"But I dinna want to empty yer own medicinal preparations."
"Pfft! Girl, you know my herbal hut is filled to overflowing, so 'twas a good time to clear room there."
Turning around, Lady Joneta flicked the backs of her fingers to Graemme and smiled at him. "She canna prepare for a journey if you keep looking at her like she is a fruit pasty and you are starving."
Graemme laughed and turned to leave the room. He looked back when he reached the door and found she'd thrown off the sheets. The sight near made Graemme tell her aunt to leave the room or else be shocked, for he wanted to swive his wife again. She was incredibly beautiful with her sleepy eyes and curling hair falling all around her face. Her rosy nipples peeked between locks of curling hair, and her skin looked like light cream above the curly dark hair guarding her woman's place.
When he gave her his most passionate leer while looking at her nekid torso, she turned rosy red.
Her aunt chuckled as he eased the door closed.
o0o
Never had Elyne seen Raptor Castle so busy. She peered out the heavy doors into the Great Hall to see guests were still riding out through the barbican while others were sitting on the keep's steps while grooms prepared their horses. The men held their heads in their hands, trying to stop the pounding from too much drink. Their wives didn't give them any sympathy, but instead seemed to talk extra loud, considering the men's wincing faces.
Catalin, Muriele and Ysabel were still at the table breaking their fast. Elyne hurried over, thanking the good Saints because two of them would be with her when she left. 'Twould be less hurtful to leave, knowing she would have friends in the Highlands.
She grabbed Aunt Joneta's hand when she came into the room.
"Come, Aunt. Have ye broken yer fast?"
"I waited to eat with you, dear one." She blinked and turned her face as she busied herself making sure the servants brought out hot food for the travelers.
An empty pit formed in Elyne's stomach as she saw men begin to file into the room. When her father and Ranald arrived with Graemme and Magnus behind them, she began to feel a panic she never thought could happen to her. Where were all her brave feelings? She'd thought she would welcome the day she left the heavy-fisted control of her father. Instead, she longed to throw her arms around him. And leaving Ranald was like losing him again the first time. She could still see the cart and hear its squeaky wheels when it carried her brother across the barbican to be lost in Kelso for the greater part of her life.
Ranald must have known her thoughts, for he came and put his arms around her. She knotted her fists in his black tunic and held him tight.
"Lass, we are not going to be lost to ye. Young Graemme and his brother both have promised to bring ye for a visit once a year when the weather permits. And knowing the Morgan's, they will keep their word.
"But a year is such a long time," she said in a broken whisper.
"Nay, sweet lass. A year from now ye may be bringing yer son or daughter to show off to Father. Dinna worry. I will continue to check on him often to see he doesna do anything foolish. Aunt Joneta plans to return to Raik and his family, now ye are settled."
"Ack! Are those tears in my sweet wife's eyes? They must be tears of joy, since I heard it from her own lips she ne'er cried!"
Elyne stiffened her back, and in the protection of Ranald's chest, swiped her fingers over her eyes.
"Huh! Ye see things which are nay there."
When Graemme came over, Ranald released her with a somber smile. Before she could turn, Graemme wrapped his arms around her and snuggled his face in her neck and sniffed.
"Mmm, ye smell sweet, wife. Did ye roll in heather whilst my back was turned?"
"Ye have done yer job, Sir Graemme," Grunda's gravelly voice said. "'Twas the right time of the month to plant yer seed." She chuckled. "From the sounds of it, ye plowed the field enough to bear fruit afore a year is out."
Embarrassed, Elyne pulled back. She had tried to be quiet after the first time she climaxed, but she must have failed. She felt Graemme's chest moving in silent laughter. She glared at him, daring him to speak. Thank the good Saints he held his tongue. She sighed with relief when her father came charging into the room.
"Dinna forget to take this misshapen dog with ye," he roared. "The hellish little hound tried to send me backwards off the landing."
As he came through the doorway, an impatient Squat scampered around him. His tail whipped against Elyne's skirts as he tried to tunnel between them.
