The Scottish Princess

Traveling Home

When my eyes opened and finally adjusted, I noticed that the morning sun hadn’t risen yet, it was still twilight. I knew that Graham would be along shortly to come fetch me for our journey home. I was still surprised that it had to come to this, but I knew that deep down that I was done, I was mentally checked out. I was done with family, this clan, and this place. In a matter of weeks, I would officially be a MacKenzie, I would be able to leave everything behind me and start a new life. 

I managed to get myself dressed, and quickly. I had so much adrenaline pumping and anticipation in my belly. My butterflies were doing cartwheels. I grabbed a ruck sack and slid the rest of my vanity supplies into the bag. I focused in the mirror and tied my hair up into a bun, nothing fancy, I just wanted to get it off my neck. I wrapped my cowl scarf around my shoulders, it would still be cold when we departed. I saved my outfit from the day before, a cream blouse and navy skirt, I buttoned the side of my boots and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Graham. 

After a few minutes there was a timid knock on the door, it was Kennedy. I didn’t want to make much nose so I walked over to answer. “Miss Isla, Chief Graham is here for you.” I could tell that Kennedy was upset too. She has been my chamber maid since I was a wee lass. She was my mother’s age, it’s strange that Kennedy has been more of a mother to me than my actual mother. Without thinking, I reached out and wrapped her in a hug, she was shocked at first, but then she softened. She pressed her cheek into my scarf and I heard her sniffle. 

“Thank you Kennedy, for everything. I will miss you so much. You have always been like a mother to me. I appreciate your love and kindness that you’ve shown me.”  Kennedy wasn’t able to speak so she rose up on her toes and kissed my cheek. She pulled away and squeezed my hands before rushing off again. 

Graham was leaning up against the far wall across from my door. “Good morning lass, are you ready to go home?” I smiled like an i***t, I couldn’t contain my excitement. “That’s what I thought. Now hurry, we don’t have much time.” I closed my door quietly as Graham reached out for my hand. We jogged down the hallway and bounded down the stairs. I still couldn’t believe that I was doing this, I knew that I was leaving my past behind me. All that mattered now was my future. I knew that this man would protect me and one day love me. I would devote myself to him and make him happy to the best of my abilities. 

Angus and Dugan were waiting for us as we approached the bottom of the stairs. “Hurry up you love birds, we don’t have much time.” Once my feet touched the grass, we began sprinting to the carts. Someone had hooked up Fergus for me, that must have been Graham’s idea to take him with us. I remember telling Graham how attached I am to that horse. Fergus started to whinny as he saw me approaching. I hurried over to calm him so he wouldn’t alert the estate. Graham pulled on my arm gently, “time to go lass.” He bent down and hoisted me up so I could swing my leg over. He hopped up behind me and dug his feet into Fergus’s sides. Graham and I led the men as we took off towards the woods. I glanced behind me to find that there were 15 other horses, including Maximus following us. I hadn’t realized how many men Graham had brought with him. I felt myself instantly relax the further we separated from my parent’s estate, I was finally free. I leaned back against Graham’s chest and I felt him smile against my cheek. “Take a final look lass, you will never have to go back there again.” I looked over his shoulder at the place that I once called home. The sun began to rise just beyond the stones. It was picturesque, this is how I would try to imagine it in my memories. I smiled as I saw it begin to fade further into the background. I was onto a bigger and better life, I had so many more possibilities in this life now, I could finally be free.

We had burned about half the day and stopped about halfway to rest our bones. Graham hopped down first before reaching up and lifting me off of Fergus, I fed him an apple when no one was looking. 

We sat around a makeshift fire, some of the men had gone hunting and found us some rabbit and squirrel to eat. I didn’t complain, I didn’t want to seem prissy, it as surprisingly better than I thought. Graham held my waist as I ate, I could feel his nose and mouth buried behind my ear. He was taking me in, I think that he had finally realized that we were alone, around people that didn’t care who we are, we were free to be who we wanted to be. There would be no more rules or traditions unless he said so. I leaned my head against his chest as I finished the last bite of rabbit. 

Angus chuckled from the other side of the circle, “is my lady satisfied?” I pressed the hem of my sleeve against my mouth as I finished chewing. 

“Yes, thank you Angus, it was delicious.” He beamed at my compliment, I could tell that he was just a little lad at heart. As the boys finished eating I decided that now would be a good time to relieve myself. I leaned back and whispered into Graham’s ear. 

“If you go, I go. Come on.” He pushed us up off the log and led me into the woods. Once we were far enough away from the fire he stood there staring at me. “Well, are you going to go or what?” I bugged my eyes, I wasn’t going to let him watch. He stood there and crossed his arms. 

