“Haggis?”
My eyes adjusted tae see Haggis, his tail wagging. “Haggis! Cù math! Ye found me!”
He frisked all around, his tail waggin’ merrily, jumpin’ up and down, trackin’ dirt and mud all over m’sleeping bag.
Fraoch sleepily mumbled. “Ye noticed Haggis? He arrived while I was on watch, he offered tae take over guard duty.”
I held Haggis behind his ears and looked intae his face. “How are ye doin’, cù math? Hae ye been worried?” He squirmed from m’hands and jumped all around some more.
“This is the greatest thing in the world.”
Fraoch said, “Was verra easy tae find him, we will hae tae make up some tales so it sounds much more desperate than ‘we got drunk in a pub and Haggis found us.’”
We both laughed.
I climbed into my sack and Haggis lay down beside me, his chin on m’arm. I said, “Ye takin’ the watch for us, Haggis?”
And I swore he nodded, ‘Aye’.
* * *
In the morn I woke up tae Haggis looking down on me. I said, “I ken, I am sorry I left ye. I had tae get tae a hospital… Daena look at me like that, I came first thing.” I scratched him behind the ears.
Fraoch was up. He had a small fire goin’ a’ready. “I’m putting on a pot of coffee, because m’head hurts fiercely and I winna jump until after coffee.”
I said, “Sounds good, we accomplished what we needed tae do, now we can relax.”
We sat, leaned against a log, Haggis beside us, actin’ as if we had never been apart, sippin’ from our coffee, talkin’ about the weather and the mornin’. I said, “I hae been meanin’ tae talk tae ye Fraoch.”
“What about?”
“Ye ken ye are m’second, if somethin’ happened tae me, I would need ye tae become king of Riaghalbane…”
He joked, “I ken, it daena mean I like the idea.”
“The plan would be that ye would pass the throne down tae Archie.”
“Aye, we had this discussion afore, we are in agreement on it.”
“Well, now there is Lochinvar.”
He scowled.
“I ken ye daena like him, but I think ye ought tae give him a—”
“Why? He is just a lad with an overblown opinion of himself, struttin’ around — Og Lochie needs an arse kicking.”
“Aye, that he does, though tis easy for ye tae say. Ye dinna see him take tae the stadium the other day.”
“He is nae so valorous.”
I shrugged, “I ken, tis nae the point of it. The point is, I hae brought him intae the family for lack of something better tae do with him, and….”
His brow was furrowed.
I exhaled. “When ye were growin’ up, Fraoch, who was the elder of yer clan, the one all the men listened tae?”
“M’da.”
