Highland Secrets

by Elizabeth Rose

  “It did kind of sound that way,” agreed Maira. “If you think you can tease men and then leave them without any repercussions, you are mistaken. You are going to get yourself into trouble someday if you act that way.”

  “Well, at least I like men even if I never want to marry,” said Willow. “Maira, you act like a man. And Fia is so shy she wouldn’t know what to do if a man spoke to her.”

  “Enough squabbling,” said Maira. “I want to try out the new dagger my father sent me before it gets dark.” Maira pulled out the dagger and held it up to admire it. It was a long and sharp weapon with a two-toned metal hilt. Only men owned daggers like this. Women usually had small daggers used for everyday things like cutting string or possibly meat at the dais table. They weren’t meant to be used for protection. “Let’s hunt for rabbits or perhaps some waterfowl or a polecat.”

  “Nay!” Willow wrinkled her nose, making a face at the disturbing thought.

  “Maira, ye like usin’ yer blade too much,” said Fia. “Willow and I dinna want to kill animals.”

  “Don’t make it sound like I’m an assassin. We eat everything I kill,” protested Maira. “I do it for a purpose. Besides, I can’t help it if I like the feel of a blade in my hand. Hunting is the only thing I have since I am a woman and will never be able to fight with a sword as our fathers do.”

  “It’s not becoming of a lady,” said Willow, smoothing the wrinkles from her gown with the palms of her hands. “What should we do today, cousins? Sit here idly and do nothing as usual?”

  “I dinna consider our trips as doin’ nothin’. I observe nature,” Fia told them. “I’ll bet ye dinna ken there is a nest in that black oak tree with three baby goldcrests that were born last week.” She pointed up at the branches above their heads.

  “That tree?” asked Willow, shading her eyes and pointing at a different tree altogether. It was appalling that Willow couldn’t identify a simple tree. But yet, she could tell you the color of every nobleman’s eyes and hair that had ever visited Castle Rothbury.

  “Nay, that is a poplar tree,” Fia told her with a roll of her eyes. “And I’m sure ye dinna even ken what a goldcrest looks like.”

  “I might not, but neither do I care.” Willow ran her hands through her hair, pulling it to the side and quickly braiding it as she spoke.

  “See that old hollow log?” asked Fia. “A big, brown rat lives in there.”

  “A rat?” repeated Willow with a squeal. She dropped the braid, and her hands covered her mouth. “Let’s get away from here, anon!” She took off on her horse, directing it into a run. Maira and Fia followed. It wasn’t long before Fia heard hoofbeats behind them.

  “Stop,” she called, out, bringing her cousins to a halt. “I heard hoofbeats. It might be bandits. We need to hide. Someone is following us.”

  “Hide? Where?” asked Maira, looking back and forth.

  They had never encountered danger in Lord Beaufort’s woods before, but they had been careless and traveled far today. It seemed they wandered off of the earl’s land and crossed the line into the royal forest. Fia no longer recognized anything around them. Spotting some dense brush in the distance up against a hill, she pointed at it.

  “Over there. That looks like a guid place to hide.” Fia led the way. Her cousins followed. When they got closer, she realized it was more than just brush. “Look! There seems to be an old, hidden door, covered with tangled vines.” Curious, she slipped off the horse, moving closer to inspect her new find. With one hand, she reached out and pushed open the door. The rusty hinges groaned as a secret place was revealed. Fia gasped in surprise when she saw what lie inside.

  “What is it?” Maira rode closer, bending low atop the horse.

  “What do you see?” asked Willow, glancing nervously over her shoulder and then back at her cousins.

  “It looks like a secret garden,” Fia explained. Excitement and intrigue coursed through her. There were rows of plants and flowers that she had never seen before. She had to get a closer look even though a tinge of fear ran through her, telling her to turn around and not to enter.

  “Get inside, quickly,” Maira urged her. “I hear hoofbeats approaching now as well. They are getting louder.”

  Fia quickly entered the garden with Maira and Willow right behind her. After dismounting, the girls stood in awe with their mouths wide open, not able to believe their find. What had looked like nothing but some shrubs against a hill to hide behind, turned out to be a beautiful hidden world of flowers, benches, trellises, and archways covered with climbing, flowering vines.

