Page 5 of Highland Sky

Chapter Two

Kellina’s heart overflowed with grief for the dead members of her clan. All she wanted was revenge on the Sutherlands who had devastated Clan MacKenzie. Looking around their camp, she felt as if she were living a nightmare. The charred remains of their thatched roofs stared back at her while the ominous sky behind it told her it was about to rain. All of their belongings in their living spaces were about to get soaked.

It had been just days ago when the Sutherlands attacked, stealing most of their livestock, killing their people, and burning the roofs of their homes.

Kellina had insisted on being trained as a warrior after the deaths of her parents, so she had fought in this battle as well. She was good with a sword. Being a girl was an advantage since her attackers didn’t feel threatened by her. But they should have. She managed to bring down more than one of the Sutherlands, and even protected one of the young children of the clan from being killed. She had also scarred the face of their chieftain, Iver Sutherland, although she failed to kill him.

It didn’t matter that she was a woman. Kellina was good at many things – one of them being able to help protect her clan. For this, she was proud.

The cottages still smoldered, sending acrid smoke in tendrils up into the sky like a signal of distress, even if no one would see it or respond. The roofs of their homes were gone now, the thatch having burned quickly. Since the buildings were made of stone, they were not really harmed, but some of their belongings inside had caught fire as well.

Kellina looked up to the hills where less than a third of their livestock still grazed. The rest of the Heilan Coo – long-haired, Highland cattle and Blackface sheep had been taken by the Sutherlands, leaving them with barely enough to survive. She was sure they’d never have enough food to last throughout the winter. Not when their enemies burned the crops as well.

She let out a deep sigh, wondering how they were ever going to recover from this devastating blow. It would be hard, but they would manage. They had to survive. She needed to stay strong for the clan since too many, including their chieftain, had already seemed to lose hope.

Most of the damage could be fixed. What couldn’t be reversed was the fact that she’d lost her aunt and two cousins, as well as some good men from the clan in this deadly battle.

“Uncle,” she said, approaching Ciaran, the chieftain of the clan. Broken shards of dishes crunched under her feet as she walked toward him. Women and children wept and moaned as they mourned their dead loved ones that were buried up on the side of the mountain. They slowly picked through the ruins, trying to salvage as much as they could. This once beautiful and virgin land was now desecrated in more ways than one, looking like the bowels of hell.

“Kellina, come here, lass,” said Ciaran, who wasn’t really her uncle, but she and her siblings called him that. He and his wife had taken them in twelve years ago after the death of her parents.

Ciaran’s weary eyes sought her out. She could tell the life from within him was draining quickly, and not just from the state of the camp. Her heart went out to him to have had to endure so much loss all at once. His leg and also his side had been stabbed during the battle. His body was bruised and beaten. Kellina had sewn up his wounds and wrapped them as well, but the man walked with a crutch and a bad limp. She wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to recover completely. He would be of little use now, should another battle arise. But even with his physical challenges, the worst was what he’d have to endure mentally. This battle seemed to have broken his spirit and she wasn’t sure he’d ever get over the loss of his wife and two daughters.

She hurried over to him, slipping her arm around his waist in a half-hug. He was the closest thing she had to a father although, for some reason, she’d never felt close to him at all. He and his late wife, Lorna, had raised her as their own since the time she was naught but a young child.

“Walk with me, Kellina. To pay respect.”

“Nay, Uncle,” she protested, her eyes scanning the height of the hill. “Ye canna walk up the mountain to visit their graves,” she told him. “No’ in yer condition. We should have buried them down here instead, as I suggested.”

“Nay, never!” This was the first amount of life she’d seen in him since the battle. “This is where they died. I couldna bury them in the same place.” His sad eyes scanned the ground that had been covered in spilled blood. “They will rest in peace now up on the virgin hill, as they should. Now, they will look down on us, and watch over us as well.”

For days now, her uncle had done nothing but mourn. She felt his pain, but their clan was suffering and needed him to lead them. They needed to rebuild. They needed to replant the crops. And most of all, they needed to know that there was hope that they would survive this, and never have to endure something so wretched again.

Kellina knew what had to be done. She also realized it was she who had to do it.

“We need to start rebuildin’, Uncle,” she told him, wondering if he would even hear her since he was so lost in such deep thought. “Before the winter comes,” she continued. “It is still early enough. We have time.”

“I’m no’ sure it will make a difference.” He stopped, and sat down on a stump by the cooking fire, resting his face in his hands. “Nay. It’s no use. They’ll only come back for more, I’m sure of it. Next time, we willna be able to stop them from takin’ what little we have left. We’ll die along with the rest of them, Kellina.”

“Haud yer wheesht,” she shouted, not liking to hear her uncle speak in this way. “Ye are the ruler of this clan, so start actin’ like it.” She wasn’t afraid of much, and didn’t fear the consequences that might occur from her speaking to her chieftain this way. “Ye need to stop mournin’ the dead and start celebratin’ the livin’ instead.”

“What?” His head snapped up and his gaze seemed feared. “This is no time for celebratin’, lass, and I canna believe ye think so.”

“I meant no disrespect to our dead, or ye, or even the clan, Uncle. I am sorry.” She slowly reached out and rested her hand on his shoulder. He felt hot, and his muscles beneath her fingers almost seemed to tremble. “I only meant that our thoughts now should be on those who survived. I understand how hard this is for ye. I have lost my parents, and ken how much pain ye are feelin’ right now. This may never truly pass, but we have the others of the clan to think about, too. We are all in a bad way.”

“I ken what ye are sayin’.” He gently pushed her hand from his shoulder, shaking his head and looking at the ground. “However, I canna think of anythin’ but Lorna and the girls. Those barbarians struck them down to weaken me, takin’ their lives before my eyes. It all happened so fast that I couldna get to them in time to save them. God’s eyes, lassie. Lorna and the girls couldna defend themselves the way ye can. They were weak and vulnerable. They had no chance at all. What kind of men would kill women and children?”

Kellina didn’t answer that. While her cousins had been nearly as old as she, her uncle would always think of them as children. Either way, it was wrong that anyone should attack them. Her uncle was right about that. It made her very angry.

Kellina scanned her surroundings, feeling like she didn’t know this place anymore. Everyone seemed to have lost their spirit. The men that had survived were mostly injured, and the women and children were so frightened that all they did was cry. They truly were weakened, but she refused to be defeated. If only the rest of their clan had been present, instead of away at a trade fair, then mayhap they would have had a fighting chance. Even so, it was important that she convince her uncle not to give up.

“Well, I see their plan worked. Especially on ye.” Her words were harsh, but she figured that mayhap a shock was what the man needed to snap him out of this daze he was in.

Ciaran took his hands from his face and stared up at her. His body was bruised and scarred, and one of his eyes was so swollen that it would barely open. “What is yer point, lass? If ye have somethin’ to say, then be out with it, or hold yer tongue.”

“Ye’ve let the Sutherlands break ye, Uncle. I have never seen ye so weak as now. Ye need to do somethin’ to make things right,” she told him, pacing back and forth. “We need to make the Sutherlands pay for what they did. We should strike them down when they least suspect it.”

“Kellina, ye ken that most of our clan is away right now at the trade fair, and we are severely weakened without them. That is why the Sutherlands attacked when they did. They kent we were no match for them and greatly outnumbered.”