Highlander's Embrace

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Elyn

1540 — August 26th

Elyn jolted awake at the first sound of crashing and screams. In the darkness, she saw Sheena's eyes staring back at her, already awake. She was sitting up and clutching a thin blanket to her chest defensively.

"What was that?" Elyn said, her voice a harsh whisper. Her parents stirred and moved, but didn't wake.

Sheena shook her head and didn't answer. Another crash resounded outside their house. Murmuring and screams echoed through the window, footsteps marching back and forth, a frenzied crowd. Elyn's mind cleared from her drowsiness, and her heart started to race. The sounds of swords being unsheathed and yelling followed, and Elyn jumped out of bed, nearly tripping on the sheets as they tangled around her foot. She pulled herself up off the ground and shook her parents awake.

"Ma, Da, wake up! Something's happening! Wake up! Something is happening!" Another loud crash erupted outside, and a dim glow poured in from the window. Fire. The familiar crackle echoed in the courtyard, the familiar smell of smoke and burnt meat wafting into the room. The air clouded with soot, but slipped in through one window and escaped through the opposite.

"What's that?" her Ma asked, wrapping her arms around her husband. Elyn shook her head and put her finger to her lips.

"Shh," Elyn whispered, her teeth clenched. "I donae know anymore than you do. Some drunks fighting." She didn't even believe it herself. She knew her Ma didn't buy it.

She snuck up to the window and hid underneath it, her back against the wall. She turned and peeked through the opening. Several masked clansmen pushed a woman down to the hard cobble and wrestled her into submission, her arms flailing in protest and her screams drowned out by the sickening laughter of the men assaulting her. Another man threw a lit torch into an open window and cackled as the house burst into flames, joining several others across the way that were already ablaze. Several villagers were running in a panicked frenzy, screaming and yelling for help. Elyn couldn't spot any guards outside, no one helping as the town was driven into ash. Were they all dead?

Elyn covered her mouth, trying to hold back the horror from making her scream. She couldn't say a word, the urge trapped in her throat.

"What's happen'? Out with it already!" Sheena begged.

"I— I donae believe it," Elyn managed to finally choke out. "People, dying, I can't understand it. Are the MacDonalds doing this...?"

"It can't be..." Sheena said, pulling the sheets back over herself. "The Laird would never let that happen! Where is the Laird?"

"Something's wrong, I donae like this," Elyn said. "Where are the guards? I donae understand! We have to leave." She turned from the window and stumbled over the bed. She started throwing anything that wasn't bolted to the floor onto the bedspread. "We have to leave right now." She looked at her parents and Sheena, who hadn't moved. They were curled up in horror, their knees to their chests, their hands cradling their heads. "Aren't ye listenin' me?! We hafta go now!"

"Where, Elyn? Where will we go? We have nothing, nowhere, no one to go to!" Sheena sat up in the bed, her face turning red with frustration and anger. Elyn didn't answer, finishing piling the bed with nearly everything in the house. She brought the corners of the sheet together and tied them into a knot, making a bag. Her face burned, her ears felt hot. She didn't know what to do, as her stomach twisted on itself.

She looked at her Da. He looked hopelessly defeated. A sigh escaped his lips and he ran a hand through his thinning hair.

"Not ye too, Da? Where's your fight? Are we gonna just let them kill us?"