by Alisa Adams
As Cristianna started to get down off of her huge draft horse, Sandolf MacKay strode quickly forward in his armor and held his hands up to her.
Cristianna looked down at him with surprise and a bit of disdain. “I can get off my horse myself.” Her eyes raked him from head to toe. “Dae ye ever fight in that armor? I wouldnae want tae dirty that pretty parade armor ye are wearing,” she said, looking markedly down at his stunningly clean and shining armor.
Sandolf smiled. “A mon must keep his armor looking its best for the lassies; ’tis the wolf’s troth, of course.” He tapped his breastplate, his fingers landing on the etched howling wolf in the center. He grinned and winked at her, then walked nonchalantly away, totally at ease in his full armor.
Cristianna was left to struggle as she dismounted with the steel greaves on her legs until she finally set her feet on the ground and came to join Darling.
“You do not like him?” Darling asked Cristianna, seeing how she stared after the big Highlander with a look of annoyance on her face.
“Nay, not at all. He thinks far too highly of himself.” Cristianna looked away from Sandolf’s retreating back and turned to Darling. She gave her a wink, mimicking Sandolf. “And that is the wolf’s troth!” Then she gave in to laughter as Darling grinned and shook her head at her.
“Where is Serena?” Darling asked her friend when she could control her laughter.
Cristianna nodded down the beach, where several more men and horses were gathered. “Do ye see my brothers, War and Falcun? They are standing next to the other two Fionnagal draft horses. She is there. They seem to be fighting over which of them gets to let her ride with them on their horse. She has nay horse, ye see.”
“She looks frightened,” Darling noticed.
“Ay, I am sure she is. Of the horses, and the men,” Cristianna murmured quietly.
Darling shielded her eyes. “Is her armor golden?”
Cristianna laughed softly. “Aye, isnae she spectacular? She doesnae know it, of course, but she is. She will find her strength again. I know she will. She was in that dungeon for a vera lang time. The golden armor was in one of the trunks of gold in the San Gabriel. I cannae imagine who it was made for, ’tis so delicate. ’Tis perfect for slender Serena.” Cristianna studied her friend, who was resplendent in her golden armor. “She needs our help, Darling. Let us hurry.”
Cristianna quickly helped Darling put her breastplate on as well as the other pieces. Then she helped her get on Tommy in her armor with much giggling and laughter and multiple attempts.
Once Cristianna was back on her horse, she nodded towards Serena. The two young women trotted their horses down the beach. Darling’s emerald-green skirts and ivory underskirt was draped over her horse’s haunches. The women’s calves were visible, but they were encased in pieces of armor. The greaves on their legs matched the rest of their armor.
Serena was still standing uncomfortably between the two arguing Ross brothers. Several other men were also trying to get Serena’s attention, inviting her to ride with them on their horse.
Darling looked back at her husband to see if he could settle the fighting over Serena among the men. He was too busy riding amongst his crew, directing them to secure crates to horses and marshaling all the people to get ready so they could move out. Some of the horses had sacks of food and other necessities tied to their saddles; others had crates. Darling briefly wondered where the rest of all the many boxes and trunks were. Had her husband secreted the gold away, deep into the many back tunnels of the cave?
Serena looked up as her two friends came forward on their horses. She breathed out and smiled in relief.
Cristianna looked at her brothers with a sisterly scowl. “She isnae riding with either one of ye big, gallus men! One of ye will let her ride yer horse, and ye can go ride something else. Our draft stallions are the safest for her to ride since she doesnae know how to ride. They are the gentlest of giants, even though they are stallions. They will take care of her. Go find something else to ride and wheesht yer haivering, ye glaikit idjuts!”
The two big men frowned up at their small sister, their faces red with embarrassment. They churlishly looked at each other. War spoke first. “I outrank ye. Give her yer Buttercup,” he said curtly as he nodded to the big, red-gold horse.
Falcon frowned at his older brother. “Ye give her yer Marigold!” he said, pointing to the stallion with the huge white feathers around his hooves.
Darling choked back her laughter. “Are you telling me that these huge stallions are named Buttercup and Marigold?”
