Page 21 of The Iron Highlander
“Aye, I’ve noticed it too,” Lily replied.
“So?” Willow asked. “The Laird isn’t really happy with her right now.”
“Keep yer voice down before she hears ye,” Freya scolded Willow, and she obliged. Freya continued, “They both like each other, but Kate thinks wrong of the Laird, and he is still upset about what she said to him. But if we can get…”
Freya stopped talking as she noticed someone by the door behind them. The girls turned around just in time as the Lady of the McDonald estate walked in on them. Grear had a smile on her face, and a look that filled Freya with fear. She was not sure what the woman would say, or what she had heard, but if she had been listening long enough, she would be able to put things together.
“Lady Grear,” the girls greeted.
“What are we doing all gathered here?” Grear asked with a knowing look.
“We were just talking about our sister,” Freya replied quickly.
“Yes, I heard,” Grear replied. “I heard everything Freya, and I believe I should be a part of yer plan.”
Willow looked from Grear to Freya, confusion etched on her face, “Wait, Freya, I never heard yer plan.”
“I haven’t said it yet,” Freya turned back to Grear, “But if we let ye in, you have to swear secrecy, along with us. Kate has a good heart, and she was just a little upset, she meant no harm, I am sure of it.”
Grear nodded. “I know, I care for all of ye girls, as I would my own daughters. I want Kate to be happy, just as I want my boy to be happy too, and if this is what ye propose, then I think we should try it.”
Lily smiled as she made sense of it, but Willow still struggled to understand. She looked back and forth between everyone present at the meeting as they all smiled at each other. “I have nae idea what is going on! What are we planning?”
“If ye keep raising yer voice, it’ll no longer be a secret, ye dobber,” Lily replied before moving her hair out of her face. “We are going to set Kate and Reuben up, and make them fall in love.”
Chapter 11
The soundof the hooves beating against the floor filled her ears as she rode furiously. Kate had gotten a horse from the stables and headed a fair distance from the estate. After breakfast with the family, she had seen Reuben, who had once again, completely ignored her. Upset by his behavior, she borrowed a horse from Hudson, along with a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and decided to head out.
“Where are ye going?” Freya asked, staring at her as she got on the horse.
“To clear my head,” Kate replied before kicking the horse and heading out.
She rode hard for several minutes, keeping the castle directly north of her as she went into the woods that lay just behind the estate. Once she was certain she was out of earshot of the McDonald estate, she leashed up the animal and left herself a mark which would tell her what direction was home when shegot back. She decided that she would practice with the bow, as she needed to remember how to shoot.
Kate had stopped using the bow ever since her mother died. Not because she did not have access to one, but because Sweeney had made sure that she was never able to use it anymore. He forbade her from practicing, and when he caught her out in the woods practicing in secret, he had her brought back to the estate where he beat her with the bow, and cut the bowstring right in front of her.
“If I ever see ye with a dangerous weapon like this ever again, Katherine, I’ll break the bow over yer head, stab ye with the bolt and make sure ye never leave the walls of this castle ever again! Ye hear me?”
Willow, Freya and Lily had watched from the window of their room as their sister had been beaten in the rain like some misbehaving animal. Kate had decided to practice, not only because she could, but because they would need the skill when they finally left the McDonald house. Kate had been considering their options, and she knew they had overstayed their welcome.
Grear and Reuben had done their best and kept them for so long, but Kate knew they had to leave. She had considered taking her sisters south towards the shoreline. If they could find a village by the shore, at some point, they would be able to get on a boat which would take them further inland, and they would finally be out of reach of their mad uncle.
She walked through the trees looking around at the forest until she came to a clearing. In the middle, she found that she was surrounded by trees on all sides. Taking an arrow, she walked to each tree that surrounded the clearing and made a circle using the arrow on the bark on the tree, making sure she would be able to see the circle from the clearing.
Once she had marked several trees, she made it back to the clearing and took a deep breath, pulling an arrow into the bow and aiming at the one right in front of her. She lifted her arm and made sure that her line of sight was aimed at the center of the circle on the tree, and she shut her other eye to focus. She listened for the sound of the forest, trying to bring back her mother’s guiding voice to her ears back when she was being thought as a child
Steady with the bow, she let loose. The arrow flew through the air and hit the tree which she had aimed at and Kate smiled. She turned around, making a one-eighty and in one swift motion, she pulled another bolt from the quiver, knocked it into the arrow and fired at the tree directly behind her. She hit the edge of the circle, just outside of it. Not wanting to dull her momentum, she quickly pulled out another and fired at the tree beside it and missed entirely. The arrow went through a bunch of leaves and a creature somewhere in the woods let out a grunting sound before running off.
Kate realized that there was some wild creature out in the forest with her, and if she could take it down and bring it back to the castle, she would gain a lot of respect in the eyes of everyone back home. She quickly pulled her arrows from the trees and began moving towards where she had heard the sound comefrom. As she got to the point where the third arrow had hit, she saw it had gone up high on a tree, to a point where she could not retrieve it from.
However, looking down, she noticed the hooves of the creature in the dirt below, and a close look told her that she was chasing after a wild boar. She followed the trail, looking up ahead with an arrow in the bow, as she prepared to take down the beast. The creature kept a good pace, staying several meters ahead of her. Due to the density of the forest, she could only get brief glances of the creature. But after several minutes of stalking her prey, the deep black skin of the boar was clear for her to see.
She shut her eye and aimed at the creature, getting ready to release the bolt. Just before she did, the sound of hooves getting close to her reached her ears and she froze, along with the creature. She turned back to see the horse riding straight for her. Kate quickly moved to the side, looking to hide from the rider. Her heart skipped a beat as this was the first time she was truly far from the castle and alone. If there was someone from the McGowan estate looking to get her, this would be the best time to capture her.
Kate turned the arrow to the rider, waiting for his face to break out of the branches that covered them from view. Once they did, her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the face. Reuben was on the back of the horse, and the moment their eyes met, he raised his hands as though he was scared she would shoot. Kate sighed, turned around to see the boar which she had been following, but the sound of the hooves had chased the creature off, and her prey was long gone.
“Great! Ye chased away my hunt!” Kate yelled.
