Okay, luckily I've had a little more enthusiasm with this chapter. I hope you like it.

Aileen and I arranged to meet each other again for some more sword fighting practice the next day. I waited for her in the training room as I swung my sword to try to exorcise my scarred arm for our practice fight. I then heard someone running towards the room through the doorway. It was Aileen and her face was red from crying and her hair was coming out of its braid.

I went over to her, worried about what had happened.

"Aileen, what's the matter?"

"A friend of my mother's died and she just got the news. She never knew about us and... and... She arranged me to get married to her friends son."

She then bursts into tears, rubbing her face into my scarred chest. I didn't know how to handle the news; someone who I had just started to have feelings for was getting married to someone else. I wrapped Aileen in my arms.

Then something came to my mind. As stupid as this idea was, I knew I had to try.

"Stay here, Aileen, I'm going to go talk to your mother."

"I can't... I can't back out of this." said Aileen as she continued to cry into her dress, "My mother had raised me to listen and to do everything correctly. She would never change her mind."

"Just stay here." I told her as I went off to look for Aileen's mother.

I walked out of the room when I finally encountered Aileen's mother looking over some papers.

"Lady MacKenzie, there's something I wish to discuss with you."

"Yes, what do you wish to speak about?"

I became nervous as I tried to speak. Never have I felt so anxious as I have now.

"Its about yer daughter's arranged marriage. I know you've been preparing her for sometime now, but what if, just hypothetically, she were to have the heart for... someone else instead?"

"Impossible. I've been training her for this moment. Been keeping the boys away for her for quite sometime.

"what could that...?" she said looking up at me with astonishment, "Aren't you Lord Macintoshs son?"

"I am," I replied, "And your daughter loves me and I love her."

A look of astonishment and worry came across Lady MacKenzie's face.

"Now how is that possible? I've been scaring off boys for the past 4 years. Besides, backing out would be a terrible idea."

"Well you haven't scared me off."

"Even if I didn't scare you off its to late. She's getting married Saturday morning. I've had this planned for a long time. I can't... We can't... back out that would be a disgrace to the MacKenzie clan. It could jeopardize my other daughters marriages when it's there turn."

"How would not having your daughter make her own choice, let alone, make her choice to be with the son of a lord jeopardize anything?"

"Listen I would love for her to marry for love and a lords son is a thrilling prospect. But the man she is to marry has been arranged since she was young. You can't back out if you don't have anybody to replace her."

I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make me look like a bigger fool than I did in front of Lady MacKenzie. My tongue had gone numb. I didn't want to lose Aileen, but I just didn't know what else to say.

Then heard Jamie and Aileen worried over something. I ran over to them to try to figure out what was wrong.

"Aileen, Jamie, what's wrong?"

"CeeCee, bad boys hit and kick her...," Jamie said, nearly hysterical.

I couldn't be happening. Cecelia, the little blind girl I met not long ago being hurt. That was when Bryant came in. I ran over to him.

"Bryant, is Cecelia alright?"

He nodded, but solemnly.

"They kicked hard round the head, knocked her out...took her away, they did. Mother said...said...so I wouldn't be...hysterical," Bryant muttered, tears finally leaking out into his stubbly beard. "She's lost a vast majority of her memory. From the way she's acting and speaking, she's lost around nine years worth of memories."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They hurt her that badly. Who in their right mind would hurt a sweet little blind girl like this? I started to fume with anger and ran out of the room. Those boys were going to pay for what they did and I was going to give it to them.

I marched out of the castle and into the peasant's area where I had spotted the boys who had hurt Cee. I grabbed one of them and held him to my scarred, grimacing face.

"You think its funny to hurt a blind girl until she loses consciousness and almost all of her memory?"

"PLEASE, DON'T HURT ME!" demanded the boy.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TRYING TO HURT SOMEONE LIKE THAT?"

"PLEASE, SIR, WE DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

"She's crazy!" piped up the eldest one still there, "she bit...well, she bit one of us. He's gone now, but she did, she he threw her off and we attacked the feral beast!"

They called her a feral beast. That made my blood really start to boil as I threw the boy in my arms into a puddle of mud. Two of the five boys ran off crying to their mothers as the three just froze in fear. Grandmother came out with her cane.

"You!" 'Whack!' The twelve-years-old fled.

"You!" 'WHAM!' The thirteen-year-old stumbled away.

"And you!" 'CRACK!' The boy in the puddle fell again, then got up and ran.

It was then I saw my reflection in the puddle. The angry expression made my scarred face look even more hideous than usual, but it wasn't my scars or the grimace on my face that scared me; it was the realization that I had let myself become the very thing I hated in trying to hurt someone over rage.

"Are ye a'right, Vailean?" grandmother asked.

I started to cover my face in shame.

"I'm a monster."

"No yer not," she said, "come in, have a cuppa tea. Calming tea."

The old woman lead me inside so that I might cool my nerves.

So what did you think? Please R&R