Highland Daydreams by April Holthaus Page B

swung her arms around Lara. Lara squeezed her equally as tight. Stepping out of her embrace, Lara looked into the old woman’s eyes. She had aged since Lara had last seen her. Deep wrinkles creased across her forehead and her eye lids sagged as if she had not slept in a month.
    “Oh be gone wit ye, ye auld brute,” Moira snapped at the guard, as if he was intruding on a private conversation. “Oh, my lady. Tis good to see ye. Ach, dinna they feed her at that castle? Ye are skin and bones!”
    “Tis a long and dreadful story, Moira. But I must ask. Do ye ken when my father is expected to return?”
    “I dinna ken.” Lara’s look of despair caused Moira to frown. “I’m sorry lass, but in order to see him, I’m afraid ye would have to travel to Norway; a ridiculous notion. Nay, ye will stay right here and wait fer him to return. I’ll no’ have ye traveling that far by yerself to find him.” Moira said with a comforting pat.
    “But Moira, I must go. I must speak to him. Why has he traveled so far?”
    Moira eyed Bram suspiciously.
    “Ye can trust him, Moira,” Lara reassured her.
    “My lady, strange things have happened since ye left. If yer father kenned I ken anything of his plans he would have strung me up from the gallows.”
    “Whatever ye ken Moira, I promise yer secret is safe wit’ me,” Lara promised.
    Moira looked around, making sure no one could hear what she was about to reveal.
    “I was cleaning up the stairs as I usually do. Yer father and John were in the library talking. I overhead ‘em. I dinna go eavesdropping deliberately, ye ken. They said that the King of Norway was dying; said that because he has nay any heirs that there is nay one to take the throne but his brother whom he had been feuding. Yer father plans to propose John as his vassal to take the throne.”
    “Vassal?”
    “Aye. They plan to claim John as his cousin. Oh, my lady, if the people of Norway ken they were tricked, the country would be in turmoil. The war between Norway and Denmark could then cause war with England and France and that be nay good fer any of us.”  
     
    Bram thought about Lara’s predicament and what this would mean for Scotland.
    “I will take ye,” he offered
    “What?” Lara turned and asked as if she had not heard him.
    “I will take ye to Norway to see yer father. I have some distant relatives there on my Mam’s side.”
    “Bram, we can nay go to Norway. Moira is right. ‘Tis an insane idea. Bergen is a royal castle. We cannae just walk into the gates and demand an audience.”
    Bram smiled at her, “Aye lass, we can.”
    Lara felt perplexed. She paced back and forth, her brow rising and falling. Bram and Moira both patiently waited until Lara stopped and looked from one to the other.
    “King! John to be king! He has nay royal blood and he is no’ even Norwegian.”
    “I dinna ken what I can say, my lady,” Moira replied. 
    “Then there is only one thing I can do. We will go to Norway and seek my father. Perhaps all will be revealed once I arrive.”
    “God be wit ye both,” Moira said, holding onto Lara’s hand.
     
    Bram knew that their route would take them further east, to the city of Aberdeen, the nearest port. From there, they would travel by boat across the sea and arrive in Norway a few days later.
    “Lass, we have a long journey ahead of us. We should leave now, if ye truly wish to go,” Bram suggested.
    Lara turned and hugged Moira one last time. Bram knew there were no easy roads to take north to Aberdeen, nor were they safe. They would be traveling through rough terrain and alongside steep hills, but his worst fear was crossing paths with the English.

Chapter 12
     
     
    Dark clouds covered the sky. Though it was mid-day, the sky turned dark as night as a raging storm caused a heavy downpour. Bram offered Lara his plaid and tightly wrapped her in it. Even with the plaid, she was soaked to the bone.
    As thunder and lightning struck, Lara buried her head deeper