“Graham, I’m not going to do this in front of you, that’s gross.” He rolled his eyes and reluctantly turned around and faced the other way. 

“I don’t know why you are so ashamed for your future husband see you like this, I’m about to see every part of you, why not start now?” I chuckled at his logic. 

“My lord, this is not what most men would consider to be alluring. There are just some things that you do not do in front of each other.” Graham peeked over his shoulder as I finished readjusting my skirts. “Excuse me! I’m not decent yet. Imagine if one of your men came along, would you like them to see me like this?”

Graham whipped around, a slight air of anger to him, “of course not, only I am allowed to look at you.” I started walking towards him,

“Okay then, let me keep my privacy. Now come on, we should head out.” I kept walking so I was eventually in front of him. I knew that he was staring after me with confusion in his eyes. I was not acting like a true lady, at this point, I didn’t care if I did, he wanted to watch me pee!

We rejoined the rest of the men by the fire, they were already cleaning up and loading the horses.

“We should probably head out if we want to be able to make camp by nightfall.” Graham stared off into the distance.

“Agreed. Come along Isla.” I followed close behind him until we reached Fergus. Suddenly the wind whipped through the trees and I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, something didn’t feel right. My gut started to sink and my head started to ache. “Isla, are you alright love? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Another gust of wind breezes past us. We could hear the faint sound of galloping horses and male voices in the distance. At the rate that they were going, it seemed like they were coming right for us. Graham whipped around to face the men. “Angus continue on home, take Isla with, if it’s who I think it is, she’ll be the first thing he goes after.” Angus nodded and I looked up at Graham. 

“Don’t worry priseil, everything will be fine, you to go with Angus now. I won’t be far beyond, I promise.”

I knew better than to argue, there was a tone to his voice that I knew not to a question. Angus trotted over to us. Graham gave me a kiss quickly before hoisting me up onto Fergus. I looked down at him with sadness in my eyes, I could hear the voices getting closer, I prayed that nothing bad would happen to him. I heard Angus command Fergus and we took off into the clearing. 

 I stared back at Graham as Fergus galloped away quickly. We rode hard for a while until soon enough, we were safely on the other side of the ridge. Angus slowed just a bit, giving Fergus some rest. 

“Would you like to stretch your legs my lady?” I was still shaken from our abrupt departure that I almost didn’t answer him. “My lady?” I hadn’t noticed, Angus was now standing on the ground looking up at me. I nodded my head and swung my legs to one side. I reached down for his awaiting hand, I still felt a little shaken and confused on what just happened. I managed to make it down okay, but I knew that I wanted to just sit in the grass. How is it that we have already run into trouble, we have four more days to go. Angus came to sit down beside me, he handed me a chunk of bread to nibble on. I hadn’t realized how much longer we had ridden for, I guess I was in such a state of shock that I didn’t notice.

“Don’t worry my lady, everything will be fine. My brothers and our men are strong fighters. They’ll show them what clan Mackenzie is made of.” I still had questions swirling around in my head. Who were they fighting, and why? What did Graham mean when he said that I would be the first thing that HE would come for? 

“Angus, can I ask you something?” I watched as he swallowed another chunk of bread. 

“Anything my lady.”

“Who exactly is after us? I guess I still don’t understand.” 

“We normally never had problems whilst traveling back home. A few years back, the Frazier clan claimed that we took over part of their land. My father, who was Chief at the time, had proof that he had traded for it. Father had struck a deal with Chief Frazier senior when they were just lads. When Frazier senior died, his little s**t of a son decided to take it back from us. Highlanders aren’t known for giving up something that we know belongs to us, if a fight is what they want, then that’s what they’ll get.” He took another big bite of bread before continuing. 

“Frazier men sit on the border of all known territories and will pick a fight to pick a fight.”

It was starting to make sense, we had just entered new territory. We should be in MacKintosh territory, we must have gone further west when we crossed boundaries. 

“But what would this particular Chief want with me?”

“There are two answers for that question. Chief Frazier has a fascination with Bonnie lassies like yourself, he is known to take what he wants, no matter the cost, he also loathes my brother. He would have taken you for himself, no doubt about that.” 

My mouth went dry, I didn’t want to think about my fate if that were to happen. I am so thankful to these men for protecting me.

 Angus stood once he finished the last bite of bread. “We should move farther into the trees my lady, it’ll be dark soon, we’ll camp here tonight. If they are not back by first light, we will continue on home.” Angus stood and helped me up before he started carrying things to our new campsite. I grabbed Fergus and followed after him. 

“May I help?” He looked at me with confusion, it was not usual for ladies to want to help.  Angus shrugged his shoulders, “Sure, I’ll teach you some things along the way.”   

