Highlander Lord of Fire

by Donna Fletcher

  He was met with silence when he finished, something he wasn’t expecting. She always voiced her opinion or gave advice, which he often found helpful. So why the silence?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You once mentioned that the whole tribe where your parents were staying when they were killed was massacred, except for one woman who managed to hide. Why would the whole tribe be massacred if it were only your parents this person wanted dead?”

  “I and others have asked that over and over and can find no answer.”

  “Maybe you didn’t ask the right question.”

  “I’ve asked every possible question,” he assured her, though he wondered if it was himself he was reassuring, since he continued to feel he had failed his parents. Their deaths should have been avenged by now.

  “Why massacre a whole tribe?” Snow asked.

  “Pure anger and hate.”

  “For the tribe or what they didn’t find?”

  “What do you mean?” Tarass asked.

  “Were you supposed to be there with your parents?” she asked and didn’t know if her stomach roiled due to the bairn or the thought of what could have happened to her husband if he had been there.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head, then stopped abruptly. “I’d forgotten. My mum told everyone I was going to meet them there in hopes that I would.” He shook his head annoyed for not realizing that, but then he’d never planned on joining his parents so it had never been a thought. Now, however, he looked at his parents’ deaths differently. “You’re saying that it wasn’t only my parents this person wanted dead but my whole family.”

  “It’s a possibility,” Snow said.

  “But why wait? My parents have been dead months now. Why not strike again and see me dead?”

  “There was no opportunity to see it done before you came here to Scotland,” Snow suggested. “And once here, it would take planning and travel, getting to know the area. Or sending someone with you to grow familiar with the area.”

  “Hence, the one among us who knows the truth,” Tarass said. “That would mean I could eliminate those who joined me once I arrived here.”

  Snow poked him in the chest. “That would mean you’re in danger and need to take precautions.”

  “As do you, since your family now as well,” he said, angry that he had placed her in danger by marrying her.

  “I don’t believe so,” Snow said. “This person wanted your family dead before I came along.”

  “Which would have basically ended the MacFiere lineage, not so now that we’re wed and you carry my child.” The realization flared his anger.

  Snow couldn’t argue with that premise. “Then we both need to be cautious and see that the culprit among us is caught soon.” Her stomach grumbled.

  “You need to eat,” Tarass said, another grumble from her stomach confirming it for him.

  “I would prefer to slip under the blankets with you and have you slip inside me, but I’m famished… for food this time,” Snow admitted with some disappointment.

  Tarass chuckled. “It’s cold and gray outside. We can return here later and spend time warming each other.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said.

  Mid-day found Snow walking through the village with Nettle and Thaw, her husband busy talking with Rannock in regard to the sentinels that patrolled the village. They came upon Runa leaving Helga’s cottage.

  “How does Helga’s new bairn do, Runa?” Nettle asked, letting Snow know who she spoke to.

  Snow looked at the woman, fuzzy, but at least not a blur. Her face wasn’t clear, but her blonde hair was bright enough to see the color.

  “The little lassie does well and Helga’s thrilled she has a daughter after having two lads,” Runa said and looked to Snow. “And how are you feeling, Lady Snow? Rumors say you’re with child.”

  “Time will tell,” Snow said, not ready to confirm anything yet.

  “Nettle!”

  The three women turned at Nettle’s name being called out.

  “It’s Helga’s husband, John,” Nettle said to let Snow know who approached.

  “I know who you should be talking to about bringing harm to our clan,” John said, stopping by Nettle. “Fasta, that’s who. She’s a liar and cares not who she harms with her lies.”

  “What has she lied about?” Snow asked well aware the woman had a penchant for lying.

  “Lady Snow,” John said with a respectful bob of his head. “I’m sorry to intrude, but if someone is bringing harm to this clan it most certainly has to be Fasta. Her lies have hurt my marriage. She claims to have miscarried my bairn when that’s impossible. I’ve never cheated on Helga. I have no reason to. She is a good wife to me and a wonderful mum to our bairns. I would never chance losing what we have together. Besides, I’ve loved my wife since we were young. There’s no other woman for me.”

