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He smiled for the first time on the whole journey.
‘I thank you for your service in bringing me home, Gormal.’
‘Fitheach is your home,’ he grunted. ‘I trust I will see you back there soon.’
Morna nodded, reading the judgement in his eyes. He thought her weak for forsaking Will, and how could he not?
Hating herself, she kicked her horse onwards and flew down the hill. Within moments, she was at the gates, shouting a greeting to the guards, who smiled in surprise and then waved her through. She skidded to a halt at the doors of Beharra.
Ravenna rushed out. ‘Morna, oh lass, is it really you?’ she said as she fair dragged her down from her horse and hugged her tight enough to crush ribs. ‘I thought not to see you for years. Oh, how we have missed you.’ Morna hung on tight as her tension seeped away in her sister-in-law’s comforting embrace. She closed her eyes, and her heart was calm for the first time in months.
When she opened them, it was to see Owen Sutherland, standing on the steps of Beharra, leaning on a crutch, and with such a look on his face as to make her shrivel up with shame.
Beside him was a woman, blonde and incredibly bonnie.
When Morna pulled free of Ravenna and went towards him, Owen swallowed hard and turned and hobbled back inside the keep, leaning on the woman’s shoulder for support.
***
‘What happened to Owen?’ she said to Ravenna as they stood shoulder to shoulder on the bridge over the river, watching autumn leaves drop from the trees above into the surging water. Ravenna had suggested a walk and Morna suspected it was to prevent her from running into the keep to confront Owen.
‘He fell from his horse and broke his ankle, so he must bide here until it heals, with much vexation on his part,’ she replied, bouncing her infant daughter, Fionn, gently in her arms to lull her off to sleep.
‘He despises me for what I did, Ravenna.’
‘Owen does not, for it is not in his nature, but you must give him a while to get used to the sight of you. It was a shock for him to see you, and he is in a terrible temper most days. It frustrates him that he cannot be gone and join the fighting. Owen came for the muster with his men, to meet with Cormac and Lyall, and, because of his ankle, they have all marched south without him.’
‘They are gone to Berwick. Are they part of the attack?’
‘I’ve heard nothing. There has been no word sent, but I fear the worst. And where is your husband, Morna?’
‘Gone to Berwick, to fight. I warned him that if he left me to go and fight then…’ Words failed her, and the tears came. She bit her lip hard as Ravenna folded her into her arms.
‘Oh, Morna what have you gone and done now, with all your stubbornness.’
Morna blurted it out, the whole sorry tale. When she had finished, she sniffed away her tears. ‘Will is risking his life, and here I am, running away. I told him I would not let him turn me into a weeping widow.’
‘You are no widow yet,’ said Ravenna. ‘Will knows how to save his own skin, and I am sure he is safe, Morna.’
A thought suddenly occurred to her. ‘Where is Drostan?’
‘Oh, that one, who knows?’ said Ravenna, rolling her eyes. ‘He comes and goes as he pleases and often takes himself off for days. Ever since Cormac offered him a place here, out of gratitude for bringing word of you, that young man has been a scourge on all the low-born girls around Beharra. There is not a farmer’s daughter or a kitchen wench that has not been interfered with, and I am fed up of having to scold him. He may look sickly, but his appetite for women is in rude health, I can tell you. I wish he would be gone as he is a thorn in my side and impossible to control, now Cormac is away fighting. At least he feared your brother. All I get is insolence. I even beat Drostan with a stick once, and it made no difference,’ she said, smiling.
Morna laughed at the thought. ‘I am afraid insolence is the Bain way.’
‘Aye well, I suppose we are stuck with him now, and all for nought, as it seems you wanted to be at Fitheach and not be rescued, which was not how he painted it.’
‘So, tell me Ravenna, who is that woman with Owen?’ said Morna as casually as possible.
‘Her name is Beigis, she is an old friend of mine.’
‘Not that old and very lovely.’
‘Aye, Beigis has always been blessed with beauty and love, for that is what is in her heart. Sadly, God has seen fit to break it. She stood by me and was the only true friend I had when I was growing up under my father’s disdain. She was wed to a good man and has two bairns by him, but, when he died, the Gowans tried to force her to wed another, so she had to flee Mauldsmyre and seek sanctuary here.’
‘Could she not have simply refused this man?’
‘Hardly, for it was Laird Ranulph Gowan who wanted to wed her. Aye, Morna, my half-brother has turned his cruelty on her, just as he did to you.’