Angus showed me how to put up a tent, start a fire with two rocks and some dried brush. His biggest task was to teach me how to set traps and to hunt. After a couple hours, I eventually caught a rabbit in a trap that Angus helped me engineer.

 We sat around the fire I built and ate cooked rabbit under a blanket of stars. It was so quiet, the only sound was the occasionally hoot from an owl and the harmony of crickets that surrounded us, it was oddly calming considering that we were in the middle of the dark forest. 

Angus and I settled in for the night, Fergus had quieted down a bit. It was just the sound of our breathing now. 

“Angus, tell me about the MacKenzie village. Will they be open to having a former MacPherson?” Angus looked over at me with a smile. 

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if they are up in arms. I am your protection, if you ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable, I will neutralize the threat immediately. Don’t you worry about it.” I already felt safe around Angus, I knew that in my heart that he would do whatever it took to ensure my safety, he was much like his brother in that way. “Now, why don’t you get some rest my lady, I’ll keep watch.” 

I was awoken in the middle of the night, with an ache in my gut.  I looked around to see that Angus had disappeared. I heard some rustling behind me, my hairs stood up in alert and I immediately tried to calm myself. I tried to recall all the training that I had learned when I was a wee lass. 

I knew that Angus wouldn’t just leave me behind, I knew that he wasn’t too far. Fergus started to whinny and buck against his restraint. I sat up slowly and tried to survey my surroundings. I couldn’t see much, the fire had all but gone out, it was just a low glimmer now. I heard a twig snap in the tree line and instantly reached for the blade beside my pillow, I was so thankful that I knew how to use it. I heard the noise growing closer, I pushed myself up off the cold ground and walked behind Fergus, I was actually pretty well hidden, I wanted the element of surprise. 

There was a small silence before I heard this person exhale loudly. I sprang out from behind Fergus and flew my arm around his neck. I held the blade close to his skin, I could see the veins in his neck pop out. 

“Christ, my lady! It’s only me.” I heard Angus’s voice, he sounded scared. I relaxed my body and dropped the blade. It hit the ground with a clang. 

“s**t Angus, I’m so sorry. I woke up and you were gone, my instincts just took over.” 

“It’s alright my lady, at least I know that you can take care of yourself. I’m sorry for leaving you, I was just on the other side of the trees.” 

Then we both whipped our heads to the tree line. There was another rustling nearby. Angus took a step in front of me.

“Stay behind me my lady, don’t say a word.” I gulped a lump down, I was really hoping that it was a deer or another creature. I was too shaken to try that knife thing again. I had adrenaline coursing through my veins once more.

“Easy, it’s just us.” I felt my muscles turn to mush as I heard Graham’s voice come from the other side of the trees. I pushed past Angus and ran to his voice. 

Graham barely had time to react as I hurled my body at him. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground. “It’s alright my love, everything is fine. I figured you two would be here. This is our normal checkpoint.” He set me down on the ground and cupped my chin. “Are you alright lass?” I could feel tears springing to my eyes, I had so many emotions radiating throughout my body. I was just relieved that he was back in my arms. I stepped back a little, I hadn’t noticed his various cuts and scraps. There was a large bandage wrapped around his upper arm, it couldn’t contain the blood that was pooling beneath the wrap.

“I’m okay, just a little shaken, even more now that I see that you’re hurt.” Graham glanced over at his arm and shrugged his shoulders. I looked over at Angus with an apologetic look. 

“Oh don’t worry about me lass, tell me what happened while I was gone.” He had a sense of determination in his voice. I took a deep breath, I walked Graham through the last few minutes. His muscles relaxed when I told him about the blade and my gut feeling. 

“I’m glad that you’re alright. Now, we need to get some rest. The men will take first watch, I want to get you to bed.” Graham led me back over to the tent that I had set up earlier that evening. 

“Please don’t be upset with Angus, I knew that he wasn’t gone long, I just over reacted. And don’t think that we are done talking about your injuries.” Graham placed his arm on my lower back as we neared the tent. 

“I know that, but he shouldn’t have wandered away. I saw him walk back to you as we were approaching the camp site. He should have warned you at the very least. But don’t worry about that or me right now. Sleep lass, I’m here now.”

Graham helped me settle in before wrapping me in his arms. His lips met the skin on the back of my neck causing goosebumps to spread across my skin. It slightly tickled, but my arousal took over. It was the little things that made me want to jump on him. It was his featherlight kisses and his light touch that sent my body into a frenzy, he made me feel precious, like a small child being well taken care of. I knew that this was not the time for me to throw myself at him so I tried hard to fight my urges. I feel asleep with an aching in my belly. I could feel the heaviness in my eyes and the exhaustion in my bones. It didn’t take long for my body to succumb to the darkness.