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“Always has been and always will be, because the Princess of Riaghalbane gifted the King of Scots, Robert the Bruce, an iron bird in the year of our Lord, one thousand three hundred and eight.”

We were both quiet for a moment, our horses trudging along a path, headed south, away from the broken walls of Dunstaffnage. Around us the morning mist slowly thinned as the path climbed and then dropped again toward the long reach of Loch Etive. The water lay dark and still on our left, reflecting the low gray sky, while the hills on the far shore rose in layered greens and browns, their upper slopes still holding patches of last night’s clouds.

Behind us the castle’s ruined tower and the crumpled section of wall slowly shrank until they disappeared behind us.

The track itself was narrow and uneven, sometimes running close enough to the loch that we could hear the soft lap of water against the stones, sometimes rising through stands of oak and birch where the leaves were already beginning to turn. We passed small clusters of cattle and the occasional low stone bothy, but we didn’t come across any armed soldiers. That was a relief.

As we went Torin grew more relaxed. The land felt quiet and empty, though ahead of us was the Pass of Brander, where the King had beaten the MacDougalls. Torin explained that after the battle, the losing side would have scattered as the victors, the king and his men, had moved north, pushing them away.

He told me as we set out that this would be one of the safest paths in Scotland, and he wasn’t wrong, only farmers and other local villagers were about.

Torin was watchful, but the land was emptied of MacDougall resistance, and now held by men who answered to the Bruce and the Campbells.

Torin was able to answer as both, one of Bruce’s men, even though he didn’t want to be, and a member of the Campbell clan.

Ahead, the road continued inland toward Dalmally, where an inn waited, and, for the first time in days, the chance of a bed and some rest without the complication of a king in the Great Hall wanting to discuss matters of the crown.

“How much longer?”

“We are halfway.”

I nodded.

Then joked, “Then I will not begin to complain, I will save it for later.”

“Ye hae complaints, Princess, on such a beautiful day? Och, we hae a steel gray sky, and the smell of comin’ rain, tis a perfect day for a ride.”

I sighed. “Is it going to rain? Forget what I just said about putting it off, I think my complaining will start now.”

“Tis safe tae say if I put ye on a horse tis goin’ tae rain. God wants me tae suffer for my past sins.”

I laughed.

Then said, “It’s funny that you think the purpose of a Princess on a horse in the rain is to make you suffer.”

“Och, ye haena heard the Princess complain.”

It did indeed begin to rain, just a ‘summer shower’ kind, sprinkling for a few moments, enough to dampen, but then the clouds parted and the sun peeked through. Then I saw a rainbow. “Look!”

“Och, daena point at it, Princess, tis unlucky.”

“Oh,” I put my finger down. “I thought seeing rainbows was a good thing.”

“Nae, portends of death.”

“Dammit.”

He said, “But look where tis, there is the battlefield, ye ken. It inna our death, tis the death of the soldiers, the Campbells and MacDougalls.”

“Oh, are we going to pass the battlefield? I’m not sure I want to see.”

“We will on the morrow, Princess.”

I was quiet for a while, my clothes damp, my ass starting to hurt, and I had been riding behind him for a couple of hours now. Maybe I was bored, but without really even thinking, I asked, “Torin, do you still love me?”

I saw him balk and then he turned.

“What dost ye mean?”