“No, I don’t. But I hope that it isn’t any time soon.” May replied. Ariel didn’t know why but she was feeling extremely nervous for his arrival. It was as if there were butterflies in her stomach. “I heard Mr. Lane yelling earlier. What did you do this time?”
“I accidently fell asleep and forgot to scrub the floors,” Ariel mumbled.
“Ariel, you can’t do those types of things.”
“I know. But it won’t happen again. It was just an honest mistake.”
“Well,” May said, “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.” May got back to work preparing an extravagant meal for the Scottish guest. Everything she made looked so delicious that Ariel was tempted to steal a bite of everything. “Don’t touch any of this Ariel. As much as we both may want it we know this meal isn’t for us,” May said without looking up.
Ariel sighed. “I know May, but it all looks so tempting.”
“I’ll tell you what, let's try to not eat anything right now and I might try to save something that we all could have after we serve dinner,” May said exasperatedly.
“Okay,” Ariel replied, “I promise not to eat anything.” She left the kitchen and went to go set the table. She wasn’t sure when dinner was going to be but she had a feeling that it would be rather soon. Through the window in the dining room she could see that the sun was starting to set, lighting up the sky with fire.
She looked out of the window at the country she was born and raised in. It was such a beautiful place. The green rolling hills that went on for as far as the eye could see and the magnificent trees that seemed to be everywhere you look. There was just so much beauty to take in that Ariel felt as if she could look forever and still not fully understand the greatness of her beloved home. When Ariel finished her work she turned towards the door to leave and saw a man standing there. But this wasn’t just any man, this was a giant. The mystery man seemed to tower over her. He had short brown hair and piercing gray eyes. Ariel guessed that this must be Lachlan Strudwick because the only thing he was wearing was a huge plaid cloth draped around his body. The thing that stood out to her the most though was his scars. He had two scars on his face. One was all the way from the bottom of his right eye to the end of his neck, and the other slashed across his left cheek in a jagged motion. Those scars were the thing that made her scared. Without them he might have even been considered handsome.
“Who are you?” the man asked with a hard voice.
“Yep,” she thought, “this has to be Mr. Strudwick. His accent is very strong and kind of mesmerizing.”
Ariel realized she had been staring at him and snapped out of her daze. “Oh, I’m just a servant, I will go and get Mr. Lane for you Sir.” She quickly tried to walk past him and leave the room but somehow she tripped and fell right on her face. Before the Scottish man could even try to offer her help she hopped up and scurried out of the room.
“What a strange girl,” Lachlan thought. When he had walked into the room the blonde hadn’t even noticed him for almost two whole minutes. She was just staring out the window for some reason. When she did finally turn around Lachlan was astounded. He had never seen such a beautiful women before. She had bright green eyes and terribly long hair. She was wearing a green dress that seemed to make her eyes even more brilliant. Lachlan shook his head and tried to get the strange girl out of his head. Finally in walked the man he had come to see. Anthony Lane was a despicable old man that Lachlan tried to speak with only when absolutely necessary. Today he had come because his father had lent Anthony money long ago and he had come to be payed back.
“Laird Strudwick, it is so nice that you came to visit today,” Anthony said nervously.
“You know why I came here. I need the money that my father lent you.”
“Must you have it so soon?”
Lachlan rolled his eyes. “Yes I must have it so soon,” he said, “And you better have it for me.”
Anthony’s eyes widened when he finally fully understood the meaning of Lachlan’s words. “O-of course. I’ll go get it for you right away.” he stuttered out.
Soon after Anthony left the room in walked the strange girl with two other people. He watched her closely as she set food out on the table before him. He had no idea why this girl interested him so much but she did. She finished setting things out and approached him with a bottle in her hand. She was looking at everything except for him and Lachlan found himself getting frustrated because he wanted to see her beautiful eyes.
“Get a hold of yourself,” he thought.
“Sir would you like some Ale?” the girl asked in a quiet voice.
Lachlan glanced down at the bottle she was holding and replied, “Yes, I would.”
Ariel couldn’t stop shaking no matter how hard she tried.
“What is the matter with me,” she thought. “Why does this man make me so nervous?” The way he was staring at her didn’t help with her nerves at all. He was just so intense and cold looking that one can’t help to be at least a little afraid in his presence. Just then Anthony returned to the room. He glared at Ariel and turned to Lachlan.
“Here, I have the money but are you sure you need it right now?” he asked cautiously.
“Yes,” Lachlan said in a cold tone, “I am positive I need it right now.”