Cristianna nodded regally. “It is a tradition of Fionnagal. Our Clydesdales are named for the flowers of our land.”
Darling looked at Cristianna’s large horse. “And your stallion?”
Cristianna looked down at her horse’s wide neck and patted him affectionately. “He is Primrose.”
“Dios mios,” Darling uttered as she stared at Cristianna and her huge horse. When she looked back, War was helping Serena on his younger brother's horse, Buttercup.
Falcon was stalking away to get a different horse. “’Tis my thanks fer coming back here tae escort ye back tae Kinloch Keep, big brother.” He shook his head, mulishly. “After all the work I have been directing there, I must ride a mere palfrey back instead of my own warhorse!”
War ignored him as he quietly and gently gave Serena basic instructions on how to ride Buttercup.
“We will stay near her, War. Ye go help Law and that wolf,” Cristianna said.
She and Darling helped Serena turn, halt, and move Buttercup forward in a walk and a trot. Then they had her try a canter, telling her to hold on to Buttercup’s mane along with the reins. Serena beamed with happiness as she cantered slowly along the surf line of the beach.
She turned Buttercup and cantered back again. She stopped the big draft next to her friends.
“That is the most wonderful experience I have ever felt!” she called out to them.
Darling was about to answer when she heard the curt voice of Lawrence, arguing with some of the other men. She looked over to see War and Sandolf beside Lawrence while several crewmen faced him, obviously angry and in disagreement with whatever he had said.
The three young women looked at each other and then turned back to listen.
“Ye must sink the ship!” a man that Darling did not know was shouting.
Flain spoke in his odd, high voice. “Aye, it is the only way to protect her,” he said urgently.
Oger looked up at Flain, “We are not sure if all the gold is off the ship. Dios mios, we cannot sink the San Gabriel!”
Flain looked down in annoyance at his small friend. “We must!”
Another man looked at Oger angrily. “The pirate DeLeon will surely see it on the rocks! He will know where tae find us!”
“Aye, it puts us all in danger. All of us, Captain! Not just her!” another man called out.
“I thought the plan was to sink it, Captain?” Flain asked with his hat held nervously in his hands.
“The pirate will see it and come for his gold and his revenge if we dinnae sink her! ’Tis foolish tae let that happen! We must sink her!” a large man shouted.
Lawrence held his hand up from where he sat upon Leonidas. “Hold!” His voice boomed over the beach as he waited for them all to cease. “I want DeLeon tae see it! I want him tae come. We have our orders from the king. Those orders havenae changed.”
Lawrence looked around at his men as they shifted uneasily where they stood. He spoke again. “We took the ship to draw him out, or are ye forgetting that?”
No one noticed the women listening where they had halted their horses down the beach behind Lawrence.
“Ye will kill yer wife’s father?” a voice amongst the men asked timidly.
Darling gasped. She could not breathe. It seemed her heart had stopped in her chest. Her eyes misted over with tears as she hurriedly backed Tommy up and turned her away from Cristianna and Serena. She put her heels into Tommy’
s sides and sent her galloping down the beach, but Darling’s eyes were so clouded with tears, she could not see.
They caught up with her. Cristianna reached over and grabbed Darling’s reins to pull Tommy to a stop.
Serena and Cristianna could only look at her, their own eyes reflecting the misery they saw in Darling’s.
“He…he was planning to kill mi padre all along!” She slid off of Tommy and hugged her mare's neck as she buried her face in her horse's mane.
Cristianna looked at Darling and then at Serena. Neither knew what to say. Darling’s father was indeed a very evil man. They knew this. Darling only knew him as her father.
Serena spoke quietly. “Darling, your father...he is not a good man…”
Darling straightened away from Tommy and pulled her helmet off. “That may be true, but my husband is going to kill the only family I have! I have no one, no family left!” She was about to throw her helmet onto the beach when Cristianna dismounted from Primrose and stopped her.
“Ye do have a family. Ye have a husband! He is a guid mon, Darling!” Cristianna said in a strong voice.
