Page 30 of The Plight of a Scottish Lass
“We would enjoy visiting with you,” Thane said. They moved into the great hall, surprised to see three bairns finishing up their midday meal. They greeted the wee ones, and the three picked up their miniature bows, each retrieving an arrow out just in case, he was guessing. He chuckled at the expressions on their faces.
The oldest girl approached him and said, “State your purpose.” She aimed her bow directly at his belly.
Dyna, he guessed their mother, said, “Put the bows away. They are friends, Sylvi. Take your brother and sister over to play with the blocks. I need Astra for a wee bit.”
Sylvi put her bow in a basket near the hearth, then ran over to the blocks and her siblings followed.
Dyna took Astra’s hand and said, “This is my sister Astra. She is staying with us for a while to help. She loves to make new friends.”
Mora said, “I am forever grateful to meet you, and I do hope we can be friends. Do you use a bow? I’d love to learn, if you would be willing to train me.”
Dyna said, “And we would love to teach you. Come with us, and I’ll find you a bow to get started with. Come along, you three,” she said to her bairns. “We’ll leave Eli and Maitland with the chieftain.”
Mora squealed and looked at him. “May I go with them, Thane?”
“Of course. Listen well, lass,” he said, pleased they were so quick to take her on. The three bairns scurried along, humming as they went.
“There is no better sound in the world than happy bairns, is there?” Eli asked, fondly watching the three depart.
Thane had no idea how to respond to her question because it was the first time he’d ever heard bairns humming. There were no bairns inside his castle. No women, no bairns. He was beginning to realize how important this was, something he could no longer ignore.
Maitland pointed to a chair by the hearth. A woman came out and Eli said, “Four ales and two meat pies, Murreal, if you please.”
Once they were settled, Maitland said, “Alaric is interviewing prospective guardsmen, so he is busy. We can check with him on the way out. Before we discuss horses, please fill me in on Garvie. I need to know everyone who could be a threat to our safety. We would be in your debt if you could give us a brief review of the clans on the island—who you trust most and who not to trust.”
Thane would tell them all he knew, hoping they would do a favor or two in return. “I’d be pleased to tell you what I know. Clan MacVey is the closest to you, halfway to the northernmost point where Clan Rankin sits. Both are considered allies, though their strongest alliance is to each other because of their proximity. Clan MacQuarie sits on the western part of the isle, close to Ulva. There are MacClanes on the isle, but they are busy choosing a place to build a castle, mostly west of you. I do not speak with them much. The MacVeys have the only healer, prior to your arrival, so they see the inhabitants the most.
“Off the isle, the worst to my knowledge are the Garvies on Ulva. I know of no other clan on Ulva. Iona holds the beautiful Iona Abbey from years ago. There are some unusual features on the isle. There are two brochs, one at Dun Nan Gall and one at An Sean Chaisteal. The main mountain is Ben More in the center, and we have many caves. Our clan is the youngest as we took it over after it was ruined by fire of an unknown origin four years ago. We have restored it and have built it to a clan of five and twenty. We are always looking for more.”
“What kind of a force does Garvie have?” Eli asked. “Swordsmen, archers? What do they prefer?”
“Garvie’s guards carried minuscule swords when they came to retrieve Tamsin, and they were slow as a line of snails in dry dirt. It would not be difficult to take over his land if you could get your men on Ulva. I wish to visit to assess, but we only have one small ship, and I fear to lose it to Garvie’s men. I don’t care to be left on Ulva with no way to come across, meaning we would be at his mercy. Now that I’ve met him, I can tell you with complete confidence that he has no morals. He’ll steal your ship and tell you he has no idea of what you speak. Do not trust him or his men.”
“I don’t understand why Tamsin returned to him,” Eli said. “I know she wants her daughter back, and once we have the forceto support her, we would go with her to assist in finding the lass.”
Brian appeared stunned. “You would go into an unknown situation, put yourself and your men at risk on an island without worry?”
Eli gave a small snort. “I would if I had the right men with me. I’ve been in battle against the English. My archery skills are good. I believe in doing what is right, and beating a woman is wrong. He beat her because she burned his dinner, so she said.”
Brian confirmed, “That is exactly what Garvie said her crime was. Said she was far from innocent. He demands a son.”
“One cannot choose the gender of a bairn in your belly.”
“He believes you can,” Thane stated.
“Does he have archers?” Eli asked.
“I’ve not seen many archers on the isle. Only a few for hunting, so I doubt Garvie has any either. We have one archer, that’s it.”
Maitland said, “I’m going to redirect the conversation to something more useful. Tell me about the animals you hunt most. How do you feed your clan, MacQuarie?”
Thane answered, “Most on the isle depend on freshwater fishing to feed their clans, though some do sea fishing. Loch Ba, west of here a short distance, carries beautiful salmon and trout. Huge fish that will feed many. I’d be happy to take you there on another day.”
“What about hunting? Boar meat the most?” Eli asked. “I love to hunt.”
Brian looked surprised but said nothing, allowing his brother to answer. “We hunt red deer mostly. Especially in winter, you’ll find them foraging for seaweed on the coastline. There are plenty of rodents, hares, rabbits, ferrets. We’ve seen some pheasant, but we’ve never been able to catch one. We’ve found some wild goats, and the clans keep many for milk. ClanRankin had some Highland cows brought over. There has been some cattle-stealing, which had the Rankins and MacVeys in an uproar. We are still unsure who the guilty party was. They only got a couple, but they don’t have a large herd yet. I’m hoping to get two of our own someday, start our own herd, but we don’t have any yet.”
Maitland looked at Eli and asked, “Anything else, Eli?” Then he turned to the visitors and explained, “Dyna and I are chieftains, Eli and Alaric are in charge of our guards. Swordsmen and archers.”
