Chapter Twelve #2
Daran crossed his arms and glared at Liv. “But I’m the only lad, so I get the biggest sword.” He swiped it from Liv again.
Alasdair leaned back, quite a smirk on his face.
Liv shoved his chest and when Daran lost his footing, she grabbed the sword and said, “It’s a Norse sword and you are not Norse. Mine.” Her mother Brynja was half Norse.
Daran scowled but got back up and reached for another sword. “Then I’ll have this one.”
Halli said, “Nay, you won’t. That one’s mine and it’s also Norse.” She stood up, tipped her head down and glared at him. “I’m Norse too, and that’s a Norse sword.”
Dyna had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at her youngest daughter.
Gwendolyn, Eli and Alaric’s daughter, explained, “You’ll have to have a different sword, Daran. The Norse ones are special. Choose another.”
Yrsi picked up a sword with a smile, said, “You can use mine, Daran. It’s not Norse. It’s Scottish.”
Daran took the sword and muttered, “My thanks to you, but I’d like one of the bigger ones.”
“You can’t have mine,” Liv said, her hands on her hips.
“Nor mine either,” Halli announced with a tip of her head, her arms crossed in front of her chest. “What kind of warrior comes without a sword?”
Logan said, “Lassies, let the guest have a nice sword.”
Gwendolyn, Logan’s great-granddaughter, got up, turned toward him with a glare, and marched over until her face was a hand’s length from her great-grandfather’s. “Mind your own business.”
The four adults, all shocked and doing their best to contain their laughter, leaned away from the wee lass speaking to the elder of the clan.
But nothing could have prepared them for what she said next, her voice no longer a child’s.
“The girls will handle it, Logan Ramsay. Stay out of it.” She spun around and returned to the group.
Logan nearly fell out of his chair. Alasdair caught him and righted him.
“God’s bones and teeth and everything else,” Logan whispered. “Did you hear that?”
“I wish Eli was here to see it.” Dyna glanced over her shoulder to see who else had witnessed it. “Because I swear…”
“What?” Logan’s hands gripped the arms of his chair, his knuckles as white as the snow on the Highland mountains in winter.
Connor said, “I’ll say it. She sounded just like Aunt Gwyneth.”
“Hellfire, Eli named her after Gwynie, but I never expected the lass to act like her.” Logan wiped the sweat from his brow. “You all saw it.”
Connor asked, “Eerie… Does she always call you Logan Ramsay?”
“Nay, she calls me Grandda.”
Alasdair said, “I heard Logan Ramsay just the way Aunt Gwyneth used to say it. It always had this delicious edge to it aimed just at you, Uncle.” His grin was a bit too wide.
The group soon broke up because Eli came down the stairs with her other daughter, so the girls ran to join them.
Except Gwendolyn, who still stood facing Daran.
Connor whispered to Dyna, “Does Gwendolyn unsettle you? You’re white as bog cotton.”
Dyna, wide-eyed, tipped her head toward the two bairns facing each other. “Aye, she does.”
Eli said, “Come into the kitchens with me, Gwendolyn.”
The lass followed her mother but then spun around and moved back to Daran.
Gwendolyn pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “You probably think you can beat me.”
Daran scowled. “Beat you at what?”
Gwendolyn smiled and said, “At anything. You can’t. I’ll always win.” Then she moved over to Dyna, leaned over and said, “Lia’s on her way.” Without another word, she followed her mother into the kitchen, never glancing back.
Logan grabbed Dyna’s hand. “She sounds like Gwynie. She walks like Gwynie. Do you not agree? She’s Gwynie. My wife found a way to haunt me. I swear.”
Dyna snorted, covering her mouth with her hands. When she had herself controlled, she said, “Mayhap she’s trying to tell you something? Or help you the way Grandmama did with Grandpapa.”
Logan took a deep breath and sat up. “True. Maddie did come to Alex in his sleep.”
“So Gwyneth found a different way to reach you.”
Connor guffawed. “You are a bit thicker in the head, Ramsay.”
Dyna grabbed Alasdair’s hand. “Did you hear what she said before she approached Daran?”
“You mean about Lia coming? How does she know Lia? None of them know Lia, do they? That was a long time ago, way before they were born.” Alasdair looked to the others for an answer.
Logan whispered, “Gwynie knows Lia. She was here then. That was Gwynie speaking.”
Dyna glared at Logan and leaned forward toward Alasdair. “Gwendolyn doesn’t know Lia at all, probably never heard of her either. That’s why it’s eerie to me.”
Her father said, “She’s a seer like your daughters, Dyna. That’s all. I don’t understand why she unsettles you so.”
“I’ll tell you why, because I’m no longer charged with protecting Grant and Eli and Alaric as I was before,” Dyna whined. “I just found out that I’m to protect Grant and Gwen. But why? What exactly is she? She might be more than a seer.”
“That explains it, and that is unexpected.” Connor ticked off his fingers.
“But think on all of it. Sandor can speak to the dead. Sylvi hears the unspoken, and Tora sees the present. So what is she? And she doesn’t belong to you so how can she be like your bairns?
Since you are to protect her like Grant, I think she’s going to be something different.
You’ll not know for certain until she grows up. ”
“She’s a wild one, I’m telling you,” Logan whispered.
“Stop calling her that, Logan,” Connor said. “She’s your wife’s namesake.” Then he stood from his chair and paced in a circle. “Och, but this is going to be an interesting visit. I hope Da is watching over you, Dyna. You’re going to need help with those two.”
Logan said, “And you’re leaving all of the wee ones behind, are you not?”
Alasdair said, “Daran is going with us, but Halli will remain here with the others.” He gave everyone a sheepish look.
“After witnessing that, I wouldn’t leave the lad here with that group.
He’s not ready for that yet.” His hands went to his hips and a small grin crept across his face.
“Ask Grandda, Dyna. Mayhap he’ll answer you somehow. He’ll know why she’s special.”
The door from the kitchens opened, and Gwendolyn stepped outside alone. She stopped to stare at them, looking mostly at Dyna, her face quite serious. Then the wee lassie whispered, “I am special.” She lifted her chin a notch and went back into the kitchen.
“That.” Dyna pointed at the door, her face slack. “That’s why she unsettles me, Da.”