Chapter Twenty-Seven
Falkirk
It was very late and Aethon, for all its spirit, had tired quickly. Now, it was a hot and sweaty mess, snorting its exhaustion as Brody and Lilia rode into the small village of Falkirk. It had been a long ride and the horse was understandably spent.
Lilia, after her strenuous day, had fallen asleep against Brody’s back.
He could feel her, limp and boneless as they rode along.
Both of her arms were around his waist and he held her hands at his belly to keep her from falling off, but when they stopped at a livery on the edge of town, he finally had to wake her. She groaned.
“My arms,” she muttered. “They feel as if a thousand pins are sticking them.”
He grinned as he dismounted the horse, pulling her off behind him. Her satchel fell to the earth because it had been on her lap, held between them as they’d ridden along, and she bent over to pick it up as she shook out her arms.
“Did ye sleep well?” he asked as he handed the exhausted horse over to the livery owner. “The horse isna exactly smooth in its gait.”
Lilia clutched her satchel to her, covering her mouth as she yawned. “I never felt it,” she said. “I suppose I was too weary tae care.”
He reached out, taking her by the elbow. “Just a little while longer and I’ll find ye a good bed for the night.”
He took her out into the crisp night. There were torches lit throughout the town and the smell of cooking fires was heavy in the air.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
He pointed straight ahead. “Tae the church,” he said. “That’s St. Andrew’s; when I came down from the Highlands, I passed through this very town, so I knew the church was here. I’m going tae marry ye.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Now?”
“Now. Unless ye have any objection.”
Lilia shook her head, unable to keep the smile off her face. “Nay,” she said. “I… I suppose with everything that’s happened, I’d nearly forgotten.”
“I havena.”
She giggled. Taking her hand, Brody led her down the darkened street, heading for the small parish of St. Andrew’s.
To their right, a broad but short avenue ended in a two-storied tavern.
Beams of light emitted from the windows and they could hear the soft hum of laughter and conversation.
But they continued on until they came to the church, which was mostly dark at this hour.
Only a few torches among the arches gave forth light into the night.
Brody rapped on the church door.
“Do ye suppose the priests will marry us at this hour?” Lilia whispered.
“Why not?” Brody said. “I have money with me. I’ll pay them well.”
“Ye do? Where did ye get it from?”
“It’s the purse I earned at The Cal. That was the only money I dinna give tae give tae Laird Currie because I knew we would need it.”
The mention of Laird Currie brought back the horrors of the day at Hawkhill, something Lilia was trying desperately to forget. Her mood sank no matter how hard she tried to fight it.
“Do ye think Laird Currie will send his men after me?” she asked. “Brody, I wouldna have killed the woman if I’d had another choice, but she came at me and I knew she meant tae kill me.”
He could see her distress and he pulled her into his strong embrace. “Ye did what ye had tae do. Ye mustna feel guilty for that.”
“She attacked me!”
“I know, my angel.”
Lilia drew strength from his arms, feeling his power around her. Nothing in the world had ever made her feel so safe. “Do ye think we’ve been followed?”
Brody released her, cupping her face in his big hands. “I dunna think Laird Currie would send anyone after us,” he said. “He knows Colly beat ye. He knows what the woman was capable of. I’m sure he knows ye were only defending yerself.”
“Do ye really think so?”
“I do.”
That comforted Lilia immensely but she was still sad, still fearful. She smiled weakly at him just as the door to the church lurched open and a man in rumpled woolen robes stood there, candle in-hand as he looked at the pair curiously. Brody immediately dropped his hands from Lilia.
“We’ve come tae see the priest about a marriage,” he said. “We wish tae be married.”
The priest yawned. “Now?”
“Now.”
“Can ye not come back on the morrow?”
“We canna. We must be married tonight, if ye please.”
The man looked between them. He studied Lilia for a moment, frowning. “Why is the lady distressed?”
Brody looked at Lilia, whose expression of sadness and fear hadn’t yet left her. Realizing that, she smiled brightly at the priest.
“She’s not distressed,” Brody said, pointing to her smile and offering his own. “See? Neither one of us is distressed.”
The priest was still looking at Lilia. “Is he forcing ye tae marry him, lass?”
Lilia shook her head firmly. “Not at all. I want tae marry him, Father. I swear it.”
“Where’s yer family?”
“Dead.”
As the priest debated about the odd situation, Brody took out his leather purse and planted two silver coins into the priest’s hand.
