Stone Heart
Authors: Candace Sams
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
ImaJinn Books
Copyright ©2004 by Candace Sams
NOTICE: This eBook is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution to any person via email, floppy disk, network, print out, or any other means is a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines and/or imprisonment. This notice overrides the Adobe Reader permissions which are erroneous. This eBook cannot be legally lent or given to others.
This eBook is displayed using 100% recycled electrons.
Distributed by Fictionwise.com
2
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
Chapter One
Scotland
Three hundred years ago
"Get out of my way you stupid, useless idiot!" Angus swung a half-empty tankard of ale at the serving boy. "You are no' worth the mud I kick off my boots."
"Here now, there's no call to be talking to the lad like that.
He cannot help it if he is slow," the tavern owner said, defending the boy.
"Hold your whist, old man, or you will take the beating meant for him!"
The tavern owner stepped back and shook his head. "You are as mean a curse as ever beset the world, Angus MacGregor. You will be punished for your brutish ways."
"And who will do the punishing, old fool?
You?"
Angus dropped his head back and finished the last of the bitter ale.
Raising a massive forearm, he swiped the foam from his lips and pushed the tavern boy to the floor. "Keep this half-wit cripple out of my way, or I will make sure he never fouls my presence again."
The boy scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as his twisted left leg would allow. One of the serving wenches wrapped her arms around the child's tiny frame when he stumbled into her. She looked at the boor of a man who had frightened the boy and muttered a rude oath under her breath. She, the tavern owner and the child, walked away 3
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
before the big man found another excuse to lose his ready temper.
Angus watched their retreat as he pulled a chair toward his mountainous body. He slowly turned the heavy wooden chair backwards and straddled the seat, eyeing anyone else in the room who might make a complaint. Everyone in town knew which table in the tavern was his. They knew the time of day he used it, and no one got in his way when he had a thirst. In fact, no one got in his way.
Ever
. As far as he was concerned, the town and its surrounding countryside might be owned by the local farmers and merchants, but
he
was in control.
People stepped out of his way when he approached. If he wanted the few coins they carried, he took them. If they had food, horses or clothing he needed, these became his without question when he raised his sword. And that was as it should be. None of them had ever done one thing for him. So he gladly returned the favor.
* * * *
He was a bully, and she knew what had to be done, though she was unsure how to go about it. Her attention was distracted by a raven-haired girl of sultry beauty. The young woman walked from the back of the tavern to where MacGregor sat. She stood behind him, twisting her long 4
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
fingers together, as if the nervous action would give her courage. She wore an expression of anxiety and fear. Finally, the girl took a deep breath and moved to stand in front of MacGregor.
"Angus, I must speak wi' you," the girl pleaded, in a trembling voice that plainly related her stress.
Angus smiled. He put his hand on the girl's shoulder and slowly slid it down to her left breast. Regardless of those who might see, he caressed her as he raised his mug for a passing wench to refill.
"I have been wondering where you were, Bridget. My bed could use warming this night."
She pushed his hand away and stepped closer. "Please, Angus. Can we no' go outside where we can talk in private?"
"Aye, lass. If that is what you want. We can ...
talk
,"
Angus said, emphasizing the last word suggestively. Then he rose to follow Bridget outside.
The Sorceress followed them out the tavern door and stood in the shadows cast by the clouded night sky. She heard the girl say, "Angus, I have an urgent need to speak wi'
you. I ... I have missed my monthly time. I fear our dallying might have me wi' child."
"Your dallying might have you with
anyone's
child, girl.
What is that to me?" He leaned back against a nearby tether rail and grinned.
"Angus," she gasped, "I have ne'er lain wi' a man but you.
You
know
that."
"I know I was the
first
. Doubtless no' the last. But whether you are wi' child or no', we can make use of the night." He 5
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
grinned and reached for her, his body already responding to his need.
"Do you no' care for your own babe? Do you care no more for me than to use me as a common whore? I thought ... I thought..."
"You thought
what?
You little tart! Did you think I wanted more than the few nights we shared? That I
loved
you?
Cared
for you?"
The girl recoiled at his sneering comments, and she winced when his harsh laughter filled the air.
"No," she muttered. "You bedded me only to serve your rutting needs. You never cared for me at all. I see that now.
How could I have been so blind?"
