Tess and the Highlander (16 page)

“Despite the ruggedness of the land, news
travels fast here. I would guess that as soon as we anchored and
came ashore, someone was heading this way with every last bit of
information they could collect about you.”

They rode in silence for a few minutes.

“I don’t know any of them,” she finally whispered
worriedly. “I cannot recall any names or faces.

“That worries you?” he asked.

“Aye. It troubles me greatly.”

Colin nudged his horse closer to her side. His boot
brushed against her leg, and his warm hand reached over and took
her freezing one. “You are returning to them, Tess. This is more
than anyone has done for them in eleven years.”

Tess wished she could consider this a consolation,
but she didn’t. As short a time as she had been at Benmore Castle,
she had seen in Lord Alec and Lady Fiona what a leader should be to
their people. She did not remember her father to be able to guess
what kind of laird he had been—or how well he had been respected by
his clan.

Her mother, however, had left and never gone back to
Ravenie. How could anyone care for their people by staying away for
so many years?

The track they were following crossed another path
ahead, and the two reined their horses to a halt. Colin let go of
her hand and turned to James as he approached.

“Turning to the right here will take us directly to
Ravenie Castle,” the older brother told Tess. “The path bends
around that forest grove and climbs to higher ground behind it. The
path we’re on goes straight over that brae through the farms and to
the old village and tower where the clan chief originally
lived…before the king gave permission for Ravenie Castle to be
built. So if you’d like to go to the Castle…”

“I wish to go straight.”

“We shall go wherever you wish to go.” Colin replied
with a nod, motioning the group to that direction.

She had lived a nearly solitary life for so many
years on the Isle of May. Now she realized that
place
had very little significance. It was
people
that mattered.

The trail they took wound up a rocky brae
toward an azure sky. With each passing moment, Tess’s anticipation
grew. At the crest of the hill, she brought her horse to an abrupt
stop as she stared at the squalor that lay before her in the
valley.

There were old huts made of stone and timber
and sod in various stages of disrepair beside a grove of tall
trees. Even from here, she could tell from collapsed thatched roofs
that many were deserted. Though some fields had been planted, more
lay fallow. She urged her horse down the slope behind Colin’s
steed. The land looked to be good for grazing, though there were
few sheep and even fewer of the red, shaggy cattle she seen so many
of around Benmore Castle. A wide stream snaked through the
countryside.

In a few moments, they’d drawn near the
first of cottages nestled into the side of the brae.

“Where do you think these people have gone?”
Tess asked, eyeing the burned hut. A flap of stiff, blackened
leather hung by a single strand in the doorway of the abandoned
cottage.

“Crofters won’t stay where they are
unprotected.” Colin waited as she rode closer to the buildings.
“These folks might have moved down into the village.”

Protection. These people had no
protection
.
Tess felt the knot tighten in her stomach. She followed Colin as he
continued on down the path. James pushed ahead of the others to
ride beside them.

“Beyond that glen just ahead, the village lies.
Would you like me to send a couple of men before us?” he asked
Tess. “I shall go myself to tell the village folk that you are
coming.”

She shook her head adamantly. “I don’t want a
prepared welcome.”

“I shouldn’t worry much about that.” Colin said.
“But without giving them any warning, there is no telling how
they’ll…”

“Please don’t,” she interrupted gently. “I
appreciate your offer, though. But I cannot ask for their
acceptance. I have to earn it.”

Tess pushed past the two brothers and slowly
continued toward the village. She had thought the greatest test of
her courage would be facing her mother. But this was much
harder.

She took one last look at the abandoned farm.
Suddenly, there seemed to be so much more at stake.

A moment later, she heard the hooves of the
Macpherson horses behind her. She turned in her saddle and found
Colin and James riding right behind her. Tess took strength from
Colin’s reassuring nod.

