I had tae get him tae safety.
Dràgon galloped, I rode low, my sight leveled on Archie, keeping him safe through pure will.
Thinkin’ over and over —m’brother is dead.
CHAPTER 44 - ASH
BALLOCH CASTLE - OCTOBER 1683
We arrived near sunset at Balloch castle. The tense guards met us at the gate. Lochie spoke to a man there, and then we were passed through to the middle of the courtyard. He helped me down from Finny and quickly loosened our bag from the saddle and passed our horse to the stableboy.
Then we were shown up to a room.
Lochie said, “I need tae leave ye here, Ash, while I go speak tae the Earl, explain why we are here, and... ye will be alright, we will get fed as soon as this part is done.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
He grinned. “I have nae idea — who am I? The young brother of Magnus, he is verra young at this time. I canna be the ward of Lady Mairead, she must be verra young as well…” He stopped, “Dost ye think m’father might be here?”
“Who is that?”
He blinked looking at a far off wall. “Donnan... I am not certain if he ever lived here… nae one speaks on him much.” He shook his head, then smoothed down his coat. “Dost I look good? I am not prepared tae meet him.”
“You look good. Yeah, you look good enough to meet him. Did you ever know your father?”
He shook his head. “I was raised at Dunscaith, the closest person I ever had tae a father was Auld Man Lister. He was an arse, he trained me tae be a warrior by takin’ away everything I cared about.” He scowled. “Then when I turned against him, he told me it dinna much matter, he told me I was useless, worthless. Dost ye ken, Ash, tis verra hard tae hear the man who raised ye call ye useless? Tis hard tae bear.”
I said, “That sounds awful. But... and I know I’m new around here, but I think you might say Magnus is a father figure for you.”
He nodded. “Aye, and Fraoch, tis why I am fiercely loyal. They haena once called me useless.” He chuckled. “Well, if they did, they dinna mean it. I am a young man, sometimes I need tae be told tae grow up.”
I smiled. “I think you do a good job of taking care of me. If you weren’t with me I would have already died twelve different times.”
He joked, “Atleast. Ye were in the military? What on earth did they teach ye? It dinna involve how tae get through the Ancient Scottish countryside. Seems they lacked foresight.”
I shrugged. “The United States isn’t planning on going to war with Ancient Scotland any time soon.”
He said, “Lack of foresightandimagination, speaking of, I must go speak tae the Earl.”
I adjusted his coat shoulders, and wiped a smudge off his cheek. “A little rumpled, like your last good rest was a while ago, but… I think you’ll do well. What’s your end goal?”
“Tae convince him I am a laird who he wants tae keep comfortable. Magnus told me tae hae yer way against the Earl ye must wave money at him.”
“We have enough money?”
“Aye.”
“Good,” I grinned. “Go convince him you’re a lord. I’ll get cleaned up to pretend I’m a lady.”
He left the room and I washed my hands and arms, ran a wet rag over myself, and smoothed down my hair. There were no mirrors in the room, so I had no idea how I looked.
I assumed it was not my usual level and my pits smelled gross. Luckily for me there was a general reek of everything — dust and must and smoke.
Thick.
I sat in the only chair and waited for my husband to return.
In the past few weeks I had passed so many hours of sitting quietly with nothing to do —like living in the dark ages,I chuckled to myself.