"How
indeed
? Did I ever promise you anything, Bridget?
Did I ever say I wanted more than the heat between your legs, you stupid wench?"
She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"But what am I to do? Where will I go? The townspeople will turn me away."
"Here," he said, reaching inside a leather pouch tied to his belt. "Never let it be said that Angus MacGregor dinna' pay a willing whore her due."
"You are made of
stone
, Angus MacGregor. Your heart is
rock
. One day I hope someone hurts and defiles you as you have done me," she spat out.
With a cruel laugh, he tossed the coins to the ground in front of the girl and walked away.
The Sorceress had seen enough. She watched as Bridget put her hands over her face and ran into the darkness.
6
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
Maeve knew it would take time to follow Angus. She was getting on in years and could not move as fast as she once did. And MacGregor was a monstrously large man with a lengthy stride. He'd make it to his horse long before her, but follow him she would. The girl's comment had given her the idea for the judgement that would come.
"The punishment will fit the deed," Maeve whispered.
Angus made his way to his mount. He had suffered enough clumsy tavern urchins and whining whores for the night. It was time to get back to his camp. Unlike the farmers and tradesmen, he disliked sleeping beneath a roof. Especially if there was no soft body to share his bed.
What did he care if the trollop carried his by-blow? If it
was
his. And what if it fared no better than he had? Why should he care? The townspeople had made him what he was, so let them deal with his bastard. Bridget's recently deceased parents had not have even given him a scrap of bread when he was a small lad. Why should he show their daughter any mercy?
He let his mount find its own way out of town. The horse knew the road well enough. The ale and bad company were taking their toll. He was nearly asleep in his saddle when he heard soft crying coming from the road's edge.
He reined in his mount and let his keen senses search out the darkness for the source. Then he saw her. The little girl could not have been more than six years of age, and she was standing near the roadside, clutching a ragged cloak about her too slim body. He turned his horse in her direction and stopped when he was but a short distance away.
7
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
"What ails you, little fleabag? Why are you out in the night air and no' abed?"
At the sound of his roughly phrased question, the little girl raised her tear-stained face. "He took my Holly from me?"
"Someone took a shrubbery from you, and you are weeping over it?"
"Holly is my
kitten
, and he took her," she told him, then began to weep harder.
Angus dismounted and stood over the girl. "Explain."
"I ... I stole a piece of bread from the baker's shop and ran. But the baker followed me to the barn where I sleep. He took my kitten away to punish me. He said he was going to put her in a sack and drown her in a pond to teach me a lesson."
Against his nature and better judgement, Angus felt a place in his heart twist. An old wound there opened up. Once upon a time he had been like this little girl, and he remembered a soft brown puppy which had perished under the wheels of the careless baker's cart. He softened the tone of his voice. "Where are your parents, waif?"
"They died when everyone was so ill this winter past.
Please, do not let him drown my Holly. She is all I have, and I am so afraid."
The little girl threw herself at one of his legs and clung to him like the night dew. Some of the granite wall around Angus' cold heart crumbled a bit, though he could not imagine why he should give a damn.
"What is your name, little one?"
"Elspeth," she told him in a tiny voice.
8
Stone Heart
by Candace Sams
"Wait right here, Elspeth, and dunna' move.
Understand?"
After she nodded, Angus mounted his horse and rode toward the baker's cottage. It was only a short distance from where he had left the little girl. If he was too late, perhaps he could give the child a coin to make up for the loss of her beast. Again, he questioned himself as to why he should care.
No one had concerned themselves about him and his losses when he was that age. But something made him want to try to help
this
child.
When light from the baker's window came into view, he dismounted and walked to the door. He raised his fist, pounded upon the thick wood, and was rewarded with cursing coming from within. It seemed the baker was about to find rest for the night and was upset by the disturbance. So much the better. The man would get a thrashing as well as no sleep. The fat man opened the door with a crash.
"What in the name of creation do you..."
Angus grabbed the man by his bedclothes and dragged him out into the night air. "Where is the beast you took from the little girl, you slovenly ass?"
"I ... What ... Who ...
MacGregor?
It is
y-you
!" the man spluttered.
"I will no' repeat myself you lazy, addled fool. Where is the beast you sought to drown? The one you took from the little girl?" Angus ground out between clenched teeth.