No cries came from the walls as she made her way. It only took a few moments to get to the loose grate on the south side of the castle, the one that led right to the stables. She couldn’t think of a way to move it as a wolf, so she focused, and in a span of a breath, she was the girl again. It happened so fast she didn’t even see the change.
“Mackenzie,” Thor whispered from behind her, his voice nearly startling a yelp from her.
“Over here,” she whispered back as she got her heart under control.
“I can’t fit through there,” he pointed at the grate.
“It’s the only way in. Listen Thor, ye must trust me, okay? I’ve trusted ye with my everything, can ye not trust me with the same?”
In the fading light she could see his square features scrunch in thought, his hulking body, a mountain of muscle, which was so close to her she couldn’t help but lean into him. In response, he put his arms around her and pulled her tight.
“I trust you, hjarta. Come back to me?”
“I will. Head north, to where we first met; if I’m not there by sunrise, look for me here,” she said, then she placed her lips on his and lost herself in a kiss that rang her ears.
More than moments passed as their kiss lingered. She found herself pressed up against him, her whole body aching with a need she only now understood. With a supreme force of will, she broke the kiss off; she held him at arms length, both of them breathing hard.
“What is it with us?”
“It’s the nature of who we are; we love, we fight with everything we have. There is no holding back.”
She didn’t trust herself to say anything. She simply nodded and pushed him away. She wanted to say ‘I love you’, but it didn’t feel right. Not that she didn’t but it was almost as if it was love forced on her, not one she chose.
The grate was always a pain to move, she braced her feet, grabbed one end and heaved. The grate flew up through the air, past her and landed in a clump twenty feet away. Mackenzie gazed at her hands. In the past, she could barely move the thing. It had taken months just for her to wriggle it free from the walls, then she could push it with her feet from the inside.
She took one last look around her and slipped into the drain. It was smelly and foul as she crawled through it. The other side was empty, the stable hands all having left for the night. Not that they had many horses to tend to, just the two that worked the fields.
From here, she would have to sprint through the courtyard to the servants’ entrance, up the winding stairs, and down the hall to her room. She looked up to the walls; no one was looking down. The courtyard was empty.
She ran.
Mackenzie blinked and she slammed into the door with a grunt of pain. She opened the door an inch to peer inside; no one was about. She slipped in, ran down the hall, then up the stairs. She could hear the cooks in the larder, the two maids gossiping about her stepmother, she could even hear her da. A smile crossed her face; she longed to see him. She didn’t, however, want to see him while she was covered with filth and naked.
She found her room effortlessly, the door was unlocked and she went right in. She sighed, it felt like she had been gone for an age but in reality, it had only been a few days since she last slept in her own bed.
The tub was empty of course, the servants wouldn’t be filling it at night, but there were towels, a basin filled with cold water, and her clothes were still there. To her dismay, her closet looked as if someone had went through it.
Gwen, that bitch!
Her anger swelled as she thought about how Gwen’s eagerness to see her gone swayed her da into agreeing. Not that Mackenzie wanted him to go to war but surely her da would have thought more of it, if it weren't for the machinations of her stepmother. Mackenzie shook her head; it mattered not. Whatever life she thought to have, it was gone, good or bad. If Freya was able to help her, the odds were this would be the last night she was to see her da anyway.
She cleaned herself up as best she could, ran a brush through her hair, scrubbed her face, and braided her golden locks in her da’s favorite style. For clothes, she chose one of her simple blue gowns, one that would be easy to get out of, and no under garments.
She looked in the mirror, and only then did she realize how much the last four days had changed her. Gone was the girl she was, in her place was the woman she could see. Her shoulders were a little bit broader, her arms more defined, her face was missing the roundish quality she always had. She looked every bit the woman. She smiled, even though she was a little bit sad about the passing of her childhood so suddenly, though the excitement of her future thrilled her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“You must eat something,” Mackenzie heard her stepmother say. Mackenzie hesitated outside the dining room, she was in a small alcove that servants often used to be near but not bother.
