Page 65 of Highlander the Conqueror

My friend.

He felt a pang in his chest that spread into annoyance, realizing that Euniss was the only person in the clan who spoke with her. No one had attempted to make friends with her. The animals were her only friends.

He hooked her around the waist and fell back on the bed with her. “Keep Angel off the bed. It is for you and me alone.” He kissed her and did not stop, so it was sometime later that they left their bedchamber. He left first, though not before stopping at the door to say, “I detest not being able to take your hand or grab you in a hug. This must end soon, for I will not be kept from you. Fane! With me, now!”

The hound got to his feet and the kitten was ready to follow him, but Sky scooped her up and when the door closed behind Slayer, Sky said, “We will go soon and see if my husband heeded my words and kept Fane with him or returned him to the pen. Where, of course, we will rescue him.”

Sky made her way to the kitchen, staying out of the way of the busy servants preparing the morning meal and fixed a bowl of food for the kitten and took it outside. She ignored the stares and whispers of those who worked in the garden. She expected both after the incident with Fane. But having her husband to talk with, and Angel, as well as Fane in the last few days, she felt she had an abundance of friendship.

“Angel is doing good. Soon she will no longer fit in the pouch you carry her in.”

Sky turned and smiled at Euniss. “She does do well.”

“It is your loving heart that grows her strong and it touches more than only Angel.”

“Aye, Fane has recovered well.”

“It is not Fane I think of, and I am pleased to see it. He deserves it. It has been too long since he has known a loving heart and touch. You are good for him.” Euniss said, her eyes tearing. “His mum would be relieved and pleased.”

“What was his mum like?” Sky asked, curious to know all she could about her husband.

“Lady Candra was a sweet woman, too sweet for Lord Bannaty. She obeyed his every command. She did not want her son to be named Slayer, but Lord Bannaty insisted that he would grow to be a great warrior. She was not strong enough to defy him and he cared nothing for her. Theirs, like most, was an arranged marriage. Lord Bannaty was not an easy man to be wed to. His concern was always for the clan, the land, and sustaining it beyond his years. The two lads spent little time with their mum thanks to their father. Lady Candra spent time in her solar and would retreat in prayer often to Whitehall Abbey, not far from here. I believe she died of a broken heart.”

Sky’s heart broke for the woman. She understood the isolation and loneliness she must have suffered, having experienced some herself. But at least she had had her sisters. Lady Candra had had no one, not even her sons. Lord Bannaty had been a cruel man, and she did not want to think about what life may have been like wed to Warrand if he had inherited his father’s traits.

“Did the clan favor Lord Bannaty?” Sky asked.

“He was respected and tolerated since he took good care of the clan. All had shelter, no one went hungry, and the clan was well protected, even more so when Slayer became part of the Gallowglass. So, there were no complaints just as it is now with Lord Slayer.”

“Yet someone poisoned Lord Bannaty. Why, if he was at least respected?”

“A question we all ponder,” Euniss said.

“Do you recall any visitors he may have had before he took ill?” Sky asked, aware Slayer had probably asked the very same question of her but thinking it would not hurt to ask again. More importantly she loved her husband and wanted to keep him safe just as much he wanted her kept safe.

“The usual chieftains and lords that visited with him, some seeking his counsel on matters, others requesting help. Lord Slayer spoke to every one of them when they arrived to pay their respects to him after his father was buried. Most left pale or shaken, others so frightened, you would think they had just spoken to the devil himself. It was obvious every one of them were far too frightened of Slayer to harm his father.”

A shout from the kitchen summoned Euniss.

“I must go tend to my duties unless there is something else you need from me.”

“Nay, you have been most generous in helping me and I am grateful.”

“Oh, I just remembered,” Euniss said, turning around after reaching the door. “After Lord Slayer spoke to me about our healer, Verina, and the possibility of her poisoning Lord Bannaty, I recalled a cleric that had arrived here just before Lord Bannaty had turned ill, then he vanished just before Lord Bannaty died. I recalled Verina speaking with him often.”

“Was the cleric known to Lord Bannaty?”

“Nay. He never entered through the gates. He always kept a pious stature, keeping his head bent, his hood pulled down, and his hands clasped in prayer. I must tell Lord Slayer right away. He will want to know and see if he can find the cleric.”

“You are busy. I can tell him, and he can seek you out to question you further,” Sky offered.

“That would be most helpful,” Euniss said and lowered her voice for only Sky to hear. “Thank you, Lady Sky.”

It was good that Sky’s back was turned to those working in the garden or they would have seen her surprised look. With her marriage to Slayer a secret, she had not fully grasped her position here and what it meant to be his wife, to be the lady of the castle. It quite intimidated her. However, she was learning, first from her time imprisoned in the abbey, then rescued by Slayer and their time at the cottage, and now here at the castle, that locking herself away would not serve her well. It was time she freed herself, especially after hearing about Lady Candra’s plight.

She recalled when Euniss showed her Lady Candra’s solar. There was a small hearth that kept the room comfortably warm, and a single chair and table where the woman would have sat. She remembered seeing a large basket piled with various pieces of embroidered cloth left unfinished. She imagined Slayer’s mum sitting there before the hearth, embroidering in peace and silence day after endless day, heartbroken, never having the courage to free herself.

“Never. Never will I be like her, Angel.” Sky smiled, thinking how her sisters would have freed her from such a horrible situation, but believing now that she not only had the strength but the courage to free herself. Oddly enough, she owed that discovery to a powerful Gallowglass warrior.

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