by Alisa Adams
“No it isnae, listen!” Ceena said softly.
“Oh dear,” whispered Flori. “I hear it.”
Ina looked at Aunt Hexy. “Ye said there it is again?”
“I heard it yesterday,” Aunt Hexy said as she looked at the walls. “It started after I realized that Burnie had disappeared. Just before the alarm was sounded when Beatlebrain’s men attacked. Or she could have disappeared the night before, perhaps,” Aunt Hexy said to no one in particular, so deep in thought was she.
“What?” Ina asked loudly. “Aunt Burnie is gone?”
They all turned to Ina as the pipes became eerily silent. Tristan spoke up first. “Aunt Burnie seems to have disappeared. No one knows where she is.”
“What of George?” Beiste asked.
They turned and stared at him. “Who is George?” Tristan was the one that asked the question they all had in their minds.
“Her cat,” Beiste answered.
Aunt Hexy started to say something but Cruim cut her off. “Yes,” he answered hastily, “the cat's name is George,” he said, agreeing with Beiste.
Aunt Hexy shook her head and tried to say something again but Ceena was already speaking. “I didnae know she named it George, I thought she was talking about—”
“No, no,” said Cruim quickly and loudly, “she meant the cat. I am quite sure of it.”
The others began to argue about the cat’s name, or lack of a name.
Beiste stared at Cruim. His head hurt terribly. He looked at the silver sword in his hand that Ceena had handed back to him. He was studying the scroll work with narrowed eyes.
“Where were you during the attack?” Beiste asked Cruim very softly without looking at him. He was still studying the sword, turning it as his fingers traced the etchings. He slowly looked from the sword to Cruim.
The room became quiet once again as all arguments ceased over the cat’s name.
Cruim looked at him. His mouth worked indecisively. “I…well I…” He gave them all a charming smile. “You all seemed to have it well in hand.”
“Your possible future bride was taken away,” Aunt Hexy stated. “That is not well in hand Lord Crumb.” Her little dog let out a bark and growled at Cruim. Aunt Hexy stroked his small head and he ducked back under her wrap with only his face peering out.
“Cruim,” stated Godet automatically as she stared at Lord Cruim. She did not like this man for her youngest sister, who had always wanted her own fairy tale. Not at all.
“Nay, Crumb,” Ceena corrected her.
Godet smiled fiercely at her and nodded in agreement. “Indeed, tis Crumb.”
Flori nodded her head as well. “Crumb it will always be.”
“Ye dinnae even try?” Ina said in her lilting voice as she turned to Cruim with her hands on her hips.
“Well I…there are soldiers for that sort of thing.” He smiled. “I could have ended up captured as well,” he said placing his hand on his chest. “Then your beast would have had to rescue us both.” He looked around and smiled that big white, perfect smile of his again.
Beiste growled softly. “Nay, I think not.”
Tristan turned slightly towards Beiste and nodded in agreement.
Loughlin still had his arms across his massive chest. He grunted at Beiste’s words. He did not like Crumb either. His scarred face frowned down fiercely at Cruim. Flori stood beside him; her normally gentle nature was not visible. Her frown matched her husband’s.
“I want to see this letter ye have from the King ordering me to marry ye,” Ina said firmly to Cruim.
Beiste watched as she read it and her face crumpled. He knew she was trying not to cry.
He took it out of her hand gently and read it quickly. He looked up from the paper at the people in the room, then he turned to Cruim. “Where is the other page?” he asked him, his voice full of authority and command.
Lord Cruim stood up straighter. “How dare you question me like that?”
Beiste ignored him and looked at the others. “There appears to be a page missing. This is unfinished. The King’s crest is on this page, but there is no signature, nor is Lord Cruim Hay’s name on this page,” he stated quietly in the same commanding voice.
Beiste started to hand the paper to Tristan and Ceena. He noted out of the corner of his eye that Loughlin was quietly leaving the main hall.
Cruim tried to intercept the letter but Beiste stilled his hand and stared threateningly at him.
“I shall have you arrested,” Cruim bit out in a hate-filled voice. “I shall have you beaten and thrown in a hole in the ground!” he hissed.
