Kara Griffin - Gunn Guardsmen (27 page)

Elisa was concerned at what she would find when she got to her home. She wondered if she would be welcomed and hoped the new laird would be kind enough to offer her and Kelsi shelter until she could figure out what she was doing. Every once in a while they would take a rest and would sit beneath a tree until they had enough vigor to continue. She had to coerce Kelsi to keep going and finally they were near.

Kelsi linked her arm with hers. She began whistling a song Elisa had heard before and she began whistling too. At the bottom of a hillside, a small plot of land was fenced off with a low wall of rocks. Elisa stopped and saw the grave markers and the rocks set in place covering the graves. Kelsi tried to pull her along, but she balked.

“I want to stop here a moment, Kelsi.” Elisa knelt and read the markers. Her family was placed in her father’s favorite spot. The grass grew high and the few birch trees nearby shaded the area. Many a time they had picnicked there. A deep sadness came for she missed them and was disheartened at the way they were taken.

“Who are they?”

“My family.” Elisa said a few prayers and gently touched the marker of her father’s grave. He was a good man to have suffered such a death.

“I’m sorry, Elisa. How did they die?”

Elisa couldn’t answer, for emotion clogged her throat and besides, she didn’t want to discuss it. When she eased enough she stepped away. “Come, we should leave this place.”

The rest of the walk to the MacQuarrie holding wasn’t too far, just up the incline. The closer she got the more apprehensive she became. Ahead were the walls of the fortification. When her father was laird they always received visitors and the gatehouse always bustled with people coming and going. No guard posted the gate and parts of the wooden wall were damaged and had fallen down.

“Where is everyone?”

Elisa’s heart ached seeing her home so uncared for. Nothing appeared as she remembered. They slunk past the gatehouse, in case someone was within the bailey. Wind blew dirt from the ground and almost blinded her for a moment. Elisa didn’t see a soul. It seemed her clan had disbanded.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t appear anyone is here.”

“Where is the main keep?”

She kept walking and envisioned her last day at the keep. Clanswomen were outside their cottages tending to wash and she’d stopped to speak with some of them on her way to the woods. The men were sitting in groups around the fires discussing training tactics. They were all gone, every last one of them. She looked to the battlement and didn’t see anyone posted.

“My father didn’t believe we should live in a grand keep. We lived in a cottage like the rest of the clan. We lived a simple life here and not as splendid as the Gunn’s or even the McInnish clans. It’s just ahead, the last along the lane.” When they reached her home, Elisa stood outside the doorway uncertain of what she’d find within. Apprehensively, she opened the door and left it wide open so she could peer inside.

The cottage had been vacant for so long. Coverings on the windows had shred and part of the thatch had fallen through and a bit of light shown through the roof.

“Do you not want to go inside?”

“I’m thinking about it.” Elisa couldn’t make herself move.

“Are you fearful?”

“I haven’t been here in such a long time. It seems strange to be standing here.”

“Come.” Kelsi took her hand and held it firmly. “We’ll go in together.”

Elisa stepped through the threshold and looked at the table where they had eaten their meals. There were still cups and trenchers from the morn she’d been taken still sitting untouched. It immediately reminded her of her mother who likely never got around to clearing the table that day. That thought saddened her and she couldn’t even begin to imagine how her mother had died. She shook the thought from her mind, not wishing to envision such a gruesome event.

Elisa looked around. Memories filled her, both happy and sad. She reached the pallet that she and Mauri shared. The coverings just how they’d left them, rumpled and unkempt. Beside the bed was a chest where they kept their garments and other possessions. She was still damp from her stay in the boat.

“We should change into dry garments.” Elisa rummaged through the trunk and found one cotte and one tunic and two overdresses. They were the overdresses she and Mauri had used in winter and were of thicker fabric. At least they would be warm this night. She started peeling her wet garments off and Kelsi did the same. They hung the garments around the cottage so they would dry.

Elisa dressed in her clothes and tried to smooth the wrinkles from the white cotte before pulling an overdress of her clan’s colors over it.

Kelsi shivered and hastily dressed in a blue tunic and light blue overdress. “I’ve never worn anything so fine.”

