AN - Sorry it has been a while. I have had a two day long migraine and a very painful ankle, and all with work on top of that! But here is the next chapter, hope it was worth the wait! Az x
Chapter 20
There is a time when everything swirls around you, and yet you stand alone. Whether that be the weather, or the actions of others, you stand in the midst of it all and let the effects batter you here and there, and you eventually fall where you are pushed, and watch as all around you moves in a way you have no control over. Artair fought against the storm, Rohesia knew he would. He was not the sort to sit back and watch that storm rail at him without at least trying to push back the force of nature only the Almighty himself could change.
Rohesia, however, sat on the creaky small bed, her head against the crumbling wall, as she tried to see a way through the storm she had no chance of stopping from coming straight for her. Having managed to sneak back in by a still sleeping Alfred, she could find no solace in the gentle arms of slumber. The heat from the earlier hearth fire had dissipated, and while the room was still warmer than the snow covered street below, it was still close to freezing, and her breath could be seen before her face in the finest of mists. As if her very soul was trying to escape from the coming ferocity she was going to be unable to flee from bodily.
Whomever she was to marry, she only hoped that she could survive until the end had come upon her, one way or another. Watching as her breath formed a living being before her, she pulled the thin, threadbare blanket about her shoulders and hoped that if her life was to be a living nightmare from this point then the cold would take her this night and she would not have to know more horror in her life than she already had.
The shivers that racked her frame now she was warming slightly from her little trip to imagined freedom, not that it felt like warmth at all. Her mind took her back to those fleeting moments as the snow drifted in flurries around her and the one person who brought heat into her life. The few tantalising minute when their lips had merged and shown that she could indeed find that fire deep within her once more. The fire which had flickered and faltered since her father’s demise.
Her stiff fingers released their death grip on the thin cloth of the blanket and reach slowly to rest lightly against her lips. Remembering the imprint of the one who had brought her back to life. It may be the last time she saw him, she knew that deep inside, he would fight to see her once more, but she was not sure he could succeed the gale coming their way. She also could not say how she would react if he did manage to break through to her once more. She could not say whether she would stay true to the course her word had set, or whether she would in fact run into the safety his arms provided for her and demand he never let go. Wherever he went she would go too.
A small gasped chuckle escaped her dry throat, and the tears pricked painfully at her dry tired eyes. She was fantasising again. How could he want to come back to her, not with all the trouble she had caused? She was not worth the effort. She was not worth the belief he held within her. And she was most definitely not worth the male he was. How could she deserve anything like him after the life she had led? She was without a sense that was an integral part to life. How could he imagine anything in the future where she was a part of his life in the Highlands?
The tears slowly ran down her face, until they gathered at her chin and big fat droplets shimmered and fell to leave a growing stain upon her blanket. Her mind though was completely blank. Forcing herself into a calm steady state, she knew she would have to keep herself that way or the grief would find its way back to the surface once more. She was just not strong enough to deal with it at the moment. Not with everything else life had decided to throw in her direction. She was crumbling from the inside out and she was not at all sure how long it would be before she was nothing but innumerable pieces of herself which would be impossible to piece back together no matter how hard anyone tried.
It did not matter how strong she appeared, or tried to show people she was, on the inside she was a mess and most assuredly the cracks were now too big to fix. Nothing could save her now, but she could at least save Artair from having to deal with the mess she was becoming.
Mind fogging at the edges with lack of sleep, Artair took another deep breath of the freezing air. His exhale fogging before him, giving him a physical representation of the feeling he had within him at that very moment. He was walking at a quick pace, or as quick as some of the soft new snow allowed him. It had fallen with a vengeance and already was climbing over his ankle. The flurries continued around him, the tips of his ears and this nose were numb enough to tingle and feel.
He debated turning around and heading back to his rooms, taking a few hours of sleep, recharging his mind so he was on top form once more. But that through warred with the very fact that those few hours could mean the difference between changing everything and having everything already set in stone. Shaking his head, and sending frozen locks flying, crisp snowflakes shaken free and joining its brethren as they fell to the floor where his feet had been as they were meant to from the start.
The crunch of his boots within the fresh powder was the only sound that could be heard in the now early morning. It was going to be a new day soon, the morn nearing the time for the early risers to wake and try and make good use of the near empty streets. The vendors making the perishable wares of the day. In fact he was sure he could smell the temptations of baking bread as he passed one bakery. The streets would soon be full, the snow battered and bruised by the soles of many feet. The peace and serenity that was found in this moment would be disrupted until the early hours of the next morn, when the drunks had found their way home once more.
