Savages?

The smell of smoke filled the nostrils of the young princess as she hid in the cellar of the church. She had barely woken up that morning when the servants, on the order of her brother Carter, escorted her to the church of Father Lawler. The rumor was that it was raiders, barbarians from the North. All of the rumors did nothing but to serve her fear and a bit more hidden, her curiosity. She had never been allowed to venture out of the kingdom with her brother but the tails of barbarians were well known. They would take what gold they wanted and take a few men and women for servants. The rest would be killed.

Hearing footsteps on the floor above, she hid her face in her hands and prayed silently that they wouldn't be able to find her. That woudl surely be the end of her.

His face was painted in his clans colors and he rose his claymore high, letting off a war cry before riding into the town. It was a simple raid; winter was coming on and they need provision in their castle. He sent a party off to the right and then one to the left while he and a few rode straight into the town. Their directions were clear, no killing unless it was absolutely necessary and no women. Any one turned in for breaking the rules would be cast out of the castle to fend for themselves come the winter.

The church was straight ahead, the place that always had the most gold as the as those that ran it were corrupt and wanted to fill their own pockets. He climbed off his horse and pushed the door open, threatening the poor scared father until he was pointed in the right direction. He ripped open the door to the treasury, filling his coin purse to the brim and then throwing it into the large sack he had brought. Besides him others from his clan were laying waste to the rest of the gold and other valuables and he looked down, noting a trap door.

Laying his Claymore on the ground he grabs the ring and pulls hard, throwing the door open. There is a ladder but he ignores it and jumps down, landing in a crouch and then looking around through the gloom. He thinks he hears something in the darkness and he growls deeply.

"If ye want tae live, Ah suggest ye show thy self. Ah might think about going on easy on ye."

He hears movement in the corner and turns, advancing and smirking as his eyes adjust; when his eyes finally pierce the gloom he stops; staring at the girl huddled in the corner.

"My my, a pretty little Lass, all alone. I think ye'll just be coming along with me this eve." He utters lowly as he moves closer to her.

Nolee looked over at Father Lawler, biting her lower lip at the man who held the sword. She had never been around someone like him, his face painted an odd color. She didn't know what he was saying, the accent in his voice so thick as he spoke. She stood, the bottom of her red dress swishing against the cold musty floor of the basement. She pressed her back against the wall, looking past the man. She took off, hoping to dash past him before he could catch her. He was a warrior but she was as quick as one.

It wasn't long before she felt a heavily muscled arm dart out, grabbing her wrist and flinging her to the ground. She looked up at him, her hair falling in her face. "Pl..please..." she softly said.

He looked down at her, the bit of light coming from the open trap door showing her face and he stopped before snarling.

"On yer feet Lass, yer coming with me"

He grabs her wrist and hauls her up, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder and starting up the ladder. Women were always a tradable good in the highlands and he grinned as he copped a feel. Around him his clanmates were still rummaging and he called to them all, signalling to leave the church; they might be poor but they didn't need to take all the gold, winter was coming after all.

He tossed her over the saddle, wincing as he realized that he could have been a bit more careful but shrugging it off; she was an English lass, they were weak anyway. He swung up behind her and pulled her into a sitting position; wrapping his arms around her to grab the reigns. He wheeled the horse around and left the village, other following him with whoops and yells. The smell of smoke caught his nose and he turned, scowling when he seen that the town had been lit on fire.

Heads will roll when I find out who did that.

Unable to do anything about it he put the horse into a trot, it was a two day ride and he wanted to make some distance before night fell.

When he caught Nolee, she knew she was done for. Indignantly she felt herself lifted onto the invaders shoulder and when she was plopped onto his saddle she let out a squeal of pain. She didn't like the way his hand had roamed to her backside when she was tossed over his shoulder, didn't like the way he wrapped his arms around her to urge his horse to go. He was a barbarian, truly dispicable. It made sense why her brother had never let her out of the kingdom if men like her were waiting out there in the world for her.

