Free The Raven's Wish by Susan King

here," she protested.
    "You will feel the night's chill if you ride alone in that wet plaid. Your cousins will lead your garron back with them. Ewan," he said, "hand up that bothersome wee thing." Duncan gave the bleating bundle to Elspeth. "Here is your bog-beast, girl," he said. She cuddled it, wrapping it inside Duncan's cloak with her.
    The momentum of the horse caused Elspeth to lean against Duncan's chest, warmth gathering in the damp stickiness between their bodies as they rode over the moonlit moor. The pounding rhythms of the horses surrounded them as her cousins followed.
    She stifled a yawn, and rested against him. Despite his exhaustion and his irritation with these Frasers for their ill-thought raid, he felt strangely exhilarated. Even a reiving gone awry was an invigorating, thrilling thing.
    Somehow he realized that the sweet press of the girl's head on his chest brought an excitement and a contentment unlike any he had ever felt before. Without quite knowing why, Duncan smiled to himself as they rode on through the night.

 
     
     
    Chapter 6

     
    And see not ye that braid, braid road,
    That lies across yon lillie leven?
    That is the path of wickedness,
    Tho some call it the road to heaven.
    ~"Thomas the Rhymer"
     
    "The Council has tossed me into a devil of a pit here." Duncan glanced at Alasdair as they sat sipping cool watered morning ale. "I hoped to convince these lads to sign the bond. The Earl of Moray and the Privy Council want the matter seen to quickly. And now—"
    He poked a silver spoon into a steaming bowl of porridge that a serving girl had brought from the nearby kitchen. Such close proximity guaranteed hot food, but this was amazingly hot, and the girl had forgotten the cream to cool it.
    Alasdair gingerly blew on his spoonful. "I leave for Dulsie Castle this morning," he said, slipping easily into Gaelic. "I have not seen my wife Mairi for three months and more." He took another mouthful and sipped quickly at his ale. "Be patient, man, and your bond will be signed."
    "A few days more will see only more argument, and no signature but mine on that page."
    "Truly, I did not think the MacShimi would refuse—he is an intelligent lad, but stubborn. You are a fine lawyer, and you will convince him of the need for the bond."
    Duncan sighed. "I had planned to talk to him again this morning about the dire importance of this document. But he and his cousins went out hunting just after dawn."
    Alasdair nodded. "They will be gone most of the day, if they come back at all before tomorrow. Your bond will wait yet again."
    Duncan nodded. He had expected the bond to be signed without fuss, had expected to deliver the documents to the Council and return to his quiet house near Edinburgh. The Council would have other legal cases that would require his attention.
    He was unaccustomed to frustration and delay, and s far the Frasers had shown him nothing else, and had sorely tried his temper. He was long on patience, having learned to keep a careful rein on his emotions. His temper had nearly ruined him in his youth, and he would never again let it overtake him.
    Yet these Fraser lads—and the lass—made him want to shout, to wave that cursed document in their faces, and get those signatures if he had to use the dirk to do it.
    "These lads have a strong disregard for the law, and for lawyers," he muttered.
    "Highlanders," Alasdair remarked, pouring cold ale into his porridge and stirring it.
    "True, Highlanders will ever ignore the rule of the law. That raid the other night went against the letter of caution, and the Frasers show no remorse. They just regret losing the cattle they had cut out of the herd."
    "My kinsmen do not trouble themselves with rules. They leave that for the long-robes and the Lowlanders."
    "Am I to slap their hands like babes, and put the pen in their fingers to get the bond into effect? I have no desire to send for the sheriff's men at Inverness."
    " Ach , no need for sheriffs or for