Highlander's Embrace

Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Elyn

1540 — August 29th

"I'm sorry."

Elyn moved closer to Gavin, who readopted his position on the floor. "I'm sorry, Gavin," Elyn repeated. "I didnae kn— ."

"Stop. You couldn't have known. I didnae know." Gavin pounded his fist against the hard stone, startling the guard for a brief second, who cleared his throat. "That scoundrel was behind this the whole time... I never liked that clan. Greedy, conniving..."

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do?" He looked at her with regretful eyes. "There's nothing to be done, but to wait for our death."

"What if we... can escape?"

"I could..." Gavin thought about it, and Elyn watched his eyes light up with inspiration. "If I can make it back to the castle, I can warn Alec about the incoming battle. If we can prepare... No, I can't. I'm not my father."

"That's the point, ain't it? Why we have kids? So they can fix the mistakes we've made?"

Elyn scratched her chin, lost in thought. "What do you think the Laird meant when he said we found each other?"

"I haven't the foggiest clue, runag." Gavin squeezed and rubbed his shoulder, stretching it in a circle. "Probably just to, toy with our minds. Who know how much he said was true."

"You donae believe him?"

"Nay, I believe most of what he said. Men donae get that much enjoyment out of lies. Not men like that. He's got the king wrapped around his finger, so we can't go to him and try to convince him... this is ridiculous, I donae even know why we're discussing this if we can't even get out anyway."

"I think God will find a way," Elyn whispered.

"Can't say I have a lot of faith in God right now, but if you do, I might be able to muster something up."

Elyn frowned and pushed Gavin. "You can't be like this. What man of the people, man of his clan, and ruler of a castle can act like this? Since the very beginning you've been running from yourself, Gavin, runnin' and moanin' and throwing a fit. Aye, the world ain't fair and I'll give ye that it seems like the world is after you, but you can't keep going like this."

She bristled with energy as she spoke, her chest heaving as she took in a gulp of air. "Gavin MacKenzie, Laird MacKenzie, it's time to be a man, and act like one. How are you going to set this right? How are you going to fix what that awful excuse of a Scot just said to your face? He just spit on the grave and name of your father and kicked you while you're down! How does a highlander deal with that!"

Gavin looked at Elyn with awe, his heart racing and cheeks flushed as she finished her speech. He slowly started to nod, and a laughter overtook him. "Elyn Douglas, you're a fine lass indeed. A kick in the arse is just what I needed."

Elyn eyed Gavin mischievously. "You're not too bad yourself, Gavin MacKenzie." She paused then gestured to the guard, who was oblivious to their conversation. Silently, she stood up and moved to the front of the cell. Gavin watched with interest as she called the guard's attention.

"What is it now?" the guard said. Elyn giggled and fingered for him to come closer. With a goofy grin, the guard drew himself closer to her, licking his lips and scratching himself. Elyn silently brought her hands to the bars and reached through them, touching the man's cheek with her thumb. The guard chuckled and started to unbuckle his pants, sliding the leather with unrestrained speed.

Without warning, Elyn dug her thumbs into the man's eyes, digging her finger nails into the back of his head and banging his skull against the iron bars. As he bellowed in pain, she thrashed him against the bars until he went silent, his body growing limp in her hands and blood running down her wrists. She dropped him to the floor and crouched down, rummaging through his pockets until she found the key to their cell door.

She glanced over her shoulder at Gavin as she fished the key from the guard's pockets, and he had a look of confused horror on his face. He broke into a broad smile as she unlatched the door and freed them from their fate.

"Let's get going, Mi Laird."

They pried open the dungeon door. Outside in the hall, Gavin peered around to see if he could spot anyone. When the coast was clear, they darted down the hall and hid inside one of the closest rooms, latching the door behind them just as voices started outside.

"We won't have much time. As soon as they find the body, we'll be done fer," Elyn said. "We need our horses."

"Aye. No doubt they kept them locked up, it'd be a waste to kill the animals for nothing'" Gavin said. They waited until the footsteps grew silent outside the door and peeked out. Recalling the direction they came, they silently and quickly raced down the hall.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, their last obstacle were a pair of guards that had greeted them and barred the entrance to the castle proper. Once they reached the other side, they could grab their horses and run, but it wouldn't do any good if they were pursued immediately.

Elyn had an idea. She threw her cloak over Gavin's head and tied it under his chin, partially obscuring his heritage and face. She adopted a limp and took the quickly drying blood from her arms and smeared her face. She slung her arm under Gavin's and began to walk forward, tugging at him. "Follow along," she whispered in his ear.

She wailed as they passed between the guards, crying and moaning. They were taken aback, and asked what had happened to the lady.

"She's injured! I have to get her back to her home, her parents are worried about her," Gavin said, adopting a lowlander accent. The guards nodded, fearful of touching the woman and her bloody face. She wailed and cried louder as they limped past the guards, moving out of view around the corner and under an arch. Elyn laughed silently as she dropped back down to both feet and wiped the blood from her face.

On the way out, they stopped in the market and nabbed a handful of food for the road. Neither of them wanted to have to waste any time stopping to catch fish on the way back. They needed to get there as soon as possible if Gavin hoped to warn his people of the impending armies. Elyn's mind wandered at the thought of what would happen if they were too late to stop Eilean Donan Castle from perishing.

What would they do? Be captured by either clan? Killed on sight on orders from the king? As long as Laird Maxwell sat in the shadows behind King James, no one would be able to talk any sense into him. He had him tied up on strings. What of Elyn's parents? Were they dead? Elyn pushed her grim thoughts away, trying to focus on their small victory of escaping. Not only escaping, but getting food.

With an armful of bread and some vegetables on hand, they made their way to the stables and found them unwatched by guards. Elyn and Gavin snuck through the entrance and quickly scanned the stalls, finding Elspet and Rhys next to each other, full troughs of water and food.

Within a couple of minutes, they had their horses ready to go, and they dashed from Castle Iverlochy. The heavy pounding of hooves against hard earth was familiar, and the smell of the mist on the highlands tasted of freedom. Elyn was never so happy to be back outside again.

The sun glowed a mean orange as they blitzed down the trail, heading straight southwest back to Eilean Donan Castle. As Elyn reared up behind Gavin, she wondered again what the Maxwell Laird meant by the two of them meeting each other. Was it destiny that she met him after all?