She smelled the smoke and when he turned his horse around to see what it was, a cry of terror escaped her throat. Her home. Her home was burning and she could do nothing as she was taken away from there.

"You brutes!" she screamed, "My brother will have your heads! All of you!"

"Hush Lass. There's nothing yer shrill screaming can do about it now."

He squeezed his arms around her to cut off her yelling; her voice was making his head hurt. He had to admit that she was pretty of face and he couldn't feel all the trappings of the complicated undergarments that the English women chose to wear so that either meant she was a commoner or rebellious young woman.

As night closes in he signals for his band to stop, growling at the few that tried to touch the woman in his arms. She would arrive untouched back at the castle until he decided what to do with her. The men mumbled and stalked off and he shook his head as he put together a rough pallet under the tree line and motioned for her lay.

"Here, it's warm and no one will be a bothering ye taenight."

He leaves her there, and heads to the fire; gathering a plate and then returning and handing it to her.

"Eat, it'll do ye good and help ye sleep."

Nolee felt dead inside. For all she knew, her family was gone. She had nothing left. No home. No loved ones. And it was all thanks to the man in front of her. She shook her head, even when he offered her food and a place to lay for the night. "You have killed my family, you have destroyed my home. Why...why would I trust you?"

She sat back against the tree, glaring at him. She hated him...but she did have to thank him for protecting her against the other men.

"Ah did nae such a thing. Ah was on the horses back, Ah didn't kill nor did Ah burn anything. My worse offense was taking ye away." He set the plate down; not really caring if she ate or not, it was a long time till morning.

He moved back over to the fire and and got his own plate, taking a seat on a stump and listening to the others around the fire talking about their deeds. He over heard someone talking about lighting the fire and he got up, stalking over and scowling down at them.

"An who told ye tae be setting the place a blaze?"

They blinked up at him from their ale cups; the fire cast his face in darkness so they had no idea who he was really.

"Laird McIntyre did o'course. Ye don't think we'd be as daft as tae be setting fires without his knowing."

He clenched his fist and leaned down so that they could see his face. "Funny, because Ah doan remember giving such an order." He watched their faces pale. "Now ye can pack yer things, grab yer horses and leave. There was to be no life loss taeday unless it was necessary, an Ah'm sure there are dead left behind us now."

With his piece said he turns on his heel and heads back towards his camp site; unrolling another two blankets and laying down, his back to his captive as he closed his eyes. He knew that the others would be awake for a while but he wanted to be the one up with the dawn in the morning so that they could break camp and finish their journey.

Nolee watched him set her plate down, hesitating before taking a bite. The men were surrounding the fire and she knew her best bet of escape was to wait until each and every one of them fell asleep. The man who had captured her was already laying on his blankets so she knew she would go the other direction.

It was almost sunlight before the last of the men went to sleep. She looked around, standing up and heading toward the horses. If she was going to get out of there, she wasn't going to do it on her own two feet. Especially not when horses were faster.

He was a restless sleeper and the sounds of the camp had kept him more awake than asleep so when the sound of the blankets rustling behind him sounded he rolled and watched through slitted eyes as she tried to run. Silly girl had taken his horse which was unfortunate for her as he had his horse trained to listen to whistles.

He watched as she climbed aboard and then as she nudged the horse into a walk; all in the name of being quiet. He pushed himself to his feet and let them go for a bit, not even a mile before he whistled and the horse came to a dead stop; standing patiently and waiting. He gave another whistle and the horse turned around and started to trot back. With a smug smile he waited until she was with in hearing distance.

"Going somewhere Lass?"

Nolee blinked her eyes in shock. She had it all figured out and with two short, small whistles the foreigner was able to make the horse come back. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at him. "I was fine until...until you captured me...you took me from my home. How can you sleep at night knowing about my village you brute?"

She climbed off of the horse, turning her back on him.

