Master of the Highlands

“Just here, lass ”, Donald’s voice barked unexpectedly close and Lily jumped, turning in time to see the pair emerge from the surrounding woods not three feet behind her.



They rode astride a single horse, the gruff older man supporting Robert between his arms. Both were covered in a film of grime and spattered, blackened blood, but it was Robert who nursed a ghastly wound that still appeared to be oozing fresh blood from his shoulder.



“Salve, Lily. ” Robert delivered his greeting in a theatrically weakened voice with the bravado of a Roman warrior.



“What on earth …” She swung her leg over the saddle and leapt down. Horror curdled her stomach. She was terrified that Gram ’s song was coming true, that she ’d done nothing to stop it. And now Ewen was in grave danger, without his family by his side.



“What happened?” Lily fixed Donald with a distressed look.



“Where’s Ewen?” Her heart pounded in her ears and adrenaline cascaded through her system enough to make the edges of her vision waver.



“Lily,” Robert said feebly, “ quem di diligunt, adolescens moritur…whom the gods love,” he coughed with finality, “die young.”



“Calm yourself, lass, ” Donald soothed. “And Robbie.” He turned an exasperated look to his charge and scolded, “You fool lad, you ’ve had my hackles up with all your philosophizing since we crossed the ben side of the woods. Keep the proverbs to yourself, aye? Nobody’s listening anyhow, and he that speaks to himself is speaking to a fool. How’s that for philosophy?”



Donald looked down at Lily with a matter-of-fact impatience that she might have found reassuring had she not been choking down full-fledged panic since spotting the two men. “It’s but his shoulder that ’s been nicked,” he said dismissively. “The lad will be fine by the morrow, and I left your laird not but three hours past, braw as ever he was. ”



“That’s what Kat said about John. ” Lily added through gritted teeth, “If one other person proclaims that someone close to me will be fine by tomorrow, I ’m going to scream. What is going on?”



“What news have you?” Concern broke Donald’s otherwise stoic features. “Is John hurt then?”



Robert gasped and Lily quickly replied, “No, no, he ’ll be fine. Rowena got it in her head that she wanted the boy dead, but I took care of her. Kat said he ’ll be back to normal in no time. ”



“Took care of things, did you? Good work, lass. Rowena, eh?” The two men exchanged a charged look. Donald added, “I kent that lass for fasherie from the moment I clapped eyes on her. ” He thought for a moment then added,



“I see the MacKintosh ’s hand in this devil ’s work.”



Lily looked at Robert. “You told him about the man in Rowena’s rooms?”



“Yes, I reported the whole of it. ”



“Och,” Donald grumbled, “we ’ve had time enough to talk, aye?”



“Rowena told me that MacKintosh wanted Ewen dead …”



“Aye, lass, ” Donald considered, “I can see it clear. There’s a spit of land, by Loch Arkaig. ”



“A spit of land, ” Robert continued, “that has been the cause of a long and bloody dispute between Clans MacKintosh and Cameron. ” He thought for a moment then added, “I can only but surmise that if both John and Ewen were to turn up dead, the absence of an obvious laird could thrown the clan into temporary disarray, affording Lauchlan MacKintosh the opportunity he needs to seize the lands in question. ”



Robert grew alarmed. “We must warn Lochiel! He knows the MacKintosh threatens, but to hazard John ’s life so … the scoundrel has put into play something greater than a mere foray for lands. He has designs on utter ruination. We must alert Ewen to prepare for the mortal perils facing him and his. ”



“And what do you think it is I ’m doing?” Lily asked. “I’m not exactly out on a trail ride here. ”



“Aye, of course, lass” Donald glared at Robert “if she can — — manage yon hellcat Rowena, I reckon she can manage stumbling into the laird on his way back to the keep to give him warning.



“Though, lass,” Donald scolded, “next time you unseat your mount, you’d best tie her to a tree. You’re chancie she ’s such an old hack or you ’d be away to the laird by your own two feet.”



Robert sighed. “I would that I could accompany you on your quest, fair Lily.” He grimaced as Donald adjusted his hold on him. “But as you see, I have a grave injury that needs tending. ”



“You ’ll be fine, lad, so stop your mumping. Though you did a braw thing when you took the bullet for Lochiel as you did.”



“What did you say?” Lily’s head began to buzz.



“I said a braw lad our Robbie is, he took the bullet for Lochiel.” The old man beamed. “Jumped like a stag betwixt Ewen and a redcoat pistol. ”



Lily’s vision dimmed as Gram’s voice filled her head.



