by Jane Stain
She nodded in agreement, letting him lead her over to a table near the door, where the biggest crowd had gathered around a musician playing on a mandolin. By turns, different singers took up verses of a long ballad.
Luag took a turn, showing off a beautiful tenor voice Katherine never imagined him having.
Laird Hamleton dremd in his dream,
In Caruall where he laye,
His halle were all of fyre,
His ladie slayne or daye.
Busk and bowne, my merry men all,
Even and go ye with me;
For I dremd that my haal was on fyre,
My lady slayne or daye.
Amid everyone enjoying themselves, Katherine felt bad for these people whose Regent didn’t take their defense seriously. They even drank to his health. She cast a worried glance over at Luag and signed, “Will Alasdair get through tae him? Will he defend these lovely people?”
“I hope sae,” he signed back before picking up his mead and sipping daintily as befitted the nephew of a laird.
Why hadn’t she noticed before, his noble manners? Without thinking about it she knew they’d always been there.
They sat and passed the time that way pleasantly for a few hours until at last they tired.
12
Luag knew he was lying on the floor in Katherine’s room at the inn, asleep and dreaming, but that didn’t lessen the horror. He was back on Islay as a child, almost a man. Donald and the other warriors were preparing to attack his favorite cousin Angus’s household. Angus was old enough to be fighting in the conflict, though Luag wasn’t, not quite.
Luag ran up to Uncle Donald and pleaded with him. “Let me gae along, Uncle. I’m ready. Ye said yerself I was ready for battle.”
Annoyed but trying not to show it, Donald turned to the other warriors and gave them a look that said leave us.
They all did, knowing better than to mumble among themselves about it.
Donald put his hand on Luag’s shoulder. From a distance, it probably looked like a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Luag knew otherwise. This was Donald asserting his authority over Luag by showing how much taller and broader he was. Luag’s arms looked scrawny next to Donald’s arms, and he knew if he challenged his uncle, he would be crushed to the ground and possibly killed.
When Donald spoke, his voice was stern. There was no pretension of sympathy or reassurance. “Ye are too soft, Luag. I ken why ye want tae go. Ye want tae warn Angus. I will na let ye. Someday, ye wull see the wisdom in this, but for now, ye wull bide home and help tae protect the lasses. I ken I hae been clear. I ken ye will obey.”
As all the other warriors left for battle, Luag shed his last tears. Whether his uncle realized it or not, that conversation with him had made Luag a man. Right then and there, Luag had decided he was leaving. He would rush ahead and warn his cousin, and then he would never return to the MacDonald clan.
He told only his mother, who hugged him and cried.
With a start, Luag snapped awake. He needed to leave right away, before everyone else awakened. He would just get dressed and go. He had provisions in his soldiering bag for a ten-day trip, and they’d only been on the road for two days.
He jumped up and grabbed his bag, but it wasn’t to be. Katherine wasn’t in the room.
Slamming his fists against the door, Luag cursed. And then he rushed to join the others downstairs, where he could smell parritch and, now that he was paying attention, hear talk and laughter. If he couldn’t get a head start, he might as well break his fast before he left.
Jessica was the first to greet him when he joined them at their table in the downstairs tavern. “Wull good morrow, sleepyhead. Katherine says ye were snoring sae loudly she didna hae the heart tae wake ye. She already prepared ye some food ta take away.” She indicated a bundle in the middle of the table with a twinkle in her eye and a wrinkle in her nose, then relaxed at Leif’s side.
Luag pulled the bundle of bread and cheese over to him and nodded to Katherine. “I thank ye. That was considerate.” Rather than eat the store of provisions, he put them into his soldiering bag, which he had carried down with him.
Katherine noticed. “We are na leaving. I was gaun’ae bring that up tae the room for ye when the rest o’ us finished eating. But ye dinna hae tae eat that now. Hae some hot parritch. ‘Tis good. Murag! Bring Luag here some parritch, please. Thank ye.” She sounded like she meant it, when she said the parritch was good.
