Memories of a Highlander Read online

  “Yer in no danger from me, young lass. I do however need to know about that man. Was he alone or did he have men with him? I would take ye back to my home to have the healers look at ye, or if yer home is close, I can take ye there, but we have to get indoors soon. Even if that man was alone, there is a storm brewing and we need to get to shelter, and get the horses to shelter too. Now, if ye promise to stop hitting and kicking me, I will let ye go, but ye also have to promise not to run. I don’t know how to make ye believe me, but I will not hurt ye”.

  The woman, or girl, whatever she was, I still hadn’t seen her face as it had been covered by her hair as she spun wildly, had stilled while I spoke, and when she spoke, I stepped back from her in shock.

  “Donald? Donald McGarrow? What are ye doing here?”

  I looked into the tear streaked face of Eleanor, and my stomach dropped. Then my blood boiled. If I hadn’t needed to stay with her, I would have liked to return to that coward and killed him. Maybe I should cut off his balls before I slit his throat, I thought to myself. I tried to make sure my anger wasn’t showing in my face when I spoke, Eleanor didn’t need to be frightened anew.

  “Eleanor? What can ye tell me? Do ye want me to go back and kill him for what he did?”

  Eleanor looked at me, her blue eyes still wide with fear, but reassuringly I could see some relief starting to show as she realised that she was safe. She shook her head, then leaned into me, starting to sob.

  “No, don’t leave me Donald. What if he’s behind us? What if he finds me? This time he might, he might….” And she buried her head in my chest, howling in grief.

  I didn’t know what to do, I was never good at consoling weeping women. I gently stroked her hair, whispering nonsense words into her ear, making the same sort of meaningless sounds as I had heard Mary make for baby Robert. It wasn’t the words, just the gentleness and the noise which seemed to calm him, so I tried this with Eleanor, and it seemed to work. After a while, she stopped howling, which was good as my tunic was saturated - between the sweat from the chase and her tears - and began to sniff. I knew this meant she was nearly at the end, of this patch of crying at least. Just as I started to relax, I heard the rumble of thunder overheard.

  “Look Eleanor, we need to get to shelter. I think this wood is on yer lands, and I don’t know it very well. Is there anything nearby?”

  Eleanor pushed back and I let her go this time, stepping back a little to give her some space. She wiped her nose on her tunic sleeve and looked around her, confused at first, then seeming to recognise where we were.

  “There’s a hut not far from here, for shelter during storms and bad weather. It’s not much, but there’s a roof at the back that might shelter the horses too”.

  I let Eleanor lead the way back to the horses. Thankfully we hadn’t actually gone far into the wood, having circled back around, and my horse was still there. Hers had run off though, probably spooked by all the noise earlier, and the thunder now. I picked up Shadow’s reins and turned, intending to boost Eleanor into the saddle so that she could ride. I then thought about whether she would be capable of sitting astride a horse. Seeing my indecision, Eleanor looked at me quizzically. Now I was in trouble. How could I ask her what I needed to know without reminding her about what had happened? I took a deep breath and plunged in before I could think on it any further.

  “Eleanor, I don’t want to be, um, indelicate, but will ye be able to sit astride a horse? I mean, are ye sore there, or-?”

  Eleanor stared at me for a moment before blushing furiously. I prepared for more tears, but instead got a wan smile instead. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

  “He didn’t rape me Donald. He would have if ye hadn’t stopped him. Ye were just in time”. She blushed even redder, if that was possible.

  “I could feel his, it, um, well, ye know, on my leg, so if ye hadn’t come along just when ye did – come to think on it, why are ye here?”

  I stared at Eleanor, unable to come up with a logical reason why I was there, but just then the sky opened. Big fat drops of summer rain fell on us, and there were a few lightning strikes visible in the distance.

  “I’m sorry, Eleanor, but we have to go”, I apologised in advance as I lifted her to the saddle, then vaulted up behind her. Eleanor stiffened, then tried to scramble down, but I clamped my arm tight around her waist.

