Until the Knight Comes by Sue-Ellen Welfonder Page B

as clear as yesterday for it stood with a scatter of other such humble, fisherfolk dwellings, the whitewashed line of them crouching together on the slope of a familiar but distant shore, the dank walls of Dun Telve nowhere to be seen!
    Only the strangely glowing light and the long ago hiding place he’d erected with such care, believing the mock cairn would keep his savings secure during his absences at sea. And, too, that keeping his coin pouches outside her home might keep her safe as well.
    Her, and her aging father.
    Should e’er thieving scoundrels ride through their village and suspect they guarded such treasure.
    Ne’er would he have believed her father would hand over the greatest treasure of all.
    Sell his beautiful, green-eyed daughter to a shipowner more than twice the girl’s age.
    Or that she’d consent to go with the man.
    The betrayal made all the more bitter when her father offered to help Kenneth gather his savings, claiming neither his daughter nor his own bent-backed self had need of a bastard’s savings—the girl’s new husband had more gold than they needed, and an untarnished name!
    Kenneth blinked, old anger flashing through him. Hot bile rose in his throat, the eerie glow mocking him, increasing in intensity until it shimmered all around him, so brilliant he could see every detail of that long ago day.
    Most of all, the observant eyes watching him from behind cracked doors—doors that now swung wide—the fisherfolk stepping out to greet him, their hooded cloaks oddly luminous, the intricately worked silver brooches at their shoulders marking them as anything but simple men of the sea.
    A tall, splendidly built youth broke rank with them and strode closer, his magnificent stature and beauty at stark contrast to his humble attire.
    A cowherd’s rags, naught more.
    Recognizing him, Kenneth opened his mouth, but no words came—not that it mattered, for the glowing-robed ancients crowded around Cormac then, one even resting a protective hand on the lad’s shoulder as others closed in, shielding him from view.
    But the cowherd’s words reached Kenneth all the same.
    Think hard, my friend, and act wisely.

No peace is so sweet as forgiveness.
    Kenneth’s jaw dropped, his pulse leaping to a dangerous, heart-drumming speed, but before he could catch himself, Cormac vanished, the ancients and the fishing village disappearing with him.
    The brilliant light faded as well, growing dim as it seeped back into the cold, wet stones.
    “By the Rood!” Kenneth stared. He ran his hands along the wall and pressed his forehead to the stones, amazement crashing through him.
    Had he truly seen such a wonder? Heard Cormac’s words?
    Seen the faces of the ancients?
    If so, only the rush of the wind remained. The same
drip drip
of the rain, and the two coin pouches he’d somehow wrested from his hiding place in the wall.
    A gap he’d refilled with great speed, his hands trembling as he replaced the missing stones. Work-worn hands, he noted with relief, for once glad to see the crisscrossing of scars marring hands
she’d
once claimed so beautiful.
    So skilled.
    And not just at robbing seabird nests!
    Remembering, Kenneth’s blood chilled anew and the wonder of moments before receded as other, darker emotions surged up to replace them.
    Long-seething anger. His determination to never suffer heartache again. And . . . lust.
    The insatiable kind that knew but one quenching.
    Scowling, he snatched up the coin pouches and took his leave of the broch, his need to sink himself into the sweet, silken heat betwixt Mariota of Dunach’s thighs so fierce his hunger for her near blinded him.
    Pure need sated . . . no other concerns,
her friend had commented.
    And he fully agreed.
    His
needs raging, he swung up onto his saddle and spurred off into the fast fading light.
    But not in the direction of Cuidrach.
    “Mother o’ all the saints! There is naught of substance along Loch Hourn’s shore but Cuidrach Castle . . .