by King, Susan
"This place is beautiful," she murmured. She watched a pair of golden eagles glide downward, their shadows skimming the rocks and slopes. "Did you come here as a boy?"
"My brothers and I came here often," he said. "We hunted for eagles' nests and ptarmigans, and dared each other to climb the heights." He chuckled at the memory, and rested his arm on her shoulder, pointing downward. "Beyond that small mountain tarn—that tiny loch, there—is the place where my father and my brothers are buried, with generations of Macraes." They looked there in silence. "I miss them," he said after a moment. "They were good men, kind men. My brothers were no older than your cousins when they died. My father was a warrior. He loved to laugh, and he loved to fight. And he loved his sons." His hand gripped her shoulder, and she laid her fingers over his, quick tears stinging her eyes.
"You belong here," she said. "Not in the Lowlands, nor even in Glenran, but here, among this power and beauty. This is where you are happiest. Your losses have made you stronger than you know. This place is part of you."
He did not answer, but she felt his agreement in the press of his hand. Then he stood, the wind catching his hair, billowing his plaid; his strong legs, clad in woolen trews for added warmth, were spread in a wide stance. She looked up at him, and saw a Highlander, his source of strength the earth and the mountains, his source of joy the winds and the water.
"Never leave here, Duncan. Dulsie is your heart."
He looked down at her. "You are my heart," he said, holding out his hand. "And we belong here together."
She rose to her feet and reached out to take his hand, high above the earth and just below the heavens, when she felt the shiver plunge through her. The golden haze that filled her eyesight spread like a glittering sun shaft. Her breath quickened as the vision seized her.
Duncan had taken her hand, unaware that a vision had begun its shining course through her mind. She tried to pull away, wanting to protect him, but could not move. Whoever touches a seer at the moment of a vision will see the same, she tried to say, but could not speak.
Up the side of the mountain, surrounded by a shimmer of golden light, a young boy climbed toward them, his dark hair gleaming, his legs lean and quick. He lifted his head and laughed, but did not see Elspeth and Duncan on the rock shelf above him; they were not of his time, nor he of theirs.
She saw that his eyes were gray, like silver, like stone. And she knew this boy was her son. Duncan's son.
The shimmer clouded to a haze, and the boy disappeared as if in a mist. She turned to Duncan. His face was pale, his gaze piercing.
"I saw him," he said. "I saw him. Our son."
She nodded, spilling a tear down her cheek. "He will be strong, and happy. He will love to laugh, like his grandfather before him. And he will love this mountain."
Duncan held out his arms, and she went into them.
"I do not want him to grow up fatherless," she said.
"He will not," Duncan said, pressing his lips into her hair. "I swear to you."
* * *
When they had climbed down the mountainside, Duncan tugged on her hand and led her toward Dulsie Castle, over a string of rolling hills deep with silvery heather stems and brown ferns.
"Come this way," he said, and took her down one of the shaggy hillocks, where a burn cut deep through the ferns and grass, its brown, trickling water flowing fast over mossy stones. He leaped over the burn, but when she went to come with her, he gestured for her to stay.
"Stand on the other side of the stream, just there," he said. He bent down and rinsed his hands in the burn. "Now do the same."
She laughed, a quick trill, and leaned down to wash her hands in the cold water. "What are we doing?" she asked, as she stood again, wiping her hands on her plaid. He reached over the water and grasped her hands in each of his.
"This is an ancient custom in the upper Highlands," he said. "We pledge our love and faithfulness across a running stream. As long as this stream runs, our love will hold true. It is an old, old form of a marriage vow, I think, before the Christians came to the Highlands."
She held his hands, and closed her eyes. The light burble of the water, the shrill of the wind, the rustle of the grasses, and his murmuring words blended together. She repeated his pledge, swearing to give her love and faith through time, and opened her eyes.
Duncan smiled and leaned over the stream, kissing her. "I have not yet registered our marriage with the Commissary Court on the Black Isle, but I will do so. In the meantime, we have had a Catholic rite and now a pagan one. We are fast wed, and none to put it asunder."
