The Scottish Princess

Poking the Beast

Fiona and I were taking far too long to say goodbye, I could tell that Graham was getting a little stir crazy as he finished strapping everything down. 

“Ready to go Prìseil?” Fiona and I reluctantly pulled apart and I cupped her chin in my palm, it was still too soon to say goodbye. I kissed her forehead and reached out for Graham’s awaiting hand. She watched me cautiously as I climbed up onto Fergus. I didn’t take my eyes off of her as Graham dug his heels into Fergus’s sides and we started to move. I watched from over my shoulder as I saw Callan come up behind Fiona and put his hands on her shoulders. I know that Callan was sad to say goodbye to his cousin as well, men just had a different way of showing it. 

When we were far enough away from the ridge I finally turned my attention to the horizon out in front of us. It was much colder than it was before, a light flurry filled the air around us. Graham and I didn’t talk much for most of the trip. I think that we were both lost in the scenery around us. I followed the lines of the mountains to the west of us and the peaks and valleys of the glen that flanked both sides of us. The rivers were just started to freeze, it was like watching them freeze in slow motion as we glided along the path through the woods.

When I woke the next morning, Graham was gone. I was surprised that he left me alone in the tent by myself. I didn’t think into it too much, I’m sure he was just busy with getting things ready with the men. I dressed quickly and packed up what what I could. I peered out in front and most of everything was already on the carriage. I wondered why Graham let me sleep for so long. 

I started to taking down the structure when Angus came up behind me. 

“Ye can leave that me lady, go get situated with the Chief.” I nodded my head and stepped out of the way. 

I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders as I reached the line of horses. Graham was already up in the saddle, he always helped me up first. I shrugged my shoulders to myself, I’m a big girl, I can get up on Fergus on my own. 

I reached up and grabbed hold of the strap, stepped in the stirrup and heaved myself up. I swung my leg over the other side and wrapped my hand around Graham’s stomach. He apparently didn’t welcome my touch because he stiffened when I interlocked my wrists. I felt the muscles in his back constrict and I heard him huff at the contact. I removed my hands quickly and anchored myself on the back of the saddle, I don’t know what was going on with him, but I didn’t want to poke the beast.

Graham kept completely silent as our journey continued. Normally we would be asking if I needed to stretch or if I was hungry or even cold. It wasn’t like him to just ignore me like this. Something was definitely off, but it looked like he didn’t want me to be privy to what it was. I rolled my eyes to myself, why are men so complicated, they always say they’re simple. That may be true, they are simple, until they need to express any kind of emotion.

I got lost in the scenery around me, it was such a vast country side that we rode through, so many rolling hills. The mountains in the far distance had bright white snow caps and you could her the babbling of a nearby stream, it was so peaceful here in the highlands. 

We rode until the sun went down,  it had cooled off even more when we finally decided to make camp for the night. We had small pockets of fires that surrounded our camp ground. Graham had even placed a coal heater inside of our tent so we wouldn’t freeze tonight. 

I don’t know what was wrong with me, but for some reason I didn’t feel like talking much. The laughs and stories of our men echoed off of the surrounding trees as I tried to sleep. Graham was late coming in as well, we were in a weird place today and I wasn’t sure why. I decided to leave it alone, maybe some space would help. Sleeping alone was not one of my strong suits, especially now that I was used to sharing a bed with someone else. It was difficult but I managed to drift off before Graham came back.

  I woke up with a small stream of light hitting my face, the flap to the tent was caught up on something outside. I turned to my right to see that Graham was sleeping alone against the far side of the tent. Knowing him, he would have scooped me up in his arms by now, I would have been much warmer and far more comfortable.  

I sat up on my elbows, I could hear hushed tones outside in front of the morning fire. Seeing as Graham seemed like he didn’t want anything to do with me, I pushed myself up off of my blankets and pulled my boots on over my thick wool socks. I wanted to help with breakfast if I could. 

I stepped out into the sunlight, despite the warmth from the sun, it was still quite chilly. I wrapped my blanket tighter around my shoulders as I side stepped logs and branches on the ground. Angus was the first to see that I was up. 

 “Ah mistress! Guid Mornin. Are you hungert?”  I surveyed the circle, Dugan was still not up but there was small handful of men that didn’t have plates yet. I raised my hand and shook my head.  

“I’m not hungry but you lads look famished. Let me fix you something.” The lads all smiled at the notion of me putting something together. “I’ll get the coals ready if you lads want to go find the meat.” 