“There,” he said. “Now will ye marry us?”
The priest looked at the money, at Brody, and then motioned for them to wait at the door of the church.
As Brody and Lilia stood there, looking at each other curiously, the priest returned with a pair of sleepy acolytes and right there at the door of the church, Brody and Lilia were married by a priest who spoke the blessing quickly so he could return to his bed.
It wasn’t much, but it was what they’d asked for.
Lilia didn’t remember much of the blessing itself.
All she remembered was the look in Brody’s eyes as he gazed at her.
It was full of joy and warmth and love. All of those things flowed in and around her, filling her veins with something more than she could have ever imagined.
But the one thing she felt more than anything else was hope –
Ye give me hope, Lilia. Hope that life can be good again.
For them, it finally was.
*
The busy, noisy tavern on the dead-end avenue was called The Copper Kelpie and it was filled to the rafters with people on this cold, misty night.
Brody wouldn’t have cared so much if it was only him. He could have found a warm corner to sleep in. But he had his wife with him and he would do everything in his power to secure a bed for her for the night.
He wasn’t beyond playing on sympathy for it.
The tavernkeep was a big man with an eye missing who listened to Brody tell a story of his rushed wedding and how all his wife wanted in the entire world was a bed and a fire for the night.
Fortunately for Brody, the man’s wife overheard him and she offered them the only chamber they had left, which was a small attic room where the servants slept.
Brody took it, and happily so.
He and Lilia retreated to the chamber, which was up a tiny flight of stairs.
It amounted to nothing more than a dusty little room with a small window, a brazier of hot coals to stave off the chill, and two beds that were hardly big enough for children to sleep in.
While Brody went downstairs to commandeer a meal, Lilia dragged the mattresses from both beds onto the floor next to the brazier so they could sleep next to the heat.
By the time he returned with a full tray, she was sitting on the mattresses, waiting for him.
“What’s this?” he asked. “Why are we on the floor?”
Lilia pointed to the timber and rope bedframes shoved up against the wall. “Because ye canna fit in those,” she said. “Besides… I want tae sleep next tae ye. ’Tis my right now, after all.”
He grinned as he sat down on the floor, putting the tray on the mattresses.
“Good thinking, Lady McKay,” he said. Then, he paused, looking at her with an expression that relayed a heart that was full to bursting.
“God, that sounds like music tae my ears. Lady McKay. I never thought words could sound so sweet.”
Lilia flushed, smiling bashfully. “Ye must say it every day, several times a day. I want tae hear it as much as possible.”
He laughed softly, taking her hand and lifting it for a tender kiss. “I promise I will,” he said. Then, he lowered her hand and focused on the tray, handing her a full cup of warm wine. “I’ve paid for a good deal of food. I hope ye’re hungry.”
Lilia was. She sat in front of the tray, cross-legged, inspecting the contents. “It looks like some kind of pies?”
Brody pointed. “An eel tart, stuffed eggs, bread, butter, and stewed apples.”
Lilia jumped in. The tart was delicious, as were the eggs, and she and Brody ate heartily as he spoke about the friends he’d left behind at the Ludus Caledonia and how he planned to return as soon as he could.
All the while, Lilia listened with a smile on her lips.
“For a place ye’d never heard of before, it has certainly become important tae ye,” she said. “Ye speak about it as if ye’ve been there most of yer life.”
He conceded the point. “I went there tae earn money tae pay for yer freedom, but I found much more than that.”
“Friends?”
He nodded. “Mostly,” he said. “Even the one they call The Eagle. His real name is Titus and even he has become something of a friendly acquaintance. But it’s more than that… when I went there, I told Cam that I was hoping tae find myself again.”
“What do ye mean?”
“I mean the man I lost when I killed those lads near Jedburgh,” he said quietly. “That man was confident and courageous and reckless. Afterwards, he was crippled with guilt for what he’d done and he lost everything he thought he was.”
“And did he find himself again?”
He nodded. “I think so,” he said. “I feel as if I’m on the right path. This journey north is part of it.”
“Oh?”
He nodded, slowing his movements as he thought on what the future would hold. “We’re going home tae the village of Ledmore, where my family has lived for generations. I’m going home tae face my father, which is something I should have done in the beginning. I know that now.”
Lilia was listening intently. “But ye did face him after that terrible event,” she said. “Ye said that he sent ye home.”