  Fia took a deep breath and held it. Her senses tingled from the sweet smell of roses in colors of white, pink and red that were so large they were the size of her hand. Birds chirped happily overhead, flying from tree to tree and landing in arched trellises. Square, raised beds of plants filled the secret space. Taking a closer look, Fia realized they were herbs and vegetables. The patches of dirt were separated by fences made from branches woven together.

  A carpet of bluebells spread out behind the raised beds and stopped at the foot of an enchanting cottage constructed of wattle and daub. Next to the cabin was a small shed with an open door that housed gardening tools. Attached to the house was a stable big enough for one horse. In it stood an old, black mare. Fia thought the surroundings looked like something out of a fairy tale.

  “I feel like I’m in a dream world,” said Willow, sniffing a rose and gently caressing the silky petals with her fingertips.

  “I have never seen anything like this,” replied Maira. She tied the reins of her horse to a tree and started down the winding stone pathway leading through the mystical garden.

  “There is a cottage and a horse. Someone lives here,” Fia told them in a voice no louder than a whisper. “How could this be here?”

  “We never came this far into the woods before.” Maira made her way over to a wooden swing big enough for two people and took a seat. The swing was suspended between two arches that had grapevines covering a trellis over her head. She pushed off slightly with her feet and giggled. Willow rushed over and plopped down on the seat right next to her.

  “We shouldna be here,” warned Fia. “We need to go.”

  “Quit fretting, Fia,” scoffed her cousin, Maira. “I don’t believe we are in any danger.”

  “Hello, girls,” called out a voice from over by the shed.

  “Fia’s right. We had better go,” blurted Willow, jumping off the swing and high-tailing it for her horse.

  “Nay, I want to see who it is.” Maira got to her feet and started in the opposite direction.

  “Maira!” Fia rushed after her cousin and tried to stop her. “We dinna belong here.”

  “On the contrary, girls, I have been waiting for you to arrive for years now.” An old woman stepped out of the shadows, smiling at the girls as she made her way over to them. She was tall and had graying hair pulled back behind her head. She wore a long, brown gown with a green kirtle. In her hands, she held a pair of work gloves covered in dirt.

  Fia was getting ready to run when she noticed the heart-shaped brooch on the woman’s bodice. “It’s you,” she said with a gasp, now knowing it was the woman she’d seen in the dying king’s chamber. Her hand shot to the heart-shaped brooch pinned on her own chest.

  “Do you know her?” asked Willow curiously, walking back to join her cousins.

  “I saw her five years ago in the king’s chamber on the day he died.”

  “Who are you?” Maira bravely stepped in front of her cousins protectively.

  “Come and sit down, girls.” The woman smiled and pointed to a small knoll of grass near the shed where the sun shone down warmly. Then she looked over the girls’ shoulders as if something took her interest. “You might as well come join us too, Morag,” she called out.

  “Morag?” Fia spun around to see her younger sister sitting atop a horse, peering into the secret garden through the open gate. Fia groaned and shook her head. “Morag, I told
ye to stay back at the keep.”

  “What is this place?” asked Morag, sliding off her horse and entering the garden.

  “It’s the queen’s secret garden,” the woman told them. “I am Imanie, the queen’s keeper of secrets as well as her master gardener.”

  “Queen? What queen?” asked Maira in confusion.

  “Why, Queen Philippa, of course,” Imanie answered with a kind smile.

  “But the queen is dead,” stated Willow. “She has been dead since I was a toddler.”

  Fia noticed the look of wisdom in Imanie’s two-toned green and yellow eyes as the woman answered. “She might be gone from this world, but her secrets live on.” She settled herself in the grass and nodded for them to sit as well.

  “Why should we believe you?” asked Maira, plunking down on the ground without even looking where she was sitting.

  “Because it’s the truth.” Fia took off her crown and placed it on the ground in front of her as she sat crossed-legged next to Maira. “I believe this has somethin’ to do with the crowns and the brooches and what the queen had planned for us, doesna it?”

