by Faris, Fiona
“Jump,” came his voice commanding her from below.
“Have ye lost yer mind?!” she hissed down to him.
“Nae, now jump or return tae my bed. Those are yer choices. That or death o’ course.”
Taking a deep breath Marra did as he commanded and plummeted down in the darkness. To her surprise she landed in a rather large pile of straw. “Straw?” she asked in disbelief at their good fortune.
“A local farmer owed me a favor.”
“Thanks be tae that.” By now she was bordering on hysteria. Tired beyond belief, frightened nearly out of her mind, and giddy at the chance of escape, she was bordering on temporary madness.
James grabbed her hand and led her over to a rocky outcropping near the shore. Rounding the edge they came face to face with four drawn blades flashing in the moon’s light. “Marra?” Duncan’s voice called from the dark.
“Duncan!” Marra exclaimed softly so as not to give their position away. She rushed forward as the men lowered their swords and launched herself into Duncan’s arms. “Oh, Duncan!”
“Marra, my bonnie, my love,” he whispered, kissing her face and neck in joyous relief.
“Alexander will hunt ye down and kill ye for this,” she whispered, clinging to him like a mollusk to a rock.
“Aye, that I will,” an ominous voice threatened from the darkness behind them.
“Faither?” James questioned as his faither emerged into the moonlight flanked by his warriors.
“James ye disappoint me, but I kenned that ye would. Yer love for this lass has left ye without reason. Dinnae fear, my son. I will do what ye could no’. It will be my bed instead o’ yers that she will be warmin’ this night.”
“Faither!” James exclaimed in horror at his faither’s words.
“O’er my dead body,” Duncan challenged pushing Marra behind him, his sword raised. He was flanked by Robert and Liam on one side with Ian and James on the other.
“That can be managed,” Alexander promised, then lunged forward his men following suit.
The clang of metal against metal rang out through the night as the men met each other blow for blow. Only the moon lit the field of battle, leaving Marra clueless as to who was winning the fight. She prayed with all of her might that her own men would be victorious. A pair of hands grabbed her roughly from behind, and she reared back with her head breaking her attacker’s nose. Scurrying up over the rocks she fled. In spite of his wounds, her attacker pursued her, cursing loudly. Fleeing blindly into the night she became lost and disoriented. Eventually she could no longer hear her attacker, but she kept running. She ran until she fell down over the side of an outcropping onto the wet sandy beach below. Exhausted she passed out, unable to continue on, the tide lapping at her feet.
* * *
Duncan faced off against Alexander in the darkness, the moonlight glinting faintly off of their blades. “I will kill ye, MacDonald,” he promised.
“Ye may try,” the laird chuckled menacingly.
They clashed swords matching each other blow for blow. Duncan was stronger, but Alexander was more experienced. The darkness and rugged terrain did not do either of them any favors, but they fought on stumbling, advancing, and retreating at will. He heard Marra squeal from behind him, but was unable to turn and see what had caused it as Alexander was right on top of him, hammering him hard with his broadsword. Duncan had to use all of his strength to keep the blade from slicing through his torso. “Ye will no’ have her,” he roared, throwing every last bit of his weight into staving off the blow and advancing on his opponent. The laird slipped on the wet rocks beneath their feet allowing Duncan the moment he needed to drive his sword into Alexander’s chest. “Ye will ne’er hurt her or anyone else e’er again,” he grunted as he drove the blade through the laird’s body and into the ground on the other side. James, Ian, Robert, and Liam each dispatched their opponents and came to stand beside Duncan.
James knelt down beside his father and closed the laird’s eyes. “He was no’ the man I believed him tae be.”
“I am truly sorry, James, but I could no’ allow him tae live and return tae harm Marra.” Duncan laid a hand on James’ shoulder in sympathy. “Ye are a better man than he could e’er have been.”
Duncan turned to give James a moment of privacy to say goodbye and looked for Marra. “Marra?” he called out into the darkness. There was no answer. “Marra?!” Still nothing.
Marra’s kinsmen gathered around him. “Where is she?” Ian asked, searching the ground for signs that she might have fallen in the struggle.
“I dinnae ken. She was just here,” Duncan answered, his heart beating faster in fear that something might have befallen her. “Marra!” he called out, but again there was no answer. He began searching the ground for her tracks, but the ground was hard and the moonlight was too dim to be of much aid.
James came to stand beside him. “I will send for torches and men tae take my faither away tae be buried. It is time that his people kenned the man that was their laird. I will go with ye and search the island.” James quickly returned to the castle and very soon after, he returned with the promised torches.
