Highland Warrior Read Free Page A

his guard down, even though winter was fast approaching.
    After a particularly grueling training session, Ross returned to the keep, eager for a hot bath and something more substantial than the bannocks he had eaten that morning before he left the hall.
    He had just finished his meal of roasted boar and root vegetables and settled back to listen to Gavin, the clan bard, when a guardsman rushed into the hall, skidding to a halt before Ross.
    “A messenger has arrived, laird. He waits outside the gate. Do you wish to speak to him?”
    “A messenger?” Ross repeated.
    “Aye, he says he is Murdoc MacKay, and that his message is for the MacKenna laird.”
    Ross stroked his chin. “Is he alone?”
    “Aye.”
    “I wonder what MacKay wants?”
    “There is only one way to find out, laddie,” Gordo advised.
    “You are right,” Ross said, pushing himself away from the table. “I will speak with him. Open the gate,” he told the guardsman. “But keep a watchful eye for any sign of trouble. I doona trust any MacKay” He turned to his uncle. “Will you stay and hear him out with me, Gordo?”
    Murdoc MacKay was ushered inside. Ross did not invite him to sit.
    “Say your piece, MacKay,” Ross rasped.
    Murdoc looked at Gordo and raised his eyebrows.
    “You can speak freely in front of my uncle.”
    “I bear a message from my father.”
    “So I ken,” Ross said, growing impatient.
    “Father wishes to meet with you on the sacred ground of St. Tears Chapel.”
    “Alone?”
    “You may bring five men with you. My father will bring the same number with him. They are to wait outside while you and my father meet in private inside the chapel.”
    “Is that all?”
    “Aye, except the MacKay told me to stress that the meeting will be mutually beneficial to both our clans and our allies.”
    Ross searched Murdoc’s face, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
    “ ’Tis not a trick,” Murdoc assured him.
    “What think you, Gordo?”
    Gordo shrugged. “I doona ken what the MacKay wishes to parley with you about, but it must be important to risk sending his heir with the message.”
    “I am thinking the same thing, Uncle. Verra well, Murdoc MacKay, name the day and time of the meeting. But keep in mind that I am no fool.”
    “I will relay your message to my father. The time set for the meeting is the hour of sext, the day after tomorrow. The place is St. Tears Chapel, as I mentioned before.”
    “Verra well, agree.”
    Murdoc turned to leave. Ross motioned to his uncle. “Escort Murdoc MacKay to the gate, Gordo. See that no harm comes to him.”
    Ross sat in brooding silence long after the two men left. He had no idea what MacKay wished to discuss, and was more than a little wary. Though the MacKay wasn’t above trickery, Ross seriously doubted even a MacKay would launch an attack on sacred ground.
    “It has begun, laird.”
    Gizela had sidled up beside him while Ross was lost in thought.
    “I wish you wouldna sneak up on me, Gizela,” Ross scolded. “What did you just say?”
    “It has begun,” she repeated. “Didna I tell you a messenger would arrive? Your meeting with the MacKay is just the start. Changes are coming.”
    Ross narrowed his eyes. “How did you know about the meeting? You were not in the hall when we spoke.”
    Gizela sent Ross an inscrutable look. “I have no need to be present to know what passes.”
    Ross waved her off. “You know naught. You simply guessed what the MacKay’s son wanted. Is that all you wished to say?”
    Gizela’s eyes held a shimmering light that Ross had never seen in them before. Though he wouldn’t call it unholy, it was definitely unnatural.
    “Doona fear the flame, laird. Embrace it, for the flame is your destiny.”
    Ross sighed heavily and stared into the fire dancing in the hearth. “As usual, naught but nonsense comes from your mouth. Stick to tending the sick and wounded, woman. ”Tis what you do best.”
    When Ross looked up, the healer was gone. Needing to be