Lady Eilean

Chapter 17

"Who do you think it is?" Bess asked.

"Father?" I said unconvincingly. There were only twenty or so riders in the group. If it was the army returning, they were sorely defeated.

Bess shook her head, "Several letters came in from the front today. The maids with family there mentioned nothing of retreat or surrender."

I grunted, annoyed that others received communications when I did not. "Maybe the Mainland invades us at last. This is just the search party sent to determine if we're a threat." I laughed humorlessly. "What a disappointment we must be. The once-great Stormway, now a fortress of starving women and children."

"That's not funny, Eilean," Bess said tightly, her brows pulled down over her eyes.

I bit back my retort of preferring a swift death by invaders to one of famine.

Bess jostled Wallis on her hip and studied the group, "They aren't flying flags, which is strange."

It was odd. Still, I said nothing as I tried to muster up any reaction besides one of bland disinterest. It should bother me that strangers were approaching my gates. We were defenseless, and it was likely these men had weapons. If they were Mainlanders, their arrival would be an unpleasant experience; but I was too tired or too hungry to care.

We watched in silence as a man swung down from his horse and approached the guard at the gatehouse. If the boy he spoke to could even be considered a guard. Barely twelve-years-old, my only protector could hardly hold his rifle — an ancient, large gun that had been left behind for its lack of accuracy. After a brief conversation between the boy and the man, the stranger offered the guard something from his pockets. I walked away from the window, shivering from the draft.

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough, what hand fate has dealt us." Pinching the bridge of my nose, I wondered if it was better to tell everyone to gather in the main hall or if that would make things too easy for our would-be conquerors.

Bess turned from the window and passed me Wallis. I nuzzled my face into her soft hair. She laughed and slapped my cheek with a drool-covered hand.

"Eeee-eeeee," she said, smiling at me. We had been practicing spelling my name. The first letter was all she could remember.

"Do we just wait?" Bess asked, pacing around the room.

"Maybe they will ride on," I suggested, sitting down behind the desk and settling Wallis in my lap. I pulled her protectively against my chest. "We have nothing to offer them."

My sister-in-law went back to the window, "They are still there."

"I suppose I could go down," I suggested. "I don't know what the rules of hospitality are in wartime. Unless we want to host a dinner party, then I might be of use."

Bess scowled at me, worn down by my ill-humor. I didn't know how else to wade through my fear, hunger, and exhaustion. I offered her a chagrined grimace.

"What if they take you?"

I shook my head, I didn't have an answer. They were not a large party, but we had no protection. And men hopped up on bloodlust or glory could easily overpower a green boy guarding a gatehouse with a gun he couldn't use.

There was a clattering from the corridor. A young girl ran into the study.

"What is it?" Bess asked her, voice tight and high.

"My lady, Lady MacLeod," the girl said, bowing to us in turn. She bent at the waist, as a boy might. It was then I noticed she was not a house servant at all, but a stable boy. Or whatever one might call a girl that worked in the stables.