“To protect the laird whom he called his brother, He gave a gift he could give no other. On a bonny hill the lad met his ruin, When he took a bullet meant for Sir Ewen. A sidhe lad In red and green plaid Died before he was old. ”



It was the song, it was coming true. She looked in horror at the tartan he ’d worn that day in lieu of his usual jacket and breeches, the pattern Ewen’s own favored red and green. “Donald! ” Lily nearly shrieked. “You’ve got to get him to the castle immediately. Please! Go now! ”



“Calm yourself, lass! What’s come over you? I ’m off for Tor Castle presently. Or what else is it you think I’m fixing to do? You ’re the one ’s keeping me here cracking like some



tawpie lassie. ”



“Right, right. ” Lily’s heart hammered in her chest as she suddenly found it hard to catch her breath. She needed Ewen. She felt her fear for Robert like a physical symptom, pulsing through her veins, chilling her limbs and making her body tremble, and it only intensified her anxiety. She needed to see for herself that Ewen was unharmed.



She realized in that moment how he had become her rock.



Lily had never needed to rely on another person for strength or courage, but she found she needed Ewen now. She had felt alone all of her life, braving difficult decisions, enduring both the sad and the happy times on her own, yet rather than feeling lonely her spirit had craved the serenity that solitude provided.



But she had met Ewen and something fundamental within her had shifted. Ewen, his bravery, his integrity, even his ferocity, and the depths of his devotion, for clan, for his Highlands, and now for her, had become Lily’s touchstone. All she knew was that she needed to find him, that he was the only one who could help make it right.



Lily snatched her horse ’s reins and, clutching her skirts high in one hand, clumsily remounted. Turning the animal roughly on the path, she shouted, “I ’m going to find Ewen and will meet you back at the keep. ” Lily kicked into an abrupt canter, the sounds of Donald ’s bewildered murmuring quickly fading in the distance.



She had hoped that riding hard down the uneven path would jar the panicked thoughts from her head, but it didn ’t seem to be working. Feelings of dread about Robert clutched at her gut. Lily refused to accept that his fate was somehow etched in stone. Simply because she grew up listening to a lullaby that praised his deeds and mourned his death, didn ’t mean she couldn’t try to change what was about to happen at this moment in time. The song had been written in what would be the future, years after Robert’s death. Her present was now, and she had to live in it as if she knew no other.



Robert wasn’t dead yet. Donald said he ’d get him safely back to Tor Castle, that Robert ’s wound wasn’t that dire. There was no reason for him to have to die. Who knew?



Maybe Lily had been sent back for precisely that reason, to somehow prevent Robert’s death. A weak laugh escaped her as Lily refused to contemplate the laws of nature she ’d violate if she could just prevail upon the fates to change time ’s course of events.



“Latha math dhut. A good day to you, lassie. ” Lily inhaled sharply, nearly running into the horse and rider who suddenly blocked her path. She stared, dumbfounded. She had been so intent on her worries, she hadn’t heard him gaining behind her.



He dismounted and was suddenly by her side, hand on her leg. “Let’s discuss as civilized folk would, aye? I ’d have you down where I can look at you. ”



One firm tug and Lily slid down the side of her saddle to the ground. “Ah, you’re even bonnier than they say. ” The man’s eyes roamed over her body, pausing overlong at her breasts. “Though it’s Rowena who’s doing the telling, and one lass isn’t likely to paint a bonny picture of another, aye?”



Lily felt strangely unafraid. Her single-minded focus was on tracking down Ewen. She had gone through so much already that this man felt to her like just one more in a series of interlopers who stood in her way.



She studied the stranger in front of her. He was of a heightwith the laird, but where Ewen was brawny muscle, this man was sinewy and lean, the length of him exaggerated by his long face and pointed, hawkish features.



She eyed the brooch on his bonnet. A gold cat with eyes of dull, pocked amber. The MacKintosh cat. “You’re Lauchlan, aren ’t you?”



He gave a quick smack to the rump of each horse and they bolted off through the trees. Lily cursed that she hadn ’t been more wary and could hear Donald scolding her now.



“Bonny and bright, I see. ” He grabbed her arms and gave them a sharp squeeze. “You ’ll make fine spoils indeed. Loch Arkaig and a new birdie for my nest. ”



Lauchlan leaned down as if to kiss her but Lily ducked, and twisting her arms loose, she broke away and raced toward the trees.



“Donald!” Lily screame d. She hoped her voice would carry over the lake ’s silent tranquility. Their paths might not have diverged too much, they might not be too far away. She turned and bolted away from Lauchlan. “Donald! ”