He huffed and rolled his eyes,taking the reigns of the horse's soft bridal and reaching out and grabbing her wrist. He led both the woman and the horse back to the camp site and he looked at her, slowing down his speech as if he was talking to a wee child.

"Ah didn't ken about yer village. Ah never gave the order for them tae do that. As for the rest.." He shrugged and pointed to the blanket. "Sit, we ride in an hour. I'll bring you your breakfast."

He didn't say anymore as he turned and left, restarting the fire and putting on the makings of breakfast as he waited for the rest of the camp to wake up.

Nolee huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she sat on her blankets. She wouldn't let the brutes see her cry, but the tears were coming more than she thought they would. She didn't know where she was, she was cold, and she didn't want to be with these men.

He worked quickly and efficiently to get the rest of the camp up, he didn't want to waste any more time than he had to traveling. Once the camp was moving he put together a quick breakfast and handed it to her; nodding then to the horse.

"Eat up, we're ridin with the sun this morn. Ah have a lot tae do this day."

His words were clipped on purpose; just because she was the only woman that they'd taken this raid wasn't going to warrant her special behavior--although he was going to instil her in castle as a serving wench so he could watch over her.

After a half an hour he approached again and whistled for his horse; smiling it trotted over to him. With a mocking bow he motioned to the large steed.

"After ye mi'Lady."

Nolee ate hastily, not wanting to actually be as hungry as she was. She had only eaten a portion of her dinner that he had made her the night before, not knowing if she should trust the man. But now that she could see by the light of day that he had done nothing to her food, she could trust him a lot more.

She looked at him when he spoke, his accent still making it hard for her to understand exactly what he was saying. She knew, however, that she would get use to it. After all, she had the feeling that she was going to be property of this man when they got to wherever he lived.

When he whistled for his steed, Nolee's eyes flashed an indignant tone. The castle servants had often said she had a habit of losing her temper and she was right. But this warrented it. After all, he was mocking her. He was letting her know that she had made a mistake, reminding her of her failed attempt of escape. "He's a beautiful animal. To bad he serves someone with such an evil heart as yourself."

Drew's jaw clenched and he motioned to the animal. "Up ye get, or Ah can toss ye in the wagon with the gold. Ah'm sure the guards would love a sweet little lass like yerself to amuse themselves with."

Around him the others were breaking camp and he was impatient to get a move on so he scowled as he motioned back to the horse. "Well?" He'd never actually leave her in the wagon with the guards, then he'd have no way to know that her virtue was untouched. She had the bearings and temperament of a princess but the way she was dressed spoke of peasant, but if she was princess she was worth more with her maidenhood still intact than if she was defiled. Besides he didn't want to be stuck with her for the rest of his life anyway.

The noise started to increase as horses pawed at the ground, eager to be on their way. His scowl deepening as his eyes narrowed in hopes of scaring her so that she'd get on the horse and they could quit the area.

At the mention of being thrown in the wagon, Nolee got on the horse. She was afraid of him but more so of his men who kept eyeing her as if she was a piece of meat at market to be bought. She had heard stories of what invaders had done to women in nearby villages from the servants in the castle and that scared her.

Defeated and broken, she climbed onto the horse, keeping her eyes on the horizon. She wouldn't let this man see them filling with tears, see her afraid of everything that was going on around her.

"If you are going to take me to wherever you are from, savage, I suggest you do it carefully. If my brother finds me in any shape but pure you will be executed when he finds you," she smirked, finally feeling brave, "although, he will probably have you executed anyway for the way you burned our home to the ground and pillaged our gold."

He swung up on the horse behind her and took the soft reigns, purring in her ear as he clicked to the horse to set it into motion. "Trust me Lassie, Ah doan wanna be keepin ye around any more than Ah have tae. Sae yer purity is safe with me."

He leaned back and kicked the horse; sending it from a walk to a canter; ignoring the way the jostling of the horse sent them banging together in a rather poor imitation of rutting. His face soon grew red as he let his thoughts wander in that direction; wondering breifly what she'd feel like pushing against him and whether or not she was vocal.

