Page 14 of Highlander's Caged Rose
And suddenly, Moira found herself in her father’s study, and knew that an altogether different future had been mapped out for her.
“Come in and sit down, Moira,” her father had told her. “I have some good news for you.” John Patterson had the kind of face that turned his attempt at a smile into something that resembled a wolf snarling, and as he smiled at his daughter, Moira felt a shiver of dread run down her spine.
Good news? She had never received good news from her father in her life, and she doubted if that was about to change.
Her father sat back in his chair with a satisfied air and said smugly, “I have found a husband for you. His name is Roy McDonnell and he is a prosperous fellow merchant. He will give you the finest things in life, you will be living very comfortably indeed. What do you think of that?”
Moira stared at him, horrified, then finally managed to ask, “Do I know him?”
Her father shook his head. “No, but you will have a while to get to know each other better,” he replied. “The wedding is to take place in a week, and I will have Roy come over every night so that you can have dinner together and talk. As you can imagine, he is a very busy man, and will not have any time during the day.”
He stood up and fetched a bottle of red wine from his desk drawer, poured two glasses, and held his up in a toast. Moira did the same, although drinking to her health under the circumstances was the last thing he wanted to do.
“Slàinte Mhath!” he said smugly.
“Slàinte Mhath.”
Moira’s toast was a great deal less hearty, but she dutifully swallowed her wine, even though it tasted like vinegar in her mouth. She had never drunk wine before, since her father hadalways been too strict to let her drink as a woman. Now, however, she was too numb to protest.
Not only was she horrified, but furious. How dare he spring this awful surprise on her? Who was this man she was about to marry?
She was trapped, and when she met her future husband she was almost sick with disgust. He was at least thirty years older than her, with sparse white hair and a face with sunken cheekbones, thin lips and bushy white eyebrows that made his piercing black eyes look like caverns in his face.
She hated him at first sight, and when they spoke, his conversation never wavered from one subject; himself. Their wedding took place in the dining room of her father’s house, and there were only half a dozen guests there. After the wedding breakfast, Roy McDonnell took her to their bedroom…
When she was taken to Baltyre Castle after the ambush, she had thought she was free, but now she was beginning to think she had escaped from one prison and stumbled into another.
Moira had become so distracted by her gloomy thoughts that she was beginning to lose all sense of direction. She knew that there was a wood at the foot of the castle which was not too thick, but the gathering darkness was making it almost impossible for Moira to make her way through it.
As well as that, she had not been able to explore the surrounding district due to the injury on her leg, so getting her bearings was a problem. Darkness had set in more quickly than she had anticipated, and the moon was no longer bright, having shrunk to a thin crescent. Moira had been so eager to escape from Niall that she had not brought a lantern, and she cursed herself for being a fool.
Every sound, no matter how faint, made her senses prickle. There were owls hooting, leaves rustling in the wind, and the sound of small animals running through the undergrowth.However, Moira was most frightened of the wild boars, which she knew roamed the area and could occasionally be very vicious.
As she wandered, darkness fell like a black curtain, and soon it became almost impossible to see through the trees. After a while, Moira felt a breeze on her face, and emerged from the wood onto a stretch of grassland. She could smell, rather than see, water in front of her, and sighed with relief.
Then, abruptly, a long, drawn-out howl broke the stillness of the night. A wolf! Moira’s horse screamed and reared up, then broke into a gallop to escape the animal.
When she hit the water, the horse panicked, then reared again. Moira hauled on the reins, trying desperately to keep the mare under her control, but neither her riding skill nor her strength was equal to the task. After another few moments that seemed endless, the horse threw her into the water before scrambling out and galloping away.
Moira was terrified. She had never learned to swim, and now she floundered helplessly in the icy water. The shock of its freezing temperature had made her inhale a great lungful of it, then her head dipped below the water, and she gulped in mouthfuls. The fear that filled her was overwhelming, but so was the urge to survive. She coughed and spluttered, kicked and flailed with her arms and legs, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not keep her head above the water.
As the icy liquid closed over her head, Moira’s lungs were full of water, but her panic eased, to be replaced by a strange peace, and she resigned herself to death.
Niall knew he had no more time to waste. He knew that Moira was not likely to be in any fit state to ride properly yet, and she had little idea of what the countryside around the castle looked like. She had a head start of a few moments, and the time it took to saddle his mount seemed endless.
When Logie was fully saddled and bridled, Niall mounted and went after her. The path was well-used and very easy to see, but there were no fresh hoof marks on it. In desperation, he frantically began to explore the rest of the area to see if he could spot any sign of her. He knew it well, and could find his way even in the dark, but he had a feeling that Moira was now likely to be hopelessly lost.
He knew Loch Begg was nearby, and even if it was a beautiful sight to behold, at this time of the day, wild animals sought their prey. Even the most skilled hunters avoided the loch during the night. Many incidents of men losing their lives in its waters during darkness…
Niall spent what seemed like an hour searching for her before several things happened at once. He heard the plaintive howl of a wolf and the shriek of a panicked horse, then a few seconds later a woman’s scream pierced the night air.
Niall’s heart skipped a beat. “Moira!” he cried, then swung Logie around to gallop towards the lake. He was just in time, by the feeble light of the crescent moon, to see Moira’s head disappearing under the water.
He did not think twice, but leapt from Logie’s back, tossed his cloak aside and plunged into the water. He too inhaled a lungful of icy water, but coughed it back up again and swam towards Moira’s limp body. As soon as he touched her, however, she reached out for him, and he slowly swam backwards to the shore, pulling her with him.
As soon as they reached the shore, Niall realised that Moira was still very much alive when she coughed up what seemed likegallons of water before gulping in great lungfuls of air. He sat her up and wrapped his cloak around her, then helped her stand up.
Later, Niall would reprimand himself harshly for his next words, but a mixture of anger, fear and relief made him growl, “What the hell were you thinking, Moira? You could have drowned.” A moment later, he regretted his words sorely.