A few stood and bowed their heads before scattering in between the trees.  I looked down at Angus, “don’t you want to hunt?” Angus looked up at me.

 “Nah me lady, I will stay here and protect ye.” I nodded at him and gave him a gentle smile before poking the fire. 

 I hooked the pot on the hook over the coals and poured some water and grain into the pot. Porridge was something easy and filling for the men. I was still surprised how quickly these lads could find food.  They came back with a couple rabbits and a squirrel or two. As I dished out the porridge, they prepared the meat. I had the skillet ready for the small pieces of meat from the rabbits. The squirrels were too small to slice so we placed them on the spit.

  I looked over my shoulder occasionally to see if Graham would wake, it had easily been 40 or so minutes since I came out here, he must be exhausted from all of the “excitement” the last couple weeks. I looked forward to having some normalcy back in our lives.  The men were rubbing their belly’s by the time I was finished with them. 

 “Thenk ye me lady, that was delicious, as always.” Angus tipped his imaginary hat in my direction.

  I curtsied slightly, “ye’re welcome. Why don’t you lads get the horses ready, I’ll see if I can rustle up me lord, we’re burning daylight.” 

They all bowed slightly before scattering to their duties. I poured a bucket of water over the flames before turning towards the tent where Graham still slept.  I poked my head in, he was still gently snoring. 

“Me lord?” There was still no movement so I took another step into the shelter. “Me lord? I saved ye some breakfast if your hungert.” I heard a small groan escape him as he flipped onto his back. He peered up at me through half closed lids.  

“What is it lass?” He had a slight edge to his voice, I don’t know why he was being so course with me. He didn’t have this attitude a couple days ago. I noticed his eyes began to close once more, he was not going to ignore me like this. I kicked his foot and his legs uncrossed at the ankles. He sat up suddenly with rage in his eyes. I stood my ground and crossed my arms in front of my chest.  

“Why is it that all of your men have been nothing but kind and gentle with me the last 24 hours and you are being a complete and utter arse?” My sternness did not help with his attitude one bit. He stared up at me with his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pressed into a hard line.  

“Who do you think that you’re talking to like that lass?” He slowly stood and squared off with me. He towered over me but I refused to waver.  

“I have done nothing to you to deserve this kind of treatment, if you want me to continue to obey you, then you need to show me some respect.” I rose on my toes so I was closer to his face. “I can make your life a living hell from now on.”

  Graham squinted his eyes at me, daring me to continue this charade. He grabbed me by the shoulders and picked me up off of the ground. 

“I am your lord, you will not speak to me in such a manner. I may treat you how ever I please, seeing as you running off risked all of our lives, I am quite cross with you at the moment. Not to mention...”

  He trailed off suddenly, I was so confused. He said that he wasn’t mad, he was just happy that I was alive and well, now he was saying that he is still cross with me? Maybe he had time to stew on it. His anger was clear, but there must still be more to this story.  He slowly lowered me down to the ground and pushed past me out into the cold, early winter air. I felt the tears prick the bottom rim of my eyes, I shook it off as quickly as I could. There was far too much to do, I needed to get us cleaned up and back on the road.

  I bent down and started to pick up blankets and shawls off the ground and neatly fold them. I made quick work with the tent’s structure as well. I piled everything up on top of the tarp and pulled the string so it all pulled together into a neat, little balloon. I scooped up the ruck sack and hauled it off towards the center of the circle. 

Angus met me halfway,  “Me lady! Christ, let me help you with that!” He ran the rest of the way, I must have looked like I was struggling. “Climb on up Mistress, we’ll get the rest.” 

I didn’t have the mental capacity to argue with him. I nodded my head silently and watched him toss the sack effortlessly into the wagon. I was just about to turn towards Fergus when I saw Graham walking towards him as well. 

On second thought, I would much rather ride in the wagon than be stuck on a horse with my arse of a husband. 

Angus noticed my hesitation, “Me lady?” I turned towards him and gave him a tight smile. 

“Actually Angus, I was wondering if I would sit in the wagon instead?”

 He c****d an eyebrow at me before casually glancing over my shoulder towards Graham. There was another small silence before he looked back to me. 

“As you wish me lady.”  

Angus extended his hand for me to take and helped me step up into the wagon. I knew that Graham was out of sorts, I didn’t want to make it worse by annoying him with my existence. I was barely settled in between the large bags of grain and produce before I heard the crack of the reins up ahead. We jolted forward towards the rising sun and headed home.