Vexing the Highlander

by Terry Spear

  She noted that all the men were concentrating on hunting, any interest in the women all but forgotten.

  They rode along until they spied boars in the woods and the men took chase. The ladies followed them, not wanting to fall behind, though a couple of men were watching over them, serving as guards. When three of the other women did lose sight of the hunters, the guards dropped back to ensure they remained protected.

  Aila was glad that one of the women who could not keep up was none other than Felicia.

  Servants began taking care of the boar struck down to return it to the castle, while the king and the rest of the men continued to hunt. As many people had come for the gathering, the men would need to hunt several more for the feast.

  Wynda veered off to get closer to one of the lords she’d danced with and Aila wondered if she was interested in marrying the man. He looked to be much younger than her deceased husband and just as braw as Alban. Then movement near a pond, half hidden behind brambles, caught Aila’s eye.

  She paused and stared at the creature. A rare white red hart. A mythical white stag that made her heart sing with joy. But what if the hunters or the king learned of it? They would kill it, believing it would give them special powers, most likely. Though she knew she should not do so, she had to take the chance to save it—at least from the hunt this time--and slipped away from the others, meaning to scare the stag off before anyone was aware of its existence.

  Yet, for a moment as she grew close, he only watched her. She couldn’t believe he did not run away. She just gloried in the presence of him. Then she heard someone coming, and she rode close to the hart, hating to scare it off, but she had to so that she could protect it.

  He dashed off, and she turned to see who had followed her, worried it was one of the guards who would tell on her—that he’d witnessed her scaring off the rarest of beasts. He’d probably say it all had to do with the curse of her red hair.

  Yet when she saw him riding toward her, she was both relieved and worried to see Alban joining her. Before she could return the way she had come, he leapt down from his horse, helped her down from hers, then tied her reins and his to a branch, and quickly whispered, “Someone is coming.”

  “But wouldna it be better to—“

  “Be seen riding alone together?”

  “Aye, than to be seen dismounted and whispering sweet secrets to each other,” she said, frowning at him.

  He smiled, but then grew serious again. He motioned due north of them, then moved in close to her. “A couple of men went this way. I didna want to risk us trying to rejoin the others just yet. If we go back, the guards walking with the ladies who could not keep up with the hunt could run into us.”

  His whispered breath tickled her ear and she had the worst urge to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him again. Though this time, she would not be able to pretend she was a servant if anyone caught them.

  They moved deeper into the brush and waited. “You know the king wouldna be pleased that you chased away a prized white hart.”

  She frowned at him. Did he intend to tell on her?

  “I would have done the same thing,” he continued in a hushed voice.

  She let out her breath. “He was beautiful, was he no’?”

  “Aye, a miracle to observe and I was glad to see you shoo him away, after I had a chance to see him too.”

  He held her close as they grew quiet again. But when they heard men’s voices nearby, her heart filled with dread. Surely, they would be caught and she would be ruined. She suspected the king wouldna like it, but he would probably still force her to marry someone not of her choice. Maybe someone who would really despise her for her transgressions, as innocent as they were.

  “We canna try to kill him again,” one of the men gruffly said. “It would appear suspect if we tried too soon.”

  “Then some other way. Aye. Come, we must join the others.”

  The men rode off, but Aila and Alban stayed where they were, waiting.

  “Are they talking about the hunt?” She didn’t think so, but she wanted Alban to confirm what she was worried about. They intended to kill someone. But who?

  “I doubt it. But we canna let them know we overheard them either.”

  “Do you know who they are?”

  “Nay. I didna recognize the voices. Their words were spoken too low.” Alban helped her onto her horse.

  “Should we leave here separately?”

  “Nay. I wouldna leave you to travel by yourself. You could be in danger, should you run upon the two conspirators, and they believed you had overheard them. At least I am armed and can take care of them.”

  “Even if they are lords?”

  “Aye, even so.”

  “We should learn who they are.”

  “For now, I only wish to return you to the hunt without raising any speculation about us being alone together.”

  “I am sorry, Alban. I didna mean to put you in this position.”

  “I am no’. Being with you has made the gathering worthwhile. Though I didna want to come and I was eager to leave, I will miss seeing your cheerful smiles.”

  “’Tis too bad I am no’ just a serving girl,” she said, although it didn’t mean he would be interested in marrying her if she had been.

  “If you were, I would steal you away.”

  She smiled then, loving his comment. But then as they moved through the forest, hearing shouts ahead, they both grew quiet again.

  They saw the guards with the ladies who were riding slower, and nudged their horses in another direction. They had gone far enough away from the others so that they could not be seen when she spied a wild boar and motioned to it.

  He nodded, and called for men to join in the hunt. “Go north. I saw some women and men up that way and just fall in behind them. I will chase after the boar and give everyone the location. Everyone will be running every which way so no one will notice you were not with a group of ladies. Go.”

  He took off in the direction of the boar, shouting where it was, but Aila figured it was better to pretend she had heard him shouting and joined in on the hunt. Well, racing after the boar, not truly hunting it. She would not be left behind.