At the crest of a hill beyond the glen, she
reined her mare again to a halt. At the bottom of a long gentle
slope, beside a broad creek, lay a partially ruined tower house.
Stretching out from what had once been a stone curtain wall, a
cluster of fifty or so cottages formed a village on both sides of
the water. On this side of the brook, at some distance from the
outer line of huts, an orchard of fruit trees ran in neat rows up
the hillside, and a small herd of the shaggy, red cattle grazed in
open pastureland. On the other side of the valley, she could see
good-sized flocks of sheep and newborn lambs.

“That is Ravenie to your right.”

At James’s announcement, Tess looked past
the village. There, Ravenie Castle loomed proudly on the high
ground overlooking the countryside. From this distance, she could
see no sign of the fire, no indication that there ever was any
damage.

Tess looked back at the fields and at the
briskly running stream and, finally, at the village. “You say the
Lindsay chieftain once lived at the tower house?”

“Aye. They call it the Tower. The castle
itself is only as old as your father would have been. I believe
your grandfather built it.”

The happy shrieks of children drew Tess’s
gaze back to the huts, and the edges of her mouth turned up in a
smile as she watched a dozen, small, barefooted urchins running in
playful pursuit of a dog. She wondered if in her own childhood, she
had been allowed to come and play in the village.

Tess’s attention turned to the groups of men
and women who seemed to have stopped the planting they were doing.
They were all staring up the hill in their direction.

“They won’t be afraid of Macpherson men,
will they?” she asked James, suddenly concerned.

“Macphersons have never raided these lands
before. And in times of hardship, many Lindsay crofters have
traveled west and taken shelter among our people. There is no
reason for them to be fearful now.”

But some of the Lindsays seemed definitely
agitated, Tess thought. She watched as a number of them started
quickly down toward the village.

She led her horse through the groves of
fruit trees that lined the steep hillside. The rest of the group
followed behind her. Breaking out of the trees into one of the
upper pastures, Tess reined in her mount and called a greeting to
half a dozen workers who were watching the riders approach.

None raised a hand in welcome. None called a
greeting. And the Macphersons were not the object of these people’s
hard stares. Tess was.

She swallowed the painful knot of disappointment
that was threatening to choke her and rode slowly past the silent
throng.

“Perhaps we should go to the castle first,” James
suggested.

“She has to face this. ‘Tis best that she do it
now,” Colin said in answer to his brother. But Tess could have
spoke them, as well. She was glad that he understood.

As they approached the village, she could see more
people coming down from the fields to the edge of the path.
Regardless of whether they were man or women or a child, their
expressions were the same…and they were far from friendly. An
arrowshot from the edge of the stream, as dozens of onlookers
watched, Tess climbed down from her horse.

Colin and James reined their steeds in
beside her. She handed the reins to James. The rest of the
Macphersons were lined up behind their leaders.

“I would like to walk from here alone.”

Colin instantly opened his mouth to object,
but then closed it without a word.

“I just ask for a little time,” she said
softly, reaching up and taking his hand. “This is all part of what
I have to face…alone.”

He nodded, but his fingers held on to hers
for an extended moment before he finally let her go.

Tess turned to face her destiny.

Straight ahead, she could see that the
narrow road that led to the ruined tower house was crowded with
people. Tess took a deep breath and stepped toward the eerily
silent assembly.

The same children that had been running
happily before now moved to stand beside their elders. Tess looked
down at the bare feet and dirty faces, at the rags that they wore
as clothes. This close, she saw other things, as well. The look of
hunger was pronounced in some faces. There was illness in others.
There was also curiosity and caution and even despair.

She looked hard at the poor condition of the
cottages…and she knew. What she saw here was so different from what
she’d seen at Benmore Castle. These people had clearly been ignored
and neglected by those who had promised to protect them. For too
long the people themselves had been abandoned.

