping. Something to do with the horse that my laird was riding.’
Brice exclaimed impatiently. ‘I thought the mist would be shield enough and that Robert would be far too distracted by the men I had brought along to notice the horse I was riding on.’
‘And I did not protest once I knew who my captor was,’ Marion’s tone was matter-of-fact. ‘If my captor was a stranger or someone I abhorred, I would have screamed for all I was worth.’ She looked squarely at Wallace. ‘Is Robert coming after us? How do we know that these men are really going to back Brice? What if they are spies who found their way to us through our allies, only to return and report to Robert?’
‘I can take you to your parents,’ Brice said, ‘Until all of this is over.’
‘They have returned to England, Brice, or did you not hear that?’ Marion said sharply.
‘I did hear…and I still offer to take you back to them.’ Brice paused, ‘If that is what you want.’
‘I think we must leave the cottage and go elsewhere. I do not feel safe here anymore.’
Lainie, who had been quiet thus far, spoke up. ‘I agree with my lady,’ she said.
‘Wallace,’ Brice said, ‘I wish you to go out and spread the word that the men who are to side with me against my father must be ready by tomorrow. I cannot delay further.’ He turned to Lainie. ‘Lainie, take Lady Marion to your father’s croft where she will be safe. Do not let her out of your sight until I return.’
‘I will stay you, Brice,’ Marion said mutinously.
‘No, my dear, you cannot. You must go with Lainie.’
‘I have to come face to face with Robert eventually,’ Marion argued.
‘No, you have no need to. He does not deserve an explanation from you, because he tricked you.’
‘He was honest about himself on our wedding night,’ Marion said, ‘so maybe I should be honest with him.’
‘Robert should never have married you in the first place, Marion. Don’t you see? He was using you for his own selfish ends.’ He took her hands and looked earnestly into her eyes. ‘Please, my dear love, go with Lainie and be safe until I return for you.’
Marion looked sadly at the two baskets of berries, a reminder of a few carefree moments in the midst of chaos, and then she went to her room, feeling as if she had lived there for considerably longer than just one night. She repacked her case and dragged it out of her room. That was when she heard the horses.
‘My laird!’ Wallace shouted. ‘The peasants did not wait for you but attacked Bothwell on their own and were beaten back by the Murray clansmen!’
‘Why aren’t the Murray clansmen fighting on your side, Brice?’ Marion asked, rushing back to where Brice stood, talking to the horsemen.
‘Because Robert paid them off.’
‘And because you weren’t there to prevent that happening,’ Marion said. She threw her arms about Brice. ‘I will go with Lainie, Brice. I’m sorry that rescuing me has caused you a defeat even before you had a chance to join the fight. Go now and drive Robert away. The clansmen will change sides for you, of that I am certain.’
He kissed her desperately and this time it was she who pulled away.
‘Quick!’ Lainie shouted, ‘Robert’s men will be upon us before long!’
Wallace took her case and hurried her out. She turned back to see Brice looking after her with apprehension and regret. ‘I will come for you!’ he shouted. Marion said nothing, but ran behind Lainie and allowed Wallace to hoist her onto a horse.
The two women galloped away across the moors, fear spurring them on.
‘How far to your house, Lainie?’ Marion asked.
‘Don’t worry my lady,’ Lainie said, ‘We will be there before long.’
Night was on them as they reached Lainie’s home – a crofter’s cottage with the hills rising up behind it. The spiral of smoke rising up from the chimney somehow revived Marion’s spirits, as did the steaming hot bowl of broth that Lainie’s mother put in her hands. She accepted it gratefully, dipping a bannock into the thick liquid as she sat before the fire.
‘How will we get word of Brice?’ Marion asked anxiously.
‘Do not worry my lady. He will return when his war is won.’
‘Yes but what if…’ Marion couldn’t bear to give voice to her thoughts.
‘You cannot and must not think like that my lady,’ Lainie said sharply, ‘we must believe that my laird will return soon.’
As Marion wondered fearfully what fate Brice would suffer, he gathered the peasant forces together and attacked Bothwell at night. Even as he stormed the battlements of his own home, Brice felt regret. He wished he did not have to take such a course but he saw no easier path. His family had done enough harm to the peasants on their land and they had deceived the woman he loved.
‘Put your sword down, lad!’ his father said when he swung the door of his bedroom open.
‘No father,’ Brice said, ‘You have done me the gravest wrong but it took me a while to realize it.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I told you that I wanted to marry Marion after I saw her at the wedding, but you kept insisting she was pledged to Robert.’ Brice raised his sword menacingly. ‘You knew that Robert has never had any interest in women. You knew about his life in France and why he desired so much to return there, yet you persisted in ruining an innocent girl’s l
ife by making her marry him. How could you?’
‘It was in your brother’s best interests!’ Lord Murray said.
‘Or in yours? You could have let him go to France without insisting he marry before he did, but you had to have it your way, didn’t you?’
‘What do you want lad?’ Lord Murray asked.
‘I want my rights. To have Robert’s marriage with Marion annulled so that I can marry her. And I want you to step down as laird of Bothwell Castle if you do not vow to treat the peasants humanely.’
Lord Murray laughed. ‘And do you think you can be laird?’
‘I know I can,’ Brice said, ‘Because I have all the peasants on Murray lands on my side.’
Lord Murray sat up in his bed. ‘So you have been rallying my people and going behind my back, and you make me out to be the villain?’
‘You sent me out to collect rents and check on the crofts. I merely did as I was told. I just saw how badly the peasants were being treated.’
‘So you will kill me and then take my place as laird?’
‘No. I will not kill you. I will ask you to send Robert to France as he desires, and William to England, and give me what I deserve.’
‘I will not listen to your drivel,’ Lord Murray said, rising up from the bed. That was when the peasant army poured into the castle.
CHAPTER VI
Marion was outside walking with Lainie. She had fallen into a pattern of doing that every day after her chores – hoping that she would see Brice riding towards her.
‘What do you suppose has happened with the war?’ Marion asked Lainie. ‘Are you not anxious about Wallace?’
‘Our men are fighters. It’s what they do best, my lady. We sit home and wait for their return…and they almost always show up.’
Lainie squinted and raised one hand to shield her eyes as she peered into the distance where she could just about discern a solitary figure. She did not want to raise Marion’s hopes so she said nothing, but Marion had followed her gaze and her eyes were riveted to the horizon, from where emerged a single horseman.