"None," she said. He tugged at her hand, and she leaped the stream to climb up the hillock after him. At the top, he suddenly halted, holding out his arm.
"Look there," he said. Elspeth glanced down at the base of the hill, and saw Magnus striding through the grass as strong and fast as she had ever seen him. She gasped in surprise and took a breath to call out to him.
"Hush," Duncan said. "He may not want our company just now."
Running ahead of Magnus, Kirsty cut a quick path through the long grass. Elspeth frowned; it looked as if her cousin were chasing the girl. And she could see the glower on his handsome face from where she stood.
Magnus shouted, and began to run. Kirsty stopped, fisted her hands on her hips and called back, obviously an angry taunt. Then she raced ahead. A few moments later, Magnus closed in on her, and called out. Kirsty ran on. Then Magnus leaped forward and took her down with him into the grass.
Elspeth could hear their shouts from where she stood at the top of the hill. She watched them roll over a time or two, saw the gleam of Magnus's golden head and the dark burnish of Kirsty's, and turned to Duncan.
"Do something!"
"They are fine," he said. "Magnus owes this to her, I think. He did not approve of her method of healing him."
"Well, he is healed now, apparently, from the looks of this," Elspeth grumbled. "He was as stubborn as an old goat last week. I would have tied him to the bed as well. He gave her a devil of a time. She kept telling him that getting up could tear open his stitches. He would not listen."
Duncan cast her a wry look. "He has pride. And Kirsty has always had too much will."
Elspeth gasped. "Too much will! He pouted like a baby just because a woman outsmarted him." She folded her arms and huffed indignantly. "It was about time someone outsmarted Magnus. He has always thought himself too invincible. Even after his wife's death, even with the responsibility of a small daughter, he has remained aloof, and above his emotions. Kirsty has brought something out in him that no one could." She felt a smile growing, and hid it from Duncan. "He seems almost human, losing his temper like that. It may have been very good for him to meet up with a woman as strong-willed as Kirsty."
"Kirsty has grown up to be a strong-headed woman, and no doubt. I remember her temper, even as a babe, was legendary in our house. No one crossed little Kirsty."
"Well," Elspeth said, "someone just did."
Magnus stood in the grass, and hoisted Kirsty over his shoulder. She kicked her legs and pummeled his back. Duncan chortled in delight.
"Stop laughing," Elspeth said stiffly.
"If a woman catches a man's temper like that, it is as good, sometimes, as catching his heart. I would wager they are both lost. Look there."
She looked, and blinked. "He is kissing her."
Duncan laughed again, and pulled on Elspeth's arm. "And she is kissing him. Magnus is teaching her he will not be tied down unless he wants to be, I think."
"And she has taught him that there are some things stronger than Magnus Fraser."
"Come away, now, and leave them to their lessons," he said, pulling her down the hill in another direction.
"You are a wise man, Duncan Macrae," she said, grinning.
"How so?"
"You brought Magnus here when he needed healing. And look what he has found."
He smiled. "I am no seer, to predict a marriage."
"It takes not much of a seer to know that a good marriage could come of that fine kiss back there."
* * *
Seated at the table in the great hall, Duncan leaned back in his chair and grinned at Alasdair. They had been chuckling over the story of Magnus's courtship, which had the castle in a happy uproar. Duncan smiled to recall his grandmother's delight when she had heard that Magnus wanted to bring Kirsty back to Glenran with him, after a marriage ceremony.
"She is disappointed to lose the girl, I know, but she knows Kirsty will be happy, and that pleases her most," Alasdair said.
"And she was overjoyed to find that she already has a granddaughter," Duncan said. "She has made them promise to bring Eiric to visit in the spring."
"Innis thinks that now you and Elspeth will be here with her. Have you told her that you intend to return to Edinburgh?"
"I do not know if Edinburgh is the best place for me anymore, Alasdair," Duncan said. "There is a serious matter that I must attend to there, but I will speak to the Privy Council about that, and clear it up. Then I may spend a few weeks closing up my law cases, and come back to Dulsie. Elspeth wants it. And I want to be here, I think."