As Tess approached the first line of cottages, a
scrawny dog of black and tan approached, hackles up and growling in
obvious nervousness. Without retreating a step, Tess held out her
hand, palm flat, welcoming the animal and his scrutiny. After a
moment of sniffing, the dog wagged his tail and retired to his
owner with the air of a victorious warrior.

With her head held high and her back straight, Tess
walked farther down the road. With every step, she met people’s
gazes, and they made way for her. Almost to the tower house, she
came upon a market cross. She stopped and turned around as the
crowd closed in behind her. She turned completely around and looked
into the circle of faces.

“I am Tess,” she said gently and yet loudly enough
for everyone to hear. “Most of you do not know me. Or if you do,
you may only remember me as a child.” She took a deep breath and
tried to will away the doubts that were chilling her bones.

“I left here…” She shook her head. “I left
there
.” She pointed to the castle on the ridge. “I left
there eleven years ago…the same night that my father was
killed.”

Tess cleared her throat and struggled to organize
her thoughts and her words. But everything had become a jumble of
emotion within her.

“I don’t know if ’twas the tragedy that I witnessed
here or what happened during a terrible sea storm after, but when I
washed ashore on the Isle of May, I had no memory of who I was or
where I had come from.” She looked into somber faces. “I was found
by an old couple that were the keepers of St. Adrian’s shrine. They
were the folk I stayed with for all these years.”

An old man leaning on a crutch nodded instantly at
the mention of the shrine.

“While there, I thought ’twas my fate to remain
forever on that island, taking care of a handful of sheep and a
weary pilgrim or two every summer. I thought that was the life I
was destined to live. And I would have done exactly that if it had
not been that the youngest son of the Macpherson laird had one day
washed ashore, as well.” Tess glanced in the direction of Colin. He
was sitting on his horse, eyeing the crowd warily. James and the
other Macpherson men sat behind him

“’Twas he who identified the Lindsay brooch I had.
’Twas he who made me realize my nightmares of fire and horror were
really a part of my past.” Tess looked at Colin again, and her
voice softened. “And ’twas he who told me that all of you were
still here.”

She looked at the faces again, held their gazes,
sought their response. “I was made to realize that I was not alone,
as I thought. That perhaps if I were to seek the people of the
Lindsay clan, that if I were to explain to you that I was no
different than you, that I too had been displaced and abandoned for
the past eleven years…then perhaps you would take me back. Perhaps
I would be given the opportunity of finally knowing my own
people.”

Silence once again threw its heavy wing over the
crowd. Tess managed to hold back the tears despite the desperation
that twisted her insides. The group continued to stare.

Then, a shuffling sound came from her left. She
turned and saw an older man pushing through.

“My name’s Robbie. I was the cook up at the castle
when ye were a wee lass. I remember ye clutching at the skirts o’
yer nursemaid, Elsie, and following her everywhere about the
place.” The man leaned his weight heavily on a stick that he was
using for walking.

The memory was vague, like a scene she had perhaps
imagined, but Tess voiced it. “I remember falling over a bucket of
water and oats and nearly putting out the kitchen fire.”

“Ye didn’t fall, lassie. Ye jumped.”

A rumble of laughter rolled across the crowd.

“Ye were always sure to be into a bit of mischief
when ye were a wee thing.” A middle-aged woman announced with a
smile from the opposite side of the gathering. “I was one of the
serving lasses that would come up daily from the village. I
remember the day ye were trying to climb down the wall of the
castle from yer room. Ye were caught on a ledge halfway down and
didn’t know to go up or down…and at the same time ye were refusing
to cry for help.”

Tess had never been afraid of climbing the cliffs on
the May, and now she knew that her adventurous spirit had its
origins here. “I wish I could remember your name.”

“Lil.” The woman smiled affably. “I fetched one of
the grooms. ‘Twas Rory. The two of us helped you down.”

“I was the one she fetched.” A man standing next to
her said. “Ye were worried about some birds that were nesting on
the ledge outside your window, lassie. D’ye remember?”