Blow Three Little Pigs Retold

Part 5

FIVE

When Angus, Lord of Isla, slumped into his seat at dinner, no one dared ask what made him so weary, for they all knew. Lina gestured imperiously for servants to fill her father's plate, while Portia poured wine for him. He would share what he knew after dinner, and not before.

It wasn't until Angus dismissed the servants that Rudolf began to worry about what he might say. If he wanted to share secrets with his family alone, then Rudolf should retire and save the man from doing him the dishonour of dismissing him.

Rudolf rose. "I took Hector for a long ride today, and it occurs to me that he was limping a little toward the end. I should go check on him before it gets too dark to see."

Angus lifted his hand. "Stay, Rudolf. What I have to say concerns you, too. The horse can wait until morning."

Rudolf sat down. He could feel Portia's curious gaze upon him, but he forced himself to keep his own eyes on Lord Angus. Hope flared in his breast, but he forced it back behind his ribs.

Angus drained his cup and set it down with finality. "As you all know, King Donald of Alba has laid claim to the islands, and a list of the tribute that he believes is his due. Tribute we have failed to pay in the past, he says, which must be paid, too. He sent these demands by way of a messenger, who was commanded to read Donald's missive aloud to me, and all the other lords, to make sure we understood. For, apparently, we are an illiterate lot on the Southern Isles, or so he says."

This time, it was Lina who leaped to her feet. "I suggest all the lords should pen him a message by their own hands, suggesting he shove his missive up his arse. No, that he instruct his messenger to do it for him, as he probably can't find his arse with both hands and a map." As quickly as she'd risen, she subsided again. Lina was both as calm and relentless as the sea. She'd make some man a good wife, one day, as long as he let her run his household without interfering.

Angus waved a hand in acknowledgement. "Our response to Donald is something all the lords of the isles will decide in council. I sent my own messenger with his, so they should start arriving soon, and I will be there to greet them when they do." He turned thoughtful eyes toward Rudolf. "I'd like you to come with me."

"So shall I!" Portia declared.

"No. You must stay here and protect your sisters," Angus said. "This may be a council of war, and no place for you. Your presence would complicate matters." He deliberately didn't look at her.

Portia looked ready to explode.

Rudolf placed a sympathetic hand on her wrist. "I would be honoured to attend a council. Then I will be able to carry a full account of the decisions back to the girls here if you are called away by other responsibilities."

Portia yanked her arm away. "You'd better," she said darkly.

She said little to him for the rest of the meal, and for the days before Rudolf departed with her father for Loch Findlugan. Her father received a fond farewell, but Rudolf merely earned a pointed look before she disappeared into the practice yard, where the thwack of arrows hitting the target could soon be heard.

He and Angus were barely out of sight along the road before the lord asked, "What do you think of her?"

"I think Portia is a lovely, strong-minded young woman," Rudolf said cautiously.

Angus laughed. "The stubbornest of my three little pigs, you mean. If it comes to war, as I fear it might, she would take up a sword to fight right alongside the rest of us. It would have been better for her if she'd been born a boy."

"I would not like her so much if she was," Rudolf said without thinking. He regretted the words the moment they left his lips, but it was too late to retrieve them.

Angus turned an appraising eye in his direction. "Yes, and she likes you, too. She doesn't think anyone notices, but sometimes she looks at you the way her mother used to regard me. She listens to you, too, though she won't listen to anyone else. Maybe you'll be able to control her."

Rudolf burst out laughing. "Control Portia? I pity the man who tries. She will huff and puff and blow his manhood away. She is your daughter, after all."

"And as my daughter, she is also my heir, as I'm sure you know." Angus paused, as if he wanted this to sink in. Finally, he continued, "The man who marries her will also inherit her claim to Isla, when I am gone, and perhaps even my place in council, if the other lords accept him. Birthright is not enough here on the Southern Isles, you understand. A man must also be a leader and a warrior worth following."

Rudolf nodded. His father had told him the same thing when he was a boy in Viken. Varg was the older brother, yet Harald had become king. "My people are much the same. This way, if a king dies while his sons are still young, another man may take the throne while the sons are brought up like any other highborn warriors. When the next king dies...his successor is chosen from among the men with suitable claims of birth, blood and marriage, but he must have the strength to lead the...I suppose you would call them chieftains, much like your lords."

"Here on the islands, every lord is a king within his borders, for an ocean separates him from the others. We have no kings."

This was less true than it appeared, as Rudolf well knew. "Ah, but there is King Harald, whose claim to these lands is responsible for the kind hospitality you have offered me for so many years. And this King Donald, a neighbour who covets what isn't his. And there is yourself, a lord among lords. If the islands had their own king, it would be you."

Angus nodded in satisfaction, as though this was the answer he'd hoped for. "You've fought with us, as one of us."

"We both serve the same king. Protecting these lands is as much my responsibility as it is yours, though I do not command any men." Yet, Rudolf added silently. He'd distinguished himself in the battles and raiding parties he had fought in, to the point where he easily assumed command when circumstances required it. Lord Angus had taught him battle tactics and strategy were just as important as the strength of his army when battle was joined. But the men he commanded had always belonged to Lord Angus.

Unlike his father, who commanded all the armies of Viken, and the ships, too.

Lord Angus seemed to read his thoughts. "You fight well in the field, and the men follow you. That is no small thing in a land like this one. You understand battle tactics better than most, both on and off the field."

Rudolf was not accustomed to such high praise. "It is a while since I have had a worthy opponent. Perhaps you would agree to a chess match while we wait for the other lords to arrive?" He patted his saddle bag. "I brought mine."

Lord Angus shook his head. "I think your skills at that game surpassed mine a long time ago. But never let it be said that I turned down an offer for battle. We shall play on the shores of Loch Findlugan after the sun sets."

"I look forward to it."

They rode on in silence, lost in their own separate thoughts. As they always did, Rudolf's thoughts turned to Portia, and what she might be doing now without him.