This amused Luag, given her bent for the finer things in life and parritch being such peasant fare. It was on the tip of his tongue to tease her about it.
But he didn’t. If he even looked at her, this would be too difficult. She was too beautiful, and her smiles were too rewarding. And she was being too kind to him… lately. “Wull I am leaving. Just as soon as I finish breaking my fast.”
Everyone put their food down.
Jessica was first to speak. “Ye dinna hae tae leave, Luag. Bide with us.”
Taran spoke up next. “Aye, if anyone has a problem with ye biding, we wull show them the way.”
Lauren nodded her assent. “I hae some ideas aboot ways we might defend oorselves, should the need arise.”
Katherine spoke at last. “Where will ye go? And why?”
Before he could stop himself, he looked at her. It was as big a mistake as he had known it would be. Never mind that her face was beautiful. Her eyes held concern for him, such concern as he hadn’t seen since that night he left his mother fifteen years before.
Like him, Katherine had donned once more her Scottish clothing, no doubt stuffing the English outfit so dearly bought into her new leather satchel, which she had with her as always.
Spurred by her concern, he answered more completely than he had intended. “History must be preserved. It lost its way in part because o’ me. I was the one Roland grabbed hold o’—”
Katherine shook her head no and rushed to say, “It wasna ye. ‘Twas because I was there. I was the one he was following tae the future.” Those last three words had been signed rather than spoken, but judging by the look on her face, it had been a near thing. The red embarrassed tone in her cheeks made her even lovelier.
He drank her in, knowing full well he would never see her again —oh, mayhap he would, when she came to visit Jessica or Lauren for brief periods. ‘Twould make it even worse, seeing her only briefly and then having her taken away from him again. He forced his eyes away.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Lauren were signing as well. “We are the ones who traveled back in time and fed the druids’ plan tae ken the future. ‘Tis our kind tae blame, us time travelers, not ye.”
“‘Tis all my fault,” signed Lauren with the saddest face ever. “I wanted tae coome back in time sae much. I hae brought Scotland tae the brink o’ ruin.”
Luag’s parritch came, and he tore into it, using it as an excuse to gather his thoughts before he spoke this time. As he ate, he made a real effort to enjoy the food. Hot parritch was far better than the hardtack he’d be living on during his journey. Too soon, it was all gone and he had no excuse to postpone telling them. Why hadn’t he woken up in time to leave while they yet slept?
Looking into the lasses’ worried faces made him glum. “History must be preserved sae that Scotland remains natural and beautiful. I am na just doing this in defense o’ ye lasses, ye ken.”
Lauren raised up her hands in frustration. “Tell us what ye are doing, already.”
Not looking at them for fear of catching something in their eyes that would take his courage away —not just Katherine’s eyes, mind— Luag signed, “I am gaun’ae play the prodigal son, wull nephew. I wull return tae Uncle Donald, look at his war machine from the inside, and bring it doon.” Without looking to see their reactions, he got up, grabbed his soldiering bag, and headed out to the stable.
Katherine took but one second to look into Jessica and Lauren’s eyes and panic. She was reassured in what she saw from them. They both smiled their e
ncouragement, nodding and subtly and signing, “We’ll keep in touch through Kelsey’s dreams.”
Bolstered by their support and not caring what the men had to say, Katherine got up, put her leather backpack and plaid on, and ran out the door to catch up with Luag. He needed someone with him who was in touch with what was really going on.
She understood why Leif and Taran didn’t dare go. As a laird, Leif’s description at least was known all over the kingdom, if not beyond. And Taran was Leif’s brother, the one who had left the practice field suspiciously. Jessica and Lauren were going to stay with their men of course. This only left Katherine to go and be Luag’s connection to Kelsey and the help she had to offer. Katherine had to go.
She kept telling herself this as she watched Luag tack up his horse and mount, then ride out as himself, free from the plaid over his head to disguise him as an old woman.