  Several others joined her, including a couple of the men whom she’d danced with, who were now smiling a little to see her doing so well at keeping up. But then her sister joined her and didn’t look like she was really happy with her.

  Had she seen Aila with Alban? Or was Wynda just upset with her for not staying by her side and for disappearing for a time? Probably. Wynda had always thought it was her duty to look out for her younger sister.

  All that mattered was that no one suspected she’d been with Alban alone, and that the men who’d been talking about killing someone didn’t learn she and Alban had overheard them, especially if they were referring to a man and not about something they were hunting.

  She considered confiding in Wynda, but she assumed the fewer who knew the better. She surely didn’t want to put her own sister in harm’s way.

  Still, every time Aila heard a man’s voice, she wondered—was he one of the men who had spoken? And intended to kill someone?

  As soon as possible, Alban needed to tell his brother what he and Aila had overheard. He needed to speak to her about it too, to tell her to pretend she’d heard nothing. He and his brother would look into it as quietly as they could. But he didn’t want her involved in it in any way.

  Though he was certain his brother would not be pleased that Alban had been alone with the lass again. But when Alban had caught sight of her slipping away on her own, he’d had every intention of bringing her back to where the rest of the hunting party had been. His first thought had been that she’d spied something interesting and she’d slipped off to see it. He never would have believed he’d see the wondrous white stag. Maybe a butterfly, or something like that, had caught her eye. He understood her need to save the hart. To send it on its way. But still, she risked her own life by doing so
if the men had realized she was nearby.

  He could just imagine how angry the king would have been too, if he had learned she had chased away the stag when he could have hunted it as the find of his lifetime.

  “The find is yours,” Gustafson shouted to Alban, still in the lead as he chased the boar down. “The king is otherwise occupied.”

  “Lady Aila’s find rather,” Alban shouted back, though he heard another rider approaching as if to take the lead.

  “Indeed,” the king’s steward said, sounding surprised.

  Lord Dunlap charged past Alban, knocking into him as if to unseat Alban, but he was prepared for the assault and managed to balance his weight to keep from flying from the saddle.

  Alban had hunted boar before. He knew how unpredictable they could be, which was why he’d kept a respectable distance from the raging beast. Sure enough, the boar turned and charged Dunlap’s mount. In panic, Dunlap’s horse reared up. The lord lost his balance and fell to the ground, as Alban distracted the boar to save the man’s life, moving in between the boar and Dunlap, still lying on the ground. Had he injured himself?

  Alban shot the boar twice, slowing him until others arrived to help finish the job. Making the honorable gesture, Alban dismounted and went to Dunlap’s aid, but he slapped Alban’s hand away and unsteadily got to his feet. Ward had retrieved Dunlap’s spooked horse and handed the reins to him. Two of Dunlap’s friends arrived to help him remount his horse. From the way the earl was limping, it seemed he’d sprained an ankle in the fall.

  With a smirk, all Alban could think of was that the lord would no longer be able to dance with Lady Aila during his stay here, then he climbed into his saddle and saw the lady and her sister watching him. Had she told Lady Wynda about what they’d overheard in the woods? He hoped not. She looked concerned and he hoped to alleviate her worry over this matter as soon as he could. But he would do so when his brother was present.

  After the king declared they had caught enough boar, they headed back to the keep. Some of their fellow hunters had been injured in the hunt. At least five men had been gored. A couple more had injuries like Lord Dunlap’s. Sim, one of the king’s servants, had been the unlucky target of some hunter’s arrow, though the shot had only hit him in the arm, not as bad as it could have been. No one had claimed the arrow, undoubtedly not wanting to admit to making the mistake. Some lords blamed the servant for getting in the way. Alban couldn’t abide by some men’s attitudes when it came to servants.

  Yet he knew it was possible they could examine the arrow and see if anyone had arrows made in the same way as that one. If anyone cared. He frowned. What if the men’s secret claim in the woods that they hadn’t killed the man and couldn’t try again had all to do with the servant? Had the shooter meant to kill Sim because he knew something the lord wished kept secret? If the person speaking had been a lord? Or had the servant gotten in the way of his real target?

  He had to learn the truth.

  Half the women had already returned to the castle. Only five remained with the hunting party. Among all of the women, Lady Aila was the only one who had found prey for the hunt.

  “Shall we go now, brother?” Ward glanced from him to Aila as if he was aware something more was going on between them.

  “Aye. As long as we escort the ladies back to the castle.” Alban didn’t want to let Aila out of his sight.

  Aila was glad Alban and his brother were accompanying them back to the keep. It wasn’t like they were alone by any means, as everyone headed back in. But she felt safer knowing the brothers would protect them if anything bad should happen.

  The weather had been beautiful for the hunt, but the once fluffy clouds drifting through the sky had begun to take over the whole of the sky and were darkening by the minute. The hunting party would be drenched soon, she was sure. There was no hope for reaching the shelter of the castle in time, but at least they had finished the hunt, so they could return and dry off.

