by Leela Ash
She turned on her heel and began to make her way back to the main staircase and wasn’t surprised when two guards began to follow her closely.
“Lord Grant asked us to escort you, m’lady,” one of them said and she nodded in acceptance.
She had no idea what was happening, but she knew that whatever was coming, was clearly a cause for concern.
3.
They had come over the hills and mountains under a cloak of darkness, and the peasant boys who guarded the fields and alerted the soldiers had seen them coming. One of them had ran from his vantage point, with bare feet, cut and bleeding from the rough ground, his chest heaving with exertion so that he could get there in time.
“An army,” he gasped. “It’s coming this way.”
The soldiers had instantly stood guard and drew their weapons, they had charged the fields, out past the loch and down into the valley. But when they had arrived, all they saw was the trail of around twenty horses and the tartan of a clan they knew all too well.
Clan Drummond.
Not foes, but not friends either. Their history with Clan Grant had always been warped and tested in tumultuous times.
The soldiers could see the grave expressions on Lord Drummond’s face as he halted his horse and raised his hands in peace.
“I need to speak with James Grant,” he said proudly. “It is a matter of great urgency.”
Two soldiers returned immediately to the castle, slapping the peasant boy on the back of the head as they went for causing such an alarm by calling the Drummonds an army. When the soldiers had found Lord James Grant, he had listened to what they had to say and agreed to speak with Lord Drummond… After all, if he stated it was a matter of urgency and had come all that way in the dark and cold, surely he should give them a chance.
He had met him down by the drawbridge. His armor fiercely bound to him, that last tiny bit of doubt rising up in him that it could all be a rouse.
“Lord Drummond,” he said as he stood with his legs wide and his arms crossed. Behind him, James Grant had an army of men waiting to strike, but the second he saw the look on Drummond’s face, he knew he wouldn’t be needing them.
“Grant,” Drummond said wearily. “We are in trouble.”
Lord Grant studied him for a moment, unsure of whether to wait for him to continue or whether he should interject and ask what was happening over at their castle.
“All of us,” Lord Drummond said as his eyes fixed sternly on Grant’s.
“What do you mean?” he asked with suspicion.
He could see that Drummond was sweating, that his men looked worn out and pale. Something terrible had clearly happened to these men, their faces were drawn, as if they had all spent the evening being haunted by some vicious ghosts.
“You’ve heard the legends?” Drummond said as he swallowed.
And, in that moment, Lord James Grant’s stomach dropped to the floor; he too felt himself breaking out in a cold sweat.
The legend… it couldn’t be…
“They have taken Castle Cawdor,” Drummond said. “And from what we have managed to gather, they are heading this way…”
Lord Grant’s blood ran cold.
It had been a long time since the Legend of the Highlands had been spoken about… He had almost drawn the conclusion that it must have been myth… But now… What if…?
“We need to band together,” Drummond said. “Or we will all be damned.”
Lord Grant nodded and tried to think fast.
“They want our women,” Drummond said with a snarl. “They want our land and our men for their army. They want to destroy our clans and take over the Highlands. Now is the time that we fight, and we MUST win.”
Lord Grant knew that he was right, but the idea of breaking bread with the Drummond’s was not something he had been expecting to be doing when he had woken up that morning.
“Aye,” he nodded. “We shall talk.”
Lord Drummond nodded in return and climbed back up on his steed. As they galloped off into the night, Lord Grant was aware that everything he had ever known was about to change, and even though in a perfect world, he would be able to fight, in reality, he knew that if what he had heard was true, he would be powerless to stop it.
The legend said a clan so powerful would one day rise and the rest would fall. The idea made him shudder with terror and go weak at the knees.
He thought of his wife, of his daughters and of how his sons would be enslaved and treated like peasants.
He thought of what would happen to them all when he wouldn’t be there to protect them, should the castle be stormed and he be killed.
No! He would not let it happen.
Lord James Grant was a powerful man and he would ensure that his family survived. No matter what the cost, he was going to protect Castle Grant and everyone in it.
As he marched back to the main hall, he had a new sense of purpose, but that didn’t stop his nerves from mounting.
They would want his daughter Bonnie, he was sure of that for certain. With a rare beauty such as hers, he was going to have to do all he could to protect her.
The fight was only just beginning, but he wouldn’t stop until it was dead and buried.
4.
As dawn broke, Bonnie lay with weary eyelids and pulled the soft, warm blankets around her shoulders. She hadn’t slept all night, and she was more than tired. Her chambermaid had not returned to her and she had spent most of the early hours climbing out of bed and building up the fire. She had heard the sound of chatter from the hallway and knew that it was the soldiers guarding her room. She had crept silently, with bare, cold feet, and pushed her ear against the door, desperate to hear what they were speaking of, but only hissed whispers worked their way back to her.
She couldn’t make anything out for certain, and she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions and only hear half of a story, so she loped back to bed and dozed as the fire raged in the hearth.