With a scowl he pushed the thoughts away, sending the horse into a faster gait in a bid to make it back to the castle so he could turn her over to the castle servants and be quit of her until she was ransomed back. The terrain was rough and soon the horses were forced to slow as they traveled a thin ledge that could only tolerate one horse at a time and even though the ride was in dangerous territory he couldn't help but feel excitement in his gut; they were almost home.

The hours flew by as the horses hooves pounded over the soft ground and his arms tightened around her as he strained to see the castle as it rose from the ground; the mist from the moors hanging around the grey stone edifice. It seemed as if the day drug on and on, the castle seemingly taunting him as it never seemed to get closer no matter how long they traveled.

Just when he felt that he could take no more they rode through the gates; the others in the castle gathering around and welcoming them back with shouts and cheers. His face broke out into a smile as he bound down from the horse and met his mother, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly.

"Ma."

"Me Laddie, I'm glad ye made it back in one piece. I trust that the journey wasn't tae bad on ye."

He grinned and shook his head, motioning to one of the serving girls to take the woman off the horse and to instill her in the servants quarters; he had other things to worry about now. Like how they were going to make it through the coming winter with how little gold they'd procured and the abysmal crops that they'd harvested this year.

As he leaned in to purr in her ear, she sat forward as far as they could. Yet, when the horse was set into motion and she could feel his muscular frame behind her, she let her mind wander to things that she had only heard servants talk about. She wondered if he was gentle, after all the good he had done that morning and the night before. He did spare her life as well as make sure that she was fed well as his men.

When they traveled on the rocky pass, she was afraid and unintentionally leaned closer to him, not wanting to fall of the horse and tumble to her death. She hoped he didn't see how relaxed she had felt as she sat back against him.

Arriving at his castle, Nolee looked around in wonder. It was beautiful, though no more than her own castle. There was something heartwarming about the way he hugged his mother and looked at her as if she were more than the world. She looked over her shoulder as she was led with the other servants. Now she was truly alone in a different place.

"Ye can't be leaving her out in the servants quarters."

The sentence cut through his thoughts and he looked up into his mothers stern face. Her lips were compressed to nearly nothingness and he knew that no matter what she would brook no argument on the matter.

"Ma, Ah can't be havin her running amok under the feet of the Lads when they're about in the hall."

"Sae? Put her in the ladies sewing room, Ah can monitor the lass until ye get the ransom or ye figure out what ye'll be wanting tae do with her."

I know what I'd like tae do....toss her offa the cliffs into the loch.

He looked up to gauge his mother's temperament but decided that it would be in his best interests if he did what he was told. After all who wants to admit that their Mum had browbeat them into anything when they were Laird of the Castle. With a deep sigh he sent off one of the maids with a missive to bring the captive to him so he could place her in his mother's care.

He waited a good ten minutes or so before getting up and going to search for her himself; anything to get him from under the gaze of his mother and out of reach of her nagging about the way he was treating the captive. It wasn't the first time his mother had acted such; she wanted grandchildren and seen in each female captive that he brought home the opportunity to have the long coveted wee bairns running around the castle.

However he was not of the mind to settle down, not now not ever and his mother could plot and plan all day long until she was blue in the face but he'd never take a wife. They were nothing but trouble.

Nolee had been sitting in the servants quarters, trying to banish all the bad thoughts that sat in her mind. For starters, she was scared that her brother and his queen had been killed in the raid, maybe even by her captor. Then there was the fact that she was in a new place, with new customs. She didn't know how these people thought, what they were like. But there were two more important facts that were running through her mind.

First, there was the fact that she was now a servant. She had always had servants, never been one. She didn't know if she could do half of what her servants did, from cleaning the bedchambers to making sure that the sewing was done for the day. True, she did enjoy sewing, she just couldn't do it for to long before she got restless.

Then there was the fact, that at the farther part from her mind, she thought her captive was handsome.