Ina went to stand beside Beiste. Her sisters—Ceena, Godet, and Flori—came to stand beside Beiste as well.
Ina took a step forward from her sisters. “Ye must leave this castle. I shall never marry you, not unless the King is here to command me himself,” she said defiantly to him.
Cruim’s head whipped from Beiste to her. His fist clenched at his side. “I have reason to believe that since you were gone overnight with this...this wild-looking beast of a Highlander, that you have been compromised. You shall join him in prison if you defy the King’s orders!” he screeched. Then he looked at the other women that were looking at him so fiercely. “And as for all of you Ross women, you are abominations. Thinking you can fight, that you are warriors! It is unnatural!”
Beiste surged forward, picking Cruim up by the neck of his shirt. “How dare you speak to her like that, or her sisters,” he seethed. He dropped him as if he was a vile piece of refuse. “Aye, you should leave this place, but not yet. Not until we find Burunhilde,” he said looking meaningfully at Cruim.
Godet, Flori, and Ceena looked at one another then back at Beiste. He was right. They needed to find Aunt Burnie.
Ina’s sisters noticed that when Beiste had dropped Cruim, Beiste had stepped back and pulled Ina to his side.
Ina pulled her arm out of his grasp and took a step away from him, glaring fiercely at him.
Beiste just pulled her back to his side.
Ina’s sisters thought that Ina looked just right, there at her “Highlander beast’s” side.
10
“We need to split up and look for Aunt Burnie,” Ina said worriedly as she looked around at her sisters.
Aunt Hexy nodded her head quickly. “Aye, I am fearful for she is always with me. She gets confused sometimes.” Her voice trembled with worry. “She may vera well be lost,” Aunt Hexy said as she hugged her small dog close to her breast. “When I was asking the servants if they had seen her, I was told that one of the villagers saw a cat in that old empty crofter house. They thought they saw bandages on its tail…”
Beiste stared at Hexy’s little dog held securely against her. She was petting it soothingly, as much to calm herself than to pet the shaking little dog. “She would not be without her cat.”
Ina turned to her Aunt Hexy and put her hand on her arm. “I will go down to the crofters’ village and look around.”
Aunt Hexy nodded. “Aye and I am going with you.” She put her little dog on the floor and said, “Stay!” but the tiny animal trotted right behind her as she headed out the main doors of the castle. Ina and her sisters were right behind her dog.
Beiste looked at Tristan and then at Cruim. Beiste narrowed his eyes at Cruim. The man was looking suspiciously uncomfortable. He couldn’t seem to stand still. Nor look either of them in the eye.
Beiste looked over at Tristan and nodded towards Cruim.
“I trust that ye will stay in the castle,” Tristan said firmly.
Cruim looked at him in surprise. “Oh of course, of course!” he said. “I shall adjourn to my room.”
Beiste watched as Tristan got the attention of the guards standing at the doors to the main hall. Tristan gave an imperceptible nod of his head towards Cruim and the guards nodded their heads in return.
“Shall we?” Tristan said to Beiste as he began to walk towards the doors.
“What is the plan? Has anyon
e searched the castle itself?” Beiste asked.
“Oh aye, Loughlin is scouring the castle as we speak,” Tristan said with a small grin.
“That is why he left earlier? To search? He never said anything,” Beiste said as he followed Tristan through the door.
“Loughlin is a man of vera few words,” Tristan said with a short laugh. Then he stopped outside the doors at the top of the steps. “The question is where to start? We have a vera auld woman whose memory is fading…” he said as he put his hands on his hips and looked around the outer courtyard of the castle.
Beiste stopped as well. “She could be hurt and unable to call for help, or unable to find her way home…” he mused. Then his attention went to the sky above the walls.
“Smoke,” Beiste said in a dire voice and started to run.
The two men ran out of the castle courtyard and down the hill leading towards the village. Tristan knew where there was an empty cottage and headed that way. Sure enough there was smoke and fire billowing out of its chimney.
“There!” Tristan shouted as they ran. “Looks to be a chimney fire. And there are the women,” he shouted.