  “We both know that, John, and that’s all that matters, so stop bothering Lady Snow,” Helga said from the open doorway.

  “No, it’s not all that matters,” John insisted. “I’ll not have my good name sullied. Fasta is a menace to this clan. Besides, if she lied about me what else has she lied about.”

  “I will speak to my husband about this, John, and see what can be done,” Snow said.

  “I would be most grateful, m’lady,” John said and hurried into the cottage.

  “If John wasn’t the father of the miscarried bairn, who was?” Nettle asked.

  “I found it difficult to believe that John was the father of Fasta’s bairn,” Runa said. “He and Helga seemed so much in love and though she delivered their bairns easily, he still worried over her. He begged me to make sure nothing happened to her. He told me that he couldn’t live without her.”

  “Why would Fasta lie about him?” Snow asked.

  “Because that’s what Fasta does, at least since I’ve known her,” Nettle said and looked to Runa. “You have known her longer. Has she a fondness for lying?”

  “I can’t say I know Fasta well. She only joined the tribe—clan—a short time before we all arrived here.”

  That caught Snow’s attention and she planned to discuss it with Tarass as soon as possible.

  Snow continued walking with Nettle, Thaw exploring anything that caught his interest as they went along when he stopped suddenly and started barking, then took off.

  “Thaw’s tail wags as he runs,” Nettle said.

  “Someone is nearby that he knows and likes,” Snow said. “Let’s hurry and see who it is.”

  Snow wasn’t far from the keep when her name was shouted with delight.

  “Snow!”

  Snow squealed with joy at the sound of Willow’s voice and when she caught partial sight of her sister’s form, she ran to her.

  Chapter 31

  Tarass watched from the top of the keep steps as his wife and her sister squealed like young lassies and hugged each other tight. Thaw even jumped up at Willow, his tail wagging madly as he vied for attention. Willow and her husband, Slatter’s visit was unexpected, but he was pleased they were here. Snow had missed her sister and with her possibly being with child, it would help her to talk with Willow, who was beginning to round with child herself.

  He walked down the steps to Slatter while the two women continued to hug and laugh and wipe tears away from each other’s faces.

  “I couldn’t keep her away, not after Lord Polwarth stopped at our home and told us what happened. I seriously thought my wife was going to strike him, she got so mad. I was grateful the old fool redeemed himself by the tale’s end.”

  “She would have done me a favor by striking him,” Tarass admitted.

  Slatter laughed. “Snow forgave him easily, didn’t she?”

  Tarass nodded. “She did.”

  “Polwarth also mentioned something about pools of blood and dwarfs?” Slatter said with a scrunched brow as if it made no sense.

  “Let’s get our wives inside where it’s warm and I’ll explain
, since I’m sure Willow is looking for a reasonable explanation,” Tarass said, aware she was the most practical of the three Macardle sisters.

  “She can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it,” Slatter said with a laugh.

  Both men went and collected their wives.

  Slatter kept a firm arm around Willow’s waist, not wanting her to slip on the icy steps and harm herself or the bairn growing inside her.

  Tarass did the same, though it proved more dangerous for Snow, since she couldn’t see the steps for herself, or so he thought.

  The two couples settled at a table close to the hearth. After Thaw made his rounds to each one of them, getting a pet from the men and hugs from the women, he went and laid on the warm hearth stones until he couldn’t keep his head up any longer, then he slept.

  “I could not believe what Polwarth did to you,” Willow said. “I wanted to thrash him senseless.”

  “I would have been ever grateful if you had,” Tarass said and got a poke in the side from his wife.

  “Has your leg healed?” Willow asked.

