The Cries of an Outlander Lass

Chapter 5

The rest of the day was tense as the young man was pretty much threatened into backing down. I could see that he didn't really want to leave especially after seeing me with my arm in a sling. When Jamie had noticed the man looking at me, he squared himself to block me completely.  But I had a feeling that was not the last time that we would hear from the young English man.

 We keep traveling. Days turn into weeks and at every stop, the men would gather in the local tavern after the rent had been collected. I always stayed in my room if had been rented for the night, or in the tent that I and Claire shared. Rupert and Angus would take turns watching over me along with Willie. A younger guy, younger than Jamie I think, that has been with us. I never thought much of it till one night I needed help with something from Claire and walked in as Dougal ripped Jamie's shirt in half to showcase his back. I couldn't help the gasp that left my throat.

That causes everyone's eyes to turn to me. Jamie quickly covered himself with his plaid and turned so that his face was looking at me but hung low. Claire looked unphased, telling me that this has happened before. I march straight up to Dougal and slap him straight across the face, "Chan eil duine sam bith le sgoltadh urraim a' cleachdadh sgaraidhean duine eile. Bidh e a' cleachdadh a chuid fhèin."

"What did she say," Claire questions Ned.

"Any man with a shred of honor does not use another man's scars. He uses his own."

I do not wait and grab Jamie's arm pulling him behind me and out the door. Which is a feat in and of its else since my arm has come out of the sling that Claire had made me. I march straight to his saddlebag and pull out a new shirt and hand it to him. I then move over to my spot for the night, pull the blanket around me, and settle down to sleep. Even though I will most likely not get any, I keep my eyes closed so that they will leave me be. I hear the others return in small groups as they chat among themselves.

"Claire," Dougal's gruff voice cuts through the night, "What is wit ye sister tonight?"

"It's not my place."

"Now ye talk of place? Ye haven't been mindin ye place till now."

There is a long pause. I don't change my position or even open my eyes continuing my pretend sleep. I listen as she explains, "When Isabella was 12 she went missing," she begins. All the other conversations fade out, "It was shortly after our parents died. Our guardians looked for her. It took them two days to find her. She was lucky. The only thing the man did was beat her. She still has a few scars. He escaped a few days after his arrest and hasn't been seen since. That is why she is always slow to interact with new people, especially men."

"Holy mother..." and other phrases mumble through the camp.

"Do not pity her," Claire continues, "she hates it and it makes her angry. That is also why you have never seen her cry. If she cried the man would beat her more. She said the only thing that would make him stop was if she passed out or stopped crying. Almost like he couldn't enjoy it if she couldn't feel the pain."

The next morning comes too quickly for me following my sleepless night. We are all packed and ready to go. Dougal normally helps me mount but this time Jamie does. Dougal would be smart to keep his distance from me for now. Or he will learn why they say the female of a species is more dangerous than the male. We ride till we come upon a house that is burning and men are going through looking for anything of value.

"Who are they?"

"The Watch," Murtagh explains. I notice that Jamie has left the group. I will question him about why later. 

I may not agree with the burning of a home from rumors, but like many things, I can not change it. I can see the wheels turning in Claire's mind. She is not happy. Dougal rides down to get his share, two chickens, before starting back up. When we camped for the night Angus was telling the men about his nightly adventure that he took with a woman. I sit next to Claire. I can almost feel her gaze burning a hole in the chicken that is cooking.

"I'm not hungry," Claire states when Angus brings around the plate with the meat on it.

"What's the matter wit ye?"

I could have shot Claire with Ned's pistol when she said that she would not sit with thieves. Angus grabs her arm as she tries to leave and pulls his dirk out. Only instead of Claire, it is me as I had wedged myself between them. I go to push him back but Angus only switches his hold from Claire to me. His grip landing straight on my bad wrist that Claire had just started letting me use again, "I'll not be judged by English whores," he grits out.

The camp has gone silent. Jamie and Dougal have both stood up and are slowly making their way over. I stare down at Angus as the fire in his eyes blazes at me. I hold back my pain but a low whimper leaves me and Dougal pulls Angus off of me. Jamie positioned himself halfway in front of me. I hear Dougal growl something lowly into Angus' ear. Whatever it was it was enough to scare the daylight out of him. Not looking at anyone else I turn and leave the safety of the camp to get some air.

I know one of them is following me, thankfully at a distance though. I walked till it started to get dark and then turned back around. I pass Murtagh on my way and give him a nod of thanks but nothing more. When I return Claire greets me at the edge of the camp. She quickly checks my wrist and tells me to continue wearing the sling for now. I nod and head to my bed when Angus tries to talk to me but Dougal steps between us and tells him to leave it for now.

As we travel there are many more times that I just want to take Claire aside and tell her to shut it. Once when we stopped at a village and the Red Coats had come through the day before and some of the families could not pay rent. The second was after the men got into a fight after we had spent the night at an inn and some other men had made comments about Claire's and I's morals. The surprising factor to me was that Angus was the first one to do something. I couldn't help but laugh at how some of the men sounded as we cleaned them up.

She did shut up for a while after that and she even cracked a joke with Rupert when we saddled up that morning. Unknown to me was the conversation that she has with Ned that lead to me and Claire washing our faces at a river and Dougal showing up to question her.