Free Medieval Highlands 01 - Highland Vengeance by K. E. Saxon Page B

into her pillowy bosom.
    Daniel’s heart expanded even further with the love and trust he’d begun to feel for her almost from the moment of their first meeting this day past. Of their own volition, his arms lifted to embrace her as well. Before he could stop himself, he squeezed a little squeal out of her.
    “Be careful with my wife, you young buck!” his grandfather laughingly chided. But clearly, not to be denied, he pounded Daniel heartily on the back. “Be on your guard against freebooters on your journey back, grandson,” he warned. “And give me your promise that you will not hesitate to send word to me if ever you have a need for an allied force. The MacLaurins may not accept the Macleans, but we are your allies, nonetheless.”
    Daniel solemnly nodded, “Aye, I promise.” He turned to Laird Donald, saying, “My thanks for your hospitality and friendship.”
    “‘Twas my pleasure, lad,” Laird Donald replied, gripping his young guest’s shoulder in affection.
    Daniel left the hall, glad for a moment alone to regain his composure. He’d told his grandparents that he wished not to say his farewells in the open bailey, and they had respected his wishes. He walked over to the stables to retrieve his mount. Angus was already there, in deep conversation with the marshal, so Daniel did not interrupt.
    Deciding to wait for Angus by the gate, Daniel led his horse in that direction. He was halfway across the courtyard when the grating sound of a bairn’s sing-song voice, too near him for comfort, broke through his thoughts. The hairs on the back of neck stood on end. Damn! He’d hoped to get away without encountering the lass again. With some trepidation, he turned and looked in the direction of the sound. Smiling, he shook his head in amazement. The devil-child was carting a cat dressed in diminutive funeral robes inside a small wain. Its tail whacking against the side of the wagon, the cat looked angry as hell but resigned to its fate. Surprisingly, the animal was not even attempting to tear its way out of the outrageous costume.
    What a morbid imagination the wee one had! And the poor cat must have the patience of Job. The bairn and her irate cargo were still several yards away, so Daniel quickly turned and busied himself with his horse, in the hope that the imp would pass him by without talking to him. He was relieved when his ploy worked and she did not stop to speak with him.
    *
    “I just saw Laird Donald’s unruly bairn, but I managed to avoid her,” Daniel told Angus when the older man finally met him in the courtyard a few minutes later.
    “Aye,” Angus replied, “I heard her high, squeaking voice and hid inside the stables until she’d passed me by.”
    Daniel laughed. “Coward!”
    “And you are not?” Angus replied, laughing as well.
    “Did you see what the hellion was hauling in her cart?”
    “Nay,” Angus replied, but then quickly checked his stash of apples. Finding them, he said, “What was she hauling, horse droppings?”
    Daniel chuckled at the other man’s sarcasm. “Nay, she had some unfortunate cat dressed in funeral garb.”
    Angus shook his head and chuckled as he mounted his steed. “Lord, that lass is a handful.”
    As the two men went under the archway of the portcullis, Daniel said, “Aye, she’ll be the bane of some poor husband’s existence one day, I trow.”

PART THREE
     

     
     
    The Wedding
     
     
     
    “Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts”
     
    King Henry the Sixth, Part III (Act IV, Scene vi)
     
     
     
     
    “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
     
    A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act I, Scene i)
     

CHAPTER 3
    The Highlands, Scotland 1204
     
    The MacLaurin castle was enveloped in the gray mist of morn, rising high on the heath-covered hill. Maryn could hear the distant clanging of the blacksmith’s hammer and barely-audible voices as she and her father picked their way up the steep incline leading to the gatehouse