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“Aye, Sire, we dinna ken who sacked the castle, but now we ken twas Laird Torin. Now we could go stay at Dunstaffnage. I am certain the food will be better than this, at least the company will be better, the quiet here drives me tae drink.”
Torin said, “Yer men are there?”
The king looked at him directly. “Aye, I hae quartered my men there after harrying the MacDougalls west.”
Torin said, “I am doubly glad I dinna head west lookin’ for an inn tae heal from my injuries.”
“Aye, ye might not hae survived. The MacDougalls want vengeance. We will need tae hold the castle and subdue their clan.”
“Why are you here instead of with your men at the castle?”
“I wanted tae speak tae ye first.”
Torin ran his hand through his hair and took a half-hearted bite of a piece of bread.
Dude walked into the hall just then, his tail in the air like he owned the place.
A large smile crossed the King’s face. “Och, tis the cat!”
Dude was trilling like a maniac. He strolled over and jumped right onto Torin’s lap and sat at the table as if he were waiting to be fed.
“Tis yer cat, Laird Torin?”
“Tis Lady Alexandria’s, and is mine by marriage. We are great companions, ye hae met him?”
“He has been sharing most meals with us.” The king picked up a small piece of fish off the platter in front of him and Dude leapt onto the table and stalked across to sit, tail wrapped around his ass, in front of him. He pawed at the morsel in Robert the Bruce’s fingers.
“What kind of cat is this? Tis part lion?”
I said, “He’s called a Maine Coon Cat, they’re bigger because of the harsh climate in…where he’s from.. Um… they act like a dog. His name is Dude.”
The king repeated the name, “Dude. What does it mean?”
Ummm. “Like a good man. A dude.”
“Aye, it fits him. Dude. He has given us a great deal of diversion while we hae been visiting here.”
Douglas said, “Ye brought yer cat and yer wife with ye tae sack the castle of Dunstaffnage?”
Torin chuckled. “Aye, it appears I did. Though I invited the Lady Alexandria tae accompany me, the cat stowed away in m’bags.”
The king laughed. “This is a wondrous animal, he looks much like the lion rampant on our flag of Alba. If ye breed him I will want one of his descendants.”
Dude daintily bit the fish and dragged it from the King’s fingers to the table. Then he batted it around, pounced on it, turning it into a game, until finally bored or hungry, he picked it up in his mouth and jumped off the table to go take it away to eat.
I had just watched my cat eat from the fingers of the King of Scotland.
12
ALEXANDRIA
1308 - TORIN REFUSES THE KING
We all watched the cat leave the hall, and Douglas nonchalantly leaned back in his chair, but his look went sharp. “Tis good that ye arna related tae Mag Mòr, ye ken, Laird Torin, with his throne vacated, and nae descendants appearing tae fill it. There hae been verra messy disputes and violent campaigns. Edward of England laid claim tae the throne. Och, we hae been fighting a bloody war over succession for years… Alba daena need more claimants, not now. Now we hae a new king. The rightful king of Scots.”
The king nodded. “Aye, we daena need any of Mag Mòr’s descendants laying claim tae my throne.”
Douglas leaned forward. “I meant tae ask, Laird Torin, the other night it seemed ye called yer wife, Lady Alexandria, a ‘princess’. It seemed as if it were a title ye were used tae uttering, but ye stopped afore ye said it fully—”