Duncan searched the ground, looking for any sign of where she might have gone. He found blood spattering the ground and was reminded of when he had searched for her when she had been abducted by Lachlan. “If anyone has harmed her, I will kill him.” Some distance away from the outcropping, he picked up her and another man’s trail. “This way,” he called out to his compatriots and then took off running, following the trail.
Duncan raced through the darkness as fast as the terrain would allow. A lump on the trail ahead caused his heart to race in fear, but when he reached it, he found that it was an unconscious man with a broken nose. He assumed it was Marra’s attacker. James joined him a moment later. “I will take him back tae the castle and question him once he has awakened. Ye have my word that he will be punished most severely.”
“Aye,” Duncan nodded and kept going.
He followed Marra’s trail until daylight began to peek above the horizon. He reached the end of the trail where it disappeared over a rock ledge to the sea that beat the rocks below. His heart felt as if it were being ripped out of his chest as he peered over the side and found Marra’s crumpled form at the base of the rocks, the waves gently washing over her time and again. “Marra!” he yelled in horror as he scurried down the side of the outcropping and made his way to her side. She was not breathing. “Marra!” He took her into his arms, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Ye cannae be dead! Ye cannae be dead!” He rocked her still form back and forth in his arms over and over again, sobbing out her name until her body instantly came to life, coughing up water out of her lungs.
She hacked and wheezed until she had emptied her body of the offending liquid and then looked up into his eyes. “Duncan,” she whispered, her voice harsh from the salt of the sea. “Ye came for me,” she reached up and touched his cheek with a trembling hand.
“Aye, my bonnie, my love, always. I will always come for ye. No’ even death will e’er keep us apart again.” Crushing her to him, he kissed her with a passion so fiery that it defied God and the fates to argue otherwise. “Always.”
Epilogue
One Year and One Day Later
Duncan stood nervously, with James and Ian, awaiting Marra at the door of the kirk. They had been handfast for a year and a day, and the time had come to make their marriage official in the eyes of God and man. It had been the happiest year of his life. Since the day that they had consummated their love on the shore, they could not get enough of each other. They spent their days caring for their people and their nights making love. Some of the MacDonalds had chosen to return to the Isle of Jura after the first harvest, while others had chosen to stay on with the Clan MacGregor, many of which waited inside of the church for the bride and groom.
“Dinnae fash, lad. She will come,” Ian reassured him laying a hand on his shoulder.
“We
had a bit o’ a fight this mornin’ afore breakin’ the fast, and I have no’ seen her since. What if she decies tae change her mind? What if she is still angry with me and does no’ come?” His mind swam with the pain such a decision would cause.
“She’s carryin’ yer bairn, Duncan. ‘Tis unlikely that she would run off while in the family way, is it now?” James reminded him. Somehow that thought did not bring him any comfort. He wished for Marra to marry him because she loved him, not because she was carrying his child. James must have read his thoughts because he leaned forward laying a hand on Duncan’s shoulder. “She loves ye, Duncan. She loves ye in a way that few men could e’er dream o’, in a way that some men would willingly die for.”
Duncan studied James’ face. “Ye have given all for just such a love, yet ye kenned from the start that she did no’ love ye the same in return.”
“’Tis no’ required by the laws o’ man or o’ nature that she should return my love. ‘Tis only required in my heart that I remain true to it whether in passion or in friendship. Friendship is tae be my lot, and for that I am forever grateful.”
“Ye are a better man than I, James MacDonald. I am tae wed the lass ye love, I killed yer faither, and yet we are still friends. Ye have helped us tae survive, tae get tae this day. None of us would be here without ye. ‘Tis a debt I will ne’er be able tae repay.”
“Ye may get the opportunity sooner than ye think.” James frowned.
“Aye?”
“There have been challenges tae my position as laird. Some o’ my clansmen have discovered the truth o’ how faither died and have taken issue with my aiding another clan tae defy my faither. Blackmail is their current method o’ punishment, but it will no’ be long afore they decide tae wage war against me.”
“Can ye no’ take action tae prevent it?”
“I would if I kenned who they were. The threats have come by letter, with nae one steppin’ forward tae take responsibility. I have nae way of kennin’ how many o’ them there are, or if there is anythin’ tae be done tae appease them other than tae surrender the lairdship. The letters are unsigned and unmarked.”
“Ye cannae surrender the lairdship. It would be takin’ up by someone such as yer faither was or worse.” The idea of such a thing transpiring horrified Duncan. “No’ a one o’ us would be safe then.”
“I should be able tae root out the problem on my own, but should I need yer aid?”
“Ye shall have it without question. Ye need only send word, and we will come.”
“I thank ye, my friend.”