  “You are right,” said Imanie.

  “Did she have somethin’ planned for me, too?” Morag squeezed in between Fia and Willow.

  “Morag, ye are no’ the eldest daughter,” Fia reminded her. “King Edward told us on his deathbed that the queen left the crowns and brooches only for our faithers’ eldest girls.”

  “That’s right,” said Imanie. “Philippa wanted the king’s bastard triplets’ eldest daughters to join her secret order, but you can stay and watch, Morag.”

  “A secret order?” asked Willow. “How so?”

  Imanie’s eyes twinkled with excitement. “Did you girls know that when your fathers were born, the king ordered them killed because they were triplets?”

  “We do,” said Fia. “Everyone kens that.”

  “Mayhap so.” Imanie nodded in agreement. “But not everyone knows it was Philippa who saved their lives that day. She did it against the king’s orders and in secret. He didn’t know about it until many years later.”

  “That’s true,” Maira answered. “My father told me that story.”

  “Queen Philippa was a remarkable, strong woman,” Imanie continued. “Many times it was her influence on the king that saved lives, such as those of the Burghers of Calais. She also filled in as regent while the king was away. When Philippa had to lead an army to war, she would. She and Edward traveled together often. Philippa gave birth to over a dozen children, the first when she was not even six and ten years of age.”

  “That’s basically our age,” said Maira, nodding to Fia.

  “Queen Philippa was a remarkable woman, kind and fair and revered by all,” Imanie explained. “Yes, she was strong in many ways, but not many knew exactly just how strong.”

  “Why are ye tellin’ us this and what does this have to do with us?” asked Fia.

  “Fia, you are very curious and in need of answers.” Imanie chuckled. “That is the makings of a determined woman. But to answer your questions, I need to tell you that Philippa had a chosen group of women who she often met with in secret, right here in this garden.”

  “The queen used to come here?” asked Morag in amazement.

  “She did. But no one knew, except for the women in the secret order.”

  “Even Lord Beaufort didn’t know?” asked Maira.

  Imanie shook her head. “This land was never his, but owned by the queen. He promised the queen many years ago that he would never come this far into the woods and would keep others from the land as well.”

  “We found it by accident,” Fia told her.

  “Nothing is by accident.” Imanie gave them an all-knowing look. “You girls were meant to find this secret garden. I knew when the time was right, you would come to me, and you have.”

  “Why did you want us to come to the garden?” asked Willow.

  “Let me tell you a story.” Imanie crossed her legs and leaned forward. “I was once naught but a beggar with nowhere to go and nothing to eat. Queen Philippa pitied me and brought me to work in the royal kitchens. She befriended me, and we became close. One day when I killed a soldier who tried to rape me, I was sentenced by the king to be hanged to death.”

  “Oh, my. That’s terrible,” Morag shivered and made a face.

  “Philippa felt more than pity for me this time. She told me the guard deserved it and that I was strong in defending myself. The queen saved me but banished me from her kingdom. However, she didn’t let me go. Instead, she had me create this secret garden, living here in the woods by myself. Through the years she brought women here that she thought had potential to be independent. In secret, I trained them to be strong in many ways. And now, since it was her wish, I am going to train you three to be strong in secret as well.”

  “You live in this garden?” asked Morag. Her eyes widened.

  “Yes. This is my home. I did it for the queen but, through the years, I realized it was my true calling to help other women.”

  “But you’re old,” said Maira boldly pointing out the fact. “What can you possibly teach us?”

  “Don’t let that fool you. I used to be a great warrior at one time. I had to be, to survive living on my own from the age of ten. I befriended an old bladesmith, and he took a liking to me. He taught me about weapons and how to fight like a man.”

  “He did?” The subject piqued Maira’s interest. “Can you teach me to use a sword?”

  “If that is where your strength lies, then I can teach you.”

  “What about me?” asked Willow. “I don’t like to fight. What is my strength?”

  “She only likes to dress up and bat her eyes at men,” Morag told her, making the rest of the girls laugh.

  “Don’t laugh,” scolded Imanie. “Even that can be a strength as well.”