Alasdair nodded, obviously pleased, and opened his mouth to comment. A sudden shout from the guard on the rooftop, heard outside the open windows, caught their attention.
"Riders approaching!" the guard called.
Duncan and Alasdair went to an open casement to look outside. A group of riders, plaided and armed, came across the moor toward Dulsie Castle at a fast pace.
"Frasers," Duncan said after a moment.
Alasdair nodded. "How did they know you were at Dulsie?"
"I sent a running gillie to them to tell them that Elspeth was fine, and that we would be here for a while. I did not expect them to ride here, though."
"There are only three Frasers, but several others with them. They look like a tail—" Alasdair paused, and swore. "Robert is with them, and he brings a tail of his Gordons."
"Ah," Duncan said. "Now I know why they have come." The group reached the stone bridge and clattered across. His heart thudded as strong as that forceful rhythm. He had hoped it would not come to this. He sighed deeply, and turned away.
Alasdair frowned. "Why does Robert bring Gordons here?"
"To arrest me," Duncan said quietly.
* * *
"The Privy Council has put you to the horn, Duncan Macrae." Robert watched him through pale blue eyes, hooded like a hawk's. He pulled a folded paper from inside his doublet, snapped it open, and slid it the length of the table toward Duncan. "You are outlawed for breaking the bond of caution signed by the Frasers, and by yourself, as their cautioner and as their pledge. I told the Council that I would fetch you. If you do not come peaceably with me and my escort, I must place you under arrest."
Duncan nodded calmly. His glance took in all those who stood in the great hall listening. His wife and his family, both Macraes and Frasers, had gathered to hear the message Robert had brought. Elspeth stood near her cousins, her face pale, her gaze fixed to him. He saw the fear in her eyes, and could not return her glance. She held onto his grandmother's arm, and he was glad of that, for the old woman looked her age in this moment. Her slight shoulders slumped beneath her plaid shawl. Mairi and Kirsty were there, just behind Innis, watching him with expressions of shock. He looked away.
He perused the document, written in a cramped legal hand and signed by three members of the Council. Leaning against the edge of the long planked table, he scratched thoughtfully at the beard shadowing his chin, and passed the page to Alasdair.
"This document lacks the signatures of the full Council," he said to Robert.
"They were not all available. Those that signed speak for the rest," Robert answered. "It is legal."
Innis Macrae stepped closer to the table. "Why has Duncan been put to the horn?" she demanded, glaring at Robert.
Robert tilted his head politely. "He had a direct hand in breaking the bond of caution that he and the Frasers signed. As the pledge, he knew the penalty for that."
Innis turned to Duncan. "Who is this man?"
Robert smiled coldly. "I am Elspeth's half-brother, lady."
"You are related to that sweet child? Your other half must be the spawn of the devil," Innis snapped. Robert raised his brows at this, but turned away without comment.
Alasdair swore and looked at the three Frasers, Callum, Kenneth, and Ewan, who had ridden in with Robert and his men. Duncan had noticed that they bore the grime and exhaustion of their journey with sober dignity. He had not missed the flashing anger in their eyes whenever they looked at Robert.
"Explain what has happened here," Alasdair said to the Frasers. "Robert is no trustworthy source."
Callum stepped forward and began to speak, cutting past Robert's blustering protest. "Duncan's gillie came a few days ago, and told us all was well enough here. We were prepared to wait for Elspeth and Duncan and Magnus to return to Glenran in their own time. Then, two days ago, Robert arrived from Edinburgh, surrounded by his men. He demanded to see Duncan. When we said he was gone home to Dulsie—"
"Not knowing, then, that the man had been put to the horn," Kenneth interrupted. "We would not have said so quick, had we known what Robert wanted."
Callum nodded. "We would have sent Robert off to look in some other corner of Scotland, and come to warn you, Duncan."
"My thanks," Duncan murmured. Robert, hearing their low exchange, glared at Callum, who ignored him. Duncan recognized that as a supreme act of control, knowing how Callum and his cousins hated Robert.
"When Robert set out to ride here," Callum continued, "we decided that some of us should come too. But first Hugh offered to pay part of the fine, saying he would try to raise the rest."
