Uphill Trek
“’Tis nay a good omen,” Grig muttered as Cille Chonain came into view on the cliffs above Trumpan.
His words echoed Isabel’s fears. The muttered agreement of many of the crew confirmed her suspicions. Their minds were on the slaughter that had taken place in the ancient church during the long feud.
Some of the men sailing with her likely had ancestors given a rough and ready burial nearby after the massacre of the Battle of the Spoiled Dyke—just as she had kin who’d been burned alive when MacKeegans torched the thatched roof with innocent folk trapped inside.
“’Tis ironic we’re sailing to the aid o’ the MacRain chief,” Grig said. “Let’s hope he doesna unfurl the Faerie Flag.”
The ensuing laughter had no humor to it, but several continued to express differing opinions about the magical properties of the fabled relic of the Crusades, supposedly hidden away in Dungavin.
The galleys docked and the men gathered on the shore. Darroch addressed his crew. “We’re nay doing this for Rory MacRain. We’re here for the bairns of both clans, especially those who havena been born yet. Isabel and I are husband and wife, a MacKeegan married to a MacRain. Did ye ever think to see the day?”
It was difficult to say if the mumbling that greeted this question was for or against the idea, but she was grateful for his words.
He gestured to Kyla and Isabel standing nearby. “Like every mon I want a good life for my family. Are ye nay tired o’ war?”
“Aye,” came the reluctant grumbling.
“Besides which, I’ve a score to settle. I didna take kindly to being duped by the likes of Ghalla MacRain, not to mention the way she’s treated her own stepdaughter.”
Now he was speaking their language. Vengeance they understood.
Amid the cheers, he hoisted Kyla onto his shoulders, and took Isabel’s hand. “My wife tells me we’ve a ten-mile walk ahead of us, most of it uphill. I expect ye to march like the proud MacKeegans ye are, but we dinna want to alarm any MacRains we meet.”
“Indeed,” Isabel added. “We’ll pass a number of crofts where folk know me. They’ll rally with us if we explain the danger Ghalla poses.”
They set off with enthusiasm, but Isabel worried about her boots. They and the voluminous skirt were made for riding, not trekking for miles over the high moor.
*
Isabel’s prediction proved to be partially true. Hostile at first to the unexpected arrival of a small army of MacKeegans, the MacRain clansmen they encountered eventually revealed they’d heard reports of Ghalla’s suspicious behavior from Isabel’s uncle. They too feared for the wellbeing of their chief, but they weren’t to worry now that Fanny Beaton had arrived.
“Fanny’s here, on Skye?” Darroch asked.
“Arrived yesterday. Her cousin came to meet her.”
Isabel shook her head. “Evidently, she’s taken matters into her own hands again. But I’m relieved we’ll have our own healer. She’ll ken what’s best for Da.”
“I suppose she didna want us to worry about her crossing the Minch,” Darroch replied. “Or she made her mind up after we left.”
All the folk they encountered knew of the jilting, and those who’d met Rory’s wife weren’t surprised she’d had a hand in plotting the mix-up. The few who’d come into contact with Tremaine Nellis decried what Boyd had told them about Ghalla’s intention to marry Isabel off to the nithing.
The more Darroch heard about the lad, the greater his disdain. What kind of a mon feared horses? Even Kyla stuck out her tongue upon hearing that revelation.
Many of the crofters’ wives and daughters were taken with the lass, complimenting Isabel on such a bonnie stepdaughter. The bairn preened under the praise, repeating everything that was said about her to Blue. To Darroch’s relief no one seemed to notice she spoke only to the dog.
Their numbers increased by one or two men at each croft, all brandishing pitchforks, but willing to take up arms nevertheless if necessary.
Darroch began to worry about Isabel. They were less than halfway to Dungavin and, already, she was limping. She’d come close to tripping over the long skirt several times. The garment’s original color was barely discernible for the mud splatters.
He lifted Kyla from his shoulders. “I’ll let ye walk for a wee while,” he explained, hoping she wouldn’t make a fuss. “Isabel is done in. I’m going to carry her.”
The bairn pouted, then studied her new stepmother and evidently decided to agree with her father. She walked away with Blue.
“Dinna wander off,” he chided his daughter, hunkering down beside his wife. “Climb aboard.”
She straightened her bedraggled hat and eyed him with a mixture of relief and disbelief. “Ye canna carry me all the way to Dungavin.”
He winked. “Hopefully, I willna be obliged to. I’m a mon with an injury.”
She smiled and climbed onto his back, clamping her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips.
He curled his arms around her thighs and got to his feet. “Hold tight,” he said as he resumed the uphill trek, thankful the bones of his elbow passed their first test.
“Always,” she murmured into his nape, rendering his elbow the least worrisome part of his body.
*
Relishing her husband’s solid strength as he carried her seemingly without effort, Isabel pondered what might await them at Dungavin. “I hope Fanny hasna got Ghalla all riled up. She can hardly refuse us permission to enter the castle, can she?” she said to Darroch. “I am the chief’s daughter.”
“But ye married a MacKeegan,” he reminded her.
“A marriage she arranged.”
“And made sure ne’er happened.”
She wiggled her sore toes inside the boots that had definitely shrunk. “True. However, she doesna command respect among castle folk, and her son even less so. Surely, my kin will support me.”
“But dinna forget she appears to have powers beyond the ordinary, and we’re assuming yer father is still alive.”
She’d become overheated during the challenging walk in the warm jacket but now a cold chill crept up her spine. “He has to be.”
He stopped abruptly when they heard shouts of warning coming from the men in the vanguard. He let her slip from his back and gestured to the outcropping at the side of the trail. “Go behind the rocks. I’ll send Kyla.”
Teeth chattering, she obeyed as he hurried ahead.