“Do I?” Darling said as tears flowed down her face. “Como puede ser esto cierto. How can this be true? How can he be a good man if he hid this from me? How?” she cried. “Le amaba...” she whispered through her tears. “I loved him…” She looked up at them suddenly as a thought came to her. “He is also an admiral, under his king! He kept that from me as well. I thought he was a pirate!”
Just then, Flain and Oger came bouncing along on their small ponies. They were smiling until they saw the look on Darling’s face.
Flain stopped Lightning and stepped off his pony. He pulled his battered ancient helmet off of his head, letting his bushy red hair spring back to life. “Ye heard what Captain Law said.” It was not a question.
“Si,” Darling whispered.
Flain looked back at Oger. He too pulled his helmet off and slid from his pony. He came forward to stand beside Flain. Oger meekly bowed his head to Darling as he held his helmet in his hands in front of him. “Lady Lion, the Captain loves you. I have never seen him the way he is now. Very…emocional. Apasionado.”
Darling waved a hand dismissively at him. “He does not love me,” she said as she began walking around in agitation. “How can he? I am nothing. I am a bad man’s daughter. An evil man—a pirate’s daughter! I let him use me. I let him make me believe he felt something for me that is not true, only to draw mi padre here so he could kill him.” She clenched her teeth. “I am a sinner for being more upset that he does not love me than about his intentions for mi padre,” she whispered guiltily.
Flain drew his shoulders back. “Do ye want him tae love ye? That is the question.”
Darling stopped and stared at the tall, boney man. “I do not understand.”
Flain gestured towards her with his hand. “Stand up straight in yer armor. Be proud of who ye are, woman! Show him this. Ye must risk being vulnerable. Ye must be brave! Courage means vulnerability. There is nae one without the other!”
Oger nodded enthusiastically. “Si, if there is no risk and no vulnerability, then what courage does it really take, after all?”
Darling’s mouth opened in surprise as Cristianna grinned and looked up at Serena, where she was still sitting on Buttercup. Cristianna knew that Serena did not get off the huge horse for fear of not being able to get back on.
Flain explained. “I am not saying tae walk like a man, but ye look defeated. This is nae guid. A woman can be a warrior. She can be a force tae be reckoned with. Here, let me show ye.” He motioned for all three women to join him and waited while Darling and Cristianna helped Serena off the huge Clydesdale.
Darling was speechless as she watched Flain hunch his shoulders and stomp around, apparently mimicking what she had been doing. Then he straightened up and stuck his chest out in his bent and dull chest plate. He put one hand on his hip and sauntered back and forth with his hips swinging like a woman's hips. “The capitan is a foolish man not to love a woman such as me!” he declared, mimicking her voice. “There, ye see? Will ye face an enemy with yer shoulders hunched as if ye are defeated already? Will ye face a man ye want, in such a way as that? Nay, I say. Stand tall. Chin up! Shoulders back! Balance back on yer heels like ye are ready tae take a blow—dinnae balance on yer toes. If ye balance forward on yer toes, it means ye are ready tae run away! Ye dinnae ride yer horse this way, dae ye? Now! Show me this,” he ordered them.
Cristianna eagerly stepped up. She was the first to strut around with her chest up, shoulders back, and chin high, looking every part the proud, fearless, and courageous warrioress. Darling and Serena then did the same. They grinned at each other, commenting on each other's posture.
“’Tis transforming,” Serena murmured with surprise. “I do feel rather powerful.”
Darling could not help but grin. She cocked her head at him. “Mr. Flain Aroya, what part of Castile are you from?” she asked curiously.
He dropped his hand from his hip and looked at her with shocked eyes. “I am Scottish,” he said slowly and proudly.
“But, Aroya—” Darling started to counter.
“I said I am Scottish,” he declared firmly.
Oger nodded his head rapidly. “Aye, he is Scottish. We both are!”
A shout came to them. The line of horses and people were moving off the beach. Warwick and Falcun were shouting to them to get in line.
They all quickly managed to get back on their horses with the help of Flain and Oger.
