Chapter 16
“Ye ought to go with her.”
Callum glanced over his shoulder, lifting his eyebrows.
“What business is it of yers, Lucas?”
Lucas lounged in the doorway to the stables, arms crossed.
For the past half hour, Callum had enjoyed peace and quiet, concentrating on grooming Thunder.
In his mind, he and Thunder galloped over the high hills outside the keep walls.
He had gone outside before, hadn’t he? The expanse of sky hadn’t always filled him with such terror, had it?
Lucas’ voice brought him neatly back down to earth. Thunder huffed, pushing his nose against Callum’s shoulder.
“They’re makin’ arrangements to go into town for the festival,” Lucas explained. “Kat is goin’ with Melody, but Lady Sophie is too tired to go.”
“I would have felt better if Grandmother had gone. She kens the land, and she kens the people.”
As he spoke, Callum was aware of an uncertain sensation in the pit of his stomach. He imagined Melody and Kat venturing out of the Keep gates, alone, cloaked, and huddled against the encroaching darkness.
It wouldn’t be enough.
“They are takin’ guards, aye?”
“Of course,” Lucas responded. “But the men will likely disperse once they get to the festival. Ye ken how crowded these things can get. Ye ought to go.”
He stiffened. “I cannae. I have work to do here.”
“Ye could put off yer work.”
“Lucas, enough.”
“I am not tellin’ ye what to do, me Laird,” Lucas amended, almost apologetically. “And I daenae think that I am suggestin’ anythin’ ye have nae already considered. But it would keep the lasses safer if ye were to go. Much safer.”
Callum bit his lip and said nothing.
“I did nae think she’d want to go after all,” he said at last. There was no need to specify who she was. “I assumed she’d realize that there would be many people wanting to talk to her, and she might regret it.”
“I think perhaps ye underestimated her.”
“Aye. It seems I do that a lot,” Callum murmured meditatively. “But ye ken I daenae go to places with people anymore. This is where I need to be.”
Lucas inclined his head. “Aye, but it would be good to get the council off yer back for a while. Goin’ to the festival will please them. Angus has been suggestin’ this for years. Besides, since yer bride is a sassenach, she willnae be used to how people act here. They willnae be used to her.”
“Now ye are underestimatin’ her,” Callum observed. “Whatever comes her way, I am sure she can handle it.”
Lucas was quiet for a moment. He hated debates and disagreements of any kind, Callum knew well. Even so, Lucas would never shy away from speaking bluntly, not when he thought it was necessary.
Perhaps I’m makin’ a mistake, not listenin’ to him more carefully. Perhaps I should listen to Angus, too.
He stepped back, inspecting Thunder. The horse’s coat and mane shone glossily, all the knots combed free, perfumed and clean. He smoothed a palm over Thunder’s shoulder, and the horse nudged his shoulder in return.
“She will be fine,” he said aloud. “She doesnae need me help.”
“Are ye tryin’ to convince me, Thunder, or yerself?” Lucas responded.
Callum didn’t answer.
The festival began after sundown, Kat had said. They passed through the Keep gates just as evening began to draw in.
“There’s nay point takin’ the carriage,” Kat explained, tugging her plain cloak tighter around her shoulders. “Because it’s only about a mile’s walk, and ye cannae take the carriage through the trees.”
“I daenae ken where I’m goin’; I hope ye can guide me,” Melody confessed.
“Of course. Are ye excited?”
“Nervous, more like.”
Nervous was an understatement. Anxiety tensed her stomach, and had been doing so all day.
Melody had picked at her dinner, unable to summon up any appetite, no matter how much Sophie teased her.
The rain and wind had died down, but the air was still icy, the ground muddy and spongy under their feet.
She’d chosen a plain, dark blue gown to wear today, simple and unobtrusive, and Kat wore her usual green healer’s dress with the hem lifted up as usual. Melody found herself wishing that her hem could be lifted up in such a way as they trudged through muddy puddles and twigs caught at her skirts.
A handful of guards followed them, talking in low voices and barreling carelessly through the trees. Melody didn’t know any of them, but Kat seemed to know them all by name, so that was reassuring. They were armed, but nobody seemed tense or alert.
They aren’t expecting trouble.
Overhead, stars were beginning to appear, glittering one by one into view. The trees obscured most of the night sky, but tendrils of moonlight were now glimmering through the branches, offering a little light to supplement the lantern Kat held.
They had left the wide, paved road about ten minutes ago, and now their path was a narrow dirt track, knobbed with roots and stones sticking out of the soil.