A few more turns in the streets and his cold ears picked up the movement within the houses. A few doors slamming loudly, shutters of one house flinging wide as the contents of the occupants chamber pots came flying out, and Artair paused a moment where he stood making sure he was missed, while at the same time mourning slightly the mar upon the perfection of the snow. It had begun, the disruption of man upon the very fabric of the nature humans had thought to try and tame. Had the lowlanders forgotten what the Highlanders knew and respected. Nature gave them the fruits from which to live, but unless it was respected it could show its dominance in a harsh show of power.
Edinburgh was a wonder of manmade items. He just could not see the beauty of it as he could in the natural beauty which surrounded MacKay Keep and the small village just beyond its walls. Right now those spreading hills and mountains would been covered in a deep layer of snow, and none but a few solitary tracks would mar it. It would also stay that way until the sun itself came and washed the land free from the bitter death that awaited anyone who dared to take on nature at this time of year.
Sidestepping the mess in the middle of the street, he carried on, determined to make it to the house he had in mind before the majority of Edinburgh was awake once more. Though it would be hours before the sun made its way through the cloud cover. By the time that happened he wanted to be sure as to the course of his very future rather than the uncertainty which ate away at his stomach at that very moment.
Robert was not going to get what he had already claimed as his… well in his mind anyway. Rohesia was his and he was not letting a young upstart take her from him. Especially not the one male who had caused so much trouble for Aonghus and Sheena…in fact trouble for his whole clan by his actions and the war he was willing to start between the two clans. Not that Robert had had many, if any, allies to call upon. The MacKay’s would have dealt with them without mercy if it had come to bloodshed. It was only just a little short of Robert leaving with his life at the end, and now, now he was threatening Rohesia.
Well, not threatening as in pulling her into danger, but threatening to take her from him. It would not be allowed. It would not be tolerated and Artair was not going to let a jumped up little laird to take what he considered as his. Not at all. Never going to happen. For a moment he allowed a little uncertainty to creep into his mind. Wishing he had Aonghus beside him as together they were an unstoppable force, neither needed to speak for the other to know exactly what the other was to do.
Getting rid of the doubt with a solid shake of his head, he made sure to take another chillingly deep breath. His lungs complaining at the freezing air, he reached up to push his hair back from his face, the crispy frozen strands not paying any attention to his wishes. Pulling his plaid tighter against his shoulders, he tried to conserve some warmth at least, not wanting to lose a limb to frost bite before he managed to cave Roberts face inside out.
With a few short steps, he managed to find the door he had been looking for. As nondescript as those in the other similar houses in the street. But behind it was the one male he needed to ‘speak’ to with utmost urgency.
Trying to calm himself, he took a breath through his nose, and let it out in a measured stream of white mist before him. Before he lifted his fisted hand, and knocked so loudly the door rattled in its frame. By the time someone answered, he had let a continuous rap sound and others from down the street had leaned out of windows to frown and hurl abuse in his direction. All he ignored. He waited for the harassed maid to frown in disapproval as she opened the door a fraction, shivering a little at the cool air it let into the heat he could feel from inside.
“Aye, and what can I do for you?” Her narrowed eyes did an up and down glance of him, and found him wanting. Most likely from the muddy and wrinkled garb he wore. However, if he was not mistaken, and he never was when it came to it, he noticed that deep in her eyes was the flickering of appreciation and heat of his actual form beneath the garb.
It did nothing for him this morn as it would have before Rohesia had stumbled into his life. Instead, he was very much willing to use it, but never act upon it. Leaning closer, he watched her eyes widen and her pupils dilate. She was a little older than him if he judged correctly. But he could not keep up the act when it came to speaking. His anger came through and her eyes widened a little more, with a hint of fear in with the heat. “I need to be speaking with Laird Robert, and trust me, if he keeps me waiting, or if you refuse to let me in, my wrath with bring this whole street down.” He paused and waited for her to see the truth in his face. She swallowed visibly and audibly. “Understand.”
In a quick flurry the door was pulled wide. “Why do you not wait in the room yonder, and I will see where Laird Robert be.” With that she hurried in the direction of the small staircase, and a grim smile over took his face. Robert had no idea what had just been let into his abode. But he most definitely was going to find out.