“That was Mauri’s. She always had the best gowns and garments.”

“Shall we look for something to eat?” She took out the rest of the bread from the satchel and looked around to see if there was anything that wasn’t spoiled.

“We will need to find food,” Kelsi said. “I’ll see if I can find anything out there.”

“Be careful. Here, take this with you.” Elisa handed the dagger to her.

Kelsi left her alone in the cottage.

Elisa went back to the trunk and pulled everything out. Her plan was to find the parchment and give it to Kenneth so he may give it to Alexander. It wasn’t amongst any of their belongings. She searched around the cottage, but Kelsi came back and set four large grasshoppers on the table.

Elisa grimaced. “You expect me to eat that?”

“Aye,” she said, laughing. “Once they’re cooked in a stew they taste fine.”

“We have nothing with which to make a stew. And besides, I don’t eat anything with eyes.”

Kelsi laughed heartily. “Eyes taste the best.”

She gasped.

“I am jesting, Elisa. We still have a little bread.” Kelsi grabbed the insects and put them in a bowl near the hearth.

“There’s only a few crumbs and they’re a little damp. We’ll go out tomorrow and search around for something to eat.” Elisa continued to hunt through the cottage for the parchment.

“What are you looking for?”

“The cause of all my woe,” Elisa said.

“And that would be?”

“A parchment.” Elisa explained why it was so important. “… and thereby stopping Domhnall’s army from going to the McInnish. If I can find it.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Give it to the king.” Elisa left out the fact that she would give it to Kenneth if she was able to. “The king is keen on getting his hands on it.”

“You are so brave.”

“I just want this over with. I wonder if Mauri ever had the parchment. Mayhap she never did possess it. I can’t find it anywhere here.” Elisa pulled the covering from their pallet, and tossed the stuffed bedding aside. Nothing was under any of it. She spent the rest of the afternoon looking everywhere she could think of.

“It will be dark soon. There are logs at the back of the cottage. Bring some in and we’ll make a nice fire. It’s beginning to grow chilly.”

Elisa pulled the wood chips and kindling her mother kept in a basket next to the hearth. She retrieved her satchel and took out the flint. Some of it was wet, but she found a couple of dry pieces. By the time Kelsi returned with the wood, she had a tiny flame ignited. Kelsi added the wood to the hearth and soon a nice fire blazed.

Elisa tried to clean up as much as she could, but she’d made more of a mess of the cottage during her rummaging for the parchment. Rain began falling again though heavier than last eve. Drips came earnestly through the hole where the thatch had fallen through so she set an old cauldron beneath it to catch the water.

“Let us lie by the hearth so we’ll stay dry and warm.”

Kelsi set as many coverings as she could find down upon the flooring. Elisa repositioned their garments so they would hopefully dry. The cotte she wore wasn’t comfortable and she now knew why she hadn’t worn it that often. They were getting ready to settle down for the night when Kelsi tripped on a floor board beside the pallet she and Mauri shared.

Elisa gasped in remembrance. Her sister used to hide things there when they were young. Well she’d hide things she didn’t want Elisa touching. Her sister could be quite selfish sometimes. Elisa knelt and removed the floorboard. There was a wrapped cloth with something inside. She pulled the cloth from its hiding place and set it upon the floor in front of her.

Carefully she opened the treasure within. There was another wrapped fabric rolled inside. Elisa unrolled the odd shaped fabric and realized what it was. Mauri had been working on a miniature pinsel for Alexander. The pinsel wasn’t very large for she’d seen many banners that flew denoting its emissary. This one was mayhap knee-high.

As she unraveled it, the beautifully sewn image of the rampart lion done in a finely reddened stitch gleamed in the firelight. Mauri sewed much better than she. There were other smaller images on it too, a crown stitched in golden threads, a scepter and sword, and she’d stitched the words ‘In Defens.’

“’Tis beautiful,” Kelsi said.

“This is the banner Mauri, my sister, had made as a bride gift for Alexander. She never got to give it to him though.” Elisa saddened at that because her sister had worked long hours on it and seeing it reminded her that her sister was truly gone. She couldn’t hold any ill-tidings against her sister, because Elisa thought Mauri tried to do the right thing by giving the parchment to Alexander. That is, if in fact that’s what she had tried to do. The only sorrowful thing was her family had died for her sister’s honorable gesture.

