Caledonia

Explanation

Tumbling out of a nightmare where she was being chased by the same MacGregor raiders who viciously killed her two friends the night before, Callie awoke with a nervous start early the next morning to look up and see a large bird squawking loudly over her head. With a hand on her chest attempting to calm her heartbeat still racing from the bad dream, she watched the black grouse in envy and wondered where it was going. Seeing birds fly always made her envious of their ability to pick up and go wherever they chose while she was forced to remain in her oppressive uncle's keep. Happy memories of the years before her parents died were few and far between, although Moira and Davis did their best to tell stories of them. Callie often wondered if her dear friends invented some of the more outlandish tales to keep her spirits up in dark times, but now they were gone as well, so she had no way of finding out. She hoped to learn more about her parents when she reached her father's clan. Guilt and sadness over the violent murders of her substitute parents flooded through her entire body. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and shook her head for a moment to block out the vivid images from the previous night, forcing the unshed tears to stay away and the stifling sob which threatened to choke her, so she hurriedly let out a harsh breath to release it. She didn't have time now to think about the dear friends she lost yesterday eve or envy the lucky bird flying away, because it dawned on her that she had awoken not knowing where she was, who she was with, or what time it could be. Her heart and head started to pound again in tandem with one side of her face aching from the pair of blows she received during the attack.

Noticing the air and ground were cold and damp, Callie surmised that rain that must have fallen during the night; therefore, she was surprised to find she wasn't feeling as uncomfortable as expected. It was likely due to the heavy weight of a blanket that she shook off her arm before sitting up to survey her environment, as she had no memory of going to bed the previous night. More unwanted, painful memories came flooding back from the events of the night before and tears threatened to spill over the edge of her tired eyes. She bit hard into her lower lip to keep her emotions at bay. There was no time to cry for their untimely deaths. Callie knew she wouldn't be able to stop the deluge of tears if she let herself grieve for them now. Later, she would give herself time to mourn them properly when she was safe with her father's clan after having to deliver the tragic news of their untimely deaths to their respective children. Callie felt their deaths were her fault. Had she not wanted to escape her uncle, they would still be alive and she fully expected their adult children to blame her. But, right now, she needed to figure out where she was and how to get back on the road to her father's land or she would never be able to deliver the news. Since it was becoming light out with the breaking dawn, Callie knew she had to be careful about which roads to take on her journey to avoid running into any of her uncle Hamish's men who he might have sent out looking for her if he had already noticed or been alerted to her being gone. It would be a more precarious journey now that she would be traveling alone. It was a daunting task, but she was determined to make it.

Callie looked down, finding the rest of her body was covered in a large tartan, the same bold pattern as the one which was draped over her two friends together in death last night, as Davis and Moira were laid to rest in their shared grave. She searched her memory, but she couldn't give a name to the pattern. It was such a grievous loss to witness their sudden, violent deaths that she didn't think to ask for any names of her Highland rescuers, a fact which now made her realise that she could have made a grave mistake. The noble, young laird might be on friendly terms with Hamish. It didn't matter how considerate he behaved last night. Not if he decided to send her back to live with her maternal uncle once he realised that she ran away from her guardian. Callie prayed he wasn't known to her uncle, given she never saw him in Hamish's keep for any parties or clan meetings. She surely would have remembered seeing a man this handsome, because he was easily the most attractive creature she had ever beheld. His dark hair fell over his forehead, but it didn't detract from the firm, masculine lines of his features.