Hearing his voice again shocked Ariel for a reason she couldn’t understand and caused her to drop the bottle she was holding. Right as it hit the ground it shattered. She glanced at Mr. Lane and could see that he was fuming. She started to back away when all of a sudden Mr. Lane charged towards her and lifted his arm to swing at her. Ariel closed her eyes and waited for the pain to come but she was surprised when it never came. She opened her eyes to see that Lachlan had stopped Mr. Lane from hitting her.
Lachlan quickly pushed him away and said, “I always knew you were an awful person but I honestly didn’t expect you to be the type to hit women.” Mr. Lane was now cowering in front of Lachlan. He sounded so angry that even Ariel got scared even though she knew that his anger wasn’t geared towards her.
“I would like to hire her from you. How much do you want,” Lachlan said. Ariel gasped, she was now extremely confused with the current situation and had no idea what was going on.
Why on earth would this man want to hire her?
Anthony just looked at him for awhile until he finally said, “I want the same amount of money that I owe you.”
Lachlan ground his teeth together and took a deep breathe. “Fine,” he said, “Keep the money then.”
Lachlan turned on his heel, grabbed Ariel’s arm, and left the room.
“What are you doing?” the girl asked him and pulled her arm from his grasp.
“That was a good question,” he thought. He honestly had no idea what he was doing.
“You are coming to work for me now. Gather your things and meet me in front of the building.” He didn’t wait to see if she listened to him, he just kept walking and left the building.
“Did you get the money?” his friend Alec asked him.
“No, I didn’t. But I got a new servant.”
“What? Why would you get a new servant?” Before Lachlan could reply the door to the building opened and the girl came out with a small bag. “Oh,” Alec said, “That’s why you got a new servant.” Lachlan knew that his friend was referring to the beauty of the girl, and he realized that maybe that was the reason he decided to hire her.
When she neared them Lachlan said, “I have just now realized I did not get your name.”
“My name is Ariel Bellamy,” she mumbled.
“Well Ariel, I am Lachlan and you will be coming to Scotland to work for me.” Lachlan took Ariel’s bag and strapped it to his horse. He then helped her on to a horse of her own.
“Hello Ariel. I’m Alec. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Alec said. She smiled at him and looked towards the house. Although she didn’t like it here she was going to miss this building and the few friends she had made here.
“Alright,” Lachlan said, “Let’s get going.”
The road to Lachlan’s home was very long and rough. Ariel was quickly becoming exhausted but Lachlan refused to rest until nightfall.
“Wait,” Lachlan said, “something isn’t right.” Lachlan was a warrior, and when you are a warrior you learn to trust your instincts. And right now his instincts were telling him that they were being watched.
Lachlan grabbed onto the reigns of Ariel’s horse and pulled her towards him. “What’s going on?” Ariel questioned with anxiety clear in her voice.
Before Lachlan could reply, Alec said, “We are being watched.”
“Watched?” Ariel asked, “By who?”
“Highwaymen most likely. We need to stay on guard,” Lachlan said. All of a sudden five men came out of the trees around them and attacked. Lachlan and Alec immediately hopped off of their horses and took out their swords. It was almost scary how good Lachlan was at fighting. Ariel sort of felt sorry for the men that attacked them because they were no match for Lachlan. Ariel was so focused on watching the fight that she didn’t notice the man coming up behind her, and sadly neither did Lachlan or Alec.
Ariel was shocked when she felt herself being grabbed from behind and thrown off her horse. She hit the ground with a thud and immediately started to get up. She didn’t make it very far. The man that had thrown her kicked her back onto the ground. She felt a sharp pain and started coughing and wheezing. She looked up at her attacker and saw that he was quite the horrid looking man. He had a big round belly and a balding head. It also looked as if he was missing both of his front teeth. The worst thing about him though was the big sword in his right hand that Ariel knew would be coming for her in a matter of seconds.
Lachlan looked back to the horses and saw that Ariel was missing. All of a sudden he heard a scream. He saw that there was a man with a sword standing in front of Ariel. Lachlan sprinted towards Ariel, determined to rescue her. He was almost there when he saw something he would have never expected. Ariel had pulled a small knife from her belt and shoved it into her attacker. He immediately fell to the ground holding his leg. Ariel got up and looked at Lachlan.
“Are you alright?” Lachlan asked her.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Ariel glanced at her shaking hands. She couldn’t believe she had just stabbed someone and neither could Lachlan.
“Wow,” Alec said, “That was impressive. Who knew you had it in you.” Alec chuckled and shook his head. “Well we better get going if we want to get there before the end of the week.”
Lachlan took Ariel’s hand and helped her onto her horse. He was still completely shocked. Earlier she had seemed so weak and scared. But she didn’t even blink when she had to stab a man. Lachlan sighed.
“I guess there is more to her than I thought,” he said to himself. Lachlan found himself wondering what he had just gotten himself into.
The End