She wanted badly to go in there and see her da, her worry outweighed her enthusiasm though. What would she say? What would she do? She wanted to see him but she knew it was just to say goodbye, one more time.
The savory aroma of roasted meats drew a growl from her stomach. She hadn’t eaten since they killed the stag and since then, she’d run as a wolf as far as a horse could go in a day, in just a couple of hours.
Careful girl, Freya’s voice spoke to her, if you get hungry enough, the change will happen and you will eat anything you can sink your teeth into, you need to eat a lot more now.
I thought you could only talk to me as a wolf, she replied, astonished to hear Freya’s voice.
Silence answered back.
She took a breath and walked into the dining room.
“Hi Da,” she said simply.
All six and a half feet of Chief Weir shook in uncontrollable sobs as he scooped his baby girl up in a bear hug that would crush any man.
“Oh, my dear sweet lass, I’m so sorry, I should never have let ye go,” he said to her.
Mackenzie felt home, pressed against her da’s warm furs, with the smell that was his that she didn’t even notice until it was gone.
“Oh Da, it’s okay, ye had no choice, and we both know it. Ye did what was best for the dun, and that is what a chief does,” she said to him, earnestly.
Gwen’s retched voice broke Mackenzie's moment, “It’s only been four days, did he change his mind?”
She didn’t sound happy about that at all.
“Give the lass a moment to breathe, Gwen, the last four days must’ve been hard.” He took her hand and led her to the seat next to his and sat her at the table. Mackenzie’s stomach growled loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Have some food, lass,” her da said, piling a plate with mutton, venison, ham and everything else the table offered. Mackenzie couldn’t say no. She knew, and she wasn’t sure how she knew, that if she didn’t eat soon her family would know that she was a wolf now, and not a person.
As she ate, she reflected on how that idea didn’t seem to bother her. It was as if she always knew she was something else, something different. Finding out she was a wolf seemed… right, somehow.
“Gods girl, ye going to stuff your gob all night or tell yer da what yer doing here?” Gwen shrilled.
Mackenzie tried to ignore her; it didn’t work. Her exceptional sharp hearing, her vision, her sense of smell, all of it was well beyond what she previously had. Now she could hear Gwen under her breath call her a cow, and it was hard to not reach across the table and ring her neck.
“He didn’t let me go, Da, I escaped… I’m sorry but he tried to…” she found herself unable to say the words, they choked in her throat.
What can I say, the man I’m married to drugged me and tried to rape me? What excuse can I have for leaving that I didn’t already know was going to happen?
“I don’t care the reason, lass, I don’t care, yer home and that’s what I care about.”
“Well, ye better damn well care, ye daft fool. Once Kirkpatrick finds out she’s gone, he’ll march up here and kill us all. Guards,�
�� she yelled. “Guards!”
“Gwen have ye lost yer mind? This is me baern yer talking about, I’m not letting her go again.”
“If we don’t clap her in irons and send her back, he will kill us all. Is that what ye want for your village? Do you want to see me skewered at the end of a spear, or raped by his men, is that what ye want?”
Chief Weir paused, it was clear to Mackenzie the conflict on his face, that very conflict she herself had.
“Da, Gwen, it’s okay, I’m nay staying here but for tonight,” she said quietly. The guards entered the room. They were slightly drunk as their dinner had been interrupted by Gwen’s screeching.
Her da waved them away. “It’s fine lads, go back to your drinking…”
“It’s not fine, arrest her, get her out of here, kill her if ye must but we cannot all die because of this spoiled little bitch!”
Mackenzie wasn’t hurt by Gwen’s words because she knew that she had always felt that way, since the day she married her da.
“Gwen, yer afraid, and I understand that,” her da said in a much more even tone than she expected, “but that’s no reason for this. We can figure this out as a family, the three of us,” he said, holding his hand out to her.