  “You made a great find, Lady Aila,” Ward said, and she was afraid her face blanched as worried as she was that Alban had told his brother they had discovered the white stag. He frowned at her when she seemed so concerned about his comment.

  Alban quickly said, “The boar.”

  “Oh, aye.”

  Now it sounded as if Alban had made it up that she had seen it first.

  “I was glad to be of some assistance during the hunt,” she easily said, when in reality she had let the most exquisite creature get away.

  Ward was still watching her curiously. Her sister was now also. Aila was still trying to decide for sure if she could even tell Wynda about the white stag. What could she say? That only she had seen it? And then her sister would know she’d been alone, and risked her neck to keep the hunters from learning about it. Or tell her that Alban had seen it too, to verify she truly had witnessed the elusive creature. But that would mean she had been alone with him, again. And what else had they done? Witnessed a plot to kill someone, which Aila didn’t want to reveal to her sister either.

  “You did well to keep up with the hunt,” Ward said.

  “Our da had always insisted, in the event we were married, and our husbands were away, we would lead the hunting party. At least that was the idea.” Aila wished her sister would say something and not leave it up to her to do all the talking.

  Maybe Wynda was just tired after the late night they’d had with their servants. Aila was eager to get back to them, to see how they were faring.

  “If you dinna believe it is an imposition, we would like to check on you later to learn how your servants are doing,” Alban said.

  Aila ran her hands over her kirtle, smoothing the fabric, though it was fine. “Aye, it would be kind of you to do so.”

  And then Lord Gustafson joined them. “It was remarkable how Lady Aila found a boar on her own. I am much impressed not only that you kept up with the men, but also managed to finish with us also. How did you like the hunt?”

  “I enjoyed it very much,” Aila said and Wynda agreed.

  “I understand your maids have been ill though. When we return, the healer and her assistant will have to see to the men wounded on the hunt. I hope that will not cause you any trouble,” the king’s steward said.

  “Nay, they were getting better when we left. The injured men will need caring for at once when they return. We will see to our maids,” Wynda said.

  “You will be expected at the feast. I will ensure a couple of servants watch over your servants in the meantime.”

  “Thank you,” Wynda said.

  “I saw you near Lord Farquharson at one point, Lady Wynda. But I didna see Lady Aila for a time.”

  “I canna imagine how you could keep an eye on everyone at the same time. My sister rode off to catch up with someone and I didna want to intrude if she wished to speak with a gentleman suitor for a time.”

  “Ah.”

  Gustafson’s sharp eyes shifted to settle on Alban. “You had the honor of taking down the boar. ‘Twas a shame Lord Dunlap was injured in the process.”

  “Aye.” Alban didn’t say anything further and Aila suspected he was biting his tongue.

  She was still furious with the lord for running into Alban, trying to unseat him. She was glad the dark-haired earl now had mud on his clothes and even in his hair from where he had landed on the wet earth. Did the other lords feel it served Alban right for having the honor to take down the boar when he was not even titled? Probably.

  So it served Lord Dunlap right for falling from his own horse. Though she was glad the boar had not gored him. It was only through Alban’s quick actions and risking his own life that the lord had been saved from an even worse injury. Death even. Would the man thank him for saving his life? No. She hoped the king would not choose him for her husband.

  “Did you see how Alban saved Lord Dunlap?” She hoped that he had witnessed the Highlander’s brave actions for himself.

  “Aye. I am no’ sure I could have reacted as quickly.”<
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  She was glad he’d seen it for himself. She wanted to add that Alban had acted honorably the whole time while Lord Dunlap had not, but she knew the king’s steward would not care. Lord Dunlap was a man of position and power so he could act that way toward those who were beneath him and no one could say a word against it.

  “The king is motioning to me. I must go. We will see you at the meal.” Then the king’s steward rode off to join Malcolm.

  Aila was relieved. She always felt like she was under Gustafson’s scrutiny whenever he was around. But with Alban, she felt comfortable. Able to talk to him about practically anything. Just like she was with her sister…usually.

  A light shower began and they raced off for the castle, trying to beat the heavier downpour. By the time they reached the portcullis, the heavens had let loose the denser rain.

  Aila and her sister were laughing, remembering the good times they’d had in the pouring rain. By the time lads had taken their horses as well as Alban and his brother’s, they were well drenched.

  The men escorted them up the stairs, Alban promising again to check on them once they were out of their wet clothes.

  As soon as Aila and her sister entered their chamber, they saw their maids sitting up and eating and were delighted. Before Aila could ask them how they felt, Wynda turned to Aila, her brow deeply furrowing. “What happened to you when I lost you?”

  5

  While they changed into dry clothes in their chamber, Alban quietly told his brother what he and Aila had overheard in the woods.

  His brother frowned at him. “You are certain no one saw you go off with Lady Aila alone?”

  Alban was irritated with his brother. “Ward, that is the least of my concern right now. And nay. No one else saw her slip off. Only I did. We have to learn who has plans to kill whom and stop them.”