Darling saw out of the corner of her eye that Lawrence was staring at her from the front of the entourage. She raised her chin and her chest as she held her helmet on her hip, imitating Flain. She rode Tommy proudly into the line of riders. She would not look at him. Cristianna and Serena rode on either side of her with Flain and Oger in front of them.
“We are yer family Darling, niver forget that. We arenae meant to be all alone. None of us are,” Cristianna said as she leaned over and put Darling’s helmet gently back on her head. “This whole clan is yer family, just as ye said. And ye did say ye were keeping us all.” She grinned at her friend.
Darling could not help but return her smile.
12
Lawrence MacLeod led the group of people and horses away from the beach and the caves. The clouds were racing overhead as the day became blustery, hiding the sunshine from the land. Now and then, droplets of rain would land with a heavy plinking sound onto their armor.
Lawrence looked up from where he sat on Leonidas. The clouds overhead were becoming more ominous as the wind pushed them their way. Not too far off, he could see the line of rain falling like a thick, dark wall within the threatening clouds.
He gritted his teeth. He hated to fight in the rain when wearing armor. But then again, he also hated to fight in the heat in armor. He shifted his shoulders and twisted his neck from side to side. The gambeson and riveted chainmail he wore under his armor were new and not yet molded as he liked to his body.
Lawrence looked to his side at Sandolf, who rode a thickly muscled, white horse named Lug. The horse was in full barding that matched Sandolf’s very expensive and elaborate showy armor. The crowds at the tournaments loved Sandolf in all his finery, and of course that he was most often champion. But to ride a white horse into battle? He’d be a target. But then, his white coat was covered in barding.
Lawrence noticed with interest that Lug did not have any spikes or horns on his chanfron face armor, but instead had a row of spikes on the armor along the horse’s broad chest and his haunches. Lawrence grimaced. Perhaps the pretty white horse in the showy armor was not just for parades. Sandolf could ram or back his horse into attackers and cause certain injuries to them.
Warwick was riding on his other side, staring up at the clouds with a dark look on his face. He was on his Clydesdale stallion, Marigold, also in full barding with two long, sharp spikes coming out of the giant horse's face armor. The horse was massive and intimida
ting, made even more so with the addition of the plates on its head and body. Warwick and his horse wore blackened armor, Cristianna. The black armor was threatening in itself. War stopped studying the clouds and began stretching his right arm and shoulder, rotating it this way and that to warm up his sword arm. It was a ritual he had, though if asked, he would tell you he was working the rust out of his shoulder armor. The steel plates indeed made grinding and screeching noises as he loosened up the rivets with his movements.
Lawrence watched his friend War a moment and then looked over at Sandolf. “Ye need no stretching yer sword arm or loosening of yer armor?” he asked him.
Sandolf looked over at him with a crooked grin and an arched brow. He rotated first one arm easily and smoothly and then the other, just as smoothly, then moved his neck from side to side. He kept smiling as he stood up in his irons and flexed his torso from right to left and back again. He sat back down in his saddle with satisfaction. “Nay, everything seems to be in order,” he said with a wide grin at his friends. “None of that is needed when ye pay for guid armor, my brothers!” He laughed out loud at the look of annoyance on their faces. “This armor isnae just a pretty, shiny thing. ’Tis a thing of beauty tae wear,” he laughed again.
Lawrence looked at him and shook his head. “Brother, I am confused enough about War’s choice of a name for that huge stallion he rides, but why did ye name this new white horse of yours Lug?”
Sandolf grinned. “’Twas his name, and when I heard it, I had to have him. I saw him in my last tournament across the sea. When I heard that he is named after an ancient king who was known for his mastery of many skills, like myself, and who believed strongly in truth, and keeping his oath, just as I do, I knew he was meant for me, so I set out to win him from his rider.”
Lawrence and War shook their heads and grinned back at their friend. Lawrence asked him, “And of course ye won him easily at the joust?”
“But of course, vera easily. His rider didnae deserve this magnificent animal! My shining armor blinded him, and he missed me completely with his lance. I broke my first lance on his armor and knocked him off Lug on the vera first round.”