  “It’s fine,” Snow said as if dismissing it as unimportant and not mentioning that she was probably with child. She would save that for when they were alone. “How are you? Are you feeling well?”

  “I do well and so does the bairn, but we can talk about such things later when we get time alone,” Willow said. “Right now I’m eager to hear about the pools of blood and the dwarfs that Polwarth mentioned. Whatever was he rambling about?”

  “So he told you about them,” Snow said, having wanted to do so herself and get her sister’s perspective on the situation.

  “You better tell your sister before she explodes with curiosity,” Slatter warned with a smile.

  Tarass detailed the myth and the pools of blood that had been found, starting with the first one they had come across when returning home after the wedding, to the last small one found as if cradled in a goblet.

  “So you have no idea why these pools of blood have appeared?” Willow asked.

  “It could be to cast doubt on Tarass as a leader and his ability to protect his clan,” Slatter said.

  Snow nodded. “We’ve thought of that.”

  “Or it could have more of a meaning,” Willow said. “From what you’ve explained the first pool of blood was large, the second smaller than the first but not as small as the last one. Doesn’t it strike you as odd that each one is a different size?” She didn’t give anyone a chance to respond, she continued, “You say the pools of blood represent knowledge gained. If that is so then with such a large pool of blood how many would have died for the knowledge gained there? The second pool is not as large and could very well represent the knowledge gained from Finn and the marked man. The last pool of blood is a puzzle.” Willow shook her head. “It would represent something small and since there are no deaths associated with it, it greatly puzzles me. But there is one more thing you should consider. Your people believe the myth is about the dwarfs gaining knowledge, but it’s more about jealousy, about the knowledge the man has that the dwarfs don’t have. So you might want to ask yourself, what do you have that this person is jealous of or thinks he deserves to have more than you?”

  Snow and Willow sat in Snow’s solar, blankets tucked around them and their feet stretched out to the heat of the hearth. Thaw had gone with Tarass and Slatter for a walk through the village, Slatter interested in seeing the improvements made since Tarass’s return home.

  “I believe I’m with child,” Snow said, unable to hold it in any longer.

  Willow jumped out of her chair and hugged her sister. “That’s wonderful. We will have our bairns close together. They will grow to be like sisters and brothers.”

  Tears threatened Snow’s eyes. “You don’t know how happy that makes me.”

  “How are you feeling?” Willow asked, returning to her seat and tucking the blanket around her.

  “Like Mum did when she carried me, queasy and hungry.”

  “It will pass as it did with Mum,” Willow assured her. “I so look forward to delivering my niece or nephew. If you’re like Mum when she delivered you, you’ll spit the bairn out with ease.”

  “That would please me, and I will help you when you deliver,” Snow said, hoping her vision would be clear enough by then. “Have you heard anything from Sorrell? She wouldn’t want to be left out in sharing the birth of our first bairns.”

  “I’ve heard nothing since I last saw her, though a couple of messages have been sent. I fear the snow has prevented any responses. However, she did tell me that nothing would keep her from coming here in the spring, not even her husband.”

  Snow laughed. “Sorrell is a wee bit of a thing and Ruddock so large. I don’t know how she commands that man.”

  “He lets her, until he doesn’t,” Willow said with a chuckle. “I am pleased to see how happy you are with Tarass and how much you love each other.”

  “It’s that obvious?” Snow asked, glad her love for her husband was visible to all.

  “It’s undeniable, but tell me more of what goes on here, Snow,” Willow said. “I feel that you haven’t told me everything.”

  “I always thought that your practical nature allows you to be more perceptive than others,” Snow said and obliged her sister, telling her about how Fasta suffered a miscarriage and how it led to her confrontation with the dwarf. She debated, only briefly, whether to tell her sister about what the dwarf had said to her.

  We’re coming for you.

  Her sister might get upset, but she would examine it for what it was worth.

  Willow remained quiet when Snow finished telling her everything and didn’t disturb her, knowing her sister was giving thought to all she had told her.