Neither man had broken stride. Beiste had not seen Ina amongst her sisters. The sisters were trying to pry the windows open. Ceena was using her shoulder trying to push the door of the cottage open.
Beiste skidded to a stop. “Where is Ina?” he demanded in a roar.
He heard Ina’s voice calling out his name from inside the cottage. He spun his head towards it.
“She went inside and the door slammed shut,” Ceena hurriedly explained. “It sounded like something fell and is blocking it. We cannae get it open!”
“And the chimney is going to burn the cottage down if we can’t get in there…” Flori said worriedly.
Aunt Hexy’s tiny dog was barking and jumping up and down at all the chaos as Aunt Hexy kept trying to grab him.
“We need someone on the roof with buckets of water,” Godet said in a commanding voice. As the oldest of the sisters she was used to taking control even though Ceena was Laird now. Godet had her own home with her husband Gordon at Castle Conall.
“You there!” He pointed to an elderly man standing with a group of villagers watching. “Get these men and women to start a bucket brigade up to someone on the roof!” Beiste shouted to the onlookers. “Hurry, ye dinnae want the fire spreading to your homes!” he called out as the smoke started billowing around them.
He looked at the door of the cottage, backed up a few steps, and ran at it, putting the full force of his shoulder into it. The door cracked. He backed up and ran at it again. And then again as his fear for Ina was reaching desperation.
“Ina!” he called out. “Stay low to the floor m’eudail! And get away from the door. I am coming in!” his voice boomed. He ran at the door again, this time jumping up with a powerful thrust and sending both feet slamming into it. The door made a loud cracking noise and crashed inwards as smoke billowed out. Beiste wasted no time but rushed through into the smoky interior calling Ina’s name.
There were tense moments as Ina’s sisters and Aunt Hexy stood watching and waiting. Tristan rushed up to the door, calling out to them.
Finally two shadows emerged from the smoke.
Beiste was carrying Ina in his arms. Her eyes were closed and her head was lolling against his chest. Her face and clothing were smudged with soot. Her pale hair was trailing down his legs.
Aunt Hexy, Ceena, Flori, and Godet ran up to her. They touched her face and stroked her hair back away from her eyes as they softly called her name.
Beiste did not let go of her. He was staring down into her face. He dropped to his knees, cradling her tightly to him. His face was full of pain and fear. And worry.
Beiste’s voice was hoarse as he whispered, “M’eudail, please, open your beautiful eyes. Come back to me, please m’eudail…” his voice was quiet and deep, rumbling with fear as he stroked her face with one hand while cradling her to his chest with the other.
Aunt Hexy leaned down to her chest. “She is breathing,” she said quietly.
Beiste’s shoulders lost some of his tension at her words.
“Hextilda, who told you the cat was in that cottage?” Beiste asked trying to remain calm.
“Twas Crumb. He told me a servant happened to mention it.” Her lips trembled in concern for her youngest niece.
Silence came with that new knowledge.
Tristan looked at Beiste. “The door?”
“Aye,” Beiste said in a growl. “The door had been trapped. Once anyone came in, they would not be able to get out. A beam fell into place against the door, barricading it. The fireplace and the floor in front of it was steeped full of the furniture from the cottage. The chimney was plugged so that the cottage would fill with smoke and the fire in the debris would spread and burn the whole cottage down.” He grimaced.
“And anyone in it,” Ceena said looking at her sisters.
“Crumb,” Godet said angrily.
“Aye, twas Crumb,” agreed Flori.
“That scunner,” Ceena said as she pulled out a dirk and began twirling it between her fingers.
Beiste looked around. “So Burunhilde is missing and Cruim wanted Hextilda gone. He knew she would be worried about Burunhilde and that she would look in that cottage for Burunhilde and her cat. But Ina went in to look instead. But where has he taken Burunhilde?” Beiste growled. “And why?” Beiste asked in a menacing tone.
Tristan shouted, “There he is! He got past the guards! Aye, it would be easy enough to get out of his room and down the back stairs. I should have had the guards in the room with the scunner,” he said with disgust as he pointed towards the forest where Cruim could be seen riding fast for the cover of the trees.