"We thought to leave him with ye so ye wouldna miss Elyne," Graemme said.
His tone sounded so wistful Elyne shoved him away.
"Dinna fear, Father, we thought no such thing!" Bending down, she scooped the dog into her arms and went to sit beside her aunt.
Who knew a night of bed sport would make anyone so hungry? She near drooled seeing her aunt had already put honey and butter on her porridge. She broke off a piece of warm bread and gave it to the dog when she put him down. Before she finished eating, she glanced up to see everyone watching her and grinning
"What?"
"Ye look about to eat what is left in everyone's bowls, lass," Graemme said. "If bed sport makes ye this hungry, ye will be twice yer size in near a month!"
"Swiving hasna anything to do with it. In fact, the mere thought of bedding with ye takes away any desire to eat another bite."
She dusted off her hands and made a quick survey of the table. Everyone else had finished and was waiting on her. How had the time passed so quickly?
Their leave-taking was so swift she suspected Graemme and Magnus had planned it that way. When she descended the stairway leading down to the front bailey, she saw mounted warriors patiently waiting. Magnus and Graemme's mounts were at the front with Brian and Colyne, several warriors were between them and Muriel and Elyne's waiting horses. Gille was to ride close to the women to relay any messages between them and their husbands. Behind them was a cart with soft pillows, blankets and padded benches on each side for Grunda, Ysabel and Ada. In the middle was a square wooden form around a small pallet covered with sheepskin for Squat. When Gille had learned the dog was going back to Clibrick, he'd made a bed saying the little beastie couldn't survive the trip bouncing around on a wooden cart.
Toward the end were several large carts carrying Elyne's things and those going with Muriel to Blackbriar Castle. Between each section, armed warriors rode for protection.
Before she knew it, she had hugged and kissed her family until Graemme led her away and lifted her into her saddle. She was glad to have Muriel riding beside her. When she looked back and saw her family waving, she blinked and swallowed.
Not until they cleared the drawbridge did the squires unfurl the two gray Morgan brother's banners with the black wolves. Graemme's with the wolf leaping down off the rock, and Magnus' wolf baring his teeth in a mighty snarl.
"'Tis added protection, Elyne. When traveling through Scotland, the wolf banners warn everyone the Morgan Clan is not to be trifled with."
"Aye." Elyne grinned and lifted her left skirt to show Muriel her leg. She had strapped her dagger there. Her short sword hung from a strap on the pommel of her saddle.
"We think alike." Muriele laughed and flicked up the side of her own slit skirt to show she also had worn her weapons. One on each leg. "I dinna travel without them."
"Do ye feel like we are overrun by women on this trip?" Graemme looked at Magnus somber face and winked.
"Aye. From the looks of it, ye'd think we will be slow in making our way to Clibrick."
"Dinna fear. Elyne is as good a rider as Muriele. They'll not hold us up. My fear is the carts will break down or some such thing."
Squat's shrill bark reminded him not only did they have the women to consider, but someone would have to stop each time the dog needed to relieve itself. His stubby legs wouldn't allow him to run alongside the horses. Poor misshapen thing would collapse within a league away from Raptor.
Turning in his
saddle, Graemme signaled Gille, who in turn dropped back beside the women's cart. He reached out and Ada passed the squirming dog to him. Before long, he returned the dog to the women's cart and pulled in behind Elyne and Muriele.
"Magnus?" Graemme called.
"Aye?"
"Have ye learned who Gille's father is? Chief Olaf or Feradoch?"
"I dinna know. I tried to find out when his birth month was to see if Feradoch may have been spending his weeks at Kinbrace, but no one in the village recalled when he arrived there. I suspect it was Feradoch, though."
"Why?"
"Chief Olaf didna care who knew he'd fathered a bastard. So many of them were in villages close by, he seemed proud of the fact. Gille was at an outlying village. I think he was meant to stay hidden." He frowned. "The day we cleared Gille's village of raiders, Feradoch was scornful when I'd killed the man holding a knife on the boy. He said the young man wasn't worth killing a man over. I insisted on bringing Gille back to Kinbrace. Later, I found he had a brown birthmark on his lower belly."