“Oh ye would like that, yer little whore daughter who spread her legs for every man in the village. Why didn’t ye just get yer heir from her,” Gwen screamed.
“Get out, get out of this dun, and don’t ever come back,” her da screamed. The guards who hadn’t left yet took a step towards Gwen. She looked panicked, the magnitude of what she had done dawned on her.
“Collin, no I didn’t mean it, I was just afraid,” she sputtered.
“Words like that don’t come from fear, they come from cowards. Get out,” he yelled again, tears rolled down his eyes as he spoke. Mackenzie knew her da loved Gwen, but she never understood why. She always felt like Gwen played her da and never really loved him.
The guards took her by the arm, she pleaded again as they dragged her out. “This is all your fault, ye little whore, ye should have just stayed and bore him babies like he wanted, then we would all live, ye selfish li'l…” the last bit was cut off as the guards closed the door behind them.
Her da sank into his chair and sobbed again. In her whole life she’d never seen him cry, now she had twice in one night.
“Da, I’m sorry, ye didn’t have to banish her,” Mackenzie said quietly.
“I did, lass, ye cannot know the pain she’s put me through. And to hear her speak of you that way, that was too much. Good riddance to her. Now,” he changed tracks suddenly, his tears drying up, “what are we to do about ye? I assume ye don’t want to go back?”
Mackenzie shuddered, the memory of Kirkpatrick was enough. If she never saw him again in life it would be too soon. “No, I can’t go back, I think he would kill me anyways,” she sighed. She wanted to tell him everything, she just didn’t know how. “Da, there’s something I have to tell ye,” she said.
“Ye can tell me, lass, start from the beginning,” he reassured her.
It all came out, so fast she didn’t stop to breathe. Her seeing the wolf in the forest days before, being bitten, spying on the battle, her disastrous carriage ride to the south, the way Kirkpatrick treated her, and then her rescue.
“He’s… I don’t know how to explain this, even to myself, but I love him, Da. His name is Thor and ye would think he was amazing. He risked his life for me, carried me away from the castle, showed me things.” She stopped, her face burned from embarrassment, as there could only be one thing he showed her.
“Ahh, I see, is he yer hjarta?”
Mackenzie’s eyes widened in shock. “How do ye know about that?”
“Ahh lass, I never told ye the whole story about how yer mother and I met…” His eyes glazed over a bit as he spoke, Mackenzie recognized the look, he got it whenever he thought of her.
“Runa…” he whispered. “All these years later and just saying her name makes me heart yearn for her. It would be twenty seasons ago we met. Yer ma’s sword and shield are not decorative, lass, they were hers. They called her a sword maiden.” He took a deep breath. “You should have seen her, she was beautiful.” He stopped to look at Mackenzie, his eyes focusing on her, “Ye look so much like her, ye know, she would be proud of you.”
Tears welled up in Mackenzie’s eyes, her throat clenched with emotions over a mother she never knew.
“Her people were raiding, and we caught them in a field not far from the coast. There was fighting all around, and suddenly, there she was, cutting through the battle like a storm. The moment I saw her, I felt something, something deep inside, it just… was right.” He wiped his own eyes; his sleeve came away wet. “Her people were not happy to part with her, that was for sure, but she called me her hjarta, and that seemed to change everything,” he said quietly. “Your mother had secrets I could only guess at, her love for me wasn’t one of them.” He reached over to Mackenzie and engulfed her in tremendous hug.
“I can’t stay, Da, I have to do something to free us from this,” she said.
“I understand, lass. Stay the night at least. Eat and get your strength back,” he said, more commanding than asking.
“Yes, Da, that I can do.”
CHAPTER NINE
The next morning, Mackenzie put her back to the dun walls and walked. Her da stood on top of the parapet she frequented and watched her depart, waving each time she turned around, until she couldn’t see him anymore.