She heard someone standing at the door and looked up to see said captor, watching her conversation with his cold but dazzling eyes. She looked away, not wanting him to see the slight blush.

He waited for a moment; cocking his head to the side when he seen the flush cross her face. Perhaps she had been speaking ill of him, or perhaps it was too warm for her in the room. Either way it didn't matter he cleared his throat and motioned for her to follow him; not waiting for her stand before heading into the hall and waiting.

When she appeared he gruffed at her, his eyes trained on her still flushed face. "Me ma wants an audience with ye Lass." He turned and started towards the sewing room, mumbling under his breath. "Apparently Ah doan ken how tae treat a captive."

Again he didn't wait to see if she was following, he just started walking; the sooner he could get her to his Mum the sooner he could go look into the defense of the castle. He'd heard some grumblings of one of the other clans making threats and he didn't want them to think that his home was defenseless--besides he didn't like the fact that he found the blush on her cheeks enticing.

Finally they made the sewing room and he smiled as he walked in; bending his head to kiss his Mum in greeting before turning to the captive.

"Ma...here ye be, Lady....uhhh...." He blushed when he realized that he didn't know her name but he covered it up by scowling and leaving after mumbling something under his breath.

She looked at her, smiling kindly as she motioned to the chair across from her. "Sit Lass, ye doan need tae be sae formal. I'm Lady Fiona, Laird Drew's ma. And ye'll be?"

Nolee had barely been able to keep up as she followed him, her legs not as long as his and he was taking quick strides as it was. When she did catch up, she was aware that she was in a sewing room. She looked around, a smile on her face before sitting across from the older woman who sat before her.

"I'm Princess Nolee...you're son raided my brother Carter's kingdom today," she replied softly. She had to admit that this woman was kinder than her son had been, though it was still difficult to understand some of her words.

Lady Fiona nodded her head before motioning to the sewing that was sitting in the baskets for them to enjoy. "Please feel free tae chose anything ye'll like." She looked down at the tapestry she was working on, the silver threading in her hand being painstakingly worked into the tunic that Drew was wearing. "Me lad....he's not a bad mon, just...gruff. He doan care for the raiding that he does; but our home and our lands...they're not as well off as he'd like them tae be." Her face settled into a serious countenance as she looked at Nolee. "Did me lad treat ye well on the ride back? Was he a gentlemon? I raised me lad tae be the right side of gruff--rough with the other lads yet careful with the lassies."

She set aside what she was working on and got up to move around the room, her hands held in front of her as she moved over to stare out of one of the arrow slits in the room. It'd been a while since she'd had a real lady in her sewing room; most of the captives that Drew and the others brought back to ransom were common folks and they hardly left; most finding love with in the keep and staying with their new families. However she was certain that Princess Nolee was different, after all she probably already had a suitor lined up by her family to take her hand.

Perhaps....perhaps I can help the hands of love a bit. She'd be a lovely lass for Drew, she seems tae be strong and wouldn't let Drew walk all over her....something that Drew needs.

A small smile graced Lady Fiona's face as she turned and clapped her hands, a serving girl answering almost immediately. "Princess Nolee, I am famished; perhaps ye'd like something tae eat. Briana can bring us anything we desire. What is yer palate hungry for?"

"He was not particularly rough with me," Nolee answered truthfully. "I just...he carried me over his shoulder and made sure I was well fed and had somewhere safe to sleep from the other men."

She picked up a tapestry, something depiciting what appeared to be a family crest and began to work on it. She smiled and nodded, "I know that your lands are not good off. But it doesn't help your relations with other kingdoms if you go around raiding and pillaging from them. Try talking and negotiations. That usually gets us what we want without violence. And if it does come down to that, it will be because all else has failed."

She had never been one for unneeded violence, though she did know how to work well with a sword. When the serving girl came over, Nolee thought, "I am unsure of the food you have in your land. But...if it couldn't trouble you to terribly, I would like some fruit."