that kind of effect on his listeners and his ability to weave a tale only seemed to grow richer with age. Only Cuillin appeared restless, but with all eyes on Hughie, that was understandable. Rapt tale-listeners do not usually dole out tasty tidbits to hungry dogs.
Aveline, too, spared him only a moment's glance, then looked back at Hughie, sorry to have missed even a few words of his tale.
"Devastated to see how gravely she'd misjudged her father's favor, the lass and her braw laddie ran away, fleeing to the marriage stone, certain its sanctuary would save them.
"And it would have, for the stone's magic was powerful and true. Anyone gaining the sacred ground on which it stood and then joining hands through the stone's hole, would be blessed, their union sanctioned by the Old Ones." Hughie set down his fiddle, his voice music enough to finish the tale. "Sadly, the father was warned and he chased after them, coming upon them the very moment the young lovers thrust their hands through the stone."
He paused again, looking satisfied by the thick quiet that had descended over the hall.
"The king's rage overcame him and he rushed forward, his fury giving him the strength to tear the stone from its cliff-side base and hurl it into the sea - his daughter's lover with it." Hughie pushed to his feet, using his long hazel stick to lean on. "The deed stopped the old king's heart as he'd ne'er meant to kill the young man, howe'er livid he'd been. Truly repenting, he fell to his knees, pleading his daughter's forgiveness. But the girl's pain went too deep. Not even looking at her father, she followed her sweetheart into death, calmly stepping off the cliff edge to claim in the netherworld the love she'd been denied in life."
"So furious were the old gods by the king's disregard for the stone's sanctuary,"
Gelis finished for him, "that they took away all he held dear, destroying his stronghold so thoroughly that not even a stone remained to mark where he'd once ruled."
"But all was not lost," Arabella supplied, "for many centuries later the stone washed up onto our little island and has been in our safekeeping ever since." She lifted her chin, looking round. "We believe the stone's magic is even more potent today and we guard it well, considering it our most prized possession. Every newlywed MacKenzie pair clasps hands through the stone and makes the ritual oath, thus pleasing the Ancient Ones and guaranteeing themselves a bond that no mortal man can destroy for the old gods watch o'er them, granting them their forever favor."
"I told you the tale was romantic." Gelis beamed at Aveline. "'Tis the stone's honest history. I feel it here," she declared, pressing a hand against her heart.
"There really was an ancient king who threw our stone into the sea after killing his daughter's one true love and seeing her leap to her death. I am sure that was the way of it."
"The stone could have come from anywhere," Arabella countered. "We are blessed to have it at Eilean Creag and that is enough."
But Aveline doubted anyone outside the window embrasure had heard her, for ear-splitting applause suddenly erupted to chants of "Hughie Mac! Another tale!"
But Hughie simply smiled and shuffled back to his stool, his energy for the evening clearly spent.
"Another day," he promised, gratefully accepting the hot meat pastie and fresh cup of heather ale one of the MacKenzie guardsmen brought him. "I am glad I had the chance to be present at a MacKenzie wedding many years past. Were that not so, I could not have done justice to the tale, well-known as it is in these Kintail hills."
"We've heard there is a stone of uncertain origin here, too," Gelis chimed, reaching to touch Aveline's knee. "At the Macpherson's family chapel."
Aveline shivered, thinking of the wet plaid.
And how she'd seen Neill's and Kendrick's bogles dancing in the churchyard
- along with Hughie Mac.
He, however, was sitting quite contentedly on his stool beside the little charcoal brazier, munching his meat pastie and saying nothing.
Even though, for a moment, she would have sworn he'd looked about say a great deal. Something he'd apparently decided to keep to himself, for his lined face now wore a decidedly shuttered, wary expression.
Aveline frowned and drew her arisaid closer around her shoulders, suddenly feeling chilled. Icy cold and almost certain that someone, orsomething, was watching her from the shadows.
She could feel the stare boring holes into her.