When she had heard the first bird singing that morning, she had opened her eyes and looked up and out of the window. The gray light that filtered through seemed dense and she knew that it was going to be a foggy morning. She just hoped that it wasn’t an omen of things to come there at Castle Grant.
She had seen the look on her mother’s and father’s faces and she knew that something was afoot. She would just have to wait until someone gave her an explanation.
Her body was weak and tired, and even though all she wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep, she knew she had to get up, get herself ready and down to the main hall. Her insides were bare and hunger raged through her. She sat up and rubbed her weary eyes and stretched her arms up high over her head. The embers from the fire were still smoldering, but the room itself was as cold as ice.
She got to her feet and crept slowly across the stone floor to the hearth. She rubbed her hands together and tried to warm herself through as she shivered, and wished that someone was there to help her relight the thing and get some heat in there.
Suddenly, as if her prayers had been answered, there was a delicate knock at the door.
“Come in,” she called as she rushed behind the edge of her bed, just in case, by some strange chance, it was a man on the other side of the door. She was only half dressed and she had to protect her modesty, but luckily for her, it was Ariane, her chambermaid, who stood sheepishly in the doorway.
“Oh thank goodness!” Bonnie smiled from ear to ear as Ariane rushed inside and closed the door hurriedly behind her. “The fire is almost out and I could do with a hand!”
Ariane smiled back at her and scurried into the room.
“I am so sorry, m’lady,” she said, “but I was so terribly ill last night, I needed to rest.”
“Don’t apologize,” Bonnie laughed. “I enjoyed the night to myself… However, it was rather sleepless and interrupted. Please, do tell me how you’re feeling now?”
Ariane smiled and nodded. “I feel much better, Lady Grant,” she sa
id. “The rest has done me a world of good.”
“I’m glad,” Bonnie said genuinely. “I was worried about you.”
“Och, no need to worry about me,” she said as she brushed her long brown hair over her shoulder. “Right, come on then, let’s get this fire back roaring, its icy cold in here!”
Ariane knelt down in front of the hearth and began to stoke up the embers with a long iron rod. The pans of water were almost empty and even though Bonnie was exhausted, and wanted to rest, she also wanted to try and see if Ariane had any information from her stay down in the servants’ quarters.
She hurried forward and bent down to scoop up some of the water pans and Ariane quickly turned to her and said, “No m’lady, don’t, I will fill these…”
“It’s okay,” Bonnie said cheerily. “I quite enjoyed doing some of these tasks myself last night, plus you’re not fully recovered. I don’t want you getting sick again on me.”
Ariane looked uncomfortable and shifted on the spot, but reluctantly let Bonnie continue as she bent back down and carried on building up the fire and stoking it until the new logs caught and the flames began to lick quickly around them.
“So Ariane,” Bonnie said as she returned from the adjoining bathroom with a pale of water and set it down beside the hearth. “When you were down there last night, I was wondering…” she trailed off to gauge her reaction and instantly noticed Ariane’s shoulders tense.
“I mean, I do hope you don’t mind me asking, but…” Bonnie continued, “were there any whispers or talks of why Clan Drummond arrived here late last night?”
Ariane breathed in deeply and turned to face Bonnie. Her face was pale and her mouth was tight, as if she was physically trying to stop herself from replying.
“Ariane?” she asked nervously, “Please… do tell me if there is something I should know…”
Ariane bowed her head and sighed. She looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and it was too much for her to bear. Bonnie wanted to comfort her, to ask what on earth could possibly be happening to instill such reactions in everyone around her, but now she was becoming so frightened, she had the feeling it was to be her that would be needing the comfort of others.
“Please Ariane…” she whispered. “We are old friends… You have looked after me for so many years… Please don’t keep something important from me.”
Ariane looked up at her with pleading eyes and then with a deep sigh, she nodded.
“There were whispers, m’lady, yes,” she began. “From what I gathered, I believe there is an army on its way here to Castle Grant… and that you may be in very grave danger…”
Bonnie’s heart rose up in her throat and her stomach began to churn.
She had been right all along… Something big was happening and it was to do with her…
She didn’t want to hear what Ariane had to say, but she knew she that she had to… Her life very may well depend on it!
5.
“Please,” Bonnie said as she swallowed hard and moved back toward the chair beside the hearth. “Continue…?”
She sat down and curled her feet underneath her so that her nightgown covered them and kept her warm. Ariane looked as if she couldn’t think of anything she would rather do less, but at the same time, Bonnie knew that she would feel obligated. No matter how hard it may be for her.
Her face was still pale and Bonnie could see the beads of sweat forming on her upper lip. She was nervous as hell and Bonnie could only dread what she had to tell her.
“Last night,” Ariane began, “I left my chamber to go into the servants’ kitchen. It was odd, because normally there is no one to be seen roaming around our corridors at that time of night, but this time, it was different. There was a buzz and many of the other chambermaids, horsemen and cooks had been there, all talking of what had just occurred out on the drawbridge.”
