Love in the Mist (MacKay's) by S.R. Roddy

Chapter
1
     
    He stood
holding his two handed sword ready in his hand as he faced his opponent. His
shoulder length, curly black hair was now pulled back with what looked like a
leather strap… from this distance it was hard to tell all the details, but
there was no way she was moving closer. Despite her every belief that this was
a dream and no one could see her… everything seemed so real and she just didn’t
want to chance it.
    She inhaled deeply
letting her breathe escape in a loud whoosh of air… he was magnificent! Bared
to the waist, his chest muscles glistened in the early morning sun. He had what
reminded her of a lumberjack’s body broad shoulders, burly forearms, a chest
and stomach you could bounce a nickel on. God was she drooling? His waist
narrowed slightly into trim hips, which his kilt hung loosely on, held in place
by a large leather belt. With every movement he made she couldn’t help the
slight inhalation of breath… waiting to see if the kilt fell to the ground to
expose the rest of his glorious body to her hungry eyes.
    His kilt was
made of different shades of blue with a thin red stripe that she would
recognize anywhere. It looked exactly like the arisaid, basically a female version
of the plaid, but worn more like a cloak instead of a skirt, which belonged to
her great grandmother. Yeah go figure the man wore a skirt, the women wore a
cloak. Can you say ass backwards any one? The closest description she could
give for the dominant colors on the tartan was a cobalt and midnight blue.
    He was a
MacKay to his very bones and this place was some sort of ancient MacKay strong
hold. It had started out as maybe one tower, but at some point a second
matching tower was built. You could tell one was older because of the slightly
faded look to the bricks. They both sat at the top of a hill overlooking the
valley, a look out against any who might invade the area. At some point in
history an ancestor had decided to unite the two towers by building what looked
like a three story high walls, the only windows being on the third floor.
    History had
been a hobby of hers for years. She knew during earlier times a royal decree
was required to fortify any castle, manse, or stronghold. It had always been her
opinion that the kings of the time just liked having that extra control over
their subjects. A little greed probably played a part in it as well, because
she was sure they managed to finagle money out of those who wished to have
their people protected with walls. The court yard was surrounded by what looked
to be a twenty foot high brick wall that had at least a ten feet wide wall walk
for patrolling the walls. It boosted smaller towers in each of the four
corners, which from her vantage point, looked to be the only access to the tops
of those walls. These curtain walls were manned by the soldiers who lived in
the barracks near its gate entrance.
    The outer
courtyard, where the men were practicing their sword play and wrestling, was
down the hill from the main structure and to the side of a thriving village.
While exploring she had found several farms on the backside of the hill along
with an orchard. All of this was surrounded by second defensive wall about ten
feet high and five feet wide, but instead of using men to guard the wall they
had dogs that roamed along its wall walk. The kennel and their trainers were
housed in a small building near the large wooden gates. She had noticed that
except for the dense forest that came close to the west wall the entire area
was open for miles.
    She had been
here many times over the last six months always watching and exploring, but
keeping her distance from the people. Always staying within the confines of the
mist shrouded land, never straying beyond its borders for fear of what might
happen.
    Like she was
now, hiding just beyond the wall up in a tree, she used the blanket of mist to
hide herself from any who might see her and set up an alarm. Watching the man
with his