Highland Rising by Anna Markland

Author:Anna Markland
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Highland
Published: 2019-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

Gray was troubled as he surveyed the army encampment below Rothesay castle. As in Kintyre, tents were pitched wherever there was space, with little regard for form or order. Men sat around campfires; shrieking bairns chased each other hither and yon, seemingly oblivious to their mothers’ admonitions to behave. Horses, donkeys, chickens, and goats wandered at will, foraging where they could. A few moorland sheep had ventured into the midst—a risky proposition given the presence of so many hungry mouths to feed.

It was an anthill without a queen.

“I’m thinking we may as well give up on the mission,” he told Faith. “There’s scant chance the Rising will succeed at this rate.”

“Should ye speak to Fergus first?”

He scanned the encampment. “Aye, but I havena seen him for a few days.”

“I think he left Tairbeart before we did,” Giles croaked.

“Yonder a spot,” the younger Domnall Laing declared as he joined them. “Follow me.”

Gray watched with amusement as Faith helped Margaret and her bairns shoo two stubborn goats and a sheep away from a grassy clearing. Katrin had a fire lit by the time the tents were pitched.

He understood Faith’s growing affection for the Laings. They were hardy, taciturn folk, but they cared about others and had taken the “newlyweds” under their wing from the outset.

Breaking bread with them, sharing the hardships and the workload had become accepted rituals, as had the nightly gathering around the campfire.

“Seems every inhabitant of Rothesay has fled the town,” the older Domnall remarked, sucking on his pipe. “Terrified of the earl’s Highlanders.”

Gray had grown up with his grand uncle’s Glenheath Highlanders, and knew them as hardworking, loyal and honorable men. One had saved his father’s life years ago. His sister was married to a Highlander. However, voicing his high regard for Highlanders might lead to questions he didn’t want to answer and raise doubts about his background.

The flickering flames lit the uncertainty on Faith’s face and he sensed she too wanted to protest that not all Highlanders were destructive thieves. He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. The burning wood crackled and hissed. The wind carried the smoke towards them, making Giles and the Laing bairns cough all the more. Faith buried her head against Gray’s shoulder and he blinked away his own watery tears.

Giles scrambled to his feet. “I’m for bed,” he rasped, disappearing into the tent.

They sat in silence for a while after the wood caught and the smoke cleared.

Male voices raised in anger indicated arguments had broken out elsewhere in the encampment. Bairns wailed.

“I heard they’ve set up a whisky still,” Katrin said. “The devil’s own brew. There’ll be many a bruised knuckle and broken nose this night.”

Gray licked his lips. He wasn’t overly fond of strong spirits, but a warming tumbler of whisky was tempting. So was returning to Kilmer and putting an end to this pointless, dreary exercise. The only bright spot was Faith’s abiding optimism.

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