  “I told ye I won’t hurt ye and I won’t, but we don’t have time to waste. Point to the direction that the shelter is in, and we need to make haste”.

  Thankfully Eleanor did, and we found it over a couple of rises. By the time we made the shelter, we were both saturated and the horse was soaked and blowing. Shadow was a good horse, but carrying a double weight when he was scared of the thunder and lightning was almost enough to spook him, and I was glad to find a small quantity of hay stacked against the wall of the shelter. I tied him securely so that he would not run off if the thunder got even louder, and took his saddle and the saddle blanket into the shelter. Eleanor was sitting huddled against one wall, dripping wet and with a sorrowful look on her face. She was obviously reliving what had just happened, and it tore me apart to see it. I hoped her assailant was still lying unconscious in the storm, and that he caught his death of cold. Or that there were bears out and they found him. Either would make me happy at this point. I stepped up to Eleanor, knowing that she would not like hearing what I had to say.

  “Eleanor, ye are wet. This storm could last for hours, and if ye sit in wet clothes ye could get sick, especially on top of the shock of today. I’m going to hold up this blanket, and ye can take yer clothes off. I promise not to look. Then ye can wrap the blanket around yerself, and spread yer clothes out to dry on the floor. When the storm passes, hopefully they will be a little dry. There’s a little bit of kindling in here, I can get a small fire going and that might help dry yer clothes a bit more before it’s time to go”.

  While I had been speaking, Eleanor had been looking at me fearfully, holding her tunic close to her breast. It made me so angry to see her like that, knowing that because of what someone else had done, Eleanor’s fear was now directed at me. I just wanted to hold her and hope that the fear went away, but I knew she would not welcome my touch right now. I just stood there holding the blanket, with my head turned to the side, and eventually I heard the plop and squelch of wet clothes being peeled off skin and dropped to the floor. Then I felt her hands grab the blanket off me and I turned to my task of getting a fire going. Once it was burning, I turned back to Eleanor, seeing her watch me closely, and very slowly I gathered up her clothes, spreading them around the fire. Eleanor seemed to relax as I didn’t approach her, then finally she came a bit closer to the fire, trying to hold out her hands for warmth while keeping the blanket tight around her. I pretended not to notice her struggles, and moved closer to the fire, hoping that the flames might steam some of the moisture from my clothes. I didn’t have a choice, I had only one blanket.

  Eleanor

  My mind was racing as I struggled with the blanket. It would have been easier if I had just wrapped it around my body, tucking the ends into the top of my breasts like I would have with a drying cloth, but I didn’t want to expose even the tiniest bit of my breasts to a man right now. Even if the man was Donald, who so far had been nothing but trustworthy. My recent experience with Lachlan had shaken me to the core, and made me realise how vulnerable I was. He wasn’t even a big man, not like Donald, yet he had been able to overpower me so quickly. I realised how sheltered a life I had enjoyed up to now, and how futile my fantasies about running away from home had been. I wouldn’t have been able to protect myself, it was clear that sooner or later I would have run into a violent man like Lachlan, and there would probably not have been a good man like Donald around who would have helped me without seeming to want anything in return. How wrong I had been about his family. They were such good people, I realised now, and yet mine had been duped. I did not for one minute think that my father would have considere
d marrying me off to Lachlan if he had known the type of man he was. Even I, who had been uncomfortable around him whenever he was near, hadn’t realised how evil he was. I shivered as I thought about what could have happened if Donald hadn’t pulled Lachlan off me when he did, and moved a little closer to the fire for warmth. As I did, I noticed that Donald was still in his wet clothes.

  “What about ye, Donald? Ye are wet too. If ye want I will turn my head while ye undress.”