Once out of the village, the world seemed to change on her. The empty road loomed ahead; a dark grey sky and rustling wind told her that she had a long trip ahead of her. Her da’s best guess was they had a few days before Kirkpatrick marched on the village. She had that much time to enact whatever plan Freya had come up with.
Mackenzie wished she knew exactly what the wolf part of her was thinking. Would it save her people, would she die? The wolf wasn’t telling though. Her mother’s sword, wrapped in furs, weighed heavy on her back. It wasn’t a difficult weight, just an awkward one.
Her da tried to dress her for the road when she left, he seemed confused by her unwillingness to take provisions, or warmer clothes. She couldn’t tell him that when she changed her clothes wouldn’t be needed.
She was late, though. She’d promised Thor sunrise and it was well past it. Once she was certain she was out of view of the village, hidden behind a bend in the path, she shucked her dress. For a moment, she stood naked in the cold Highland wind, her skin feeling every breath of the wind, her hair dancing in the breeze. She smiled, in her whole life she never imagined such a feeling as the one she felt in that moment.
With no pain, and hardly a blink of time, Mackenzie the girl vanished, replaced by Mackenzie the wolf, a grey and black beast that stood half the height of a full grown man. She picked the sword up with her mouth, holding it firm in her teeth by the fur scabbard.
She took a few steps, to be sure of the balance, and once she was, she was off like a shot. Her breath came hard as she pounded through the woods, the roads and over streams. Her sleek form cut through the wind, her presence startled birds, squirrels and all manner of critters. She rejoiced in the sensation of being able to hear, smell and see, almost everything around her.
I know yer there, now will ye tell me yer plan?
Do you trust me Mackenzie? the voice of Freya asked.
I know ye nae, but yes, I trust ye. I still would like to know.
I’m not sure I can explain it well… I’ll try though. In the north you have a creature called the Revenaugh, yes?
Mackenzie felt a tendril of fear go through her. The Revenaugh was a terrible boar, the size of a small cottage. It rampaged and killed anything in it’s path. Many of her people suffered until her da was able to cut down enough of the wood to the north to keep it at bay.
Aye, I know of the beastie, how do ye?
He’s not from here, he’s alone, and angry but I think we can convince him to help us.
> How?
Silence.
Damn, woman, now’s not the time to go ghost on me, what’s the plan?
She could feel the presence fade. A snarl escaped Mackenzie's maw. She stopped for a moment, the sword between her teeth made it difficult to breath at full gallop. She spat it out on the ground and heaved huge breaths. Each one came out as a snarl and growl manifesting her frustration at not knowing.
She smelled a stag nearby, her stomach growled and her instincts told her to take it down. She pushed it down though, forcing her will over the wolf. She picked the sword back up and headed north again to meet Thor.
It didn’t take her much longer to find the bend in the road where they first met. The birds shushed as she padded into the forest near when she first spotted the black wolf. She raised her nostrils to the air and sniffed, nothing. She could hear though, and she heard small shallow breaths nearby.
She padded through the underbrush as silent as a bird gliding through the air. Thor was there, in a small clearing that got a glimmer of sunshine. A dead stag at his feet, untouched, other than the vicious wound to its neck that brought it down.
Hungry from the run, and unable to resist, she dived in, tearing and biting. She relished the succulent meat of the new kill. Together they made short work of the majority of the meat, all that was left was a husk for the carrion.
Thor shifted into his human form, all six and a half feet of him, a towering brick of a man. Mackenzie didn’t. She picked up the sword again and moved through the forest to a small brook, one she knew well. She and Deirdre would sneak off during the day to soak their feet in the water.
It was exactly how it had been the last time she was there. Steam wafted up in the air where the warm springs met the cold highland air. She left the sword at the bank and dived in. As the hot springs engulfed her, she let her wolf go and submerged the woman. She motioned for Thor to come in. He hesitated at the edge of the pool, his feet dipping in the water.
Mackenzie's Fate Page 6