“If we were goin’ to the village proper, we’d take the paved road,” Kat explained. “But the festival is always held in a large clearin’ about half a mile from the middle of town. It’s quicker to cut through this way.”
“I see. It’s very dark.”
“Aye, but that means the lights will only look more beautiful.”
“Lights?”
Kat looped an arm through Melody’s grinning. “Aye, ye will see.”
They walked on in silence for perhaps another ten minutes, the distant sound of chatter and laughter getting closer and closer. Quite abruptly, without any warning, they stepped out of the trees and into a wide, well-lit clearing.
It was almost like stepping into a fairy feast.
Long tables stretched across the space, mostly grassy, interspersed with bare ground where countless feet had worn away the greenery over time. Planks had been laid across the muddiest parts of the ground, providing narrow, rickety pathways.
The tables were full of food. Roast meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese, cake, and more. A few people already sat at the tables, eating and talking, but most were on their feet, mingling.
Amid the noise and chaos, nobody even noticed when Melody and Kat stepped out of the trees. A handful of musicians played at the opposite end of the clearing, with boards laid together in front of them to make a proper dance floor.
“Is that a fiddler up in the tree?” Melody whispered. “How can she even play like that?”
“I believe she thinks it makes the music drift to more ears,” Kat laughed. She turned to the soldiers, who’d followed them out of the trees, and gave a nod. “We’re here now. Ye can all mingle, if ye like. Eat, drink, have a wee dance. I’ll let ye ken when we wish to return.”
There was a murmur of acknowledgement, and the soldiers dispersed, moving off into the crowd.
Kat hooked her arm through Melody’s. “Well? Where do ye want to go first? Want to eat? Have something to drink? There’s homemade wine and cider to buy here, and I can vouch for how good it tastes. Or do ye want to dance?”
“I want to do all of it at once,” Melody laughed. A few people turned to look at her, visibly curious.
“Is that the English lady the Laird is going to marry?” a boy of about six piped up, tugging at his mother’s skirts. “She talks funny.”
The woman flushed and threw an apologetic glance at Melody.
“Wisht, Matthew! Ye cannae speak that way. Forgive me, me Lady, he… he does nae understand.”
“It’s all right,” Melody laughed. “I do speak funny. It’s Matthew, isn’t it? Well, Matthew, back home just about everybody speaks like me, and you would sound unusual to them.”
The boy’s eyes got very large. “Really?”
“Oh, yes. In fact, everybody sounds strange when they venture from home. It’s entirely ordinary. There are more accents in the world than you could ever imagine.”
He considered this. “How many? Ten?”
“More.”
“Fifty?”
“Even more than fifty.”
Matthew sucked in a breath. “A hundred?”
Melody reached down and tweaked his nose, earning herself a smile from the boy.
“Even more than that.”
“Enough,” Kat laughed. “Come, we want ye to see the festival, aye?”
She drew Melody away, and the boy waved after her.
“Enjoy yerself, me Lady!” the boy’s mother called. “And take me blessings on yer marriage!”
Melody shot the woman a quick smile before Kat pulled her away into the crowd.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered. “She offered me her blessing on my marriage. That’s good, isn’t it?”
“Very good,” Kat confirmed. “But look, have ye nae noticed the lights? I told ye that they would be somethin’.”
Melody glanced upward, and her eyes widened. Countless small lanterns were hanging on strings between the trees, the flames glittering and jumping. It created a soft blur of light, the trees dark and shadowy behind the clearing.
“They’re beautiful,” Melody whispered.
“Come, I’ll show ye the stalls. And then we’ll have some ale, aye? Or whisky! I bet ye have nae had good whisky yet.”
“I’ve never drunk…” Melody stammered, then broke off when Kat stared at her, horrified.
“Ye have never drunk whisky? Never tried it?”
“Ladies daenae drink strong spirits. In London, at least.”
“Well, this is Scotland, and it’s cold here. Ye are tryin’ some. Come, come.”
Kat dragged her down a row of stalls, selling a variety of things—knitted shawls and scarves, bolts of fabric, sweetmeats, cider, jewelry, and more. She paused before one stall ran by a hunched-over old woman who seemed to be at least twice as old as Sophie.
“What are these? They’re so strange. Are they necklaces?” Melody enquired, gingerly touching one pendant.
The pendants were all smooth stones, mostly triangular, but some were other shapes.
They appeared to be made of all kinds of stone, polished to a high gloss.
There were even wooden pieces. In the center of each pendant, however, was a smooth hole.
Some holes were small, others large enough for Melody to get her thumb through.
The pendants hung from strips of leather or braided twine, or were even piled in boxes by themselves.