Chapter Two #2
“Seems so. Now I have to think of how to reprimand them.”
“Something will come to ye, Laird, it always does,” Aymer said.
“Since ye are here, I would give ye my report now. The sentry reported no trespassers whilst ye were gone except that they met the king’s messenger at the border by the blackened trees.
He gave them a missive for ye.” His guardsman handed him the sealed parchment and bowed. “If that be all?”
“Aye, go on, Aymer, seek your rest.” Breckin held the parchment and walked toward his aunt’s cottage.
When he returned from war or travel, he usually stayed in the soldiers’ barracks.
But this night, he wanted a comfortable, warm bed, and his aunt’s good cooking.
He reached her door in quick time and entered.
Breckin breathed deeply when he entered.
Clare was likely the best cook in the clan and she’d made something delicious.
Its scent wafted throughout the cottage and reminded him that he hadn’t eaten a decent meal in days since he’d been on the move.
On the approach to the kitchen area, he spotted his aunt who bent over and stirred a small cauldron atop a fire in the hearth.
When she heard a noise behind her, she gasped and dropped the spoon.
It ended up sinking in the stew. “Bloody hell, Breckin, ye frightened me half to death. Care to give a warning when ye enter?” His aunt, a thin-bodied woman, wore a wimple over the reddish-brown locks of her shoulder-length hair.
Deep blue eyes, the same as his mother’s, glared at him.
“My apologies, Clare, I did not mean to scare ye. I’ll be staying here this night. Is there enough stew for me?” He flashed a big smile in hopes that it would appease her.
“Of course, ye can stay, and aye, there is plenty for ye. Sit ye down at the table. Your brothers should come soon, for they haven’t eaten since early this morn. Their stomachs will coax them home.” Clare got another spoon and used it to retrieve the one that had fallen in the stew.
“I saw them. They will be here soon.” Breckin sat at the worn table nearby and allowed his tension to ease from him.
His aunt had been a godsend since his parents had passed to the hereafter almost two years before.
Clare aided him in caring for his siblings when his laird duties became more demanding.
With his sister Marian gone, that only left him and his two younger brothers.
Still, he had a good-sized clan to rule and oversee.
He tried to be a fair and just laird, training his brethren to become warriors renowned for their force and unwavering triumphs.
Try as he might, he had yet to think of a way to reprimand his brothers.
Their chastisement needed to be harsh and instill caution the next time they decided to perform addled feats.
He placed the parchment Aymer had given him on the table and heard the door open behind him with a creak.
His brothers stepped lightly until they reached the table.
“I did not. ’Twas your fault. Ye should have listened to me,” Connor groused.
“If ye did not push me, I would not have fallen through the—” Caden said.
“Shush, both of ye. Sit ye down and remain quiet,” Breckin said in a no-nonsense tone.
His younger brothers somewhat feared him.
That might well be a good thing since they bloody likely didn’t fear anyone else.
Now, how to punish them? “I will hear no excuses about your behavior this day. How many times have I told ye not to endanger yourselves? Ye risk your necks when ye do such things. Have ye no God-given sense? Nay, do not answer.”
Clare rushed forth and placed filled bowls of stew before them. Then she placed a basket of bread on the table and smiled. “Go on, eat your fill, lads.”
Breckin took a breath before he sentenced his brothers, knowing he had to be strict.
“On the morrow, ye will rise at dawn and retrieve water for the barracks and kitchen. Then report for arms training and stay there until midday. When ye are finished, ye will come here, eat your supper, and then go to the stables. Ye will clean every stall until your job is done, and Alton will tell me if ye did a fair job of it too. This is your sentence for the next fortnight.”
His brothers groaned but didn’t retort or make a complaint. They knew that it was futile. If they made a single grievance, he would make the punishment longer and more taxing.
Clare set before him a cup of ale and took a seat near his. “’Tis good to have ye home, Breckin. The lads missed ye. Oh, they will not tell ye so, but they did. And I am pleased ye are here because I have had my hands full of looking after them.”
“Ye should have accepted the maid’s aid when I offered it, Clare. She hoped to serve us.”
Clare snorted a laugh. “Oh? She hoped to serve ye, not me. I tell ye the lass is smitten with ye, Breckin, but ye are blind to it.”
