Highland Dream (Book 1)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Groggy and head pounding in rhythm with the rain still hammering into the ground from a murderous sky. Eyelids opening slowly, blinking and a small groan escapes. It was sometime just before dawn, turning slowly to face the sky and letting the rain wash the visible skin of the mud that had accumulated the night before.

Camdyn knew he should not have let his fellow guards have that much ale, particularly when they still had a few days left to travel before they reached home and there was a big storm blowing in. Well that hit them a few hours after sundown, but by then they were too far into their cups to care. His father was going to kill him if he was not home in time. He was supposed to be proving he was responsible enough to take over the major day to day running of the clan, especially after his father’s recent illness.

                           

With great care and infinite slowness Camdyn sat up to survey his surroundings. His men lay in a haphazard fashion around the now completely dead fire. At least they managed to have a hot meal last night, it didn’t look like one of those was in the near future, unless God somehow managed to forget Camdyn’s past demeanours and helped him out this once…which did not look likely.

His tartan was muddied enough for it to be indistinguishable, not that he would be able to tell friend from foe in this weather as it is. He would as likely attack his best friend Hamish as the hated Gordons. Having passed through their lands to get this far, he had thought that they had been tracked for a while, but the signs had disappeared soon after.

Heaving his large frame from the ground Camdyn headed towards his fellow MacKay’s. Who he was glad to see had fared worse than him. Though if he didn’t get them moving soon they would be in trouble, from the rain, from a surprise attack…and from his father. The last was the one that got him moving.

He did not have the best of relationships with his father. Father was more the term used to call him rather than any sort of endearment. Camdyn’s childhood had not existed past his mother’s death upon the birth of his spoilt sister who believed the world revolved around her. From that day Camdyn had lost any love from his life and had been treated to the harshest treatment that his father said would make him more of a man. There came a point when Camdyn realised that his father had a perfect son in mind and he was never going to be it. That was when he stopped playing by the rules. Now, however, now his people were going to need him to be that perfect if they were going to survive this winter.

“Never again!”…the groan came from the mountain of a man currently pulling himself up an ancient tree not too far away, or trying to pull himself up when his feet kept sliding all over the place in the mud beneath him. His weight too much for the slippery consistency of the ground. “Please, remind me why we decided using some of our left over prize ale as a celebration was a good idea?” The gravel undertone to the voice made it obvious as to the state he had got himself into the night before.

“Come now Hamish, we got twice what we needed from those Sassenach savages and leaving us with spare with which to celebrate…but maybe we should have left it for when we were safely behind our walls.” The slight chuckle Hamish gave him made them both wince in tandem. The others around them had just started to come around, the grunts and groans taking Camdyn back to other mornings after the night before. But those mornings he was usually tucked up warmly on a pallet…usually not his own and with company of the soft variety. There was definitely none of that company around right now.

As most of the men make it, somewhat shakily, to their feet a crash of thunder echoes overhead. All the men looked toward the sounds and the knowledge passed through them all in silent understanding. This was going to be a long, cold, wet and extremely difficult last stretch to get home. What would usually take half a day’s hard ride or the majority of the day if taking it at a leisurely pace was going to take two if not three days now. To make matters worse with the cargo they were carrying and the state of the trail they were currently on (especially knowing what it would be like further up the trail) they were going to have to go the long way around. This had surely gone from the best trade trip to date in the last 5 years…to a complete disaster.

“Alright, everyone mount up, we are taking the scenic route.” To say the state the men were in, they were still a highly trained unit, and working on that instinct that had been drilled into them from the moment they could hold a sword and join in practice staring in awe at the older warriors of the clan. As one they headed towards their mounts and swung up, some took a little bit extra time to steady themselves in their saddles than they would have normally.

At the signal they moved out. Not the smoothest of starts to the day, but at least it was an early one. With the whole lot of them cold, wet and mostly hung over…it was going to be an interesting journey.