"What has it to do with the boy?" Graemme glanced at Magnus, who seemed to be considering his answer.
"Feradoch would never acknowledge he had a son who wasna perfect. He'd have killed him at birth, so the mother must have hidden him at the village." Magnus shook his head. "The man was obsessed with his own beauty."
Surprisingly for Elyne, the day passed quickly. When they stopped for the evening, she was surprised at how tired she was. The men had ridden hard to come to a clearing next to a loch where they had stopped before. 'Twas large and surrounded on three sides by dense woods.
"Sweyn, Brian and Colyne, see to the camp. Sir Magnus and I will take the women to a place where they may bathe without fear of men hunting firewood coming upon them."
Sweyn, being the most experienced took over, ordering Brian to see to the men gathering firewood and building the fire. Colyne was in charge of rounding up the game caught during the day. As they had ridden through the woods, hare scrambled to run from their horses, grouse had taken to the sky and deer were fleet of foot.
Sweyn had Gille and some of the younger men putting up tents. The one for Graemme and his new wife was on the fringe of the camp, Magnus and Muriel's was closer in. Ada, Grunda and Ysabel shared one closer to the warriors for they had no man to share their sleeping arrangements.
The women were anxious to wash the dust from their bodies and wondered what took Graemme so long to take them to the loch. When he joined them, they found they couldn't walk as swiftly as they'd thought, for banging their behinds on their saddles or bouncing on the cart benches had made them stiff and sore. Grunda, the eldest by far, seemed the most rested.
"I think ye are lost, my careless husband," Elyne announced as they made their way through the bushes.
"Nay. 'Tis on the other side of this stand of trees. Canna ye hear the waterfall?"
"Be patient. Once ye see this part of the loch, ye will want to spend several days here just to be able to swim." Magnus hiked a brow at the three unattached women. "Ye can all swim, canna ye?"
"I can keep myself afloat. My brothers tossed me in a loch every chance they got," Ada spoke up.
Ysabel simply nodded. Grunda gave him a look conveying several things. Among them was how did he think she lived this long without being able to swim? Loch's covered the Highlands. Though drowning was frequent, they were mostly people who feared the water and had eventually fallen in, or some man wanted one less mouth to feed and had tossed them in.
"Graemme and I will stand guard just inside the woods. If anyone is in distress, ye have but to call out and we will be there."
Elyne stood on the edge of the water and looked around her, amazed at the beauty. They were only one day from Raptor, but she could see a change in this sparsely populated area. Great trees overhung the loch and from the mountain they had descended, a waterfall cascaded down, making the water foam and sparkle in the sunlight. A large flat rock stood close where they placed their clean clothing.
Graemme was right. She'd like to stay here for days. Judging from the delight on Muriele and Ada's faces, they would also. The women threw off their clothes and tossed them atop branches nearby, then raced to stand in the water, tentative with each step they took, testing the ground. When they waded out to their waist and didn't feel any drop-off they jumped up and down like lasses at play.
Even Grunda's eyes shone with delight. She looked years younger. While Elyne stared at her, she could see the beauty hidden by age. Why, she must have been quite beautiful as a young woman! Elyne felt Muriele watching her and nodded. She seemed to have thought the same thing, for a tender smile touched her lips.
Grunda astounded them all by plunging to the bottom of the pool and coming up with sand clutched in her hands.
"Ye dinna need scented soaps out here. The sand will wash the dust off yer bodies and leave ye feeling cleaner than ye have afore."
For those who had never done it, she put a little in their hands and they copied her movements as she rubbed it on her arms, chest and neck. When 'twas gone, she showed them how to dive deep. Muriele helped, for after Magnus had besieged and captured Blackbriar Castle, Grunda had taught her and her mother when they had escaped to live in the woods.
"If ye stay in the water any longer, ye will be shriveled near to nothing," Graemme called.
"Get back into the woods, ye uncouth churl! Dinna spy on women when they have asked for privacy."