  “It can?” asked Willow. “How?”

  “It is by the persuasiveness of many strong women in the past that the queen was able to find out secrets that helped the king and his army to be successful.”

  “Persuasive? With enemies?” This interested Fia.

  “Yes, with enemies as well as with friends. Men always seem to hold secrets within them. It is our job as Followers of the Secret Heart to draw those secrets from them to use to our advantage.”

  “Followers of the Secret Heart?” asked Fia. “Is that what the queen called her secret group of strong women?”

  “Yes, it is what she called it. I am continuing the tradition,” Imanie told them proudly. “Will you girls do your late queen the honor of following the life she had planned for you?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Willow, being the leery one of the bunch.

  “She did save our fathers,” Maira pointed out, always searching for adventure.

  “We wouldna be here today if it wasna for the queen,” Fia agreed.

  “I’ll do it,” said Maira in a snap decision. She sprang to her feet, resting her hand on the hilt of her new dagger.

  “Me, too,” added Morag, copying Maira by jumping up.

  “Nay.” Imanie shook her head. “I cannot train you, Morag, I’m sorry.”

  “Why no’?” Morag’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout. Fia wasn’t surprised. She always did this when she didn’t get her way.

  “I am only instructed to train those chosen by the late queen herself,” Imanie explained. “She chose the eldest of your fathers’ daughters only. And now, since the queen is gone, there will be no other members. After Fia, Maira, and Willow, I will train no more. The Followers of the Secret Heart will cease to exist.”

  “Who are the other women in this secret group?” asked Fia, always wanting to know more.

  “I cannot divulge that information. We will keep your involvement a secret, too.”

  “Do ye hear that, Morag?” asked Fia. “Ye have to keep this a secret.”

  “I dinna like secrets.” Morag’s brows dipped in disappointment. “Fia, ye never want me a
round.”

  “That’s no’ true, Sister.” Fia sighed, realizing she had excluded Morag through the years and it wasn’t fair. She loved her sister and would do anything for her. She had to ask Imanie. “Are ye sure my sister canna join?”

  “I am sorry, Fia, but I can’t. The last time I trained someone of my choosing, someone ended up dying, so I feel it is a curse.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible,” said Willow. “We don’t want anyone to be cursed or to die.”

  “I am tired of bein’ excluded. I dinna want or need any of ye,” cried Morag. “I can make a secret group of my own.” She got up and ran to her horse.

  “Morag, wait,” Fia called out, but her sister mounted her horse and rode off. “It isna safe. I need to follow her through the woods to make certain she returns to the castle safely.”

  “You can’t protect her. I’ll come with you to ward off any enemy,” offered Maira.

  “Don’t leave me here. I’m coming, too.” Willow headed for her horse.

  Imanie got up and followed them over to their mounts. “It is destiny that led you here today, girls. And it is your destiny to do what your late queen wanted.”

  “But how can I be strong?” asked Fia. “I dinna ken how to handle a blade. And I dinna like to use my looks the way Willow does.”

  “Mayhap not, but you have something very special that neither of your cousins possesses. You can observe, and see things that others miss. You might be quiet, but sometimes the silent ones are the most powerful in the end.”

  “How can I use that to my advantage or to help someone?”

  “Well, let’s see.” The old woman put her hand to her chin in thought. “I think you would make a very good informant.”

  “A spy?” asked Fia, feeling her heart pick up a beat. Something inside her adored the idea.

  “In a way, yes, I guess so,” answered Imanie. “With your skills of observation and being silent, you will be able to find out secrets of the enemy and bring that knowledge back to help your people.”

  “But my people arena the English, they are the Scots.”

  “I don’t know how or when things will happen,” Imanie told her. “Only you three will know when to use your skills and how to use them at the right times. But like Philippa, even if you use your talents to help others, you will not be able to take credit for the action. You will need to find a way to make men believe the ideas or information came from them alone. Men will not accept strong women. I will teach you skills, but the way to use discretion is up to you. I want you to come back to the secret garden every week. If we get started now, in a few years all three of you will be ready to serve the crown in secret.”