“He is mine,” Beiste growled. He hastily leaned down to murmur against Ina’s lips, “Tha gaol agam ort.” He kissed her softly and laid her down in the grass safely away from the cottage. “Hextilda—you must stay with her!” he said forcefully.
“I will. I will stay with your love,” Hexy said with a tremulous smile for she had heard what he had whispered to her niece. He had told Ina he loved her. Hexy’s heart was glowing as she watched Beiste jump up on Ina’s draft mare Myrtle. He kicked her into a gallop. “Och Burnie ye are missing the most splendid chest on a man we have ever seen. Our wee Ina has picked the best of men she has…” She sighed with worry. “Where are ye Burnie? Where are ye?”
Godet, Ceena, and Flori jumped up on their horses. Ceena gave Tristan a hand up onto her horse and as one, they all galloped off after Beiste.
Beiste shouted back to them, “He is mine! Protect Ina!”
Ceena shouted back at him as they caught up, “Ye love our sister. Any fight of yours is ours as well and we will stand beside ye!”
“She is our sister,” Godet added. “We will help ye catch that vile mon.” Beiste looked at her draft stallion. He was massive, but she controlled him with ease.
“Tis better to have more than less at your side and back Lord Beiste,” Flori added firmly as she caught up on her huge mare. “She is our sister after all!”
Tristan smiled over at him. “Dinnae bother arguing. These sisters are gaunnie do what they will and ye cannae argue aboot it! And no one better to have on your side in a fight to be sure!”
Beiste nodded at them all. The huge horses would have a harder time of it in the forest, he knew, but in a battle they had shown their prowess and he was glad to have them. And Ina’s sisters were all as fierce and as excellent in their skills as Ina was. They may need it. Who knew what waited in the forest with Cruim. Was he meeting others?
They all slowed their horses to a walk as they entered the dark forest. The brush was thick and the passage slow. They had to make twists and turns around trees and rocks and step over fallen logs. They kept following the trail that was left by Cruim. The broken branches and crushed bushes showed clearly which way he had taken. They went deeper and deeper into the forest.
&
nbsp; Finally they stopped.
“I dinnae see him anywhere,” Tristan said.
“Aye, his trail has stopped,” Godet said quietly.
Beiste looked all around him. “Then he is nearby,” he whispered in a low voice.
They all turned at the sound of a twig breaking. Around some rocks further up ahead could be seen a large white stallion. His saddle and bridle were still on him, but no rider.
“He misled us!” Ceena said. “Probably jumped off his horse the moment he entered the woods.”
When no one responded to her, Ceena looked at her sisters. All eyes were on Beiste.
He was staring raptly at the white horse.
“It’s Vic,” he said quietly. He let out a soft whistle and the stallion raised his head up, snuffling the air and then turned in their direction. Beiste whistled again and the stallion made its way towards them.
Beiste jumped down off of Myrtle and went to the white stallion. The stallion was powerful and strongly muscled with a thick arching neck and long, flowing, white mane and tail.
“Vic?” Tristan asked Beiste curiously.
Beiste looked up from where he was stroking the neck of the horse. “Victorious.” He looked back at the stallion, then at Tristan. “He is mine. I bred him and his full brother, Triumphant.”
Tristan and the Ross sisters watched quietly as Beiste easily jumped up on his stallion. He sat in the saddle, staring down at the horse’s neck for a moment, rubbing the back of his head. Then he looked at them.
He sat up straighter in the saddle. “My name is George Beisteson De Beaumont, Duke of Beaumont and Brandon.”
Tristan and the Ross sisters stared at him. Their mouths dropped open.
“Sards!” whispered Tristan. “Ye are a prince?”
“He is George! Aunt Burnie was talking about him, not her cat. I told ye!” Ceena said. “That is why Crumb wanted our aunts gone. Crumb was afraid they knew who Beiste was!”
“Oh my,” whispered Flori reverently as she stared at the very powerful-looking man on the just as powerful-looking stallion.