“No’ at all. ‘Tis I who owe ye everythin’. This day would nae be possible without ye.” Duncan moved forward, grasping James’ forearm. “Ye will get through this, just as ye will one day find the love that ye seek, a love that is good and truly yers.”
“Aye,” James smiled, lightening the mood. “I might steal yers back if she does no’ come tae wed ye.”
“Ye just might at that,” Duncan chuckled. He looked out over the land around the kirk once more searching for any sign of Marra upon the landscape. Sighing in frustration, he began to pace back and forth again. The sound of a horse’s hooves drew his attention, and he raced forward to get a better look. ‘Tis no’ Marra. His heart sank with disappointment.
“My Laird! My Laird!” It was one of the guards that he had left at the castle to escort Marra to the church. Grabbing the reins as the rider came to a halt, he demanded to know what had happened. The rider grinned from ear to ear. “The bairn is comin’! Ye are about tae become a faither!”
“’Tis tae early!” Duncan nearly shouted in concern.
A hand touched his arm, and he turned to find Idonea standing next to him having come out of the church at hearing the glad tidings. “Bairns come when they are ready nae when we think that they should, but we should make haste back tae the keep afore she has delivered it without us.”
Ducnan nodded and took the horse from the guard, swinging the healer up behind him. “We will come as soon as we are able,” James reassured him and then slapped the horse on the rump, sending them on their way.
Duncan galloped as fast as the horse would carry him. His heart felt as if it had traded places with his stomach. He was frightened for the life of his beloved wife and child, and he prayed that all would be well in spite of the early date. When he reached the castle, he leapt from the horses back, lifted Idonea to the ground, threw the reins to a waiting guard, and ran the rest of the way to the bedchamber that he and Marra shared, following the screams.
Bursting through the door, he fell on his knees at her side taking her hand in his. Her face was bright red and drenched with sweat, tears streamed down her cheeks, and she groaned as the pain seized her once more. “I am here, my bonnie,” he informed her as if she did not have eyes to see it. He was so scared for her and the bairn that all he could do was press her hand to his lips and hold it there. He willed his strength into her as she panted her way through the pain.
“I am sorry that I could nae get tae the kirk,” she apologized when the pain eased.
“’Tis well, my bonnie. Dinnae fash. Ye had important work at hand tae be done,” he answered smiling.
Marra attempted a smile but did not quite succeed as another pain hit. Idonea moved forward and examined the situation. “Marra, love, ye need tae push. Bear down, lass, now.” Marra did so, yelling out with the pain.
“He is tryin’ tae rip me asunder!” she cried out, her eyes scrunched shut as she bore down with all of her strength.
“Aye, he is at that,” Idonea agreed.
With each pain that hit, Marra bore down hard, nearly breaking Duncan’s hand from the pressure of squeezing it. When the final push came, and their newborn son slid out into Idonae’s arms, Duncan felt as if his heart would burst from all of the love that immediately filled it upon seeing his son. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and tears sprang to his eyes as Idonea laid the bloody, screaming bundle upon Marra’s belly.
“Ewen,” he breathed the moment his son opened his eyes and looked up at him. “His name should be Ewen.
“Aye, Ewen,” Marra whispered taking the squirming wet bundle into her arms and placing it at her breast. “’Tis the perfect name for our wee lad.”
“Aye.” Duncan watched as his son ate his first meal of many. “Have ye e’er seen anythin’ so perfect in all yer days?”
“Nae, I have no’. He is a braw wee lad is he no’, e’en with comin’ early as he did.”
“Aye, braw indeed.” Duncan leaned down and kissed the downy head. “Marra, love, ye have made me the happiest man in all o’ Scotland.”
“Shall we make it official then?” James’ voice asked from the doorway, the priest beside him.
“Aye,” Duncan answered grinning. “That is if ye still wish tae marry me?” he turned to Marra in question.
“Aye, o’ course I do, ye wee bampot,” she chastised. “Did ye think that our wee fight this mornin’ was enough tae make leave ye?”
“I had my doubts when ye did no’ come tae the kirk,” he admitted.
“Duncan MacGregor, I would no’ leave ye for anythin’. Ye are my love, my heart, my man, my husband, the faither o’ my child. Ye are good and truly stuck with me for the rest o’ yer natural born days and maybe e’en after that.”
Duncan grinned. “Aye, e’en then.” He leaned down and kissed her passionately. “Ye have given me the greatest gift that any man could e’er ask for.”
“And there are plenty more tae come,” she promised with a hint of mischief in her eye.
“Oh, aye?” he asked grinning.
“Aye.”
Duncan leaned down and kissed her once more. Behind him he heard the priest begin the marriage ceremony, and he turned to say the most important words he had ever, or would ever say, “Aye, I do.”
Extended Epilogue
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Afterword
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