She stopped for a moment to wipe her brow, and then she moved to the seat opposite Bonnie’s and sat down. Bonnie watched her with wide eyes, waiting with bated breath, to hear what she had to say, but terrified, at the same time, of what it may reveal.
“They said that Lord Drummond had arrived under a cloak of darkness,” she continued. “That one of the peasant boys, out in the wilds, had come running over the highlands and back to Castle Grant, shouting of how an army was on its way.”
Bonnie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. The thought of an army storming toward the castle in the middle of the night was terrifying. But she had the distinct feeling it was about to get worse…
“Luckily, the army the boy spoke of was Lord Drummond and his men. They came to the Castle Keep and asked to speak with Lord Grant as a matter of urgency.” Ariane paused and swallowed nervously. “The men and women down in the servants’ quarters last night, well, they said that they had heard from the guards that the conversation was very worrying. That it was not Lord Drummond or his clan that we have to fear but a much bigger evil.”
“Please,” Bonnie interrupted, “Please tell me what was said…”
“I can’t be sure of the accuracy,” Ariane said nervously. “But it was said that a legend that has been rolling around the Highlands for many years is potentially about to come to fruition.”
“A legend?” Bonnie asked skeptically. “What does that even mean?”
“Well,” Ariane continued. “From what some of the horsemen said last night, apparently there has been legends of a clan so fierce and strong that it will one day bring the whole of Scotland to its knees. A clan so powerful that any army that has stood in its wake has been slain instantly and without trouble. No one has ever been a match for them, and no one ever will…” She trailed off and looked down to the floor. And although Bonnie was fraught and scared at the prospect of a powerful clan with unknown forces coming to her home and potentially taking over, she was also completely confused as to what this had to do with her.
“But Ariane,” she said as she shook her head, “I understand the graveness of this situation, but please do tell me, why suddenly are people around Castle Grant looking at me as if I am a ghost or worse? They look at me as if I have done something terrible, or as if I am in danger… And then, what you said before…?” She thought of how Ariane had looked at her with fear in her eyes and told her that she would be in harm’s way.
“What did you mean?” Bonnie asked. “Why would this suggest that I, particularly, am more in danger than everyone else?”
Ariane nodded her head slowly, as if she were gathering her thoughts and trying to think of the most diplomatic way to tell her what she was thinking. She sucked in a big lungful of air and bit her bottom lip, then her eyes slowly travelled up to meet Bonnie’s…
“It’s because, m’lady, this clan is apparently looking for the first born daughters of the heads of all the clans in Scotland…” she faltered. “And they intend to take them as their brides and start a new bloodline all their own.”
It was like a huge blow to the stomach, but one that Bonnie had been expecting. She felt herself go weak and her lip begin to tremble. She always knew that she would not have had a lot of say in who her husband would be. Her family would have married her to someone who she would probably have never met, or have never had much dealings with. That was how it worked across the Highlands; girls were wed to strengthen their family’s position and forge alliances… But she had never, for a second, thought that the man who would take her hand could potentially be evil. That he could be someone that even her father did not want or approve of… That it would be forced on her and she would have no chance to object, that she could be led into a world of terror and something so new and frightening that she had no clue of where it may lead. She thought of her father and mother, and of how they had looked at her the night before. They were genuinely afraid for Bonnie. And they knew they could do nothing about it.
Her fate, whether she liked it or not, was sealed.
She leaned back in the chair and brought h
er knees up to her chest. Ariane watched her carefully, waiting for her to react, but Bonnie knew there was nothing she could say or do that would change this particular situation. If what Ariane was saying was correct, and Lord Drummond had come to Castle Grant to spread a warning that had travelled to him over the wild terrain of the Highlands, then there must be some truth.
“The legends…” Bonnie finally spoke. “What are they?”
She knew that whatever came next she wasn’t going to like, but she never could have had any idea of what Ariane would answer and of how it was about to change her life forever.
“Legend has it,” Ariane began, “that this clan is not like any other that has ever been seen before. They are not men, but they are not beasts… They are somewhere in between.”
Bonnie felt her blood run cold.
The chill from the room had flooded her and was consuming her to the bone.
6.
She looked into Ariane’s wide eyes and searched them for answers. Her chambermaid had always been loyal, but in this moment, Bonnie could not help but wonder if she was pulling her leg…leading her down the path for some kind of cruel joke and would suddenly laugh, slap her hands heartily together and tell her that she had been kidding all along. But the more seconds that past, the more she realized that this most certainly was not the case.
Ariane was being serious.
Deadly serious.
“Half man and half beast?” Bonnie asked with confusion. “How does that even happen? None of it makes any sense?”
Ariane pulled her chair closer to Bonnie’s and leaned in so that their faces were only centimeters apart. Her breathing was quick and she had a look of urgency about her, as if she knew she shouldn’t be speaking in this way, but couldn’t deny her loyal mistress of knowing her fate.