“Amara’s attention was unwanted; besides, she is too young for me.
I am much too busy to be distracted by such unimportant matters.
Ye have only to say the word and I shall get ye help.
” Breckin suspected his brothers were too much for his aunt to handle, but she refused any support, even if the lassies had other motives in mind.
“I will not have other women in my home.” Clare glanced at him, shook her head, and returned her attention to her meal.
Breckin pressed the parchment open that he’d set on the table and read the lines.
His lips tightened at the words scrawled across the page.
The king had written the summons himself and bade him to make the journey to Edinburgh.
It was an odd request. Alexander had his fealty, for he’d sworn it before his entire court when the king had married Queen Margaret.
The matter must be important but it gave no indication of the situation or need.
He had only just returned home and had no wish to travel so soon. With his younger brothers’ misdeeds, trying to find out how Marian died, and handling the minor scuffles of other clans, he had no time to make such a tiresome journey. Yet no one refused the king and he had no choice but to go.
“I will be leaving on the morrow for Edinburgh, Clare. The king calls me. Whilst I am gone, I will have the lads stay with Gideon. He’ll reform these two.
” With that settled, Breckin picked up a spoon and ate the heavenly stew before him.
He abated his hunger with a large piece of bread and smeared it with a good amount of creamy spread.
After, he washed his meal down with the oversized cup of ale his aunt had poured for him.
“Well, I am gladdened to hear it. I could use a break from those two,” Clare said.
His brothers spooned up the stew, unspeaking, with their heads practically in their bowls.
He turned his gaze on them. “When ye are finished your supper, ye will go to bed. I will hear no noise from either of ye for the rest of the night.”
His brothers kept their mouths closed but they nodded to indicate they understood.
As soon as he finished his meal, Breckin left the cottage and ambled toward Gideon’s home to inform him of his departure.
When he reached the large, stone house, he knocked at the door.
It was opened by Hamish, Gideon’s wee lad.
He had his father’s likeness with his reddish hair and freckled face, and was a sweet lad, not one bent on giving his father heart pains with daring feats like his brothers did to Breckin.
“Get your da, Hamish.”
The lad disappeared and Gideon pulled the door open wider. “Oh, Laird, I did not expect to see ye again this night. I thought ye’d be at slumber by now.”
“Aye, I will seek my bed soon enough. I wanted to let ye know that I will leave for Edinburgh in the morn and bid ye to watch over my brothers whilst I am gone. They will stay here at night.” Breckin turned away and his commander followed him, rushing to catch up.
“Hold on, Laird… My wife might not be agreeable to that,” Gideon said.
“Since when do ye let your wife’s agreement dictate your duty?
” Breckin wanted to laugh at his challenge but remained somber.
“Clare needs a break from them. My brothers have caused a wee bit of hell since I’ve been gone and I need someone who can keep them in hand.
They have been duly punished and will only be in your cottage at night for sleep.
But I want ye to keep watch on them throughout the day. See that they do not kill themselves.”
“I suppose it will not be much of a hardship. Och, one day, Laird, ye will have a bonny wife who will grumble at ye as mine does to me,” Gideon said with a bellow.
“Well, fortunately for me, I do not have a wife. That is the last thing I need.”
“Aye, ye could already be wedded if the lass did not call it off. Do ye ever think of her?”
Breckin felt the pull of his brows as he scowled at his comrade.
“Who? Danella MacLaren? To tell ye the truth, I was gladdened when her family ended our betrothal. I was not ready to marry anyone at that time…” He hadn’t thought about his betrothal to the MacLaren woman for a while.
His parents had only died a year before and he was still trying to figure out how to be a father to his siblings and leader to his clan.
His betrothed had broken their clan’s pact with his, over a year before with no excuse.
Since then, the MacLarens feared the Buchanans as well, as they should.
With the ended treaty, there was no cause to support them, leaving them open to a rival’s havoc on their lands and against their clan.
Breckin had no sympathy for them because the MacLarens caused their own grief.
“Ye do not fool me, Breckin. I thought her the perfect wife for ye. Ye really should think about finding a wife soon to help ye rear your brothers. Aye, before ye get too old to satisfy a woman as well.” Gideon chortled and shoved his shoulder in jest.