"Why not?" Magnus cut in. He, too, stood in the clearing watching them. "'Tis a charming sight to see mermaids. I begin to think Grunda was first born a fish, for she is the strongest swimmer I have e'er seen!"
"Turn yer back, please, husband," Muriele ordered.
He did. But Graemme, with a soft smile on his lips, continued to watch them.
"Did ye not hear Muriele, ye randy goat?" Elyne called to Graemme.
"Aye. I did. Did ye?
"Of course, fool. I asked ye first."
"Well, then, did ye not hear how nicely she said please and husband?"
Elyne near ground her teeth together. The women watched her, hugging their arms across their chest, whether in cold or modesty, she wasn't sure. When her gaze met Ada's, she seemed to see her for the first time as she truly was. Why, she was quite pretty! She had large blue eyes and curly red hair even though weighted by water. Her lips were near blue from the cold, but it didn't hide their laughing curves.
Elyne stamped her foot, for all the good it did her. The water barely moved.
"Dear sweet, loving husband, would ye please go back into the woods with yer brother?"
"Was being nice so difficult?" Graemme immediately turned and walked back into the woods with Magnus.
Elyne stuck her tongue out and made a face at his back.
"Best ye heed yer husband in all things once at Clibrick. If ye become careless and dinna listen to his caution, ye will be in great danger."
Grunda's voice was for her ears alone for she stood so close no one else could hear. The old seer surged out of the water and walked over to her clothes. She seemed to have grown, but 'twas because she didna slump or bend. It amazed and caused Elyne to wonder about her real age. Now, she seemed no older than her mother had been. As she watched Grunda dress and tend her hair, she realized the seer deliberately gave the illusion of great age.
When they returned to the camp, they were delighted to see everything looked as if it had been there for a long time. Elyne was especially glad they had provided tents and hoped the women would share two and the two commanders would take the third. She knew it was a useless hope when Graemme led her to the farthest one. Gille had finished putting pillows on the pallet and furs for warmth.
"Thank ye, Gille. Ye have made a pleasurable sleeping spot. 'Twill be very comfortable."
He bobbed his head, a shy smile on his lips as he bowed and left the tent.
"Well, now, ye took so long we have no time for a quick round of bed sport," Graemme said, a hint of disappointm
ent in his voice.
"Ye canna be serious! The moon isna even up, and everyone is about. Forget it, husband!"
"If ye refuse to be adventurous, then there is no choice but to dine, since the food is near finished."
Food had never tasted so good. Elyne could only believe it was because they were outdoors all day and she had become especially hungry. Even Squat had more than his usual share, since Gille shared his food with him.
When she could put it off no longer, since all the other women had already retired, she finally allowed Graemme to lead her to the tent.
She should not have protested, for there followed the most delightful night of her life. Graemme was right. They might fight by day, but the nights were devoted to sensual bed sport—of the most wonderful kind.
By the end of a fortnight, Elyne was sorry the trip was over.
Chapter 28
Elyne and Muriele had spent part of every afternoon in the wagon with the other women. Muriele was like a sister to her, and Ysabel had become a good friend, though reluctant to speak about her past. Grunda had promised to help Elyne to understand and read her dreams. Each day, when they stopped to eat or when Elyne and Muriele sought rest from the horses, Grunda had Elyne start with telling her first foretelling dream and what she'd thought it meant.
Elyne's mouth gaped when Grunda shook her head and told her the true meaning. The seer knew nothing of events which had occurred many years ago, but for each dream she interpreted, her foreseen outcome had happened as she predicted.
Whenever Graemme or Magnus required Gille, they whistled loud and shrill to summon him. Shouting would have gone unheard, due to the long row of horses and talking warriors. She grinned, for the first time she had signaled him thus, he had near jumped in his saddle thinking his lord had somehow circled to come up behind him. On the last day of their trip, the young squire pulled alongside Elyne when she whistled as skillfully as any man.
"Will we reach Clibrick soon, Gille?" Elyne asked, standing in her stirrups trying to get a glimpse of her new home.
Surrender Page 28