  I felt very uncomfortable suggesting to Donald that he should undress in the same room as me, but I didn’t feel threatened by him. He was so much bigger and stronger than I, if he was anything like Lachlan – and I could tell that he wasn’t – he could have raped me several times over by now, but he had only shown concern for my welfare. I looked at Donald, realising that he looked very uncomfortable, then looked at his saddle before I realised.

  “Ye only had one blanket didn’t ye? And ye gave it to me.”

  “It’s fine, Eleanor. I’ll just stand near the fire, don’t worry about me”.

  I looked at the fire. It was pitifully small, and there was no steam rising from my clothing which was spread around it. I couldn’t let Donald sit in his wet clothing, not after everything he had done for me. These summer storms could last for a while, and if it didn’t let up before nightfall, we could be stuck here until morning. I screwed up my courage and stared him in the eye.

  “Take yer clothes off. I promise not to look”, I tried to smile but failed, “Yer no good to me if ye get sick from sitting in wet clothes either. Maybe ye can leave yer braies on, if ye don’t mind”.

  Donald looked at me, then nodded. I turned my back, hearing him wiggling out of his clothes, then sitting down.

  “Ye can turn around again now. I’m on the other side of the fire, so if ye keep to yer side, ye should feel safe enough from me”.

  I looked him squarely in the eye, trying not to let my eyes roam down his naked torso, and along his long, naked legs that I could see in the flickering firelight.

  “I do feel safe around ye, Donald. Ye’ve been nothing but a gentleman to me, and I don’t fear ye at all. I was just a bit shaken before, that’s all”.

  Donald nodded then looked around the shelter. So passed the strangest evening of my life. We tried to ignore the fact that the both of us were almost naked, sitting in a darkened hut away from both our families, while a violent summer storm raged around us. Donald rummaged in his saddlebags, finding some fruit, which had to be our dinner, and as we ate, a strange companionship sprung up between us. I began to laugh, maybe still in shock from the afternoon, maybe not, I wasn’t sure.

  “Did ye think, that day in the stables at yer keep, that we could ever end up like this?”

  Donald smiled, then the smile disappeared off his face as he looked at me earnestly.

  “Eleanor, I am so sorry about that day. I thought ye were a boy, and ye were holding a knife on Mary. Did I hurt ye? I must have hurt ye, I tackled ye really hard. Ye have to believe, I have never done that to a woman before, and I-“

  I held up my hand to interrupt him.

  “All is forgiven, Donald. I know ye were worried about Mary, and ye acted right according to what ye knew. I have to say though, I felt like I had been crushed by a bear or something afterwards, I hurt for days.” I looked at him as a thought occurred to me. “I hope Lachlan hurts for days too. I hope ye hit him just as hard as ye hit me”.

  Donald’s eyes spat fury as he replied.

  “Not only did I hit him hard when I grabbed him off ye, but I thumped him a few times for good measure, and slammed his head into the ground. If I see him again, I will kill him for what he tried to do to ye, don’t ye think I won’t”.

  I drew a breath as I saw the intensity of his gaze. He really meant it. But I didn’t want there to be trouble because of me.

  “I know ye would, but I don’t want ye to. It’s one thing to kill someone in the heat of the fight, but not in cold blood afterward. I won’t have ye do that for me. I won’t.”

  I started to cry again, and Donald started to get up, then realised his state of undress meant he really shouldn’t approach me. He sat back down and spoke to me quietly.

  “Alright, Eleanor, I won’t seek him out. But if he approaches ye again, for any reason, he’s a dead man”.

  The storm raged on for a few hours, and by the time it was spent, it was dark out. Donald looked at me and spoke quietly.

  “What will yer family do if ye don’t come home tonight? Will yer horse find its way back home without ye? If ye can’t go home tomorrow because ye have been here with me tonight, ye can come to my home, we will make a place for ye”.

  I thought about that. My father had been quite angry after my last escapade, but surely he couldn’t see this as my fault? After all, he had allowed Lachlan to be alone with me, so he would have to bear some measure of the blame.