There was no parchment within the wrappings. Elisa set it upon the table, dejected at not finding what she’d hoped to. The day exhausted her and she readied for bed.

She and Kelsi settled down for the night. Elisa felt odd being in her home without her family. She imagined her father would soon walk through the door, returning from a meeting. Her mother would be shushing them to get to sleep. Her brother Robbie would throw things at her and Mauri while they lay on their pallet. So many memories and yet they did little to comfort her.

Elisa closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, listening to the crackle of the wood in the hearth. She was beyond tired, exhausted from the journey and more so from the emotional homecoming. As she drifted off to sleep, Kelsi shook her.

“Do you hear that?”

“What? I hear nothing.”

Kelsi shook her again when she closed her eyes. “Someone is out there.”

“Nay it is your imagination. No one is there, Kelsi. The entire clan disbanded.”

“I tell you, I heard voices. Someone is there.” Kelsi rose on her knees and was about to pull her upward.

The door burst open and she and Kelsi screamed their fright to the rafters.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Kenneth had spent the day making preparations and seeing to the training of the McInnish warriors. They’d grown lax in their abilities and he couldn’t fault anyone but himself. If he’d come home sooner he would have ensured the men continued their practice and were prepared for any clashes they encountered.

Their skills waned from lack of training. By the end of the first day he’d only gotten around to assessing half of the men. Aiden, Duncan and Simon were helpful in providing details about each of the soldiers. Grey’s men assisted too, and sparred with those that needed an adversary to test their skills. He’d been so caught up in discussions of their battle plans that he’d stayed in the garrison and hadn’t had time to go inside the keep.

He continued at a hasty pace ensuring every man had gotten feedback on what tactics they needed to focus on. He became tense and frustrated. His clan tested his patience. Fortunately he had Grey there to guide him in his direction of the men. He’d seen Grey command a large army, and now his respect for such leadership grew immensely.

Kenneth reached the top of the stairs, expecting to see the guard posted. Sean and Colm were not standing outside the door. Elisa wasn’t within their chamber. He decided to wash and change while he waited for her return. Kenneth donned clean garments and after using the basin, he felt much calmer.

Elisa must be busy at her tasks for she was taking a long time. His eyes grew heavy and he thought to lie upon the bedding for a few minutes. Kenneth closed his eyes for a moment and the next thing he knew it was morning.

Light filtered through the fabric covering the window casement. He looked to where Elisa should be only she wasn’t there. Kenneth hurriedly left the chamber. There was no sign of Sean or Colm anywhere within the keep. As he stood in the hall, he tried to think of where she could be. Surely they wouldn’t have allowed her out beyond the walls.

Helena came into the hall with a young lass following her, carrying a basket of bread and a pitcher of ale.

“Good morn, Kenneth.”

“And you. Have you seen Elisa this morn?”

“I haven’t. Come to think of it, I didn’t see her much yesterday either.” She set her basket and pitcher on the table and began eating when the young maid stepped forward and filled her trencher.

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Yestermorn, I deem.” She took a sip of her ale. “I may be mistaken. Mayhap it was the day before. I am not certain, Kenneth, for my old mind doesn’t keep track of such things.”

Kenneth nodded and excused himself. It was useless asking the old woman for any information. Outside, he found Grey giving instruction to two of the younger soldiers.

“It’s good Duff is not here. He’d be biting at their arses, because you know how frustrated he gets during training sessions.”

Kenneth nodded, but he wasn’t really paying attention and looked around trying to see if Elisa was about. If Sean or Colm were there, he’d easily spot them for they were taller than all of the McInnish men.

“What has you so enthralled?” Grey asked.

“No one has seen Elisa.”

“Not to worry, Sean and Colm are good at what they do.”

“Have you seen either of them lately?”

Grey’s mouth formed a smirk. “Come to think of it, nay, I haven’t. I wouldn’t worry, Kenneth. She’s probably about somewhere within the walls.”