"Hugh offered to pay the fine, and Robert refused to wait?" Alasdair asked. Duncan lifted a brow, knowing that the fine should have been asked of the Fraser chief first, before the horning was declared. Robert had obviously hastened the legal proceedings, with the Council's help.
He wondered why, and wondered how it had gotten approval.
Robert stepped forward. "I explained the situation fully to the members of the Privy Council. They were well aware that Hugh Fraser could not raise the fine stated in the bond in a reasonable amount of time."
"You made certain the Council knew that, well ahead of time," Callum interjected angrily. "So that they went straight to the horning of Duncan."
Alasdair leaned over toward Duncan. "There has to be some way out of this," he murmured. "You did not actually kill Ruari MacDonald, from what you said. Niall was only wounded. And they did abduct Elspeth and burn Bethoc's barn."
"They will have me on charges of manslaughter, by what is named here." Duncan tapped the paper on the table. "Niall MacDonald told his uncle, who passed the word to Edinburgh as fast as he could. I have to go with Robert."
"Duncan—" Alasdair began.
Duncan held up a hand and turned to Robert. "I will go with you and talk to the Council myself. This matter can be easily cleared up. The Earl of Moray, James Stewart, the queen's half-brother, sent me to the Frasers. Moray's signature is not on this page. Nor is Maitland of Lethington's. Both of those men will support me once they have heard the circumstances."
"Neither of them are in Edinburgh just now," Robert said smoothly. "But you can attempt to contact them. After your trial—and if you can get word to them from your prison cell."
"Prison cell!" Elspeth stepped forward. "Why are you doing this? Duncan is my husband. He is kin to you now!"
"Elspeth," Duncan said quietly. He moved to take her hands, small and cold, in his. "This will be a formal proceeding only. There are two men to whom I will appeal."
"Prison," she murmured. "He said prison."
"That will not happen, if I can reach Moray and Maitland."
"You must not go to Edinburgh," she said, and turned to Robert. "You cannot take him there. It will be his doom."
Robert
raised his eyebrows. "Is this a prophecy of yours? If he stays here, it will be his doom for certain. The Privy Council has put him to the horn. We can take his life here and now."
"You are a heartless beast, and no brother of mine!"
Robert frowned. "Watch your tongue. Have you not recently been accused of witchcraft? Should the Council have someone look into this?"
"What is it, Robert?" she said. "Why do you hate my husband so? He is a fine lawyer, and has achieved the regard of the queen and her closest advisors. He was asked to handle the matter of the Fraser bond, where you were not. Is that why you seek to destroy him? Out of jealousy? Are you so small a man?"
Robert's face became a pale stone mask. His eyes slid around the room as if to judge others' reactions to his sister's accusations. Then he turned away from Elspeth as completely as if she no longer existed.
"Duncan Macrae," he said. "Will you come with me and my Gordon escort, or shall we take you by force?"
"I will come," Duncan said. Elspeth squeezed his hand, and he gripped her fingers. "But I will speak in private with my wife now." He pulled on her hand and drew her along beside him, walking steadily past Robert, past the Fraser cousins, past his own family. He opened the door of the great hall and held it while she crossed the threshold ahead of him.
"We will depart within the hour," Robert called toward them. "It is early in the day, and we can make good progress."
"Why is he in such a hurry to take you away from here?" Elspeth said, as the door closed, leaving them alone in the corridor.
"I think he is does not want to spend the night here, even with the guarantee of Highland hospitality," Duncan said. "Your cousins would happily murder him."
"I had begun to hope that my vision could be wrong after all. I thought you would stay here as laird of Dulsie, and never go south again. I thought we were safe, Duncan—"
"Listen to me," he said, taking her hands in his. "We are safe. But I did break the bond by my own action, and I must speak to the Council. Would you have the blame laid on one of your cousins? I made the choice to ride out, and only Magnus went with me. Only you and I, and God, care how Ruari's death came about; he died fighting with me. None of this is conduct for the queen's lawyer." He gazed evenly at her, his heart thudding as he tried to keep his expression calm, hiding the tumultuous doubt and fear that now roiled inside of him.