  “I think the horse will head back home, or at least I hope so. I will go back home, ye don’t need to come. I think once I explain about Lachlan, they will understand”.

  Donald sat up angrily.

  “I am no coward, and not afraid of yer family. If Lachlan denies trying to force ye, don’t ye think ye need someone to support ye, to back ye up when ye tell yer side of the story? The man obviously fooled yer family into allowing him to be alone with ye, who knows what lies he tells about ye when ye aren’t around to defend yerself?”

  I nodded, realising that Donald was probably right. Lachlan had fooled my father once, he could have fooled him again, unless of course he had just run off. In which case, my family wouldn’t know where I had been, or with who.

  The fire soon spluttered out, there not being enough wood to keep it going. Everything outside would be wet, so there would be no chance of finding anything else for the night. I pulled the blanket tighter against myself, feeling guilty because Donald was sitting in only his braies, and they would still be wet anyway. Donald must have picked up on my distress, as he laid down on the floor, closing his eyes and telling me to try to sleep, we would leave at first light. I laid down, teeth chattering in the cold, and then heard a rustling and felt Donald’s solid warmth against my back. I couldn’t help myself, but I tensed.

  “Ssh. We need to share our warmth. After that cloud cover and rain, tonight will get cold before the sun comes out again. Now, don’t get nervous, but I’m going to take my braies off. They’re still damp, and I don’t want to get the blanket wet, or it will sap yer warmth”.

  I felt Donald moving around behind my back, and tensed as I realised that he was now naked. My back was a little warmer, and I realised that he must be lying with his back to mine. Even though he would be getting some warmth from me, it would not be much through the blanket, and he was uncovered. I realised that it was a big blanket, and I was very slender, spending much of my time on outdoor activities so I had barely any fat on me. I looked up to the heavens, bracing myself for what I was going to say next.

  “Look, if I wrap myself tight in this blanket, there should be enough left to cover ye if we lie very close. I feel guilty about being in this lovely warm blanket while ye – aren’t, so if ye just give me a moment, I should be able to manage this.”

  Donald had gone very quiet when I spoke, and he said nothing as I wiggled, pulling the blanket very tight around myself, so that there was a good amount spare at the back. Without looking back, I flung it over him. He didn’t move for a moment, then he wiggled back even further, so that he was pressed up hard against me, and I could feel him pull the blanket tight over himself.

  “Ye are one of a kind, Eleanor”, Donald said with a warm richness in his voice that I hadn’t heard before, but which made me feel warm inside. I fell asleep wrapped up tight in the blanket, with Donald’s warmth at my back, thinking that if all men were like this, instead of like Lachlan, the world would be a better place.

  Donald

  I woke up on my side, lying on the hard ground, unsure at first where I was. Then I remember
ed the events of the day before. I realised that the warmth at my back was Eleanor, and she was still asleep. Unbidden, my shaft sprung to life at the thought of Eleanor lying so close to me, and wearing nothing under the blanket. I thought of all sorts of unpleasant thoughts, until the annoying thing went soft again, then crept out of the blanket to feel for my clothes. Still slightly damp and uncomfortable, I put them on anyway, feeling better once I was fully dressed. The last thing Eleanor needed after yesterday, was to wake up to see an erect shaft waiting for her. The loss of my body heat must have disturbed Eleanor’s sleep, as she started stirring in her sleep and rolling from side to side mumbling incoherently. As she moved, the blanket rode down, and I found myself staring at one perfect little breast. Eleanor was so slender that her breasts were obviously in proportion with the rest of her body and were therefore not very large, but that didn’t matter to me at all. My shaft instantly sprang up again, and my palm itched to reach out to touch the soft skin that was on display. My mouth started watering as well, and I wanted to crawl over to her to take that little nipple into my mouth and taste her flesh. I became aware that Eleanor had stopped moving, and looked at her face to realise that she was watching me. Her eyes dilated, fear I thought, and I stood quickly, turning my back on her and running my hands through my hair.