“Jake, I did not say you were finished yet.” His father’s booming voice would awaken everyone in the keep.
He turned back in bafflement. “We moved the rocks just as you said. Now I think after that chore that we both deserve to break our fast.”
“No breakfast. I’ll have water brought out to you.”
“What must we do now?” Truth was, he hadn’t thought he was capable of doing anything else.
Alex’s gaze narrowed as he stared at his firstborn, his hands held behind his back. His voice came out as a whisper. “Move them back.”
Jake could not believe that he’d heard him correctly. “Move them back? Those boulders? All those ones we just moved?” He thought his head would explode from the rage coursing through him. His father had to be jesting.
“Aye. Do you have a hearing problem?”
“Nay. I just cannot believe you would tell us to do something so ridiculous. It took us all night to move those boulders, and now you want us to move them back?” Jake’s voice had almost become a roar.
But his sire roared louder. “Aye, ‘tis what I said. Now get started.”
That was all it took for Jamie to run over to the pile and pick up two boulders.
Jake shouted to his brother, “Nay, Jamie. I’ll not do it.”
“What did you say?”
The look in his sire’s eyes told him to run, but he stayed rooted to his spot, vowing to stand up to his father.
Jamie froze as his father rushed up to Jake and lifted him into the air. Squeezing Jake’s throat, he bellowed, “Repeat what you said, son!”
Jamie came to his brother’s defense. “Papa, we were trying to help them. Aye, we’d agreed to the plan at first, but when we saw the lasses had changed their minds, we tried to pull the other lads away from them.”
Alex did not move, still holding his son in the air, though Jake was now big enough that he had to use his other hand to keep him balanced. “Jamie, you are excused, return to the keep.”
“Papa, I’ll stay and help him. I want to.”
“Jamie, your laird ordered you to go to the keep.”
Robbie and Brodie brought a horse over and helped Jamie onto the horse. Jake had always been a little stronger physically than his brother, and he was so physically exhausted he could barely walk. They left the area with him.
Jake, red in the face, ground out, “I’ll do it. And I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”
His father let him down and spun on his heel to go back to the keep.
Fortunately, the day was cloudy, and by mid-afternoon the rain came and drenched the sweat off his body, but the slippery rocks did not make his chore any easier. He could tell he had pushed himself too far because his thinking had become hazy. Uncle Robbie had brought him water on two occasions, but other than that he’d seen no one. Apparently, his sire had kept everyone at bay to prevent the chance of him being fed by onlookers who might have felt sorry for him.
Darkness fell and he continued on, finally noticing that the pile was dwindling. He could barely feel his legs moving,but they functioned on their own, dragging his body from one place to another, barely able to carry one rock at a time. He slipped several times in the mud, picking himself up before he continued. His father would not win this one. He’d show him how strong he was, that he could not beat him. He’d move every last stone.
When he had the last two stones in his hands, he slipped again. This time, he couldn’t get up. He lay face down in the mud and closed his eyes. A pair of arms picked him up and tossed him over a shoulder with an oomph from him. He knew it to be his sire.
“Foolish lad.”
“I did it, Papa.”
“I know you did. Stubborn lad. I hope you’ll remember it.”
“You needn’t have done it. I learned my lesson before moving all those rocks. But I wanted to prove to you how tough I am.”
His father snorted. “I had to come up with a way to make it sink into that thick skull of yours. When you’re older, your mother will never survive it if you attack a lass or disrespect one. How did you learn your lesson? What got through to you?”
“Mama’s eyes. I never want to see that look in Mama’s eyes again either. You could have asked. ‘Twas worse than moving the rocks. How can I ever make it up to her?”
