Page 96 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
She took a deep breath then snatched a warm cloak from her armoire and put it on, before grabbing a pouch with a few pennies in it that she kept by the side of her bed for emergencies. This was an emergency; she had to escape before her father came to fetch her.
Knowing that most of the staff would already be at the local chapel for the wedding, Norah hurried down the servants’ stairsand emerged into the kitchen, then stealthily made her way around to the stables. She looked around hurriedly and found a chestnut gelding who looked perfect for her needs. She was an experienced horsewoman and had the horse saddled in a moment. She took one last look at the house where she had grown up.
“Goodbye,” she whispered, grinning as she urged the horse out into the open. She felt the wind rushing up to meet her face, and at last she felt free, for the first time in her life. The sensation was intoxicating.
However, her jubilation did not last long, as she heard the ominous thundering of hoofbeats behind her. Looking back, she saw her father and her husband-to-be about a hundred yards away and gaining on her. Both were yelling at her, and although she could not make out the words, she knew they were both commanding her to stop.
She imagined for a moment that she was racing Tearlach, as she often did when she was much, much younger. His fiery red hair was streaming out behind him, his face grimly determined as he strove to catch up with her, but Norah always won, at least in her dreams.
“I am not going back!”she thought mutinously. “Not in a thousand years!”Norah was an accomplished rider, and when she urged her mount on, he responded by giving her a fresh burst of speed that left the two men far behind them. She had picked a good horse.
Norah knew what awaited her if they caught her: not only would she be married to the most loathsome man in the world, but she would have the wedding night from hell. The thought fired her determination and drove her on even faster.
Presently, the burn beside them took a bend to the right which took her out of sight of her pursuers, and she splashed through its shallow water and into the trees on the other side. The woods were not dense, but there were enough trees to make horse and rider invisible as they stood and watched Norah’s father along her betrothed canter past on the other bank of the stream.
Norah laughed softly as she saw the frustration on their faces, but she knew that she was not yet out of danger. As soon as the two men returned, they would enlist some willing friends and a few of her father’s guards to come and hunt her down. They might even bring the dogs they used for hunting. It was a frightening thought.
She did not have much time. She turned the horse’s head and headed north east towards the next big town, Perth, hoping it was a large enough place for her to get lost in. There were practical considerations like food, clothing and shelter to think of, but she could worry about those later. First she had to secure her freedom.
1
‘Thank god it’s summer!’Norah thought as she trudged along through the woods beside Loch Binnie. She had been traveling for two days wearing nothing but the beautiful but very impractical dress she had put on for her wedding, the wedding that had thankfully never taken place. She was exhausted, but she was persevering through sheer force of will. She had to: it was that or go back with her tail between her legs and marry a man she actively hated.
Norah had been lucky enough to find a decent horse to start her journey, but it belonged to one of the wedding guests. Since she knew that horse theft could mean a long prison sentence or even death, she had been obliged to set him free and hope that he made his way back home.
Norah was beginning to wish she had a pair of men’s breeches to wear. The wedding dress was now a ruin of its former self - stained with mud, its hem ragged and its lace sleeves so torn that they might as well not have existed. Her dainty wedding slippers were almost worn out. Clearly, silk shoes were not made fortramping along on muddy paths. That was a job for stout leather boots, but she had no hope of getting a pair of those.
Still, although summer days were never exactly balmy in the Highlands, they were a great deal better than winter, when traveling in her present clothes would have meant freezing to death in a matter of hours. Where would she be in winter, she wondered?‘Far away from here,’she thought grimly. She had tried to be hopeful, but hope was in short supply at the moment.
Fortunately, by the time nightfall arrived, Norah had arrived at a tiny village where she saw the sign for an inn. Her whole body sagged with relief. She still had her pouch with a few coins in it, and she counted them quickly. There would never be enough for a meal, a drink, and a bed for the night, and she still had to find clean clothes, unless…She looked down at the pearl necklace she was wearing. She knew that nobody would give her the real value for it, but it could buy her something, and she was desperate.
When she went into the inn, all the patrons sitting at the tables looked around at her in amazement, and a hum of conversation broke out. Norah felt her cheeks flush. She must look like a scarecrow, she thought, with her filthy, tangled hair, her tattered dress and muddy cloak. What did it matter, though? After she left, she would never see these people again.
The landlady, a plump woman in her middle years, came over to her and made her sit down in a rough wooden chair. She had a kindly face, and her bright blue eyes were shadowed with concern for this poor young woman who had staggered in out of the night looking as if she had escaped from bandits.
“What happened to ye, love?” she asked, frowning. “Were ye attacked?”
Norah shook her head, unable to speak for a moment, then she croaked, “can I have something to eat please? Anything. I can pay.”
The landlady disappeared and came back a moment later with a bowl of thick mutton stew, a big bannock and a cup of ale. Norah made short work of the food and asked for more. When she had finished her second helping, she sighed and managed a weak smile for the landlady, then paid her for the meal with a shilling that she had grabbed on her way out of her room. “I need a place to sleep, please.”
The woman frowned. “Can ye pay?” she asked warily.
“I have no more coin,” Norah was embarrassed and terrified. She had never had to beg before.
The woman shook her head regretfully. “I wish I could help ye, hen, but everybody has to pay, otherwise I would go out of business.”
Norah nodded, then reluctantly pulled out the gold chain she was wearing around her neck. She took the pearl off it and put it in her pouch, then held up the chain for the landlady’s inspection.
“I need a bed for the night, clean clothes and shoes, and breakfast in the morning. Will this do?”
“Aye, hen. It will,” the woman replied, grinning from ear to ear, her eyes glinting as she looked at the gold chain.
The clothes that Norah was given were too big, as were the shoes, but they were warm, even if they had been worn before. The landlady was delighted with her new necklace, put it on straight away, and was parading it in front of her customers before Norah left. Norah knew that she had been swindled, but she had also been desperate, and therefore an easy mark.
Sighing, she went on with her journey, reasoning that if she followed the edge of the loch it would take her to somewhere she could stop for another night, even if she had to sleep in a barn. She was not quite sure how she could feed herself. The only things she had left were the single pearl from the necklace and her mother’s wedding ring, which was pure gold with a solitary diamond embedded in it.
Norah had stuffed the ring down the front of her dress to keep it safe, but she would only part with it as a last resort. It was not only worth a lot of coin, but it was dear to her. The necklace had been her own, given to her as a rare gift from her father, but the ring was all she had left of the most wonderful, loving woman she had ever known. Her mother had died when she was only seven, and already Norah’s memories of her were fading, but she felt her love and warmth every day, even though she could no longer remember her face clearly.
