Chapter 3 – The Hunt
BPOV
Laird McCullough bowed to me before mounting a beautiful black stallion. He even had a black mane and could give the horse in Black Stallion a run for his money.
I moved diagonally toward the stallion, keeping eye contact with the animal and to his left. His ears pricked forward in curiosity and he snorted.
"Hello," I said, holding out my hand so he could smell me. When he bent his head to my hand, I knew it was okay to touch him. I rubbed his neck while waiting for one of the stable boys to lift me.
"You have a lovely horse, Uncle," I said in a low voice, hoping he was the only one who could hear me. "His name?"
"Gual Duibh," Laird McCullough answered with a smile on his face.
Black Coal. The name was fitting. I could picture him with the fog swirling around him. It would be as if he were causing the fog.
"Lady Swan," a young male voice said from behind me.
I turned and smiled at the lad in front of me clad McGregor livery.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Aye," I said.
Soon, I was sitting before Laird McCullough my feet on one side, not the way I was used to riding but given I was in a dress I went with it. Words could not describe what I felt when he wrapped an arm around me. It was strange and intimate, yet comforting. From the journals I read, I knew he was loyal to his wife and clan. And, I had a feeling Maribella told him I was from the future. Not to mention, the moment I saw him, I knew I would be riding with him during the hunt and the story I needed to tell.
"Lady Swan is it?" he whispered against my ear, his breath warm against my skin. "I would say more like Lady McCullough, am I right?"
"Me, Lady McCullough," I replied. "True I wear the colors of your clan, but I am far from a lady of your clan."
"Forgive me, lass. It is just you wear the colors as if they belong on you and only on you," he remarked.
"I am quite flattered, my laird, but flattery will get you nowhere with me," I said as the horns sounded and we started a slow walk toward the hunting grounds.
"Again, lass, forgive me. I meant no harm." He was silent for a long moment before speaking once more, still in a whisper, as men were close. "Where do you find hearth, Lady Swan?"
Hearth? What am I to tell him? Calm down, Bella, and think. Nothing was coming to me. To say my home was at McCullough Castle would reveal too much.
"Isabella, might I suggest, in case anyone else asks you the same, you answer with, 'I make my hearth at McCullough Castle with my dear uncle and aunt." I stiffened against him and yet he continued. "Any other answer will betray you or would raise questions. Your way of speech may raise a question but can easily be brushed aside."
My eyes widened. I was speaking properly. "Surely my speech does not give me away?"
"Aye, Isabella. It certainly does."
He paused a moment as if thinking or in expectance of me responding, but I held my tongue.
"Come to think of it, the mere fact that you have yet to correct me when I address you so informally…" he waved his hand when Laird McGregor joined us.
"Aye, my laird," I said in an effort to temper my language appropriately to fit the day. "It is beautiful indeed."
"Is this your first time in the highlands, Lady Swan?" Laird McGregor asked.
"Aye, Laird McGregor," I answered, and it truly was. For some reason, Grandmother forbade me from ever traveling to the Highlands. I only questioned her once as to why. Her reply was simple and direct—it was too dangerous for any relative of Maribella and Ewan McCullough to be caught in the Highlands.
"The land offers what the lowlands lack." At the look of what I interrupted as confusion, I added, "Protection from the Sassenachs with the rugged, mountainous region."
"Your knowledge is remarkable, Lady Swan."
"I have no more knowledge than your daughter."
"And yet, lass, you have a handle on the greatest defense offered. It makes one wonder what else you know," he said with a smile and a hint of a challenge twinkling in his eyes.
"Does his lairdship wish to test my knowledge against that of his daughter?" I asked challengingly.
McCullough drew me tight against him. "Lass," he hissed in my ear. "That be going too far."
McGregor laughed. "'Tis quite a niece you have, McCullough. You be having your hands full with this one."
"Aye, that I will," McCullough replied, spurring his mount into a quick trot at the sounds of the dogs. "Don't be so quick, lass, to challenge the McGregor. It's known far into the Lowlands and Highlands, alike, that his daughter is the brightest lass of this day."
"What else, my laird, should I know?" I asked between clenched teeth.
"That all eyes are on ye, lass. McGregor knows I have no other niece as my eldest brother died when he was just a lad of five."
"A fact I know all too well," I mumbled under my breath.
"A fact you should remember, Isabella."
"That be Lady Swan to you, my laird."
"That's a good, lass, very good. I know you are not of this time. Keep your eyes open and learn. There is much magical power with you, even more than Maribella."
Again I stiffened against him.
"Tell me, lass, how is that possible?" he asked.
I looked around and noticed that we were alone in the wood. Swallowing hard, I looked at him.
"The hunting party has gone by us. We will join them once they start back."
"And what, Laird, shall we tell them of our separation?"
"Dinna fash yersel. I will come up with something believable. Now tell me, how is it possible you have great magical abilities?"
How to answer? I felt the truth was in order and knew what I told him would not be shared with anyone.
"I am a future relative of Maribella and Ewan. I am both a witch and a wizard. None in the future but close family know this."
"Maribella will indeed marry Ewan."
"Aye, she will. She will be disowned when her father finds out. But, he won't find out she's with child," I said.
"What happens to them? To the child?"
"I am afraid if I tell you, it will affect the future," I said.
"Astonishing! The plan Maribella and I labored over will be played out. How do you fit in?" he asked.
"A question I have been asking myself since I arrived, my laird."
McCullough turned and listened; I did too. Horses were approaching.
"Quick, lass, off the horse."
I gulped, peering down at the ground. "I will hurt myself."
"That's the point," he said, pushing me off at the same time I started to slide down.
Ouch! I gripped my ankle. Dang, it hurt. I didn't even have the time to ask if he knew of Carlisle Cullen.
I turned intending to ask and saw Laird McCullough pull an arrow out of a sheath I hadn't noticed. He aimed and shot it into a nearby tree before jumping down. He hit the horse's rump and it took off in the direction of the hunting party. His weight covered me for a brief moment as he adjusted.
"Play along," he whispered.
"That's what I've been doing," I said, dropping the farce for a minute.
"Well, keep it up," he remarked in a harsh whisper.
My ankle was throbbing from the fall. I felt a strange presence coming towards us and, at the sounds of pounding horses, whatever or whoever it was disappeared.
"McCullough," came a muffled cry followed by more cries closer.
"Over here," McCullough yelled, sitting up.
My ability to understand what they were saying fleeing as the pain in my ankle increased. I had hurt my ankle before and the pain had been brief, but the pain I was feeling was a hundred times worse. It throbbed and the ache traveled up my leg to my knee.
"Whit happened? Ye dinna hae onie enemies in th' Highlands, dae ye?" McGregor asked.
"Appears Ah dae. Lady Swan was injured as we faa frae th' cuddi."
"Mah guard is chasin' doon yer moont as we spick. Ur ye guid tae ride back?"
"Ah believe sae. Lady Swan?" Laird McCullough called as a black void descended around me.