  “We’re coming for you. Why you? Why didn’t this creature,”—she shook her head—“this person, since I don’t believe in the tale, mention Tarass? I would worry over you if I didn’t know Tarass would protect you with his life and with the amount of sentinels I saw when we arrived, your husband has taken precautions. What makes no sense to me is the convenience of the incident and it makes me wonder if it could have been contrived?”

  “How?” Snow asked, finding her sister’s suggestion perplexing. “How would they know I would be there at that time and with only Thaw? And how could Fasta plan a miscarriage?”

  “Someone could be watching your every move, lying in wait for the right moment. And the snowstorm that comes and goes provides perfect cover. Also did you consider that Fasta might not have had a miscarriage? Did your healer confirm it?”

  “Why though?”

  “Take your pick. To give more credence to the myth. To set a plan in action. To give Fasta time away from her duties at the keep,” Willow said with a shrug. “There are endless reasons. I recall you telling me you didn’t care for her upon first meeting her. Has she been as abrupt with you as she was the first time you were here?”

  “She’s been the same and I’ve caught her in lies. She was upset when I removed her from her duties at the keep,” Snow said.

  “A place where she could learn much. She could very well be the person who knows the truth behind everything that goes on here. But tell me, do you believe in this myth and the dwarfs?” Willow asked.

  Snow shook her head. “No, I believe someone is out to harm my husband, and I believe whoever was responsible for his parents’ deaths intended for Tarass to die with them.”

  “That sounds like revenge and revenge can be a powerful weapon, often wielded without thought or reason. Can Tarass think of anyone who holds such a deep grudge against his father?”

  “We haven’t gotten a chance to discuss that and I’ve also just learned of another lie Fasta told that Tarass needs to know about,” Snow said and told her about what John had to say.

  “I would say this Fasta has a lot of explaining to do, but also think about what I said earlier concerning the true meaning of the myth… jealousy and revenge often go hand in hand.”

/>   “A moment of your time, my lord,” Nettle said, approaching Lord Tarass as he neared the keep with Slatter.

  Tarass stopped as did Slatter.

  Nettle looked to Slatter, then to Tarass. “There’s something I thought I should tell you.”

  “You can speak in front of Slatter,” Tarass said.

  Nettle did so without hesitation. “Lady Snow plans to tell you all about John’s dilemma with Fasta so I don’t wish to interfere with that. But I believe what I saw might be helpful in putting pieces of the puzzling matter together,” Nettle said and continued. “The nights I walk the village when I cannot sleep, I sometimes see Fasta. Whether she is coming or going, I cannot say, though her steps are cautious in their gait, and she disappears before I see her reach any particular destination.”

  “I appreciate the information, Nettle,” Tarass said.

  Nettle bobbed her head and hurried up the keep stairs.

  “It is good to have trusted eyes and ears in the clan,” Slatter said. “I have the same myself.”

  “My da taught me the importance of it,” Tarass said, his brow narrowing at a sudden thought. “I need to see to something. Would you take Thaw to Snow? I won’t be long.”

  “Of course, but take what time you need,” Slatter said and looked to the pup standing next to Tarass’s leg. “Come on, Thaw. Come with me.”

  Thaw looked up at Tarass.

  “Go with Slatter, Thaw. He’ll take you to Snow,” Tarass ordered and hearing Snow’s name the pup ran up the keep steps, Slatter following several steps behind him.

  Tarass made his way to Twilla’s place and knocked on the door.

  The door opened slowly, Twilla resting her hand on her lower back. “This cold has these old bones aching.” She stepped back, making room for Tarass to enter.

  Tarass cast an annoyed glance at the hearth where small flames barley flickered. He went straight to it and got more annoyed when he found no firewood in her basket. He went outside and grabbed wood from the pile several of the cottages shared and brought them inside. In no time, he had a fire blazing.