True, he was going away from the gate where he had been recognized, but still.
Anger flared up in her. That man was so stubborn. Without consulting anyone, he had struck out on his own, following his own plan. When she did catch up to him, she was going to give him a piece of her mind, that was for sure.
Panic struck her, and she hurried after him. No time to tack up her own horse. She couldn’t lose sight of Luag before he got too far out of the city and could go faster than a walk. He could change direction and she might never find him. But she couldn’t catch up with him too soon, or he’d just turn around and march her right back to their friends.
Her legs felt the journey not at all, and she smiled, adding daily workouts of at least three hours to her lengthy ‘to do’ list . No sense wasting all the conditioning she’d done over the past year, albeit quite involuntarily. This was the best shape she’d ever been in, bar never. She felt awesome.
All in all, it was quite a pleasant walk, and her mind wandered a bit as she stayed close enough to keep her eyes on Luag but not so close that he would notice her following.
What was her angle, for selling these new leather backpacks? With her new physique, she could add to her repertoire being an expert at exploration in rugged places like the Highlands. This bag meant you could pack light but still have everything you needed built in, convenient and impossible to forget.
It was tempting to get her phone and take pictures of herself amid all these people, wearing her backpack — or possibly, getting one of them to take a picture! But she didn’t dare. If they stole her phone, the implications were too mind numbing to consider. Still, just a selfie shot of herself on that cliff over there with the ancient city of Aberdeen in the background would give her so much credibility…
She passed several hours this way before the crowds thinned, the road opened up, and she was forced to catch up with him.
13
Finally, Luag was catching a break. There was a small river where Steam could drink, and then the road was wide open.
His luck changed, however. He had just remounted when Katherine came along. She didn’t make a scene, didn’t call out his name or call him husband and ask why he was deserting her.
No, she merely stood on the side of the road and gazed up into his eyes, defying him to leave her there.
He cursed.
But he reached out a hand and lifted her up to ride in front of him, even though she wore her small knapsack on her back. He would’ve put her behind him, except that his soldiering bag was tied there, along with provisions that had come with the horse.
She lifted her leg over Steam’s neck to ride astride, then nestled in front of him as if it were her right, curse the woman. Softly, for his ears only, she said what he’d been dreading. “I could na let ye desert me, ‘Husband’.”
Feeling things he ought not feel, he spoke tersely. “Where dae ye think I gae, tae a market fair? I hae enough tae dae seeing tae my own hide. Certies I dinna need ye tae look after. I wull make ye regret cooming along. Och, aye, I wull.”
With that remark, he whipped the horse into a gallop that took them off the road and across a shortcut through the heather.
Her fear caused her to hold tightly to his legs on either side of her, pushing herself backward into him.
It made his mouth water, among other reactions she undoubtedly could feel.
Inwardly, he cursed his shortsightedness. He couldn’t have her doing that. “If ye keep on that way, I wull insist we be marrit in truth, and then where wull ye be, hm?”
She instantly stopped herself from pressing into him, but she turned to give him a derisive look that would have made him jump off the horse if she could fight. Her spirit was what he most enjoyed about her, even more than her beauty and wit.
And then he heard his name from back on the road.
When he saw the source, he said to her, “Hold on. We hae been spotted by some o’ the Regent’s men, and now we really dae hae tae run.”
She gripped his legs, not pressing back into him.
But the horse’s run over the rough terrain jostled her so much, Luag took one hand off the reins and grabbed hold of her with his other arm, pulling her into him for all he was worth.
His words plainly on her mind, she kept stiffening against him in indignation at this and then relaxing when she forgot to be indignant. Over and over. Which made it difficult for him to concentrate on steering the horse through the trees at a run.
Steam agreeably jumped over hedges and ducked under branches, swirled around thickets and waded through a stream, all without the least complaint. Luag was proud of him.
Before Steam got too winded, they no longer heard hoofbeats behind them.
