Page 37 of Surrendering to her Highland Captor
“Aye, that they do. But this time, it worked in his favor. What Seamus did nae ken was that an archer was hidden in the trees. She shot down a few arrows and saved him from the bounty hunters, only to tie him up herself.”
“That sounds like something ye would do,” Arran joked with Aila.
She laughed alongside him and agreed.
“Aye, for the right reasons. She sounds like someone I would verra much like to meet.”
“I think we can make that happen,” Lachlan told her with a smirk.
“Really?” Arran asked in surprise.
“Aye. Flora, the archer, was the only one who believed Seamus when he told her that he wanted to dethrone Campbell and do right by his clan. See, she was a part of a secret village where only rebels lived. They were mostly the few surviving soldiers of Laird Murray’s and a few verra determined clans people. Together, she and Seamus convinced the rebels to fight against Campbell.”
“How did they do that?”
“Seamus went back to the castle and pretended to be on Campbell’s side. He lied and said he had been captured. Campbell, the arrogant fool that he was, believed Seamus. Seamus spent a few verra treacherous weeks trying to learn all that he could about Campbell’s plan before he made his escape once again. But on the night he was set to leave, Iona McKenzie appeared.”
Arran scrunched his face in confusion.
“Who is that?”
“Iona is Seamus’ cousin. She is one of his mother’s kin. She came to beg Seamus for his help.”
“But why would Iona need his help? Did Campbell attack the McKenzies too?”
“Nae exactly,” Lachlan drawled out slowly. “Instead of attacking them, he tricked them into giving him whatever he wanted.”
“That does nae sound like a verra good trick to me,” Arran commented thoughtfully.
“It was nae. And that was why Iona ran to her cousin. Together, Seamus and Flora, along with Iona and Finn, fought back against Campbell.”
Arran looked over at Lachlan with narrowed eyes, knowing that he wasn’t getting the full story.
“Who is Finn? How did they fight back?”
Lachlan chuckled again and continued on with his story. Aila listened, almost as enamored with the story as she was with her husband. She loved the way he told these stories, the way he made the heroes sound larger than life. Most of all, she loved the way that he made the day’s travels pass by quickly. She didn’t notice the trees moving in the wind, the twigs snapping as they rode, or the bushes shifting from whatever creature hid beneath them.
They were riding into the next town when Lachlan was just finishing up the grand tale, having answered nearly every question Arran had been able to come up with.
“So Finn, having lost his way, decided to do the right thing and protect the village. Meanwhile, the others fought off Campbell. Seamus and Flora brought him down together. And even though Seamus’ father had been killed by Campbell, he was still able to say goodbye to his mother before she died.”
“But she cannae die! She sacrificed herself to save them. She has to live. That is how all the good stories go.”
Lachlan looked into the sky, taking in the twisting colors of the sunset behind the newest village they had ridden to. His expression was hidden with traces of grief and thoughtfulness. A shadow from the edge of the treeline danced across the road in front of them, briefly covering Lachlan’s face. Aila knew he was thinking about all the men who had sacrificed themselves, so Lachlan could go free. She wondered just how many there had been.
“Ye are forgetting, Arran,” Lachlan said somberly, no longer trying to spin a grand tale to distract the boy. “This is nae a story. This is reality. Seamus and Flora and Iona and Finn are all real people. These things really happened to them. It is easy to get swept up in the heroics of it all, but life does nae always go the way we want it to. Often, it goes horribly, horribly wrong, and we are left to pick up the pieces.”
“I ken, Uncle Loch,” Arran answered, just as serious and sad.
His tone had Lachlan blinking out of his grief induced daze to look at Arran. Lachlan’s blue eyes went wide as he realized what he had just said but more importantly, who he had been talking to. Arran was one of the few children who didn’t need any instruction on just how cruel life could be.
“Och, Arran,” Lachlan said with a small frown. “I am sorry, lad. I was nae thinking. I only meant to help ye understand that this is nae just rumor or legend, but real people’s lives we are talking about.”
He and Aila exchanged glances. She tried to encourage him with her smile, but she knew as well as he did that they were both still very much new parents. Neither of them had ever expected to suddenly be put in charge of caring for a ten-year-old. They were bound to make a couple of mistakes along the way.
“Aye, I remember. I only meant that it is nae fair that he lost both of his parents to Campbell.”
“Nay,” Lachlan agreed emphatically. “It is never fair when life makes someone an orphan. It is a grave injustice that should be righted.”