Luag dismounted and reached up to hand Katherine down.
But she turned her nose up at him and slid down on her own.
He walked Steam to let the horse cool down, then got his water skin down while letting the animal take a long drink from the river. After he had drank his fill, he held the skin out to Katherine.
But she was down on all fours, cupping water out of the river with her hand and trying to be dainty about it, but still getting quite a bit on herself.
Smirking, he rearranged the provisions a bit, got on the horse, and started it across the three-foot-deep river.
“Och, nay ye dinna,” she declared, running up and grabbing hold of his trew leg. “Back up and let me mount.”
He waited a beat.
She slapped his knee! “Now!”
It didn’t hurt, and he stifled a laugh as she climbed up, this time behind him.
She clung to his back as the horse splashed through the water. This was pleasant. This, he could handle.
But his thoughts soon turned to less pleasant things.
“We wull hae tae avoid the road from now on,” he explained to her. “The Regent’s men assume I am their enemy, and Donald’s men ken me a traitor. We wull hae tae avoid all notice till we can enter Donald’s camp and ask for him by name. My uncle is the only one who can safeguard us. We dinna belong anywhere.”
Katherine was tempted to just relax into the warm feeling of sitting behind Luag on the horse and take what he said as the given reality. After all, what did she have to gain from taking initiative here? It wasn’t as if anyone was going to award her a ‘top salesperson’ title in this time.
But she couldn’t let his defeatist attitude prevail. “Whose fault is it we dinna belong anywhere? We left a perfectly good situation with oor friends. Let’s turn aroond and go back. Gaun’ae Donald’s camp is the worst idea I ever heard. What dae ye think is gaun’ae happen when we get there, they all ‘wull coome’ ye with open arms?”
By the tightening of his muscles, she knew he disagreed and was about to be stubborn again. She wasn’t disappointed.
“Whose fault is it that ‘tis us in this situation and na just me, hm? Ye left a perfectly safe situation with oor friends for nay good reason whatsoever. I, however, hae a verra good reason for going. I’m the only one who can get close enough tae my uncle tae dae any damage tae his plans.”
She was breathing heavy now, she was so incensed at his pig-headedness. “I am here because there has tae be someone with some sense in their head on this journey. I am yer way oot in case things gae bad. What were ye gaun’ae dae with nary me in that case, just stand there and take the heat?”
His legs tightened around the horse and sped it up, as if he wanted to throttle her but couldn’t spare his hands. Fool man. “And just what are ye gaun’ae dae aboot any heat? I hae kenned ye a year and hae na ever seen ye use any fighting skills. Just what good are ye as an aide on this journey?”
“Ye really dinna ken, dae ye?”
“No, I dinna ken. Else why would I be asking ye?”
“Jessica, Lauren, and I hae been talking aboot it off and on the past six months, if na the last year, and ye hae na ever taken an interest in what was sae consuming tae us?”
Steam started to go faster again, making Katherine grab Luag’s waist and hold on for dear life.
Her anger flared to a new peak. He was doing this deliberately, looking for her to realize she was at his mercy. He was going to pay for this once they were done riding for the day, that much she knew. But for now, all she could do was hold on tight and hope Steam grew tired before she fell off.
Of course, his legs were gripping the horse so tight there was little chance of that. Did the man not know he was doing so? Obviously not. What did he have to be angry about?
He was the one being a fool.
She was just trying to stop him.
Hope won out. Before she could fall to her death, Luag slowed Steam down to a walk again.
“That was a foolish display,” she told him, pounding on his back for good measure. “Ye told me yerself the horse must na run unless strictly necessary. Now tell me, was that strictly necessary?”
He didn’t say anything.
She smiled in victory. “Dinna tell me I hae the famous witty Luag tongue-tied.”
His hands shook just the tiniest bit on the reins, clenching in and out. But still, he said nothing.
“Ye can let go o’ the vice grip yer legs hae on the horse.”
